Clearing Land

After riding his tricycle for most of the afternoon, Zhang Tie felt his legs growing weak by the time he finally headed home from Teacher Daina's place. His pedaling slowed, and the journey took much longer than usual. Yet, Zhang Tie felt a sense of joy; helping others truly brings a genuine happiness from within. Especially when he saw the innocent, pure, and joyful smiles on the faces of those poor children, he felt truly satisfied—and that is no hypocrisy. Though the meager supplies he delivered might not be worth much, and some might not even care for them, Zhang Tie didn't consider his or his family's actions particularly great or noble. It was just that seeing rice water go to waste made his heart ache, and since his family couldn't store much of it, he figured he might as well put it to good use—especially for a good cause. It was a trivial, even insignificant act, but Zhang Tie felt content and happy nonetheless.

The nightlife in Black Flame City was actually quite vibrant. As soon as night fell, the various flashy, bustling venues would come alive, but these had nothing to do with the current Zhang Tie. He whistled all the way home on his tricycle.

When he arrived, the family's small shop was already closed and locked. Zhang Tie unlocked the door, pushed it open, and wheeled his tricycle inside. Although the tricycle his father had modified looked ugly, it had one advantage: the rear wheel and the cargo frame in the middle could be folded and detached, so it didn't take up much space in the house.

His parents were out again, likely playing cards at a friend's house or visiting the church. Those were their only hobbies, and as their son, Zhang Tie naturally had nothing to say about it.

After parking the bike and washing his hands, Zhang Tie took the small bag of seeds gifted by Teacher Daina to the kitchen. The familiar aroma of beef wafting through the kitchen made his stomach growl, and his mouth began to water.

His mother had left the meal warming in the pot. It was simple: the main dish for the night was potato stewed with beef.

He had been too reluctant to eat the remaining canned beef his brother brought home yesterday during lunch, insisting that his mother save it for when his father returned in the evening. By nightfall, his mother had stewed that small portion of beef into a large pot of rich potato and beef soup. Thanks to her skillful hands, that half-bowl of beef had transformed into a hearty feast.

Looking at the bowl of "potato stewed with beef" and counting the few pieces of meat inside, Zhang Tie knew that his parents hadn't eaten any of the beef themselves. They had only drunk the soup and eaten the potatoes, leaving all the meat for him.

With a complex mix of emotions, Zhang Tie silently polished off the entire meal. He didn't even notice that his appetite had been steadily increasing over the past two days.

After finishing dinner and tidying up, he estimated his parents wouldn't be back for at least another two or three hours. That was enough time to get something done. Thinking of the barren land inside the Castle of Black Iron and the corn and potatoes he had planted, Zhang Tie quickly sprang into action.

He felt a bit neurotic; he clearly remembered locking the front door from the inside when he got home, yet he went to check it again just to be sure. Zhang Tie mocked himself, wondering if this was how a nobody felt after winning the lottery—always worried that someone would discover where they hid the ticket.

A nobody is a nobody, he thought. I am a genuine nobody right now, so what's there to be afraid of?

With a hardened resolve, Zhang Tie moved with increasing efficiency. He grabbed two iron buckets from the backyard and ran to the well. With a series of splashes, he filled them in no time and carried them to the cramped bathroom at the back of the house.

The bathroom was barely two or three square meters, but it was kept very clean. Half the space was taken up by a large wooden tub used for bathing. It was about waist-high, not particularly exquisite in craftsmanship, but sturdy and coated with a thick, smooth layer of lacquer. It was the first gift his brother had bought for their parents after receiving his military salary and subsidies.

Splash! Zhang Tie dumped the two buckets of water into the tub. The water level barely covered the soles of his feet. He ran back to the well, splashed two more buckets, and returned to pour them in.

After repeating this eight or nine times over ten minutes, Zhang Tie finally filled the tub. If his mother were here, she would have insisted on heating the water for him, and he would have stubbornly insisted on cold water like his brother, only to be nagged for it. But he wasn't actually here to bathe, so he didn't bother with the pretense. He left the last two buckets by the tub, returned to the kitchen to grab the bag of seeds from Teacher Daina, and headed back to the bathroom. His stomach and intestines felt a bit uncomfortable from exercising right after eating, but who cared about that now?

Back in the bathroom, he locked the door from the inside. He tucked the bag of seeds under his right arm, gripped a full bucket in each hand, stood firm, and took two deep breaths to steady his nerves. He closed his eyes and began to "search" for that mysterious "archway"...

The process seemed easier this time. After a few experiments over the past two days, Zhang Tie discovered that as long as he focused his consciousness on the point just between his eyebrows, he could clearly "see" the "archway"—the entrance to the Castle of Black Iron, which was actually positioned right in front of his glabella.

Zhang Tie didn't know how this worked, but he didn't care. As long as it was useful, who would waste energy researching it?

See—Lock—Enter—

Carrying the two buckets and with the bag of seeds tucked under his arm, Zhang Tie vanished from the cramped bathroom in an instant.

Feeling the atmosphere around him shift, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and found himself inside the Castle of Black Iron.

The surroundings remained the same: the vast, empty land and the abrupt "Manjusaka Karma Myriad Fruit Tree" in the center. And, of course, the line that never failed to inflate his petty vanity:

--Welcome, handsome and imposing Lord of the Castle, to the Castle of Black Iron!

Seeing these words, Zhang Tie felt a surge of energy. His stomach stopped hurting, his intestines stopped cramping, his legs stopped shaking, he didn't need to get up at night, and his body felt perfectly healthy. Ahem... ahem...

"I am the master of this place... ah!" Feeling his vanity swell, the pale youth let out a cathartic roar. If he were outside, this shout would have surely summoned the local patrol officer, but here, Zhang Tie couldn't even hear an echo.

He had never shouted like this before. After letting it all out, he suddenly felt refreshed. Huh, strange. I feel much better.

So, Zhang Tie decided to shout again...

"I am the master of this world... ah!"

He felt even better. One more...

"I will make sure Mom and Dad have beef to eat every day... ah!"

Better still...

"Teacher Daina, I love you... ah!"

Another one...

"I want to be a rich man... ah!"

And another...

"All you big-bottomed, big-breasted beauties, your dream lover is right here... ah!"

After howling like a ghost for a while, Zhang Tie felt genuinely lighthearted. It was a great feeling. He didn't know if others had tried it, but he suddenly realized this might be a great way to vent his emotions and stress.

Feeling much more at ease, Zhang Tie dropped the seeds, picked up the two buckets, and walked toward the plot where he had planted the corn and potatoes. Although he felt the soil in the Castle of Black Iron should be perfect for plant growth and the moisture seemed fine, he felt something was missing if he didn't water them after planting. It didn't seem to rain here, and heaven knows if that mattered. Maybe the seeds that could have sprouted would just rot in the soil because he was too lazy to water them?

Reaching the plots, Zhang Tie set down one bucket and watered the rows of corn that hadn't sprouted yet. One bucket only moistened less than a quarter of the area. He used the second bucket to cover half the plot, then picked up both buckets again, closed his eyes, and focused his consciousness on his glabella...

See—Lock—Exit—

The next moment, Zhang Tie reappeared in the cramped bathroom, his feet landing in the exact same spot. He opened the drain at the bottom of the tub to refill his buckets, stood firm, and closed his eyes again.

See—Lock—Enter—

After five consecutive trips, Zhang Tie stood before the steel bar he had used as a marker, panting heavily. He looked at the plots he had watered and felt satisfied, but his head throbbed with a dull pain, as if something had been drained from his mind. He hadn't noticed while busy watering, but now he realized it. He tried to focus his attention on his glabella again to "see" the magical "archway," but unlike before, the "archway" was unstable, flickering in and out of existence. When he finally managed to grasp it with his consciousness and issued the "exit" command, the unexpected happened...

Abruptly, Zhang Tie felt his entire mind sink, his head spun, and it felt as if he were falling from a great height into a bottomless, dark tunnel. He lost his balance and sat hard on the floor. It took a long while for him to open his eyes, his face pale, as he slowly recovered...

What happened? Why is it like this? Zhang Tie felt a sudden, inexplicable panic.

The text that suddenly appeared before his eyes answered his confusion:

--The system has detected that the handsome and imposing Lord of the Castle's mental energy is severely overdrawn. It is recommended that the handsome and imposing Lord of the Castle rest or meditate within the Castle of Black Iron before leaving. System prompt: Frequent entry and exit of the Castle of Black Iron in a short period consumes a massive amount of mental energy. When mental energy is insufficient, please do not enter or exit the Castle of Black Iron frequently unless necessary, to avoid causing damage to your mental energy...