Castle of Black Iron Vol 2 Chapter 8

CoBI, B2 Chapter 8: With A Clear Conscience

 

If I am to encounter a Red Scarf Bandit standing in front of me, how would I react? Zhang Tie ask himself this question, some people ask the heavens, some people ask the earth, some people ask the timing, some people ask their organizations, some people ask other people but for Zhang Tie, he asks his heart!

A heart with a clear conscience, will live a life of clear conscience! Zhang Tie silently told himself in his heart, a clear answer slowly began to appear from within.

As the cla.s.s continues to explode in chatter, Captain Colin’s face began to slowly form a slight smile, he raised his hand and the whole cla.s.sroom immediately went silent, everyone is antic.i.p.ating what the one-eye dragon would say.

“Good, since everyone has made their decision. Then, all of you stand up!”

A series of chair sliding noises could be heard as everyone stood up from their chairs.

“Those who wish to fight the Red Scarf Bandit stand on my left……”

The animals of the cla.s.sroom immediately ran to the left side, Zhang Tie remaining standing at his spot, since he has already made the decision in his heart, he can only watch as they ran off, in the end not many people are left standing at their spot.

Zhang Tie was surprised that Fat Barry who lifted his leg and was about to rush out initially, suddenly went pale and stopped himself, returning to his original standing position. Doug and Baghdad have long since ran to the left side. Chad and Sista were also quick to react, they ran off immediately after seeing Fat Barry lifted his leg but got stupefied when they notice that the d.a.m.n fatty is not with them. Only Sven who has always blindly followed behind Fat Barry manage to remain standing with him.

In the end, only three members of the Airplane Brotherhood and another student, a total of four students remain standing on their spot. Due to the earlier atmosphere, even the ones that wanted to remain standing on the spot originally, got influenced and ran along with the others.

Barry is slightly surprised that Zhang Tie remained at his spot and tried hard to scrutinize Zhang Tie’s face, as though trying to find something on him.

“Very good, has everyone confirmed their decision?”

Everyone nodded their heads, the group on the left also began to show signs of looking down on the people who remained at their spot.

Colin did not look at the people on his left but focus his attention on the four standing still in front of him. He pointed at Sven and asked, “Do tell, why you did not rush out together with the others?”

Sven began to sweat nervously at the question, looking at the thick finger of the one-eye dragon pointing at him and the heavy pressure emitting from the one-eye dragon’s glare. He swallowed his saliva and pointed at Fat Barry, “He… did not go over, I am following him!”

“How about you?” Captain Colin gently shakes his head as he pointed at Fat Barry. The d.a.m.n fatty revealed a big fat smile that looked like an a.s.s hole, “If I were to see the Red Scarf Bandit, rather than rus.h.i.+ng at the bandit, the immediate thing I would do is to find a Security Officer or Captain Colin to report.”

Looking at the adulating expression of the d.a.m.n fatty, Captain Colin felt a slight s.h.i.+ver and immediately s.h.i.+fted his finger to another direction, pointing at the only person not in the brotherhood, “How about you?”

After some hesitation, the person replied, “Since so many of them went to deal with the bandit, I will not bother to fight for the credit. On the other hand, if so many of them is not enough to deal with the bandit, then adding one more person like me will make no difference.”

“You are saying, if you see a Red Scarf Bandit, you are preparing to run away!” as Captain Colin emphasized on the two words, run away, his face became stern while his body began to emit a suffocating pressure.

Under the heavy pressure of Captain Colin, the student felt like he is being heavily accused and began to show signs to second thoughts, “I… I…” to speak of the words ‘run away’ in front of Captain Colin takes a lot of courage. The student was afraid that if he were to speak the words, the raging Captain Colin will give him a slap that is strong enough to make him stick onto the wall, everyone knows that Captain Colin is a bold person that hates cowards.

Seeing the student not saying anything, a slight disappointment flashed thru Captain Colin’s eyes as he pointed at the last person, Zhang Tie, “How about you, are you also running away!”

“Yes, I will run away!” Zhang Tie replied easily without feeling pressured.

When Zhang Tie announced his decision, a series of despising voices began to travel out from the left side.

“Why? They have already rush out, why would you turn and run away?” Captain Colin asked as though he is interrogating, his eye began to glare sharply, “Don’t you want to be like them? Eliminate an evil for the people? Or from a more practical view, the prize money of a dead Red Scarf Bandit is worth a lot!”

“They are just dying for nothing, with their current abilities, even if the current number of people doubles, any one of the Red Scarfs can easily kill them in a short period.

I heard that the average member of the Red Scarf Bandits has a fighting strength equivalent to a Grade 5 Soldier, each of them are also have a lot of blood on their hands and plenty of fighting experience earned from killing. A bunch of people that are not even Grade 1 Soldiers and without weapons on top of that, are just cannon fodder!”

“What did you say! You are just a coward!” Someone from the crowd of the left side angrily said.

“That’s right, you are just finding an excuse for your cowardice. Coward, even if we were to die in the fight, we are still stronger than a coward that ran away!”

“Pui…”

“Silence!” Captain Colin turned his head and shouted, the world became quiet. He stared at Zhang Tie with a despising look and asked, “So, you are very scared of dying, don’t you think that running away from an enemy is a very disgraceful act? Are you not afraid of carrying the t.i.tle of a coward?”

“Under the circ.u.mstance that there is no chance of victory and will I only die for naught if I tried. Running from an enemy that is more powerful and stronger than me, I do not think that it is disgraceful, much less a coward! If possible, I will try to bring more people to run away with me…” Zhang Tie fearlessly looked at the Captain Colin.

“They are the ones who are being disgraceful” Zhang Tie pointed at the people standing on the left side, causing the group to explode in angry voices, each of them rubbing their fists preparing to give him a good lesson after cla.s.s.

However, Zhang Tie raged at them and scolded the group, “Shut up you b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. All of you rus.h.i.+ng out, casually ending your life in the hands of an enemy, have you thought of what your parents will feel? It will only take the enemy a moment to turn you into a corpse but your parents spent a few decades of effort to nurture and raise you.

Each of you are overjoyed, using what you think is bravery and greatness to meaninglessly sacrifice yourselves. Yet, you forget the long-lasting pain you will be bringing to your family and parents, do you know how painful it will feel for parents when they lose their son? Do you know how much pain they will suffer when they receive news that you have died? Have you seen the faces of your parents crying before? None of you know…”

The group of students went silent, each of them began to ponder deeply but Zhang Tie continue his tirade, “A bunch of muscle head b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, you guys are the real disgraceful ones, a bunch of morons. If I am the Red Scarf Bandits, I will love to face opponents like you, killing you is easier than killing pigs. When facing a blade, even a group of pigs will know how to disperse into the mountains but you guys will just stick your necks out together as a group to die, is there even an enemy that can be cuter than this?

I will run away, if I can survive, I will be able to constantly trouble the enemy, distracting him and make him spend more energy and time to deal with me. If the enemy got careless enough, I might even find some methods to kill him, I can use fire, I can use poison, I can lure him to a dangerous place.

I can grow stronger, making his worry increase, making myself harder to deal with, until the day my strength exceeds him, I will reverse the situation and kill him. After I dealt with him, I will release my cattle to graze on the gra.s.s growing on your graves, a bunch of idiots worse than pigs!”

f.u.c.k, this bunch of b.a.s.t.a.r.ds. This daddy spends a morning to do a good deed, cleaning your chairs and tables but was labelled an idiot by you guys. If I do not use this chance to return the favor, this daddy will die from holding to much anger in the body. This daddy is going to scold you on behalf of your parents, as Zhang Tie happily scolded, his heart also began to feel happy.

After the scolding, the cla.s.sroom went silent, only the sound of panting from Zhang Tie after his tirade could be heard.

“Did your family lose someone when he is serving the army?” Captain Colin asked Zhang Tie after being silent for a while.

This question surprised Zhang Tie, he did not expect Captain Colin to be so sharp, this question caused him to remember a lot of old memories. Eventually, Zhang Tie lowered his head, “I once had two older brothers, now I only have one. During the second year of his military service, the war between the Andaman Alliance and Scot People broke out. That b.a.s.t.a.r.d is very brave, every battle no matter what enemies he faces, he will be in the front of the fight. In the end, what remained is his urn of ashes and a medal of courage.”

It is because his family has lost one, therefore they understand the pain of losing a family member. This is also why Zhang Tie’s name came about*, his parents hope that his life will be as hard and unbreakable as iron. This is an eternally taboo topic of the Zhang family, although Zhang Tie has never met this brother that he lost but he has seen his parents shedding a silent tear a couple of times when holding a photo.

The sorrow look on his parents is engraved deeply in his heart, eventually, Zhang Tie got to know that this b.a.s.t.a.r.d eldest brother of his is called Zhang Yong*. Due to his exceptional abilities and outstanding performances, he was promoted to Warrant Officer in his second year of military service becoming an official commanding officer. When the war broke out, that b.a.s.t.a.r.d always rush to the front lines of each battle and became a bunch of ashes in the end.

Zhang Tie and his brother Zhang Yang* since swore, that in this life, they will not allow anyone to deliver another medal of courage in front of their parents.
(Cuppa: The three names of the brothers from eldest to youngest, Yong (勇) means courage. Yang (阳) means Sun. Tie (铁) means Iron)

So what if he ran away from a strong enemy, even surrendering is also acceptable. He never thinks of himself as a world saving hero. His goal in life, is to allow his parents to be happy, let the people around him be happy, let the person he loves be happy.

Everything else, be it Red Scarf Bandits or Green Scarf Bandits, is related farts to him……