Chapter 335: Sudden Changes
Translator: WQL Editor: KLKL
Benefited from his preliminary recovered body which could help him recover twice the speed in the evening, Zhang Tie felt that he was gradually recovering all over.
After hearing a series of orderly footsteps from outside the gate of the hall, Zhang Tie opened his eyes.
With a solemn expression, Zhang Taibai arrived with more than 20 bodyguards in pitch-dark armors in 2 rows. Those bodyguards walked with power and evil spirit.
The moment Zhang Tie saw Zhan Taibai, he felt that person was obviously in charge of Long Wind Business Group, and he had let out a sigh, which seemed indicating that, "Thank god, you're safe!"
Zhang Taibai wore an official black tuxedo. He must be attending a campaign when he was told that Zhang Tie encountered assassination.
"I want to talk with you alone!" Zhang Tie put it straight.
After glancing at Zhang Tie, Zhang Taibai nodded as he raised his hand to tell all the powerhouses and bodyguards of Long Wind Business Group to leave the hall except that 2 people stood back-to-back outside the gate to stop anyone else from coming in.
"This time, these people I bring you are all the Long Wind bodyguards of Huaiyuan Palace. They are all descendants of Zhang Clan, I guarantee that they are loyal to you!" Zhang Taibai promised.
Zhang Tie just revealed a smile. From the perspective of big figures in Huaiyuan Palace, those people might not betray Huaiyuan Palace. However, after leaving Huaiyuan Palace, they would have no relationship with Huaiyuan palace. 'Even blood brothers might fight and harm each other for benefits, let alone them and I. We were just from the same big clan a long time ago. It's hard to say everybody in the big Clan has high morality. Additionally, some one doesn't even know that even if he has been taken advantage of.
"I've been assassinated by the powerhouse assigned by Long Wind Business Group to protect me. Therefore, I become more meticulous in front those people who I don't even know their names and have few social experience. I really don't want my talk with you be known by the public in only a couple of days!" Zhang Tie put it straight and didn't care about Zhang Taibai's embarrassed expression at all.
"What happened today?" The moment the message was told, I was in Yiyang City, I had hurriedly set out towards here.
Zhang Tie then told Zhang Taibai that how he met Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao and how he was assassinated and chased by Liu Xiang.
"If Liu Xiang wants to cross you, what about Zhang Haichao then? How did you find that Liu Xiang was strange!" As a person in charge of Long Wind Business Group, of course Zhang Taibai would not directly believe in Zhang Tie's words for such a big problem. Therefore, he instantly asked two questions.
"Zhang Haichao might have been killed!" Zhang Tie sighed, "It was obvious that Liu Xiang was strange. Firstly, as Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao were staying with each other, if they were attacked at the same time, Zhang Haichao should be the one who escaped instead of Liu Xiang; if it was true that Zhang Haichao could hold back those attackers alone as was told by Liu Xiang, Liu Xiang didn't have to escape with him, the two people were able to kill them all. If the attackers were more powerful than Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao, it would be Zhang Haichao who escaped first, instead of Liu Xiang; if the attackers were equal to Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao on fighting strength, Liu Xiang should not come for me at that moment; if the attackers could not match Liu Xiang and Zhang Haichao on fighting strength, Liu Xiang didn't need to come for Zhang Tie at all. After realizing something was wrong, I started to be vigilant about Liu Xiang."
Frowning his forehead, Zhang Taibai slowly nodded, "You're right; but not absolute. Because there are always special situations that are out of our imaginations!"
"I know that there might be some special situations that is out of my imagination, so I just doubt that and stop moving at the beginning!" Zhang Tie smiled, "I don't know whether Long Wind Business Group have fixed procedures on dealing with such an emergency. If I were Liu Xiang, I would have warned the protege from afar so that the protege could be prepared for the incoming danger or hide himself; instead of finding the protege with a injured body and bringing him the danger before telling him to escape together with me! However, Liu Xiang didn't send a signal; instead, he directly came here for me. This made him more dubious!"
"What else? I think you must have found something before seizing the opportunity to make the preemptive move!"
"Of course. What made me completely confirm my judgment was what he had done stealthily when we escaped!"
"What did he do when he ran away with you?"
"He had left marks that could be followed on the route. It was a very delicate and smart way of marking that commoners could not discover it at all. It was a natural marking system that combined the depths of footprints and distances between footprints and surrounding environment. He thought I could not recognize it, yet, I could!"
When Zhang Tie was working in Donder's grocery store, that Fatty had taught him a lot. At the beginning, Zhang Tie felt those knowledge was useless and stupid, such as identifying people by their ears. Whereas, after leaving Blackhot City, Zhang Tie realized that these knowledge became very useful. By comparison, those he learned at school became useless.
"Even though, it still could not indicate that Liu Xiang is a traitor!" Zhang Taibai stared at Zhang Tie, "Maybe he left those marks to Zhang Haichao and those people of Long Wind Business Group!"
"It's possible; but I prefer to think that he wanted to assassinate me compared to this minor possibility..." Zhang Tie revealed a casual smile, "with the above three doubious points, I could almost assure that he was abnormal. I prefer to surviving by myself while being condemned to have made a mistake compared to sacrifice myself for the alleged kindness which would be considered stupid!"
Whilst Zhang Tie was saying this, he took out that long needle and threw it onto Zhang Taibai's hand, "He wanted to stab this into my after-brain. Having been prepared for his attack, I directly stabbed my saber into his stomache. There's poison on the needle, you can check it..."
Taking that weird, long needle, Zhang Taibai didn't say anything; instead, his face turned completely blue, "Trust me, Long Wind Business Group will definitely give your an explanation!"
This was rightly what Zhang Tie wanted to hear. After that, Zhang Tie told him about how he escaped from their chase, except for how he acknowledged the old man as his master.
After asking Zhang Tie a few key questions, Zhang Taibai narrowed his eyes and considered for a while before signed, "Based on your description, that old man might be an alchemist master who save your life by chance. Only such a kind of people could be able to walk out of magma safe and sound and produce an explosion by hand. It's really out of my imagination that such a great powerhouse could appear in Dragon Cave. Pitifully, I don;t have a chance to visit him, alas!"
"Perhaps would appear in the future!"
"You don't know, such super powerhouses usually move very irregularly. They could travel as long as thousands of miles by foot in one day, even faser than airship. It was really lucky of you to meet him!" Zhang Taibai seemed being very pitiful for not meeting that old man. He then asked Zhang Tie, "What about the powerful fighter who chased after you? Has he exposed his real status?"
The moment Zhang Tie wanted to tell Zhang Taibai about the message that those assassinators came from Zhen Clan, Heavens Cold Town, Langye Prefecture, Jinyun Country, he suddenly heard a series of footsteps from those guardians outside the hall.
"According to the Lord's order, nobody is allowed in!"
"Including me?" This was a voice of a female, which sounded a bit lofty. Hearing her voice, the guardians didn't speak any more. They then entered the hall together and walked towards Zhang Tie.
At the sight of them coming in, Zhang Tie kept silent as he became infuriated inside. He had determined to build his own "ship". Even though this castle had not been completed, it was already his. However, he could not even talk about something alone with someone. What the f*ck! How could she just enter the castle without my consent? Does she really take this place as the square?
Although Zhang Tie was irritated inside, he looked nothing had happened; by comparison, hearing that voice, Zhang Taibai revealed a kind yet a bit embarrassed smile.
"Lady, haven't I told you to wait a minute in airship? I will come back soon after I deal with the event here!"
"I saw a castle under the airship. I thought that you've hidden young ladies here; therefore, I enter to have a look. If you really like some ladies, just tell me. I will help you marry them. I'm not a narrow-minded madam. Even if you have 8 concubines and want to marry 8 more concubines, I will have no complaint about that!" With this voice, a 30-odd beautiful lady had walked towards them accompanied by 2 female servants.
This lady was wearing a red bobtail decorated with crystals. With all sorts of jewelries, she looked extremely fascinating, charming and majestic that could never be violated. She was a state-of-art beauty.
The moment she entered, she had started to look around. When she found the hall was blazing with lights and no other female was inside, she raised her orchid finger and gave a slight smile. A 30-odd woman then looked as shy as a 10-odd maiden, "I thought you were slipping out of the ball to meet your young lover with the excuse of having something emergent to deal with. As you've applied this trick for many times before, I have not expected that this time was true. If so, I will not disturb you!"
The woman came here out of a sudden and left like nothing had happened. She really looked like a wife coming here to check whether there's a mistress here after. She was also very polite. After saying a couple of words, she looked around before left.
At this moment, at the sight of that shadow disappearing outside the gate, Zhang Tie felt a bone-reaching chill which had frozen his mind. Zhang Tie knew that he had hit the jackpot today.
The douchebag Donder once told Zhang Tie pleasantly that according to his observations, 1 of 20 male in Blackhot City was breeding kids for other male. Donder applied his ear-identifying skill into peering at others' privacy and satisfying his curiosity.
Zhang Tie had not imagined that this secret knowledge could bring him another unexpected message today. If it was a surprise for Zhang Tie for the first time, this time, it had become a fright.
"Erm...when I receive the message from here, I was attending a dinner party with my wife. Because it was not a too long distance from there to here by airship and my wife was worried about me, therefore, she came here together with me. Women are really jealous and dubious..." Zhang Taibai explained to Zhang Tie in a slightly embarrassed way.
"Madam looks elegant and dignified. She must be from a reputed clan. I wonder which powerful clan did she come from?" After forcefully recovering his composure, Zhang Tie praised.
"Haha, you were wrong this time. My wife doesn't come from powerful clan; instead, she came from a middle-class family. 20 years ago, we encountered each other, then we got married. Oh, you've not answered me; whether that powerful fighter that chased you exposed his real status?"
Seeing Zhang Taibai's unpredictable expression, Zhang Tie had numerous thoughts. Finally he shook his head, "That was a group of strictly organized killers. Of course they would not expose their status. Although that old man was super powerful, he didn't spare any time for them to explain where they came from at all. Therefore, I don't know what their real status was!"
"Trust me, Huaiyuan Palace would definitely figure out who tried to assassinated you!" Zhang Taibai replied calmly.
"It would be nice if we could figure out who's behind them!" Rolling his eyes, Zhang Tie said, "I was told that many pharmacists on the continent had been assassinated. Whether they were killed by the same batch of people who had tried to assassinated me?"
Frowning his forehead, Zhang Taibai thought a while before slowly nodded, "It's possible. By the way, you have to take care of yourself recently!"
"How can I take care of myself?" Zhang Tie responded with a bitter smile, "As long as we didn't arrest the man behind them, I would have to be vigilant everyday. This time, they assigned a LV 10 powerful fighter, next time, they might assign a person with higher levels. Given the limited territory of Hidden Dragon Island, unless I hide in the castle and Hidden Dragon Palace forever. If not, I would be their target the moment I go out!"
"I will assign a team of Long Wind Guardians here to protect you. As Long Wind Guardians are all elites of Zhang Clan, they would definitely be loyal to protect you."
"Even though they are loyal to protect me, what about their fighting strength?" Zhang Tie stared at Zhang Taibai, "If they assign a knight to kill me, how could a team of Long Wind Guardians hold back the attack of a knight? If not, Long Wind Guardians would be useless! They might have a knight kill me as easy as finishing a simple task. I believe that they could afford the cost. However, Huaiyuan Palace and Long Wind Business Group could not assign a knight to protect me forever. Could Huaiyuan Palace and Long Wind Business Group afford this?"
Hearing Zhang Tie's words, Zhang Taibai became silent.
"I always treasure my life a lot. I would never put my life in any risk. Perhaps my life is not worthwhile for someone, my life is priceless for myself and my family members. If a great amount of people could not protect me in front of the real powerhouse, they would be nothing effective except for marking me as the target!"
"What do you want then?"
"It's very simple——freedom!" Zhang Tie fixed his shrewd eyes on Zhang Taibai, "I know those rules in Hidden Dragon Palace. Previously, those rules posed no influence to me; but now, before I reach LV 9, those rules are nothing different than fixing me on the Hidden Dragon Island for other's assassination. I need freedom, the freedom of accessing to Hidden Dragon Island. As long as the opponent could not figure out my schedule, it would be hard for them to have a person assassinate me!"
Zhang Taibai knew that Zhang Tie was requiring the real freedom, instead of the simple freedom of accessing to Hidden Dragon Island. Although Zhang Tie mentioned it implicitly, Zhang Taibai could not pretend to be confused. He knew that the severe loophole of Long Wind Business Group brought Zhang Tie the sense of crisis and Zhang Tie had already determined to jump out of the circle that Huaiyuan Palace had drawn for its clan descendants on Hidden Dragon Island.
"What else do you want?" Zhang Taibai watched Zhang Tie in a wholly new look.
"As long as I could steadily provide all-purpose medicament for Long Wind Business Group every year, I think it's not an excessive request for the Clan to give me 5000 clan contribution points a year. Additionally, in order to avoid from the similar event, I should have right to refuse any task or request distributed or allocated to me by Hidden Dragon Palace!"
"What if I don't agree?" Zhang Taibai looked somewhat serious.
Zhang Tie then gave him a smile, "If so, I would exterminate the cooperation with Long Wind Business Group on all-purpose medicament after I pay off the 460,000 gold coins and the interests accrued from it. Although I like money, I don't have to make money at the risk of my life. You should not make profits from my all-purpose medicament so as to reinforce the power of Zhang Clan at the risk of my life."
"What if Zhang Clan could really assign a knight to protect you?"
"If so, I could give up all the requests and our collaboration will keep going. However, the one who's assigned here must follow my order. You'd better not fetch me a lord. " Zhang Tie put it straightly.
Zhang Taibai finally sighed, "I could not make decision on critical affairs of Hidden Dragon Palace alone. I need to negotiate it with others!"
"It doesn't matter. I will recover here these days. You can notice me when you've made the final decision!"
...
When Zhang Taibai was going to leave the hall of the castle accompanied by Zhang Tie, a guardian of Zhang Taibai hurriedly passed him a slip
After skimming over the slip, Zhang Taibai's face slightly changed. He then stared at Zhang Tie with a hesitated expression.
Zhang Tie had a terrible feeling and his heart raced as he instantly grabbed Zhang Taibai's hand and asked loudly, "Is it about my family?"
"It's your older brother, Zhang Yang...he's been attacked!" Zhang Taibai replied in a grave voice.
Hearing this, Zhang Tie was driven anxious at once as he felt his scalp numb...