These past few days, with new police officers not yet recruited and trained, were indeed the most worrying time for the town's safety.
As the current sheriff, any public safety incident would fall on him. If a large number or serious violent incidents occurred, it would be a huge blow to his reputation.
Thinking of this, Henry immediately put on his coat, donned his hard-top bowler hat, pinned on his sheriff's badge, and began patrolling.
He didn't plan to call the four, since if there was any danger, the number of police officers would be further reduced.
Anyway, he had his space, where he could replenish hot water and food at any time, or even take out a chair to sit down, making patrolling less tiring.
If he really found bandits, he could also increase his release bead count.
Henry gave himself a mental pat on the back as he patrolled.
Before leaving, he wedged a dry leaf about half a meter up in the door crack.
He planned to patrol until 1 AM, focusing on Linda, Peter, Mayor William, and the four bars, as some people were naturally closer to him.
Henry checked his Patek Philippe pocket watch and saw it was 10:28 PM.
Good, only about 2.5 hours of overtime.
By then, it was completely dark. Apart from the bars, every household had its doors tightly shut, with only a few gas lamps hanging outside some homes providing a warm yellow light, seemingly warding off monsters hidden in the darkness.
Henry also made a surprising discovery—tonight there were only a few faint stars, yet he could clearly see objects within about ten meters in the pitch black.
Although not as clear as daylight, identification was no problem, and the outlines of objects were also very clear.
As expected of Constitution LV3, which required 400 gray bead to upgrade.
It seemed that one more Constitution upgrade would be enough for complete night vision.
He first went near Linda's house.
The distance of over fifty meters took him less than a minute. There was also a gas lamp at Linda's door, and in front of the door was a small garden of over a hundred square meters enclosed by a one-meter-high fence.
This was something Brian had made for his wife and child to play in.
Everything was normal; Paul, the Border Collie, was lazily sprawled on the garden grass.
Henry cursed Paul as a "lazy dog" in his heart, then bypassed the small garden and headed towards Peter's house.
Wait!
A Border Collie was a very vigilant dog.
Besides, he was very familiar with Paul, the Border Collie; every time, it would run over, wagging its tail.
Thinking of this, Henry turned back and walked to the entrance of the small garden.
Upon closer inspection, Henry found that something was indeed wrong; Paul was completely unconscious, motionless.
It seemed the bandits had just drugged him, and they would likely act soon, otherwise, it would be troublesome if the drug wore off.
Of course, it could also be poison, but Paul wouldn't swallow poison so easily.
However, there was no movement inside the house, and all the lights were off.
In any case, there was a situation here.
Henry walked back seven or eight meters, retreating into the shadow of a neighbor's house, and waited quietly.
In less than ten minutes, a thin, twenty-seven or twenty-eight-year-old white youth sneaked past the fence. Finding the Border Collie motionless, he peered in to confirm before quickly turning and leaving.
Henry thought for a moment and decided to wait where he was.
What if there were other bandits?
Or what if this group of bandits split into two groups?
So, guarding this key location would suffice.
A few minutes later, four cowboy-dressed individuals walked to the gate of Linda's yard. One of them took out lock-picking tools to open the lock.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
The sound of skill Flying Dagger whizzing by at high speed rang out.
The three behind only noticed a skill Flying Dagger suddenly appearing at the back of the lock-picking bandit's neck, followed by a chill and a stinging pain in their own necks.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"
Another four skill Flying Dagger were inserted into the necks of these four bandits, forming a cross with the previous one.
"Thud, thud, thud, thud." The four bandits fell one after another, their throats gurgling.
Henry continued to wait quietly.
About ten seconds later, he noticed an additional gray bead and three white bead, one of which had a circulating halo.
So he quickly walked over to the few people, collected them all into his space, and retreated back into the shadows, releasing them one by one to loot their bodies.
Not bad; besides four daggers and four Colt revolvers, he also got 48 skill Flying Dagger, a set of lock-picking tools, and some bottles and jars.
It seemed that one of these unlucky guys was a master of skill Flying Dagger.
At this moment, about twenty meters from Linda's house, Gallaher and his four men were on horseback, each leading another empty horse, waiting quietly.
The few men waited for nearly twenty minutes, but there was no sign of Royce and his four men, and the area ahead was silent.
The longer they waited, the more eerie it felt.
All four became anxious.
Gallaher said, "No more waiting. Let's go up and check, and be ready to shoot at any time."
With that, he spurred his horse forward, and the other three followed.
When Gallaher arrived in front of Linda's house, he found nothing unusual. Royce and his four men seemed to have vanished into thin air.
But he and the other three soon had no need to worry about it anymore.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh."
Eight skill Flying Dagger, seemingly from the underworld, were consecutively inserted in pairs into the throats of the four, sending them to join their comrades.
The bandits' death throes startled the horses, making them whinny and scatter.
Henry didn't use a gun precisely because he didn't want to overly startle the horses.
The four bandits fell heavily from their horses. One unlucky fellow's high-top leather boot caught in the stirrup, and he was dragged for dozens of meters by the horse.
After he stopped struggling, that horse also stopped.
The other three horses also quieted down.
At this time, there was movement from a few nearby houses, but no one turned on lights, and no one opened doors.
In the late night of the West, it was best not to be too curious.
Henry gathered the other four empty horses, then walked over one by one, freed the unlucky guy's foot from the stirrup, and collected them all into his space.
Then he mounted one horse and herded the other seven horses back to his own stable.
Henry's grandfather had been the town sheriff for ten years, and he had built a stable next to his house that could accommodate 12 horses.
After leading all the horses into the stable, Henry collected the eight Winchester Rifle hanging on the saddles into his space, then closed the stable door and walked back to Linda's house.
Linda's vigilance wasn't that high; there was no movement inside the house.
Henry took out his lock-picking tools, opened the yard gate, walked to Paul's side, and found its belly gently rising and falling, indicating it was only unconscious.
So, he took out a water skin, opened it, and flushed the dog's head.
By this time, about an hour should have passed since Paul was affected, and the drug's potency was likely low, so Paul was easily roused.
"Woof, woof, woof!" Paul enthusiastically greeted him as soon as he woke up.
Henry, while taking a large towel from his space to wipe its body, said, "Alright, stop barking. Don't wake up Linda and them."