The factory gate could accommodate three carriages abreast, or six cavalry riders simultaneously.
At this time, the gate was tightly shut, with a team of three guards and a German Shepherd on duty at the gatehouse.
Inside the factory area were two stone-built watchtowers, about ten meters high, each with five soldiers manning a Gatling Machine Gun.
The Gatling Machine Gun near the factory gate was aimed at the road leading to Henry's position, while another machine gun, dozens of meters further away, was aimed at the road where stone materials were transported down from the mountain.
About three hundred meters upstream along the Colorado River from the factory, there was a wooden two-story residential area, likely where the factory staff and guards lived.
As for the miners, they probably lived on the mountain itself; they weren't seen in this area.
At this hour, no ore would be transported down from the mountain, nor would any unrelated people come by, so Henry, who suddenly appeared at the road entrance, was very conspicuous.
Moreover, Henry had been wearing a mask all the way, which immediately made people feel he had ill intentions.
This was a problem Henry always encountered when exploring new maps.
He didn't expect that only about 8 miles of mountain road would take him almost an hour. It was almost dark now, so there was no time for such cautious action.
After all, if he dared to tie his horse by the roadside in the wilderness for more than half an hour, after dark, he might only find a horse skeleton when he returned.
Furthermore, after dark, Henry lacked long-distance night vision and couldn't scout much information.
So he could only charge in recklessly; his fault tolerance was very strong anyway.
And it was obvious that a cavalry company had been stationed here for years, so the security was definitely tight, no worse than at the Dewell Manor.
Therefore, Henry had long been mentally prepared for being discovered.
"Bang, bang, bang." Henry pulled the reins, slowed his horse, raised his gun, and fired.
All five sentries who were chatting on top of the guard post near the factory gate were hit. Three of them fell headfirst ten meters to the ground.
Having had no enemies for a long time, and the factory gate having just closed, they were inevitably lax.
At this moment, the three guards at the gate had already raised their guns and were firing at Henry, and the German Shepherd also pounced forward!
Henry completely ignored these attacks, maintained his firing, prioritizing the sentries in the other guard post.
But after a few seconds, they had reacted. Except for one who was hit and fell to the ground due to being too slow to dodge, everyone else took cover and quickly adjusted the Gatling Machine Gun's barrel.
Henry switched to shooting the three gate guards.
Three more gunshots rang out, and all three gate guards were hit and fell to the ground. All 15 rounds from this "One-in-a-Thousand" rifle were expended.
Henry instantly switched to another "One-in-a-Thousand" rifle and shot the German Shepherd, which had already pounced within 100 meters, in the head, killing it instantly. Its body slid forward for more than ten meters due to inertia.
Approximately ten seconds had passed since Henry initiated the attack, and the machine gun's barrel had not yet been properly aimed.
Since Henry gained the Agility +20% talent, the time to empty 15 rounds from a Winchester Rifle lever-action rifle might have shortened to 8 or 9 seconds.
Henry continued to fire one more shot at each of the three fallen gate guards, then turned his horse around and quickly fled.
This approximately 350-meter-long road was a downhill slope of about 30 degrees, so turning around meant going uphill.
After he rode up dozens of meters and turned left onto the outer road, the roar of the Gatling Machine Gun finally sounded from behind.
The remaining four sentries, scrambling to dodge bullets, managed to quickly get into position, adjust the machine gun to a large angle in about 15 seconds, and coordinate to start firing the machine gun. That was quite good.
Henry no longer paid attention and galloped back to Fresco Town.
Because he was shooting from horseback, Henry didn't aim for headshots this time, only for hits, which is why he needed to follow up with more shots.
The three gate guards probably fired a total of eight or nine shots, causing 8 of Henry's white bead empty shells to dissipate.
This was because the bullet-dodging empty shells also encompassed the horse, meaning a larger area was more prone to being hit, and consumption doubled.
However, another white bead and 8 gray beads were added below the release life progress bar, indicating that all 9 people Henry hit were successfully released, so it was not a loss.
The four sentries must have been scared out of their wits, wildly firing at the empty road for over a minute.
At this time, over thirty guards poured out of the factory. The duty commander, Tom, saw no enemy and roared, "John, what are you doing?"
Tom, tall and burly with bulging muscles, looked like a ferocious beast ready to devour someone.
John, who was responsible for cranking the machine gun, finally sobered up and quickly stopped.
"Report, an enemy suddenly appeared at Road Entrance One and shot at us with a rifle. All five people over at Harry's side were taken down, Terry here also died, and Jordan and the other three at the gate were also taken down."
"Where's the enemy?"
"When we started firing, he turned around and ran away!"
Tom ordered, "You two go check on Harry and Jordan. The rest of you, form two teams and search outside with me."
More than ten minutes later, Tom finished his search and confirmed that the enemy had escaped.
When he returned to the factory and heard that all 9 people had died, he was in a very bad mood.
Who was that madman?
He just shot a few times and ran, it was inexplicable!
The key was that his marksmanship was astonishing!
A madman isn't scary, but a madman plus a sharpshooter is a completely different matter!
Although that guy was wearing a mask, he definitely wasn't an Indian; none of the tribes near them had such marksmanship.
Suddenly, the name Henry, mentioned in the letter Sean sent the day before yesterday, flashed through his mind. Could it be him? He's here?!
—
After more than an hour, Henry returned home. After leading his horse into the stable, he carefully checked the door seams before entering his house again.
Feeling no danger, he took a hot shower, washing away the smell of gunpowder and dust.
Tonight, he gained 22 white beads and 35 gray beads, with only one white bead having a circulating halo.
The release life progress bar reached 75.5%.
Changing into fresh clothes, Henry strode out of the house towards the Phoenix Bar.
After entering the bar, Henry did not stop. After smiling and nodding in response to the familiar faces who greeted him, he quickly went up to his private room on the second floor and instructed Streisand to call Drummond over.
Drummond soon entered the private room.
"Help me prepare some explosives and timed electric detonators. TNT is best, but if not, dana explosives will do. The more the better, at least 200 pounds. I need them tonight."
"The timed electric detonators should be 3-5 seconds. As soon as possible."
Drummond nodded and went out to make arrangements.
This was a mining town, and a large amount of explosives would be used for mining and such. The town's shops would certainly have them, openly and secretly, so preparing them wouldn't be difficult.
The police station also had over a ton of dana explosives—black powder. Old White, who guarded the warehouse, wouldn't and dared not refuse Henry, but Henry didn't want Mayor William to know that much.
Even if Mayor William could guess it with 90% accuracy afterwards, it would still just be a guess.
--+--
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