Frank was very alert—even though Henry was tiptoeing, he still sensed something when Henry got within about 10 meters.
"Who is it?"
However, their fate was already sealed the moment Henry was discovered within 10 meters of them.
Henry, in his Super Reaction state, once again transformed into Guanyin with a Thousand Arms, inserting two skill Flying Daggers into the necks of all the bandits, including Frank, within a second.
The quickest to react was Frank, who had only just put his hand on the grip of his revolver, because Henry went after him first—at the same time he asked his question.
Frank's last act of defiance was to pull his pistol out of its holster, but then another skill Flying Dagger struck his right wrist.
He strained his crossed eyes until they almost popped out, but could only fall to the ground helplessly, his crossed eyes glaring at the sky, the light of life solidified, and his consciousness sinking into the abyss.
After annihilating this ambush point, Henry collected all the weapons and wallets from everyone, then went to the next ambush point, leaving the bodies behind.
Since they chose this auspicious land as their ambush site, Henry decided to let them return to dust here.
After some thought, since it was an open-air burial anyway, a few more bodies wouldn't make a difference.
So Henry released 40 bodies of McKinley private soldiers from his storage space.
This way, if anyone investigated, they could say they died together.
Although this possibility was slim.
He didn't count on it.
After all, if Richard and his group returned safely to Denver, they would spread word of Henry's martial prowess, and many would know that Henry had eliminated these bandits.
As for why there were McKinley private soldiers' bodies, who knew?
It was even questionable whether anyone would investigate Frank's whereabouts.
With so many fierce beasts on this mountain, it would be hard to find anything after a few days.
Henry planned to release the bodies of over 260 McKinley-related personnel here, roughly distributing them, placing more in higher areas.
This would also free up about 13 cubic meters of space to store over 30 more horses.
It took over ten minutes to walk between neighboring ambush points on this mountain, plus the stealth time and looting time, so it took Henry about 20 minutes to clear one.
Henry spent another hour clearing the other three ambush points on this mountain.
He checked the time; it was 4:12 PM, so he quickly walked past the Death Valley entrance on the Denver side and hurried to another mountain to start clearing out the Dodge Gang.
While Henry was busy, Linda, Pete, Charles, and Owen were also anxiously waiting, but fortunately, Henry had said earlier that he would be back later if he encountered enemies, so they could temporarily hold their ground on the hill.
Richard, on the other hand, had been constantly worried, terrified, and extremely anxious.
Edith, Madeline, and Richard occasionally heard the noisy roars of wild beasts not far from the cave entrance, and they guessed that the beasts were probably fighting over the bodies of the bandits Henry had killed.
But the distance was really not far, which truly made their hearts pound—they were afraid that some beast would discover the four fresh pieces of meat in the cave.
Or perhaps they had already been discovered, and they just hoped that if the beasts had enough food, they wouldn't come over.
Oh, and Bick and that young bandit were still at the entrance, not far from the cave, so if a wild beast did come, it would definitely drag them away first.
These two bandits were so scared they almost wet themselves, struggling desperately, ignoring the bloody wounds on their fingers, trying to stand up with their hands twisted behind them to squeeze deeper into the cave.
Finally, Richard pointed his rifle at them, threatening them, and they had to stop, blocking the way for Richard and the other three.
This feeling of being constantly on the brink of death can easily make one break down.
Edith would ask Richard for the time occasionally.
None of them had eaten all day, and their stomachs started rumbling with hunger, but they could only endure it.
Then there were various acts of bowel movement, which they only carefully carried out in the bushes near the cave entrance when they could no longer hold it.
What made them even more uneasy was that not a single gunshot had been heard, and they didn't know how Henry was handling things.
All sorts of negative emotions—shock, worry, anxiety, fear, regret—were tightly intertwined in their minds like dense strands of hair, leaving them internally and externally distressed, suffering immensely.
However, the worst thing still happened—they didn't know if their fresh excretions had exposed them, but a Cougar appeared at the cave entrance.
It first probed, discovering that Bick and the other person, who were closer to the cave entrance, exuded a sweet, bloody smell, and both were immobile.
So after probing once or twice more and finding no danger, it pounced forward, jumping and biting the other bandit's throat, pinning him to the ground, and attempting to drag him away.
Richard gripped his rifle tightly, his fingers turning white, but he ultimately did not fire.
On one hand, he worried that firing would attract more predators; on the other hand, he feared alerting the bandits and affecting Henry.
Moreover, he knew that Cougars were solitary animals, and this one would not be as dangerous after eating its fill, nor would it bring other Cougars.
The Cougar violently tore and bit the bandit's throat, beginning to drag him forcefully.
The young bandit wanted to scream in pain, but his throat was bitten, and his mouth was gagged with a towel, so he couldn't make a sound.
Bick watched, terrified, realizing that if he had stood slightly further out, he would be the one whose throat was nearly bitten off.
Just a few centimeters from his companion was the dividing line between life and death!
Edith, Madeline, and Ruth couldn't bear to watch anymore, lowering their heads and murmuring prayers again.
"Bang!" A bullet accurately pierced the Cougar's right eye, entering its brain, causing it to instantly collapse to the ground and die on the spot.
Richard flinched, quickly leveling his rifle and staring at the cave entrance.
"It's me, Henry, I'm back." A clear, gentle voice came from outside.
Edith, Madeline, and Richard stood up in surprise.
About twenty seconds later, Henry's tall figure appeared at the cave entrance.
Richard let out a long sigh of relief, and with his mind relaxed, he, utterly exhausted, lost his footing and almost fell.
Madeline quickly embraced him, supporting him with her body.
Edith, however, dashed out, disregarding her bustle skirt being snagged by the uneven ground, and ran over four meters to throw herself into Henry's arms, her body still trembling slightly.
Henry was a bit bewildered by her sudden action.
He had just finished clearing out all the Dodge Gang bandits and hurried back, just in time to find the Cougar attacking someone.
After shooting the Cougar dead, he estimated that everyone must be hungry, so he took out two waterskins and several portions of beef jerky from his storage space and was just walking to the cave entrance when he was met with Edith's 'attack'.
However, he could guess why Edith acted this way; today must have been too stimulating for a delicate young lady of high society like her.
Henry had no choice but to transfer the bag of beef jerky from his left hand to his right, then gently pat Edith's back to comfort her.
Edith only hugged Henry for less than half a minute before she came to her senses, quickly released her hands and stepped back, her cheeks flushed, feeling a bit flustered.
Henry smiled slightly, handed her a waterskin, and said, "This waterskin is very clean; it has pure mountain spring water. Drink it."
Edith quickly took the waterskin with both hands, no longer showing distaste, and immediately tilted her head back, taking several large gulps.
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T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
It may not seem worth it now, but maybe in the future. Who knows!
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