Henry even suspected that as soon as he became distracted, the other party would quickly draw his pistol and shoot him, or implement "one-push death" against his eyes or back.
So vicious - he deserved to be "one-push death" by me. This was retribution!
Henry's sharp gaze noticed something wrong with the jacket's inner layer. After cutting it open with the dagger, he found $2,600 inside, all in $100 denominations.
There was also a leather map - it looked quite old.
Henry unfolded the map, roughly 15cm×30cm in an irregular rectangle - obviously cut by a sharp blade, with some hieroglyph-like symbols on it.
Since he couldn't understand it, Henry collected it along with the money into his space for now.
Then Henry collected Louis along with the sword and blanket back into his space.
He didn't pull out the sword to prevent blood from splattering everywhere.
Then Henry carefully checked the room. Finding no obvious bloodstains, he opened the door, went downstairs, and left.
At this time Drummond had disappeared somewhere - Henry didn't see him anywhere along the way.
Henry walked back to the police station. Over half an hour later, the carriage driver brought Luke back.
Henry chatted with the carriage driver for a few sentences and found he was indeed an ordinary driver who didn't know Louis either, so he paid the fare and sent him away.
From then on, the legendary western assassin Kalenbeck silently disappeared from this world.
A green pearl without skills appeared below Henry's progress bar.
As Kalenbeck's soul was extinguished, Barrett rode alone with two horses, galloping from Denver toward Fresco Town 85 miles away.
The five tokens he had given out were finally all recovered, which made him feel comfortable.
Regardless of the outcome of this duel with Henry, he had no regrets.
As someone who had survived challenges from over 200 people and still stood proudly in the world, Barrett had dominated for twenty years.
His pride and honor wouldn't allow him to ambush a child.
Many people had forgotten that besides being a master horseman, soldier, spy, scout, lawyer, gunslinger, and gambling god, his earliest job was actually as a pastor.
It was only because of turbulent times that he put down the Bible and picked up guns.
Unfortunately, after so many years of fighting, besides himself, he had no other relatives left.
Over a month ago, he sometimes felt dizzy and lightheaded.
After diagnosis by his doctor friend, Barrett had contracted a very rare eye disease and might lose his sight within a year.
Although Barrett felt some regret, years of hardship had taught him to accept fate's impermanence.
This might be the price he had to pay for his superhuman talent.
Being able to complete his last promise before going completely blind made him very satisfied.
Even if he died because of it, it was far better than dying of illness in a sickbed.
So what remained was to see whether the young lion would rise to power or the aging lion king would continue to reign supreme!
Twenty years old!
Exactly the age when Barrett first drew his gun.
So many times in this world, it was just a cycle.
For this duel, Barrett decided to give his all, not just for the promise, but because that was true respect for a master!
——
At 3 PM sharp, Henry began testing the shooting skills of 36 townspeople who had applied to be temporary officers.
On the town's open muddy ground, six targets of different distances and heights with 20cm diameter were placed within 15-21 feet (5 to 6.4 meters) of the pistol shooting position.
Participating townspeople at the shooting position quickly drew guns and fired six bullets at six targets. They were scored based on shooting time and accuracy.
For rifles, chest-ring targets were placed at 50, 100, 150, 200, and 300 meters from the shooting position - 52cm wide, 54.5cm long, with a 10cm wide white center for the ten-ring.
Townspeople used kneeling and standing positions without support.
Because the Winchester 1873's lever action wasn't suitable for prone shooting, this wasn't tested.
Henry didn't test moving target shooting.
These two tests had already eliminated 12 people, including two who were really too old - both in their forties.
Considering the average 35-year lifespan of western men in this era, they were really too old, and their shooting skills were mediocre.
Shooting was a skill that required extensive live-fire practice to improve significantly.
In his previous timeline, as a mercenary, Lucas Warren had researched the number of bullets needed to train a sharpshooter - some said ten thousand, others said one hundred thousand.
It was probably due to different talents and training methods, but at least ten thousand bullets was enough to illustrate the point.
Shooters needed extensive shooting to develop muscle memory and familiarity with various complex shooting environments.
Of course, people with powerful physical qualities would find it easier to control gun recoil, triggers, and muzzles. The same training volume would definitely produce much better results than ordinary people.
In a major battle, an average of one to two thousand bullets to kill one person was common, with much shooting just for enemy suppression.
The current Henry was a cheating player whose shooting improvement was like riding a rocket, directly reaching the level of someone who had fired one hundred thousand or even two hundred thousand rounds.
Moreover, his powerful body allowed him to shoot faster and more accurately. Combined with what was likely an "eagle eye" talent, it was like adding wings to a tiger.
He couldn't demand such strict standards from ordinary people.
Henry planned to select people with higher talent and loyalty from these 24 people through several operations for focused training.
At least ten thousand bullets of live-fire practice per person.
Loyalty meant avoiding those naturally rebellious types.
Ten thousand bullets cost about $30, and even he could easily afford $720 for 240,000 bullets.
Among these 24 people were 8 promising prospects, aged 18 to 24.
One named Thor was quite familiar with the original Henry and should be just 18, from Maxwell Ranch.
There were 10 people around 30 years old, all experienced cowboys, gunmen, or possibly bandits from elsewhere.
After everyone's assessment, blonde, blue-eyed Thor, relying on his familiarity with Henry, asked with a grin, "Henry, everyone says your marksmanship is amazing. Could you show us?"
Henry looked around and found everyone showing expectant expressions.
Showing off would indeed help him manage them, since he was too young - seeing is believing.
Automated glass bottle production machines had just been invented in this era, making glass still quite expensive and unsuitable for bottle shooting.
Henry had twelve people including Thor each pick up a palm-sized stone and scatter them about thirty meters in front of him in a 120-degree distribution.
"Luke, go over and tell them that when you fire a shot into the air, they should simultaneously throw stones at me with full force when they hear the gunshot."
Luke walked over and told them, then stood beside Thor, drew his revolver, and fired one shot into the air.
The twelve people simultaneously threw stones at Henry with all their might.
An ordinary person could throw stones at 25 meters per second, while professional baseball players might reach 45 meters per second.
These guys were young and strong - even at 30 meters per second, it would take about one second to reach him.
Henry flicked both hands and drew his two Colt 1878 pistols, quickly firing.
Others only saw a flash before Henry had already fired!
His powerful dynamic vision and sharp eyesight let him see all the stone trajectories and their sequence clearly.
"Bang bang bang"
Henry fired six shots each with both guns, hitting all the stones in the air according to their arrival order!
Even the closest stones couldn't get within ten meters of Henry.