Soon, Henry learned the approximate locations of the eight ambush points where the bandits were hiding. Four of them were places he had previously found suspicious, and using those four as reference points, he could determine the approximate locations of the other four.
Henry woke up the other surviving bandit and interrogated him again. Finding no discrepancies in their stories, he stuffed the towels back in their mouths, then walked over to Bick and the other man and knocked them unconscious with one punch each.
"Mr. Mellon, I'm about to go eliminate the remaining 97 bandits. I'll leave you to guard this place."
"Alright, I'll protect this place."
"But I only have two pairs of handcuffs, and it's still too dangerous for you to be with four bandits. You know they have various strange skills and could attack you unexpectedly at any time, so you choose two."
"Choose two what?"
"Choose two to keep alive! Go kill the other two, or kill all four!" Henry looked at Richard strangely.
"Ah?!" Richard seemed unable to accept this.
The two bandits on the ground, Jim and his companion, were sweating profusely in desperation, but with their mouths gagged, they could only writhe helplessly like flounder thrown on the floor.
Henry looked around at Richard, Edith, and Madeline, saying gently: "Think about what just happened to you. What would have happened if you hadn't happened to meet me?"
Henry paused, letting them imagine and recall properly before continuing his argument.
"If bandits really come later, Mr. Mellon, can you protect the two ladies like this?"
"You heard it yourself - I'm about to face nearly 100 bandit gunmen!"
"In the West, people can only rely on themselves, must rely on themselves!"
Madeline immediately recalled the recent fear and misery, saying hatefully: "Sheriff Henry, you're right."
Edith thought of the recent events and felt a wave of fear. Sometimes beauty and cunning were truly powerless.
Richard also remembered his own pathetic state of writhing helplessly like a worm. He truly didn't dare imagine what he would do if his beloved Madeline suffered such treatment.
As someone who dared venture into the West, Richard wasn't lacking in courage. He immediately stood up and aimed his gun at the two bandits right in front of him.
Jim and his companion were so anxious their throats were dry, but they were gagged tight with towels, their eyes nearly bulging out.
Henry stepped behind Richard and said: "Aim for their hips, there won't be as much blood."
"Bang bang!" Richard complied readily.
"Good, let me check if they're dead." Henry rushed forward, grabbed both their necks with each hand and shook them vigorously, then shook again.
A new white pearl and gray pearl appeared below the release progress bar.
Henry released his hands and stood up, looking into Richard's eyes: "Mr. Mellon, you did well. You killed them, you have courage. Now I'm leaving this place to you while I deal with those 100 bandits. But there might also be scattered bandits or fierce beasts like wolves, black bears, mountain lions coming here. If they don't die, then you will die, so you must be extremely vigilant and not hesitate."
Richard now seemed to have broken some kind of shackle, saying firmly: "Don't worry, I will."
He then walked to Jim's side and began searching, soon retrieving his Patek Philippe gold pocket watch from Jim's body.
Henry removed the handcuffs from Jim and the other bandit who had just died, re-cuffed Bick and the young bandit, then walked over and pulled two daggers from Jim and his companion's bodies, handing them to Edith and Madeline.
"Hold these, protect yourselves." Henry looked into each of their eyes, slowing his speech and speaking solemnly.
Both women immediately took them with both hands.
Edith felt Henry's gaze contained inexplicable energy, extremely penetrating, as if seeing into the depths of her soul, making her heart pound wildly.
"I must act immediately, or the bandits will become suspicious. Wait for me to return, don't wander off, take care."
Richard and the others all said: "Sheriff Henry, take care."
Henry picked up the corpses of Jim and his companion and turned to leave.
After Henry's figure disappeared from the cave entrance, Edith and Madeline suddenly felt a huge difference.
When Henry was there, he was like a giant rock in the middle of a river - no matter how turbulent the current, they felt safe on it.
After Henry left, the entire cave suddenly became full of danger and threatening atmosphere, making them extremely uneasy.
Richard had the same feeling, gripping his rifle tightly and concentrating fully on watching the cave entrance.
Edith and Madeline soon began praying quietly in low voices, trying to dispel their panic.
Henry had Richard shed blood partly as a precaution.
He wasn't sure exactly what use it would have or how much, but at least it wouldn't hurt.
After all, anyone who had read "Water Margin" knew the power of certificates of allegiance.
Henry used another gray pearl to restore himself to "100% Health," then stealthily approached the nearest bandit location.
He had enough throwing knives, so this time he planned to use only throwing knives until the last group of bandits, unless he was exposed midway.
For safety and secrecy, he planned to activate his Super Reaction talent every time.
Now 97 bandits were ambushed at eight locations, averaging about 12 per location.
With Super Reaction activated, Henry could throw 20 knives in one second.
Sometimes terrain might make it less efficient, but ensuring each of 12 bandits got a throwing knife in their neck or eye within one second was still easy.
The only problem was that Henry's current throwing knives were too light, so it was best not to exceed 20 meters from targets for spinning throws to maintain good speed, accuracy, and killing power.
Within 10 meters, he'd use straight throws, which had greater speed, accuracy, and killing power than spinning throws.
These Dodge Gang bandits were hiding in rather concealed locations, which meant when they were eliminated, their companions wouldn't easily know, as long as Henry didn't let them make too much noise.
Henry went directly first to "Cross-eyed" Frank's position halfway up the mountain, because this was the highest ambush point of the Dodge Gang. Clearing here first was less likely to be discovered by people at other ambush locations.
Moreover, if he waited longer, Frank would suspect that Jim and his group had already met with trouble.
Since 6 people including Jim had been sent out, Frank only had 7 people with him.
Wearing camouflage, Henry successfully approached this ambush point - a cave carved into a slope over 300 meters high, over 4 meters long, over 2 meters high, and about 2 meters deep.
Henry looked at this cave that seemed half-natural, half-artificial.
Having waited about 3 hours without seeing Henry's group, these bandits had all relaxed and were chatting and laughing. Only Frank was still seriously watching the path below.
(End of Chapter)
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