Frank was very alert - although Henry was moving stealthily, when Henry approached within about 10 meters, he still sensed something.
"Who's there?"
But since Henry wasn't discovered until he was within 10 meters of them, their fate was already sealed.
With Super Reaction activated, Henry once again became a thousand-armed Guanyin, inserting two throwing knives into the necks of all the bandits including Frank within one second.
Even Frank, who reacted fastest, had only just placed his hand on the grip of his waist revolver, because Henry targeted him first - simultaneously as he voiced his question.
Frank's final act of defiance was forcibly drawing his pistol from its holster, but immediately after, his right wrist was also struck by a throwing knife.
Even with his cross-eyes nearly bulging out, he could only helplessly collapse to the ground. His cross-eyes glared furiously at the sky as the light of life froze and consciousness sank into the abyss.
After completely eliminating this ambush point, Henry collected all their weapons and wallets, then headed to the next ambush point, leaving the corpses behind.
Since they had chosen this feng shui treasure land as their ambush site, Henry would let them return to dust here as well.
Thinking about it, since they were all having sky burial anyway, a few more corpses wouldn't matter.
So Henry released 40 corpses of McKinley private soldiers from his storage space.
This way, if anyone investigated, they could say they died together.
Although this possibility was infinitesimal.
He didn't count on it either.
After all, if Richard's group safely returned to Denver afterward, they would also spread word of Henry's prowess, and many people would know Henry had eliminated these bandits.
As for why McKinley family private soldier corpses were also there, who knew?
Whether anyone would even investigate Frank and his group's whereabouts was questionable.
This mountain had so many fierce beasts that after a few days it would be hard to investigate anything.
Henry planned to release all 260-plus McKinley-related personnel corpses here, distributed roughly evenly, with more placed at higher elevations.
This would also free up about 13 cubic meters of space to store over 30 more horses.
Walking between adjacent ambush points on this mountain peak took over ten minutes, plus stalking time and body-searching time - Henry needed about 20 minutes to clear each one.
Henry spent another hour clearing the other three ambush points on this mountain peak.
Seeing it was already 4:12 PM, he quickly crossed to the Denver side entrance of Death Valley and hurried to the other mountain peak to begin eliminating those Dodge Gang members.
While Henry was busy working, Linda, Pete, Charles, and Owen were also anxiously waiting, but fortunately Henry had said early on that if he encountered enemies he would return quite late, so they could still hold the hills for now.
Richard's side had been living in constant fear and extreme terror.
Edith, Madeline, and Richard occasionally heard chaotic beast roaring sounds from not far outside the cave entrance. They guessed it was probably wild animals fighting over the bandit corpses Henry had killed.
But the distance was really close, which truly made their hearts jump with fear - afraid some beast would discover the four pieces of fresh meat in the cave.
Or maybe they had already been discovered, and they just hoped that with sufficient food, the beasts wouldn't come over.
Oh, there were also Bick and that young bandit at the entrance - they were not far from the cave mouth, so if any beast came running over, it would definitely drag them away first.
These two bandits were truly scared almost to the point of wetting themselves, struggling desperately to get up despite the bloody wounds on their fingers, turning their hands backward to desperately stand up and squeeze toward the depths of the cave.
Finally, threatened by Richard pointing a rifle at them, they had no choice but to stop and block in front of Richard's group of four.
This feeling of being constantly on the edge of life and death could really drive people to breakdown.
Edith kept asking Richard for the time.
None of them had eaten all day and their stomachs were starting to growl with hunger, but they could only endure it.
Then there were various bodily functions that also had to be carefully handled in the bushes near the cave entrance only when they couldn't stand it anymore.
What made their hearts even more unsettled was that they hadn't heard a single gunshot and didn't know how Henry was handling things.
Various negative emotions like shock, worry, anxiety, fear, and regret wrapped around their hearts like dense hair, trapping them inside and out in extraordinary torment.
However, what they feared most still happened - whether it was their recent fresh excrement that exposed them, a mountain lion appeared at the cave entrance.
It first tested the situation and found that Bick and his companion, who were closer to the cave entrance, were emanating sweet bloody scents and had limited mobility.
After probing once or twice more without detecting any danger, it pounced forward, leaping up to bite the other bandit's throat, pressing him to the ground and preparing to drag him away.
Richard gripped his rifle tightly with both hands until his fingers turned white, but ultimately didn't shoot.
On one hand, he worried that shooting would attract more predators; on the other hand, he feared alarming the bandits and affecting Henry.
Moreover, he knew mountain lions were solitary animals - after this one ate its fill, it wouldn't be as dangerous and wouldn't bring other mountain lions over.
The mountain lion viciously tore and bit the bandit's throat, beginning to drag forcefully.
The young bandit was in such pain he wanted to cry out, but with his throat being bitten and his mouth stuffed with a towel, he couldn't make any sound.
Bick watched with his soul nearly leaving his body - if he had stood just a few centimeters further out, he would be the one with his throat nearly bitten through now.
Just a few centimeters' distance from his accomplice was the line between life and death!
Edith, Madeline, and Ruth couldn't bear to watch anymore, lowering their heads and praying again in murmurs.
"Bang!" A bullet precisely penetrated the mountain lion's right eye, entering its brain and causing it to instantly collapse dead on the ground.
Richard jumped with alarm, quickly raising his rifle to aim 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 delighted surprise.
Over twenty seconds later, Henry's tall figure appeared at the cave entrance.
Richard breathed a long sigh of relief. With his spirit relaxing, exhausted as he was, he became unsteady on his feet and nearly fell.
Madeline quickly embraced him, using her body to support him.
But Edith flew out, not caring that her bustled skirt was torn by the uneven ground, running over four meters to throw herself into Henry's arms, her body continuously trembling slightly.
Henry was somewhat stunned by her sudden action.
He had just finished clearing all the Dodge Gang bandits and rushed back, happening to discover that mountain lion biting someone.
After shooting the mountain lion dead, he estimated everyone should be hungry, so he took two water pouches and several portions of beef jerky from his space before walking to the cave entrance, only to encounter Edith's assault.
But he could guess why Edith would act this way - today had definitely been too stimulating for such a pampered young lady from high society.
Henry could only 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 coming to her senses. She quickly released her hands and stepped back, her cheeks flushed red, somewhat at a loss.
Henry smiled slightly and handed her a water pouch, saying: "I washed this water pouch very clean and filled it with pure mountain spring water. Drink up."
Edith quickly took the water pouch with both hands, no longer being particular, and immediately tilted her head back to drink several large gulps.
(End of Chapter)
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