Red Dead Redemption: The Great Philanthropist of the West

“We haven’t forgotten your words, ‘You must leave the ranch before May.’ We originally planned to finish dealing with the ranch and leave in March, but the process of dealing with the ranch has not gone smoothly and has been delayed until now.”

May is almost here, and remembering your instructions, we left some unimportant things at the ranch and left a couple of days ago.

However, a rare storm struck when we arrived here, leaving us stranded. We planned to continue south after the storm subsided. I never imagined we'd be so lucky to meet you, Henry.

"Henry, why are you here too?" Sadie asked, sipping her coffee as she explained why they were there.

“We’re tracking a gang of thugs, including Dalton, the leader of the Odrisco gang I told you about before. He killed my subordinate’s daughter, and we’re here to get revenge.”

I was thinking that since I hadn't heard from you for so long, I'd go check on your ranch after dealing with them, but I haven't been able to catch up with Dalton. Luckily, you didn't run into them. As far as I know, he led a gang of thugs towards your ranch. Didn't you encounter them on the way?

Sadie and Yak were startled when they heard Henry say that a group of bandits had gone to Adler Ranch, then they remembered something.

"Ark, do you remember the group of people we saw yesterday? Could it be them?" Sadie's voice unconsciously softened, and there was a hint of relief in it.

“I think so, thankfully we didn’t go out and run into them,” Yak replied, also relieved.

Hearing their conversation, Henry interrupted, "Can you describe the scene when you saw them? How many of them were there? Did you see the leader?"

"It was snowing at the time, but not heavily. Sadie and I had only been here a short time and hadn't had time to unpack. Just as we were leading our horses into the stables, their group happened to pass by and didn't see us."

There were about a dozen of them, all carrying long weapons, like repeating rifles. They all looked a bit like thugs, walking with an air of "Don't mess with me." The leader was a slightly overweight middle-aged man with a somewhat sleazy appearance. They were also loudly telling dirty jokes. "Oh, right, I heard one of them call the leader 'Mr. Dalton.' I didn't remember it when you mentioned it, but the name sounded familiar when you said it." Yak suddenly remembered the name of the bandit leader he had heard, raised his voice, and then patted his chest in fear. Sadie gripped Yak's other hand tightly.

"It seems it's them, Robert. Remember to arrange for people to keep watch carefully tonight; the enemy could return from Adler Ranch at any time. The rest of you who aren't on duty should rest. We'll take care of them tomorrow when the weather is better." After receiving confirmation, Henry instructed Robert to arrange for people to take turns on duty, while the others went back to rest and prepare for tomorrow's battle.

“Henry, can we come with you tomorrow? We want to see our ranch. We’ll take care of ourselves and won’t hold you back.” Hearing that Henry planned to go to Adler Ranch to deal with the enemies tomorrow, Sadie also wanted to go. She didn’t have a good impression of these bandits who were targeting their ranch, or even her, and wanted to lend a hand. She was never a passive person.

"Alright, you two can lead the way tomorrow. You're more familiar with this area. Get a good rest tonight. Don't worry, we'll have people on guard." After thinking for a moment, Henry decided it was better to bring the Adlers along. Besides the fact that they were more familiar with the surrounding terrain, Henry was also worried about them. There were quite a few Pinkerton detectives and bounty hunters nearby, and most importantly, the Van der Linde gang was already close by. It would be safer to have them with him. He didn't want a plot twist at the last minute, or an accident that killed Ark.

The night passed peacefully, and by morning, the wind had gradually died down.

Outside, a thick layer of snow had accumulated, covering the area in a silvery white, like a fairytale world. Fine snowflakes drifted down from the sky, their dense clusters forming a vast white canvas, reminding Henry of the scene described by the Tang Dynasty poet Cen Shen as "thousands of pear trees in bloom."

Henry decided it would be more reassuring to eliminate the enemy sooner rather than later, otherwise he would have to constantly guard against the enemy's possible sneak attacks.

The group left most of the supplies at the camp, leaving former sheriff Tom Smith, who had difficulty walking, and combat medic Henry Jones to guard them.

The others, along with the Adlers, rode their horses towards the Adler ranch with a small amount of supplies and weapons.

As they approached the ranch, Henry signaled for everyone to stop. He climbed a nearby hill, took out his binoculars, and began to carefully observe the ranch. It was nearly noon, and Dalton and his group were gathered in small groups around the campfire, preparing lunch. Judging from the chaotic state of the surroundings, it was clear they had been partying all night.

Henry handed the binoculars to Acker, gesturing for him to confirm if they were the same group of people he had seen the day before yesterday.

After observing for a while, Yak looked at the ravaged ranch and said angrily, "That's right, it's them. The one wearing the dark green coat is Dalton, the leader."

He patted Yak on the shoulder, then handed the binoculars to the impatient Ellie, confirming it was correct. Henry then took out two cylinder-locked rifles with long-barreled scopes and handed them to Sadie and Yak. Except for Wang Zhiqiang, who had never handled a long-barreled rifle before and served as the early warning officer, everyone else took out their own long-barreled rifles, spread out, found their ideal positions, and lay prone on high ground, aiming at everyone except Dalton.

This was the battle plan that everyone had agreed upon on the way here: to use their weapon advantage to eliminate the enemy from a distance. After Henry fired the first shot, blowing the head off one of the thugs next to Dalton, the others also opened fire on their respective targets.

Don't even mention how exhilarating it is to be the only one who can shoot others while they can't shoot you, and you don't even know where the enemy is. In his past life, Henry loved sniping in shooting games. He could take down enemies one by one from super long range, and after he finished shooting, the enemies couldn't even find him and were running around everywhere.

Similar to the scene now, as gunfire erupted, Dalton and his men jumped in fright. Before they even knew where the enemy was, many men fell around them. Some quick-thinking ones ran straight into the house, but they were all targeted by Henry, Robert, and Li Yi, who had the best long-range shooting skills, and were all headshot.

Apart from a few people still hungover inside, no one else dared to move. They all shouted and yelled, threw down their weapons, and surrendered by lying face down on the snow. Of course, there were also a few who were rolling around on the snow, clinging to legs or arms; those were beaten up by Ellie and Zhang Wei, whose skills were still lacking.

As for Sadie and Ark, the battle started and ended too quickly; they didn't even have time to aim at the enemy and fire before it was over.

Henry ordered his men to finish off the wounded and rolling enemies, then he and Robert continued to hold their guns while Li Yi, Ellie, and the others went down to search and tie up the surrendered enemies.