Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

He has already been thoroughly tempered in the melting pot of Numa Town; now, he has simply moved to a bigger stage.

Logan was prepared for this; during those days of revelry, he hadn't stopped thinking for a moment. Even after taking office, he showed excellent adaptability, immediately beginning to execute the only instruction Zhang Renfeng had given him.

stable.

At this stage, there's no need for drastic changes; proceeding steadily is the greatest victory.

Meanwhile, the members of the Red Center Gang all embarked on their respective "relaxation journeys" according to the pre-arranged routes.

Zhang Renfeng and Tito set off together, going directly to a nearby post station and taking a carriage to San Quintak, the largest transportation hub in New Austin. They bought tickets, boarded an interstate train, and amidst the roar of the engine, crossed the border into New Elizabeth, heading straight for Dover Hill.

Bang, bang, bang.

The train traveled along the tracks, seemingly without end. The scenery outside the window hadn't changed much; everywhere was just grass, grass, grass… At first, Zhang Renfeng was lamenting how long it had been since he'd ridden a train. The last time he'd been on one was when he was chasing Wendigo. Only that time, he hadn't bought a ticket; he'd jumped directly onto the roof.

"what……"

Feeling utterly bored, Zhang Renfeng yawned and looked at the girl sitting opposite him.

Zhang Tito.

A mysterious mixed-race girl.

She sat right across from him, but unlike him, she didn't seem to be idly staring into space. Instead, her gaze seemed fixed on something strange, as if she were intently watching something. Although she tried to control her facial expressions, Zhang Renfeng could still tell from her raised eyebrows and the corners of her mouth that she was smiling. And it was genuine happiness.

"What's so interesting?" Zhang Renfeng was a little confused. Following her gaze, no matter how many times he tried or what angle he looked from, he could only see the patterns on the table.

Would a person with a sound mind genuinely laugh because of the grain on a wooden table?

Zhang Renfeng thought it was unlikely.

Judging from her words and actions, she doesn't seem to have any mental problems. So there's only one answer left: this girl can see things that I can't see!

"Ha..." Zhang Renfeng couldn't help but laugh at himself, shaking his head and sighing. It must be because he was having too much fun chatting with his friends about the strange tales of their hometowns the night before last, and now he was starting to let his mind wander.

However, upon closer reflection, there are indeed many strange things about this girl. The strangest of all is her background.

Mixed-race.

In this country, people with yellow skin have a very low social status. Even I am called "yellow savage" wherever I go. It's hard to imagine any white woman marrying someone with yellow skin.

That said, she looked to be at least twenty years old, which means her Chinese father must have arrived in this country at least twenty years ago, around 1859. From a chronological perspective, it makes some sense...

……

The waiting time during the journey is so boring. Now it's getting dark, and there's no scenery to see outside the car window.

Unlike Tito, Zhang Renfeng couldn't find amusement in staring at the cracks on the table; he could only let his mind wander to the girl in front of him. He subconsciously reached for a cigarette to relieve his boredom, but then felt it wasn't appropriate to smoke while sitting opposite her. After rummaging in his bag for a moment, he pulled out a pack of chewing tobacco.

Unexpectedly, the girl suddenly looked up as if she had received an alarm, staring straight at him with a look of disdain that seemed to say, "I haven't seen you for a moment, why are you starting again?"

Ever since that day in the house when she talked to him at length about muscles, nerves, and evolution, the girl had become much more relaxed in his presence, no longer the person she always pretended to be in front of others. She spoke her mind freely, without holding back at all.

What is that in your hand?

"Uh... chewing tobacco?" Zhang Renfeng was a little unsure of himself after being asked that question, and he even took a closer look at the tobacco packaging—it had a picture of a man with a big laughing face on it, who looked like he was missing a few teeth. "【Laughing Jack】brand, made in the Great Valley."

"Could you open the lid for a moment?" Zhang Tito's expression was subtle. She covered her right eye with her hand, staring at the chewing tobacco in his hand with only her left eye. It was at this moment that Zhang Renfeng noticed that the bruise on her right eye was not healing.

She opened the lid, stared at the mixed tobacco inside for a long time, hesitated several times before finally letting out a long sigh.

"Keep chewing this stuff, or your mouth will rot."

"Huh?!" Zhang Renfeng was quite startled by her casual remark. "It can't be that bad, can it? I've seen a lot of cowboys and gunmen chewing this stuff..."

“They won’t even live that long.” Zhang Tito looked at it with disgust. “Chewing this thing is like absorbing nicotine directly through your oral mucosa. It’s more efficient than smoking, how could it not have an effect on your body?”

"Over time, the body gets used to this dosage and becomes dependent on nicotine, which is how smoking addiction develops. Long-term use of chewing tobacco leads to addiction much faster than smoking, and it becomes very difficult to quit. You'll end up chewing one pack after another until nicotine poisoning causes kidney disease or oral cancer!"

The scientist's warning was always so powerful that Zhang Renfeng broke out in a cold sweat and quickly threw the chewing tobacco aside.

"If only there were drugs that had no side effects on the body and could even make you feel energized after you took them," he sighed, dreaming of the future. "Well, as Igor said, science is amazing, so let's leave it to science."

"Maybe it will be available in a hundred or two hundred years, but I'll definitely be too old to enjoy it... I really envy those people in the future."

He crossed his arms and indulged in irresponsible fantasies.

Zhang Tito remained silent for a moment, his eyes dimming, and murmured, "Where do you think this kind of thing will be used after it's actually invented?"

"Huh?" Zhang Renfeng was stunned; he really hadn't thought that far ahead. "Like... sports or something?"

"That's a stimulant, it already exists. But what you're talking about is a drug that prevents fatigue without sleep."

Zhang Tito shook his head, a hint of bitterness in his smile, "Not needing to sleep, not getting tired, also means..."

"People can keep working now."

Chapter 411: Isn't this hot pot base?!

"Will it really turn out like that?" Zhang Renfeng was astonished by this deduction. "Does 'always' mean 'always farming on a plantation'? Or 'always working in a factory'?"

“No, um… sigh…” Zhang Tito sighed, rubbed his forehead and shook his head, feeling a sense of helplessness that he couldn’t quite explain. “Forget what I said, just pretend I didn’t say anything. Who knows what will happen in a hundred or two hundred years?”

"I always thought that scientific advancements would benefit people," Zhang Renfeng exclaimed. "Now that you mention it, it doesn't seem that way."

"It depends on how you interpret it. 'Science' itself is a very broad concept. A theorem, a formula, or the discovery of a new substance may eventually become a bomb or a weapon. During the Civil War, many new weapons were used on the battlefield, resulting in a number of casualties on both the North and the South that far exceeded those of previous wars."

"It is foreseeable that with the advancement of technology, weapons will become more and more advanced, and more deadly and terrifying weapons will appear on the battlefield in the future. Similarly, wars will eventually end, and after that, military-grade items will gradually be made available for civilian use to facilitate people's daily lives."

"Speaking of which..."

Zhang Tito suddenly changed the subject, looked at Zhang Renfeng, and said meaningfully, "You've really reaped the benefits of this era when technology was underdeveloped."

She lowered her voice slightly, leaned closer, and whispered, "'Mr. Hongzhong'."

Clang, clang...

The train continued its smooth journey, and everything inside the carriage swayed rhythmically.

These light, almost incantation-like words stirred Zhang Renfeng's curiosity, and through them, he seemed to glimpse a corner of the future.

"why?"

"You've practically turned New Austin upside down. Sparrow Hills, Whitepost, White Torch, St. Quintak, Windhaven, Heart of the Earth, and now Three Horses... Your territory has become a single, interconnected whole, like a game of Go. The myth of Red Center will spread rapidly through taverns along the railroad tracks and by the ships."

"Imagine, 'Eight members of the Red Center Gang raided and annihilated over a thousand members of the Thunder Fury Gang.' Even without embellishment, how terrifying would the impact be if this were to spread? You would have unknowingly become an unshakeable symbol."

"However, even so, the vast majority of the bigwigs in the Northern government know nothing about you."

"In a society with more advanced information transmission and stricter surveillance of the public, super gangs like the Red China Gang would simply not exist. Once you gain power, you will be exposed to the government and have nowhere to hide."

“They won’t tolerate you gradually encroaching on their territory. After you cause a ruckus in the Sandstorm, a more powerful machine of violence will descend from the sky and nip you in the bud. Instead of just some Pinkerton detectives coming to bother you now.”

Zhang Renfeng imagined that kind of world. According to Tito's description, it was as if countless eyes were staring at him all the time, and he felt a chill down his spine.

To hide the chill in his heart, he pretended not to care and smiled, "It seems that living too long doesn't bring any benefits. I'm really worried about my senior sister. If she really lives to that point, all the land will have been occupied, and she probably won't even be able to find a place to cultivate in peace."

"Sister?"

Originally, her gaze was fixed on the moon and stars hanging high in the night sky outside the car window. The girl opened her eyes wide, as if she wanted to etch this ordinary starry sky into her eyes forever, but when she heard this keyword, she suddenly turned her head.

which one?

Before she could even ask her question, a somewhat obsequious and ingratiating voice suddenly came from the side, "Sir, Madam, would you be interested in learning more?"

"Kraken Brand Special Snake Oil, this was personally formulated by Kraken, which is me. It's completely different from those on the market made with lizards or other amphibians. The ingredients we use are from an ancient recipe from across the distant ocean—genuine Chinese water snakes! One drop relieves fatigue, two drops refresh the mind, three drops..."

“This thing is for gunmen, I don’t need it.” Zhang Renfeng looked at the tattered and somewhat disheveled man in front of him and couldn’t help but ask, “Also, are you sure it’s really made from Chinese water snakes? It’s across the sea, and you’re going to make the round trip just to catch a few water snakes?”

"Hmm...hmm?!" Kraken glanced at Zhang Renfeng, narrowed his eyes, and then noticed that he had yellow skin. He immediately became nervous. "Could it be that you...but, you don't have a braid on your head either."

"I cut it off a long time ago." Zhang Renfeng snorted irritably. "It's a pity that I'll never be able to use my braid skills in this lifetime."

"So you're the snake oil dealer." Zhang Tito looked at him with great curiosity, sizing him up as if he were a textbook example, nodding repeatedly, "I see, it's this dirty attire..."

"Yes, I made a mistake, I'm so sorry!" Kraken didn't even bother to change the bottle, but hurriedly corrected himself, "This, this is an old recipe passed down by Native American witch doctors, made with real rattlesnakes... Ah, this hasn't been paid for yet, please don't open it!"

But it was no use. Zhang Tito simply reached out and snatched the bottle of snake oil from his hand.

Her strength was terrifying. She held Kraken down with one hand and used two fingers of her other hand to hold the bottle cap. With a gentle twist, she managed to pry it open using only her finger strength, pouring some of the contents onto the back of her hand.

She closed her right eye and stared at the thin layer of snake oil on the back of her hand with only her left eye for a long time.

"The Omega-3 fatty acid content is almost zero," she shook her head, declaring with a very "regrettable" tone, "The oily components are basically all mineral oil, with a little butter and chili oil..."

"What..." Kraken was terrified, his lips trembling uncontrollably. "How did you know?"

"Isn't this supposed to be hot pot broth?" Zhang Renfeng couldn't help but curse. "You bunch of unscrupulous merchants, if you can't catch a Chinese water snake, you won't even use a rattlesnake. At least add some mint!"

"No, that's not it, the goods I used are fine." Kraken was clearly panicked, trying to snatch the bottle of snake oil back from the girl, but he found that he couldn't overpower her seemingly fair arm. He could only lower his stance and plead, "I won't sell it anymore, I won't sell it anymore, give it back to me..."

----

Interestingly, Zhang Renfeng didn't pay for the train tickets himself. The ticket office staff recognized him immediately and, without saying a word, handed him two tickets for the most luxurious carriage, telling him it was a small token of appreciation from Mayor Mei Xiu.

It seems that the news of the Red Center Gang's bold declaration of war against the Thunder Fury Gang and their resounding victory has spread to the nearby towns at an extremely fast pace.

Mayhew and the Red Center Gang had also done a series of business deals and were considered partners in the past.

With Zhang Renfeng's help, he eliminated the Italians who had been dominating the city and became the true ruler of the city.

He himself has always been a shrewd calculator; he would never offer help in times of need without being absolutely certain. But he would never pass up a small favor that could serve as a way to show his presence.

The carriages, the food, the drinks—every imaginable service was top-notch. Even more so, to demonstrate its importance, the train was staffed with a considerable number of security personnel. Of course, he knew these were merely symbolic gestures.

If a security situation actually arises, it's uncertain who will protect whom.

……

"Mr. Bruce, is there a problem here?" Several bodyguards walked quickly towards him, speaking in a very respectful tone.

Naturally, he noticed the snake oil dealer who was entangled with Zhang Renfeng.

"Did this person disturb your rest? We'll kick him off the bus right away."

Kraken's expression also turned deathly pale.

When he sneaked in, he felt something was wrong. How come there were only the two of them sitting in such a big carriage?

He had intended to fleece a bunch of rich people, but unexpectedly, he ran into a brick wall. He bit his lip, filled with regret, and his shoulders trembled involuntarily.

……

"It's alright, no need." Zhang Renfeng took in his trembling and cowering appearance, hesitated for a moment, and then suddenly changed his mind, saying, "I can handle my own affairs, you all go ahead with your work."

Chapter 412: A Bone-Covering Tumor

"what……"

Kraken was already exhausted. Watching the two security guards leave, he seemed to wake from a dream, his temples throbbing. He couldn't believe he had escaped such a close call. As if his bones had been removed, he collapsed to his knees with a thud.

Zhang Renfeng felt a complex mix of emotions as he looked at his terrified expression.

Deep down, he always resisted becoming like this, but there was nothing he could do; he ended up becoming this way anyway. Some things, once the first step is taken, are irreversible. Even with immense strength, he couldn't change it.

At first, he simply wanted to live freely and unrestrained on this land. To uphold justice, help the weak and punish the strong, rob the rich to help the poor—he had no ties here, no blood relatives to worry about. In the days that followed, he decided to live entirely for himself, seeking only the fulfillment of one thought.

However, now that the Red Central Gang has become more and more well-known and its territory has expanded, the name "Zhang Renfeng" no longer belongs entirely to him.

His words and deeds will be dissected and analyzed meticulously, down to the last punctuation mark. Directly or indirectly, he will determine the lives of many.

Take this guy in front of us, for example. Whether his days ahead will be miserable or wonderful depends entirely on a single sentence he utters.

"Um, I don't know why, but thank you... really..." Kraken wasn't sure who the person in front of him was, but he knew that the other party had let him off the hook, so he quickly thanked them, "My family depends on this stall for their livelihood, if it gets smashed..."

"You're the only one with family?" Zhang Renfeng frowned slightly and snapped, "What about those who bought your fake medicine and got sick? Don't they have families?"

"Yes, I'm sorry! I did forge it, but... this formula shouldn't kill anyone, so, um..."

His voice grew softer and softer as he spoke, almost to the point of kowtowing to himself.

Zhang Renfeng sighed inwardly.

Was he afraid of his own strength? Of course not. Since meeting him, he had not displayed any exaggerated strength. If we're talking about "strength," it was probably Zhang Tito's power that shocked the snake oil dealer more.

What he feared was his own power.

Why does someone with yellow skin not have a queue? Why can they afford to fly first class? Why can they enjoy the best service? Why are there special train police officers who come over and are so respectful? People make connections. After complex calculations in the brain, all of this will naturally lead to a conclusion.

Even if one has no intention of using or possessing such power, these things will still cling to one's will, like a persistent, intractable disease.

"Stand up! You're not allowed to talk to me while kneeling!" Zhang Renfeng, seeing his anger, grabbed his shoulder, lifted him up, and forced him to sit in the opposite seat. "You mean, the things you sell are harmless to the human body? Are you sure?"

"This, this..." Kraken tensed up at his question, stammering and unable to speak, his eyes darting around.