Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

Until the road ahead, it forked.

Two roads lay before us, and in the distance along one of them, wisps of smoke rose from chimneys.

The group stopped, and countless eyes turned to Evans, who had led them all the way here.

“This…” Evans was silent for a while, then suddenly realized what was going on and burst into laughter again.

"Stop, just say what you want to say, stop laughing, okay?" Qiao suddenly said. "Where are you going?"

“I understand, he did it on purpose… Weapons aside, the Red Center Gang is ultimately just a gang, a gang! In such a short time, those willing to be loyal to him are the truly valuable resource! He's short of people, short of people!”

Evans' tone had become somewhat obsessive, even insane, "If he didn't need manpower, why would he bother setting up this kind of trap? Wouldn't it be better to deploy large armies on both roads and let us crash into them? Yes, he's short of manpower. Only someone who's short of manpower would make us play this two-choice game..."

"See that wisp of smoke? That's a smokescreen, deliberately designed to make us think there's an ambush on this road, so we'll choose the seemingly quieter path. In fact, the path with the smoke is the safest!"

"go!"

……

Whether it's right or wrong, when people are in danger, they subconsciously rely on firm and powerful arguments. Evans took advantage of this; in any case, the most important thing was to get this group of people out of danger with him.

The mountain path, though not particularly long, felt like it had taken hundreds of years. Finally, the source of the smoke drew ever closer.

It was a bonfire that was burning brightly.

“I knew it.” Evans kicked a piece of firewood by the fire and sneered, “They don’t have as many people as we thought. Come to think of it, they just had the advantage of superior weaponry. They overwhelmed us first, and then…”

"what!!"

"ah----!!!"

A scream interrupted him again.

Turning my head, I saw a person on fire, like a lit candle, roaring and running wildly, finally tripping over the piece of wood he had just kicked and falling headfirst into the blazing campfire... The screams stopped.

"The Raiders of Lamo'en are here!" Meteora roared from the mountaintop, raising his arm in a shout, "Boys, fire! Give them a good beating!"

……

Incendiary bombs, high-explosive bombs, and high-velocity bullets rained down like downpours. While Evans' side might have outnumbered the enemy, the visual impact of these two types of bullets was utterly devastating!

Seeing their comrades being blown to pieces or set on fire, the demoralized crowd no longer dared to engage in battle.

Moreover, the Raiders of Lamoine were no pushovers. The moment the gunfire erupted, the outcome was decided; the already dwindling force was scattered once more. Evans had no choice but to continue along the mountain path, until it was completely deserted.

----

The mountain path is narrow, with towering rock walls on both sides.

go.

Now, all the horses that had accompanied them were dead. Without replacements, and having been chased all over the mountains and fields, morale was low, and everyone was exhausted and hungry.

Almost everyone is pondering the same question: "What sins did I commit to deserve this suffering?"

……

"what!"

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!"

However, Evans, walking in the middle of the group, suddenly seemed to lose his mind, tilting his head back and bursting into a wild laugh towards the valley. The laughter came so suddenly and without warning that even Joe, standing beside him, was startled, speechless, and turned to look at him as if he were looking at a leper in the throes of a seizure.

Joe asked coldly, "You laughed before, which attracted artillery fire; you laughed again, which attracted a volley of fire... Now that things are like this, what's there to laugh about?"

After laughing for a while, seeing no one echoing his sentiments, Evans felt a little guilty and glanced around. Seeing everything was normal, he relaxed and began his second laugh, "No matter how powerful these weapons are, this Red Center... is ultimately incompetent!"

"Look at the surrounding terrain. It's surrounded by mountain walls on two sides, the road is so narrow, and it's covered in moss. It's extremely disadvantageous for us. If it were me, and I were to ambush another team here... what would happen?! Ahhh?!"

"..."

Qiao looked around with a pained expression, truly embodying the phrase "neither crying nor laughing."

"We'll lie in ambush here, waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. By the time we get here, they'll be exhausted. We can wipe them all out without lifting a finger!"

"A whole plan, yet it falls short at the last hurdle. What else could it be but incompetence? Hahahaha—!!"

----

"Thump—!"

A figure plummeted from a great height, landing on the ground amidst a cloud of dust. His last laugh was abruptly cut short.

Heavy armor.

A large knife.

That familiar figure slowly rose and stood right at the entrance to the mountain path.

Like the final move in a game of Go, it completely blocked the lifeline they were desperately trying to survive!

Chapter 537: This is not a civilized land

Evans closed his eyes, took a few deep breaths, gritted his teeth until the veins on his forehead bulged, and finally mustered up a bit more courage.

"At this point, whether we stick our necks out or not, we'll be killed anyway. We have nowhere to escape."

"As you can see, this guy is Red Center! He is the culprit behind all this, the root of all our suffering tonight!"

"The Osborn family's bounty, plus the bounties in the two states... that amount of money is enough for a lifetime."

"Get rid of him!"

He drew his revolver, raised his voice slightly, and shouted urgently to his men.

The Osborn family members, accustomed to solving the same problems, had developed a path dependency. Even in this final challenge, he was still trying to motivate them by exploiting the greed inherent in human nature.

Ultimately, the reason was that most of the people here had never seen Zhang Renfeng unleash his full power—in their view, he was simply hiding beside the horse's belly, suddenly stabbing Tolman in the back. After that, the excessive bombardment left them no time to remember Zhang Renfeng.

He's just a person in armor; he's much easier to deal with than bombs, Gatling guns, and field artillery.

……

"boom----!!!"

Facing him, Zhang Renfeng didn't wait for him to finish speaking. Instead, he picked up the hilt of his sword and hurled the long sword at him like a javelin.

Such a heavy object, when released, would inevitably make a deep, powerful whistling sound. In a fleeting moment, a Pinkerton detective, eager to claim the tens of thousands of dollars in bounty, was struck through the heart and lungs before he could even draw his gun. His body slumped down, his hands hanging limply at his sides.

The blade sank several feet into the ground!

This single stab was more convincing than anything else; the previously noisy crowd fell silent. The feeling of being pierced through the heart and lungs must not have been pleasant. At the moment of death, with eyes wide open, mouth agape, and blood gushing from the mouth and nose, such a gruesome death served as the best warning.

He was adept at creating such a spectacle with brute force during battle to deplete his opponent's adrenaline.

This trick really worked.

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

……

The crowd was stunned and hesitated to move forward. Zhang Renfeng then took a step and walked slowly toward them, his footsteps heavy.

He reached his hands to his lower back and with a "whoosh," two short halberds that had been slung over his back were suddenly drawn!

Zhang Renfeng twisted his wrist, wielding the halberd with the motion of a knife, performing a flourish as he continued walking. Each step he took from his heavy metal armor produced a metallic clang, like the tolling of a death knell, making everyone's hearts pound and leaving them in a predicament of neither advancing nor retreating.

"Wait a moment!!"

Under immense pressure, Joe finally took action, shouting as he pulled his gun from his belt and threw it on the ground.

Zhang Renfeng stopped immediately, like a precise machine.

As they got closer, the crowd noticed the bullets embedded in his armor and the marks left by various types of bullets, and their expressions immediately changed.

They followed suit, throwing their guns, along with those in their belts and holsters, onto the ground. At first, only bounty hunters did this, but it quickly spread to Pinkerton detectives, and eventually, even members of the oversight team surrendered.

To be honest, my survival to this day has little to do with my skills; it's all down to luck.

Since God has already shown such favor, why waste your life in vain? This is the true thought in most people's hearts.

The sound of chaotic hooves came from behind. Meteora, leading a band of rangers, had outflanked them from the rear, completely cutting off their retreat. At this point, the weight lifted from everyone's hearts; having surrendered their guns, they naturally had no intention of fighting anymore.

"Heh...good, very good, Red Center...congratulations, you've won."

"I've heard about you, and I've heard about what you did in Lagras... Playing God must have felt great for you, right?"

He gradually raised his voice and continued, "You won't go far. This is already a civilized land! Barbarians like you, who make their fortunes by fighting, killing, and plundering land, have no place to live! We've lost to you, but the next wave will be the mounted police and state police. If they lose too, the next to suffer will be the army! And the whole country!"

Evans knew the situation was hopeless, but he was the only one in the group who would never surrender to the Reds.

He could only spread his arms and say sarcastically, "You want to kill me? Go ahead. It's my bad luck to have fallen into the hands of a ruthless bandit like you. Come on! Don't you like playing God in Lagras? Grant me death."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Zhang Renfeng suddenly took off his helmet and tossed it lightly to the ground.

"Thump—!"

The metal helmet fell to the ground with a loud thud, making Evans' shoulders tremble and his whole body shake. He couldn't imagine that a piece of protective gear worn on the head and supported by the head, shoulders, and neck could have such weight.

Just as rumored, Hong Zhong is a person of Asian descent.

Beneath the helmet, two shallow marks were pressed into his face. Those eyes, seemingly steeped in the darkness of night, gazed at him with utter calm.

"I...you..."

Zhang Renfeng remained silent, but suddenly quickened his pace, keeping his upper body still, and strode directly into the crowd. No one dared to stop him; they all parted to make way, allowing him to walk in unimpeded and, in an instant, stand right in front of Evans.

A gust of thick, pungent wind blew in his face—the smell of blood emanating from his armor.

He was almost forehead to forehead with me, his head slightly lowered, staring intently at me.

"..."

He wanted to throw out a few sarcastic remarks, but the words caught in his throat and he couldn't utter a single one, swallowing them back down with difficulty.

A moment later, sweat began to bead on his forehead, his lips trembled, and his teeth chattered. His earlier arrogance had completely vanished. It was as if the person standing before him wasn't a human, but a four- or five-meter-tall grizzly bear, staring intently at him. The slightest movement would result in its paw slamming down and smashing his head like a watermelon!

Only at this moment did he realize that money, power, status, family affairs... these invincible tools in society will eventually run out.

----

"What you said is all correct."

Zhang Renfeng's tone was slow and leisurely. Although it was a statement of fact, it did not express any certainty. Instead, it felt like a heavy burden was pressing down on him.

"There's just one thing..."

"This place is not a civilized land, and there is no civilization to speak of."

“You… how dare you…” Evans was somewhat annoyed, but stared at by those eyes, he had no strength to resist, and even his voice was extremely timid.

"You said you've heard of me? Coincidentally, I've heard of you too. You're willing to do anything for money, right?"

Zhang Renfeng reached out and gently pressed his shoulder, then smiled warmly.

That smile made him shudder, clearly quite frightened.

"Don't be afraid, you're different from your two brothers... you're still useful."

"Come with me!"

Chapter 538: Victory Celebration Banquet

"And then?" David yawned, propped his elbows on the table, supported his head with his hands, and asked while twirling a pen. "Go on."

“Yes, I… I’ll continue… I… Two years ago, I received orders from Evans. It was a very confidential job. He ordered me to kill an accountant because he had discovered a company secret—a fraudulent accounting scheme! I did it. I didn’t really want to! But I had no choice; it was my job. They paid me, so I had to…”

"What money?" David asked directly, ignoring his emotional outpouring.

"Ok?"

"You just said he paid you, so was it in US dollars? Bonds? Gold? Or some other equivalent? Be clear."

"Uh, it should be... US dollars..."

"How many?"