Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

From above, the vast grassland looks like a firefly in the night.

After doing all this, Ryan extinguished the campfire in the hunter's camp, picked up his rifle, and anything else he could use, including food and alcohol. He and the horse carrying the carcass maintained a distance that was neither too close nor too far, keeping a low profile and hiding in the darkness.

To be honest, Ryan didn't know the point of doing this. He only knew that when he glanced into the dark grassland, he felt an intense sense of insecurity. That monster called Red Center could catch up at any moment and tear him to pieces.

At this moment, the insecurity has not disappeared, but at least he has done all he could.

He had given it his all in this game of hunting and being hunted.

……

When the rapid, drum-like footsteps approached from not far away, Ryan's heart sank. He hoped that he would waste his energy and that nothing would happen, and that he would safely walk out of the grassland.

Unfortunately, reality did not unfold as he had hoped. He could only dart away and hide behind the nearest rock, curling up into a ball.

----

"Holy..."

In the light of the kerosene lamp, Ryan could clearly see a figure sprinting toward him at top speed.

This was the first time he had seen Zhang Renfeng run; no wild animal that was good at running could compare to the sense of speed and power he displayed.

His pupils widened involuntarily. It was hard to imagine that a person could run all the way from the oil refinery at a pace comparable to a racehorse. Rather than running, it was more like his legs were practically flying across the grass!

If he didn't do anything, he would naturally become easy prey for the other man on horseback. But now... at least, he had given himself a chance to fight back.

One shot.

Ryan gritted his teeth, his hand gripping the shotgun trembling slightly as he gave himself a mental pep talk.

Wait until he gets close, aim for his head, and fire!

Hongzhong was not invincible; this should be his last and best chance. Just as he pulled the corpse off his horse, thinking he had won a great victory and lowered his guard, he fired this shot.

The outcome of a battle can be reversed with just one bullet!

……

The figure, about ten meters away from the horse, suddenly braked sharply, stopped, and stared expressionlessly at "himself" on the horse's back for a long time.

"??!"

Ryan was terrified.

He didn't know how far Zhang Renfeng had run, only that after he stopped, he didn't even pant. He merely adjusted his breathing twice with his mouth, and then he was no different from an ordinary person. Standing there, he was like a piece of dead wood or a stone, without making a sound. This inhuman fear brought his inner torment and regret to their peak.

Damn it, the world is so big, how did I end up provoking this monster?! He cursed inwardly, trying his best to steady his hand holding the gun.

No.

Too far.

With his sights fixed on the horse, Zhang Renfeng kept his eyes firmly on it, his feet seemingly welded to the ground, refusing to take a single step forward.

"Damn it, it's right in front of him, how can he resist?" Ryan was so anxious that he was like a thousand ants consuming his heart. He mouthed the words to himself and cursed in a low voice, "Move, you stupid donkey, move forward!"

He almost licked his lips until they cracked open.

His mount, carrying the corpse, continued to move slowly forward, the light of the kerosene lamp gradually fading into the distance.

At a certain dividing line, Zhang Renfeng's figure disappeared from the illumination radius of the kerosene lamp.

The next moment, he disappeared.

----

"?!"

Ryan's heart skipped a beat, his eyes blinked rapidly, and despite wearing only a shirt and jacket, sweat poured down his forehead.

His hand holding the gun gradually lost control and began to tremble, the barrel striking the stone with a rattling sound.

"Where are they? Where are they?!"

He screamed inwardly and couldn't help but peek half his head out from behind the rock, wanting to see what was happening around him.

Just as he leaned out...

The cold muzzle of the gun protruded from the opposite side of the rock, pressing precisely against his forehead.

"what……"

Ryan's expression twisted in terror, causing the muscles in his face to twitch.

----

"Are you looking for me?"

Zhang Renfeng's face and arms slowly rose from the other side of the stone, and that somewhat terrifying smile became a nightmare that would be forever etched in his mind.

"what---"

"Boom!"

With a backhand slam, he struck Ryan on the head with the butt of his rifle, knocking him completely unconscious.

Body and soul together plummeted to the cold ground.

Chapter 680: You didn't lose to the Yellow Barbarians, you lost to the stable handyman.

"what!"

Ryan was awakened by a sharp pain. His hands were tightly bound by a rope, and a girl with a scarred face was squatting beside him, tightening the rope with great force.

Not far away, Hong Zhongzheng and another man dug a hole, buried the body on horseback, and placed a tree branch as a makeshift grave. Besides the scarred girl, there was a white man standing next to him, who looked to be in his fifties or sixties, bald, with dead fish eyes, staring straight at him.

“Heh, you old codger who’s about to die, and that woman with the scar on her face…” Ryan knew he couldn’t escape, so he rolled over on the ground, spat, and taunted, “Does it have to be this kind of weirdo to join your team?”

Xiaomei's gaze was devoid of any warmth; she didn't even lower her head, as if she were looking at a bag of garbage about to be burned.

“We haven’t met yet,” Mike said casually.

"Ha, you know me... what right do you have to know me?" Ryan cracked his neck, turned around, and sneered, "Outlaws like you will only end up on the gallows. I have no habit of dealing with corpses!"

“I am Mike Reinhardt.” Mike didn’t waste any words, getting straight to the point, “I was one of the bodyguards your son hired, and he paid me a good salary. At least on the night he died, I was on his side.”

"However, his employment contract with me should have been automatically terminated the moment he died."

“You…you…” Ryan’s breathing became rapid, and he clenched his back teeth.

No matter what he says he doesn't care, he is still his own son, a blood relative with whom he is destined to be inseparable.

Mike, completely unconcerned about his emotions, continued in a calm tone, "Perhaps I should thank you too."

"You put me and Hong Zhong on the same wanted poster."

"After I got back, the more I thought about it, the more aggrieved I felt, and the more I felt cheated."

"I traveled all this way by train just to leave some savings for my family while I'm still able to work... And now, less than a day after arriving in Fengchuisha, I've become a wanted criminal, on the same list as the infamous 'Red Center.' Who knows how many bounty hunters are aiming for my head."

Mike shrugged and laughed, "Now that things have come to this, wouldn't it be a huge loss if we didn't cooperate with Red China?"

"In the end, the original Red Center Gang only consisted of three people: me, him, and this girl... She has a lot to say to you."

"No rush." ​​Xiaomei tilted her head and spoke in such a cold tone for the first time. "We have plenty of time."

"..."

Ryan's expression changed several times, first astonishment, then disbelief, and then, Ryan actually pulled Mike's name from the depths of his memory.

Back then, in the Red Bird Tavern, he even smashed Mark Durand's head with an ashtray, labeled the bodyguard as an accomplice of Red Bird, and announced the bounty on the two of them to various bounty hunter organizations.

Later, when Inspector Mark was killed, the entire Chaidel faction in Windblown Sands was almost wiped out in blood, and it took a long time just to reorganize the police force.

Later on... the things that Hongzhong did became more and more terrifying.

The Red Center gang took root, sprouted, and grew in New Austin, and bounty hunter groups seemed to have reached a consensus to stop targeting them. The bounty never increased again, and no one mentioned the matter again.

The earliest Red China Gang was actually created by myself. Is there anything more absurd in this world?

----

"I found a huge pile of banknotes on that poor man." Zhang Renfeng scattered these large denomination US dollars in front of Ryan and sneered, "They're yours, aren't they?"

"Do you think that everything in this world, including human life, can be bought with money?"

……

"How did you do that?" Ryan didn't answer his question, but instead asked a new one.

"what do you mean?"

“This trap… I used every resource at my disposal. I just went through my thoughts for a long time, and there wasn’t a single oversight. How did you see through it? Do you have X-ray vision?” Ryan straightened his neck and gritted his teeth. “I won’t accept this! I can’t just lose to a foreigner like this without any explanation! Tell me the truth! Tell me…”

"Boom!"

Xiao Mei kicked him hard in the jaw, without holding back at all, knocking out several of his teeth.

Ryan coughed up blood repeatedly from the kick, his face filled with terror. Only at this moment did he realize that, away from private security, sheriffs, Pinkerton detectives, and the protection of civilized society, so many people wanted him dead.

“…Alright, Xiaomei.” Zhang Renfeng gently put his arm around the girl’s shoulder and teased, “I hope this kick will make you realize your own situation. Fortunately, I’m in a good mood tonight and am willing to satisfy my defeated opponent’s little bit of strong thirst for knowledge.”

"As for the reason, it's very simple: have you ever seen a horse?"

Ryan spat out the blood and foam from his mouth and looked at him with the eyes of someone who looked at a lunatic.

“Of course you’ve seen them. You have plenty of money. Arabian horses, Tennessee horses, Dutch warmbloods… you can buy anything with money. But you’ve certainly never observed a horse for as long as I have.”

"Their skin is quite sensitive. If a fly lands on their body, they will swirl their tails to shoo it away from such a tiny object, let alone a person."

“When a living person rides a horse, their thighs will unconsciously exert force and press against the horse’s back. The rider uses the reins and stirrups to control them. When all these forces are gone, the horse’s state will also change completely. It can fully sense that what is riding on its back is a lifeless ‘thing’.”

"The difference is obvious, at least to me. Since there is a corpse on the horse, the real person must be hiding nearby. We can figure that out by eliminating possibilities. Apart from that rock, there is nowhere else to hide."

"Are you satisfied?"

……

Ryan's expression had shifted from shock to numbness, even bewilderment. "You... how do you know all this..."

"Before I killed your son, I worked as a helper in your Windblown Sands stables, tending to the horses for almost a year. Didn't anyone tell you that?" Zhang Renfeng's tone was full of sarcasm. He turned slightly to the side and said with a smile, "You see, Mr. Chaider, you weren't defeated by a mere barbarian..."

"But he lost to a stable boy."

For Ryan, the latter was far more humiliating than the former.

"Oh...ah..."

He closed his eyes in agony, gritted his teeth, and murmured, "Kill me...kill me..."

"Ha, kill you?" Zhang Renfeng asked with a laugh. "Do you know why we arrested you?"

……

Eagle slowly emerged from the darkness, his eyes filled with resentment as he looked at Ryan, whose hands were bound.

His attire and appearance made him instantly recognizable as an Indian. And at such a time, the presence of an Indian in their group was certainly no coincidence.

Ryan's face turned deathly pale instantly. He suddenly realized that Red's infiltration of the current situation was far deeper than he had thought.

They are not ordinary gangs at all!

Before he could think, Flying Eagle grabbed him by the collar and lifted him off the ground, his suppressed rage like erupting volcanic lava.

"Your son, along with you, started this war."

"Now that the flames of war have been ignited, we will soon find out..."

"Does he have the ability to quell everything he started?"

Chapter 681: One Path to Mount Hua

"Get out! Get out! All of you, get out!"

In the military camp, the sounds of things being smashed and angry shouts mingled together, creating an exceptionally loud noise.

The officers were ushered out and looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, all eyes turned to Captain Coulson. In terms of faction and background, he was the closest to Colonel Jarworth. In this situation, he naturally had no choice but to take responsibility. Once the sounds of things being smashed inside had subsided, he took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

"It's me, Colonel, I'm Captain Coulson." Before the shouting from inside the house could reach him, Coulson introduced himself. "There's been an emergency at the outpost camp in the south, and I need to report to you in person."

……

"come in."