Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

Zhang Renfeng said in a deep voice, "The things we dug out in the chapel, one by one, are already enough to convict him. We just need a real 'person' to admit all of this in public."

To put it bluntly, this trial, which was specifically prepared for him, was like a public performance show.

The double, on behalf of the real Samuel Graves, took the blame for the crime that should have been his.

Just as Igor had predicted, the public had little interest in the lengthy and complicated trial, and life went on as usual. However, the news of Samuel's arrest and trial was bound to be a bombshell in American politics, causing a huge uproar.

The foundation of power is confidence.

Everyone believes that you are the one everyone looks up to, the one who is invincible, and that you can accomplish many things that were originally impossible.

Conversely, when you find yourself in a precarious situation, those who were originally attached to you and the forces that supported you will also collapse and flee very quickly.

In particular, the impact on the confidence in power was immense when Samuel's allies saw him "in person" on trial, handcuffed, with a blank stare and a vacant expression, confessing to his crimes one by one.

To ensure they could travel from all over the country and see it for themselves, Igor specifically adopted a public trial model and set the trial period at three full months.

For the first twenty days, it was just a matter of listing the crimes.

In this situation, the real Samuel found himself in a passive position.

Building confidence in power is incredibly difficult, brick by brick. But destroying it is all too easy. The crux of the problem is that Lu Aniu is dead; he no longer has enough leverage to maintain the foundation of his confidence.

To onlookers, this only confirmed the news of Samuel's arrest. The elephant known as the Illuminati was already lying on the ground, panting, and looked like it was about to die.

----

"So much trouble and so many deaths because of such a bastard... Sigh..." Mike stubbed out his cigarette, tossed it aside, and sighed heavily. "Hopefully this time, we can finally crush him completely."

Zhang Renfeng shook his head, looked at the flowing stream, and said in a deep voice, "Samuel's prestige was shattered by us, but his physical body remains. Such a person can generate enormous destructive power as long as he is not buried. We must not underestimate him."

"I'm afraid the battles to come are far from over."

……

"Old Zhang."

"Ok?"

“Do you remember, at that camp in Sparrow Hills, I told you… In the beginning, I only wanted to leave some money for my granddaughter, which is why I chose to enter this industry.” Mike’s gaze finally shifted from the river to the distant opposite bank, and he murmured, “Thirty thousand, I guess.”

"Thirty thousand, and you'll never have to worry about anything for the rest of your life."

"But now I understand... saying 'for the sake of family' is just me fooling myself. There is indeed such a motive, but it is not the whole story."

Mike skillfully lifted the fishing rod and caught a small fish. Without even glancing at it, he tossed it back into the river.

"I'm very good at this, I do it well, I love this kind of chivalrous, Robin Hood-like, free-spirited life, and..."

"You are a respectable leader."

“I can’t remember exactly when it was, maybe… it was around the time we took over Three Horses Town? Didn’t we divide up the Zola El family’s inheritance? Plus all the other income from before, I had already saved up $3. But for me, it’s not the same as it used to be.”

“Mike…” Zhang Renfeng was also somewhat moved.

“Look at me.” Mike showed him his bandaged right hand and said calmly, “My right hand is ruined.”

"You don't need to comfort me. I know my own skill level when it comes to shooting with my left hand. I can only be 'accurate,' let alone fast. Drawing the gun, aiming, and firing are no longer a smooth, continuous action. For decades, my shooting habits have been to draw the gun with my right hand and use my left hand for assistance. Now, I'm afraid I can't change that."

“Now that your business is expanding, there’s nothing I can do to help you anymore… If you don’t mind, while my old bones are still able to move, I can try to help you train another batch of mounted police, but that’s about it.”

“That’s enough!” Zhang Renfeng nodded vigorously.

"You have to accept your fate... I've been crazy for decades and I'm still alive at this age. Logically speaking, I should be content."

Mike's tone was calm; he had accepted the fact.

“I’ve spoken with Caloway. He’s young, and he’s much better than me at shooting.”

"After that, it was his world."

----

“You are my strategist and my first partner, and that will never change. The help you have given to all of us cannot be measured by how many shots you have fired or how many people you have killed.”

Zhang Renfeng first established Mike's position with an undeniable tone, then sighed, "However... I can understand your choice, Mike..."

"Why are you using that tone? I've retired, not died."

Mike said slowly, "Even if one day I really am separated from you all forever, there's nothing to be sad about."

"I have experienced everything I was meant to experience in my life, and I have no regrets."

Chapter 878: You're overcomplicating things for him.

"That's his signature move. Let me put it this way, young lady. For a slightly better marksman, drawing the gun, aiming, and pulling the trigger are all done in one smooth motion. There's no need to aim; you just fire by feel, and the bullet will naturally go where it's supposed to go."

"brush!"

As he was talking, Calaway suddenly drew his gun with his left hand and slammed it on the table in front of him.

"See? Like this, if the person sitting across from me wasn't you, but one of my enemies, I might just pull the trigger."

"However, in a real duel between skilled gunmen, the most important thing is not how to fire, but how to interfere with the other's firing. Because at this level, there is no such thing as 'missing the target.' As long as the other pulls the trigger, they will definitely hit you, and vice versa. To escape unscathed, you must use everything at your disposal to interfere with the other's firing."

“Jack figured this out a long time ago. His signature move is the ‘flying dive’ – he suddenly lunges in any direction just before the enemy draws his gun, lands, rolls, and draws his gun to fire at the same time.”

"He's fooled a lot of people with this trick, but unfortunately... I know him too well."

Calaway smiled enigmatically, picked up the revolver, and made it spin nimbly between his fingers as if it had come to life.

"See my belt? It's made of brass. I bought a lot of belt buckles, the brand new kind. I keep them polished with gun oil every day, making them shine. That's where they come in handy. When I really encounter a master, it's my weapon."

"As long as there is a light source nearby, I can slightly adjust the angle of the belt buckle to reflect a beam of light. It doesn't need to last long; just enough to dazzle the other person's eyes is sufficient for me."

Calaway demonstrated by flipping the belt buckle with his right hand, projecting a spot of light onto the table. The light flashed by, leaving the girl sitting opposite him marveling.

“In my daily life, I always use my right hand, precisely so that I can quickly adjust the direction of my belt buckle in situations like this. In less than a second, a sliver of light grazed the corner of his eye, and I fired a shot a fraction faster than him, and then…”

"Bong!"

He curled his fingers and made a shooting gesture.

"It's all over."

……

“'All'... 'It's over'..."

"It's done!"

Barbara hastily finished writing the last stroke, then pressed the pen tip against the page and silently read it again. Finally, she let out a long breath and revealed a satisfied expression.

"Our boss told me you gave him a list too?" Calaway put away his revolver, rested his hands behind his head, crossed his legs, and asked with curiosity, "I guess... 'Kid Calaway' isn't on it, is he?"

"No, there really isn't." Barbara was a little embarrassed, but she didn't pretend to know just to satisfy Calaway's vanity. Instead, she honestly shook her head. "Perhaps it's because the places you're active in are quite far from here."

"It wasn't that far. After the Jack Gang disbanded, I was just going back and forth between New Elizabeth and New Austin. Eventually, I seized an opportunity to save the mayor of St. Quintak and got a job as a policeman there."

"However," Calaway said casually, "those who wanted to duel me, whether individuals or groups, are all dead."

“A duel without a living witness will not be remembered. Look, it’s this guy…” Calaway pulled out a pack of high-end cigarettes, opened a cigarette card from it, narrowed his eyes, and whistled, “'Black Hat Fix,' I remember this guy. Twenty years ago, he was just a small fry, all talk and no action. Most of his achievements were just boasting.”

"Just because he died at Jack's hands, somehow everyone actually acknowledged his achievements. Most of the Sharpshooter series cigarette cards are like this, all flashy and impractical."

"So, later on, I gradually figured it out. How capable you are doesn't really matter; what's important is how to let people know how capable you are. In Igor's words, this is called 'propaganda strategy'... If you can leave some trace in your book, then you haven't lived in vain."

"Who knows, maybe one or two hundred years from now, when your work is rediscovered by future generations, I might even benefit from it, hahahaha~~~!"

……

Seemingly noticing that Barbara disliked the smell of cigarettes, Calaway deliberately turned his chair around halfway and slowly exhaled a puff of smoke.

This detail left the girl somewhat stunned.

----

"Speaking of which, our boss himself is on your list, isn't he?" Calaway asked curiously. "Why don't you just ask him directly?"

He spread his hands and laughed from the bottom of his heart, "We're all just playing house like kids, it's his stories that are so much more interesting to write!"

……

Barbara was silent for a moment, then sighed and began to draw circles on the blank pages of her notebook with the tip of her pen.

"Just now, you turned your chair around because you didn't want to blow your cigarette smoke directly in my face, right?"

Barbara suddenly brought up a small detail that caught Calaway off guard—he hadn't even noticed it himself, and had done it purely out of instinct.

"The fact that you would consider my feelings when I'm sitting across from you shows that you are a very polite gentleman at heart."

"But is the gentleman before me the same person as the kid Calaway in the book, who has unparalleled marksmanship and killed countless people?"

"I'm already very moved if even one percent of the multifaceted and complex nature of people can be expressed through the pages. I just feel that... Mr. Hongzhong... shouldn't be considered a 'gunman,' even though he has a gun, knows how to use a gun, and has robbed trains before. But he's different from those cowboys and gunmen who ride horses."

Barbara tugged at her ponytail, looking somewhat conflicted, and said, "But... I can't quite put my finger on it, I can't quite put my finger on what's different."

"I also looked into his story, and many things about it were beyond my imagination. I'm not just referring to his fighting skills, but also... and also..."

She couldn't explain the specifics, but shook her head and said, "In short, Mr. Hongzhong's thoughts are far too complex for me to grasp. Let alone write them down. If I put them on paper, they will become something else entirely."

……

The smile on Calaway's face gradually faded after hearing her words. To him, the answer at this moment was no longer a joke that could be casually uttered.

"Perhaps you're overcomplicating things."

"Actually, he is a very easy person to understand. Most of the time, his thoughts are very simple. So simple that they can be summed up in just one word, but this is something that many suffering people can't achieve in their entire lives."

Calaway raised a finger and said in a deep voice, "Fair."

Chapter 879: We are part of this country

Zhang Renfeng curled his fingers, stood on the outside, and knocked on the wall of the house, listening carefully to the echo. After a moment of silence, he turned and asked, "Where are their family members? Why haven't we seen them?"

Igor yawned, his eyes half-closed, looking somewhat sleepy. "...They're all here, just not here. We've arranged separate accommodations for their families in the north of White Torch Town, which we plan to develop into a small town. This place is just for the workers."

"After learning about the salary and benefits at the factory in Baiju Town, the family members' enthusiasm for work has increased significantly."

"In my opinion, as long as they are of the right age, regardless of gender, they can work in factories after training. Car manufacturing, electrical appliance manufacturing, and timber processing plants... these are just the beginning. If we go all out, we can handle all these people."

"Thanks to you for bringing these people back. They were originally skilled workers from the Atlantic Steel Manufacturing Company's factory, so they have some technical skills. With a little simple training, they can start working."

"We finally have our own workers, and we no longer have to piece together workers from Dunn's side."

At this point, Igor finally relaxed and let out a long breath.

money.

Supplies.

food.

equipment.

Even the factory itself, as long as it can be coordinated and mobilized, Igor can solve it. But there is only one problem that no matter how skillful he is, he cannot solve.

people.

There was no one, there was simply no one. The current Sanyuan Group was transformed from the Hongzhong Gang. No matter how powerful a gang is, it's impossible for hundreds of workers to suddenly appear during a transformation.

A skilled worker is someone who accumulates experience and knowledge over time.

Before this, they could only borrow some manpower from Dunn's weapons factory on a long-term basis to meet production needs.

Although Dunn was of one mind with them at this moment and would never betray them.

But... what's borrowed is ultimately just borrowed; they can't be considered part of the family. Because of this concern, some core components involving product secrets, such as car engines, can never be entirely entrusted to them for production.

Igor's approach was to utilize the industrial production chains of Lagras and San Quintac separately. Each city would produce a portion of the components, which would then be transported to White Torch, where workers would assemble them together.

This will undoubtedly incur many unnecessary costs.

Even if factories are located in different places and use the same set of blueprints, errors may occur in the understanding of parts production.

These discarded parts, even if only one screw is misaligned and does not meet the original production requirements, are unusable.

But Igor defied all opposition, insisting on separating production and assembly, even at the cost of diverting profits from the timber and electrical companies. He understood the importance of technology and was willing to bear higher costs in the early stages of the business, considering it a way to gain production experience. Once he had his own supply chain, he could then proceed with full force.

The idea of ​​expanding White Torch Town into White Torch City had actually been on Igor's agenda for a long time.

His original plan was to launch a large-scale recruitment drive throughout New Orleans before the production line expansion was completed.

And now... it's like a pillow coming right when you're sleepy. Zhang Renfeng's trip to Oak City brought back a whole bunch of political bigwigs and sweet promises, as well as more than 1,600 skilled workers who are completely devoted to him!