New Gods of North America

Come to think of it, this was Wayne's first time witnessing an attack on a bandit stronghold in person.

A series of noises erupted.

"Bang!" "Smack!" "Clang!" "Ah!" "Ugh!" and other sounds rose and fell, like an overture.

Then, they quickly blended together into a cacophony.

Finally, some voices gradually died down, with occasional lingering echoes.

Wayne and the others didn't make any specific deployments for the agents' attack.

However, a group of former bounty hunters with extraordinary abilities could discuss and handle many things themselves, only needing to be told the purpose of the operation; too much micromanagement might be counterproductive.

The agents seemed consciously preventing the robbers from escaping, especially not wanting them to run towards where their partners were lying in wait.

For example, Wayne had seen a robber running out of the doorway on this side, with an owl following above, then Doug shot him in the back and dragged him back by the foot.

Emma and Parker's viewing positions were higher and further back than Wayne's.

The little loli didn't seem afraid of such scenes, and even peered out of the carriage to look around.

As for Chef Parker, except for when he was in Black Stone Town, he was usually in a support role; as long as there was a choice, Lina didn't want him to face the risk of real swords and guns, preferring to go herself.

Finally, when the forest returned to silence,

Someone in the stronghold extinguished the fire, someone seemed to be dragging corpses, and someone else carried a lit kerosene lamp to the periphery, waving a hat in front of it, flashing the agreed-upon signal.

Not having to do the work yourself felt pretty good.

Wayne signaled Parker to stay here with Emma to continue guarding, while he walked towards the stronghold, confirming that they were his own people and that there were no abnormalities nearby before stuffing his revolver back into its holster.

He didn't know where the agents had learned the custom, but at this time, nine corpses were lined up in front of a lit wooden house, neatly arranged.

Wayne, like a boss who doesn't do any real work, was just responsible for pointing and commenting.

For example, taking advantage of the suitable scene, Wayne demonstrated to the agents how to control criminals.

From the classic "face the wall, squat, hands on head" to the common "pointing a gun and pressing against the wall", to the more American classic "knees pressing the person to the ground", he demonstrated them all roughly.

The robber whose name was on the wanted list was very cooperative under the observation of the agents.

It's just a pity that he already had two confirmed murders on his head, and a reduced sentence was unlikely, but perhaps he could try to get a good meal.

Wayne was actually quite pleased that the agents could leave a few alive. While ensuring that their own people had as few casualties as possible, he still hoped that the agents could have a certain degree of self-restraint and be able to follow orders.

The detective agency he hoped for was like a pride of lions, best when it could be a killing machine in action, but when resting and dozing, small animals could also hop around nearby.

Instead of being like a group of hyenas, where everyone would stay far away wherever they went.

After patrolling the stronghold, the former professional bounty hunters did a good job, at least in protecting property.

The agents consciously controlled the stables, both ensuring that the bandits could not escape on horseback and leaving more spoils of war.

Lina was searching everywhere for property at this time, and then piling it up in front of the small wooden house by category.

The weapons were mainly lever-action rifles, with everyone having a dagger, but not many pistols. There wasn't much cash either, but there would be some strange gold pocket watches or obviously expensive necklaces and rings, in addition to a horse for each person.

There was still a lot of wine left. Opening the wooden barrel, um, it was whiskey, but the taste was a bit strong. He didn't know if it was "purely blended" or "half-blended."

Inisha first compared the wanted list to determine the value of the robbers, and then counted the spoils, roughly estimating the value.

The total could be several hundred to a thousand US dollars, depending on the recycling price of the spoils. For example, rings with gemstones were not easy to visually estimate the price.

In general, it was similar to the situation in the West. The bounty on the wanted list actually only accounted for a small part of the harvest, and the spoils were the main thing.

He gave the agents a rough walk-through of the process, and in the future, they would follow the template and imitate it, forming the detective agency's characteristics.

After that, the captives were tied up and settled.

Some agents helped load the spoils onto the carriage, while Chef Parker pondered how to make supper for everyone based on the conditions on the scene.

Opened wine was not prohibited, but the agents still needed to take turns on duty, so they obviously needed to control the amount.

Small things like tobacco were not considered unified spoils, but the agents might not even care about them. As for strange mushrooms or something, don't touch them.

When everyone was taking turns eating supper, Wayne looked at the busy chef and suddenly noticed something was wrong, "Huh? Where's Emma?"

Lina looked left and right, and then slapped her forehead, finding a sack from the side, "She's running around again, I'll go grab her back."

After a while, Lina led Emma back.

She also roughly explained to Wayne that Emma was very interested in certain mushrooms or moss, and some of the ingredients inside seemed to be beneficial to her growth, which she could sense.

As for the method of absorption, it was an unimportant "ladies' little secret," so Wayne didn't need to delve into it.

Wayne didn't care about this, but one of the captives seemed to be frightened and didn't dare to arch around anymore, shrinking in the middle of the crowd and becoming unusually honest.

After eating supper, the agents who were on night watch stood guard, and those who needed to rest rested.

Wayne also reviewed the entire operation with Doug and Ryan, made some comments, and offered some of his own ideas.

Because it was a sudden sneak attack, the casualties on their side were generally okay. Only one trainee agent was grazed by a stray bullet from the counterattack and had been bandaged, but it wasn't entirely unavoidable.

At least in the case of the other party trying to counterattack, Wayne didn't mind the agents emptying their magazines - although lever-action rifles didn't have a so-called "magazine", and the bullets were loaded in the tubular magazine, but that was roughly the idea.

Compared to Ryan, Doug seemed more interested in staying here to serve as field management and seemed more proactive.

Wayne was a little hesitant, considering whether to leave the "walkie-talkie" here for a while and rotate it later, so as not to dampen the employees' work initiative.

In any case, as the detective agency's first collective action to attack a bandit stronghold, the agents' performance this time was good. Wayne felt that they could indeed consider opening a "branch office" here.

Of course, the prerequisite was to completely secure the security commission for this steam train line first.