New Gods of North America

Because our meeting in the town wasn't exactly pleasant, Mr. Daggett was also adopting a "conservative contact" strategy at this time.

He greeted us from afar, not approaching the camp, waiting for Wayne to bring a few people over for a distanced conversation.

After chatting briefly, Mr. Daggett, as the town's sheriff, said he was there mainly because he had received news that several groups were converging in this direction, and he came to be prepared for any eventuality.

For example, if bandit gangs or bounty hunter teams were to collapse during a conflict, their people would set up ambushes on the road leading to the town, to prevent unwanted individuals from entering the town with weapons.

So he wasn't very interested in the bandits; he came specifically to "remind in advance" bounty hunter teams like the detective agency that, whether they were seeking help or fleeing for their lives, they shouldn't run to their town.

Of course, his original words were relatively euphemistic.

Something along the lines of "If we cannot confirm who is friend or foe, the town may prioritize 'active defense,' keeping danger and chaos outside the town."

But that was basically the gist of it.

Observing other teams' actions at night was relatively easy. After Mr. Daggett and his men left the detective agency, a string of torches floated over to Chris's team.

Then, who knows what they talked about, but the two groups seemed to have merged. Anyway, no gunshots were heard, and the torches didn't leave again.

The next day, Wayne and his team packed up their things.

Only one horse was left on the carriage, turning it into a "slow-speed vehicle" for carrying supplies, while the others rode horses, guarding the carriage and ready to move at any time.

This area nearby was considered "uninhabited" mountains and forests. Although several groups had come, there were actually few traces of people during the day.

Standing at a high point and looking out, there were vast expanses of green forest. Except for the occasional startled bird, it was almost impossible to see what was happening under the shade of the trees.

Moreover, because several groups had come and gone, the method of searching for "camping traces" in the vicinity was contaminated with data.

The bounty hunters' camps sometimes looked almost the same as the bandits' camps. Who knew if chasing after them would lead to bandits or someone else's main force.

At this moment, the detective agency could only "play the lottery".

Everyone pretended to be the leader of a large bandit gang, imagining how they would carry out their operations, and then, relying on their intuition, they explored in the direction they thought was most likely, with their backs to the steam train line.

After exploring deep into the forest for about half a day, they then changed to walking in a direction parallel to the steam train line, half-guessing and half-hoping to encounter the enemy early or discover suspicious traces.

Nothing happened on the first day.

The next day, Wayne and his team continued to explore away from the steam train line, planning to walk for another half day, and then walk back along a direction parallel to the steam train line.

The overall route was somewhat similar to the "row scanning" that modern people are familiar with, roughly an "S" shape with the top horizontal line missing.

This time, before noon, everyone heard a faint "bang!" of gunfire in the distance.

The gunfire sounded a bit far away, and the distance between them and the group should be beyond effective range.

First, a gunshot rang out, breaking the silence of the mountains and forests.

Then, "bang bang bang bang" quickly followed in a series, the gunshots were quite dense, and the sounds even mixed together.

The problem with forest terrain is that the terrain undulates, and the sound echoes back and forth between the trees, giving people a feeling of "echoes everywhere".

Even the startled birds became unreliable. At first, it was difficult to tell which direction the silly birds were flying in.

So the carriage driver, the chef Parker, and Emma stayed on the spot to be vigilant.

The others, holding long guns and maintaining their formation, dispersed and rushed towards the fan-shaped area where the gunfire came from.

Wayne chose a position that was considered "bullseye".

He went in an approximately straight line for about a kilometer along the direction where the gunfire became clearer, specifically, he went up and down hills in the forest and arrived at a relatively low-lying valley.

The gunfight here was coming to an end. The total number of people still moving on both sides was about a dozen, with one side having only two or three people left, who were being surrounded.

As for the total number of people before the battle, it was estimated to be close to thirty. The side with fewer people was almost completely wiped out.

Then, one side was basically riding horses, and the other side was basically walking, which looked like an ambush or annihilation battle.

Wayne showed his head at a higher place:

"We are the Wayne National Detective Agency, currently a bounty hunter team. Who are you people?"

Several guys in the group that was besieging turned their heads when they heard the sound.

Wayne took a closer look, and he recognized one of them. That guy was sitting next to him when they had a meeting at Mr. Russell's house.

Recognized?

Just as Wayne was about to say hello, someone from the besieged side shouted first, looking over here:

"I've seen you! You also accepted the commission from the steam train company.

"We were ambushed by them, and I suspect they have vested interests with the bandits!"

Both sides are bounty hunters?

Wayne immediately fired a shot into the sky, while shouting back, "Our detective agency is a law-abiding organization. You are surrounded. Everyone put down your weapons, or we will shoot."

At this time, the members of the detective agency also came over one after another, found vantage points, and slightly revealed their figures to show their presence.

The originally winning side looked around below, and the leader gave Wayne a bullet as an answer.

The other party's angle wasn't very good. After Wayne saw the man raise his hand, he immediately retracted his neck. A "bang" shot came over and hit the big tree next to Wayne.

So several gunshots rang out on Wayne's side at the same time. Someone screamed below, and it sounded like they were hit.

Then the bullets were reloaded. When Wayne changed his position slightly and prepared to counterattack, the winning side on horseback had already turned around and slipped away.

Because they had prioritized choosing vantage points, chasing after them became a problem at this time.

Inessa left one off his horse with a single shot, while the rest ran along the road into the depths of the valley.

So everyone cleaned up the battlefield.

Those who weren't dead yet had to be pointed at with guns first. Those who were willing to put down their weapons were controlled first, otherwise they would be shot directly.

After disarming everyone, after identification,

the attacking side originally left three wounded, who only had one left because of their own sins, while the previous defending side only had four survivors, two of whom were injured.