The morning in the town of Walding, east of Cyclades, Missouri, is the same as before.
After taking a short rest in the hotel, Victor and Henry prepared to go to Dandelion, meet up with the large force of the Inspection Bureau, and meet the rumored Thomas Cornwall.
Starting from here to go to the only industrialized city in Missouri will take one or two days, so sleeping in the wilderness is unavoidable.
Before leaving, Victor had a whim and continued to use his newly learned finger-pinch fortune-telling, and got a "quick and happy" result.
"Happiness will come soon, official affairs will bring blessings, and the sick will have no trouble..."
Silently reciting the inscription in his memory, Victor knew clearly that this was an auspicious result.
Not bad, you can hit the road smoothly!
On the other end, Donnie helped contact a group of horse dealers to go with them. With more people on the road, they can avoid being attacked by wild beasts, and can also keep away those criminals who have not yet been punished.
The escort truck pulling the goods came over and chatted with Henry. He was going to lead a team of more than a dozen people today to transport a truck full of goods to Dandelion, so they could take care of each other.
Donnie wants to stay at the station, so there is no need for him to go with Victor and the others to such social gatherings.
After briefly discussing the route and itinerary, the convoy set off on the road. Five horse-drawn carts opened their canopies and drove through the wilderness, with several escorts and Henry on horseback guarding them on both sides.
The weather today is very sunny, the wind is gentle, and the deer in the wild are wandering around, looking at the passers-by curiously.
There were no obstacles in the morning's itinerary, which was indeed in line with the predictions calculated by Victor.
At noon, everyone started to repair. Victor climbed out of the last cart, and the escort handed him an old iron bowl in a friendly manner. Then everyone sat next to the firewood pile and waited for the stew.
We are about to meet Thomas, and it is very likely that Pierce is also lobbying him. What should he do to make Thomas spit out all the money that the Dimon family has in the bank?
Victor thought about this question.
Just as he was thinking about it, suddenly a shrill scream came from behind the hill.
That was the terrified voice of a woman!
Everyone put down the bowls in their hands and went to various locations to pull out long-barreled guns. Half of them stood guard near the carriage, and the other half climbed over the mountains behind to check.
Victor and Henry followed the people who were investigating the situation and saw behind the hill a caravan that was loaded with goods but had overturned, and the messy items were scattered all over the ground.
In front of the caravan is a bonfire that is being set up. The pot has been placed on top, but it has not had time to light it.
The bodies of two men of different ages were lying on both sides of the caravan wheels. They were both shot to death. The scream was made by a dying woman with loose curly hair and clutching her blood-soaked abdomen.
Breathing heavily.
This is a family of refugees in the wilderness. They may have gotten separated from the large immigration group, or they may have committed something wrong in the group and were kicked out by the escort vehicle of the immigration group to fend for themselves.
From the looks of it, they must have been robbed by criminals, and a lot of the goods in the caravan were stolen.
"Come and bandage this lady!"
"The hoof prints are still there, there are only three horses, those bastards didn't get far!"
The team's escort and grooms shouted to clean up the mess, and five or six people chased the criminals on horseback along the horse's hoof prints.
Henry also wanted to pursue him, but Victor persuaded him to stay.
"It's enough to leave those robbers to them. You are not the peace officer..."
Henry was right when he thought about it. His mission was only to hunt down Augusta. Needless to say, if the robbers were still nearby, there would be no need to pursue him.
So, they took the injured lady back to the convoy and waited for the five or six pursuing escort vehicles to come back. But after waiting for more than an hour, the leader of the convoy suddenly found Henry: "Mr. Detective! Something happened, I suspect that
There was an ambush and none of our people came back."
Henry took a deep breath and glanced at Victor, who had a look of surprise on his face.
He pinched his chin, and suddenly thought of something, and said to the leader of the team immediately: "Get on the road quickly, speed up and leave here by another road, quickly! The pursuer is likely to attract a large group of bandits!"
Victor also came to his senses at this time, and he hurriedly pushed the escort cart and drove the horse.
"This is a trap, run away!"
After hearing this, everyone hurriedly got in the car and quickly left the current section of the road.
As soon as he changed from the planned route to a trail in the forest, Victor remembered the divination in the morning, and the uneasiness in his heart suddenly emerged uncontrollably.
What's going on? Isn't it an auspicious sign in the morning? My "divination operator" secret transmission doesn't work?
His right eyelid twitched, and he quickly raised his hand to calculate for the second time. The obscure hexagrams were buried in the rapid sound of horse hooves, until his thumb stopped at "Chikou"...
"With a red mouth, passers-by are in panic, and there are many chickens and dogs causing mischief. If a sick person goes out to the west, he must be careful of the curse, for fear of contracting the disease!"
The moment the hexagram appeared, the words written on the waterfall stone tablet had already appeared in Victor's mind.
The red mouth belongs to gold and is a white tiger, which is a very obvious evil sign! The danger points directly to the west, and the relative position of Dandelion City to the town of Walding is in the northwest. No matter which way the convoy takes, the general direction is still west.
of.
"It's so strange..."
Victor sat in the caravan full of doubts.
"Why does finger pinching turn out to be a bad prediction now? Is it a problem with the secret transmission of the "divination operator" itself, or is it an external factor?"
"Could it be that... luck is changing all the time? Or is it affected by people's behavior?"
The thoughts in his mind were quite confusing, and Victor became more and more uneasy, until the sun set in the west, the dense jungle blocked the last rays of sunset, and the entire forest was shrouded in dark blue shadow.
There was cold sweat on his forehead, and he felt that something unpredictable would happen next, so he shouted loudly to Henry who was riding next to him.
After the other party approached, he leaned over and muttered a few words, then pointed to the dense grass on both sides.
Henry was thoughtful, rode his horse to the front, and started talking to the leader...
……
Fifteen minutes later, night fell completely, the entire forest was pitch black, and terrifying wolf howls could be heard in the distance.
A large amount of firelight floated faintly behind, accompanied by the rapid sound of horse hooves, rising and falling in the forest.
Nearly twenty masked criminals came flying towards us, either carrying long muskets or rusty revolvers hanging from their waists.
With such momentum, even the dormant wolves were frightened and stayed away.
Heavy Breath soon stopped near the forest road where Victor's convoy was before. Several gangsters got off their horses, tied their horses, and gradually approached with weapons in hand.
In front of them were five abandoned convertibles, but not a single escort or groom was seen.
"Is this your team?"
With an angry shout, a groom with his hands tied was dragged in front of the crowd, and behind him there was a musket pointed at the back of his head.
"Yes...yes..." This man was trembling with fright. He was one of the five people who chased the robbers earlier.
The goods in front of me were abandoned, and the people in the convoy were nowhere to be found, just like the messy scene left behind after everyone fled for their lives.
The robbers looked at each other and smiled, then relaxedly took off the handkerchiefs covering their faces. Several of them started to light cigarettes, and then dismounted to check the goods in the caravans.
At this moment, some strange movements suddenly came from the grass beside the road. The next moment, countless gunshots rang out, and a round of bullets was fired violently at the robbers' team.
The gangsters who had just relaxed were caught off guard and fell down on the spot. Those who did not dismount also fell to the ground because their horses were frightened.
The oil lamps and torches they lit provided shooting directions for the escort vehicles ambushing on both sides.
With just one encounter, this gang of criminals was blinded. Those who survived screamed and fled in all directions. There were only a few who had the courage to draw their guns and fight back, and these people soon died under random gunfire. Henry suddenly burst out of the grass forest and shouted. The ambushes and horsemen followed them one after another and began to chase these people. Soon another group was killed, and the remaining survivors had disappeared.
The captured groom unfortunately died in random gunfire.
Everyone raised their guns and cheered, driving away a large number of robbers, which boosted their morale, but Victor stood up and told everyone not to get carried away.
"Everyone! Get on the road quickly, we don't know if the other side has any follow-up reinforcements..."
"It's rare to see outlaws of this size. Maybe it's the Conor Gang in Augusta." Henry loaded his pistol and said suspiciously.
Victor immediately replied: "We have no conditions to fight with them head-on now. Besides, I don't think it's the Conor Gang. They won't rob worthless goods."
Henry glanced at the goods in the caravan. They were all materials such as cloth and cotton. Compared with the major cases that the Conor Gang had done in the past, these things were really insignificant.
So, Henry also spoke and asked everyone to get on their way quickly.
After the fierce battle just now, the people in the convoy had considerable trust in the agents of the Inspection Bureau. They immediately set off on the road and drove a few miles before starting repairs on the roadside.
One of the escorts was scouting alone at a high place in the rear. After seeing no pursuing fire, the convoy lit a fire and rested.
There was no danger tonight. If Victor had not come up with an ambush plan at the last minute, then with the speed of their team, they would be overtaken by the group of robbers sooner or later. The two sides would not be able to avoid a big battle, and the casualties would be heavy.
Since the Legislative Council promulgated the "Eastern Public Security Act" on July 12 this year, criminals in the eastern states have been killed in large numbers. There are only a few gangsters with dozens of people like this.
As far as the state is concerned, the Conor Gang in Augusta is the largest and most brutal criminal gang. As long as they are eliminated, the security of the entire Missouri can be doubled.
Next, the convoy took turns to watch the night. Except for the faint sound of wild beasts in the distance, there was nothing unusual that night.
The danger in the hexagram seems to have been overcome in this way...
Maybe...but the rest of the journey will be a little weird.
The weather on the second day was not as good as yesterday. It was dark and foggy, making the journey in the forest more and more uncomfortable. Moreover, they also found some very strange traces - the deep footprints on the ground looked like they had been
Tons of horses trampled the ground, the crushed bushes were stained with sticky secretions, and the thick broken tree trunks were blocking the middle of the road waiting to be cleared...
After walking a little further, several sets of bloody stumps and strange smelly mucus were splashed on the road, which was horrifying to see.
Not long after, the carriage stopped, and someone came forward to inspect a broken body.
From morning to now, they have discovered five various carcasses along the way, including wolves, elk, roe deer and wild boars.
And this time it’s a person!
To be precise, it was the lower body of a person. He was thrown in the middle of the forest road with his legs crossed. The blood had been soaked in the dry soil, and the disgusting liquid covered the entire lower body.
"I recognize these shoes..." Henry walked back from the front and came to Victor's caravan and said softly, "The criminal who escaped last night."
There were three or four robbers who escaped last night. According to Henry, they should have died here. But the way he died was so disgusting and terrifying. What kind of animal can make a person look like this?<
/p>
"Big brown bear..." one of the escorts guessed.
In this wild land, the big brown bear is indeed the absolute king. No animal, including the Indian lion, dares to touch it, and it will be beaten to pieces with two slaps.
Most people accepted this guess, but Victor remained deeply skeptical. He did not think that a bear could cause such destructive power.
The escorts took out their firearms, alerted their surroundings, and continued to drive the convertible.
"Keep an eye on it guys, the big brown bear can't be taken care of by just a few bullets!" The leader was sitting in the driver's seat of the convertible in the middle, shouting to the companions around him.
The fog is getting thicker and thicker, so thick that Victor behind him can no longer see the carriage at the front clearly, and he can only know the general situation by the sound.
Suddenly, the convoy stopped, and there were whispers from the front. The person at the head should have discovered something, and two or three people were checking there.
Victor became more and more restless, and soon he saw someone in front of him running to the team leader sweating profusely and saying something to him.
"What happened?" Henry asked loudly.
"We found the bear..." the coachman who reported the report said breathlessly. He was very nervous, "but it was disemboweled and thrown into the grass!"
Victor stared at Henry and looked at each other. Before he could speak, he heard someone shouting from the caravan above him: "Someone is coming from the front!"
The fog was so thick that Victor couldn't see anything in the white depths, but he did hear the clatter of horse hooves.
But the next second, something roared and flew from the front. It hit the wheels of the convertible and rolled on the ground like a ball. Scarlet blood flew through the air and sprinkled on the faces of several people. Victor stared closely at the head bouncing on the ground. Even though the other person's face was distorted with fear, Victor recognized him at a glance. This person was the driver of the first carriage!
The clatter of horse hooves was still there, and the silhouettes of the two knights gradually emerged from the thick fog ahead.
The round soft felt hats, scarlet shirts under black suits, and the standard Renekton Police Bureau uniforms showed their identities.
But their situation is very strange, Victor can smell the strong smell of blood that comes with it!