Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

“Wendigo…Wendigo Lecter, right?” Zhang Renfeng asked curiously. “I keep hearing people mention him to me. What kind of person is he?”

"Well, I've only met him once from afar. I heard from my elders that Mr. Lecter is a very good person. Being with him is always like a gentle breeze. Even on the most heated topics, you can have a good conversation with him. No matter the occasion, he is always elegant and polite. You can't find fault with him."

Becky recalled the occasional gossip she overheard at home, "Besides that, he would also host dinner parties from time to time."

"A banquet?" Zhang Renfeng inexplicably thought of Igor.

"Yes, the dishes and presentation at the banquet were absolutely exquisite, a true work of art... at least that's what everyone who attended said. As for who gets invited, it all depends on his personal preferences. Sometimes it's social celebrities, sometimes it's ordinary workers, and sometimes it's even newspaper writers you've only met once."

“My father has attended a few,” Barbara added. “It’s pretty much like what Becky described: candlelight dinners, lots of fancy dishes, everyone eating very politely, that’s about it.”

"Some say that being invited is equivalent to entering the mayor's inner circle. Just being selected is a great honor, and one is sure to be promoted in the future. Therefore, these banquets, which are held irregularly, are also known as the 'Wendigo Feast'."

----

Out of the corner of my eye, I seemed to see the shadow of a fast horse flash by, catching up with the train like an arrow released from a bow.

The man on horseback seemed to reach into his pocket and pull something out.

"?!"

Without hesitation, Zhang Renfeng reached out and instantly pressed down on the heads of the two girls, slamming them onto the table. At the same time, he hooked Xiaomei's right leg with his foot, tripping her. Xiaomei cried out in surprise, her body falling forward uncontrollably, landing right on him.

……

"Bang bang bang bang bang-!!"

A series of rapid gunshots came from both sides, shattering the car windows. Many people didn't even have time to scream before being pierced by bullets fired from both sides.

Puffs of blood mist exploded in the air. Before the flight attendants and passengers could scatter and escape, several people fell into pools of blood, struggling desperately.

Judging from this level of firepower, the guards on the train were most likely dealt with long ago.

"Eee-ha-!!"

"Roar roar roar roar—!!"

"Hahahahahahahahaha!!"

……

The bandits made strange, eerie noises, and instead of stopping the train, they stepped on the horses' backs, leveling them with the train, and jumped in through the broken windows.

A burly man slowly stood up. He wore a white face mask with a large, eye-catching character printed on it in bright red lettering.

"middle".

"Don't fucking move! Don't move and you'll live, you hear me?!" He raised his gun and fired a shot into empty space, roaring, "I'm Red Center with a $7000 bounty. Killing you is like child's play. Anyone who dares to resist will get a bullet!"

Chapter 119: Li Kui Meets Li Gui (Return of Bounty 32)

"..."

Zhang Renfeng's expression was somewhat blank. He rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn't seeing things.

The guy wearing the red mask was dressed in a coat made of North American elk hide, and his trousers appeared to be made of bison hide. Only the belt around his waist was artificial.

It's still winter, so there's nothing wrong with dressing like this, but the overall "wild" style of his outfit always gives him a strange feeling of unease.

What he didn't know was that many newspaper reporters had interviewed the locals when the Fengchuisha tragedy occurred.

The consensus reached was that Hongzhong was not human at all, but a beast-like creature with horse hooves, wolf teeth, and deer antlers. He hid in the stable because he could talk to horses, thus concealing his identity. Otherwise, how could the lacerations on the bodies of the dead sheriffs be explained? Could human beings inflict such wounds?

The people here have a limited understanding of cold weapons, limited to swords and sabers. They've never seen, and naturally, can't imagine, a weapon as unusual as the Mandarin Duck Axe. Fueled by their imagination, this bizarre urban legend has emerged.

In a sense, his cosplay was quite accurate, at least capturing the element of "wild beast." By wearing animal skins, he emphasized his wildness.

In addition, the bizarre red mask immediately created a sense of oppression upon its appearance.

It's more than enough to fool laymen.

When reading *Water Margin*, he couldn't help but laugh out loud when he came to the chapter about Li Kui meeting Li Gui. You see, this land is so vast, Li Kui and Li Gui could have been separated by mountains and seas, never to meet again, but fate insisted they meet.

When Black Whirlwind realized that someone was impersonating him and engaging in despicable acts of highway robbery, what was his first reaction?

At this moment, he had a clearer understanding.

"So, even copycats of mine have appeared." Zhang Renfeng initially found it amusing, but when his gaze fell on the still-warm, innocent corpse on the ground, his eyes suddenly turned cold. "The world is truly full of wonders."

Meanwhile, the robbery had already begun, starting in the front carriages where passengers were. One person held a gun to supervise, while another opened a sack and let passengers throw their belongings in. Anyone who didn't cooperate was hit in the face with the butt of a gun. However, after the earlier "break-in," with many corpses lying haphazardly in the carriage, no one dared to disobey.

The method of robbery is so primitive that it's almost like the most primitive of all, but it makes sense—those who can afford to take a train aren't exactly penniless, so they might as well grab whatever they can.

Not every gang can have someone like Jimmy, who has a complete map-wide cheat code, like the Thunder Gang or the Red Center Gang. For them, a train robbery operation that yields over $500 is considered a huge success.

……

"Mr. Hongzhong, what should we do?" Having seen many big scenes, Xiaomei remained calm in this situation. She quickly gripped the handle of the gun in her belt, lowered her center of gravity, and said confidently, "These guys won't leave any survivors."

"Why?" Barbara asked, puzzled. "Didn't they just say that as long as we didn't resist, they wouldn't kill anyone else?"

“Apart from the leader, none of them wore masks and their faces were exposed. Many people have already seen their faces, and if they were all let go, the amount of information leaked would be too great. Therefore, most of them will be killed by them after the robbery and before they arrive at their destination.”

"No, there will probably be one or two witnesses left behind, after all... ha, we're going to pin this case on Hongzhong as well."

“They must have learned the details of Mr. Hongzhong’s train robbery from the newspapers. He let the engineer and driver go. In a little while, these people might do the same thing, leaving the engineer and driver behind and then killing all the passengers. That would make it even more convincing.”

The two girls looked at her, shocked and somewhat afraid of the girl with the scar on her face.

No matter how frightening Hong Zhong's behavior was, he was still a notorious bandit, so at least one could be mentally prepared. But this girl... judging from her appearance, she wasn't much older than me, and when she said those words, she even had a smile on her face, which was a bit too scary.

Zhang Renfeng counted them carefully; there were six gunmen, all armed and not easy to deal with.

After thinking for a moment, he came up with an idea.

"Listen to me, it'll be over in a minute..."

----

"boom--!!"

As if to establish their authority, the leader picked up a shotgun, blew off the door latch with one shot, and then kicked open the carriage door. Several bandits swarmed in, first looting the money and belongings from the corpses, then threatening the surviving passengers one by one. Finally, at a certain row of seats, the bandit in charge of the gun saw a timid, yellow-skinned man with his hands raised high.

"Red Center, look! There's a yellow-haired barbarian here!"

“…Damn it, what bad luck!” Hong Zhong walked over slowly and naturally noticed Zhang Renfeng, who was trembling like a leaf. He cursed angrily, “These days, even yellow-skinned monkeys have money to take the train.”

Zhang Renfeng repeated the word tremblingly, struggling to pronounce it, pretending that his pronunciation was still not very smooth, "Money, no, I didn't bring any money..."

"No money? Bah!" The bandit spat at him, cocked his gun, and said, "If you have no money, then die."

"No! No, no, no, no... no money, but a watch, a pocket watch... an old pocket watch! I have it, I have it! I can exchange it for a lot of money!"

Zhang Renfeng was so excited that he danced around, and said in a trembling voice filled with extreme panic, "Reutlinger watches, five or six, I can't remember! Each one... $155!"

As it turns out, communicating with bandits doesn't require many words; knowing just a few keywords is enough.

As Zhang Renfeng had predicted, the gangs still clinging to this primitive train robbery tactic didn't have high expectations for the amount of money they'd make. They'd just rob anyone on the train, and how much they made depended entirely on whether the passengers had money, generally fluctuating around five hundred dollars.

Upon hearing that there were greenbacks to be made, Zhang Renfeng could clearly feel their heartbeats and breathing become chaotic.

"You've brought a lot of antique watches, haven't you? Where are they?!" The bandit pressed the barrel of his gun against the man's head, but his hand instinctively slipped from the trigger. "If you dare to mess with us..."

"It's not on me, it's not on me!" Zhang Renfeng waved his hands repeatedly, pointing to the cargo compartment not far away, "There's a safe there! Before we left, we... stored it in the safe, and we'll open it when we get there... Only I know the password!"

……

"Let me go get it!"

"No, boss, let me go get it!"

"I'm closest, so I'll go..."

……

"Shut up, you bunch of idiots!"

The leader of the Red Army shouted angrily, then sneered, "Hmph, you yellow-skinned bastard, you're quite clever. You deliberately didn't specify the number of pocket watches, so it's not surprising that the person who opened the safe first sneaked one in. Trying to use this trick to confuse us... Heh... You're too naive. I'm Red Army, I've fought my way through windswept sands, mountains of corpses, and seas of blood. Do you think I'd fall for this?!"

"No... I really can't remember," Zhang Renfeng replied, his voice trembling.

"Whether you genuinely can't remember or you're pretending not to, it's none of my business!" The leader pointed a gun at Zhang Renfeng's head and said coldly, "Lead the way, we're all going together!"

Chapter 120: Stepping on Toes? Only Kids Use That Trick When Fighting (Bounty 33)

Inside and outside the carriage, all the bandits were tricked into following them, and the carriage was temporarily safe. Many passengers who had escaped with their lives were still in shock, their faces pale, and they were still panting heavily.

Xiaomei turned around and adjusted the position of the revolver in the holster so that she could draw her gun and fire at any time in case of an emergency.

"There wasn't really an antique watch, was there?" Barbara asked cautiously, lowering her voice. "Has he always been this... brave? Taking on so many people by himself, and they all had guns, wouldn't that be a bit..."

“It’s not entirely made up out of thin air. We have indeed seen this kind of watch before. Otherwise, would this brand be something we just imagined?” Xiaomei’s tone was slightly proud when she talked about this. “When we hijacked the Chedel train, we found several pocket watches in his private carriage. Most of them were gold pocket watches, which are quite valuable. There was also an antique watch that was buried at the very bottom.”

“Reutlinger watches are very famous.” These words carried more weight when they came from Becky. “The models themselves are limited editions, and most people don’t even have the connections to buy them.”

"As for these people, since they've all been lured away, we can leave them to Mr. Hongzhong." Xiaomei had witnessed the magic tricks more than once and was full of confidence. "There will be a way."

“I never imagined that bandits would appear near White Torch Town, and that so many people would die!” Barbara sighed, her brows furrowing slightly. “Now things are really messed up. Father’s workload is already huge, and now that things have finally calmed down a bit, he’ll be out all night again. One Australian shrike isn’t enough for him…”

"Shrike?" Xiaomei caught the word and her curiosity was piqued. "You mean the butcher bird, the kind that pins its prey to branches?"

This is understandable. Fengchuisha and Baiju Town are quite far apart. After escaping, he spent most of his time hiding in the mountains, so he naturally had little opportunity to come into contact with strangers. After all, viral hits like Hongzhong are rare. In most cases, what's talked about in a town becomes virtually unknown outside of that town.

"Is that so? Oh, I see... I didn't even know what 'shrike' meant, everyone just calls it that. Oh, I see, there's another meaning to it!" Becky had only just learned about this habit of shrikes today, and she suddenly understood. "Looking at it this way, the name is quite appropriate."

"After he killed someone, he would insert the back of a fresh human body into a pile of deer antlers, just like a shrike pins its prey to a branch. He would also remove organs from the victim's body as souvenirs. Throughout the entire process, the victim should have been conscious."

Barbara explained, "The body's own weight causes the victim's flesh to gradually 'sink' into the antlers. The antlers are driven into the back, piercing through the skin, fat, and flesh, tearing the wound wider and wider until the victim bleeds to death."

These details are generally unknown to the average person, and only Sheriff Gordon's daughter could learn some shocking information that ordinary people do not know "by chance".

Xiaomei was startled. She was the kind of person with a strong sense of empathy, and just imagining that scene made her feel like she was being surrounded by malice from all sides.

"Why...why would he..." the girl asked, somewhat bewildered. "Does he have a grudge against those people?"

“Judging from the current situation, we cannot rule out a revenge killing, but the probability is extremely low.” Barbara’s tone was somewhat solemn. “There were a total of thirteen victims, and they had absolutely no overlap in their social relationships. After the last sheriff was killed, the Australian Shrike went into hiding and did not kill anyone in that way for a long time.”

"There were a few copycats during that time, but their methods were all clumsy. Accurately pinning someone to the antlers doesn't seem to be such an easy thing... The scene was a mess, so you could tell at a glance that this wasn't done by the Australian Shrike."

"No matter who it is, once they become famous, imitators will emerge in droves."

The conversation was all the more ironic, given that they were on a train being hijacked by the "Red China".

----

"Now that we've made so much money, we should be able to live a good life for a few days after we get back, right?"

"What are you thinking? Is this your first day joining the gang? All the money you steal has to be handed over. Anyone who tries to keep any will have their ring finger chopped off. These have been gang rules for years!"

"Seriously, boss! We haven't had a single customer in so long, and you're not even going to let us get a share?"

"That's how all gangs are. The boss gets his share first, and only after the boss has divided it up can the underlings get their turn... I've never seen a gang where the boss splits the spoils equally with his underlings!"

……

Finally, the somewhat messy cargo box arrived, and the bandits became impatient.

They didn't stop the train, and their horses had been running the whole way, almost reaching their physical limits. These kinds of bandits operated on a fast-paced, in-and-out strategy, and should have jumped on their horses and fled after robbing the train. But now, Zhang Renfeng's few words had aroused their greed, and they wanted to take this big heist before running away.

However, seeing the horses panting and running alongside them, they knew that time was running out.

"Where's the stuff?" The bandit pointed a gun at his head and roared angrily, "You better not be playing us for a fool, you yellow-skinned bastard!"

"Almost there! Almost there, but I'm not sure which cabinet they put it in...maybe over there..."

He stretched out his finger, pointed vaguely, and then quickly put it down, deliberately making it unclear to others.

"Which one?" Impatient bandits naturally surrounded him, forming a circle around him. "Point it out more clearly!"

"When I got on the train, they only told me to come and pick it up when I got off, without going into too much detail. If I remember correctly, it should be... the last freight car."

He pointed out in the distance.

Taking advantage of the moment when everyone's attention was diverted, Zhang Renfeng swiftly raised his foot, aimed at the unsuspecting instep of a bandit, and stomped down hard!

"Boom-!!"

Keeping his upper body still, he used only the strength of his lower body, waist and legs to stomp down, like a hammer hitting a nail, striking hard and breaking the tendons and bones of the instep, sending flesh flying everywhere!

"Boom!"

"Boom!"

"Boom!"