After John finished handling the three poor corpses, he came to the single building in the middle of the courtyard. From the few words he had just eavesdropped on, he learned that most of the gang members were probably locked up here.
Relying on the impression of going upstairs for the first time, John moved cautiously between rooms. When he approached the conference room with the quartz table, some conversations happened to come over.
"Captain Pierce, that fat woman named Catherine is restless and keeps making noises to test us."
"Isn't this difficult to deal with? Just get rid of her. Mr. Mayor's request to us is to only keep Stritch and dispose of the others as you wish."
"Okay, I'll go down and find Meyer. He specializes in doing this job. He can give that bitch a good time. It's time for us to have some peace and quiet after working hard all night."
The man went down the stairs on the other side, and it took him a while to find him since John had handled Meier properly.
As far as the footsteps are concerned, there is another guard in the conference hall besides the captain named Pierce. Since one person left, the two have been silent and only occasionally said hello. John planned to lure them out one by one and kill them. , so there is no threat.
Just as John was deducing the calculation in his mind, a rush of footsteps came towards the side room where John was hiding. John turned and hid in the cabinet of a large pendulum clock. Through the gap, John saw a strong man walking towards Thomas, holding Thomas by the collar. Then the strong man slammed the door and entered.
"You should know that I never blink when I kill. Let me repeat the question, where did Dutch Van der Linde and his gang escape to?"
"Captain, I really don't know... they don't want to tell me anything."
Thomas was tied tightly and was kneeling on the ground unable to move.
"I'll give you a minute. If you are still so stubborn, you have seen the fate of that accomplice."
Pierce put the shotgun against Thomas's head and said arrogantly.
John knew he had to take some action. He took out his dagger and carefully pushed open the cabinet door, leaned down and walked towards Pierce. Thomas saw all this from between Pierce's legs, a light flashing through his eyes, and then he immediately suppressed his excitement.
John successfully reached the back of Pierce. Just when he was holding the dagger and preparing to charge a blow, Pierce seemed to realize something and turned his head with an elbow, knocking John's dagger away. John's right hand was shocked and hurt, and Pierce roared. He threw an uppercut back, but John quickly parried and blocked it with his left hand lying in front of him. During this attack and defense, John gradually figured out the opponent's strength - this was a well-matched opponent.
"You little bastard, bring it to your door yourself, right?" Pierce looked at the dagger on the ground and sneered.
Unexpectedly, Pierce pounced directly on John, and the two struggled. One moment, Pierce had the upper hand, and the next, John was riding on Pierce and punched him twice in the face.
After a while, most of the two people's strength was consumed. In order to end the battle as soon as possible, John changed his offensive and no longer confronted Pierce head-on, but attacked his weak points. However, Pierce was not a vegetarian. He quickly changed his strategy, so the two People are at an impasse again.
Finally, under the gaze of only one audience, both John and Pierce collapsed on the floor from exhaustion. Pierce crawled over with difficulty and used his last strength to strangle John's neck with his thumb. John tilted his head and smacked his lips - he His body didn't obey his orders at all, allowing Pierce to laugh ferociously.
"John!"
John's mind went blank, as if all the gas was abandoning him, darkness covered his vision, and emptiness occupied his hearing... Death gradually took control of his body.
"John, dagger!" Thomas shouted.
For a moment John woke up and realized Thomas was calling him. His fingers moved slightly and touched the cloth-wrapped wooden handle of his dagger. The desire to live made him grab the handle of the dagger and stab it upwards. He felt the flesh tearing open under the sword. Pierce's body fell heavily, and blood spurted all over John's face.
"Damn it!" John spat at the body on the ground.
At this time, there was a knock on the door, and a voice outside the door asked.
"Captain, do you need me to call the next prisoner in?"
John asked Thomas to pretend to scream a few times to disguise the fight as a one-sided torture of the prisoner, and John himself also bought some rest time. After a moment, when he had the strength to stand up, he cut the twine from Thomas's hand, then picked up Pierce's shotgun and called Thomas to the door...
"Son of a bitch, go to hell!"
The door was opened, and the remaining soldier was blasted a few meters away, immediately lifeless. The imprisoned members of the Van der Linde gang all looked at the two men who appeared in front of the door in surprise. They never expected that anyone would come. Save yourself, and in this way.
"Brothers, sisters, Dutch van der Linde betrayed us." John wiped his face and said.
"John! I knew you would come to save us." Miller was tied to a pillar, his face full of scars from the whip. "It's a pity that these beasts killed Hutton."
Grimes sighed: "Hutton is the priest in the gang. These people only pick old people to attack. Besides, they are also God's people... Alas!"
By the time Thomas untied everyone, John knew he had to let the gang face the reality of Dutch's escape. He had to take the responsibility himself, but it still depended on the members' wishes.
"I think everyone doesn't want this incident to destroy our will and destroy our alliance, so we should elect the next leader and continue to lead our gang." John said solemnly.
Everyone was silent, and Thomas put down what he was doing and walked up to John, his eyes filled with tears.
"We are not your burden, but you are willing to rescue us alone when we are trapped. I can see your bravery just now. You are our savior. Based on this, why should we not follow you forever? ?”
This time everyone nodded sincerely, and John felt that he had finally taken up this responsibility. From the moment he accidentally joined the Van der Linde Gang, his sense of mission grew little by little as his feelings for the gang grew. , now he shoulders the responsibility, which is what every man who leaves home needs from the bottom of his heart.
"Let's go quickly. If Lemieux's reinforcements arrive, we will sacrifice our companions again." John did the first thing he was responsible for the lives of his gang members.
"Wait a minute!" came a familiar voice from the corner, "If it's convenient for you, can you take me away with you?"
John walked up to the man and took off his hood—Stritch Manstar's face appeared before him.
"Few people know my true appearance, and I promise not to cause any trouble to you." Stritch said aggrievedly.
"Miss Manstar, if you have any shame, you will know that it is you who caused us to be in this situation." Miller said next to him.
"Hmph, I'm just a trigger. This is completely a conspiracy between Dutch Van der Linde and Lemieux. My relationship with Lemieux has long been torn apart. There's no need to use these cheap tricks to restore my relationship with him. position in the heart.”
John thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay, I'll keep you. But if you dare to do something behind our backs to tip off others, I promise to cut you to pieces."
"No, once you guys settle down I'll go to New Mexico, where I have my second inheritance."
John led the people down the stairs and happened to bump into the soldier who was shaking people halfway. The man was trembling with fright when he saw so many people. John smiled evilly at the woman walking next to him.
"Katherine, I leave it to you."
