At night, in a small farm near Iron Lake in New Hanover, four strangely dressed people were wandering here.
They are of different genders and ages, but their costumes are the same strange. They all wear white robes with yellow linings and uniform shapes. They look like they are well-organized. And this is also true. In their own words , they are brothers and sisters who share the same faith.
Among the four, the oldest man with a short gray beard said: "It is said that tonight, the 'prophet' will come to this lake to spread God's will, save the lost people who have just joined us, and let our Lord possess them. More faithful lambs.”
"I've heard it too," a young man who looked to be in his early twenties said with some excitement. "It is said that the 'Prophet' who came today brought the latest royal instructions from the distinguished 'Shepherd'. These newcomers are really talented. What a blessing.”
The only woman among the four was a little annoyed: "Why didn't I have such a good opportunity when I joined? I really wish I could hear the instructions from His Excellency the Shepherd with my own ears."
After the woman finished speaking, she turned to ask another person who had been silent: "Joseph, I remember you said that you once had a relationship with Mr. Shepherd, right? Tell us about Mr. Shepherd. What kind of person is he?"
Questions flew into the air in the early summer night, but they did not receive any response.
The woman felt a little strange. She held the kerosene lamp in her hand and walked cautiously towards the location of Joseph in her impression. As she walked, she tentatively called his name:
"Joseph? Where have you been? Joseph? About...oh, my God."
She finally saw Joseph. His body was still upright. This was because a sharp arrow pierced his throat and nailed him firmly to the outer wall of the cabin in the farm. His face revealed it. The emotion, in addition to pain, is also full of surprise. This is not like the expression of a person who was suddenly killed before his death, unless he had come face to face with his murderer.
"Hey! Hey!" the woman screamed, "come and see, Joseph has been killed!"
Her scream, like the words she asked Joseph before, echoed in the cloudy night sky, but no echo could be heard.
The woman turned around with some surprise and found that the two places where the lights were previously lit had been swallowed up by the darkness of the night.
There was a crisp clicking sound behind his head. This sound was very familiar to the woman. It was the sound of the gun's hammer being cocked.
The woman's body stiffened instantly.
"Next, my dear lady," a young devil-like voice came from behind, "How about we have a good talk?"
"Who are you?" The woman's voice was filled with panic and anger.
"That's not important," said the voice behind him, "my problem is important."
"Don't even think about getting anything out of my mouth." Women are very tenacious.
"Your so-called prophet's name seems to be... Obadiah Fitch, right?"
The woman said angrily: "How dare you call the prophet by his first name!"
"Because I don't need to worship him, madam," said the young voice. "Well, I have only one question, and that is, where will your noble prophet meet those of you who are new to the party? Member? Think carefully about your answer, my gun can smash your head in at any time."
"Oh, no, no, sir, please let me go," the woman's voice began to tremble, "I was just confused by these people, and I didn't do anything bad. Please let me go, okay?"
"As long as you tell me the information I want, I guarantee you will be fine." The young voice said.
"Oh, yes, sir, no problem," the woman said, "Sir, please come closer. I'm afraid the walls have ears. If they know that I leaked the secret, they will..."
The young voice said: "I understand your thoughts very well."
As soon as she finished speaking, the woman heard approaching footsteps from behind. After taking about two steps, the footsteps disappeared.
"Now, you can say it. I don't think any third person can hear you at this distance." The young voice seemed to be much closer.
The woman's mouth twisted into a sinister smile, and she turned around to stab the person behind her with a small knife hidden in her robe.
"Go to hell! You devil! Accept the judgment that comes in advance!" The woman's eyes were full of excited killing intent.
At this time, gunshots rang out, the woman's sharp roar suddenly stopped, and there was a hole in her head that was deeper and darker than the night.
The smoke rising from the gun was blown away. Brandy Munny, wearing a black manor hat and a classic black suit with a black Ulster coat, showing a retro gentleman's demeanor from head to toe, emerged from the shadows. walk out.
He looked at the soul-dead woman lying on the ground, and sighed softly: "I don't want to kill women, but it's a pity that I gave you the chance and you didn't use it."
As for why Brandy appeared here instead of enjoying the highest-grade comfortable room in the Valentine Hotel, it has to start from a chat he had with Schultz and Django yesterday.
After fighting side by side with Django once, most of the conflict between Brandy and Django was eliminated. In this wild land, heroes always cherish heroes. So, after all her business at the Sheriff's Office, Brandi plays host, picking up Schultz and Django at the Smithfield Tavern.
Dr. Schultz is a very talkative elder. During the banquet, he kept talking to Brandy about his hometown in Germany, the interesting people and things he encountered when he was a dentist, and about his career as a bounty hunter. Dangerous and interesting things I experienced later.
Brandi believes that if Raven, the writer who is obsessed with writing western novels, was also at the table, he would have fainted with joy, or he would have been frantically recording in a notebook until his hand was broken. It was only then that I realized that in this wild west, even ordinary people have the value of close-ups.
Compared to Dr. Schultz, Django was extremely taciturn. Even after three rounds of wine and five dishes, Brandy still didn't get any gossip about him. However, Django told him about the bounty. Some information about hunters.
It was only then that Brandy realized that people who went to the police station to collect rewards were not just people who caught petty thieves or liars who were talking about cheating, they could be called bounty hunters.
Bounty hunters are actually a profession that does exist in the U.S. judicial system. They have identity certificates issued by the federal government and have higher law enforcement authority than ordinary police and sheriffs given to them by U.S. law.
In addition to priority in law enforcement, bounty hunters also enjoy benefits unique to this industry. Not only can they enjoy discounts only for bounty hunters in various stores across the United States, but they can also purchase products exclusive to bounty hunters in stores that have obtained relevant legal certifications. Moreover, due to the profession of bounty hunters nature, the federal government has given bounty hunters enough freedom, and all work is based on the bounty hunter's personal wishes as the first consideration, and generally there will not be too many restrictions from the government.
However, the most important thing, and what attracts Brandi the most, is that bounty hunters can take on more difficult and more rewarding bounty tasks, which can be said to be very attractive to Brandi.
Although he now has a fortune of nearly ten thousand dollars from two deceased legendary bounty hunters, as well as a huge reward for escorting the eldest lady of the Cornish family, he still thinks about making money.
This is not because he has any grand goals. To be precise, he does have the idea of doing a big business, but he has no idea about what kind of business he will do. Moreover, even if he only considers his future life There are a lot of expenses, and Brandy is also sure that the more than ten thousand dollars will still be spent one day.
Of course, he could act like a real outlaw, take out a gun in a store or even a bank in town, make a fortune and run away. However, considering the image he had painstakingly created as a "crime nemesis", This idea can only be abandoned. After all, no one will think that your open and honest robbery of shops or banks is anything to do with law enforcement.
Therefore, he now needs a job that is reasonable, legal and well-paid, and becoming a bounty hunter certified by the US federal government is a very good choice.
So, he went to Sheriff Malloy the next day to inquire about the matter.
Sheriff Malloy was very surprised that Brandy didn't know enough about the real bounty hunter. After all, Brandy was still a student of a legendary bounty hunter, and Major Warren, an officer turned The legendary bounty hunter who acts as a bounty hunter is the representative of genuine bounty hunters.
Fortunately, Brandi had already thought of her words and dispelled Chief Malloy's suspicion in two sentences. So Chief Malloy introduced to him in detail the level evaluation of bounty hunters and the difficulty of bounty tasks. Classification and requirements to become a bounty hunter.
The federal government divides bounty hunters into six levels: novice, entry-level, veteran, senior, outstanding, and legend.
Each bounty hunter can submit a promotion application to the local government after meeting the promotion standards of the corresponding level. This application will be submitted to the state government via telegram, and the state government will issue a qualification certificate that represents the bounty hunter's identity and level.
Although the qualification certificates issued by different states are slightly different in shape, they all follow the basic principle of distinguishing levels through the color and material of the qualification certificate, and the colors and materials representing the relevant levels are also consistent, based on the grades from low to high. The order is white paper, black iron, blue steel, red copper, silver yin, and golden gold.
This is just like the laws of this country. Although the laws of each state are different, in principle they all follow the U.S. Constitution and other federal laws.
The main purpose of grading bounty hunters is to more effectively deal with criminals of different dangers and avoid unnecessary casualties among bounty hunters. Of course, in the decades since the emergence of government-certified bounty hunters, there have been cases of high-level bounty hunters dying at the hands of juniors, but at least this level division has indeed played a role in bounty hunters. certain protective effect.
For individual bounty hunters, increasing their level means they can enjoy greater shopping discounts, more types of professional products, take on more difficult tasks, earn more bounties, etc. These are temptations that are difficult to resist for anyone who pursues a career as a bounty hunter.
However, although higher-level bounty hunters can enjoy more benefits, it is not easy to upgrade their level.
If a bounty hunter wants to improve his level, he needs to submit an application for upgrading to the state government. At this stage, he can choose to submit it directly to the state government or submit it first to the town government, which will then transfer it to the state government. The state government will then All aspects of the bounty hunter's situation will be evaluated. If the standards are met, a qualification certificate of the relevant level will be issued. If the standards are not met, the application will be rejected. Under normal circumstances, this process takes one month to complete. Among them, If the bounty hunter wants to be promoted to the legendary level, if he meets the conditions, the state government will evaluate his qualifications and then submit the application to the federal government in Washington. After the federal government approves the review, it will issue an approval instruction to the state government. Only then will the state government be eligible to issue a gold legendary bounty hunter qualification certificate. This process will take an additional month to complete on the original basis.
The government has many standards for reviewing and judging bounty hunter levels, but only one of them is the most important, and that is the difficulty and number of completed bounty tasks.
In the United States, there are two types of bounties. One is issued by law enforcement agencies at the town and county levels. The bounty for this type of bounty is generally provided by the reporter and is open to all people who are interested in the bounty; One type is issued by the federal government. The bounty for this type of reward is issued by the federal government, and only federally certified bounty hunters are eligible to receive it. Rewards issued by the federal government are generally not placed in the Sheriff's Office or The bulletin board at the door of the police station is made public, but the bounty hunter needs to find the local sheriff to pick it up.
Under normal circumstances, the bounty for wanted warrants issued by town-level and county-level law enforcement agencies will not exceed one hundred dollars, and the difficulty is not high. They will not be included in the KPI of bounty hunters, while those issued by the federal government will not be included in the KPI of bounty hunters. Bounty is the most important assessment indicator for bounty hunter promotion, and it has a difficulty level recognized by the federal government.
The difficulty of bounty tasks issued by the federal government is represented by stars, with one star being the lowest and five stars being the highest. Bounty tasks with different difficulties vary depending on the nature of the criminal, the danger of the task, the bounty provided, the level of bounty hunters targeted, etc. , in principle, these tasks can be taken by bounty hunters of all levels. After all, level does not represent personal ability, but this difficulty evaluation model can still effectively provide reference information for bounty hunters to measure their ability to complete tasks. Probability.
The one-star difficulty bounty missions are mainly for fraudsters and economic criminals. Most of these criminals are powerless. Even if they carry guns, they may not know how to use them. If they don’t hit themselves, everything will be fine. , so it is not dangerous. The bounty provided by such tasks generally does not exceed one hundred US dollars, and is generally aimed at novices and entry-level bounty hunters.
The two-star difficulty bounty missions are mainly to hunt down murderers or destroy local gangs. Missions at this level are generally dangerous to a certain extent. The bounty offered is between one hundred and four hundred US dollars. Only the experienced "entry" level Only bounty hunters and those who have reached the "veteran" level or above are capable of completing such tasks.
The three-star difficulty bounty missions are mainly to hunt down interstate murderers, robbers, etc. who wander into the local area. Such criminals are usually very cunning, possess strong combat effectiveness, and are likely to have a considerable number of helpers, making them quite dangerous. The nature and difficulty are very high. Even high-level bounty hunters may miss when facing criminals of this level. Therefore, the rewards provided are relatively generous, generally between US$400 and US$700. Only experienced bounty hunters can make mistakes. Only "veteran" bounty hunters, or higher-level "senior" bounty hunters have the courage to take on such tasks.
The four-star difficulty bounty mission, also known as the Notorious Bounty, targets the most dangerous and troublesome criminal groups in the state. These criminal groups are well-organized and powerful, and ordinary law enforcement forces cannot find any trace of them. If you find them, you won't have the ability to take them down directly. Because of this, the rewards provided by this type of bounty are quite generous, usually between US$700 and US$1,000. Unless there are very special circumstances, only experienced "senior" "A bounty hunter, or a higher "Excellent" level bounty hunter, has the guts to take on such a mission.
Five-star difficulty bounty missions are also called legendary bounties. None of the criminals who can be named legends are easy to compare with. The bounties for these criminals are basically more than one thousand US dollars, and there is no upper limit. , in the United States, apart from the senior "Excellent" and "Legend" level bounty hunters, only Pinkerton Detective Company has the ability to capture these prisoners.
Generally speaking, if a bounty hunter wants to be promoted to a higher level, he needs to complete at least one task corresponding to the level he wants to be promoted to. For example, if he wants to be promoted to a "senior" level bounty hunter, he must complete three stars at least once. Only the exact record of the tasks can obtain the corresponding promotion qualifications, and whether you can be promoted also needs to evaluate the success rate of the tasks, the total number of completed tasks, etc.
Brandi patiently listened to Sheriff Malloy's explanation and then asked how to become a bounty hunter. Compared with the complicated content of bounty hunter classification, task difficulty, promotion procedures, etc., the procedures required to become a federally certified bounty hunter are very simple. As long as the local sheriff believes that the applicant has the qualifications to become a bounty hunter, You can send a telegram to the state government to submit an application. This type of application will usually be responded to within half a month, and usually you will receive a paper bounty hunter certificate.
The reason why it is so easy to pass is because the U.S. law enforcement force is seriously lacking at this time, so there is a great demand for people like bounty hunters. As long as there is an application, it will usually be passed directly. Of course, Sheriff Malloy didn't say this explicitly, but what he didn't know was that Brandy knew it.
However, Brandi has some small selfish motives. He said that he does not want to waste time and energy on those simple tasks. In addition, his abilities are obvious to all, so he wants to directly apply to become a higher-level rewarder. Gold hunter.
Sheriff Malloy, who was as calm as he was, was also startled by Brandi's ambition. He said that this kind of thing was not without precedent, but the procedures were cumbersome and the requirements were stricter. However, Brandi only needed to complete one For tasks corresponding to the level, he only needs to prove that he has the ability to become a bounty hunter of that level. He can handle the rest of the procedures himself. Of course, he cannot accept legendary level tasks, even if he has captured legendary criminals. Apply to become a legendary bounty hunter, otherwise it will directly destroy the bounty hunter promotion rules that have lasted for decades, and the consequences will be disastrous.
Brandy didn't expect that it would be so troublesome to satisfy her own little selfishness, but in order not to waste time on those simple tasks, Brandy decided to take a gamble and directly accepted the reward for the notoriety in Valentine Town. and began a series of investigations and searches.
After two days of investigation, he got the exact news that tonight, one of the targets he was looking for would appear near Iron Lake. So, he chose a time and came to this small farm at night just to capture the prisoner. .
Brandy found specific information about his target on a minion he killed. He straightened up and stretched his aching waist. Thinking back to the hard work he had been doing these past few days, Brandy couldn't help but sigh. : "Grandma, why is it so difficult to make a living within the system?"
