Trains are the fastest and most tireless means of transportation in this era.
As long as there are rails laid under its steel wheels, even if the destination is the ends of the world, even if it requires crossing mountains and rivers along the way, it can still transport its passengers to their destination in the most modern way and at the most modern speed of this era. land.
For the United States, the continuous extension of railroads and the continuous maturity and advancement of train technology have promoted the exploration and utilization of the country's vast undeveloped areas by Americans who were once guests but are now hosts and predators, and promoted civilization. progress and development.
For ordinary people living in this land, the most intuitive convenience brought by the emergence and development of trains is that places that may have taken a long way to reach in the past can now be reached with less money and time. You can arrive successfully.
Take, for example, the journey from New Hanover to West Elizabeth, or, to be precise, from Valentine to Strawberry. Using the traditional method, even the fastest stagecoach would take two days and would have to If you travel day and night, it will be even slower if you are riding a horse. If you ride the Kentucky Riding Horse, the most commonly used riding horse in the five major states, and travel day and night, it will take at least four days to complete this distance. This kind of horse will take longer than inferior horses.
And if you take the train, although there is no train in Strawberry Town, if you take the train, get off at Riggs Station, which is closest to Strawberry Town, and then transfer to a stagecoach or ride a horse, it will only take more than a day at most. Arrive at your destination without refueling the train. This may be the convenience of life brought by civilized society.
And compared to traditional horses and carriages, trains are safer, because ordinary thieves simply don’t dare to get involved with these huge beasts running fast along the railway tracks. In the wild, as long as someone knows how to shoot, even if he only has one An old revolver that lacks calibration and maintenance can be transformed into a vicious track-cutting robber.
In the early morning, a steam train with a gorgeous interior was speeding along the railway loop connecting the four states of New Hanover, West Elizabeth, Ambarino and Lemoyne.
There were many passengers sitting in the carriage. They were of different ages and identities. The only thing in common was that they either left their hometowns or returned from a long journey.
The steward, who has a gray beard and is about to enter old age from middle age, is walking in the aisle of the carriage, checking the tickets of each passenger. He has repeated this kind of work for decades. He believes that in the next three to five years, Years later, he would still repeat this monotonous job.
When he walked up to a young cowboy who was holding the latest issue of the "New Hanover Gazette" and reading attentively, he saw that the cowboy did not take out the ticket, so he reminded him: "Sir, ticket."
The young cowboy raised his head, took out a narrow ticket from the pocket of his black trousers, handed it to the conductor, and asked, "Excuse me, how long until we get to Riggs Station?"
"It will arrive in four or five minutes after the train crosses the Bad Crossing Bridge." the conductor replied.
The cowboy nodded and prepared to continue reading the newspaper.
At this time, a middle-aged man's slightly harsh mocking voice came from opposite him: "Is this your first time taking this train? Young man?"
The cowboy raised his head and saw a middle-aged man in an old suit sitting directly opposite him looking at him with a smile, and replied: "Yes, sir, do you have any advice?"
"That's my guess," the middle-aged man said, smiling. "This train will indeed pass through Riggs Station, but it won't stop there because this train is an express interstate train. It won't stop at small stations like that, it will only stop at train stations in towns or near towns. This is one of the reasons why it is fast. Even if it does stop, it will only stop at Annesburg."
Having said this, the middle-aged man came slightly closer and said, "However, you don't have to worry about anything. It happens that you get on the wrong train. You can just change trains when the time comes. Anyway, it's faster than riding a horse or a stagecoach." .I often take the train to get around for business, and listen to me, next time if you want to get off at Riggs Station, you have to take another train that is older and has fewer carriages. That train only needs to be one station ,
As long as that platform is not abandoned, it will stop. "
The young cowboy looked at the middle-aged man for a while, then looked up at a thick rope hanging from the top of the carriage ceiling, smiled and said, "This car will stop at Riggs Station." After that, Then he went on to read the newspaper.
The middle-aged man wanted to say something more. Suddenly, he noticed the gun belt around the young cowboy's waist and the handle of the revolver. He suddenly realized that it was better for him to remain silent, so he lowered his head and paid attention. Focus on the thick book that I have been reading before.
The train roared, its wheels turned rapidly, and it drove onto the Budd Crossing Bridge across the Dakota River with billowing black-gray steam overhead.
The train's whistle, thick smoke and the sound of wheels like galloping horses scared away all kinds of birds that were still lingering near the railway tracks and beside the railings. Even the white-tailed deer drinking water on the river bank under the bridge fled in all directions.
However, they will be back soon, because the train only takes two or three minutes to cross the bridge.
When the rear of the train just left the bridge, the young cowboy stood up from his seat. His already tall figure seemed even taller in the relatively low train carriage.
He raised his hand and grasped the thick rope hanging from the top of the car, pulled hard, and then the alarm bell rang loudly.
The alarm bell rang, and the entire train was almost thrown into chaos because of the noise.
When the train driver heard the bell, he immediately applied the brakes, hoping to stop the train at full speed in the shortest possible time.
The sudden emergency braking also panicked the passengers on the train. The conductor controlled his body not to be thrown to the ground by the strong inertia of the train, while loudly comforting the passengers and trying to tell everyone to sit still. No need to panic.
The train came to a steady stop at Riggs Station, and passengers poked their heads out of the windows, trying to figure out what was going on.
The conductor with a gray beard jumped out of the train and shouted angrily to the front of the train: "What happened? Why did you need to make an emergency stop all of a sudden?"
"I heard the alarm bell, and now I want to ask you what happened," the train driver shouted. "Didn't you pull the alarm bell?"
"I haven't even touched that rope," the flight attendant said with some confusion, "Who pulled the alarm bell?"
Just as he was asking this question, the door of the carriage transporting livestock and horses on the train was opened, revealing a young cowboy wearing a black gambler's hat, a blue jacket, black trousers and cowboy boots with silver spurs. Leading a tall and elegant black horse, he slowly walked out of the carriage and went down to the platform.
The flight attendant immediately recognized it as the passenger who had asked him when Riggs Station would arrive. He immediately ran to the young cowboy's side and said, "Sir, you can't get off the bus this way. It's against the rules, and it might even..."
Having said this, the young cowboy turned around, and the flight attendant saw the revolver on the cowboy's waist. His originally angry expression immediately turned into a layer of panic. After all, in this world, people who carry guns with them generally don't. Easy to mess with.
"Even what?" asked the young cowboy. "What do you want to say, Mr. Flight Attendant?"
"Well, what I want to say is that if you really need it, we will consider adding a stop here in the future." The flight attendant changed his tune almost immediately. Although he has lived for a long time, he has not lived enough.
The cowboy looked at the steward for a while and said, "It's okay, I'm already at the station, thank you." After that, he led the horse and left the platform.
When the conductor saw the young cowboy walking away, he immediately climbed onto the train as if running away and shouted to the front of the car: "It's okay now, drive! Drive quickly!"
When the train driver heard this, he didn't care about anything else and immediately started operating to keep the train moving.
A man and a horse walked slowly on the road hidden by the woods. After a while, they came to a three-way intersection.
The young cowboy looked at the roads in front of him that pointed in two different directions. He clicked his tongue in disgust and took out a map folded into small squares from his trouser pocket. After unfolding it, he began to carefully study the next step.
"Now
The question is, should we go to Strawberry Town to settle down first, or should we go to Camp Riggs to investigate the scene," the cowboy said to himself, raising his head to observe the current sun, "Well, it's still early, even if we go there After a survey at Gusying Fort, we can reach Strawberry Town before dark, so let’s go to the survey site first. However, I can predict that the site will have been damaged to the point of being unsightly. However, Even if we can find a remnant of the wheel axle, it would be good.”
After figuring out where to go next, the cowboy folded the map as it was and put it into his pocket. He climbed on the horse's back and pinched the horse's belly with his feet. The divine black horse neighed and ran towards the Riggs Camp like a whirlwind. .
The young cowboy who forced the train to stop with the help of the train's alarm bell was none other than Brandi, who had set off from Valentine yesterday afternoon.
Considering the long distance, in order to gain time and carry out the investigation as early as possible, he chose the train, the most modern means of transportation. However, it was indeed an oversight. He just bought it directly for the sake of speed, ignoring the type of train itself. An express train ticket.
However, fortunately, he came to his senses and remembered that he seemed to have seen in an old movie in his previous life the operation of forcibly getting off the train by ringing the alarm bell, so he immediately followed the same method, and it worked. However, this method, if possible, Brandy did not want to Use it a second time.
Camp Riggs is an abandoned military camp located in the northern part of the upper reaches of the Montana River. Before it was abandoned, it was an Indian concentration camp. Decades ago, tens of thousands of Indians were tortured here. Despite the torture, thousands of Americans who were greedy for government rewards stained their hands with blood.
There are different opinions as to why it was abandoned. Some people say that it is because of the division of Indian reservations and changes in Indian policies; some say that it is because of the cruel revenge of those bloodthirsty Indian savages; and more people say that it is just because of a fire caused by a mistake. .
It is said that to this day, in this era when Strawberry Town, which is less than 5 miles away from the ruins, has become a nationally famous tourist town, if you stay alone at night in the ruins where intact house structures still remain, You can still faintly hear the screams of the Indians who once suffered inhuman torture here, crying for help, which is chilling.
However, not many people believe this mysterious statement, especially those desperadoes who kill many people. Some of them have even scalped Indians with their own hands. At that time, the screams almost broke through the eardrums. , is not much more shocking than the voices that those who believe in ghosts and gods hear under the psychological influence, not to mention the fear of those illusory things, so now, although this place has been abandoned for a long time, there is always something fishy and difficult to distinguish between good and evil. Characters appear here.
In Brandy's personal speculation, since the goods were robbed near Camp Riggs, there must be important clues in Camp Riggs. Assuming someone is hiding there, then this person will at least be a potential Even if there are no witnesses, there is a high possibility that Riggs Camp was once occupied by robbers. Since it was once occupied, even if several days have passed, there is a high probability that enough traces will be left for tracking.
However, now, he was standing on the land of Camp Riggs that was filled with scattered debris. In front of him, under the eaves of the only building in the area that retained the shape of a house, three homeless-like cowboys stood before him. In front of him, he looked at him expressionlessly.
"So," Brandy's eyes were always locked on the three people's every move. After all, their gun belts and revolvers on their waists were real. "How much do you know about what I'm talking about?"
"Who are you?" One of the homeless cowboys sneered and said in an unclean manner, "Why should we tell you what we saw that day?"
"It doesn't matter who I am, but I believe you must know the Indians on these papers." Brandi said, taking out three five-dollar bills from his pocket and displaying them casually among the three people. before.
The three people's eyes immediately straightened. After all, for ordinary people living in this country, especially poor cowboys like them who have no fixed place to live and no support, a one-dollar bill is considered a rare luxury, let alone a brand-new five-dollar bill. The banknotes were gone.
One of them was interested in making money and stretched out his hand to touch the cloth.
Randy had the banknotes in his hand, but as soon as his fingers touched the silky paper, the three brand-new banknotes with the busts of Indian chiefs printed on them slipped from his fingertips.
Brandy put the banknotes back into her pocket, looked at the three pairs of greedy eyes, Brandy smiled slightly and said, "As long as you tell me what you know, the money will be yours, how about it?"
The three of them looked at each other, then laughed. One person quickly pulled out his revolver from his waist and said with a ferocious smile: "Then if we just rob you or simply kill you, wouldn't we be able to get more money than the fifteen dollars?"
Brandi glanced at the gun pointed at him, shook his head slightly, sighed, raised his hands, and said, "Okay, okay, you succeeded. This is indeed something I didn't expect."
Brandi's crisp surrender elicited roars of laughter from the three homeless cowboys.
"Warm reminder, young cowboy," the man holding the gun smiled as he stepped forward, put his hand into Brandi's trouser pocket and began to fumble, "don't show your wealth casually outside, or you will end up badly."
"Thank you for the reminder, but I think I have to remind you of one thing." As soon as he finished speaking, Brandy jerked his leg away from the girl. The man who came to pick out his pocket immediately lost his balance. Brandy Taking this opportunity, he raised his hand and snatched the gun from the man's hand, and pulled the man into his arms. He restrained the man with one hand and held the gun against the man's temple with the other hand. "It's best to wait until the target loses the ability to resist." Now, go check his pockets again.”
The other two people panicked and hurriedly reached for their guns, but Brandi fired a shot directly into the sky and said, "Don't move, move, and I'll make a hole in your partner."
The hands of the two men touching the guns immediately froze.
Brandi once again showed a winning smile and said, "Now, tell me what I want to know, but you have lost the opportunity to get paid for it."
"Don't move, you must not move," the man controlled by Brandi shouted, his voice filled with unconscious tremors caused by fear, "Damn it, what were you talking about? Three days ago , or four days ago, did you see any convoys or robberies around here?"
The other two people looked at each other again, with confusion in their eyes.
But in the next second, there was only confusion in their eyes.
Two almost consecutive gunshots rang out from behind Brandi, and a deep gunshot appeared between the eyebrows of the two people in front of him. The confusion in their eyes was even greater, and it seemed that they were even more confused about being suddenly attacked, but they had not yet When they saw clearly where the bullets were coming, their bodies fell limp to the ground, and their consciousness fell into darkness forever.
Encountering an unexpected situation, Brandi did not hesitate. He pushed the person he restrained hard, twisted his body, and quickly pulled out the revolver from his waist with his other hand. He stood sideways and raised his hands. One after the other, he simultaneously aimed at the homeless cowboy in front and the unknown gunman behind him.
"So it's you. Looking at your outfit, I thought it was Arthur," a familiar voice came from behind, "Don't be nervous, I'm one of my own."
Brandi looked back and saw Micah and Lenny standing behind him. The double-action revolver in Micah's hand was pointing upward, with some black smoke curling out from it.
"Is that you?" Brandy put his revolver back into the holster, and kept the other gun pointed at the last homeless cowboy. He glanced at Lenny and Micah who automatically walked to both sides of him, Ask, "Why are you here in West Elizabeth?"
"I consciously applied here to try my luck and see if I can make some extra money. As you know, we still need money now," Micah said, glanced at Lenny and said, "As for that black boy, he is the boss You gave it to me, saying something to help me stay calm, huh, when did I need a black-skinned brat to tell me what to do?"
Lenny interrupted Micah's insulting words with a gun and a stick at the right time, and asked Brandi: "Are you healed? Why are you all here, and are you playing robbing and kidnapping games with this kind of person?" "
Brandy immediately told the two of them the reason why she appeared here.
"Oh, it turns out it was the old female businessman who asked you to come. He is really good at calling people," Micah said with a look of realization.
"But to be honest, your ability to find out information is still lacking."
"I could ask for something right away," Brandi argued, "and you shot and killed two people who might have provided me with important clues."
"Since the three of them are together, it's enough to keep one alive," Micah said nonchalantly, "Also, little cowboy, you may know how to extract information from civilized people, but that method is not suitable for people like this. Not only does the stuff not work, it actually encourages them to become more evil."
"I didn't expect you to have experience in this area," Brandi smiled disdainfully, made a "please" gesture, and said, "Well, you are so good, you come and ask."
Micah smiled coldly and did not answer. He just stepped forward, the revolver in his hand dangling, and the muzzle of the gun hit almost all the vital points on the body of the man who was kneeling on the ground.
"Hey, kid," Micah knelt down, raised the man's chin with his gun, and said, "Tell me, did anything interesting happen here related to carriages or carriage convoys three or four days ago?"
The man's body was shaking like chaff, but he couldn't utter a word.
Micah didn't waste any time and started counting down directly.
"five."
"Four."
"three."
"I said, I said, stop counting," the man shouted. "Three days ago, a convoy of two carriages was indeed robbed here. The hijackers were very good at marksmanship, or they used They used sniper rifles. Anyway, they first killed the coachman and the guards in the car, then had a fierce fight with the other guards, and then drove away the two carriages before the police from Strawberry Town arrived." jj .br>
"Where did the carriage go?" Brandy asked.
"I don't know about that," the man said, shaking his head. "The gun battle was extremely fierce at the time, and the police came later. I was the only one there at the time. My two partners, the two who are on the ground now, ran away. I went hunting on the other side of the river, so I didn’t dare to show my head when I wasn’t there. After the police left, I looked again and couldn’t see anything.”
"So, do you have any impressions of the carjacking gangsters? For example, their facial features?" Brandy then asked.
"Those people either have their faces covered with black cloth, or they have sacks on their heads with eye openings. You can't see clearly. Their clothes are only a little better than mine, and you can't tell their history." The man replied hurriedly. .
At this time, gunshots rang out again, and the voice of the last homeless cowboy suddenly stopped.
"What are you doing!" Brandy was a little angry. He hadn't finished asking yet.
"It's a waste of time," Micah said after blowing the black smoke from the muzzle of his gun. "This person obviously doesn't know anything. No matter how many questions you ask, it won't be of much use."
Lenny advised in a low voice from the side: "Okay, Brandi, don't get angry with him. It's not like you don't know who he is."
Brandi slammed the broken revolver in his hand to the ground without saying a word.
Micah was a little amused when he saw Brandi's appearance. He raised his head and looked in the direction they came from, only to see a petite figure riding a pony slightly smaller than an average horse, running quickly towards this side. Come.
"Hey," Micah said, as if he had discovered something interesting, "Brandy, you must not have imagined what I saw."
"What good things can you see, the photos of Melina and Lani?" Brandi cursed in her heart, turned back and looked in the direction Micah was looking at, and was suddenly dumbfounded.
They saw Mattie, the little girl whom Brandy thought would take some time to see again, riding a half-sized gelding-colored thoroughbred horse, running non-stop towards them.
