America 1881: They Call Me Legend

Chapter 22 The Ben Franklin Hotel

A small town in southwestern Wyoming.

There was a cloud of dust on the road, and a carriage stopped at the gate of the police station.

A man with a tall beard stepped out of the carriage, and his hands were handcuffed with another prisoner with a bruised nose and a swollen face.

The man stepped up the wooden steps of the security station, and with his arms stretched forward, the prisoner behind was pulled back and almost fell to the ground. He punched the man with his backhand.

"Here you go, bastard." The man uncuffed him and kicked him into the gate of the security station.

"Hanif, long time no see." The sheriff sitting in front of the table greeted the man, "Take him to the back cell."

The man was the bounty hunter Chen Jianqiu and the others met on the road—Hanif.

Hanif grabbed the prisoner by the back collar and threw him into the cell like a chicken.

He turned around and walked in front of the sheriff, who had already taken out the bounty from the drawer and slapped it on the table.

Hanif took the money from the table, took out a delicate steel jug from his arms, opened the lid and took a sip, then walked to the chair opposite the sheriff and sat down.

"I'm really tired, John. I came from Shiquan Town. The bounty was originally issued there, but Sheriff Morris has gone somewhere, and the gate of the security station is closed, and there is no one there." He drank At the same time, he said to the sheriff in front of him, "So I came to you to try my luck."

The sheriff shrugged: "Yes, the bounty announcements are basically the same between us and the nearby towns, but only in southern Wyoming. By the way, something happened to Morris."

Hanif didn't care too much about what happened to Morris. For him, as long as someone paid a bounty, in the west of the 19th century, the sheriff had always been a high-risk occupation. It was quite normal for one or two sheriffs to die . "

"John, any big fish lately?" Hanif asked the sheriff.

"Don't tell me, there really are." The sheriff pointed to the bulletin board outside the window, where many people were already surrounded, "I just posted it, why don't you take a look?"

Hanif got up and walked out, towards the bulletin board.

There were quite a few people watching, including his partner and driver, and everyone was discussing:
"Such a high bounty? How come these three people have never heard of it!"

"I heard that the first time it appeared was in Shiquan Town. They killed the mine manager and many people who maintained law and order. Everyone was ruthless, and at least a dozen lives were on their hands."

"But you don't know, they also killed an American lieutenant later, and Sergeant Morris also died at their hands."

"Ah? Officers, they dare to attack?"

"That's right, I heard from the soldiers present that the Chinese was possessed by Satan. He rode a black horse and broke into the barracks alone. Cruel, when the lieutenant was found, his head was separated from his torso, and his scalp was gone; as for the black man"

"Come on, stop talking, I have goosebumps all over my body, God, please don't let me meet them."

……

Everyone was still chattering about it, which aroused Hanif's curiosity. He wanted to see who was worth so much money.

But when he separated the crowd and squeezed in to see the reward order, the expression on his face froze.

The three people on the reward order were the three he met in the Green River Valley.

The bounty for each of them has risen to three hundred dollars.

"Donny! Donny!" Hanif shouted the name of his driver and partner.

Downey got out from the crowd, and his expression was a bit embarrassed: "Head, we missed $450."

The muscles in Hanif's cheeks were twitching, a disgrace to his hunter career.He jumped straight into the carriage.

"Damn Chinese, call Brother Bain, let's 'hunt'."

……

"Ah Choo!" Chen Jianqiu sneezed on the horse, "Who is thinking about me?"

After the three of them packed their things, they continued to set off. Chen Jianqiu told the two people the secret of the treasure. Xiao En was very excited, and Asuka said that no matter what Chen Jianqiu did, he would unconditionally support and follow him.

After this battle, others can’t guarantee that the rewards for each of them will definitely increase, but due to the poor efficiency of the Federation, their reward orders should not be posted outside Wyoming for the time being, so They still had to keep going south.

After discussing with each other, the three decided to find a place to rest. They only had one set of clothes, and they were already in tatters; Chen Jianqiu’s shotgun and dagger were thrown out as disposable weapons during the battle; A rifle, but I've never seen him use it. It seems that he still trusts his bow and arrows more; as for Sean, well, he should also be equipped with a long weapon.

In addition, a problem they still need to solve is the bag of gold nuggets and two gold bars in their hands. From this point of view, they are now considered rich. Although gold is a hard currency on this earth, you can't Buy a piece of bread and throw a gold bar in someone's face.

"Shall we go to the bank in Salt Lake City?" Sean asked.

"Do you think the skin color configuration of the three of us is not conspicuous enough?" Chen Jianqiu gave him a white look, "Go on to Colorado. We have to go to Denver to find the archaeologist Lockhart mentioned by Robert before, and see him Do you know the secret of the treasure map?"

He took a deep breath and said, "Be careful everyone, I always feel that someone is following us, but I have never been able to determine their number, and I don't understand their purpose."

The three shuttled through the Utahine Mountains, becoming more and more unfamiliar as they walked forward, and even entered the geographic blind spot of Asuka. Fortunately, Sean got a map of the Utah-Colorado area from Edward's camp. Detailed, but combined with the ability to judge the direction in Asuka Mountain, after a few days of marching, the three finally confirmed that they had left the border of Utah.

When they came down from the mountainside along the mountain road, the sky had become gloomy, and Chen Jianqiu was just about to discuss with the other two people about finding a place to camp.

Suddenly, Asuka pointed to a place not far away and said, "Look, there is a small town over there."

Chen Jianqiu observed carefully. At the foot of the mountain, there was indeed a small town with only a gleam of light. I don't know if it was the light from the town.

Raindrops began to float in the sky, the sky became darker, and it was almost night.

With the last glimmer of light, Chen Jianqiu opened the map, but he couldn't find this town on the map.

"Boss, let's go down first, we won't be able to find the way later, and the map will be wet."

Perhaps the map was not marked very accurately.

Chen Jianqiu nodded, and the three of them headed towards the town.

After reaching the outskirts of the town, Chen Jianqiu discovered that the town was smaller than he imagined, and could only be called a small village.

A dilapidated dirt road runs through the entire town, with weeds growing on both sides of the road, giving people an inexplicable sense of desolation.

Rows of dilapidated houses are distributed on both sides of the road, and their shapes are very perfunctory. Some houses have missing corners, and some windows have been sealed.

Oddly enough, none of the houses were lit, either completely dark, or simply plainly deserted.

"Gravel Town?" Sean looked at a road sign standing at the entrance of the town, with the name of the town engraved crookedly on it.

Chen Jianqiu took out the map again, the light was already very weak, he glanced again, but still couldn't find the town.

The rain in the sky became heavier and heavier, and the wind became stronger. The three of them hurriedly patted their horses and came to the largest house with lights on at the end of the road.

There is a sign above the house that reads:

Ben Franklin Hotel.

(End of this chapter)