As if waking from the deepest, darkest dream—Zhang Tianyuan found himself lying on his back on dry dirt.
In the azure sky, a scorching fireball was wantonly releasing light and heat.
He painstakingly turned his throbbing head, discovering a roughly half-meter diameter, seven to eight stories tall America black poplar beside him. Further away were scattered poplars, clusters of low shrubs, and yellowish-brown hills.
The strong earthy smell in his nose and the withered branches and rotten leaves he clutched in his hand all indicated that he was currently in the wilderness!
'What's going on? Wasn't I on vacation at the five-star Wynn Hotel in Las Vegas?'
'Where's that white-skinned foreign mare? A honey trap?'
A series of thoughts flashed through Zhang Tianyuan's mind.
As a mercenary, he had just completed a major contract in Africa and went to Las Vegas, America, with two teammates for a vacation.
He had only stayed one night at this five-star hotel, and yet such a huge mishap occurred!
The problem was that Zhang Tianyuan had no idea what was going on.
Just then, countless memories flooded into his mind out of nowhere.
After a long while, the memory infusion stopped, and Zhang Tianyuan finally understood what had happened.
He had actually transmigrated to July 12, 1880, near Frisco, a small mining town near Denver, a city in the Midwest of America!
His current identity was Henry Bruce, an ordinary 20-year-old police officer at the town's police station.
This afternoon, he, along with Sheriff Brian and 25 others, pursued eight bandits who had robbed the general store in town. However, when they reached the hilly area about five miles from the town, they encountered a large ambush of bandits.
Not long after the battle began, Henry was unluckily shot in the chest. The powerful impact caused him to fall backward, tumbling off his galloping horse and hitting the ground, dying instantly!
Then, Zhang Tianyuan from 2024 transmigrated and took over this body.
Zhang Tianyuan unbuttoned the top two buttons of his blue police uniform jacket with his right hand. The 18K gold Patek Philippe gold pocket watch case had a distinct dent, and the bullet had ricocheted somewhere unknown.
Zhang Tianyuan was utterly dejected—even though the bullet was blocked, it couldn't save Henry from his fate of death!
Otherwise, he wouldn't have transmigrated.
This Patek Philippe gold pocket watch was an heirloom Henry's grandfather left him.
Annoyed as he was, Zhang Tianyuan propped himself up with both hands, sitting upright.
A winchester 1873 lever-action rifle lay about three meters to his right.
He exerted force with his feet, enduring the severe pain in his chest, and shakily stood up. He walked over to pick up the rifle, and his heart couldn't help but settle.
The situation was unclear at the moment, and having a reliable weapon in hand greatly increased his sense of security.
Zhang Tianyuan looked down at himself, dressed in a standard blue long-sleeved police uniform and a black vest, wearing high-heeled riding boots with spurs, and a Colt M1873 single-action revolver tucked into the gun belt at his waist.
This pistol was the famous 'Peacemaker' in American history—when it was shown, everyone calmed down. It shared the .44-40 centerfire rifle cartridge with the winchester 1873 lever-action rifle.
Although not as sharp as the pointed smokeless powder bullets of later generations, it was already the favorite of Western cowboys in this era.
Zhang Tianyuan crouched low and cautiously walked a few steps forward—Henry's impression before he fainted was that Sheriff Brian was firing shots from below the hills in that direction.
As far as the eye could see, Sheriff Brian lay on his back on the slope of a hill about two hundred meters away. About a hundred meters diagonally opposite him lay three bandits—two looked like they had rolled down from the top of the hill, and the other was leaning against the hill. None of them showed any movement.
Zhang Tianyuan walked quickly along the mountain path for more than ten meters, rounded a small bend, and found Henry's brown Quarter Horse police horse by the roadside. So, he put his foot in the stirrup, swung onto the police horse, and galloped toward Brian.
Along the way, eleven police officers lay scattered on the ground, lifeless, and their horses were also strewn about.
Rounding another bend, a bandit wearing jeans and a wide-brimmed, high-crowned felt hat lay by the roadside.
A large chunk of flesh was missing from his left shoulder and neck, but he was still alive, groaning intermittently in a low voice!
Zhang Tianyuan decisively held the Winchester 1873 with both hands, aimed at his head at close range, and fired a shot.
"Bang!"
At close range, a single shot made the bandit's head explode like a watermelon, red and white splattering out, but unable to touch Zhang Tianyuan, who was already a few meters away on his horse.
Huh?
Zhang Tianyuan suddenly noticed a progress bar light up in the corner of his retina!
This progress bar should have always been there, but it hadn't been lit up before, remaining semi-transparent, so he hadn't noticed it immediately.
The progress bar looked about 5 centimeters long, lit up about 10%, and it had a bright gray release beadbelow it.
When Zhang Tianyuan's thoughts touched the progress bar and the gray release bead, some inexplicable thoughts flashed through his mind, letting him know the function of these two items.
The progress bar was called the release life progress bar, and the gray release bead was called a Level 1 release bead.
Each time Zhang Tianyuan personally released a life, he gained a release bead. The primary progress bar would upgrade to a Level 1 progress bar after collecting ten Level 1 release beads.
Currently, the Level 1 release bead had only one function—to remove minor negative body conditions.
Zhang Tianyuan focused his thoughts on the release bead and silently thought: Use.
The release bead instantly projected a dull gray light onto him, making him feel warm all over, as if his entire body was soaking in a hot spring of about 40 degrees Celsius.
This feeling came and went quickly, disappearing before the police horse had even run 10 meters.
But Zhang Tianyuan felt his body return to peak condition; the chest pain and general discomfort from falling off the horse earlier completely vanished.
Huh?!
That small release bead was still there!
Only its surface had completely dimmed, like an empty shell.
Zhang Tianyuan's thoughts touched the release bead, and he immediately received feedback—the release bead's empty shell would shatter when he was inevitably hit by a bullet, silently deflecting the bullet.
Bullet-type weapons include: stones, skill Flying Dagger, blow darts, bows and arrows, javelins, and any thrown cold weapons, as well as various gun bullets, bombs, rocket launchers, artillery shells, etc.
A Level 1 release bead empty shell can only deflect thrown cold weapons and pistol bullets.
This was equivalent to having an extra life!
Zhang Tianyuan's chaotic and agitated mind calmed down slightly, feeling that God was quite reliable and hadn't let him transmigrate suddenly without any support.
Unfortunately, the next two bandits he encountered were both shot in the head, so Zhang Tianyuancouldn't obtain any new release beads.
Soon, Zhang Tianyuan reached Brian and found a gaping wound in his chest and abdomen, and his waist was a mess, with a pool of blood on the ground.
He dismounted, gently supporting Brian's head and upper body with both hands from his neck and back shoulder.
Huh?
The progress bar instantly lit up completely, and a vibrant green release bead appeared below it, seemingly with an inexplicable aura flowing through it, profound and unfathomable.
In a flash, the progress bar returned to its semi-transparent state, showing only 1% lit up.
A semi-transparent panel unfolded before Zhang Tianyuan.
"Name: Henry Bruce (Zhang Tianyuan)
Level: 1
Health: 100%
Constitution: LV1"