It was approaching 9 PM now. Except for the four bars, other shops had basically closed for the day, with households behind closed doors.
The town had no street lamps, only some wealthy families had gas lamps hanging in front of their doors, providing some light in the darkness.
Henry smoothly approached Ronald's house. There was also a gas lamp hanging at the entrance, and the house was brightly lit inside.
The front door on the first floor was ajar, with faint voices coming from within.
Still busy so late?
Henry thought in the shadows for a moment, then decided to act immediately. The people inside might be discussing how to deal with him.
If he was wrong, well, they could only blame their bad luck.
After checking the weapons and equipment in his space, he quietly stepped up the front stairs of the house, pushed the door open gently with his right hand, and slipped inside.
The creaking sound of the wooden door still alerted the four people in the hall—Ronald and James's three lackeys sitting on the living room sofa all turned to look simultaneously.
Henry's hands conjured two throwing knives out of thin air, and he threw them with force!
Enhanced by superhuman strength, the throwing knives crossed the distance of less than ten meters like lightning, embedding deeply in the necks of Ronald and James who were facing Henry.
The astonishment in Ronald and James's eyes immediately froze.
Henry threw again with both hands, and the other two lackeys also had throwing knives instantly embedded in their necks.
Continue! Keep going!
Henry threw his hands four times in succession, with eight throwing knives crisscrossing like chopsticks, embedding in pairs into the four men's necks.
Ignoring the four men whose eyes showed despair, whose hands instinctively covered their necks, and whose throats made gurgling sounds, Henry closed the door behind him, then walked unhurriedly to the coffee table in front of Ronald, picked up a letter, opened the envelope, and took out the letter paper to read.
This letter was a reply from Sean, the clan chief of the McKinley family's Dwyer Manor, to Ronald.
The letter agreed to Ronald's proposed plan. At 6 AM tomorrow morning when dawn just broke, Sean would dispatch a team of gunmen to attack a farm 8 miles from town.
The farm housed seventeen families, all German and Scottish, with ninety-six people total, including 28 adult men who were all brave fighters—veterans who had served in the European continent and came here seeking opportunities after discharge.
They had been rooted there for nearly 10 years, with the third generation already having over ten people approaching adulthood.
Several of them had quite good relationships with Mayor William and Henry's grandfather.
This time the McKinley family's main branch had dispatched a company of cavalry—182 knights total, even bringing two 6-barrel Gatling guns.
Originally these cavalrymen were meant to suppress those bandit mercenaries.
Sean would simultaneously dispatch another 20 gunmen to join the cavalry, making 202 gunmen total, plus two Gatling guns. No matter how fierce the farm people were, they could only obediently die.
Then they would leave a few women and half-grown children alive to go to the town police station to report.
The cavalry would ambush Henry and others in the hills or valleys halfway between the town and the farm.
This way, Henry and other officers passing through the hills or valleys would basically face certain death.
Ruthless!
After reading the letter, Henry knew Ronald had never intended for him to smoothly take the oath as sheriff at 9 AM.
At this time, all four of Ronald's group had died, giving Henry three gray beads and one white bead containing skills.
Henry wasn't in a hurry to absorb this white bead, in case he suffered serious injuries in the upcoming battle.
After all, gray beads could only repair minor abnormal conditions.
Even if he absorbed these few beads, at most he could improve the five LV1 skills, which wouldn't help much for now.
Henry stored the four men in his space, also obtaining four Colt 1873 single-action pistols and 120 bullets.
Then Henry used his newly mastered tracking and counter-tracking skills to observe the entire house for traces where things could be hidden. Although not directly applicable, his observation skills had definitely increased greatly.
Finally, he discovered a hidden compartment under the desk in the second-floor study, obtaining $5,255.
Ronald was quite good at making money. Although he had been firmly suppressed by Bryan for over five years, most people in gold mining towns were filthy rich when the mines weren't exhausted, so there were still plenty of side earnings.
Henry happily stored this money in his space, along with a "One of One Thousand" Winchester 1873 rifle from the master bedroom, identical to Bryan's.
This type of rifle was supposedly only produced in 136 units total, yet this small town had 2!
Ronald had never shown it off.
This guy was really an old schemer.
Henry complained while carefully leaving the house and sneaking back to his own home.
He hadn't expected such great gains from this operation.
Initially, he only had a simple idea—eliminate Ronald.
Because Ronald was currently the only official police officer in the town station, with seniority over Henry, backed by the McKinley family, and always at odds with Henry, it was foreseeable that he would inevitably create various troubles for Henry.
Henry didn't expect Ronald to be of any help, so this guy who could only bring negative effects naturally had no value in existing.
Moreover, Henry had originally suspected Ronald was connected to Bryan's attack, since he was the most obvious beneficiary.
As for evidence, Henry indicated he wasn't a judge and didn't need such things at all.
Besides, hadn't the evidence already arrived?
As for James and the other two, they could only blame their bad luck.
In the cruel and savage West, being involved in such major events, if luck ran out, ordinary people dying unnaturally was all too common.
Unfortunately, the letter didn't explain why the McKinley family was making such a big fuss.
But it didn't matter—Henry believed their branch's clan chief Sean would soon confess everything to him honestly.
Soon, Henry silently returned to his own house.
It was still early, not even 10 PM yet, so he first took a hot bath.
When William initially established this town, he had planned for long-term development, building complete underground sewage and water supply pipelines, drawing tap water from the nearby South Platte River.
After washing up, the refreshed Henry looked at the handsome man in the bathroom mirror—blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, features as three-dimensional as an ancient Greek sculpture, nine-tenths similar to the Henry who had played Superman in his former timeline.
Unfortunately, the original Henry had deliberately let his full beard seal away eighty percent of his magnificent beauty, making himself look seven or eight years older.
Henry immediately took out a razor and spent over ten minutes finally shaving off all his facial hair completely.
Putting on loose cotton underwear, Henry went to the kitchen and heated a kettle of hot water with a large copper pot, poured out a cup, then stored the large copper pot in his storage space.
Then he sat on the small cowhide sofa in the hall, slowly drinking water while thinking about his next actions.