Henry walked to Bick's side and said: "Congratulations, Bick, your carriage driving skills have successfully saved your life. Work hard, and tomorrow when we reach Denver you'll be free."
Bick immediately said gratefully: "Thank you, Sheriff Henry! I will completely follow your arrangements."
Henry smiled and walked back to his tent, but he wouldn't sleep tonight, nor would he absorb the skills from the two green pearls or upgrade his talents.
Because currently these people were all women, children, and subordinates on their first mission - their combat effectiveness was questionable or their loyalty uncertain. Henry had to ensure he remained completely alert.
His current combat power was sufficient; there was no rush to upgrade talents.
Additionally, he wanted to test what changes staying up all night would have on the "Health" indicator on his panel.
At this time he could faintly hear the roaring of fierce beasts from Death Valley two miles away - they were very active tonight.
Henry once again reviewed his conversation with Richard.
The reason he had revealed these circumstances to Richard was to get him to withdraw from this matter, preventing him from going to Fresco Town to broker coordination with William.
Henry didn't want to see William and Brendan's side start mediating now.
What if the mediation succeeded and they became partners, leading William to intervene in Henry's further elimination operations?
Although Henry wouldn't heed William's interference, it would be rather troublesome.
Additionally, Henry didn't want Richard to foolishly get involved and be reluctantly released by him.
His act of stepping forward to protect his wife today was still commendable, and he had deep understanding and resources in mining and banking. With Henry's life-saving grace toward him, he was a suitable potential cooperation partner.
In the deep quiet of night, it was a perfect time for thinking. Henry continued considering subsequent actions.
In Richard and Madeline's tent, the two were also having nighttime conversation.
Although they were newlyweds, Richard and Madeline were a very intimate and understanding couple, so when Richard saw Madeline, obviously exhausted, forcing herself to stare at him with watery eyes, he knew the reason.
With Madeline's family background, she was definitely a member of "old money," and marrying "new money" Richard was somewhat marrying down.
Richard also knew clearly that his wife wasn't the type of brainless bimbo.
They were more like life partners.
Otherwise, no matter what, Richard wouldn't have brought her to such a remote mining area.
So he also wanted to hear his wife's opinion. He roughly told Madeline what Henry had just said, immediately shocking her out of her wits.
Anyone who had personally witnessed Henry going all out would absolutely not want to stand in opposition to him unless absolutely necessary.
Madeline recalled Henry's imposing divine majesty facing 22 gray wolves.
At short distance, 22 gray wolves were more dangerous than 44 ordinary humans with revolvers, yet they were annihilated by Henry with thunderous momentum in just a few seconds!
Not even one could approach within ten meters of him.
Madeline directly gave her opinion.
"We must at least remain neutral, and preferably try to maintain good relations with Henry. After all, although our mines aren't within Fresco Town's jurisdiction, they're not far away either."
"This time the McKinley family concealed too much from us, putting us in sudden great danger. We should try to keep our distance from them. Let's see what Brendan says when we return."
"Regardless, this time they've lost so many private soldiers, facing powerful strikes from Henry and the Sinclair family, their mining prospects near Fresco Town are bleak."
Richard reached out to gently stroke his wife's hair by her ear and said: "I think the same way. Sleep now, we have to get up early tomorrow to travel."
What they didn't know was that Brendan hadn't intentionally concealed so much information either - after all, too many things had happened these past days, and he only roughly learned the situation days later.
An hour later, Henry emerged from his tent and called all nine officers and Bick to him, beginning to give instructions one by one.
"Except for Bick and Rock, everyone else go rest immediately. Around 4 AM I'll wake you all up."
"Then Bick and Rock will rest. I'll go scout Guillotine ahead, and you'll maintain full alert."
"I emphasize that Bick is now considered one of us. After reaching Denver I'll let him leave freely, but if he escapes, shoot him immediately."
"If I encounter bandits, I'll eliminate them before returning. Several hours is normal, just like yesterday. You protect the camp."
So except for Bick and Rock, everyone else entered tents to rest.
"You two keep watch in those two directions. Be careful not to get dragged away by beasts."
"Yes, Sheriff Henry." The two separated to form a triangle formation with Henry.
Possibly because the beasts were all attracted to Death Valley, nothing happened all night.
Around 4 AM, Henry had Rock wake up Charles, Owen, Pete and the other eight officers.
After they took over the guard duty, Henry set out alone, heading straight for Guillotine.
After reaching the road, he maintained a slow jogging pace of about 12 kilometers per hour, expecting to reach the Guillotine section over 4 miles away in half an hour.
With vision equivalent to ordinary people's daytime sight, Henry running at this speed would have sufficient reaction time to face sudden dangers.
The wilderness at dawn was far more vibrant than imagined, with occasionally startled rattlesnakes, mice, gray foxes, badgers, coyotes, great horned owls and others making various sounds.
Henry ran with his head down regardless, fully enjoying the vastness and loneliness of the West, the clarity under the dim starry sky and the wild romance.
His recklessness and arrogance finally attracted the attention of the wilderness overlords.
Less than half a mile from Guillotine, he was forced to stop - five pairs of cold, cruel green eyes were distributed around Henry at distances of over ten meters, like evil spirits from the netherworld, staring at him coldly.
These gray wolves weighed about 90 kilograms with bite forces up to 700 pounds - even black bears had to retreat when facing them.
When Henry noticed them, the cunning wolves had already suddenly appeared from behind ambush mounds and surrounded him at 360 degrees.
If Henry shot like yesterday afternoon, even twice as many gray wolves would just be delivering food.
But to avoid alerting bandits who might be ambushing in Death Valley, Henry decided to use cold weapons.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!" Four throwing knives flew in pairs like cold lightning toward the two gray wolves closest at about ten meters.
Ordinary expert straight-thrown knives could reach initial speeds of 20-24 meters per second. Having enhanced his constitution twice, Henry estimated his full-power straight throws could reach 30 meters per second, and with agility and strength talents, should reach about 40 meters per second.
Flying knives traveling ten meters would take 200-300 milliseconds, and if gray wolves' reaction speeds were similar to dogs', they'd definitely be slower than cats' 50 milliseconds.
But they should still have 100-millisecond level reaction speeds. Under full concentration, completely dodging the knives wouldn't be easy, but avoiding vital points was highly probable.
One wolf was struck in the eye by a flying knife that penetrated over ten centimeters deep, immediately collapsing to the ground.
The other gray wolf deflected from its eye but was struck in the cheek by another knife, charging forward in fury!
Simultaneously, the other three gray wolves all pounced together!
(End of Chapter)
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