He had been hit 75 times. The range had been too close, and his opponents had been professionals. The fifty-eight men in the rear had laid down a continuous, five-second volley of fire—over 350 rounds in total.
From the first throwing knife to the final, deafening explosion, less than nine minutes had passed. The Sheriff's office would take some time to arrive, and they likely knew what kind of place this was. They would wait until the shooting stopped.
Henry ran back downstairs and began his work. He collected all the weapons, ammunition, wallets, and identification plaques from the bodies, and emptied the drawers in the mission rooms. Then, he doused the wooden furniture and walls with kerosene and set them ablaze.
As the fires began to rage, he placed two 50-pound TNT charges with 15-second fuses in the main hall of the villa, then sprinted out into the night.
He was eighty meters away when a massive explosion tore the villa apart, a wave of hot air washing over him.
He retraced his steps through the labyrinth of back alleys, his eidetic memory guiding him. The houses he passed were all empty; their occupants had likely been the guards he had just killed.
A few minutes later, he reached the final corner and saw them: the five men who had searched him at the entrance.
He activated his Super Reflexes. His hands became a blur.
A second later, each of the five men had three 12-inch, 12-ounce throwing knives buried in their chest and abdomen. He rushed forward as they screamed in agony and, with his rapier, ended their suffering.
He stored the bodies and then unlocked the back door of the Hamlet Saloon.
He slipped inside. The bar was strangely quiet, with only a few patrons remaining. Most had run outside to see the source of the explosions.
As he walked past the bar, the bald bartender's eyes widened in recognition. Before the man could react, Henry's hand moved. Two throwing knives sprouted from the bartender's neck. He collapsed, his hands clawing at his throat, his eyes wide with a look of silent, desperate appeal.
"My God, Larson, what happened to you?" was the last thing Henry heard as he pushed through the swinging doors and vanished into the crowd of onlookers outside.
He found a blind alley, summoned a brown quarter horse from his space, and rode for the Aston Hotel.
It was just past 7 PM. The entire operation, from the moment he had left the Mellon estate, had taken less than an hour.
He found another alley near the hotel, removed his disguise, and then stabled his horse. He checked into the hotel under his own name.
Inside his room, he locked the door and barricaded it with three massive granite blocks from his space.
He had "released" a total of 226 members of the black market. The harvest was immense: 3 green pearls, 128 white, and 95 grey. Only one of the green pearls contained a skill.
His progress bar now read Level 3, 16.67%.
His total pearl energy was now equivalent to 1,768 grey pearls, enough to upgrade both his Precognition and Agility talents.
He decided to absorb the skill-bearing pearls first, one at a time.
He used the first green pearl. He was flooded with the phantom memories of a man born with preternaturally sharp hearing. A new talent appeared: Super Hearing +50%.
The second green pearl granted him Harmonica LV 4.
The third gave him Cardsharp LV 4, granting him mastery of Blackjack, Stud Poker, and Faro.
The fourth gave him Intelligence LV 4, an instinctive understanding of how to gather and analyze information.
The entire process took five minutes. Four hundred and twenty-three kills, four new skills and one new talent. The extraction rate was getting lower as his own abilities grew more comprehensive. But he was more than satisfied. Each new skill was a new world of experience.
With the energy from the four new green pearls, he had more than enough. He focused his mind.
Upgrade Precognition.
A milky-white light flowed from the panel and into his body, a feeling of profound, primal warmth.
Two minutes later, it was done. Precognition LV 2. He could now sense danger two seconds in advance. And, more importantly, he could now sense danger not just to himself, but to anyone within a three-meter radius around him.
The upgrade to LV 3 would require ten thousand grey pearls.
He was now far more powerful. But with no enemies nearby, he would have to wait to test the true extent of his new abilities.