America 1881: Legend of the West

"Mr. Chen, I hope you can help me investigate this Ku Klux Klan?"

The mayor's office is very neat, with bright and clean windows, in sharp contrast to the dusty streets outside the windows.

"I'm afraid there's nothing I can do to help. Since you know our identities and know that we won't stay here for long, we have more important things to do." Chen Jianqiu refused as always.

"What if the remuneration is appropriate? I can't find anyone else for the time being." The mayor tapped his five fingers on the table in turn and looked at Chen Jianqiu.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Mayor, as you know, our identities are very sensitive." Chen Jianqiu declined politely. He winked at the mayor, "I suggest you hire some private detectives, such as Pinkerton Detective Agency. They Relatively professional and likely to be nearby.”

"That's a pity." The mayor didn't seem to hear Chen Jianqiu's last sentence. He looked melancholy, "I'm really worried. The situation seems to be very serious now. It seems that many residents of the town have been bewitched and involved. .”

The mayor sent Chen Jianqiu out of the house.

It was a crisp autumn day in Montrose in early October. The sparse larches around the town were still green, but the shrubs and grass on the ground were already turning yellow.

Chen Jianqiu walked into the tavern and saw Adam, Sean and Danny sitting at the table by the window in the hall playing cards.

They were playing a card game popular in the West at the time, somewhat similar to the predecessor of Texas Hold'em.

There are also Fullhouse and Flush, but the rules for dealing cards are much simpler than later.

There was a revolver placed on the table to Adam's left, and the direction of the gun was unknown whether it was pointed at the black man intentionally or unintentionally.

"Hey, Adam, can you please stop pointing the muzzle of this gun at me?" Sean looked at the cards in his hand and then at the gun on the table, feeling uncomfortable all over.

Adam didn't even raise his head, his eyes seemed to be focused on his own cards, and he said softly: "You can choose this hand to continue cheating, and I can also guarantee that your cheating hand will blossom. "

Sean trembled and took his other hand up from under the table.

Chen Jianqiu did not interrupt the elegance of the others and watched with interest. He even considered whether to add a number outside the plate. It was glorious to pluck wool, because the black man's poker skills were too bad.

"Damn, shit." Sean threw the cards on the table. He lost another big one.

He looked up and saw Chen Jianqiu standing behind Adam, and a smile immediately appeared on his face, "Boss, are you back?"

Adam and the others also put down their cards, Feiniao moved a chair over, and Chen Jianqiu sat down.

"What do you say?" Adam asked.

"The mayor asked me to help him investigate the Ku Klux Klan." Chen Jianqiu played with the pocket watch absently, "I openly refused."

"so?"

"I plan to check it out alone. This thing is a bit strange. Maybe it's coming for us."

Feiniao and the others have become accustomed to Chen Jianqiu's decision. As long as their boss dares to go, he must have his purpose and certainty.

But the newly joined Danny didn't know. He looked at Chen Jianqiu worriedly: "Are you sure you are going alone?"

Chen Jianqiu nodded: "This town has a close relationship with the Ku Klux Klan, and there is a high probability that there are their spies here, so I can go alone."

"You're here now."

Chen Jianqiu asked them not to act until dark and to do whatever they were supposed to do, and then explained the response arrangements.

Everyone went about their business, and Chen Jianqiu came to the security station again.

Just like when he first saw Sigmund, the Jew was sleeping on the table. In the cell behind him, several young men caught last night were sitting there blankly.

"Have you had lunch?" Chen Jianqiu took out a few pieces of cake without disturbing Sigmund who was snoring.

几个人摇了摇头，昨天被丹尼狠揍的那个年轻人嘴角舔了舔自己青了的嘴角，口水正从那里流出来。

Chen Jianqiu threw the cake to them through the fence, and also threw a water bag.

Several people scrambled to make a ball, and those who didn't grab it could only pick up the crumbs that fell on the ground and stuff them into their mouths hungrily.

"You're so hungry after not eating for three meals?" Chen Jianqiu shook his head, "The standards of the Ku Klux Klan are a bit low."

"Hey, let me ask you, are you active every day?" Chen Jianqiu looked at the boy picking up scraps on the ground and handed him a complete piece.

"No, no, we are just a branch, but there seems to be a big ceremony tonight." The young man took the cake from Chen Jianqiu's hand, tore it open and put it in his mouth.

"Who are they?"

"I don't know, well, well, only our superiors know. They sent us the clothes and kept their identities strictly confidential. We don't know who is who." The young man said while eating. He didn't have the ability to grab the water bag. I almost choked myself.

"Location?"

"In the forest to the west of the town, there is an open space there. There is a big cross at the entrance, which is easy to recognize."

Chen Jianqiu didn't intend to stay here any longer. He picked up a cleaner white robe on the table and walked out of the security station.

As dusk fell, a cowboy rode a black horse quietly out of the town. He walked a few kilometers west and saw a dense coniferous forest, with a path leading into the forest.

The cowboy got off his horse and got into the woods nearby. After a while, a man wearing white cloth came out of the woods.

Chen Jianqiu looked at his feet through the two holes of the mask. In the moonlight, he found that the robe covered his feet. From a distance at night, he might really look like a "ghost".

He walked up to Black Carrot and patted his butt. The wandering horse immediately ran out, knowing that it was time for him to have fun again.

Chen Jianqiu walked along the path and walked into the woods.

If you say that outside the forest, the moon and stars can still be considered sparse; once you enter the forest, the surrounding brightness drops again, and you can only faintly see the path under your feet.

From time to time, there will be a few calls of unknown animals in the forest. Occasionally, there will be owls perched on the branches flapping their wings. They fly from one tree to another, shaking the tops of the trees, and at the same time. It made a strange cry of "Jie Jie".

Chen Jianqiu was walking along the path when he suddenly noticed a man dressed in the same costume as him, holding a torch and walking in front of him.

The man walked cautiously, keeping pace with each step, constantly observing the movements in the surrounding forest, as if he was afraid that something would jump out of the forest.

Chen Jianqiu lowered his footsteps and followed.

"Damn it, why did you choose a place like this for a gathering? A ghost place can really scare people to death at night." The man holding the torch complained while looking around.

When he looked to his right.

Suddenly, under the light of the torch, a face with no facial features and only two holes appeared.

"Oh my god, what a ghost!" The man was so frightened that he sat down on the ground and threw out the torch in his hand.

The torch was gently caught and handed back to the man's hand.

A hand reached out and pulled him up from the ground. The man took a closer look and found that the person in front of him was also a "comrade" wearing a white robe.

"Oh, you scared me to death. Didn't you make any footsteps when you walked?" The man patted his chest.

Chen Jianqiu didn't speak. His original intention was not to scare the person in front of him, but to follow him into the gathering place.

After all, in this kind of woods, two people with torches look much more normal than one in the dark.

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