New Gods of North America

The next day, the group, along with their vehicles and horses, formed an even longer procession and recrossed the state line to return to Virginia and clear out their inventory.

As for the hideout, Wayne and the others recorded its location and tried to keep it as it was.

If they had time in the future, they could occasionally come back and check it out, maybe even find some unexpected gains.

Going to Winchester at this point would be a bit of a detour, so the group followed the direction of the steam train line and continued to the next town.

Many people who have watched modern horror movies probably have an impression of the vast and sparsely populated American continent.

For example, the protagonist drives for half a day only to encounter a gas station or motel.

The current American Federation is even worse; there aren't even any so-called 'gas stations' on the road.

Occasionally, there are some inns that provide food and lodging, but they are usually not very close to the towns.

Western Virginia is mountainous, considered 'out in the middle of nowhere,' and it's not uncommon for travelers or merchants to moonlight as robbers.

When Wayne and his group passed by an inn, the owner saw that the detective agency had many people, along with prisoners and weapons, and initially hid in his room with a hunting rifle, with a kind of 'take what you want' attitude.

After Peter found him, Wayne and the others explained their identity and expressed their friendliness, and the owner finally breathed a sigh of relief and began to provide meals for everyone.

Chef Parker offered to help, but the landlady was a little wary but didn't dare refuse.

After a relatively leisurely meal of hot soup and hard bread, the group continued on their way and arrived in town before dark.

Compared to towns like Black Stone, which intentionally develop trade, towns in the mountains are relatively more closed off. Even the police station doesn't have enough cash.

But fortunately, the sheriff can issue checks, which can be cashed at local banks within the state. After confirming the identity of the wanted criminal, he issued the corresponding certificate.

The wanted criminal who had been frightened last night confessed very quickly, eager to get away from Wayne and his group, even admitting to crimes that were not on the wanted list.

With him taking the lead, the other bandits followed suit, and the bounty exchange went smoothly. In total, they exchanged 460 US dollars, with the most valuable head being 100 US dollars.

Including the possible reward subsidy from Mr. Russell and the others, that makes 552 US dollars here.

However, there were some problems with exchanging the spoils.

This town is mainly composed of free people and independent farmers. There are small landlords and merchants, but it is not the same as those towns with wealthy people and large landlords, so it is impossible to sell things in large quantities.

So Wayne and the others sold off the most space-consuming alcohol, a few guns, and some horses and daggers that they didn't particularly like.

They kept two spare horses, roughly maintaining a ratio of 'one person per horse.' These were exchanged for another 847 US dollars.

The bulk of it was still the more than a dozen riding horses, which had a slightly higher market price here than in the west. Unfortunately, not many townspeople had that much cash, and some even gave slight discounts, selling them in batches to several merchants, otherwise it would be troublesome to carry them.

The rest were some jewelry, and a dozen lever-action rifles and revolvers.

The price of guns in the east is cheaper than in the west. If calculated at the second-hand price, they could probably sell for around 300 US dollars, or keep them for use.

The price of jewelry mainly depends on the price of gemstones, otherwise, the price is only slightly more expensive than gold coins of equal weight.

Roughly calculating the total income, it should be around 1700 US dollars, which is not bad for a commission.

However, it took more than a dozen people running around in the mountains for almost two weeks, and they had to risk their lives at the bandit's hideout. The hard work and food couldn't compare with being a rich man's bodyguard, equivalent to everyone earning some labor and life-selling money.

After all, in this day and age, if you die on the road, no one will pay bounty hunters a pension.

You even have to pay for your own horse and weapons.

The small towns in the mountains don't even have a broken-down hotel. If you want to stay overnight, you either have to go back to the main road to find a hotel, or you can only borrow a room from the townspeople.

It was easy for the group from the detective agency. They bought some ingredients from the townspeople and found an open space outside the town, made a fire, cooked, and solved the accommodation problem themselves.

For example, sleeping in a wagon, or wrapping blankets around the campfire.

After dawn, they re-equipped and set off again.

In this day and age, gangs also have development paths:

Usually, it starts with only two or three people, with a dagger or pistol, starting a life of crime in the town.

If they haven't spent all the money, then with spare money to continue expanding equipment, it may be a small gang or a few drifters.

If they are ambitious, then they probably have a weapon in hand at this time, either continuing to commit crimes, recruiting troops and buying horses, or merging with other 'teams' to slowly expand their power. There may also be reductions or 'internal digestion' during this period.

A gang like this that can gather a dozen people and have a hideout,

usually takes one or two years to form in the west, and it's hard to say in the east, it may take even longer.

After that, Wayne and the others continued westward along the steam train line,

spending more than a week, passing through the territories of several counties in a row, all to no avail.

Often, when they arrived at the police station in a small town and asked, they learned that several bounty hunters had already been there, and they had successively caught some wanted criminals.

Even because several groups of people came at once, they had gradually taken away some of the police station's stock of wanted posters, making it take some time for Wayne and the others to replenish them.

I don't know if this counts as a kind of 'high-end business war'...

But because other colleagues had been there before, Wayne also inquired about the situation of other teams.

It is said that some teams only have a few people, and some only saw the leader, and it is not clear the exact number of people. In general, it seems that Wayne's side is not the team with the most people. In terms of numbers, it can only be regarded as 'average'.

However, if you roughly calculate the bounty, Wayne's previous 'detour' was more profitable.

If you make a list, Wayne thinks the detective agency is definitely 'on top' at this time.

Due to the price of land, the steam trains in this era do not have stations along the way. It is not uncommon to have a station every few counties.

The group arrived at a station town called 'Clarisburg'.

Wayne took a look at the map. If they continued west, the next station would be in Ohio, so the group found a hotel to rest and relax for two days.

If they go further west, to the location where the steam train line runs straight through the state line, it is estimated that it will be quite lively there.

Anyway, according to the markings on the map, the section of the road at the junction of the two states is even more 'accident-prone' than the section that Wayne and the others specifically went to clear.