New Gods of North America

With Clariceburg behind them, the group continued east along the steam train tracks,

effectively completing a "cross-section" of the Appalachian Mountains.

From here all the way to Ohio, the main terrain shifted from so-called "high mountains" to the more common "forest".

The steam train lines weren't usually the "main roads" people took, and in fact, seemed to avoid them somewhat,

so as the elevation decreased, the small animals that could be caught along the way gradually began to increase.

The level of development here seemed lower; Wayne even saw a number of legendary "big trees" along the way.

Trees with a diameter of more than three meters hadn't been seen along the steam train line, you'd probably have to venture deeper into uninhabited areas to find them,

but trees with a diameter of one or two meters, too thick for two people to hug, weren't too rare.

Some of the cut-off tree stumps, with just one more horizontal cut, could directly serve as a so-called "log round table".

Unfortunately, the carriage wasn't suitable for transport, otherwise, Wayne would have liked to take one back for fun.

Inessa had prepared a kind of ointment with a slight toxicity, but it was very effective in preventing mosquito bites.

Emma had been frantically smearing it all over herself recently, with a "scorched earth" approach, showing a determination that "either the mosquitoes or I must die today".

Due to technological and investment limitations, the steam train lines of this era were still relatively "down-to-earth".

Specifically, they avoided building bridges whenever possible, sticking as close to the terrain as they could.

Tunnels were an even rarer thing, something everyone knew existed, but in reality, only some wealthy areas with busy routes would occasionally consider digging.

In a sense, they could even be considered a kind of "attraction" and "man-made wonder".

So when Wayne saw the so-called "railroad bridge" for the first time in the forest,

he realized that this thing was actually built out of wood.

Although theoretically, as long as the wood was thick and strong enough, and the updates and maintenance were timely enough, a wooden bridge could also be very strong,

but for Wayne, who almost equated "bridges" with stone or reinforced concrete materials,

this thing looked like a "safety hazard"...

Inessa noticed Wayne staring at the wooden railroad bridge and nodded beside him:

"I flipped through some old local newspapers I found in the hotel these past two days. Because of the terrain, there are several bridges along the steam train line in this area. Some gangs like to blow up the bridges when committing crimes, and then force the steam train to stop for robbery."

Wayne listened, and couldn't help but glance at it a few more times,

at this point already doing stress analysis, studying how professionals would usually blow up the bridge if they wanted to save effort.

Where there are bridges in the forest, there are "valleys", and usually, there will also be streams.

So the group stopped by a water source to make a fire and cook, and also to rest for a while.

The four new members recruited by Doug could barely be considered "locals". According to their own accounts, their recent activities had basically been in this large forest west of the Appalachian Mountains.

When they didn't have work, they were hunters, and when they had work, they were bounty hunters.

As for whether they had ever moonlit as robbers, that was unclear, but Doug had them go to the police station to see if there were any recent wanted orders, and these people were all able to walk out of the local police station normally.

With hunters and a chef in the team, and small animals in the forest, the group's meals became more plentiful.

A barbecue feast was out of the question, but making sure there was meat in every meal wasn't a problem.

Cooking outdoors was relatively troublesome; the campfire needed firewood, the prey needed skinning, and the kitchen environment could only be improvised.

Fortunately, the detective agency had a lot of people at this time; everyone helped share the burden, and various things were done at the same time, which shortened the overall time considerably.

Wayne, with nothing to do, wandered around near the stream, and soon found a "bald spot" in a meadow a little further away.

Many friends who have been on the gallows know that,

the significance of digging a pit in the wild is mainly to prevent others from knowing that a case has occurred, but once it is discovered, the pit itself can't actually cover up too many problems.

Even if grass grows back, the types and distribution of plants growing on the pit are different.

Even a sheriff like Wayne, who needs to secretly count his fingers and toes for everyday arithmetic, and who grew up watching too much with Uncle Benjamin,

can roughly judge how long ago a pit was dug in the wilderness, and can also preliminarily determine whether there is likely to be a large mammal buried underneath.

The size of this pit seemed more suitable for sleeping, and judging from the soil, it didn't seem to be very shallow,

so Wayne pondered for a while, then called Doug over, signaling him to bring people over after dinner to dig and see who was buried inside.

The meal wasn't very satisfying; everyone consciously controlled themselves to be only eighty percent full.

Afterwards, Wayne put on leather gloves, covered his nose, and came over to take a look.

The person lying in the pit at this time was exactly at the most tragic stage of the picture, with bones and flesh, and you could still tell it was a "person", but you couldn't tell "who" it was.

But in this era, some things even illiterate people could understand,

for example, a yellow hexagon star, which was picked off and thrown near the corpse's head.

Wayne slightly imagined the scene at the time,

guessing that the murderer might have thrown it at the other person's face, and might even have spat or drooled on them.

Unfortunately, the police badges of this era don't necessarily come with place names; they only have a word engraved on them that explains their identity.

They look shiny, but are actually mostly brass, and the rich ones might plate them with a little gold. They aren't cheap to buy, but they aren't easy to sell and aren't worth much.

After searching for a while, the corpse didn't have any other valuable or written items, and there weren't even bullet holes in the clothes.

The hole in the back of the head was small and the hole in the front was big, presumably a "execution" where the person was held down, or a "sneak attack" when the person wasn't prepared.

As for the specific time of death and whether the other person had been injured before, it was impossible to determine. The color of the clothes was already a mess.

Wayne might be slightly more knowledgeable than his colleagues in this era in some strange professional knowledge, but in practice, he wasn't much different, and could only see a rough outline.

Finally, after taking the police badge and recording the characteristics of the clothes, the group refilled the pit and erected a wooden stake next to it, making a simple tombstone and marker.

Wayne thought for a while and signaled everyone to hurry on their way:

"Let's continue forward and report the case to the nearest town first. By the way, starting from here, we may have to be wary of 'strange good people'. If it was a gang crime, they usually wouldn't spend the time and effort to dig a pit."