Stephen kicked the corpse hard and continued toward the cabin.
There were two more bodies here, both members of the O’Driscoll Gang.
They had died the same way as the first one.
All shot with revolvers, all killed with a single, fatal shot.
However, their bodies were first covered in black ash, then layered with snow.
Their clothes also showed signs of being scorched by flames.
Judging from the bullet placement and entry angles in their wounds, and assuming the bodies hadn’t been moved much, there were likely three attackers.
One at the doorway, one behind the wagon, and the third was probably the sharpshooter near the cattle shed.
Stephen walked into the cattle shed and, sure enough, found a line of large footprints.
He crouched beside them.
No doubt about it.
This was where the shooter had attacked the O’Driscoll Gang.
This man was a sharpshooter.
Stephen noticed that only three shots had been fired from here.
Three bullets, three kills, all in the dead of night.
Whoever this was, he was terrifying.
Stephen then moved to the back of the wagon.
Someone had been here as well, and had killed two people.
Wait.
There was something on the wagon.
Sensing something was wrong, Stephen slowly reached out and brushed away the snow.
His hands began to tremble.
His body wavered as well.
Even though only part of the figure was visible, he already knew who it was.
Tears instantly filled his eyes.
Mr.
Jake.
The man who had saved him, cared for him, and treated him with kindness… lay dead at his own doorstep, killed by a group of vile bandits.
Stephen cried silently.
In his previous life, he had been an orphan.
The original owner of this body had been the same.
In all his memories, Mr.
Jake and Mrs.
Sadie were the only people who had ever given him the warmth of a home.
He wiped his tears, carefully lifted Mr.
Jake’s body down from the wagon, and gently brushed away the snow.
He examined the body closely.
Aside from gunshot wounds, there were also signs of beating.
Judging from the lividity, the time of death was different from the others.
From the condition of the body, Mr.
Jake had been dead for at least a week.
Of course, the freezing conditions could affect that estimate.
But no matter what, this was still an open environment.
The death couldn’t have occurred more than half a month ago.
In other words… when he had been chasing that white horse in Grizzlies West…
Stephen covered his face, regret flooding his chest.
If he hadn’t gone after that horse, maybe none of this would have happened…
Looking at Mr.
Jake’s unclosed eyes, Stephen clenched his fists and said through gritted teeth,
“Don’t worry, Mr.
Jake.
I will avenge you.
I will send every last one of them to hell.
I swear it!”
He took out his blanket and wrapped Mr.
Jake’s body, then continued searching the house.
The cabin had been reduced to ruins.
Stephen sifted through the debris piece by piece.
He still hadn’t found Mrs.
Sadie.
Part of him prayed he wouldn’t find her.
Another part feared that he wouldn’t.
If she had been taken by those bandits…
Stephen forced himself to stop thinking about it and searched frantically.
In the end, he only found a photograph, its edges burned away.
It was a picture of the couple together.
Looking at their happy faces, Stephen’s tears fell once more.
Nearby lay a metal box.
He opened it and found a platinum necklace inside.
He remembered how Sadie had once shown it off proudly, saying Mr.
Jake had used it to propose to her.
Back then, her face had been full of happiness and hope for the future.
It had made Stephen genuinely envious.
He carefully placed the photo and necklace into the inner pocket of his coat, then continued searching.
Everything above ground had been destroyed by the fire.
After checking thoroughly, he found nothing else of value.
Only the basement remained.
He knew there was a basement.
Clearing away the debris, he pulled the door open.
Stephen grabbed a piece of wood from the rubble, lit it, and slowly descended.
This was the storage room, stocked with winter food and tools.
Still, he found something.
Some of the food had been eaten, but only a small amount.
On the wall nearby, there were scratch marks.
They were deep and chaotic, the kind left by someone in extreme fear and desperation.
It suggested that Mrs.
Sadie had hidden down here.
The faint smell of human waste in the air confirmed it.
Putting everything together, the situation became clear.
The O’Driscoll Gang had raided the place.
Mr.
Jake was killed by them, while Mrs.
Sadie hid in the basement, enduring a period of fear and suffering.
Then three more people arrived.
They killed the O’Driscoll Gang, burned the place down, and likely took Mrs.
Sadie with them.
But who were they?
Stephen couldn’t figure it out.
Heroes?
Don’t be ridiculous.
This world had plenty of villains, but no saviors.
The most likely explanation was that one group of robbers had run into another.
But who would dare target the O’Driscoll Gang?
They were infamous across several states, and few people would risk confronting them directly.
Stephen slowly walked out of the ruins.
Not far away stood a stable, and he made his way inside.
There was another body here.
At a glance, Stephen could tell the man had been strangled to death.
His body was covered in bruises, clearly beaten beforehand.
Whoever killed him was incredibly strong.
That was all the evidence Stephen could gather.
He committed everything to memory, then carried Mr.
Jake’s body to the cliff behind the house.
He found a shovel in the basement, buried him properly, and set up a makeshift headstone using a relatively intact wooden board.
Following the customs of his previous life, Stephen lit a cigarette, poured out some liquor, and opened all the canned food he had brought, placing them in front of the grave.
“Mr.
Jake, don’t worry.
I will find Mrs.
Sadie.
Whether she’s alive or dead, I will bring her back to you.”
Stephen finished the bottle of liquor in one go and made a solemn oath before the grave.