129. Okla

Kangni State, Oakla.

The scorching sun baked the earth, and a strong wind blew, sending gusts of yellow sand sweeping over the cacti.

Not far away, a crimson canyon was clearly visible.

This place was originally a gold rush site, where hundreds of thousands of Frenzy gold prospectors once flocked in.

Some of them became rich overnight, while others lay dead in the streets. After a carnival filled with bloodshed and death, most of them left silently, leaving behind a mess and the small town of Oakla.

Horses are the most convenient means of transportation here.

Cowboys and muskets are part of the local tradition.

There is also a local tradition of duels, not the gentlemanly duels where people count one, two, three back to back, but cowboy duels, where victory or defeat and death are decided in a fraction of a second.

A good shot and a quick draw are enough to earn you applause and even the favor of a beautiful woman!

Therefore, don't underestimate the locals.

Those cowboys might even be hiding Soldier, or even Gunfighter!

Most of them make a living by herding cattle and horses, and sometimes they also work as bounty hunters. Of course, it is not hard to understand if they occasionally do one or two jobs out of necessity.

At this moment, Sulu stepped into the territory of the town of Oakla.

He was wearing a cowboy hat, a jacket, mid-rise jeans with red trim, riding boots... dressed exactly like a local. After walking a few steps, he saw a bar.

Push open the louvered door, which is only half open in the middle, and step inside.

For a moment, it seemed that many eyes were fixed on them, then disappeared again.

The bar was noisy, filled with the smell of tobacco and alcohol, creating a smoky and chaotic atmosphere.

The noise and curses, the girls' giggles and the patrons' flirting, seemed to blend into a unique symphony.

On one side of the wooden wall, there was a row of wanted posters, depicting several fierce-looking figures in sketch style, with the reward amount written below.

Only a handful have black and white photographic portraits, but they are highly distorted.

Seeing this, Sulu smiled, walked to the bar and sat down. "A beer!"

"As a gesture of welcome to outsiders, I'll treat you to the first drink!"

The bartender, who looked middle-aged, wore a white shirt and black vest, and had a sexy mustache, quickly served a large glass of beer and said with a smile.

"Why... could you tell I'm from out of town?"

Sulu glanced at his clothes, which he had changed on purpose to look exactly like the locals.

"You're missing one thing!"

The middle-aged bartender gestured with his eyes. "A gun holster is missing from your waist... and your accent too!"

Sulu took a sip of beer and nodded thoughtfully.

Compared to major cities in the East, gun control here is much more lenient. Basically, every cowboy carries one or two revolvers, claiming it's a man's 'romance'.

Sulu also liked this romantic feeling and immediately decided that he would go and get a weapon for self-defense later.

Just then, he frowned.

Inspiration sensed many eyes gathering around him, filled with malice, like a pack of wolves eyeing a lamb that had wandered in.

'This is... treating me like a lamb to the slaughter?'

Sulu smiled, waiting to see who would be the first to come and die.

In just the time it takes to drink a beer, he heard a lot of information.

for example...

The top-ranked "Butcher" Grede, which bank did he rob, and what heinous crimes did he commit?

Also, where did the second ' Robin Hood ' Zoren appear, tricking a bunch of mounted police officers, and no one ever saw his true face?

"Belch..."

Next to Sulu, two cowboys were drinking excitedly. One of them, a red-nosed cowboy, shouted, "The local mounted policeman, Woods, is my cousin. Last time I wanted to build a haystack and needed a plot of land, I had my wife make an apple pie for him. You know what he said?"

He glanced at Sulu and raised his voice even louder. "After he accepted the apple pie, he gave me a huge bundle of rope, declaring that whatever the rope enclosed was mine!"

'This might be true.'

Sulu didn't take it seriously. He knew that in some Fang Cheng of the Federation, written law and customs had not been completely separated. Moreover, due to the shortage of police resources, sometimes a small town only had one mounted police officer responsible for handling various affairs and disputes. Demarcating unclaimed wasteland was indeed just a matter of a word.

Otherwise, he wouldn't have come.

What they're after is the abundance of legal loopholes in the state; it's incredibly easy to exploit them and obtain multiple identities.

Of course, the red-nosed person next to him said that on purpose, possibly to intimidate him.

If he was indeed from out of town and didn't have a firearm for protection, then what happened next is entirely predictable.

In reality, even appeals are unlikely to yield any results, and regional protectionism will still stubbornly persist even twenty years from now.

Especially in the Midwest, where cowboy culture is rampant, if an ordinary person puts up a fight, they might very well end up dead!

"Hey! Out-of-towner, aren't you going to buy ' Old Will ' a drink?"

Sure enough, after boasting, Red Nose stared at Sulu with a provocative expression.

"Old Will, this is my bar after all!"

The bartender shouted.

Sulu was somewhat surprised; he hadn't expected this boss to be so dedicated.

"Hiccup... Yes, this is your territory! Kid, dare to come out with me?"

Old Will pointed at Sulu.

"OK!"

Sulu readily agreed, and immediately a chorus of sighs could be heard around him.

"How did Old Will manage to snatch it away?"

"He's so lucky... He has to treat us to dinner tonight!"

"What's this? Do you think you can take me for granted?"

Sulu sneered inwardly and followed Old Will out of the bar.

Putting aside the [Occultist's ] abilities, his [Rogue's ] agility of 3.0 alone allows him to do things that ordinary people would consider unbelievable, such as... dodging bullets!

This certainly doesn't mean he's faster than a bullet, but he can certainly be faster than his opponent pulling the trigger.

Sulu wasn't afraid of anyone who wasn't a [Gunfighter] and was wielding ordinary firearms.

'Perfect timing... I need a revolver...'

Sulu glanced at the gun holster on Old Will's waist and couldn't help but feel quite satisfied.

"Outsider..."

Old Will, oblivious to his fate, was wearing a sinister smile when suddenly his expression turned to surprise as he looked towards the town entrance.

Sulu followed his gaze and saw two knights bathed in the red sunset, the leader of whom was a cowgirl with a wheat-colored complexion.

She was athletic, like a female leopard, with a gun holster on each side of her waist. She held the reins in one hand and a rope in the other, which connected to the rider behind her—a poor fellow whose upper body was heavily bound.

"It was her?"

Old Will gasped softly, glared at Sulu, gave him a 'you're lucky' look, and turned back to the bar.

'That's it?'

Sulu stood there, stunned. His debut was over just like that?

And this cowgirl, is she supposed to be a damsel in distress saving a hero?