In the vast Gobi, a group of people are riding horses, they have been wandering in the field for a week, everyone looks dusty, but they are getting closer and closer to the final destination, Yining.

However, when they arrived at their destination, they found that it had already been engulfed in flames, and only charred wreckage remained.

Matthew turned over and dismounted, and stood in the middle of the town, looking up, there were broken walls everywhere, and there was no living creature to be found.

"As I told you, they all died in the fire."

If Zhang Heng was also here, he would definitely be able to recognize the person who spoke, it was the bailiff named Morton he met by chance on the first night he came to this copy, but the latter's condition did not look very good now, his eyes were bruised, the bridge of his nose was broken, four or five teeth were lost, he was tied to a horse, and his speech was a little leaky.

"I don't believe your claims of a mysterious Oriental gunslinger...... I've lived in Lincoln County for so long and I've never met anyone like this. Matthew frowned.

"Like I said, if I hadn't met him that night, I wouldn't have believed that there would be such a strange man in this world, he was like a mysterious ghost, and no one knew where he came from, and then I went in the direction he came from and asked the nearby town, and no one ever saw such a person, and he seemed to suddenly appear on this Gobi, and killed seven good men in the bar, and left with forty kilograms of gold and what you were looking for, and I did hear him say that he was going to Lincoln County when I met him."

"Then we'll go to Lincoln County too." The hunchbacked old man spoke.

"No, I'm not going to Lincoln County with you." Matthew shook his head, "Don't think I don't know what you're playing with, Cook. You deliberately revealed my name to the townspeople in Bliss when you went to rob this guy," Matthew pointed to Morton on horseback, "and you must take me with you, do you want to use this method to get me into contact with the Cook Gang?" ”

"You're part of the Cook Gang, and you're one of the founders." The hunchbacked old man said leisurely.

"No, I have nothing to do with your gang, and Lucky Horseshoe has nothing to do with the Cook gang at all." Matthew said, "Are you acting for me, Cook?" You and this guy named Morton, you actually made an appointment, right, you went around in such a big circle, just to trick me into going to Lincoln County with you. ”

"You're thinking a little too highly of me, kid." The hunchbacked old man said, he took out a box of chewing cigarettes, "I'm not one of those people from the Pacific Union Railroad, I can let the bailiffs serve me, I have indeed been thinking about how to let you go to Lincoln County with me along the way, but it seems that this problem has now been solved by itself, this is probably the choice of fate." ”

"I don't believe in any bullshit fate." Matthew said.

"I didn't believe it once either, but if it weren't fate, we should now sit together in your house, you with your son, and I with my granddaughter, and we drank beer and talked about the trivial things of life that were not worth mentioning, and Mary ...... Mary prepares dinner in the kitchen. ”

Cook paused, "But you're right, there is actually no fate in this world at all, some are just the jungle, I don't regret establishing the Cook Gang, I just regret realizing it too late, I let myself be blinded by the happy life I once had, just like you are now, but the cruel life will wake us up one day sooner or later, I heard that you married another woman in Lincoln County and gave birth to a daughter." ”

"Don't get them involved in the matter between us." Matthew warned.

The hunchbacked old man smiled, "It's not me who you should be worried about, but the fate of your mouth, aren't you worried that what happened to Mary will happen to them again?" ”

Matthew fell silent when he heard this.

"Look, how fragile your so-called happiness is, there are too many big people in this world like the directors of the Pacific Union Railroad, Matthew, you are just an ant under their feet, you don't know when that boot will fall on your head, do you know where I went after the three of us separated."

"Where?"

"I took the train to the East Coast."

"Then why did you come back?"

"What, do you think I'm going to retire in New York?" The hunchbacked old man laughed, "No, I'm going to take revenge to the end, I'm going to kill the director of the Pacific United Railroad, I'm ready to be caught if I succeed, I don't want to live anymore anyway...... Things went more smoothly than I expected, I slipped into the target's house without much effort, the East Coast guys were not like us, they were barely alert, I even had a chance to enjoy his wife in front of him before I started, and then I noticed the way he looked at me, so frightened and helpless, like a puppy in the rain, it was at that moment that I suddenly realized that I had become his destiny. ”

"What the hell are you trying to say?" Matthew frowned.

"My point is that if you want to get out of this infinite cycle of miserable fate, you have to become fate itself." Cook said, "Join us, Matthew, don't be a pawn at the mercy of fate, we have more than forty brave and fearless men, who come and go like the wind, excellent marksmanship, and the whole west is our hunting ground." ”

"Since you already have more than forty subordinates, why do you have to let me join?"

"Because you are my relative, Matthew, I have always treated you as a son, because your bloodline is not popular in the town, it was I who accepted you, taught you how to use a gun, how to ride a horse, and married your daughter to you, you are like me when you were younger, join us, and I will continue to guide you."

"Where to guide me, to go with you to hell?"

"This ending is not too bad, you and I join forces, even if we fall into hell, we can kill Satan." The hunchbacked old man looked at Matthew expectantly.

Then the latter shook his head, "No, Cook, I still have a wife and daughter, I can't be a robber with you, the revenge is over, we killed a whole town, it's over, I love Mary, no less than you, that's why I'm sure she doesn't want to see you like this, you just inflicted the pain you once suffered on others, so what's the difference between you and Reuben back then?" ”

"I'm stronger than him, and that's why I survived." The hunchbacked old man said, "In this land, only strong people can win the right to live for themselves, it's a pity that you are not strong enough Matthew, but it doesn't matter, soon you will become strong, come on, child, let's meet a new future together." ”