It had been a long time since such a major case had occurred in town.

  When the five bodies inside the clinic were discovered the next morning, the entire town of Valentine was in an uproar.

  Even more terrifying was that three of the five bodies belonged to members of the notorious O'Driscoll gang.

  People immediately started to discuss whether these despicable gang members were coming back.

  But all of this had nothing to do with Stephen, who was already riding leisurely westward.

  Have to say, Arthur was really versatile; the guy could actually crack a safe!

  In less than three minutes, Arthur had the safe open.

  True to their expectations, they found a full $200 in cash inside the safe!

  Adding what Arthur found at the front desk and in the boxes on the table, they had a total of $300.

  This was no small sum, especially when you compare it to Stephen's bounty missions; catching a fugitive murderer only paid $25.

  When it came time to divide the money, Arthur directly grabbed a stack of crisp bills and handed it to Stephen.

  Stephen then learned that the Van der Linde gang had rules for splitting the money.

  Half for the gang, half for the individual. All money earned outside was divided this way.

  For example, if they earned $300 this time, $150 would go to the gang first.

  Then, the three of them would split the remaining $150, which meant $50 per person.

  This bizarre distribution method made Stephen want to complain inwardly. The IRS didn't even collect taxes this aggressively.

  But since he had chosen to cooperate with them, he should respect their method. In the end, Stephen only received a paltry $50.

  But it didn't matter. Stephen's purpose for doing this wasn't to make money.

  After dividing the money, Charles and Arthur went their separate ways, and Stephen strolled back to the saloon.

  After eating dinner, he went to the inn across the street and slept until dawn, before leisurely departing.

  Cumberland Falls, located between Valentine and Strawberry, was part of Stephen's traditional stomping grounds.

  He knew the area well, so he didn't need to look at a map; he just rode his horse there.

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  The scenery was quite beautiful.

  Both sides were lush forests, and the wide Dakota River flowed through the middle, dividing the land into two states.

  One was New Hanover, where Valentine was located, and the other was West Elizabeth, where Strawberry belonged.

  The river had a significant drop here, forming a wide waterfall. Stephen carefully rode his horse through the water.

  Standing above the waterfall, he watched the river rush down, creating large swathes of mist below.

  Rising with the mist was a beautiful rainbow, appearing magnificent under the sunlight.

  Looking at such a beautiful scene, Stephen suddenly felt relaxed, and some annoying worries instantly disappeared.

  Indeed, beauty could heal people.

  Crossing the waterfall meant entering the territory of West Elizabeth. If the intelligence was correct, the woman should be hiding somewhere here.

  Following the mountain path downwards, Stephen carefully searched through the forest.

  The forest was nice. It wasn't like the forests to the north, where there were dangerous beasts and difficult terrain.

  Nor was it like Rhodes, humid and hot, full of snakes, insects, and rodents, which made people irritated.

  This was an important reason why Stephen liked staying in Strawberry.

  Stephen searched all day long, but couldn't find any satisfactory clues. So he simply set up camp by the river and rested.

  That’s how bounty hunting went, catching a person often took just a few minutes, but finding the person could take several days.

  Stephen took out his small pot, boiled some water, then took out his weapons and slowly cleaned his gun and knife.

  These things were precious and had to be taken care of.

  Otherwise, if something went wrong at a crucial moment, he could lose his life.

  Stephen had been searching in this area for three days. Finally, on the evening of the third day, he found a trace.

  "A woman's clothes, hehe, where are you running now?" Stephen picked up the woman's shorts on the ground, and muttered with a smile.

  He carefully parted the grass on the ground, searching for traces in the vicinity.

  Finally, by the river, he found a row of footprints.

  Now that he had found footprints, everything was simple.

  Stephen followed the direction of the footprints, moving forward step by step. Finally, in a cave not far away, he discovered a light.

  Following his habits, he grabbed his long knife with his right hand and his revolver with his left, and crept closer to the cave.

  "I read in the newspaper they say you're a black widow…"

  Just as Stephen approached the cave, a timid male voice entered his ears.

  "What does that mean? Those people are just spreading rumors. You don't have to listen to them."

  Then came a female voice, she said loudly, defending herself: "You're my love, how could I kill you?"

  "I believe you, but…"

  "There are no 'buts.'" The woman was clearly annoyed.

  Confirmed, this woman was his target. Stephen came out.

  "Hehehe, the play is over." Stephen held up his long knife and gave the two a smile.

  "Damn it, a bounty hunter! Kill him!" The woman recognized Stephen the moment she saw him and knew why he was here.

  She directly shouted at the man next to her, trying to get him to draw his gun and kill Stephen.

  The man hesitated.

  He looked at the woman, then at Stephen, and actually turned to the woman and said, "You should go back with him. Running away like this…"

  Stephen looked at the man with curiosity. In this day and age, there were not many people who were so law-abiding.

  "Damn it, men are so unreliable!" The woman roared angrily, then suddenly pulled out a knife and stabbed the man next to her.

  "Woah." Stephen was shocked. He immediately raised his gun and shot the woman in the leg.

  Fortunately, the distance between the two was not too far, and Stephen reacted quickly. The shot hit the woman's thigh.

  The intense pain deformed the woman's movement, and her fatal blow to her lover only scratched his back.

  Stephen quickly stepped forward, took out his rope from behind, and tied the woman up tightly.

  The man was still in shock. He looked at the blood flowing from his back, his face full of disbelief.

  Looking at the distraught man, Stephen uttered a profound truth.

  "Indeed, a woman's heart is the most poisonous thing there is."