Reborn in America, I am a legendary short seller on Wall Street.

Chapter 221 Assassination Incident
King Astor IV turned to look at the carriage, his face blank with utter bewilderment.

The carriage was not a car. The explosion and flames instantly caused the two packhorses to gallop wildly. The flaming carriage first crashed into the truck that was blocking the road, and then, because they were hooked together, it lay sideways on the road and burst into flames.

Two packhorses broke free from the carriage shafts, neighing loudly as they galloped toward the crowd, their bodies still ablaze.

The crowd quickly dodged and managed to clear a path for the frightened horse. However, one of the horses, in pain from the fire, kicked up its heels and accidentally stumbled, crashing into the crowd and knocking down several adults and children.

At that moment, the police whistle to maintain order was blown, and three men in light gray New York police uniforms rushed out, one of them carrying a long gun.

"Shoot that frightened horse to death, officer!" a bystander shouted.

The policeman ignored the horse lying on the roadside and headed straight for the scene of the explosion.

King Astor IV had never witnessed such a scene before and was completely terrified. Only when he saw the police rushing over did he point to the injured security guard rolling on the ground and shout...
"Quick! Save my people!"

As King Astor IV shouted at the police, Mr. Dunbar had been watching everything with narrowed eyes. When the policeman strode over, his eyes suddenly narrowed, and he grabbed King Astor IV by the collar and threw him violently into the carriage.

boom! boom! !

Two gunshots rang out, one from the crowd and the other from the man in the police uniform. But they weren't aimed at the carriage; rather, the man in the police uniform fired at the gunman in the crowd.

"Get down!!"

Mr. Dunbar shouted and kicked Astor IV, who was trying to get up, while glaring at Larry.

Larry had already taken cover, but in the midst of the chaos, he pulled out a pistol from his pocket and held it high in his hand.

The carriage was surrounded by the pitiful screams of the onlookers. Many people chose to crawl on the spot, while many more scattered like headless flies.

Bang! Bang! Bang bang!!
Four more shots.

Mr. Dunbar hid in the thickest part of the wooden frame next to the carriage door, hunching his shoulders and staring intently, determined to stand guard at the door.

At that moment, a bullet pierced through the carriage, and a shot went through the horse-drawn carriage, sending up flying wood chips.

The coachman had already run off, but thankfully both horses were old and stood trembling in place, without being startled and galloping away.

Then, another bullet pierced through the window and struck the opposite carriage, making a sharp scraping sound.

Larry lay on his back on the carriage floor, his pistol already pointed at the other window. If anyone showed their face, Larry decided to shoot without hesitation.

The sharp whistle sounded closer and closer, as if several more people were rushing over.

With a muffled thud, someone leaned heavily against the front of the carriage. Larry then heard the sound of a lever-action rifle being reloaded.

"Are the people inside alright?!" someone leaning against the carriage door shouted.

Mr. Dunbar shouted without hesitation, “Get out of here! I can’t be sure who you are. If you force your way in, I’ll shoot!”

The man cursed and shouted in another direction, "Protect this carriage, keep an eye on that injured guy, who's coming with me to chase after the runaway?"

After a while, someone ran over, but stopped outside the carriage and didn't move. Instead, he responded from a distance and then guarded the carriage from the outside.

Soon after, the person who had been leaning against the carriage also left, walking hurriedly as if chasing after someone.

As the outside gradually quieted down, Larry silently breathed a sigh of relief. He then turned to see King Astor IV huddled in the corner of the carriage, clutching his head, his eyes tightly shut in fear.

At this moment, Mr. Dunbar also craned his neck, quickly tilted his head to glance casually at the scene outside, and a slightly relaxed expression appeared on his face.
“They should be real police officers… There are four people next to the carriage.” He said this as if to himself.

"Are you sure?" Larry turned to look at him.

Mr. Dunbar turned to look at Larry, a wry smile on his face, and explained,
“They were all armed. If they were assassins in disguise, we would all be dead…”

Larry's throat tightened, and he couldn't speak.

This was the first time he had ever encountered such a tense and exciting situation. In comparison, his experience in the Boston hospital back then was nothing more than tripping up an assassin, which was nothing like being in the midst of a gunfight.

After a while, a large group of police officers gathered over, reassuring pedestrians on the roadside and marking out a cordon, which finally put Mr. Dunbar at ease.

Larry silently released the safety from his Colt pistol, only then realizing that his hands had been trembling violently. When the second bullet pierced the carriage, Larry had felt his mind go blank, and only now was he slowly recovering from the shock.

Almost simultaneously, King Astor IV, who had been curled up with his head in his hands, slowly loosened his grip, his eyes darting around in terror.
"...Is it over? I...I hear it's much quieter outside..." King Astor IV looked at Larry, his eyes still filled with fear.

Larry wanted to give him a cold laugh, but after a moment he couldn't manage it, so he could only say to him with a cold face,

"It should be alright now... Who the hell did you mess with? There's been a bomb and an assassination attempt."

“I haven’t offended anyone! I’ve just been doing business honestly… If I had to say who I’ve had a conflict with recently, it would probably be you,” King Astor IV murmured.

“Kiss my ass!” Larry glared at him, then looked at the dirty ceiling of the carriage and let out a long sigh.

……

Mr. Dunbar only released the safety of his pistol and opened the carriage door after the officer with the rank of sheriff personally approached the carriage to visit King Astor IV inside.

The sheriff craned his neck to take a look, and only after confirming that King Astor IV had not been shot did he breathe a sigh of relief and hurriedly arranged for his men to escort King Astor IV away from there.

Larry sat up and cautiously peered outside, only to find that the two horses in front of his carriage had disappeared at some point.

Mr. Dunbar glanced ahead and explained,
"It was that policeman with the long gun who did it! He was pretty quick-witted; he had a knife with him and cut the horse's reins."

At this moment, two policemen opened the door and called out to King Astor IV in a trembling voice, urging him to leave immediately.

Astor IV was a bit paranoid. He glanced at the two unfamiliar policemen, then shrank back, preferring to stay with Larry and his group.

Half a day passed, until a police chief he recognized came over to greet him. Only then did King Astor IV's face light up with relief as he sat up, straightened his shirt, and pointed at Larry and Dunbar, saying...
"Escort us out of here... Oh my God, this is New York! How could this happen??"

When Larry stepped out of the carriage, he discovered that in just over ten minutes, the outside world had changed completely. There were charred marks, a chaotic crowd of onlookers, and people injured and dead from the explosion and the startled horse incident still lying in the street.

The streets were bustling with people, yet an eerie silence prevailed. Everyone stood on tiptoe, peering at the carriage and whispering amongst themselves.

But this exchange turned into an annoying buzzing sound.

When King Astor IV finally appeared at the carriage door, the crowd erupted in a collective gasp of surprise.
"Ah, it really was someone from the Astor family who was assassinated..."

"My God! It really is Young Master John Astor IV!!"

……

Three hours later, Larry and Mr. Dunbar finally emerged from the police station.

Upon entering the police station, the two men whispered a gentleman's agreement with King Astor IV—Larry would deny seeing the murderer, and King Astor IV's earlier approach to Larry's carriage was also for business purposes.

After extensive questioning and comparison, and with King Astor IV's personal guarantee, Larry and Mr. Dunbar were temporarily cleared of suspicion, but their sidearms were temporarily confiscated.

Mr. Dunbar was very skilled at this kind of thing. As the police confiscated his pistol, he preemptively removed the bullets one by one from the officers and officials who arrived at the police station, and then told others...
"Look closely, everyone! We haven't lost a single bullet. Don't try to frame us."

Larry followed suit and ejected the bullets from his pistol one by one.

The onlookers frowned. A senior official quickly came over to comfort the two and instructed them to leave through the back door so they wouldn't be blocked by the reporters.

Larry was somewhat helpless, thinking to himself that this was the situation again. He had done a good deed by saving someone, but ended up losing his own gun.

The two arrived at the back door and were about to leave when King Astor IV pushed through the crowd, rushed to Larry, and embraced him tightly.
"Thank you! Thank you, brother. If it weren't for you, I would have been done for..."

As he spoke, King Astor IV turned and embraced Mr. Dunbar, whispering, "Thank you. If it weren't for you, I might have been shot by the assassin... Ah, you are my saviors!"

After speaking, King Astor IV put one arm around each of their shoulders and said in a low voice,
"I will repay you in the future!!"

Larry held back for a while, then asked in a low voice, "Hey, who exactly have you messed with? Don't drag us both into this."

King Astor IV looked distressed and frowned as he said, “I don’t know either… They caught one gunman, but he’s dead, and the other is on the run. I don’t know when they’ll find him.”

Hearing this, Mr. Dunbar's eyes lit up, and he immediately interjected,
"Let's go, Larry, this has nothing to do with us!"

(End of this chapter)