When Li Long rode his bicycle into the mountains again, he was surprised to find Jade Mountain River at Harimu's Winter Camp too. Jade Mountain River had come on horseback. Li Long noticed that he must have dragged several logs over, because a long trail led from his Winter Camp to this one.
"Go with Jade Mountain River and have a look around today," Harimu said. "I still have some things to do here. I've told you pretty much everything I know about the surrounding area. You'll have to discover the rest yourself."
"Do you need a hand?" Li Long asked.
"No, no, no need. Just a little job, a tiny little bit." Harimu smiled and held his fingers a little way apart.
Li Long didn't stand on ceremony. He left his bicycle at Harimu's, took his semiautomatic rifle, and followed Jade Mountain River to his place.
The straight-line distance between Jade Mountain River's Winter Camp and Harimu's was actually only five or six kilometers at most, but ravines lay between them, and the route went up and down, making it feel farther.
It lay southwest of Harimu's Winter Camp, deeper in the mountains. North of Jade Mountain River's Winter Camp, the terrain rose and fell sharply, and the mountains were covered in either pines and cypresses or brush, with little pasture.
"I heard Harimu say you ran into a lone wolf today?" Jade Mountain River suddenly asked. "Want to hunt a wolf?"
"Yes. I really want to kill that Alpha Wolf," Li Long said. "I keep feeling like that wolf has a grudge against me. I've run into it several times now."
"If it keeps following you, we'll lie in wait tonight. We'll leave a sheep outside, and if it dares come over, we'll shoot it!" Jade Mountain River