After lunch and a short rest, Li Long stood up and looked south. The recent flood had left him feeling almost paranoid, and he kept checking the situation to the south.
Dark clouds were hanging over the mountains to the south. He said to Meng Hai, "Lao Meng, we still need to post a Safety Officer. It's raining in the south again. This stretch is still a long way from the river, but we need to be careful."
"All right, understood." Meng Hai looked south, then called over a young man and told him to go ahead and keep watch.
Li Long shouldered his backpack, picked up his gun, and continued on ahead.
Some watched him go with envy. Things were different for him: he could do whatever he wanted, while they had to toil away here, cutting trees and carrying stones. Ah, there was no comparing one person's lot with another's.
Li Long's backpack held a packet of explosives, a small packet of detonators, a coil of fuse, and several pull igniters.
None of these had been assembled. He also had tools in his backpack-pliers, electrical tape, and the like. When needed, he could quickly assemble them into individual charges or one large charge.
When he was not using them, keeping them separate was better.
When he passed the spot where the large piece of jade lay, Li Long took a deliberate look. Someone who did not know about it really would not notice anything unusual.
He memorized the terrain around it. He had no plans to move that large piece of jade back anytime soon; he would wait for the right opportunity.
He headed upstream, crossing stretches of riverbed both wide and narrow, without seeing a single wild animal. Li Long wondered whether the explosions over the past