Early the next morning, Mountain Eagle crawled out of his sleeping bag, lifted the tent flap, and was about to go out for his morning washing when he found Old Qiao and Quida, the two old men, sitting on the steps of the platform where his tent was pitched.
Hearing the movement behind him, Old Qiao turned around and glanced at Mountain Eagle, then lifted his wrist to check the time, smiling as he said, "It's a good habit to get up early. What time shall we set off?"
Mountain Eagle was stunned for a moment; he actually had no intention of having Old Qiao, an elderly man, accompany him into the mountains, nor had he planned for Quida, a fisherman, to follow along.
Because it wasn't a leisure trip; what lay ahead were several days of high-intensity action...
