Chapter 9: Earth Firecrackers (Part 1)

"Alright, everything is done, let's go now..." In recent years, the management of the reservoir has become quite strict, and incidents of fishing with explosives have decreased significantly. The fat man hasn't engaged in this activity for quite some time, so he is very eager to make some money.

Seeing San Pao directly drink from the gourd, the fat man couldn't help but become furious. He snatched the gourd from San Pao's hand and took a swig himself. It is said that when they were children, they could share a single lollipop among the three of them, so the fat man didn't care that San Pao was just drinking from the gourd.

Stop the nonsense and quickly prepare the materials. It is still early; if we wait until midnight to detonate, we might get discovered

In fact, doing this thing is very simple

Your abilities are only good for a single shot; I see you are just a fool for calling yourself a triple shot, hahahaha... The fat man laughed maliciously

The chubby man stroked his chin, and a sly smile appeared on his seemingly simple face as he said, "Today is Saturday, so the police and the neighborhood watch in the town must have gone home. Let's sneak over, throw a couple of firecrackers, and then catch some fish before we run away. It should be fine..."

"Hehe, fatty, isn't the gunpowder from your family also purchased from ours?"

"What can I say to both of you..." Fang Yi, who was standing by, looked quite speechless. However, the monkey wine was brewed by him, and over the years, he had consumed more than San Pao and Pang Zi. He held the wine in even lower regard and did not bother to compete with the two.

Upon hearing the words of the fat man, San Pao's eyes lit up. They were all children who grew up in the countryside. Although they had served in the military for a few years, their awareness of the law was not very strong. Having often fished with explosives since childhood, they had never seen anyone from their families taken away by the police as long as they were not caught in the act.

As the saying goes, those who rely on the mountains eat from the mountains, and those who rely on the water eat from the water. In the past, the people of Weijia Village not only gathered mountain products but also frequently fished in the reservoir. However, the reservoir no longer allows net fishing. Of course, the local residents sometimes go fishing, and the guards at the reservoir tend to turn a blind eye and do not interfere too much.

"That's easy enough; you have plenty of explosives at home, just make another one..." The chubby man chuckled, not bothering to explain to Fang Yi the difference between firing one shot and firing three shots.

Do not bother the fat guy, he is being a rogue

San Pao smiled wryly upon hearing this. He had indeed spent quite a bit of money on dating recently, having spent two to three hundred yuan on a suit for Fang Yi in the city, and he had even exhausted his demobilization allowance. The dishes on the table were still brought from his parents' home.

I really can't afford it, but I was thinking of going to fry some fish...

"Then let me show you. By the way, we don't call this a bomb; we call it a firecracker..." San Pao said, "You two eat first, I will go prepare some things..."

"How can that be? Of course, it's on me..." San Pao felt embarrassed in front of his two childhood friends, his face flushed red, and he said resentfully, "Why didn't you set up the alert earlier or later? You had to wait until I arrived to do it..."

The overweight man, in a fit of annoyance, grabbed a peanut and threw it over. He could not stand San Pao's arrogant demeanor, as he had been kicked out of the unit by the political commissar, while that kid San Pao had voluntarily requested to retire, which was quite demoralizing.

In fact, it is not that it cannot be detonated...

San Pao is truly not boasting; he works as an engineer and has been dealing with explosives since childhood, developing an unusual obsession with bombs. Whenever there is a task in the military that requires blasting or tunneling, there has never been an instance of a dud with the explosives in San Pao's possession

"Hurry up, you brat, we need to save some room to eat fish..." Upon hearing San Pao's words, Fang Yi and the胖子 also felt hungry, and immediately picked up their chopsticks to start eating.

Aren't you two going to eat something?" San Pao didn't mind, reaching for a green shoulder bag behind the door, which contained two already made firecrackers.

The power is certainly great, the explosives used for blasting mountains are not even half of this..." San Pao nodded proudly and said, "Our method of blasting fish is different from blasting mountains; these explosives are only meant to stun or kill the fish, so we need to pack a bit more.

After approximately one-third of the bottle was filled with gunpowder, San Pao took out a small object the size of a thumb from his pocket. The object was wrapped in a layer of yellow paper, with one half being solid and the other half hollow.

San Pao took out a pair of scissors and cut a piece of rope, about the thickness of a thumb, to a length of approximately 30 centimeters. Then, he inserted one end of the rope into the hollow part of the yellow tube until it could not be pushed any further, and finally placed the yellow tube along with the rope into the bottle

"Hmm? San Pao, where is the fish you炸?" Fang Yi shook his head and was about to pick up his chopsticks to serve himself some dishes when he suddenly froze, because on the table there were chicken, duck, and meat dishes, but there was no fish.

"Isn't it slow to do this thing?" San Pao curled his lips, moved the bowl in front of him to the side, and placed the plastic bag and the bottle of wine on the table.

San Pao understood the words of the fat man and said irritably: "San Pao is San Pao, anyway, in the future when we brothers go to the city, we won't have the chance to come back and blow up fish again. However, I only made two of those things, and I need to make one more..."

"What is the relationship between him being called San Pao and doing a shot?" Fang Yi asked, puzzled by the meaning.

It is important to note that Fang Yi grew up in the mountains, where he would often set traps to catch small animals. Therefore, he did not have much interest in wild game. However, he had a particular fondness for fish, which were not available in the mountains. As a result, the fish he ate were always brought up the mountain by Pangzi and Sanpao.

Hearing San Pao mention that a police point had been added by the reservoir, the fat man was momentarily taken aback, then nodded and said: "Recently, due to the urban renovation, the water being used is sourced from our reservoir. To prevent any acts of sabotage, a police point was established..."

If it were not for San Pao's insistence on retiring, his commanding officer had already prepared to transfer him to a technical sergeant position, and San Pao's expertise was precisely in handling explosives

Upon hearing the words of the fat man, San Pao chuckled softly; however, his actions were not slow at all. After inserting the detonator, he swiftly packed the remaining gunpowder into the bottle, and then found three chopsticks to compact the gunpowder a bit.

San Pao is well-acquainted with the properties of gunpowder, but Fang Yi and the Fatty, when discussing it, exhibit a certain fearlessness born of ignorance. They are unaware that San Pao has taken out explosives used for blasting rocks, which are not very stable and can be detonated with a slight mishap

After completing these tasks, San Pao fetched some water again, ran to the yard, and made a lump of mud. He used the mud to seal the mouth of the bottle, leaving only a fuse about ten centimeters long exposed. A homemade firecracker was thus completed

Originally, San Pao intended to go to the reservoir at the foot of the mountain to blow up some fish, but he did not expect that the local police station had actually set up a checkpoint right by the reservoir. Throughout the day, there was a police officer in uniform accompanied by two members of the neighborhood watch stationed there. Even with his boldness, San Pao did not dare to throw the bomb he had prepared into the water.

"This thing, its power is not small, right?" Looking at the bottle in the hands of the third gunner, Fang Yi felt a faint sense of danger.

Well, it is now just past seven o'clock, and the villagers are still awake. The noise won't be too loud... San Pao glanced at the clock on the wall. At this hour, the villagers are either watching television or drinking and playing cards, so no one will pay attention to what is happening over by the reservoir

Fang Yi grew up in the mountains and although he had read a few books related to law, he was even more of a legal novice compared to Fatty and San Pao, completely unaware that making explosives without permission was illegal

"Alright, let's go for it..." San Pao said excitedly

"That tube is a detonator, the rope is a fuse, and this fuse won't extinguish when it encounters water, nor will it burn too quickly..." Seeing Fang Yi's puzzled expression beside him, the chubby man took on the role of explanation. How many households in Wei Family Village have never used explosives to fish? The chubby man's village chief father has done this quite a lot.

You know, I actually forgot about this matter...

Upon hearing Fang Yi's words, the chubby man also noticed that there was no fish on the table, and he immediately became angry, pointing at San Pao and saying: "You clearly know that Yi Ge likes to eat fish, yet you didn't order this dish, did you? If you can't afford it, you could have fried some yourself..."

Hmm? Peng Sanjun, I must say you are quite careless...

It was inexplicable... Looking at the two people in front of him laughing so lewdly, Fang Yi knew it was not anything good. He said irritably, "Are you going to make explosives? Then hurry up and do it. I've only heard you talk about it, but I've never seen it..."

San Pao glanced around and found a ladle for pouring oil from the cupboard in the room, then inserted it into the mouth of the wine bottle. He then took a handful of black powder with a strong sulfur smell from a plastic bag and poured it into the wine bottle through the ladle

The reservoir in Weijia Village is surrounded by mountains on three sides and covers a large area. It has always been used as a reserve reservoir for the city of Jinling. Therefore, after the renovation of the new city, this reservoir, which has been in existence for over thirty years, was naturally put into use.

Damn it, you disgusting person, are you trying to make us drink your saliva?

"We still need a bottle; I've already exchanged all the extra beer bottles at home with the convenience store..." A few minutes later, San Pao came out of the inner room holding a plastic bag. He looked around and picked up the bottle of inferior liquor from the table, then walked to the yard and poured out all the liquor inside.

The long-lost scent of monkey wine wafted through the air, and San Pao's eyes immediately lit up. He snatched the wine gourd and poured in the inferior liquor he had purchased. After shaking it a few times, he finally took a sip. However, San Pao was aware that the aftereffects of this wine were quite strong, so he did not dare to drink too much.

Just now, I ate until I was half full... Fang Yi was also a bit excited at this moment. Since childhood, he had heard the two of them talk about how fun it was to fry fish, and he wanted to see what the game was all about.

Upon seeing Fang Yi's unwavering gaze, San Pao returned to the room and chuckled with pride, saying: "If I had an alarm clock, I could even make timed firecrackers. My years in the army haven't been in vain..."

The stout man nodded vigorously; he knew that although the stationed police were from the town, the two members of the joint defense team were from the village. Just earlier, when he brought Fang Yi back, the stout man had seen one of them carrying a bottle of wine home.

They will definitely go back. Do you think those guys will still be guarding the mountain on the weekend?

Hehe, it is still Brother Yi who is particular. I haven't had this monkey wine for a few years, even just the base of the wine would be fine

"Fatty, are you sure they have gone back?"

Since it is like this, let's just forget it; missing a meal is not a big deal... Fang Yi, upon hearing that someone was guarding the reservoir, immediately said: "Aren't we going down the mountain soon? Once we earn some money from working, I will treat you all to a meal..."