Dare to shirk responsibility? This adorable little one will tear down your military district!

"Bang!"

The bolt broke in two, and sawdust flew everywhere.

Outside light, carrying dust, rushed into the dimly lit room. Wang Guifen took the lead, her triangular eyes flashing with a green light the moment they saw the steaming bowl of dumpling soup on the table, glistening with oil.

"Fine! Fine!" Wang Guifen shrieked, spitting everywhere. "So that's why the money was missing from the house! It was you, you barren hen, who stole it! Eating meat behind my back? You don't deserve it!"

Behind her, her second aunt, Zhang Cuihua, swallowed hard. Forgetting to even step over the threshold, she shoved Wang Guifen from behind, trying to squeeze into the house: "Mother! Don't waste your breath on them, quickly take the basin away! Jin Gui's hand is broken and needs nourishment; this meat must be for Jin Gui!"

The two women were like wolves with bloodshot eyes, their only focus on the bowl of soup, completely ignoring the little girl standing at the door who wasn't even as tall as their knees.

Lin Wanrou turned deathly pale with fright. Instinctively, she threw herself onto the table, desperately protecting the bowl of soup with her frail body: "This is God...this is Ya Ya's life-saving food! You can't take it!"

"Get out of my way!" Wang Guifen rushed over, raising her large, fan-like hand to grab Lin Wanrou's hair. "You traitor, I'll beat you to death today!"

Before the calloused hand could even touch Lin Wanrou's hair, a wooden stick as thick as a rolling pin suddenly appeared in mid-air.

"Snapped!"

With a crisp sound, the wooden stick struck Wang Guifen's hand squarely.

"Ouch!" Wang Guifen cried out in pain, a red mark visibly swollen on the back of her hand. She quickly pulled her hand back and looked down.

Meng Yaya stood by the table, holding the fire poker in her hand, her little face expressionless.

"Where did these dog paws come from, sticking their heads out like that?" Her voice was both childish and cold.

Wang Guifen was furious. What evil had possessed this brat today? She was getting more and more ruthless!

"You little beast, I'll tear you apart!" Wang Guifen ignored the pot of soup and pounced on Meng Yaya with bared teeth and claws.

The room was cramped, and Wang Guifen's lunge was powerful and heavy, almost blocking all of Meng Yaya's escape routes. Lin Wanrou screamed, "Yaya, run!"

Meng Yaya didn't run away.

Seeing Wang Guifen pressing down on her like a mountain of flesh, she didn't retreat but advanced instead. Her small body nimbly squatted down, avoiding Wang Guifen's grabbing hand, while at the same time, her right leg quickly stretched out and precisely hooked onto Wang Guifen's ankle.

Using minimal force to achieve maximum effect.

Wang Guifen rushed too fast, and her lower body was already unstable. This sudden trip caused her to completely lose control of her upper body.

"ah--!"

Wang Guifen drew a clumsy arc in the air, landing face down straight into the coal ash pile in the corner.

"Thump!"

Dust flew everywhere.

Wang Guifen had half her body buried in the black coal dust, her legs kicking wildly outside, looking like a turtle that had turned over.

"Mother!" Zhang Cuihua exclaimed, wanting to help, but her feet honestly took a detour, heading straight for the bowl of dumpling soup on the table.

At this point, who cares about the old woman's life or death? Grabbing a piece of meat to eat is the most important thing!

Zhang Cuihua reached out to grab the spoon in the soup, her fingertips just touching the rim of the bowl.

"You want to eat dirt too?"

A sinister, childlike voice exploded in my ears.

As Zhang Cuihua turned her head, she saw a wooden stick looming large in front of her.

"Bang!"

Meng Yaya struck Zhang Cuihua's wrist with a stick, hitting the tendon that was numb.

Zhang Cuihua felt a numbness in half of her body, and her hand fell limply to her side. Before she could even scream, Meng Yaya had already jumped onto the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), and from her superior position, kicked Zhang Cuihua in the shoulder.

This kick, while not as exaggerated as kicking a 200-pound strong man, was more than enough to knock down a woman who had been suffering from long-term malnutrition.

Zhang Cuihua staggered back a few steps and fell to the ground with a thud, landing right on top of Wang Guifen, who had just pulled her head out of the coal ash.

"Ouch, my back! Who the hell is sitting on me!" Wang Guifen had just spat out the coal dust in her mouth when she was nearly knocked unconscious by the weight of the person sitting on her.

The room was in complete chaos.

Meng Yaya stood on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), pointing with a wooden stick at the two people stacked on the ground.

"I'll say it one last time," she said coldly, "Get out."

Wang Guifen's face was covered in soot, and her hair was full of coal dust. She looked like a vengeful ghost who had just crawled out of a mine. She wanted to curse, but when she met Meng Yaya's dark eyes, the curses that were on the tip of her tongue were swallowed back.

Something's wrong with this girl.

Something's really not right.

That look in his eyes didn't look like a child's at all; it looked like a wolf cub from the mountains that eats people.

"Fine... fine, Lin Wanrou! You let your daughter hit her elders!" Wang Guifen didn't dare provoke Meng Yaya, so she vented her anger on Lin Wanrou. She struggled to push Zhang Cuihua away and get up, retreating towards the door while threatening, "You wait! I'm going to find the village head! I'm going to hold a village-wide meeting to criticize you!"

Zhang Cuihua also clutched her wrist, glared venomously at the meat soup on the table, swallowed hard, and followed her mother-in-law as they tumbled and crawled out.

The house only fell silent again after the two figures disappeared at the gate of the courtyard.

Lin Wanrou's body went limp, and she slumped onto the stool, panting heavily. Looking at the mess on the floor, and then at her daughter standing calmly on the kang (a heated brick bed), tears streamed down her face.

"Ya Ya...we've gotten ourselves into big trouble." Lin Wanrou's voice trembled. "If your grandma really goes to the brigade leader, we'll be kicked out of the village."

In those days, being driven out of one's clan meant that orphans and widows simply couldn't survive.

Meng Yaya jumped down and propped up the broken door panel, barely managing to block the wind.

"It would be better if you kicked her out." Meng Yaya walked back to the table, picked up a spoon, and added another piece of luncheon meat to Lin Wanrou's bowl. "Perfect timing for her to join the army."

"But what about travel expenses..."

"I'll get it ready after we eat," Meng Yaya said, chewing on a piece of meat, her words muffled.

Although there were many items in the space, most of them were in modern packaging and couldn't be directly exchanged for money. To legitimately raise the travel expenses to Beiping, one would have to rely on the resources of this era.

She remembered that in the original owner's memories, this back mountain was connected to a primeval forest, and the villagers only dared to wander around the outer perimeter, as wild boars and wolves were said to live in the depths.

What was forbidden territory to others was a granary to her, a hunter in the apocalypse.

After the meal, Meng Yaya asked Lin Wanrou to hide the remaining half bag of flour in the deepest part of the cellar.

"Mom, you stay home and guard the door. Don't open it for anyone." Meng Yaya picked up a small basket on her back, which the original owner usually used to gather firewood. "I'm going out for a bit."

Lin Wanrou grabbed her arm: "Where are you going? You just got into a fight, the villagers are definitely laughing at you, don't run around!"

"I'm going to dig for wild vegetables." Meng Yaya pointed towards the back mountain. "Grandpa Fairy said there are some good things on the mountain that he's left for me."

The moment the mention of the ethereal deity came up, Lin Wanrou's grip loosened. Although she was worried, given the family's current situation, who else could she trust besides that ethereal god?

"Then... don't go deep into the mountains, just wander around the area." Lin Wanrou instructed with red eyes.

Meng Yaya nodded obediently, carried the tattered basket that was bigger than her, and walked out of the yard with her short legs.

Along the way, many villagers pointed and whispered about her.

"Look, that's the girl. I heard they threw her breast milk into the chicken coop?"

"Really? It's so small?"

"Wang Guifen just ran to the brigade headquarters with her face covered in soot. Old Meng's family is in for a show now."

Meng Yaya kept her eyes straight ahead, ignoring all the discussions.

Once she left the village, she quickened her pace and slipped into the path leading to the back of the mountain.

As soon as she entered the woods, Meng Yaya's entire aura changed instantly.

The naivety of a three-year-old child faded, replaced by a wild, animalistic alertness. She took a deep breath; the air was filled with the smells of pine resin and decaying leaves, along with a faint odor of blood.

It smells like prey.

Although the body is weak, it is fortunate that its senses are still intact.

She followed the scent deeper into the area, walking for about two miles. The surrounding bushes grew denser, and the villagers' footprints could no longer be seen.

Suddenly, the bushes to my left moved.

Meng Yaya suddenly stopped in her tracks, clutching a pebble in her hand.

A plump gray hare peeked out and began nibbling on the tender grass. This rabbit weighed at least seven or eight pounds; in this era of oil and salt scarcity, it was practically a walking piece of braised pork.

Dinner is ready.

Meng Yaya held her breath.

Although there is meat in the space, this rabbit is the "open path," the stepping stone to exchange for travel expenses.

Just as the hare pricked up its ears in alarm...

"call out!"

The pebble shot through the air with a faint whistling sound.

"puff!"

The pebble struck the hare precisely on the temple. The fat rabbit didn't even let out a scream; it kicked its hind legs and fell straight down into the grass.

Meng Yaya walked over, picked up the pair of long ears, and weighed them in her hands.

It's fat enough.

She tossed the rabbit into her basket and was about to turn and head down the mountain when her keen hearing caught a strange noise.

Not a beast.

are people.

Moreover, there were many people, their footsteps disordered, closing in on her.

Meng Yaya squinted and lifted the basket on her back a little higher. It seemed that someone had come looking for trouble.