The little star from the Gobi Desert, handed over to the state, is hailed as a national treasure.

"Shut up!"

Wu Hao kicked Tian Tian, ​​and the little girl rolled away like a ball without direction, so painful that she swallowed her cries.

Only then did she realize that she had been captured by bad guys!

There is no father here, no Grandpa Liu, no Grandpa Bai, and no Uncle Song, only these fierce and evil bad guys!

She hated them so much!

"You little brat, if you're not mute, then obediently draw the map of the experimental field! If you miss a single stroke, I'll skin you alive!" Wu Hao roared viciously.

Experimental field?

Sweetie clutched her aching tummy, nervously pondering the bad guy's words. Drawing a map? What did that mean?

In an instant, she understood—the bad guys wanted her to be a traitor!

Her mother had told her long ago that she must never be a traitor, and even less should she betray the grandfathers and uncles in the base!

"Sweetie won't draw!"

The little girl sat on the ground, her face pale with pain, but she stubbornly raised her head, her big eyes filled with anger.

"You're all bad people! My dad will definitely arrest you all!"

"Your dad?" Wu Hao sneered, reaching out to grab Tian Tian. "I'll grab you first, then let's see what he can do!"

Sweetie caught sight of his outstretched hand, and in fright rolled to the side, crying out, "Aunt Shen, help me!"

Shen Ruowen's cheek muscles twitched slightly, but she pretended not to hear and didn't even flinch.

"Aunt Shen!"

Sweetie was still not giving up. Aunt Shen used to be so good to her, playing games with her and telling her stories. How could she just stand by and watch bad people bully her without doing anything about it?

Little did she know that Shen Ruowen had been plotting something from the very first day she met her. The street thugs were hired by her, the purse snatching was meticulously planned, and everything she did was to get close to Liang Zhe and his daughter so that she could infiltrate the base as soon as possible.

But how could a little child understand these schemes and tricks? All she knew was that the bad guys were about to catch her, while Aunt Shen, who had been so kind to her, remained unmoved and wouldn't even look at her.

"Shen..."

She had barely uttered a single word when Wu Hao grabbed her ankle tightly. He lifted her upside down like a chick, and Tian Tian cried loudly in fright.

"You bad guy! Let me go... let me go... mmm... ah..."

"Tell me! Are you going to draw a map or not?" Wu Hao demanded sharply.

"No... I won't..." Sweetie cried so hard she could barely breathe. The head-down position made her dizzy, but she remembered her father's words firmly: she must never surrender to the enemy, and she must never become a traitor.

Daddy, Sweetie is a little warrior, she will never let you down!

The little guy's face turned bright red, tears mixed with cold sweat streamed down his face, but he still stubbornly refused to open his mouth.

"You little brat!"

Wu Hao flew into a rage and grabbed Tian Tian, ​​intending to throw her to the ground.

Just then, Yan Shijun coughed lightly, reached out and took Tian Tian from his hands, and hugged her in his arms.

Sweetie's face turned from red to purple from holding her breath, and she started coughing violently as soon as she was put down.

Yan Shijun gently patted her back while picking up an enamel mug from the table, which contained half a bowl of alkaline water.

"Sweetie, drink some water and calm down."

Sweetie glanced at the gentle smile on his face, then turned her little face away and snorted loudly through her nose.

Sweetie is almost four years old, she won't fall for that!

This person is just like all those bad people; they're all liars!

Yan Shijun found it rather amusing that she not only didn't appreciate his kindness but also puffed up her cheeks in anger.

He placed Tian Tian on his lap and softened his tone: "Your surname is Liang, and your name is Tian Tian, ​​right? Your uncle's surname is Yan, and this is Uncle Wu. None of us are bad people."

Hmph, what a big liar! Sweetie won't believe a single word he says!

"Sweetie, Uncle wants to ask you for a favor, and then I'll give you the sweetest candy and the prettiest little flowered jacket, okay?"

Candy and little floral jackets used to be Sweetie's favorite things, but now hearing them just makes me feel disgusted.

She turned her head away from Yan Shijun's hand, her little face scrunched up in disgust. "I don't want to! You want Tiantian to do bad things!"

"This isn't a bad thing." Yan Zhengjun pinched the little girl's chin with his fingers and stared intently into her sweet, big eyes.

"Right now, the whole country is short of money and food, yet your father has hoarded all the good things in the country in this vast desert to build useless missiles. If that money were distributed to the people, no one would go hungry."

"You're talking nonsense!" He said it simply, but Sweetie understood.

She remembered Grandpa Qian working on his abacus under the kerosene lamp, Grandpa Wang sleeping on a stool wrapped in his coat with half a cornbread in his hand, and the bloodshot eyes and chapped lips of many uncles and aunts.

"Grandpa, uncles, and aunts are doing something big! Something that can protect our country! Once this is done, no bad people will dare to bully us."

"Dad said that as long as bad people don't bully us, Tian Tian can eat and grow up peacefully with many other children and live a good life. They are working hard for everyone!"

"What do you know, you're just a kid." Yan Shijun hadn't expected the girl to be so sharp-tongued. "Only by developing missiles will the whole world be envious, and they'll treat us as enemies! Without these things, we can truly have peace."

Wu Hao interrupted impatiently, "Deputy stationmaster, why waste your breath on this baby? She can't understand a thing."

"Sweetie understands!" The little girl raised her two tiny fists, her eyes blazing with anger. "You're wrong! Our bad foreign neighbors want to choke us and bully us. We can only be strong enough to face them without fear!"

"With all this wealth we have?" Yan Zhengjun pointed to the jar on the table. "We can't even afford clean tap water, we can't afford a bite of meat. Little girl, you probably haven't even seen a dress made of gauze, have you? Foreign cars are everywhere, and skyscrapers are being built one after another. What do we have? Instead of throwing all our money here, we should focus on economic development and let everyone have enough to eat and wear."

He held Tian Tian's shoulder and said, "Uncle is telling you all this today because you're a smart child and you can't be brainwashed by your father's rhetoric. Listen to Uncle, don't invest in missile development. Take the money back to develop the economy and make sure everyone in the country has enough to eat. That's the most important thing."

"No way!" Sweetie shrugged and retorted seriously, "Our good food will be stolen by our bad neighbors."

"If you don't mess with your bad neighbors, why would they rob you?"

"Little Red Riding Hood doesn't provoke the Big Bad Wolf, but the Big Bad Wolf still wants to eat Little Red Riding Hood!"

Sweetie's eyes widened, and she retorted without backing down.

Yan Shijun hadn't expected to lose an argument to a three-year-old. His patience gradually wore thin, and he slammed his hand heavily on the table: "I'll just ask you one question: Do you remember the map of the experimental field?!"

"I remember!" Sweetie shouted, undeterred, "but Sweetie won't tell you! No way!"

"Fine." Yan Shijun suppressed his anger and gave Wu Hao a cold glance.

Wu Hao immediately understood and pulled out a gleaming dagger from his pocket.

Shen Ruowen, who was sitting to the side, twitched. This dagger had been plunged into Xing Yuxiu's body, and it seemed to still have the lingering smell of blood on it.

Wu Hao picked up a dagger, casually picked up a piece of wood from the ground, and with a light stroke of the dagger, shaved off a piece of wood.

Sweetie's gaze was involuntarily drawn to him, and when she saw what he was doing, her little body trembled in fright.

She had seen her father whittle wooden toys with a knife, but she had never seen such a frightening knife, nor had she ever heard such a chilling scraping sound.

"See that?" Yan Shijun whispered in her ear, his voice shifting from gentle to sinister and cold. "This knife in Uncle's hand is exceptionally sharp. If you misbehave, it can not only whittle wood, but also slash your little face, making you ugly so no one will like you anymore."

"No, no... I don't want to become ugly..." Sweetie was frightened by him, blinked her big eyes, and a string of tears rolled down her cheeks.

But she stubbornly bit her lip, sobbing as she said, "But I... I still won't draw..."

"You brat! You won't listen to reason, so you'll have to suffer the consequences!" Wu Hao growled impatiently, reaching out to grab Tian Tian, ​​but Yan Shijun stopped him with a raised hand.

Yan Shijun picked up Tiantian, walked up to Shen Ruowen, and looked down at her.

"Deputy Team Leader Shen, you've spent some time with this child, so she should trust you quite a bit. Why don't you try to persuade her to listen to you?"