Originally, she had wanted to bring back a hind leg as food.

But she remembered that tonight there was a "Maiden Snail" baked sweet potato.

Hannah bent down to pick up the fallen bow and arrow, then started back with cheerful steps.

A nearby tree made a noise as the wind blew.

Hannah glanced over.

The sky had already darkened, and the warm yellow of dusk could easily deceive the eyes, making everything around look hazy and indistinct.

"Is anyone there?"

Hannah stopped in her tracks, considering whether to go over and take a look.

The wind blew again, rustling the leaves.

A shadow quickly leaped into the bushes.

It looked somewhat like a cat or another animal with nimble movements, like a rabbit.

Hannah did not continue forward but instead hummed a tune as she walked away.

The boy hiding in the dark breathed a sigh of relief.

He hadn’t expected the girl’s vigilance to be so good.

No wonder she could survive alone in Bligh.

Having been delayed, the boy had to quicken his pace towards Hannah’s Secret Base One.

...

To the north lay buildings that had already been bombed out, and from a slightly elevated position, one could see far into the distance.

Just like now, one could see the sun already half sunk below the horizon if they simply looked up.

It was a fiery round disc, particularly striking to gaze upon.

Hannah stood at the entrance of the secret base for a while before walking in.

Inside the cave, a fire was burning, filling the space with the sweet aroma of roasted sweet potatoes.

"There really is a Maiden Snail!"

Hannah ran inside excitedly and instantly saw two large sweet potatoes on the table.

One was almost as big as her face.

She couldn’t wait to reach for one, but the boy sitting in the corner quickly spoke up, "Careful, it’s hot."

His voice was still a bit breathless.

Hannah withdrew her hand and looked up at him.

She watched him for a good while, which made the boy somewhat uncomfortable.

In the two days he had known her, he had noticed that this strange little girl really liked to stare at him.

As if he was a doll she was very fond of.

"Are you very hot?"

Hannah extended her finger, wanting to point at the boy’s forehead, but randomly pointing at someone was impolite, so she pointed at her own forehead instead.

"Your forehead, you’re sweating a lot."

The boy was startled, his hand moving — instinctively lifting halfway — before becoming aware of Hannah’s changing gaze, and stopping abruptly.

"I..."

"So, it was you who was the Maiden Snail."

Hannah seemed very disappointed.

It was as if someone had told her that after the fairy tale ended, the prince and princess didn’t really live happily ever after.

"It’s all lies."

The little girl started to mutter, poking the sweet potato on the table with her finger over and over, the sweet potato rolling back and forth, and she continued to grumble, "You all lie to me, Mom lies to me, Dad lies to me, even my best friend lies to me, you all say Hannah is the happiest princess in the world, but now Hannah can’t even get enough to eat."

She would get hurt, she would bleed, and there was no one to hold her and say it was okay, that blowing on it would make it better.

She was always by herself.

She really hated her father, but why did her mother insist she find him? 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

She didn’t want to go, not at all.

Hannah hung her head, utterly dejected.

The boy, feeling helpless, stood up, wanting to approach her, but he could only stop a step away.

He explained, "I didn’t mean to deceive you."

"If you lied, you lied, whether it was intentional or not," the little girl retorted, her voice small, still not raising her head.

"You’re Hannah, right?"

The boy tried to find a new topic of conversation.