In 1970, deep within a military compound in northern China, there was a narrow storage room that never saw sunlight.

"Hiss..." Mingzhao clutched his stomach, which was aching from hunger, and subconsciously tried to curl up, but the movement of his muscles brought even more intense soreness.

Where is this?

Her memory returned to the scene where she was ambushed and killed by interstellar bandits lurking near the wormhole jump point as she prepared to return to the Alliance home planet with the core data of the new weapon she had painstakingly developed.

The energy beam tore through her escape frigate, and the emergency escape pod was thrown into the wormhole jump point amidst the violent tremors.

Is this... the other side of the wormhole? Or... has she been captured by space pirates?

With a creak.

The rusty hinged door groaned shrilly, and a figure stood backlit in the doorway, blocking most of the light, making only a blurry outline visible.

"Zhao, are you starving? You haven't eaten for two or three days. Come on, Mom has brought you some food. Eat something to fill your stomach." The person's voice was gentle, with a sigh of heartache.

"Why are you arguing with your father like that?"

Mingzhao endured the dizziness and excruciating pain, struggling to focus her vision. The woman at the door, carrying a rough porcelain bowl, carefully stepped over the threshold and entered.

The man was about forty years old, with fine lines around his eyes and thin lips that he was trying to curve upwards, forming a stiff "benevolent" smile.

Li Hongmei squatted down and brought the bowl close to Mingzhao's face. Inside the bowl were... steaming, crystal-clear granules? Next to them was a small clump of emerald green things that looked like some kind of tender plant leaves.

White rice? Stir-fried vegetables?

Mingzhao's mind went blank for a moment. In the Alliance, natural food was a luxury, only provided for celebrations or for those who made special contributions.

Mingzhao's status and position naturally allowed her to enjoy these things, even for free, but she wasn't one to laziness. After trying them once, she refused to touch them again, finding the nutritional supplements more convenient and cost-effective. She donated any extra money to the Alliance's public welfare institutions to support the lives and education of more children.

The bowl in front of him, though simple, exuded the unique, warm aroma of steamed grains, which was fatally tempting to Mingzhao's extremely hungry body at that moment.

But Mingzhao's instinctive vigilance, honed through interstellar travel, overwhelmed everything!

Unsolicited kindness is always suspicious, especially after such imprisonment and mistreatment!

She jerked back, her back slamming heavily against the cold wall, sending a sharp pain through her. Her eyes were wary, fixed on the bowl of rice.

This "poison" is disguised so well! The aroma is irresistible, making Mingzhao unable to stop salivating.

Li Hongmei's smile froze for a moment, but the deliberately created gentleness remained firmly on her face. Her tone carried a hint of reproach: "Look at you, going out to play by yourself is one thing, but then someone took you to your dad and said they'd treat you to a meal, and then accused us of mistreating you. Think about it honestly, how have we mistreated you? This time, your dad almost lost his job, so he got angry and punished you for two days."

Because of Mingzhao's actions, Huang Weiguo slapped her that very night.

Thinking of all this, Li Hongmei suppressed her anger, remembering Huang Weiguo's repeated instructions: at least maintain a gentle demeanor towards Mingzhao, and don't let outsiders have anything to say.

She poked Mingzhao's forehead with her finger. The force seemed light, but it was enough to make the weak Mingzhao fall backward.

It crashed into the rough cement wall with a "thud"!

A sharp pain shot through the back of my head! I saw stars before my eyes, and my ears were ringing.

In an instant, amidst the violent impact and pain, a massive and chaotic flow of information, like a flood bursting its banks, surged into the depths of Mingzhao's mind!

Mingzhao... no, the original Mingzhao. Seventeen years old this year, her parents died while saving someone, and she became an orphan.

The person rescued was Huang Weiguo, who later told Li Hongmei that he adopted him to repay a debt of gratitude. After successfully leaving the military, Huang Weiguo became a junior officer in the logistics department of the military region, while Li Hongmei remained unemployed at home.

In his memory, Li Hongmei always smiled, her smile no different from hers towards Mingzhao and others. Little Mingzhao, however, was always inexplicably afraid of her. Whenever Li Hongmei's eyes turned cold, Mingzhao would be pinched until several red welts appeared on his body while taking a bath.

This person is kind on the outside but ruthless on the inside!

"Oh! How did you fall? Get up, get up quickly! Why are you always like this? You fall down with just a light push. People always say we're bullying you. I wonder if you're doing it on purpose..."

As she spoke, she raised her hand and wiped her eyes twice, as if she were wiping away tears.

She helped Mingzhao up from the ground, still muttering, "We should really let those people see how much Lao Huang and I spoil you, our savior's daughter!"

Mingzhao staggered, the burning sensation in her stomach and the pain and weakness throughout her body making her almost unable to stand.

My head was spinning, and the incessant chatter around me only added to my irritation. I opened my mouth to tell her to shut up, but instead, all I managed to say was "Ah—"

Mingzhao was pushed and shoved out of the small dark room.

Li Hongmei placed the rice bowl on the table and took out a blue cloth bag.

"I have to go out for a while. You stay at home, remember to eat, and don't run around again."

After saying that, he picked up his backpack and left.

Mingzhao sat for a while, recalling the memories of the original Mingzhao, and felt something was amiss. Every so often, her adoptive mother would take a cloth bag of a different color out, but never bring it back. In this era, cloth was a precious commodity.

Mingzhao carefully searched his memory and found that sometimes when the cloth bag was opened, blueprints with mechanical lines were vaguely visible inside. With Mingzhao's interstellar thinking, those looked like weapon drawings?

Mingzhao roughly guessed the abnormality of Li Hongmei's behavior this time!

Article 1 of the Supreme Constitution of the Interstellar Alliance: Anyone who betrays the Alliance or leaks classified information shall be regarded as a traitor and may be sentenced to exile of consciousness!

She was ambushed by space pirates precisely because the core route was suspected to have been leaked by an insider! Mingzhao harbors a deep-seated hatred for those who leak information!!

Hunger and weakness were temporarily suppressed by a cold rage.

She needs to know what's inside!

The original owner, Mingzhao's, parents were soldiers in this country. If the contents of the bag were indeed those blueprint-like things as she remembered, she absolutely could not let them slip away!

Leaking secrets is impossible, absolutely impossible!!

The early summer afternoon sun was a bit too bright, and she subconsciously raised her hand to shield her eyes, squinting as she surveyed this unfamiliar world.

Low brick houses, faded slogans painted on mottled walls, and the distant, muffled broadcasts and children's laughter. The air was thick with coal smoke, dust, and a scent... unique to this era of scarcity.

The small cloth bag in Mingzhao's hand was heavy and stiff.

Mingzhao walked slowly, recalling the experiences of another Mingzhao in her mind.