George Baldwin wiped away his tears forcefully, looked at his son's timid eyes, and reached out to touch his son's head.

Edward Baldwin's body immediately trembled, the timidity in his eyes turning into terror.

Seeing this expression on his son's face, George Baldwin let out a deep sigh, his face full of regret and self-blame, and said softly, "Eat."

After the meal, George Baldwin smoked the cigarettes he bought with the spare change from his son's piggy bank, gently hugged his wife, and stared blankly.

Henry Grant had already left; there was no need to let Grace Miller know about this, and he still had to pursue that bandit.

Curled up under the covers, Edward Baldwin bit his finger, his little head buzzing with excitement: Dad didn't hit me today, really didn't hit me. That uncle didn't lie to me, he's a good person!

It was already late at night. After a day of intense stress, George Baldwin and Grace Miller slept soundly, but Edward Baldwin was awake, eyes wide open, looking at the person sitting at the foot of his bed: the uncle who hadn't lied to him, Samuel Carter.

"Edward Baldwin, Want Want rice crackers." Samuel Carter put a big bag of Want Want rice crackers on the bed and said with a smile, "Go down the mountain, turn left, then left again, then left again, then right, then right again, turn a corner to the right, right again, hop over, right again, right again, right again. I found the hospital and saw the doctor."

Seeing the Want Want rice crackers, Edward Baldwin grinned, grabbed one, tore open the plastic wrapper, and crunched away.

"Edward Baldwin, can you tell me how you got home by yourself?" Samuel Carter asked.

He had come here to figure out this question: how exactly did this child manage to get home without anyone noticing?

"Just go right, right, then left, take the bus." With a mouthful of Want Want rice cracker, Edward Baldwin gestured with his hands.

"But there were so many people on the mountain. How did they not find you?" Samuel Carter continued to ask.

"Playing hide-and-seek." Edward Baldwin tore open another rice cracker, not even looking up as he spoke.

Hide-and-seek? Playing hide-and-seek with special forces? A five-and-a-half-year-old playing hide-and-seek with special forces and not being found?

A strange look flashed in Samuel Carter's eyes as he pressed on, "How did you play hide-and-seek with them?"

"Just hide-and-seek." Edward Baldwin looked up, sucking his finger, and whispered, "Uncle, my dad really didn't hit me, you didn't lie to me, and you even bought me Want Want rice crackers. I'll tell you how to play hide-and-seek."

After saying this, Edward Baldwin put down the rice cracker in his hand, jumped off the bed like he was presenting a treasure, and struggled to move the nightstand, revealing a hole leading outside.

"You dug this?" Samuel Carter asked in surprise.

Edward Baldwin nodded vigorously, glanced at the bedroom door, put his little hand to his mouth and shushed, "Dad wouldn't let me go out to play, so I dug a hole to go out and play hide-and-seek."

"Did you really dig this?" Samuel Carter asked again.

This wall was made of 24-brick with cement on top—even an adult would have a hard time digging through it, let alone a five-and-a-half-year-old child making a hole here. And the hole was dug right under the adults' noses, yet no one noticed!

Edward Baldwin nodded hard, knelt on the ground, pulled out a small bag from under the bed, and muttered to himself, "I'm a kid, I can crawl out, but you're an adult, you can't..."

Inside the bag were pliers, an awl, scissors, a ruler, a compass, a shoehorn, a screwdriver, a small iron rod, chopsticks, toothpicks, and so on—basically anything that could be used for digging, and even a baby bottle.

"What is this for?" Samuel Carter picked up the baby bottle and found there was still water inside.

"Uncle, you're so silly. The wall is so hard, of course you have to soak it with water to make it easier to dig." Edward Baldwin seriously took the baby bottle and poured water into the hole that only he could crawl through.

A burning light shone in Samuel Carter's eyes, as if he had discovered an untapped treasure.

"Tell me!" Samuel Carter grabbed Edward Baldwin's thin shoulders and stared into his eyes, asking, "How long did it take you to dig this hole?"

Edward Baldwin tilted his little head and looked at the ceiling, starting to count on his fingers.

Samuel Carter didn't interrupt the child, watching as Edward Baldwin started counting on his toes.

"Why are you counting on your toes?" Samuel Carter asked.

"Not enough fingers." Edward Baldwin shook his head and said, "Uncle, don't bother me, I'm counting."

He counted on his fingers many times, and on his toes many times too. Finally, Edward Baldwin let out a breath, looked up at Samuel Carter and said, "I'm done counting!"

"How long did it take?"

"A long time!" Edward Baldwin stretched out his little arms and drew a big circle.

"But exactly how long?"

"I think it was..." Edward Baldwin bit his finger and thought for a long time, then held up five fingers and said, "This long..."

Exactly how long, Samuel Carter didn't know, because he couldn't understand a child's world. But he saw endless potential in Edward Baldwin—he wanted this child!

"Tell me, do you want to be a soldier?" Samuel Carter picked up Edward Baldwin.

"What does it mean to be a soldier?" Edward Baldwin blinked his eyes.

"It means you can be like those people you played hide-and-seek with today when you came down the mountain and went home. Or, for example... your older brother."