How utterly humiliating!
Lin Shengsheng cried while stubbornly picking up two new stones, smashing them together haphazardly.
Tears and snot smeared across her face, making her look wretched and ridiculous.
She didn’t even know what she was persisting in—perhaps she just didn’t want to admit her failure in front of that giant beast.
Yuan watched quietly.
He watched this little creature scurry around the cave like a stubborn hamster.
He watched her carefully pile up what he considered useless trash.
He watched her clumsy hands holding two broken stones, awkwardly striking them together.
He watched her… cry.
Those faint, suppressed sobs were like the finest feathers, gently, again and again, tickling his heart—a heart hardened and eroded by curses to an unyielding degree.
Annoying.
An indescribable sense of irritation rose from deep within him.
Why cry?
Over a mere spark?
“Roar—!”
An extremely impatient roar exploded through the cave!
Lin Shengsheng trembled all over, the stones in her hands clattering to the ground.
She froze, raising her tear-blurred eyes.
It’s over.
He’s finally… lost his patience.
Yet, the expected death did not come.
Instead, the snow-white giant tiger rose irritably to his feet, pacing two steps in place. His long, black-and-white-ringed tail lashed through the air in displeasure, whipping the scattered stones on the ground with sharp cracks.
He walked up to Lin Shengsheng, looking down at her from above.
His golden vertical pupils were filled with disdain that clearly said, “You troublesome waste.”
Then, under Lin Shengsheng’s terrified gaze, he slowly raised his massive right forepaw—a paw powerful enough to shatter mountain rock.
Obsidian-sharp claws slowly extended from the thick pads.
A cold glint flashed.
Lin Shengsheng instinctively closed her eyes.
“Screech—!!”
An ear-piercing, teeth-grating scraping sound echoed through the entire cave!
Lin Shengsheng’s eyes snapped open.
She saw Yuan’s razor-sharp claws slicing at a tricky angle across the rock wall beside her!
The hard stone crumbled like tofu under his claws!
A deep claw mark instantly appeared!
And at the moment of intense friction between claw and rock—
A burst of dazzling, golden sparks erupted like fireflies on a midsummer night!
Splattering! Dancing!
A few of them landed precisely on the pile of dry Firestarter Grass in front of Lin Shengsheng.
“……”
Lin Shengsheng was completely stunned.
She stared blankly as those faint sparks stubbornly burned within the dried grass, emitting thin wisps of smoke.
Then…
“Whoosh—”
A small, orange-yellow flame trembled and wavered as it emerged from the dried grass!
The entire world seemed to fall silent in that moment.
Lin Shengsheng’s eyes widened further and further.
Her mouth hung open unconsciously.
Slowly, ever so slowly, she turned her head to look at the giant tiger, whose expression clearly said, “It’s done, now shut up.”
Universal…
Lighter?
No.
A universal… tiger claw brand… grinding wheel cutter?!
An absurd, laughable emotion instantly washed away all her despair and grievances.
She looked at the small flicker of flame, then at the giant tiger with its arrogant expression.
“Pfft—”
She couldn’t hold back and laughed.
As she laughed, tears streamed down her face again.
Yuan looked at the little creature in his arms, crying and laughing as if gone mad, his golden pupils revealing even more obvious confusion and disdain.
Females.
Truly the most troublesome creatures in the world.
Lin Shengsheng didn’t care what he thought.
Her will to survive, upon seeing that flicker of flame, had instantly reignited to its peak!
She scrambled over in a flurry, carefully adding finer dry twigs to the fire as if tending to a rare treasure.
“Quick! Aim here! Again! No, no, gently!”
Forgetting her fear, she began gesturing animatedly, directing the “universal lighter.”
Yuan frowned. Though he didn’t understand her babbling, he could interpret her gestures.
Reluctantly, he raised his paw again and scraped it against the cave wall with a “sizzle.”
Another shower of brilliant sparks flew out.
The flame stabilized instantly, then with a “whoosh,” licked at the nearby rotten wood, bursting into a more vigorous fire!
Success!
The orange-yellow firelight instantly dispelled the darkness and chill of the cave.
The warm glow illuminated Lin Shengsheng’s small face, streaked with tears and dust, making her ruby-like eyes shine astonishingly bright.
This was the first spark of civilization in the Beast World.
It flickered, rose, and stubbornly burned within a beast’s den filled with blood and decay, amid the standoff between a tiny human female and an ancient giant beast.
Watching the dancing flames, Lin Shengsheng felt an unprecedented surge of pride.
She turned her head, looked at the snow-white giant tiger that appeared even more majestic under the firelight, and revealed a big, radiant smile.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
Yuan didn’t understand her words, but he saw the light in her eyes.
That light was brighter, warmer even, than the sparks he had just struck.
He let out a low, ambiguous grumble from his throat, turned away, and no longer looked at her. Instead, he lay down on his own, resting his massive head on his front paws, his golden vertical pupils fixed unblinkingly on the fire he found both novel and boring.
The firelight clearly projected the vast difference in their sizes—one tiger, one human—onto the cave wall behind them.
One tiny, one enormous.
One fragile, one powerful.
Yet at this moment, because of a small flame, they achieved a strange yet harmonious balance.
Lin Shengsheng took a deep breath, stood up, and walked over to the bloody antelope carcass.
This time, she didn’t retch.
Because she knew this was no longer a nauseating corpse.
This was… food.
Her hope for survival.
She would use the first flame of the Beast World to cook her first proper meal, fill her stomach, and regain her strength.
She would survive.
In this perilous Beastman world, relying on this arrogant and awkward White Tiger, she would survive well.
Fire is the beginning of civilization and the source of warmth.
As that orange-yellow glow steadily flickered within the cave, Lin Shengsheng felt a trace of living warmth finally return to her frozen limbs.
She no longer looked at the giant tiger lying not far away, which was staring at her with a “you’d better not cause any more trouble” expression. Instead, she focused all her attention on the “ingredients” before her.
The unfortunate antelope.