Yellow sand filled the heavens and earth. The rugged land lay in ruin, littered with broken walls, severed limbs, and collapsed palaces.
Aside from the ruined buildings, the remains of stone giants lay sprawled everywhere in grotesque disarray.
A tiger-headed, lively-looking boy with stone-like patterns covering his body carefully crawled out through a gap in a damaged building.
After dusting himself off, he cautiously hurried into the distance, breaking into a short run as he entered the billowing yellow sand.
A spine-chilling wolf howl rang out in the distance, startling the boy. Even the stone-patterned face turned pale.
The boy nevertheless gritted his teeth and pressed on. After a while, he dragged a rhinoceros-sheep beast several dozen yards long out of the swirling sand.
The boy did not look particularly strong, yet he possessed astonishing strength. He dragged the rhinoceros-wolf beast's corpse all the way back toward the gap where he had come out.
"Little Tiger, Little Tiger!" An old, anxious voice came from the distance.
"Grandpa, I'm here! Look, I found food." The boy's face was filled with delight. With this rhinoceros-wolf beast, he, his grandfather, and his little sister could survive a while longer.
The stooped old man heard his voice, and his expression changed drastically. Waving his staff, he rushed over and struck the boy.
The thick staff lashed across the boy's body. The boy neither dodged nor flinched, allowing the staff to beat him.
"Do you know what you did wrong?" the old man barked.
"Grandpa, I know I was wrong." The boy lowered his head, but his eyes remained stubborn.
Even though his grandfather had beaten him, he would still go out to find food if given the chance to do it again.
His grandfather was old and no longer as agile or powerful as