"D-Did I get that wrong?" Xiao Hua was somewhat dumbfounded. Looking at the Stone Giant, which stood over a dozen zhang tall, he thought to himself, This thing can actually cry? Or perhaps... this isn't crying? But if it isn't crying... what is it?
Yet as he watched the Stone Giant's slightly trembling shoulders and quivering legs, they did not seem feigned. Xiao Hua suddenly came to a realization. "Damn it, this... this fellow may look enormous, but could he still be a child?"
Thinking that he had actually bullied a child, Xiao Hua felt deeply ashamed. With a wave of his hand, he picked up the finger the Stone Giant had dropped onto the stone platform earlier and brought it before the Stone Giant, gently tapping its arm with it. The finger was not much different from an ordinary stone, except that warm currents of fire flowed within it. When it touched the Stone Giant's arm, it made cracking sounds, exactly like stones colliding.
The Stone Giant froze, then revealed its somewhat reddened eye from behind its arm. The terror in that eye had faded somewhat, replaced by grievance. Then, upon seeing its severed finger, the Stone Giant opened its mouth and began to wail again, no different from an injured child.
"Alas, he truly is a child!" Xiao Hua sighed. He waved his hand, and the severed finger poked the Stone Giant again. Only then did the Stone Giant stop crying a little. It looked curiously at Xiao Hua and reached out to take it. Then, seeing that Xiao Hua's expression was gentle and held no malice, it looked again at the empty space beneath Xiao Hua's feet. Though tears still glimmered in its eyes, it opened its mouth, pointed beneath Xiao Hua's feet, and cried, "So, so..."