55: Chapter 55 Living Weapons

Lin Yan glanced at the city wall. This massive black wall was indeed magnificent, but it was inanimate—it couldn't move, it couldn't fight. If a giant were to climb up, what would stop it? Would the soldiers on the ramparts rely on muskets? Or those small-caliber cannons?

Shen Xin shared the same confusion. She had seen video footage of monster sieges in the training hall, where defensive positions were always filled with automated turrets, energy shields, and rune arrays. But here, there was nothing—only stone, wood, iron, and firearms.

"I've seen the cannons. Their caliber is two hundred millimeters at most. They might be fine against a five-meter giant, but against a giant over ten meters tall..." Qin Chuan shook his head. "It's unlikely to be enough."

Jiang Ruoxue didn't speak, but her gaze swept across the walls on both sides of the barbican, as if searching for some hidden defensive facility.

Lin Yan quickly ran through the facts in his mind: ordinary muskets couldn't hurt a giant, cannons could only cause minor injuries, and although the wall was high, a giant could climb up using the gaps between the bricks. So, how had these people held this wall for over a hundred years?

The middle-aged man turned and walked toward the depths of the barbican, not looking back to see if they were following.

The four of them followed.

After walking less than a few dozen meters, Qin Chuan's footsteps suddenly froze in place.

"What... what is this?"

They saw it.

In the center of the barbican stood dozens of mechas.

Even the shortest one was fifteen meters tall.

A grayish-white skeletal frame formed the main structure of the mechas. It wasn't metal or alloy; it was real bone—giant bone. Ribs had been dismantled, reorganized, and pieced together into the shape of a chest cavity; the spine had been straightened to serve as the main support beam; the long bones of the limbs had been thickened and reinforced, and the joints were connected by thick tendons and ligaments.

Dark red muscle fibers were wrapped around the skeletal frame like countless snakes coiled on a skeleton. The texture of the fibers was clearly visible, and each one was slightly squirming. It wasn't the wind; the muscles themselves were moving. They were breathing, contracting, and relaxing, like an engine that would never shut down.

The tendons at the joints were exceptionally thick, as thick as an adult's arm. Translucent tendon sheaths encased the dark red muscle bundles inside, and every slight contraction caused the mecha's limbs to sway ever so slightly.

These mechas had no heads.

A translucent cockpit was embedded in the chest area. The sternum had been modified into a cabin wall using a translucent, bone-like material, allowing one to see the structure inside: three seats arranged in a triangle. The surface of the seats was covered with dark red padding, but it wasn't foam or leather—it was some kind of treated muscle tissue. Dense pipelines extended from the bottom and backrests of the seats, and the ends of these lines were needles—some kind of hollow bone spurs—with tips so sharp they glinted in the dim light.

Qin Chuan's eyes widened, his lips turning slightly pale. "This is... made from a giant's body?"

"Yes." Mecha Captain Zhao Tiesheng stood beneath the mecha and reached out to pat the muscle fibers. The substance indented slightly under his touch and then slowly sprang back to its original shape, like a piece of living rubber.

"After a giant dies, its muscles and bones do not rot." His tone was flat, as if stating common knowledge everyone knew. "Their body tissues maintain their vitality; they don't need blood circulation or oxygen. As long as they aren't completely destroyed, they can maintain this state forever. We use them to build mechas."

Shen Xin walked up from behind, looking up at the behemoth, her voice sounding somewhat airy. "This is the weapon you use to stop the giants?"

"Yes." Mecha Captain Zhao Tiesheng turned around, his gaze sweeping over the four of them. "I am Mecha Captain Zhao Tiesheng, the mecha captain of this outpost. The answers to your questions are right here."

Mecha Captain Zhao Tiesheng walked to the other side of the mecha, where an armor plate had been pried open, revealing the internal muscle and bone structure. He pointed at the dark red muscle fibers, his tone as flat as if he were giving a lecture.

"An ordinary person can't cut a giant with a sword, and muskets can only wound the skin. Fired at a five-meter-class giant, they can penetrate the muscle, but they can't reach the internal organs. Fired at a ten-meter-class giant, they can only drill in a few centimeters."

He squatted down, picked up a shattered piece of rock from the ground, and weighed it in his hand.

"And cannons? The cannons mounted on the city wall can blast a basin-sized hole in the chest of a five-meter-class giant. But for a ten-meter-class, the hole is half the size. For a twenty-meter-class, when a shell hits it, the giant doesn't even flinch."

He threw the rock fragment back to the ground and brushed the dust off his hands.

"Only mechas can fight giants head-on."

Qin Chuan walked around the mecha and looked up at the translucent cockpit. Three seats were arranged in a triangle, and pipelines extended from the bottom and backrests of the seats like snakes, the bone spurs at their ends glinting with a dull, cold light in the dim environment.

"How... do you pilot this thing?" Qin Chuan asked excitedly.

"Three people." Mecha Captain Zhao Tiesheng raised three fingers. "The main pilot is responsible for movement and attack, the co-pilot for balance and defense, and the third pilot for energy distribution and neural stability."

He walked to the bottom of the mecha, where a ladder welded from steel pipes led all the way up to the height of the cockpit.

"Three people connect to the neural system simultaneously, sharing the giant's mental burden. One person can't bear it, but three can barely manage."

Jiang Ruoxue walked up from behind the group, her gaze fixed intently on the cockpit's pipelines. A light unprecedented in her eyes flashed, and her fingers trembled uncontrollably.

"Can anyone pilot it?" she asked.

Mecha Captain Zhao Tiesheng looked at her.

"Not just anyone can pilot it." His voice dropped a little. "The pilot's nerves must connect to the giant's neural system. Once connected, you are no longer yourself; you will feel the giant's instincts. Hunger, bloodlust, the desire to attack. Those things aren't external; they are poured directly into your brain."

He paused.

"Those without enough mental strength will be backlashed."

"Backlashed?" Shen Xin repeated the word, her voice sounding tight.

Mecha Captain Zhao Tiesheng didn't look at her; his gaze fell on the mecha's cockpit, as if looking at an old friend, or perhaps an enemy.

"Turning into a giant."

Shen Xin's expression changed.

"The mindless kind." Mecha Captain Zhao Tiesheng's voice remained without any ripples, as if he were talking about what he had for breakfast. "The nerves are devoured by the giant's instincts, consciousness vanishes, and the body begins to mutate. First the skin hardens, then the muscles proliferate, and finally, it becomes a monster without consciousness that only knows how to attack and feed."

He turned around and looked at Shen Xin.

Her face was pale, her pupils slightly dilated, and her lips were pursed into a line.

"Many of our pilots here were lost that way." After saying this, Mecha Captain Zhao Tiesheng didn't speak any further on the subject.

He turned and walked toward the depths of the barbican. After a few steps, he stopped without looking back.

"I'll take you on a tour of the outpost."