270: Chapter 270 Was that one person?

Over the next few days, Su Mingyuan kept an eye on the energy shield while waiting for the nuclear weapon positions to finally fall into place.

On the first day, nothing happened.

The 1.8 million giants remained motionless in their assembly formation, the three eight-hundred-meter giants lowered their heads, and the surface of the energy shield steadily shimmered with a pearlescent glow.

The on-duty officer reported every hour, and the content was identical — "No change".

Su Mingyuan had them change it to once every half hour, but it was still just "No change".

He sat in the Command Center and waited.

The nuclear deployment was still short the last two directions; the missile convoy in the southeast was crossing the ridge slowly, and the one in the northwest had to pass through a dried-up riverbed with extremely poor road conditions.

According to Zhang Wei's estimate, it would take at least another day for everything to be in place.

The suggestion given by Tao Zhe was "Don't rush to attack".

The reason was very simple: the opponent did not attack after the energy shield appeared, which indicated that the opponent was also waiting. What they were waiting for was unknown, but striking first when the opponent's intentions were unclear was not necessarily the optimal choice.

Su Mingyuan accepted this judgment.

However, he set a limit for himself — if the energy shield started moving toward the Forward Base, he wouldn't wait any longer and would fire every single nuclear bomb they had.

The first day passed just like that.

On the second day, trouble happened.

At two in the morning, the on-duty technician stared at the thermal imaging transmitted by the drone for more than ten seconds before going to knock on Su Mingyuan's door.

The energy heat sources inside the energy shield were going out.

It was not movement, nor was it occlusion; they were going out one by one, like someone pinching out lamp wicks. The outer perimeter went out first, and then it spread inward. The technician calibrated the equipment twice and confirmed it was not a malfunction.

When Su Mingyuan came over draped in a military overcoat, he was still yawning.

He stood in front of the big screen, stared at it for two seconds, and the sleepiness on his face instantly vanished.

The ordinary giants in the innermost layer within the energy shield were falling in batches.

After falling, the bodies of the giants began to shrivel rapidly, as if their moisture had been sucked away; their skin clung to their bones, and their muscles collapsed.

Within dozens of seconds, a giant more than ten meters tall shrank into a withered shell, and then even the shell began to shatter, turning into gray powder.

The powder did not fall to the ground.

An invisible current of Qi swept up the gray powder and drifted toward the center of the energy shield.

Thousands of gray trickles converged from all directions, all flowing toward the direction of the three eight-hundred-meter giants.

After contacting the bodies of the giant giants, those powders were absorbed. The process was very fast, like water seeping into a sponge.

"They are being 'eaten' by these few super Divine Rank giants."

Zhang Wei stood next to Su Mingyuan, his voice lowered very low.

Su Mingyuan didn't pick up on that remark; he was looking at the data.

The technician made a statistic of the mortality rate of the outer giants — about three thousand to four thousand per hour.

"Are there any changes in the energy readings of the three big giants?" he asked.

The technician adjusted the parameters: "They are rising. The increase is not large, but the trend is very stable."

Su Mingyuan watched the gray powder on the screen converge like trickles toward the center of the dome, calculating an account in his mind.

If the life energy of 1.8 million giants were all absorbed, what would they turn into?

How much higher would the energy readings rise? Would the energy shield become stronger along with it?

He didn't know. But one thing was very clear — time was no longer on his side now.

"Send this to Tao Zhe," he said. "Have him analyze the energy conversion efficiency of the absorption process. I need to know how much the strength of the energy shield will increase after these giants are completely absorbed. In other words — can my nuclear bombs still pierce through this energy shield."

On the third day, the deaths accelerated.

The absorption rate rose from three to four thousand per hour to over ten thousand.

When Su Mingyuan woke up in the morning and glanced at the data, only over 500,000 of the 1.8 million giants remained.

The size of the three eight-hundred-meter giants visually increased by about one-tenth — from eight hundred meters to nearly eight hundred and fifty meters.

Tao Zhe's analytical conclusion was transmitted back.

The core meaning was: if all 1.8 million giants were completely consumed, the strength of the energy shield would increase by about forty to sixty percent.

The conclusion ended with a sentence: "It is recommended to take action before the giants are completely absorbed. The earlier, the better."

After reading it, Su Mingyuan put down the tablet.

He stood up and walked two circles in the Command Center. Everyone present looked at him, but no one spoke.

He was making a decision.

It was not a question of "whether to fight or not", but how to fight.

What was the strength of the energy shield like, and could it actually be pierced through?

What would they have to face after piercing through it?

He stopped his footsteps and looked at the big screen.

Then he saw that thing.

The technician's voice was squeezed almost from the throat: "Report — a new heat source has appeared in the central area of the energy shield."

Su Mingyuan walked back to the front of the screen.

In the image, right in the center of the triangular area surrounded by the three eight-hundred-meter giants, a tiny bright spot appeared. Compared with the surrounding giant heat sources that were easily over ten meters tall, this bright spot was so small it was almost invisible.

But its energy readings pushed the instruments to their limits.

The technician adjusted the thermal imaging parameters over and over again, and finally managed to barely display the outline of this heat source.

Humanoid.

Height was about one meter seven to one meter eight.

Bipedal, two arms, one head, the proportions were completely identical to a human.

It stood on the open ground at the feet of the three eight-hundred-meter giants.

Within a radius of several hundred meters around it, no giants approached, as if they were separated by an invisible barrier.

"That is a person." Zhang Wei's voice went hoarse for a moment.

Su Mingyuan did not respond immediately. He stared at the tiny humanoid bright spot for about ten seconds.

Over the past few days, he had been thinking about "what on earth is manipulating all of this", and many possibilities flashed through his mind — some kind of higher intelligent life form, some kind of special giant mutant, or even some kind of energy life form.

But he didn't expect it to be a person.

A humanoid existence the same size as them.

If that really was a "person", then many things would be different.

The giants did not assemble spontaneously; they were summoned by this person.

The three eight-hundred-meter giants were not naturally evolved; they were raised by this person. The energy shield was not the giants' ability; it was this person's ability.

And the absorption of the 1.8 million giants — it was not the big giants feeding autonomously; it was this person feeding them.

"Energy readings," Su Mingyuan said.

The technician swallowed hard: "Overflowing. Higher than the three eight-hundred-meter giants. How much higher cannot be measured."

Su Mingyuan finally understood what Tao Zhe had said earlier — "The three giants are not the main body, they are tools."

The main body is right here.

He turned around to face Zhang Wei: "Have Tao Zhe come to the Giant World in person."

Zhang Wei asked: "Are we still launching the nuclear bombs?"

Su Mingyuan glanced at the tiny humanoid bright spot on the screen.

He needed more information.

"First figure out what that is."