At that moment, White Fish suddenly sensed something and looked into the distance. There stood a fifteen-meter-tall Titan covered in armor, with wisps of white steam drifting off its body.
Looking at that Armored Titan, White Fish's eyes couldn't help but narrow slightly. Beside him, Xiate looked puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
White Fish shrugged, then spoke as if feeling somewhat bored.
"It's nothing, it's just that Wall Maria is about to be breached..."
His voice was lowered, so only Eren and the others nearby could hear him. Eren and the rest looked over, their eyes filled with incomprehension and intensifying fear.
Beside him, Eren spoke up in disbelief.
"How is that possible..."
White Fish simply pointed at the Armored Titan that had appeared in the distance at some unknown point, speaking somewhat helplessly.
"That city gate, I reckon..."
Before White Fish could finish his sentence, everyone stared blankly into the distance. They saw the Armored Titan charging toward the gate. Cannonballs struck its body one after another, yet they were completely unable to stop its pace. Meanwhile, the soldiers on the wall desperately tried to lower the gate.
They were in a desperate rush; the gate was lowered, but...
With a massive boom, everyone watched in disbelief as a huge hole was smashed through the gate. This heralded the fall of Wall Maria...
"Is... is humanity going to go extinct?..."
A man nearby spoke blankly, his face overflowing with despair.
Fear caused a commotion among the people on the ship, but it soon quieted down again. An aura of despair permeated the vessel.
Eren was also in a state of disbelief.
White Fish's gaze, however, was not fixed on the broken gate of Wall Maria. Instead, he looked toward the walls of the Shiganshina District in the distance, his eyes showing some confusion.
The Titans coming out from there... there are quite a lot of them, an unnerving amount...
In a short period, nearly a hundred Titans had already crawled in from there, and the surging bodies of Titans outside that hadn't yet entered could be seen indistinctly.
This shouldn't be happening...
White Fish murmured to himself, but then he shook his head. He couldn't worry about that right now.
Although White Fish's current strength was enough to kill most of the Titans here, putting aside physical stamina for a moment, his gas and blades were completely insufficient. Furthermore, there were things White Fish needed to forge—his own exclusive Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.
Otherwise, if an unavoidable battle occurred where he'd need to transform into a Titan and he died because of issues with the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear, he would never rest in peace.
Thinking this, White Fish sat down in a corner. Xiate curled up in his arms, while Eren's group and Armins Grandfather stood to the side, remaining silent.
Everyone on the ship was trying to calm their fear.
White Fish, however, took out a book titled 'Encyclopedia of Forging' and began to read. Yes, a year ago, he had added forging training to the system's training grounds. After all, many pieces of equipment had to be forged by himself.
The books provided by the system included the 'Encyclopedia of Firearms Forging' and 'Basics of Forging,' among others.
To White Fish, these were useful—very useful. As the saying goes, if you want something done right, do it yourself.
Originally, this ship was supposed to stop once it reached the interior of Wall Maria, but now it seemed it was prepared to go through the river directly into Wall Rose.
White Fish knew that as more and more people entered Wall Rose, food would become scarce. Later, the high-ranking officials would propose a plan that was ostensibly to retake Wall Maria, but in reality, it was to send a large number of people out to their deaths to alleviate the crisis within Wall Rose.
He couldn't help but look at Yi Shi, Carla, and Armins Grandfather. In the original plot, Armins Grandfather was chosen, but now he didn't know what would happen to Yi Shi and Carla.
As for children, they wouldn't be sent out to seek death just yet.
Thinking of this, White Fish fell into a slight contemplation. In that case, he should offer a little bribe.
White Fish opened the system item bar in front of him. Inside was a small pile of gold scraps. These were random rewards given for completing tasks back then, but White Fish had never used them, as they didn't really use money much.
Though he wasn't sure if it would work, he had no other choice now.
...
As the ship was about to enter Wall Rose, White Fish disassembled the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear on his body into parts and tossed them casually into the river.
There were many people on the ship now, and the person in charge of steering hadn't noticed. But if he brought it into Wall Rose, he feared there would be no end to the questioning, and they might even charge him with something like stealing Omni-Directional Mobility Gear.
Watching the Omni-Directional Mobility Gear being thrown away, Eren, Mikasa, and the others gradually calmed down. Remembering that White Fish knew how to use the gear, Eren couldn't help but ask with glowing eyes.
"White Fish, how do you know how to use thi—"
But before he could finish, his mouth was covered by the other's hand. White Fish looked around cautiously; fortunately, the people at this time had no time to pay attention to them.
White Fish made a shushing gesture to them, then coughed lightly.
"That's a secret, not to be spoken of."
Then he simply let Xiate lean against him and continued reading his book.
Seeing Xiate's actions, Mikasa also looked at Eren, but then she sighed slightly, as if giving up on something.
Eren originally wanted to ask more, but he was stopped by Mikasa, who shook her head gently at him. Only then did he stop pressing, merely curling his lip in a show of dissatisfaction.
White Fish just smiled and didn't answer further.
At this time, Eren stood on the ship, staring intently into the distance with a sharp light flashing in his eyes. There lay the fallen Shiganshina District. After a long while, he suddenly spoke seriously.
"I'm going to join the Survey Corps!"
Beside him, Mikasa and Carla both suddenly looked at Eren, fear gradually resurfacing in their eyes. Recalling the scenes of people they knew being eaten by Titans during their escape, Carla shouted loudly.
Mikasa also became anxious, wanting to stop Eren.
"Why! Eren, you saw how terrifying those Titans are. Can't you... can't you just stop worrying me?"
But this time Eren didn't answer, merely looking up at the sky.
White Fish also glanced at Eren. As expected, he would still join the Survey Corps.
Xiate looked at Eren on the ship, then looked at White Fish, asking plainly.
"White Fish, you shouldn't want to join the Survey Corps like Eren, right?"
These words also made Eren look at White Fish, and even Yi Shi couldn't help but look over.
White Fish closed the book in his hand, closed his eyes, and spoke with a smile and a hint of teasing.
"I value my life quite a bit. Although I will also become a soldier, it will be in the Garrison Regiment. I'll leave the future of Wall Rose to be guarded by me."