Like other decoy districts, the Special District of Shiganshina is a special zone located outside the city walls, bounded by two gates: an inner gate and an outer gate.
But those two city gates had been breached a year earlier.
In the year 845, the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan suddenly appeared and destroyed the gates of the Shiganshina region.
Human activity was forced to retreat to the area within Wall Rose, but a year later, humanity had finally returned there.
"Everyone, stop and rest! Firing squad, prepare the Gatling machine guns!"
Following orders, the team moved to an open meadow near a water source, set up tents, established a defensive line with Gatling machine guns, and killed the Titans in the surrounding area.
This was the endpoint of the expedition. To deal with the large number of Titans that might exist in the Shiganshina region, the soldiers would recover their strength here and then ride in groups to the inner gate to lure the Titans and eliminate them.
Unlike previous operations, the Special District of Shiganshina is the entry point used by Titans to pass through the walls, so it must be handled with caution.
They would rest here until tomorrow, and then spend another day killing all the Titans in Shiganshina until they had a certain degree of control over the city.
At night, when the Titans could not move, they would use cement to make preliminary repairs to the outer gate of Wall Maria.
This was the plan devised by Gale, and it was indeed very simple. First, he would cut off the source of the Titans by repairing the outer gate and dealing with the Titans that were inside the walls.
After that, they would worry about the outside; the important thing was to clear the infection from within the walls.
…
Some time after settling in, the cooks lit a campfire and brought out pots, pans, and bowls to prepare a vegetable stew.
The group stayed within the protective range of the Gatling machine guns, sat around the fire, and each person took a bowl to drink soup and eat dry rations, while the cows and horses quietly buried their heads in the grass.
Of the remaining eighty people in the group, at this point none of them feared the Titans anymore.
The day passed without incident.
The next morning, the Scout Regiment, led by Levi, used the omni-directional mobility gear to cross the walls and observe the distribution and number of Titans from an elevated position.
"There were about fifty Titans," Levi said upon his return.
"And what about the outer areas of Wall Maria? What's the situation outside the walls?" Erwin asked, worried that the constant pressure of Titans might be a problem.
"If we include the Titans outside, the total number should be around two hundred," Levi replied with a cold expression.
"Transport team, do we have enough ammunition?"
"Yes! More than enough!" replied the leader of the transport squad, reporting: "Based on the average number of bullets needed to kill a Titan, we probably have enough ammunition to kill around four hundred Titans!"
"We don't know when the next batch of supplies will arrive. We can't run out of bullets; we need to save some for the return trip," Hange said, pointing out an important detail no one had considered.
"Then let's engage in long-range combat to avoid the gunfire attracting Titans from outside the walls," Erwin said, then turned his head and ordered: "Levi, I'm counting on you. We need you to lure the Titans."
"Understood!"
The operation officially began as the Scout Regiment entered the Special District of Shiganshina on horseback, constantly luring Titans toward them, where they were relentlessly shot down with Gatling machine guns.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Numerous Titans lay fallen on the grass, their rising steam creating a brief white mist.
At 3 p.m., the elimination of the Titans within the decoy zone was officially completed.
Some smaller Titans that had gotten stuck in the terrain and could not move were directly killed by Levi's squad, who were the most lethal for this kind of work.
At 4 p.m., the Scout Regiment was stationed on the 50-meter-high outer wall, observing the movements of the Titans along the perimeter.
Whenever a Titan approached the gate, a red flare was fired, and the Scout Regiment soldiers within the Special Zone rode along a specific route to lure the Titan to a position with a distant Gatling machine gun and destroy it.
Because the front lines extended across such a vast distance, the Titans outside the walls were not attracted by the gunfire.
At 7 p.m., the sun set and the Titans entered hibernation.
The construction team officially entered the Shiganshina district, and Hannes instructed the workers to dismantle the damaged outer gate mechanism.
The outer gate was completely destroyed. To repair it, Eren transformed into a 15-meter Titan and used his enormous body to help the workers quickly build a steel structure.
At 8 p.m., the steel structure was erected, and Eren mixed and poured the cement. It is worth noting that thanks to the Titan's enormous contribution to construction, everything was accelerated.
With Eren nearby, it was like having a flexible excavator and crane—even more powerful than modern heavy machinery.
In many ways, excavators and cranes cannot compare to Titans. For Eren, the restoration work was like building with blocks; the complex process became very simple.
At 9 p.m., the cement pouring was completed, and all that remained was to wait for it to harden.
Initial setting only takes two to three hours.
By the time the sun rises tomorrow, the repaired wall will have completed its final setting, completely losing its plasticity and gaining a certain level of strength. Over the next thirty days, or even several years, it will continue to lose moisture and harden.
The wall repairs could already be considered essentially complete.
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief; the plan was proceeding smoothly.
Once the outer walls were repaired, and as long as the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan did not reappear, the mission of this expedition could be considered practically accomplished.
Although some people were still concerned about the Colossal Titan and the Armored Titan, Gale knew that Reiner and Bertolt were working the land and could not instantly teleport to the Shiganshina region.
Even in the original storyline, after breaching Wall Maria, they remained silent for a full five years before acting again.
They were overwhelmed by various negative emotions, such as fear of being in enemy territory, guilt from witnessing Titans devouring people, and the inability to return to their homeland.
In the end, they were nothing more than two immature children with very little capacity to make decisions or act.
"So… what remains… is that basement…" Erwin looked at Eren, who had returned to his human form.
The Titan's body lay on the ground, emitting steam before vanishing in an instant.
Levi made a cut at the back of Eren's neck and, together with Petra, grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the Titan's flesh.
He looked exhausted; transforming into a Titan seemed to consume a great deal of energy. According to Eren's current abilities, he could only remain in Titan form for a maximum of five hours per day.
Regardless of whether he could maintain Titan form for the maximum duration, once he returned to his human form, he would not be able to use the Titan power again for a short period of time.
Why could he transform into a Titan? Where did that power come from? Why did the King of the Walls, who possessed the power of the Founding Titan, not liberate humanity? What is the outside world like...?
Erwin longed to obtain answers to these questions.
"Eren, can you still walk?" Erwin crouched down and looked Eren in the eyes. "Where is your home?"
"Home…" Eren pressed his lips together, stood up with difficulty, and pointed in a direction. "Over there."
He led the group down the street, and they finally found an ordinary stone house.
The oil lamp illuminated the darkness, and Eren lifted the wooden door on the floor and descended the stone steps.
Eren swallowed with difficulty, took out the key hanging around his neck, and inserted it into the lock.
From the side, Gale remained silent, simply watching how the events he already knew unfolded. It felt strange—somehow, he felt that everything was under his control.
Everything was in his hands; he only needed to move a few pieces. If he could make everything move where he wanted it to go, his plan would be completed.