For six seconds, nothing happened.
Tie Shan sat motionless on the recovery cot. His massive hands were locked around the star-iron floor anchors. His dark eyes stared straight ahead into the dim candlelight. Then, the rich fat coating dissolved.
FZZZZZT.
A sound like water hitting a red-hot horseshoe hissed deep within Tie Shan’s belly.
Instantly, the giant’s entire body went rigid as an iron rail. The veins across his neck, temples, and forearms bulged against his skin. That turned from dull blue into brilliant, glowing channels of rainbow-bright violet light. A blinding golden radiance erupted beneath his ribs, shining through his skin and muscle tissue so intensely that the dark silhouettes of his ribs and chest bone were projected onto the stone wall behind him.
In living systems building, Lin Tao observed. He stepped back to monitor the copper grounding wires, rebuilding an entire skeletal framework in minutes needs huge striking force. The body-energy rate has increased by fourteen thousand percent.
Tie Shan didn’t scream.
The giant clenched his teeth so hard that a fine spray of red foam escaped his lips, his jaw muscles swelling until they looked ready to tear through his cheeks. His fingers tightened around the star-iron anchor grips with crushing, high-pressure force. The one-inch forged iron bars began to bend under his grip, groaning in protest against the stone sockets.
