Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord-Chapter 82: Gathering of Heroes

[The Evil God has descended.]

[Right on the island.]

Chloe glanced at the window before turning her gaze back to the open diary in front of her.

She held a dip pen in her hand, its sharp nib leaving dark red ink on the paper.

[Those cultists actually dared to summon an evil god so brazenly. They sure have guts.]

[If I hadn’t covered for them, they would have been discovered by the Church long ago.]

Chloe chuckled softly.

[I just don’t know when Nora will return with the Silent Sanctum. I hope it won’t interfere with our plans.]

After writing this sentence, she paused, staring at the diary as if waiting for something.

A moment later, the dark red writing seemed to fall off the page, disappearing word by word.

The diary quickly turned blank, and then a new, neatly written line appeared on it.

〖She won’t be coming back.〗

Lightly twirling a strand of hair around her fingers, Chloe nodded thoughtfully.

She picked up the dip pen and pressed it against the diary, attempting to write again, but no marks appeared—the ink had run out.

So, she took the pen, flipped the nib upside down, and without hesitation, stabbed it into her left eye, twisting it a few times.

When she pulled it out again, the nib was coated in dark red liquid.

She placed the pen back on the diary.

[Do I need to take care of that evil god?]

〖No need. The Candlelight Church’s ship is about to arrive. Don’t cause unnecessary trouble. Our plan is what matters most.〗

[Alright.]

[The ritual is already set up. Now, we just wait for our god to descend.]

Chloe snapped the diary shut with a crisp sound, hummed a lighthearted tune, stood up, took one last look outside the window, then smiled and drew the curtains closed.

—

“Everything is normal on the island.”

Hughes let out a long breath.

He hadn’t dared to sleep all night, fearing that the pollution might suddenly descend.

Fortunately, nothing had happened.

The patrolling Sirens hadn’t raised any alarms, and the pollution that had appeared in his body seemed like nothing more than an illusion.

Dawn had arrived.

After careful consideration, Hughes decided not to halt factory operations.

First, cognitive interference required a full day before pollution manifested, so the daytime should be relatively safe.

Second, the factory district was far from the test site, so even if there was pollution, it was unlikely to spread.

And most importantly, he had suddenly realized something.

It was true that “this world cannot build steam engines” explained the pollution, but there was another, simpler explanation, he hadn’t triggered cognitive interference at all.

In other words, the pollution in his body was not directly related to the steam engine’s operation.

Something else had caused it, meaning his steam engine manufacturing had actually succeeded.

Thinking about it, it made sense.

Although factories in the Rhine were rare, they did have steam engines.

Hughes had even tried improving them before.

If this world couldn’t boil water, then what were those metal constructs?

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

With this realization, the whole situation looked different.

The cognitive pollution from before had always appeared suddenly.

But this time, the pollution in his body had partially appeared suddenly and partially formed gradually.

Furthermore, cognitive interference pollution appeared on the ground.

While some Sirens had been directly splashed and buried in it, most of them had managed to dodge it.

But after pollution appeared inside Hughes, he hadn’t stayed still.

Yet, the pollution kept generating inside him, following him wherever he went.

Luckily, because of this, the pollution hadn’t spread externally, it had been entirely purified by him.

Overall, this pollution incident was completely different from previous cognitive interference cases.

It was likely not caused by cognitive interference at all.

But if it wasn’t, Hughes was confused, he hadn’t done anything particularly unusual.

“There’s too little information. Overthinking won’t help. I’ll wait until tonight, and if there are no issues, I’ll put the steam engine into production.”

The steam engine would bring an almost revolutionary improvement to factory efficiency.

Hughes had no reason to abandon this industrial powerhouse.

As for pollution, he could conduct more experiments.

Eventually, he would figure out its patterns.

After all, it wasn’t like steam engines didn’t exist in this world.

Rhine’s factories could use them, why couldn’t he?

“Connor!”

“Here, young master.”

“Tell the trainees that the steam engine had a minor malfunction, but it’s been fixed. For safety reasons, they need to review its principles again today, and they can leave in the evening.”

After thinking for a moment, Hughes added, “Yesterday counts as overtime. Give them an overtime bonus.”

To prevent possible pollution from spreading, Hughes had kept the trainees at the testing site overnight.

Fortunately, the weather wasn’t cold.

Connor had brought plenty of bedding from the manor, and food supplies were maintained.

The trainees had few complaints.

“Understood, young master. We’ve also informed their families that they’ll be returning tonight. They all signed confidentiality agreements and expressed their understanding.”

“That’s good.”

After instructing Connor, Hughes turned to the nearby Sirens.

These mourning Sirens had been secretly watching from a distance the previous day.

After some thought, Hughes asked, “Did any of you notice anything unusual about me yesterday?”

“Unusual?”

The Sirens exchanged glances.

“Yes, anything unusual. Whether you saw it, heard it, or sensed it.”

The Sirens hesitated before Monica finally spoke up.

“When the steam engine first started, the sky was dark, but the boiler fire was bright, illuminating the area. We also have night vision, so we saw everything clearly. There was nothing unusual.”

The other mourning Sirens nodded in agreement.

“What about the trainees?”

“They seemed shocked—well, we were too. The power of the Type II engine is terrifying. Even Sister Ash probably couldn’t match its strength.”

Monica bit her lip, recalling the scene.

“Alright. That means the trainees should be fine too.” Hughes stroked his chin.

These trainees had been carefully selected.

Not only were they literate with decent academic performance, but their backgrounds were also clean.

They had all signed confidentiality agreements.

They were the foundation of Castel’s future industrialization, so he had chosen them carefully.

He was even considering whether to tell them about the mourning Sirens.

This advanced class of trainees would inevitably enter Castel’s inner circle.

And since most experiments required the Sirens, there was no avoiding them.

They were the only force in his domain capable of handling pollution.

But if the trainees weren’t the cause, then what had triggered the pollution?

“That pollution seemed strange…”

A voice spoke up, drawing the Sirens’ attention.

It was a short and unremarkable mourning Siren.

She hesitated for a moment before continuing, “That pollution… didn’t seem quite the same as the kind from the sea.”