Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 1 A Sloppy Ending
"Pan Jinlian's hand slipped and hit Ximen Qing who was passing by below. Ximen Qing was about to get angry with the pole in hand, but when he saw Pan Jinlian's enchanting and charming figure, he was stunned."

“He wants to.”

"Why does this pole fall? Why does it only fall to the ground, instead of falling to the left or right, or flying into the sky? Why are all things in the world attracted to the earth?"

"He left the streets in a hurry, and later he discovered gravity."

"Cao Cao was brewing wine, with green plums on a plate beside him. He raised the wine jar and was about to say something, but when he looked at the boiling wine, he was stunned."

“He wants to.”

"Why does the boiling wine lift the lid? If we use a huge pot and boil a lot of wine, will it have more strength?"

"He put down his wine bottle and devoted himself to experimenting, and later he invented the Cao steam engine."

"Li Yuanba suddenly threw the hammer into the sky. Just as he was about to point his finger at the sky and curse, he was stunned when he saw the hammer flying upwards."

“He wants to.”

"If I throw the hammer upward, it will fall after a while. If I throw it with more force, it will fall later. If I throw the hammer with extremely great force, will the hammer never fall?"

"He turned around and left, and later he calculated the first cosmic velocity."

"King Zhou of Shang was holding Daji in his arms, enjoying himself amidst the wine and the meat, when he suddenly froze."

“He wants to.”

"Why does the wine overflow when I enter the wine pool? Does the amount of wine overflowing have anything to do with me?"

"He pushed Daji away, and then he found out"

"What did you find? Go on, Hughes."

"Yes, yes, hurry up and tell us. Everyone is waiting to listen."

A group of people formed a circle, staring at the young boy in the middle.

Some of them stood with their arms folded, while others sat directly on the ground - looking at their dirty clothes, it was not certain which was cleaner, theirs or the ground.

Several dirty wheelbarrows were thrown aside, which were used to transport coal. The steel monsters in the factory swallowed the coal, spewed out steam and black smoke, and if they were in a bad mood, they would also swallow a few workers' fingers, limbs, or even their lives.

The boy called Hughes grinned, revealing a row of snow-white teeth that made the mud on his face look less dull.

Every day during lunch break after work, he would tell some strange stories here. Gradually, many workers gathered here to listen. Everyone thought they were made-up stories, but slowly, some people became more interested in the difficult-to-pronounce nouns in the stories.

"So what exactly is universal gravitation? I remember you talking about it several times, Hughes. Damn, I get dizzy just hearing those words."

A sturdy man came over and looked down at Hughes.

Xiusi raised his eyebrows. The man's name was Kyle, and Xiusi had some impression of him.

After all, industry was just beginning to sprout in this era, and most of the workers were originally farmers. They had lost their land and traded their lives for money in factories. The average life expectancy was less than 30 years old, and listening to Hughes' stories was their only entertainment.

Kyle, who is as strong as a bear, is hard not to attract attention.

"Good question! This universal gravitation is..."

Xiusi's eyes lit up and he was about to start explaining, but was suddenly interrupted by a shout from behind.

"Xius, come here, Master Kale is waiting for you." The supervisor was sticking his head out of the small door on the side of the factory and looking over here.

The people gathered in a circle turned around. Master Kalai was the owner of this factory. Why would he come to see a peasant like Hughes? For a moment, all eyes fell on Hughes.

"Go quickly, Hughes, and remember to come back and continue telling us stories!"

"Yes, and that so-and-so force!"

Pairs of dirty hands clapped at Hughes, and he smiled and responded to them:
"Wait until I'm back. It'll be quick. Now comes the fun part."

Hughes walked towards the second floor of the factory, where the office was located. A portly-faced supervisor stood at the door, nodding expressionlessly at him before closing the iron door behind him. The workers' view was blocked, and Hughes paused for two seconds before adjusting to the dim interior. The supervisor was already several steps ahead of him, leading the way.

"Mr. Supervisor, what can I do for you?"

"You'll know when you get there." The supervisor said perfunctorily without even turning his head.

Xius frowned and had a few guesses in his mind.

He told stories to the workers leaving work every day at noon, which naturally attracted some people's attention.

This was inevitable, and even Hughes had fueled the flames a bit. After all, he didn't want to be an apprentice forever, mixing his future and dreams with those of a cold machine and having them shattered.

Although organizing workers' rallies would quickly bring him into the sight of some bigwigs, it was definitely not a good thing. No factory owner would want someone under him to be able to organize the workers together.

And what Hughes did was more than just gather people and tell stories.

He was an engineer in his previous life, and the factory and machines in front of him seemed quite primitive and crude to him, so he looked for some areas for improvement and used some clever means to send them to the factory owner, Kale.

Sure enough, the factory owners of this era were never conservative, at least they had not yet learned to be arrogant, and soon the machines he improved began to spread throughout the factory.

With unremitting efforts, his destiny was finally changed.

Hughes knew that industrialization was destined to sweep the entire world like a tide, and he had an opportunity to change his destiny.

The supervisor stopped at the door of a room, opened it and pointed inside.

Hughes took a deep breath and walked in.

The door closed behind him again, and Xius looked into the room.

Master Carlisle was wearing an elegant suit, which he had never been seen wearing in the factory before. However, he had a flattering smile on his face as he looked to the other side of the room.

Hughes followed his gaze and saw a man wearing a church robe sitting there?
A mask of steel covered his skin, and his limbs were made up of gears and various complex joints.

It looks like a robot, but if you look closely you can find normal hands and feet under the metal limbs.

What is this? Is there such a weirdo in the church? Is he wearing an exoskeleton? So ingenious?

Hughes was shocked.

"Your Excellency, he is Hughes. It was he who improved the transmission bearing of the steam engine on his own, without the involvement of anyone else in the whole process." Carlisle said with a flattering look on his face.

Father? Only then did Hughes notice the church emblem on this strange man, and what he was playing with in his hand was a bearing removed from a steam engine.

The strange man's fingers turned into a screwdriver and a crowbar, and he easily disassembled the bearing casing. A hoarse voice sounded from under his hood.

"Did you design this?"

Zeus's idea moved. Looking at the priest's skillful disassembly movements, it was obvious that he fully understood his improvement ideas. If he could demonstrate his strength, he would surely attract the other party's admiration.

Judging from the factory owner's servile look, the priest must be of high status.

What a great opportunity! Perhaps he could use this opportunity to connect with higher-ups within the empire.

Hughes's expression straightened, and he nodded, saying, "Yes, Father, it was I who improved this bearing. Its efficiency can be increased by at least 30%, and its service life is also..."

Hughes' words stopped abruptly.

An iron arm pierced his chest. Zeus looked up in disbelief and saw the priest in front of him holding the church's candle emblem. He slowly pulled his hand back, and his fingers, which had just been disassembling parts, were stained with his blood.

"You, the evil god's lackey, have defiled the sacred machinery!"

A hoarse voice sounded in the house. The priest seemed to say something else, but Hughes could not hear it. His eyes went dark.

Hughes, death.

(End of this chapter)