Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 187: Guardians

Last night's heavy rain had accumulated a considerable amount of water at the bottom of the pit, which slowly boiled under the scorching heat. The steaming mist made the entire central furnace hazy, like some strange cult ritual, gleaming with a mother-of-pearl-like light under the flames.

"The pressure is normal, steam is being delivered, the furnace temperature is normal, the guardian inscription is operating, and the ignition is successful!"

"Ignition successful!"

People began to cheer, throwing their hats, handkerchiefs, or anything else in their hands into the air, hugging each other in celebration, jumping and laughing, drowning out the din of the central furnace.

In order to prevent cognitive interference, Zeus revealed the function of the central furnace. The islanders of Castel knew that it was the energy core that supported the guardian inscription, and its normal operation meant that Castel finally had some chance of winning the war with the deep-sea monsters.

Even Zeus smiled with relief. The recent situations had become more urgent than the last, and the deterioration had exceeded his worst expectations. The successful operation of the central furnace at least gave him the confidence to continue the war.

Xiusi turned to look at Chloe, and she happened to look over. Xiusi waved at her and pointed at the furnace.

Chloe naturally knew what he meant - there was no need to run away, with this miraculous iron creation, they could hold this place.

She subconsciously wiped the corners of her eyes. She was no longer human, and she did not have such a weak thing as tears. The responsibilities she carried did not allow her to show any weakness.

But at this moment, she seemed to have forgotten all of this and was just like an ordinary little girl, purely happy.

It would take her a while to remember that she was no longer human, that her flesh and blood were merely a shell housing her soul, and that she was still moving forward in suffering.

People seemed to have forgotten the shadow of war. At least at this moment, whether it was the banshee or the workers, whether it was an ordinary person or a superhuman, everyone seemed to be no different, all venting and cheering hysterically.

Steam rises from the bottom of the pit, beautiful as a dream.

The workers who were watching gradually dispersed. For some reason, although they had not been in contact with the Banshee for too long, they inexplicably had a special feeling in their hearts.

Perhaps it was watching the lighting ceremony that made people realize that, despite their appearance, they were actually very similar to the Banshees—all were building Castel and striving for survival.

With a common goal, a common enemy, and living on the same land, it was natural for them to understand each other. They cheered and celebrated together in the new church after the successful lighting of the fire. They were similar souls in different bodies, and they just discovered this at this moment.

The workers returned to the factory and told their colleagues who stayed behind about their feelings. After work, they told their families and neighbors.

The Banshee's identity was revealed more smoothly than expected. Although there were occasional voices of opposition, the majority remained well-intentioned. Hughes had no time to focus on the aftermath. He began deploying personnel, placing the Banshees in the positions most needed. Now that the last shackles restraining the Banshees had been removed, Castel's sophisticated war machine roared to full power.

Banshees began to participate in patrol teams, and humans and banshees completed patrol tasks together, thus saving manpower in the emergency team.

The banshees and workers on the construction site began to work in cooperation. The workers set up the mold and placed the stone blocks for melting on top. The banshees walked forward and used the stones to make mud, and then rushed to the next prepared place.

After the workers and the banshees began to divide the work and cooperate, this specialized method similar to an assembly line increased the construction speed of the entire construction site by several times. After a busy day, people looked at their results with shock in their eyes. They themselves did not expect that they could be so efficient.

The steam pipes of the new church roared, and Hughes moved part of the steel production line over. The eastern test site was still too close to the coast, and he had to consider the risks after the war started.

Here, he did not need to relocate the steam engine; the waste heat provided by the central furnace was enough to supply steam to drive the machine.

This new steel plant was called Plant No. 2, corresponding to Plant No. 1 in the Eastern Experimental Field. The workers here were all islanders from Castell, and many of them were old workers from Plant No. 1, who were trained for him by the workers exiled from the Rhine by the Candlelight Society.

Well, after this war, we will send them home. These people have contributed a lot to Castel. Of course, if they are willing to stay, we can also bring their families over.

In addition to factories and fortifications, Alexi's recruitment plan was also progressing smoothly. The islanders of Castel signed up very enthusiastically. The war had not officially begun yet, and people only yearned for war but had no fear. Alexi even had to persuade those overly enthusiastic young men to return. After all, there was a shortage of people in the factory.

It is worth mentioning that the name of this army was finally decided to be the Crusaders, the Crusaders of the Imperial Truth. Although the Imperial Truth is not actually a church, it is a shell after all, so the army naturally used this name. This was the result of repeated discussions among Zeus and others.

Since they are Crusaders, they have to learn some doctrines. The holy code that Chloe and Alexi worked on comes in handy at this moment. The holy code briefly mentions faith, but goes into great detail about various strategies and tactics, and also includes a lot of basic physics knowledge. Considering that they will use nitroglycerin and calculate the landing point of artillery shells in the future, Zeus added some chemistry and mathematics knowledge.

Thus, such a strange religion was born. Its name was Imperial Truth, but it didn’t care about whether it was an empire or not. It was clearly a church, but no one had ever preached the faith.

People in the church were discussing various knowledge and technologies. The chimneys on the church were emitting black smoke and steam mist. Workers were pulling carts of ore into the church and carrying out piles of steel ingots.

The Crusaders, holding rifles in their hands, learned marching steps and shooting techniques from the scriptures. The leading priest loudly explained how to cooperate with the Banshees. At their feet, in the center of the Imperial Church of Truth, a huge steel furnace was swallowing and spewing out physical pollution.

Burning pollution under the church, tolerating foreigners in the church, and filling the doctrine with methods of killing.
When Zeus came to his senses, he realized that he had unknowingly cultivated such a monster, but he no longer had time to worry about it.

"My Lord, the patrol has discovered a large number of murlocs gathering on the coast. They appear to be about to launch an attack."

(End of this chapter)