Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 432 It's just cognitive interference, no big problem.

When Mili woke up, it was already night.

The bright moon hung high in the sky, barely illuminating a small area nearby.

Mili touched the top of his head, where there seemed to be dried blood. He looked around in confusion.

The fog had long since dissipated, and he had inexplicably survived, still wearing his equipment.

Did the White Disaster overlook him?

He turned around and around, but instead of seeing his horse, he saw a corpse.

After carefully examining the man for a long time in the dim moonlight, Mili recognized him. It was his captain, who had been stripped of all his weapons and clothes, and was lying naked in the woods.

After the White Disaster, aren't there no corpses left?

Mireille wanted to see what injuries the captain had sustained, but unfortunately, the captain seemed to have been running wildly through the woods for a long time before he died. His body was covered in abrasions, and it was difficult to tell what injuries had caused his death in the dark.

If this were anywhere else, Mireille would have been gloating, but he had no time for that now. He hurriedly loaded his pistol with gunpowder and walked in the opposite direction from where the captain's body had fallen.

Since the captain rushed into the woods, the way out must be behind him.

He guessed correctly.

Along the way, Mili encountered several more corpses, some naked, some still wearing some equipment, all of them lying on the road leading to the woods.

It didn't take long to get in, but it took Meryl a full half hour to get out of the woods.

The woods in the dark were not easy to traverse; there were tree roots or holes on the ground, and even snakes and insects. Yet he dared not light a fire to provide light.

Fortunately, he was lucky and did not encounter any wild animals. He stumbled his way out of the forest.

Their campsite was not far away. Mili stumbled over and found that there were also many corpses there.

I thought I could find a horse to ride back, but after circling around, I found nothing. I did see a few horse carcasses, though.

I don't know where the rest of them went; perhaps they were all swallowed up by the White Disaster.

Having no other option, Mili had to walk to the town.

The town was quite far from here; Meryl walked until dawn before she could see its outline.

There were a few guards at the town gate, but Mili didn't care. She cursed and told them to open the gate quickly so she could go in.

"who are you?"

"I'm a member of the Winter Wolves. Open the door now! I have important business to report to my superior. If you delay, you'll lose your head!"

Meryl wanted to use his military uniform as proof, but it had been torn to shreds in the woods and was nothing more than strips of cloth. As for armor?
He threw it away after he woke up.

After looking around, he had no choice but to raise his musket: "See this thing? Open the door right now!"

"Okay, okay, don't worry, sir, I'll open the door right away!"

The man had a good eye, and Miley nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad, kid. What's your name?"

“Leonard is a traveling businessman,” the short man said with a smile as he approached.

Isaac watched Gwen directing the resistance fighters as they moved the spoils of war, and kept nodding to himself.

She was indeed a competent leader. This operation was Gwen's idea; Isaac's original plan was simply to set a trap and ambush the main resistance force, allowing them to withdraw ahead of time.

But Gwen's plan gave him a new idea.

This time, the resistance successfully dealt a heavy blow to the Winter Wolf Guard. Although time was short and there was no time to take a detailed count, the Winter Wolves lost at least a quarter of their manpower.

Countless others were lost deep in the forest, and with the cavalry's meager supplies and no directional guidance, they were likely to never find their way out.

Moreover, the fleeing soldiers were terrified. By the time they came to their senses and began to regroup, who knows where they might end up.

The Winter Wolf has essentially lost its fighting ability in a short period of time, and it is unlikely to recover without more than half a month of rest.

This gave the resistance a very valuable respite. The Ash Alliance had turned several nearby towns against the resistance, allowing them to build fortifications. The Winter Wolf Guard, being cavalry, was not good at attacking fortified positions and might not fare well.

Having established a foothold here, the Ash Alliance began sending people out to gather intelligence. They would then decide whether to flee the North or hold their ground once the news returned. In any case, the resistance had the upper hand, no matter what they chose.

And all of this was thanks to Gwen's idea.

"What a brilliant idea! Creating fog to impersonate the White Calamity and lure the Winter Wolf into a trap. Gwen, you'll be an excellent commander in the future." Isaac's eyes were full of praise.

He's good at gathering intelligence, but his grasp of the battlefield isn't as sharp as Gwen's. I really underestimated her before.

"This is all thanks to you. Without your method, I wouldn't have been able to create this fog." Gwen smiled shyly.

Mixing gunpowder made by Imperial alchemists with certain substances can produce a large amount of smoke; this is written in the Army Manual.

Unfortunately, this kind of thing is rare even among military supplies, and Isaac couldn't get his hands on it.

But he was, after all, a moth drawn to a flame, and did some research in his spare time.

Previously, when we were in the territory, the lord mentioned a weapon called "Molotov Cocktail".

Although the name is a bit strange, it is something that the lord has taken out. Nitroglycerin can cure heart disease, so it is normal for the weapon to have a strange name.

This weapon was not very effective on the front lines, so Castell did not conduct any special research on it, and Hughes only mentioned the general formula.

Isaac took note of it and wrote it down.

It is rarely used on the main battlefield, but it is very useful in enemy-occupied areas. It is easy to manufacture and highly reliable. Apart from the difficulty in finding the bottle, it has no major drawbacks.

As a moth drawn to fire, Isaac naturally began to think about improvements. He tried adding gunpowder, but the effect was not good. However, adding certain substances from the cocktail to the gunpowder caused the combustion of the gunpowder to produce a lot of smoke.

He later conducted a special experiment and it seemed to be due to the phosphorus and aluminum powder in it.

Although he didn't understand the principle, he still managed to produce some smoke-generating agents. After several cognitive interventions, he successfully found the formula.

—The moths that chase fire are already used to researching and intervening in cognitive matters; they have a whole set of methods to minimize the danger.

Upon hearing Gwen's idea, the two hit it off immediately and successfully outmaneuvered the Winter Wolf.

I didn't expect it to be so successful. After all, there were too many uncertainties, and in many places we could only rely on luck. Anyway, the resistance was lying in ambush in the forest, so if we failed, we could just retreat.

But perhaps it was a miracle that the white crow appeared, and everything succeeded.

This completely changed the situation in the North.

(End of this chapter)