Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 635 Gaia + Monica = ?

Hughes rubbed his eyes, staring at the charred, shattered target in the distance, lost in thought.

What was he here for?

Gaia just arrived at my office yesterday, how come she's pulling out something like this today?

Have I traveled through time again?
"Let me sort this out, Gaia. You just came to my office yesterday and applied to join the delegation to the Mechanical Sanctuary, planning to find a way to rescue Chloe?"

"Correct!"

"And then, instead of mourning Chloe for a moment, you turned around and came up with a magnetic storm coil for me?"

"Hmm, why is it magnetic? Wasn't that lightning that just struck?"

"Magnetics and electricity are basically the same thing. Wait, don't bring up other things. How did you manage to create this thing in just one night?"

"Oh, you mean this? I recruited a new group of researchers overnight, and this lightning rod launcher is actually part of my technological reserves, so it seems like it was produced very quickly. In fact, it was all prepared in advance."

"Is that so?" This explanation was barely plausible, but Hughes inexplicably felt that something was amiss.

He looked around suspiciously, his gaze suddenly sharpening as he fixed his eyes on a figure trying to quietly slip behind the group:

"Monica!!!"

The little banshee was startled when someone suddenly called out her whereabouts. She froze on the spot, her tail tip standing straight up.

After a moment, she forced a smile and slowly turned around:
"My lord, I am a legitimate researcher. All my previous project applications were submitted through proper channels. How can you doubt me?"

Hughes narrowed his eyes.

Monica may be a legitimate researcher, but it's unlikely that she'll actually conduct legitimate research.

"Then let me ask you, did you apply for this project? Did you write the research proposal? Did you do a feasibility analysis? Since you say it's serious, then let me see where your seriousness lies."

If you see one cockroach in a room, there's probably already an entire cockroach empire in the corner.

When Monica is seen at the test site, even the toilet might explode.

Gaia and Monica exchanged a glance, then guiltily looked away.

"Tell me, where did these 'reserve technologies' come from?"

A few hours later.

In the Castel Cathedral, in Hughes's office, the desk was cluttered with various materials. Hughes sat behind his desk, rubbing his temples with a headache.

"Is there anything else you'd like to say?"

Gaia and Monica quickly shook their heads: "No, really no!"

After a moment, Monica muttered softly, "We...we just wanted to save Chloe."

Hughes looked at the mountain of experimental materials in front of him and sighed: "I think you're not trying to save them, you're trying to ruin them—look at this! 'A More Efficient Industrialized Method of Coyote Breeding'?"

"Well, there aren't enough coyotes on the island right now, so I think we can use an assembly line-style breeding method to speed up their reproduction efficiency and break through the limits of nature."

"So you designed a system where you line up coyotes from front to back, so you only need to feed the first one?"

“Isn’t this a highly efficient approach? Although it’s somewhat inhumane, it’s a necessary sacrifice.” Monica crossed her arms. “Besides, wolves eat anything, and this is a plan I came up with after studying their nature.”

"..." Hughes's eye twitched. "Okay, let's not talk about coyotes. What the hell is this plan? 'New Aquaculture'? You're going to carve out a piece of seawater to raise fish? Use pollution to raise fish?" "Oh, this was inspired by the better harvest of polluted plants. It's a breakthrough project that introduces pollution into the sea to improve fisheries."

"Is that so?" Hughes sneered. "Then where are the fish you raised? Take them out and let me see."

Pollution has a very peculiar effect on living organisms.

When fish are polluted, they exhibit a variety of mutated traits, with varying directions and degrees, highlighting a degree of randomness.

For terrestrial creatures and plants, pollution often causes them to grow larger and faster, but their overall condition remains relatively stable.

Although the specific reasons are unclear, most of the pollution on Hughes' side came from the sea god, so there must be some connection between them.

After all, legend has it that all the creatures in the sea were transformed from the body of the sea god.

Hughes still remembered those monsters from the abyss; they were "fish" exposed to high levels of pollution.

"Don't worry, although those fish have turned into monsters, I've done some research and they're basically all edible."

No, you actually ate it?

And what does "basically" mean? Are there any things that can't be eaten?

Monica realized her words were inappropriate and quickly added, "But I have a way to solve these problems. I put electricity into the water!"

"?"

You should know that living things mutate when exposed to electricity, right?

Hughes nodded. The electricity in this world seemed to contain some twisted power, and if used alone without purification, it would cause organisms to mutate to some extent.

Castells had previously conducted experiments in which he applied an electric current to organisms, and they all showed mutations in different directions.

Once the power system is fully developed in the future, we can see if there are any differences between different types of electricity.

For example, isn't thermal power more volatile, hydropower more gentle, wind power more flexible, and nuclear power... uh.
In short, electricity in this world is somewhat similar to radiation, but a more powerful version that causes organisms to mutate rapidly.

"My lord, after discovering the properties of electricity, I wondered, feeding fish with pollution will cause mutations, and electrifying fish will cause mutations, so what would happen if I fed fish with pollution at the same time electrified them?"

"???"

Hughes was completely stunned. Putting everything else aside, Monica was definitely cut out for research.

Her thinking is characterized by its wildness.

The main question now is whether Castells can withstand her antics.
"Then I discovered that these fish no longer mutated as much; most of them became like those polluting plants, simply growing larger."

"That's a good thing! Doesn't that mean our fisheries can produce as steadily as agriculture?"

Hughes was about to be pleased when he saw Monica's shifty eyes and guilty look, and his heart skipped a beat.

He narrowed his eyes: "Wait, you just said most of them? So there are some that aren't just getting bigger?"

"Yes, yes, this part is very small and does not affect the overall output. In addition, our current meat-to-feed ratio has exceeded 3,000, which is very good."

"How many?!"

(End of this chapter)