Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 684 The Charging Coffin Begins its Charge
"It's been a while since I've been back to Castel, so I might as well go back and take a look."

Hughes muttered to himself, but there was a hint of resistance in his expression.

To be honest, he was a little reluctant to go back to the island.

When Gaia, the head of the research and development department, was sent to the Rhine, the island's research and development was, according to the system, managed by technical personnel with relevant management experience.

Unfortunately, this person is Tata.

Tata, a senior researcher at the Fire Moth, has extensive relevant experience, and Hughes is not worried that he is not up to the task.

On the contrary, Hughes worried that he had overstepped his bounds.
To be fair, the Stellar Furnace and cargo ship designed by Tata were both quite successful works, only they took some detours along the way.

The key issue is that this detour is a bit too convoluted.

Putting everything else aside, Big Gwen could summon an Iron Ark from the sea; heaven knows how many ships have sunk there.

Tata still doesn't dare to get close to that big ship, fearing that the machine spirits on it will explode on him.

Now that he was going back to the island, the thought of seeing what amazing inventions Tata had come up with gave Hughes a headache.

"Never mind, let's go take a look anyway. Tata hasn't been in charge of R&D for very long, so nothing should go wrong."

After spending half a day convincing himself, Hughes finally decided to go back—he was a little afraid that if he didn't go back for too long, Tata would give him a big surprise.

After speaking with Ash in the Banshee's duty room, he arrived at the dock area, where a uniquely designed ship was waiting for him.

This ship was also designed by Tata. Hughes called it the Storm Coffin, also known as the Nine Serpents Coffin. Unlike the high-energy-consuming power source like the steam engine, which burns and pollutes, it used a new energy source.

Human resources.

Hughes simply mentioned in the link that he was preparing to return to Castel, and a group of banshees immediately rushed over with howls.

"Are they moving the coffin? Are they moving the coffin?"

"Pull it, you can pull it!"

"Hurry up, when are we leaving? This time it's my turn, nobody can take it from me!"

"Don't worry, no one's going to take it from you. You can stay to my left, and with Ash, the three of us will form the head!"

"Oh, that works too. I heard pulling from the side is fun, you can control the speed."

"That's right, that's right! The front controls the direction of the assault coffin, the side controls its roll, and the rear controls its pitch. Everyone pull together, and we'll take off!"

Hughes took a deep breath, trying to control his emotions.
There's no other way; this assault coffin is indeed the fastest way to move at sea right now.

Castells' cargo ships sailed at a speed of about ten knots, while the ironclads were a bit faster, reaching speeds of up to twenty knots at full speed.

The fastest steamships, such as Jeremiah's Black Pearl, could even approach thirty knots when the machine spirit was in high spirits, which was as fast as the wind in this era.

The banshee, on the other hand, can move at speeds of hundreds of knots in the sea.
This speed far exceeds the limits of steamships, and even modern ships on Earth cannot match it.

This is because when a ship exceeds 60 knots (111 km/h) in a normal fluid, it will encounter a fluid cavitation barrier—a vacuum bubble generated behind the propeller that causes thrust collapse, which remains a deadly line that is difficult to cross to this day.

The banshees don't move through the sea by pushing water with their serpentine tails, but rather by extraordinary strength—their innate ability. Hughes, through a symbiotic contract, can also share this ability. It can be said that the banshees' speed in the sea surpasses that of any ship, thus justifying the existence of the new energy vessel, the "Charging Coffin."
But that doesn't diminish its sinister nature.

Hughes was going to bring a lot of paper documents with him this time, especially the batch he had obtained from the Mechanical Sanctuary, so he ultimately decided to bring out the Storm Coffin.

Hughes lay flat inside the coffin cabin, surrounded by thick, soft coverings.

Unfortunately, the banshees who pull the coffins don't really care about smoothness. They had experimented with coyotes before, and when the coyote was dumped out of the cabin, it had more than 400 fractures all over its body.
By the way, the coyote only has a little over three hundred bones.

Even the designer, Tata, couldn't keep up with the result, and ultimately had to fill the cabin with thick cushioning pads.

Furthermore, given Hughes's symbiotic contract, even with over four hundred fractures, he wouldn't die.
The banshees surrounded Hughes, stuffing various paper documents he needed to carry onto his sides. Hughes lay inside the sarcophagus, his hands folded over his chest, watching the banshees encircle him.
Something feels increasingly off.

"Never mind, this is not something to think about too much," Hughes quickly gestured to Ash to close the hatch.

Yes, this "fortified coffin" isn't just a far-fetched analogy by Hughes; it really doesn't look like a ship at all. After all, what ship has a canopy?
Of course, due to Hughes's strong opposition, the sarcophagus was not made so square, and the lid did not resemble a coffin lid as much.

Yes, I made a slider version.

So overall, it looks like a...
A rather stylish coffin.

Lying in the cabin, staring at the sirens around him, Hughes was really starting to lose his composure.

"Say something! Weren't you all quite talkative? Why aren't you saying a word now? It's as solemn as a funeral!"

The banshees exchanged glances, and Monica scratched her head:
"Boss, it's not that we deliberately don't talk, it's just that we've gotten used to being quiet in front of the Silent Sanctuary lately. Well, let me just say a few things."

Monica stepped forward, about to say something, when Hughes reached out, grabbed the sliding cover, and slammed it shut.

Monica: "."

"Alright, let's go."

So the nine female demons grabbed the coffin with all fifty-four hands, hoisted it onto their shoulders, and headed towards the sea.

—Because the assault coffins were relatively small, the boat was launched with its lid on to prevent it from capsizing in the waves.
The banshees, when standing upright, were a full two stories tall, while Monica was considerably shorter—she was about the same height as Hughes.

It's one thing at other times, but her height disadvantage became apparent when carrying the coffin.

While other banshees carried the bomber coffin on their shoulders, Monica held it with all six hands, hanging from it.
Eight female banshees carrying a mortar, with Monica hanging from it, successfully attracted the attention of people on the dock with their abstract, performance-art-like banshees.

This time, Nini didn't apply to be a coffin puller. Instead, she said she wanted to join some kind of coffin escort team. Now she's hiding to the side, holding a camera in one hand, a drawing board and paintbrush in the other, and a notebook in the other, writing a report. She's so busy she's practically sparking with energy.

Looks like tomorrow's front page headlines are something to look forward to; maybe another world-famous painting will be featured.

But Hughes, lying in the coffin, was already prepared—he returned directly.

You can go ahead and mess with this body. Hughes will open his eyes and be there the moment he opens them.

This is the real end-to-end.

(End of this chapter)