Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 705's concept is still too ahead of its time.

The internal combustion engine, a jewel in industrial history, has fundamentally changed the course of human history.

It completely outperformed the old generation of machinery in terms of efficiency. The thermal efficiency of steam engines was generally only 5%-8%, while that of internal combustion engines could reach more than 20%.

From then on, the steam engine gradually disappeared from factories and could only be active in people's memories in museums, novels, movies and other forms.

Historically, the first industrial revolution is generally defined by the steam engine, while the second industrial revolution is marked by electrification. The internal combustion engine is also one of the most important milestones in the second industrial revolution.

Hughes dreamed of developing this thing, but drawing the schematic diagram of an internal combustion engine was not difficult; the difficulty lay in finding a suitable fuel for the internal combustion engine.

Hughes attempted to build a prototype of an internal combustion engine. This somewhat cumbersome machine used gas as fuel and was a reciprocating piston single-cylinder internal combustion engine. Its thermal efficiency was significantly higher than that of the steam engine, which was a considerable improvement.

At that time, Hughes was overjoyed, thinking that the car was already beckoning him, and all that was left was to find the oil.

But the search took a very long time.

No trace of oil has been found in Gem Bay, Tees, or even the North.

Hughes was numb. Without oil, relying solely on gas as fuel, the internal combustion engine would be destroyed by the steam engine.

There's no way around it; if pollution is used as fuel, its energy density is terrifyingly high, making coal gas far too inefficient.

As for oil, it seems there is no record of it in the history of the world, or rather, the records point to something else.
"Black liquid that can burn and can be processed into fertilizer to promote crop growth—isn't that pollution?"

When Tata answered Hughes in this way, he had a vague sense of foreboding.

Although both coal and oil are the remains of plants and animals buried underground, they are actually different.

Coal is mainly derived from plants, while oil is primarily derived from animals.

This world has decent coal reserves and several mines nearby, but there's absolutely no oil to be found. Considering that Castel currently controls a considerable territory, this is very strange.

The world couldn't have only had plants and no animals, right? Where did the animals go?

When Hughes discovered that he could not find oil, he was quite disappointed. His chemical engineering system design might have to be scrapped and started over. As for the internal combustion engine, it was nothing compared to this. So Hughes casually tossed the internal combustion engine project to Richard.

Richard was busy with the storm generator at the time and didn't have much time, so he outsourced the project. The researchers weren't very interested in the project—steam engines seemed much more advanced than internal combustion engines, so why not use steam engines?
Internal combustion engines don't swear.

The project changed hands several times before being taken over by Monica. After thinking about it for a while, she realized that the problem lay with the gas; the fuel was not good enough.

We need to get a more powerful one.

If we're talking about something really powerful, it has to be Castel's specialty: nitroglycerin.

Because of this, Monica applied to Gaia for a lot of nitroglycerin, and finally succeeded in building the Monica Type I nitroglycerin machine—also known as the shock machine—before Gaia became suspicious and reported it to Hughes.

The main advantages of this model of internal combustion engine are its high power and strong explosive force.

That's really enough; it can burst in no time.

Moreover, putting this thing on a carriage, well, sitting on a pile of constantly exploding explosives, requires a fairly strong mental fortitude.

Therefore, naturally, no one dared to take on the follow-up implementation of this project.

The shock bomber was originally destined to die before it was even born, but then a researcher who was interested in it appeared—Tata.

The explosive reaction of nitroglycerin to power the piston was so powerful that Tata simply couldn't resist the allure.
When the final result was placed in front of Hughes, he remained silent for a full ten minutes.

Well, this car is absolutely amazing in every way. "Come on, let me tell you about this car!"

Monica walked over excitedly, opened the car door, got in, and expertly stuck her tail into the seat hole.

Beatrice hesitated for a moment, then looked at the "carriage" closely.

It's somewhat like a smaller version of a steam locomotive, except it has fewer wheels, only four, and its shape is much more rounded.

The car had four doors. There was a control lever in front of Monica's seat, which was probably the "manager's" position. Beatrice thought for a moment and sat down next to her.

After all, she was quite interested in this "carriage".

What is nitroglycerin?

"What do you think it is?"

"Hmm, some kind of engine oil?" Beatrice guessed with some curiosity. The Mechanical Sanctuary had many types of holy oil, used for maintenance under different conditions.

"Almost there. It's a heart medication, and it has some other uses too." Monica's six hands were moving up and down as she operated something in the car.

Beatrice looked confused. What's so similar about engine oil and heart medication?
As for "other effects," she didn't pay attention, assuming they were probably side effects of the drug, which could be dangerous and even fatal.

"Wait!" Beatrice suddenly realized: "Is our car on fire?"

"Yes, how about it? Do you feel much more at ease now?"

What's so reassuring about taking heart medication? Beatrice was completely baffled. Turning her head, she saw Zoe secretly giving a thumbs-up and whispering to Monica, "Yes, that's how you say it. Don't say anything dangerous that might upset her!"

Beatrice's eyes twitched. Although the two voices were very low, she was a superhuman, how could she not hear them?

Without exposing the two's "loud conspiracy," Beatrice's attention was drawn to Gaia in the back seat.

She was tying herself to the seat with a rope.

Beatrice: "???"

Hughes knew about the modern three-point buckle seat belt design, but after learning about Monica's car, he didn't mention it at all. Instead, he taught them how to drill holes in the seats to install four-point seat belts and a roll cage—something usually only used in Formula One cars.

"You'd better tie yourself up too, I'll help you."

Gaia sensed Beatrice's gaze, reached out and grabbed the strap, then passed through Beatrice's body.

"Wait, wait, why are you tied up?!" Beatrice exclaimed in alarm.

"This car is powerful. If you get thrown off when it starts moving, you'll easily end up with bruises all over your body."

Gaia looked at the diesel locomotive in front of her with a complicated expression, her face quite interesting.

"Don't listen to her nonsense. This car is very safe, it just accelerates a little fast."

"How fast?" Beatrice asked instinctively.

"Do you want to give it a try?"

(End of this chapter)