Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 717 Living in a Boiler?

After some effort, Zoe finally found Beatrice and took her back to her room.

Gaia had a lot of work to do, so Hughes called her over to assign her tasks—if she didn't come back soon, even Hughes didn't dare to imagine what kind of work Tata could possibly produce.

Hughes felt somewhat relieved to hand over the research and development to her now.

Moreover, Gaia has an important mission this time—she has to assist Richard in finalizing the human mechanization project.

Castells had been held back by this technology for far too long. Now that he had acquired the technology of the Mechanical Sanctuary, he was naturally going to concentrate his efforts on tackling the challenge.

Hughes has already approved a special research grant, designated several testing grounds, and even brought in both Noras to help.

They even abandoned their plan to have Chloe work overtime and expedited her arrival from Blood Harbor on a Nine-Headed Serpent Coffin to assist with the research.

These people desperately need to be resurrected; staying in this half-dead state isn't a solution, and it makes it seem like Castel is exploiting the dead.

Furthermore, both Nora and Chloe have experience with "indirect control of bodies," so Hughes thought it would be worth trying to give them a body that wasn't quite original, and that they could add some things to it, like Gatling guns or dragon breath cannons.

They'll get used to it quickly.

Gaia was practically the last vestige of conscience among Castell's researchers; the rest were either eccentric or completely unreliable.

Of the vast Fire-Chasing Moths, only two and a half are truly reliable: Gaia and Richard count as two, and Chloe as half.

With these two and a half people coming together to do research, the results are just around the corner!

Therefore, Hughes was still looking forward to it.

Zoe, on the other hand, wasn't in such a hurry. Although she was the chief clerk of Bloodharbor, the civil service system that Hughes had built could actually function normally without a chief clerk.
Simply put, she is easily replaceable and has a lot of room for improvement.

Therefore, Hughes arranged for her to stay with Beatrice for the next few days and keep a close eye on her.

It's not to prevent her from betraying us—Beatles, with her identity, wouldn't have a place to turn even if she wanted to.

The main reason was that he hoped Zoe would keep an eye on Beatrice; Hughes always felt that with her luck, he might just mysteriously disappear.
Leaving aside the research and development work of the Hughes organization, Zoe led Beatrice through the corridors of the main cathedral.

Although she was stationed at Bloodharbor for work, Castells still came often, sometimes to report on his work, and sometimes just to take a stroll. Zoe was no longer the same as before, but in a corner of her heart, she was still that little maid who didn't have much ambition.

"This room isn't far from the lord's office, right next to the medical room and the banshee's duty room. If you encounter any trouble, you can shout loudly. The banshees are quite reliable when they're on duty, but you must never accept any food from them."

"Is it because their diet is different from humans?"

"No, it's because their hobbies are too unique. Anyway, let's wait until you're feeling better before talking about it."

Zoe stopped in her tracks.

“This is it. Castel’s decor is more industrial and rather simple. I hope you don’t mind.” Zoe opened the door and introduced the room to Beatrice with a smile, only to see Beatrice’s expression freeze.

Well.
Is it really that bad?

Under Hughes's influence, Castells' overall style leaned towards practicality, coupled with the overcapacity of steel production.
To put it simply, wrought iron furniture has almost become a specialty of Castel.

While these pieces of furniture are durable and sturdy, and the industrial style has its own aesthetic appeal, they are certainly not related to traditional aesthetics.

Come to think of it, Beatrice was, after all, the Pope of the Candlelight Order and the Mechanical Sanctuary, and she had sat on the throne of the Empire for a period of time. She may not have possessed much power, but she must have seen countless magnificent residences.

She probably wouldn't even look down on such an ordinary room. Zoe scratched her head, turned around to go into the room, but when she saw what was inside, she was stunned.

Inside the room, there were no concrete walls or wrought iron furniture, but rather a huge steel furnace.

Heavy and oppressive, with steel pipes, furnace door openings, and an observation window fixed in place of the original window with rivets.

They even thoughtfully sprinkled some slag on the ground as an atmosphere element.

Zoe almost thought she had gone to the wrong interval and ended up in the stellar furnace.

boom!
Zoe closed the door, took two steps back to look at the number on the door, and then opened the door again.

squeak--

The charcoal fire in the corner of the room was fanned up by the wind that kept turning it on and off, and the red glow of the embers made the room look orange-red—more like a boiler.

Zoe's eye twitched.

"Has Castells become industrialized to this extent?" Beatrice asked, somewhat puzzled.

"No, no, there isn't any," Zoe quickly closed the door again, then angrily knocked on the door of the Banshee's duty room.

The door was quickly opened, but only a crack. Several succubi peered through the gap and asked, "What's the matter?"

Zoe peered into the house, but the banshees' towering figures completely blocked her view, and she couldn't see anything clearly. She gave a cold laugh, her gaze becoming vacant.

The next moment, her voice came from behind the banshees: "Well, so it was you who did it!"

The tips of the banshees' tails froze simultaneously. They no longer cared about the door and turned to look at Zoe, who had already entered the room.

At this moment, Zoe was holding several large steel plates in her hand. The material was exactly the same as the ones in the room just now, and they even had brand-new cutting marks. They looked like the leftovers from when the room was being decorated.

"Wow, you guys are so mean! How dare you bully Beatrice! I'm going to tell the lord!"

The banshees exchanged an awkward glance and quickly explained, "This wasn't our decision; it was the lord's!"

Zoe: "???"

"The lord said that Beatrice is used to living in the boiler room, and we should make her feel at home!"

Zoe: "!!??"

"The lord also said that Beatrice is a light sleeper and can't sleep without sleeping in the boiler room. We've been busy with emergency renovations for quite some time now."

Zoe looked at Beatrice in shock, then hesitated before speaking, "I'm sorry, I didn't know you had this hobby. So it's true what Nini said about you being in love with steam engines."

"No! I didn't! Don't talk nonsense!" Beatrice quickly denied. "I, I didn't make such a request. Hurry up and take down the renovations!"

Speaking of this, Zoe nodded: "Indeed, burning charcoal in the room is too dangerous, it's better to remove it."

"Don't worry, your room isn't just decorated with a boiler; there's a real blower connected to the back. You can even light a fire in there if you want, no problem. By the way, we've also built pollution pipes, so you can spray it anytime."

(End of this chapter)