Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 732 The Hired Workers Arrive at Blood Harbor

Old Vance also turned pale, and his legs went weak and he was about to fall to the ground, but his daughter was quick-witted and caught him.

A few crew members—the kind who worked part-time as part of the expeditionary force—came out with wrenches, took a quick stroll, and brought the situation under control.

The main reason is that these outsiders have long held sway here, and their ability to build roads at the town's entrance is not due to the lord's benevolence.

The workers quickly regained their composure and sat obediently to one side.

Old Vance was with his wife and daughters, and he looked very worried.

"What's wrong, Father?"

"Sigh, I wonder how many Rios it will cost to go to that Blood Harbor this time."

"Didn't they say we wouldn't have to pay?"

“Rebecca, you’re still young. They said you don’t have to pay, but we ordinary people have to spend money wherever we go.”

Rebecca held her father's hand, somewhat bewildered. Looking at her father's sorrowful face and her mother's silent expression, she suddenly realized that all she could do was pray.

Only prayer.

She sat quietly in her seat, stroking the steel-forged carriage. This should have been an extremely novel experience, but she had no mood to appreciate it.

The cold, unyielding steel gives one a sense of security.

Old Vance's face twitched occasionally. The physical pain was bearable, but the uncertainty about the unknown terrified him.

The doctor wouldn't let him eat anything, but only brought him a small bowl of sugar water, telling him to drink some if he was really thirsty, but not too much.

The train rattled and swayed forward, and the unease in people's hearts swayed along with it, until it arrived at Blood Harbor.

Blood Harbor is no longer that small port; it is now the largest city in the East.

When people see the sprawling shantytowns from afar, they are amazed, but once they actually enter the city, no one speaks.

Everyone was pressed against the windowsill, like a swarm of ants that had entered the city of giants.

That must be the city of giants, otherwise who would live in such tall buildings?
The rows of reinforced concrete buildings, like a steel forest, stand silently on the earth, their imposing presence and countless numbers challenging everyone's perception.

People initially gathered by the window, then gradually pressed their faces against the glass and tried to peek out.

Those buildings were so tall that even if you peered through the window and tried to look up, you couldn't see the whole thing.

If you look at something in the distance, it doesn't seem that tall, while if you look closer, you can only see a small part of it.

The workers just stared blankly, like vendors who had wandered into a palace.

“My God, these houses are so tall!” Rebecca murmured.

She turned to look at old Vance, only to find him looking terrified.

"What's wrong? Father, are you alright?!"

"Impossible, impossible." Old Vance didn't reply to her; he just muttered to himself, his face pale.

"What's impossible?"

"These buildings can't possibly be this tall, and have such spacious halls, yet they have no pillars. This is impossible."

Most of the hired workers were uneducated commoners who were simply amazed by the sight.

Old Vance, however, was a stonemason. He had indeed built many structures and knew just how incredible these houses were. These simple high-rises appeared strangely indescribable to him.

The more knowledge one acquires, the more astonished one becomes by the horrors of these creations; this is why scholars are most susceptible to Hocaster syndrome.

Perhaps this is the curse of knowledge. However, soon, even the less knowledgeable laborers began to be intimidated.

More and more terrifying creations, whose grandeur can be felt with just a glance, without needing to understand them.

Factory after factory, with towering chimneys and billowing black smoke.

Roaring machines, bustling roads, and mountains of goods.

People accustomed to these things find them ordinary, but for the commoners living in the wooden houses of the North, who may not have seen more than a few thousand people in their entire lives, only fear remains in their eyes.

They felt as if they had entered hell, the roaring machines sounding like a death knell.

It felt like entering paradise. Shouldn't such a bustling city only exist in the kingdom of gods?

No one felt like they were still in the mortal world anymore.

People were stunned, each one like a chicken with its neck choked, their faces blank with shock.

The expeditionary force members nearby breathed a sigh of relief. They were genuinely worried that these people might also go insane—it was indeed safer for ordinary people. If it were a group of scholars, they would have already started to collapse and scream.

Among the crowd, only Rebecca's eyes shone brightly—she was young, her mind was still unsettled, and she still harbored fantasies about the world. The city's magic and grandeur were something she had never even seen in her most beautiful dreams.

The train continued without stopping, and the entire city burst into view before the passengers without any pause.

When the car stopped at the platform, it wasn't just old Vance who needed to be carried out; all the other workers were stunned and looked like they couldn't be counted on.

Fortunately, this was already the expeditionary force's main camp. The army doctor looked around the station and waved to a tall figure:

"Lady Banshee, are you from the Knights Hospitaller? There are wounded soldiers here who need treatment!"

A tall female demon approached upon hearing this. When she got close enough to see the doctor's face, she was overjoyed: "Lady Nini! That's wonderful! The wounded here were transported from the construction site in the North. Would you like to transfer them to the hospital on the island?"

"Need not."

Nini immediately reached out her hand.

Old Vance, who had been standing there in a daze, suddenly came to his senses. He was startled when he saw Nini, who was as tall as a giant, and screamed as he tried to run away.

But the next moment, he met Nini's bright yellow eyes.

He quieted down after only a moment.

Although the banshees don't have many special abilities, as a race of the mind, it's easy for them to intimidate mortals.

Moreover, Nini is exceptionally skilled at manipulating people's hearts.
Seeing that old Vance had stopped, Nini reached out and touched the steel bar stuck in his body.

The sturdy steel bars immediately flowed down like mud and quickly disappeared completely.

The banshee's innate magic, [Fossil to Mud], was developed to its fullest potential by Nini, capable of melting metal. She used this innate magic to help Hughes handcraft quite a few steam engines.

I've recently become a journalist, so I haven't used this skill in a long time.

The melting of the steel was merely a magical effect; it did not actually turn into molten iron. Old Vance was not burned, but the wound suddenly lost its blockage, and blood immediately gushed out.

As Nini melted the steel with both hands, she casually pulled out a roll of bandage from her bag with her other two hands, and also took out some anti-inflammatory medicine to apply. Before any blood could gushed out, the bandage was already stuffed in.

As soon as the wound was plugged, Nini took out her sewing needle and thread, and with a few swift movements, she finished stitching it up in almost no time.

Before the doctor could react, Nini had already tied a bow around the wound and gently patted Vance's shoulder.

"You're cured, go back now."

(End of this chapter)