Industrial Cthulhu? It's Cthulhu Industrial!!

Chapter 49 Killing the Sea (Seeking monthly votes!)

Britannia, Lentinium.

The eternal sun hangs high in the sky, illuminating this great city so that it will never fall.

Under the will of Her Majesty the Holy and Great Queen, even the heavens were frozen in the sky, their rays forever shining upon Londinium, making everyone feel the terrifying and powerful force of the sun that never sets. Even foreign inhabitants and people were awestruck by this terrifying technology. They believed that such a great technology could easily erase their wretched nation and completely annihilate their consciousness.

Of course, they are right. Britannia’s greatness lies in its ruthless enforcement of the most efficient and excellent legal provisions, like a monster absorbing the great products from all over the world, with ship after ship of rare treasures collected from every corner of the land and transported to Londinium.

Even though Londinium is an ancient city, like the Ship of Theseus, it is constantly innovating itself, displaying unprecedented beauty and strength every second.

Even in such a great country, a group of people of noble character still maintained the utmost caution in considering the intelligence transmitted from all corners of the world.

These agents are dedicated to the continuation of Britannia. Each of them has a long lifespan, countless sacrifices, and even more assets, all for the sake of maintaining Britannia's prosperity forever. They must, and can only, monitor every dangerous area of ​​the world, assess the assets and curses they bring, and confirm that those things absolutely cannot have any negative effects on Britannia.

Their empire will surely become a great empire that never falls, and their loves, hates, trends, and languages ​​will undoubtedly become the most powerful weapons in their plans. As long as everyone remains under their protection, what dangers could possibly lurk around the world?

However, with the expansion of Britannia, these people's intelligence has gradually shifted from the major empires and city-states of the Old World to the Wings of the World and major trading companies.

These companies, each possessing the Expeditionary Order, enjoy extremely high autonomy. Some World Wings even maintain fleets that, in certain respects, rival or surpass the size and capabilities of the Royal Navy. They must safeguard maritime routes while ensuring their own interests are not harmed. The open infighting among these companies has become increasingly public in recent years, with numerous World Wings representatives intruding into the councilors' territories, effectively turning them into puppets.

Even more antagonistic are the various old noble families and pure-blood clans. These old-school powerhouses, who have inherited divine bloodlines and run their own companies, will also openly and covertly target the Wings of the World, gradually stripping them of their wings and causing them to fall.

Even in this major event where the saintly family's god fell into self-collapse and completely perished, there were foreshadowing elements from various major families.

In this environment, monitoring the outstanding sons of various noble families and companies becomes particularly important.

In this darkness, where even the blazing sun cannot reach, agents are collecting oracles and messages from all over the world on oracle machines, constantly compiling them by region and sending them to the secure vault every minute for further inspection and recording.

However, some news wasn't so important that even when it arrived, the heads of the relevant industrial regions had the leisure to brew a cup of tea, light a cigar, and then pull out those seemingly highly confidential documents from the archives. Because whatever happened in these places wasn't particularly important. They were just at the very edge of the empire; perhaps someone would occasionally glance at them, but not with much interest.

"The expedition fleet sent six months ago has already passed through the Misty Islands?"

The portly manager lit a cigar and looked at the confidential letter in his hand, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"Ah, I remember those people making such a big fuss half a year ago, as if they wanted to show their loyalty to the Queen. Now that their true colors have finally been revealed, where are they going?"

"...Yes, we have confirmed that the Britannian fleet has officially left the Misty Sea area and is now heading towards the Storm Sea."

"Has it been confirmed?"

"Supernatural power altered the laws of the world, shrouding the entire Misty Sea in a distorted glow. However, it did not enslave or harm humanity; on the contrary, it seemed to consider itself human and showed great care for its people. Is it a mad god from ancient times, bound by primitive magic?"

The seemingly shrewd and capable subordinate adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses and quickly addressed the documents:
"The current conclusion is that, regardless of their actual state, at least superficially, they are unwilling to abandon their claim of being human and insist that they are normal human beings. From the perspective of the Imperial Navy fleet, they have received supplies and certain promises. Their attitude hasn't shown anything particularly unusual; while they possess a degree of empathy, it hasn't reached any more abnormal level—"

"Enough! What's the point of all this? I'm not asking about this trivial matter. I'm asking what's in the Storm Sea that the Navy and Army are considering forming a joint fleet with mutual trust to go there and assess the situation."

"...Here is an attachment, sir."

Looking at the brand-new documents on the desktop, the efficient subordinate closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and then said with a firm expression:

"After defeating the Golden Kingdom, the Navy and Army found clues about a distant land in their graves. They believed that after the storm subsided, they might find a completely new kingdom, an unimaginably great legacy."

"I knew these bastards would do anything for personal gain... Ha, they always use all sorts of tricks to deceive their subordinates into working, afraid that if they find out, they'll be resentful and do something with a blood sacrifice ritual."

"..."

"So what? What does the Ministry of Truth think?"

The seemingly bloated and bloated manager let out a deep breath, struggled to relight his cigar, and then put it in his mouth. He gestured with a hint of disdain with his chin towards his seemingly submissive subordinate.

"What do those bastards who are always monitoring us nobles think of this divine touch? Have they even decided what to do yet? Don't do what they always do, saying that because they don't know what the consequences will be, they've decided not to take any action for the time being. Ha! See, I've memorized all those idiots' excuses."

“Your understanding is entirely correct, sir. They are uncertain; they have always believed that Leon might pose some great risk, and labeling him as a friendly deity would likely be extremely difficult.”

"So, from any perspective, the tentacles of the gods are gradually moving closer to the mortal realm... Hmph, the great era is almost here." The nobleman's representative dipped his hand into the ice bucket and pulled out a bottle of wine that looked well-preserved.

This is a form of ostentatious display of wealth belonging to the nobility, because without a doubt, the greatest display of wealth in modern Britannia is showcasing one's leisure time and normal standard of living. Imitating the lifestyle of the nobility before the advent of the magical industrial age is now the most powerful way for the bloodline nobles to flaunt their wealth.

They have their own free time to play polo, enjoy delicious food, listen to regular band performances, and even eat and sleep naturally. Even the most uneducated sacrificial offerings, those who only know about blood sacrifices, can understand how precious it is to maintain such ordinary human habits and lifestyles in this fast-paced world. Their normal life is enough to make everyone in Britannia genuinely envious.

The person in charge grabbed the bottle of red wine from the ice bucket, opened the cork, and casually sniffed the aroma before impatiently waving his hand at his subordinate with gold-rimmed glasses.

"Go on, this is none of your business. Go do whatever you need to do."

"Yes, my lord."

The man with the gold-rimmed glasses bowed his head respectfully, naturally stepped aside, and then closed the door.

The moment the door closed, the employee revealed a cold expression and casually handed the documents he had brought with him to the waiter who had been waiting for a long time.

Without any dialogue or further discussion, all sorts of data and related information had already been transmitted into each other's bloodstreams via neural connections. Although the literal meaning of interconnecting nerves could cause excruciating pain, there was no problem as long as medication was used to temporarily block the transmission of pain signals from one's own nerves.

As the spiderweb-like nerves slowly spread out of their bodies and penetrated into each other's bodies, their expressions changed.

'The Imperial Navy fleet and the Army have already made preparations and are heading to the Storm Sea?'

'They had a plausible excuse. Based on the records of those ruins, they should have been preparing to investigate what lay beyond the Storm Sea a year ago. But the unknown sea god kept widening the ocean distance; it grew increasingly greedy, always demanding more blood sacrifices before allowing ships to pass. Once we have a divine marker on land, we can pinpoint the distance between the ocean and the land, completely thwarting its little trick.'

"Yes, by then, what truly pleased Her Majesty the Queen were the loyal naval and army departments, and had nothing to do with the World Wings and the Pioneers. There was also the interference of a noble of divine blood, raising suspicions of collusion between the two sides."

"To be honest, that expulsion was highly suspicious to begin with; the series of actions seemed pre-planned. They generally wouldn't react so quickly."

'Then what about the matter of Li Ang being called the tentacles of a god?'

'The Divine Department didn't provide detailed documentation; these were all internal matters of the Hyperion family. The Ministry of Truth's Divine Oversight Department wasn't authorized to monitor events within the Divine Blood Noble family. Furthermore, Chaos Transportation had already been absorbed by the Hyperion family due to mismanagement, making it virtually impossible to find any useful clues.'

'They're quick on their feet. Looks like they're planning to get there first and then collect a toll on the Misty Islands. Are they really that sure the unknown sea god will be on their side?'

'They might not be certain, but rather believe that the unknown sea god would be insatiably greedy…'

'...'

'...'

Countless conjectures and hypotheses flicker and connect within each other's neurons. These connected beings, whose bodies have been modified, use their own flesh and blood and lives as various intermediaries to achieve the shortest possible transaction and discussion results through flesh and blood and resonance.

These nerves are not their own, but rather clusters of nerves with interconnected nodes. By simply connecting with each other and utilizing the resonance of flesh and blood and their own genes, they can easily establish communication points in every corner of the world. All they need to do is unfold their bodies like a scroll, as they are doing now. It's only because such actions are considered extremely impolite and carry the risk of exposure that few companies are willing to use them.

However, the naval command took everyone by surprise by announcing that its fleet had entered the Storm Sea area.

Just as they were fighting amongst themselves, ostensibly trying to conquer the new world while actually beginning to devour the remains of the Saint Family, someone actually actually did something. In that case, it's no wonder everyone joined forces to crush this unethical fellow in his infancy.

'The news has been confirmed; it's all from the decoded files of Military Intelligence and the Department of Military Affairs. They have indeed arrived in the Storm Sea area. However, for some reason, they haven't sent any further messages since then. It seems they've encountered some kind of interference, or it's very possible that some areas already have local deities. But in any case, everyone needs to speed things up and not let the Navy and Army have all the glory.'

"Immediately dispatch a special fleet to eliminate the unknown Poseidon as quickly as possible. We've already been held back by this idiot for far too long; now is not the time to save money."

In the tangled web of neurons, those in charge of neural dialogue finally made up their minds to kill the ocean that stood in their way.

On the Misty Islands, at the very center of the storm, people knew nothing.

Li Ang, wearing a helmet, looked at the crowd under his command moving at almost five times the speed of the sacrifices, and felt a unique joy, like the joy of seeds growing.

"You said you're preparing to create a completely new writing system for better communication, and it's almost finished? That's wonderful!"

Looking at the humans in front of him, Li Ang said with a look of satisfaction.

(End of this chapter)