Industrial Cthulhu? It's Cthulhu Industrial!!

Chapter 55 The Returning Travelers (Seeking monthly votes!)
System notification: You are exploring ways to escape the cycle of reincarnation!

System notification: You have found traces of the Spirit of Nature. Based on its trail, you have obtained a partial topographical map of the Storm Sea!

System notification: You have discovered a brand new continent! No major civilization has publicly named this continent yet! Please name the continent you have discovered! If no name is selected, the system will automatically name the new continent!

System notification: You have not made any selection; the system has automatically named this continent "Light"! This is the name given to this continent by a major civilization!

"The Britannians... their intelligence system isn't very good."

Looking at the answer and topographic map provided by the system, Li Ang, who was walking in the mountains, raised his eyebrows in surprise.

On the topographic map, the entire Misty Sea and Misty Islands have become a small area, with the lights of civilization flickering at its edges. The light of the Great Lighthouse surrounds them, emitting a unique yellow glow unlike any other in the natural environment.

Beyond the Misty Sea lies the vast Storm Sea, which is not merely an endless ocean. To be precise, from the perspective of Britannia's exploration, it is an endless ocean, but from the perspective of the spirits of nature, about ten thousand kilometers upstream from the Misty Sea and the Misty Islands, lies a flattened continent, upon which a clear trace of white-gold is visible. That represents the colony of the Holy Light Church, radiating divine light.

In the Old World, these sects were the first to make contact with the sages of the East. Similarly, the Holy Light Cult, leading the charge, also blocked Britannia on Dragon Island, preventing its advance into the Old World. Under the influence of the Angel Matrix, Britannia's data collection on the Holy Light Cult was extremely limited, and they were completely unaware that in a far more distant place, the Holy Light Cult had already constructed a massive port city on the edge of the Old World, awaiting the dissipation of the Storm Wall. They seemed to have been prepared for this for a long time, even constructing a series of landmarks representing the Virgin Mary along the sea route.

However, due to environmental and internal ocean disturbances, these landmarks are merely a collection of large buildings, hardly capable of illuminating the sea with divine light. It's a vast ocean, yet neither deities can be found, and related rituals and spells fail—it's like a ghost story in today's world.

As seen on the map shared by the Spirit of Nature, the Holy Light Cult has a larger fleet and more personnel. Their gleaming, floating warships soar through the sky, even attempting to cross the entire Storm Sea, before inexplicably vanishing into the distance. It's unclear whether this is a divine prank or a manifestation of some distorted rule. And it's highly probable that both could be at play.

Despite having a significant first-mover advantage, they were suppressed by the chaotic rules and ineffective divine spells, and in the end, they could only use clumsy methods to gradually overcome the obstacle.

Then he stumbled upon the bizarre state of the New World.

System notification: The natural environment of the Bright Continent is uninhabitable and requires large-scale modification.

System notification: This continent was once occupied by a vast civilization that spent thousands of years building its grand blueprint. However, at the last moment before success, all the gods betrayed them, causing everything to fail. Their kingdom and history, everything, formed a colossal error that still lingers in the heart of the continent. The entire world has been distorted, molded into an unknowable ring. The very foundation of this continent is flawed, making normal human colonization virtually impossible. Only by investing vast amounts of resources and money can colonies be barely established on the outskirts.

System notification: Due to its chaotic state, this continent contains countless treasures of all kinds. This includes not only its chaotic core, but also its culture, cities, technology, and even its population. After its collapse, the great empire's last-ditch efforts played a role; many of its people and troops still live on this continent, perhaps as your right-hand men, or perhaps as your prisoners and fertilizer.

System notification: You currently have no colonists and cannot establish colonies in the New World, nor can you build a treasure fleet to send treasures from afar to your country! Colonies that are too far away may evolve into different cultures and styles, so please be careful!

Currently, all Li Ang can see is the coastline area less than fifty kilometers after the Spirit of Nature rushed over.

Because the Spirit of Nature, relying on its supernatural status, arrogantly charged around and crashed into a multi-core ruin, thus meeting its demise. Therefore, Li Ang simply carried it through a winding space, gradually returning it to the safe coastline.

But even in this short distance, Li Ang witnessed countless chaotic cores shimmering, their creations creating chaos and disasters that washed over everything around them like waves. The entire land seemed to possess an eerie, almost living quality, its sole purpose being to exterminate all surviving civilizations and races on its surface.

On the edge of the map, there are some wreckages of ships belonging to the Church of Light, and some human remains rotting and stinking on the beach.

Some of the corpses had been absorbed into the chaotic core, gradually forming corpse-like beings that began to wander, howling and attempting to attack everything in this world.

However, they ignored Li Ang. From the perspective of space and time, although Li Ang's image was presented here, he himself was not actually here. The convoluted space meant that distance and time were meaningless. Space and time are two sides of the same coin, and these chaotic products could not fundamentally perceive the existence of Li Ang himself.

“There are no ordinary humans around; they're all dead. You're really lucky. That way, I can easily get you to shore. You can go back on your own then.”

With the spirit of nature by his side, Li Ang walked to the shore. Looking at the damaged ships and the statue with bloodshot eyes, he shrugged at the spirit of nature, who was completely numb, with a kind smile on his face that could be described as typical of a good person who often does good deeds.

"Of course I know you're going to spout nonsense about me not being human, but actually, you see, the principle behind this power is quite simple. By simply folding space in half, I can exist both here and on the other side of the Silver Gate. I haven't actually displayed any greater power, have I? I've simply used a little bit of technology and ability; these are all manifestations of intelligence. Don't put too much pressure on yourself; just treat it as a nightmare."

"Then aren't you going back?"

The spirit of nature asked instinctively, but immediately realized that it had probably said something pointless.

He could directly traverse space to reach himself, so distance in this world probably meant nothing to him. What mattered was simply the connection between people, and his own self-identification as human, which led him to conform to the territories and rules established by humanity.

"The Britannian fleet is about to arrive. If they encounter any unforeseen circumstances, I intend to offer them some assistance. After all, they are all human, and if they are in danger, I should try to help them if I can. However, it's quite fortunate that they arrived just as we met. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bothered with them. I don't like to interfere with the progress of humanity unless they are right next to me or have some connection with me."

Watching the sails gradually rise on the distant sea, Li Ang shrugged and explained to the spirit of nature beside him. The spirit of nature had nothing more to say after that.

He simply looked at the forests and mountains they had traversed. In his memory, they had crossed the mountains and jungles in a straight, literal way, and arrived at the coast. But he saw no wounds or signs of being touched; only the traces of his stumbling journey were still relatively clear.

What kind of technology is this? What kind of ability is it? What exactly is Leon, and why does he like humans so much? The Spirit of Nature, looking at the curved space and the image of something seemingly still beside the Silver Gate, taking out fruit and beverage bottles to await the Britannian fleet, gradually gave up thinking and once again transformed into a gentle breeze. Its memory also held the imprint of the Great Lighthouse; all it needed to do was return.

Once you get home, just go straight to sleep. When you wake up, just treat it as a nightmare.

The spirit of nature quietly dissipated into the heavens and earth, transforming into a gentle breeze and departing. Meanwhile, under Li Ang's gaze, the Britannian fleet seemed to possess some more mysterious and peculiar technology, rapidly advancing from afar to the edge of the island.

Li Ang found a cliff with a good angle, pulled out a table and chairs at the edge of the distorted core, and sipped a mixed juice made from island fruits and vegetables while watching the fleets anchored at the edge of the coastline where the Papal fleet had been destroyed. He could clearly see the fleets overseas, looking rather hesitantly at the scene of disaster on the coastline, seemingly caught in some kind of quarrel and chaos.

"Have the colonies of the Holy See of Light been destroyed?"

"It seems we weren't the first to arrive on this continent, and the native inhabitants probably aren't very friendly."

"Okay, then be on high alert. Have the Redwood Army take the blood sacrifice troops up there and proceed with the standard construction procedures. If there are any problems, sacrifice the offerings and teleport back to the ship. Our most important task is to preserve our current fleet strength and relay the message back."

"Aren't we going to use the army to carry out the mopping-up operation?"

"We don't yet know the exact cause of the destruction of the Papacy's colony, but since they've all died so tragically, it's very likely we won't be able to withstand such a terrible attack either. So, safety should be our top priority. We should carefully anchor at the shore, try to find some clues and supplies, and then head directly back to Britannia along the Misty Islands. This adventure may not be all about making money."

The naval captain looked through his binoculars at the completely destroyed Papal colony on the coastline, his eyebrows furrowing.

As one of the world's most frequently dealt with blue-water navies, the naval captain knew very well that the fanatical followers of the Holy See, these believers in God, could pull out just as many tools as a naval fleet. Especially this kind of fleet tasked with pioneering the New World, which possessed unimaginable resources.

Now, these fleets that had set sail for the New World had perished on the coastline. Coupled with the statue they had seen along the way, filled with the remains of angels, and the eerie phenomenon that the traces of the gods had almost stopped flickering, the naval captain felt an overwhelming sense of foreboding. If they weren't careful, they might not even have a chance to leave this continent alive. They could only begin to allocate their forces more cautiously, sending small boats one by one to the coastline.

But Li Ang shook his head slightly as he watched this scene. He had already seen it: a chaotic wave was sweeping in from the depths of the entire continent, like a tsunami, engulfing everything around it and leaving it scattered, disordered, and chaotic in the blink of an eye.

System notification: Warning, the time chaos current is approaching, and the spacetime distortion has begun to operate. We will arrive at this area in thirty seconds. This will be considered as adjusting all time backwards by seven days.

System notification: This trend is derived from the resonance of a chaotic core; without resistance at the foundational level of a civilization, effective defense is virtually impossible.

"Resistant to the cornerstone of civilization? You're lucky to have escaped with your lives... It seems I don't need to help you anymore."

Looking at the chaotic tide sweeping in from afar, Li Ang sighed as he looked at the areas decorated with ceramic steel plates and Lianshan kiln porcelain, his body disappearing into the cliff face.

Humans cannot see those chaotic torrents; they cannot even realize who has left or what is happening around them.

In the instant they were engulfed by that tide, everyone felt a very strange sensation.

It's a sense of déjà vu, similar to a jump in time.

It felt like the next day had arrived in the blink of an eye, and several years had passed in the blink of an eye. I had this peculiar feeling.

Then, the naval captain saw the ships he had dispatched to the coastline.

At some point, a group of Britannian-style buildings and docks appeared on the coastline. Inside these dilapidated buildings, the corpses of blood sacrifices and broken debris were everywhere. Countless Red Shirt soldiers were hanged on the docks, looking resentfully at the fleet whose terracotta and tiles had turned gray, seemingly dying with their eyes wide open.

Seven days—according to the ship's time report, they seemed to have inexplicably lost seven days. Looking at the Red Shirt soldiers lying dead on the dock, their eyes wide open, and his own battered terracotta armor, the battle-hardened naval captain shrewdly issued orders.

"Everyone, weigh anchor and set sail back to the Misty Islands! We need to prepare more thoroughly before we can explore this new continent! Go back!"

(End of this chapter)