Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord
Chapter 182: Let’s Escape from Castel Together

The Sirens excelled at frontal combat, but the sea urchin monsters were particularly difficult to confront head-on.

Therefore, the abilities of the Chrysalises, who specialized in perception and stealth, might actually prove more useful.

Hughes planned to have a proper conversation with Chloe later.

He turned to Una and said, "Your workload might be heavier now. Besides the emergency response squads, have the Sirens prioritize engineering tasks for now. The underground section will take three days to complete. I’ve already informed the islanders about your presence, so by then, you’ll be able to appear publicly on the island."

The Sirens fell silent for a moment, clearly uneasy.

No one knew whether humans could truly accept them as a foreign race, or how to handle any conflicts that might arise.

These were all unknowns.

In comparison, the Sirens would rather fight the sea urchin monsters.

"Don’t worry, this has been building up for a long time. Your interactions with the advanced class trainees have gone smoothly, haven’t they? After Nini’s statue exhibition the other day, the feedback was great. You’ll get along with the islanders just fine."

Among the crowd, Erwin unconsciously scratched his head.

At first, when he saw the Sirens, he had felt a sense of fear, they were non-human and so imposing.

But after more contact, he realized these Sirens were actually quite similar to humans.

No, more accurately, they were similar to Lord Hughes.

Although he hadn’t interacted with Hughes much, that unique way of thinking had left a deep impression on him.

The Sirens gave him that same feeling.

It would go smoothly, he couldn’t help but silently pray.

These powerful and fascinating Sirens had unknowingly won his affection.

Back when he was still a trainee in the advanced class, he had enjoyed working with them, and now, he sincerely hoped they could get along well with the islanders.

"Alright, head back. The battle has begun, Castel’s fate depends on us now."

Everyone nodded silently and dispersed.

The enemy had arrived sooner than expected. They weren’t fully prepared, but they weren’t entirely defenseless either.

Castel was no longer that isolated island with nothing to its name.

Chloe stayed behind, quietly waiting by the side as she watched Hughes slowly rub his forehead.

"I actually have a way to leave here, and I could even take one person with me," she suddenly said.

Hughes froze for a moment and lifted his head to look at her.

"In the Sea of Unawareness, the more knowledge you possess, the harder it is to move. But the Moths Chasing Fire have a secret method that can, at a great cost, forcibly dive through it, meaning we could get far away from here."

"You mean..."

"Yes, I can take you away from Castel, to the Empire, or anywhere else. But I can only take one person. The price is too severe."

Hughes fell silent for a moment before speaking softly, "What price?"

"I would die, sink forever into the Sea of Unawareness. But my consciousness would attach to you. If you ever found a new body, you could separate me from you again."

Hughes pressed his lips together, shock filling his eyes.

"Why would you want to do that?"

Chloe took a few slow steps around the room, leaning against the wall with her arms crossed, lowering her head.

"I am the Chief of the Moths Chasing Fire. I must always consider the survival of the sect. You’re important to us."

Hughes raised an eyebrow.

"We’ve traveled through many lands, seen countless lords and nations, but only your Castel gives us hope."

"So, I’m more important than you? Most of the power of the Moths Chasing Fire is already here. Without you, could they really continue? If you don’t take me with you, you wouldn’t have to die, right?"

"Even if I take you, I wouldn’t truly die."

Chloe muttered, "I’d just lose this body. Maybe in the future, I could find a new one and break free from the cocoon once again. But if you die, you’re just dead."

Hughes suddenly seemed to understand. Chloe was a lot like him.

The flesh before them was merely a vessel; he could always descend again somewhere else.

But if their roles were reversed, would he be willing to give up his own body as Lord Hughes to save her?

He didn’t know. Perhaps when that moment truly came, he would find the answer in his heart.

"Alright, don’t worry. We’re not at that point yet. I have a vast amount of knowledge in my mind, and I’ve only revealed a fraction of it. Castel is just beginning its industrialization, you’ll be amazed by its production capacity soon enough."

Uncharacteristically, Chloe didn’t say anything.

She was usually loud and outspoken, but now she merely nodded quietly.

The steel factory was close to the Eastern Test Site, so she was responsible for managing it. The steadily rising production capacity even instilled a hint of fear in her.

The Clamorer roared endlessly day and night, vats of Entity Pollution poured into the boilers, and the fully modernized production process designed by Hughes, combined with an efficient management system, seemed to create a chemical reaction that transformed the steel factory into a giant beast, devouring raw materials and spitting out steel.

It coldly and mercilessly executed the will of its lord.

The stacked ingots of iron soon filled warehouse after warehouse.

Initially, she had worried that the production capacity wouldn’t be enough for the entire island, but she quickly realized she had been overthinking it.

The efficiency of a modern factory far surpassed Chloe’s wildest imagination.

She had seen factories before, even sneaked into those filthy, chaotic factories in Rhine, hoping to learn some new techniques, but had left disappointed.

She had once thought those factories were the pinnacle of advancement, believing that chaotic management and frequent accidents were inevitable.

But here, in Castel, she had truly witnessed the power of industry.

Just the terrifying production capacity alone left her stunned.

And once she dug deeper, she realized just how far-sighted Hughes truly was.

As the factory ran, those seemingly nonsensical systems suddenly took effect, preventing accident after accident from happening.

Chloe’s gaze toward Hughes became even more determined.

Whether for the sake of the Moths Chasing Fire or her own selfish reasons, she had to ensure Hughes survived. He was the hope of this era.

Hughes was bent over, rummaging through the cabinet. He pulled out several blueprints.

"Look, this is a rifled musket. It should be simple to manufacture, even some blacksmiths could handcraft them. We don’t need too many of them. Here’s the process for producing smokeless powder too. Start by assigning people to prepare some nitrocellulose. Chloe?"

Chloe snapped out of her thoughts and quickly nodded.

"No problem, I’ll get people on it right away."

"One more thing." Hughes pointed at the murloc corpse on the table.

"Dissect them. Something feels off. These murlocs might still be hiding some secrets."