Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord
Chapter 184: Central Furnace

"Yes, we don’t have much time to proceed slowly. You take the lead and get started with the manpower. I’ll come over later as well. Judging by the current situation, the people on the island seem fairly accepting of you all, so there’s no need to worry too much."

Una nodded with deep concern.

Hughes then turned to Alexei ahead of him.

"Tomorrow, I’ll go with the Sirens to attend the ignition ceremony of the Central Furnace. This will also be their official debut before the people of Castel."

For Hughes, the isolation of Castel from the outside world was not just a crisis, it was also an opportunity.

Now, no matter what trouble arose from publicly revealing the Sirens’ identities, any issues would remain confined to Castel without external interference.

Hughes no longer had to consider anyone else’s opinions.

Be it the Empire, the Church of Candlelight, or the Silent Sanctum, none of them mattered to him.

For now, Castel was just Castel.

By the time the battles ended and outsiders could enter, the people would already be used to the Sirens’ presence.

The Sirens were an inseparable part of Castel.

No matter what, Hughes couldn’t abandon these loyal followers.

All he could do was arrange things as thoroughly as possible, after that, it would all depend on tomorrow.

Alexei accepted the order and left.

The night passed without incident.

The next day, Hughes granted the workers a half-day of paid leave, organizing everyone to gather for the Central Furnace’s ignition ceremony.

The Central Furnace was located on the west side of the old Church of Candlelight chapel, near the center of Castel Island.

What was once an ordinary hillside had now been transformed into a massive pit. Spiraling roads wound downward in layers toward the bottom.

People gathered around the edge of the pit.

Despite the absence of anyone maintaining order, thousands stood quietly, as peaceful as a field of flowers in the early morning.

It was simply because the sight before them was too overwhelming.

The workers seemed utterly entranced, staring blankly at the colossal metal structure at the bottom of the pit.

A steel behemoth of a boiler towered at the pit’s center, with twelve riveted steel beams plunging deep into the rock layer.

The brand-new steel creation resembled a newborn giant beast, slowly opening its eyes to gaze upon the world.

Spiderweb-like grooves spread along the pit walls, descending to a depth of 120 meters, where puddles of rainwater from the previous night had collected.

When the stoker pried open the fuel hatch, the sharp screech of metal scraping caused the workers in the front row to instinctively take a half-step back.

The design of the Central Furnace wasn’t particularly complex, it was essentially just a massive boiler.

But the key lay in its sheer size.

The islanders might not have understood the ingenious design, but that enormous silhouette could captivate them instantly.

For industrial creations, size itself was part of the aesthetic, big meant beautiful, and more meant better.

Plenty of people embraced this mindset.

And it was, truly, beautiful.

The people stared at the dense network of metallic pipes beneath the pit, glistening with a metallic sheen.

They resembled veins, leading toward the massive Central Furnace, while disappearing into the ground on the other side.

Originally, this enormous furnace was meant only to burn fuel and provide energy for protective runes.

However, in the spirit of efficiency, Hughes had casually added a steam chamber to harness its waste heat.

This way, the chapel above would gain an abundance of free steam power.

Though he hadn’t yet decided what to use it for specifically, it was better to have redundancy than not.

The steam engine wasn’t particularly complex either.

Once the turbine blades were successfully manufactured, this place could potentially house an entire power plant.

This would eventually be the main cathedral district, a steam-powered chapel capable of generating electricity.

Just thinking about it was thrilling!

Thus, steam pipes were laid underground, carrying the roar of steel to every corner of Castel.

After inspecting the boiler, the stoker beckoned a few others forward.

They were all advanced-class trainees.

Ever since Hughes had started giving the Sirens online lessons, something unexpected had happened, the Sirens had become the best teachers in the advanced class.

The reason was simple.

They could store online resources directly within the Mind Link network and recite them during lessons.

Though reciting from a PowerPoint presentation was despised by many, it was surprisingly effective for the advanced-class trainees.

In this world, cognitive interference was a real risk, so having absolutely accurate knowledge to solidify one’s understanding was crucial.

Thus, the Sirens had inexplicably become the instructors for later sessions of the advanced class.

Moreover, since they could directly reach out to Hughes for help through the Mind Link whenever they encountered difficulties, their popularity among the trainees skyrocketed.

Who could refuse a teacher capable of answering any question on the spot?

Of course, this was quite taxing for Hughes, he had to handle multiple threads at once while being bombarded with questions from a group of Sirens.

Fortunately, with enough practice, the Sirens gradually became self-sufficient.

In the eyes of the advanced-class trainees, the Sirens held a prestigious status.

They were also the group closest to the Sirens during this event.

Under the watchful eyes of Castel’s residents, a team of Sirens slowly emerged from the tunnel at the bottom of the pit.

Una and Nini led the group, each Siren carrying containers, these held Entity Pollution, which they would use as fuel for the boiler.

The crowd surrounding the pit instantly erupted in excitement as they laid eyes on the Sirens, whispering fervently among themselves.

"S-Sirens! They really are Sirens!"

"My god, that’s Nini! Lady Nini! I just saw Lady Nini!"

"They don’t seem as tall as I imagined."

"Idiot, think about how far away you are from them! Look at those workers next to them, they’re all much shorter!"

Hughes leaned sideways and whispered to Chloe beside him. "Are your people in position?"

Chloe’s eyes flickered with an orange-red glow as she nodded. "No problem, they’re all in place."

This was the ability of a Chrysalis, the perception skill Chloe had mentioned before.

They could extend their perception outward, covering a vast area and monitoring everything within range.

This surveillance ability was incredibly powerful, almost nothing could escape their detection.

However, there was one fatal flaw: they couldn’t move while using it and were extremely vulnerable during this state.

On a battlefield, this ability would need to be used with extreme caution.

But right now, it was merely being used to monitor a crowd, there was no need for concern.

"Another advantage of this ability is that two Chrysalises within the network can communicate directly through their thoughts. It’s incredibly convenient. I’m talking to them right now," Chloe said proudly, lifting her chin.

It sounded somewhat similar to the Sirens’ Mind Link, though this seemed like a weaker version—the Sirens’ range was much larger.

"Lord Hughes, something seems off over there."

Suddenly, Chloe raised her hand and pointed toward the crowd.

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