Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 196: Island-wide Refuge
Dang——dang——dang——

A bell rang in the sky above Castel, and the islanders raised their heads and looked into the distance at the towering building in the center of the island.

That is Castel Cathedral, designed by Hughes himself. The main building is a huge square castle with towering towers at the four corners.

There is a watchtower on the top of the tower. Unlike other fortresses of this era, the tower designed by Hughes is almost completely enclosed, leaving only some narrow shooting holes.

At the top of the tower are several empty platforms. Due to the tight schedule, construction will be discontinued for the time being. Some anti-aircraft firepower may be deployed in the future - although the war in this world does not currently require air defense.

Since it was empty anyway, Zeus simply built a bell tower so that he could ring the bell to convey messages to the people on the island.

Castres is not very big, and the main church is located in the middle. Once the bells ring, they can be heard almost everywhere on the island.

According to Zeus's prediction, if the war situation is extremely unfavorable, people may all be forced to enter the cathedral for defense. This is the largest building on the entire island, with more than ten floors from the ground to the underground. The central furnace will continuously provide protective inscriptions and steam power. Basic living and industrial production lines are all here.

This is Castel's last line of defense and a sanctuary that will never fall.

Today, the big bell in the dome bell tower of Castres Cathedral was rung, and the islanders looked at each other with expressions of confusion and uneasiness on their faces.

The new monks of the Imperial Truth—of course, people preferred to call them patrols—had specifically advertised that ringing the bell meant seeking refuge, calling on everyone on the island to seek refuge in the cathedral.

Fortunately, the air raid sirens did not sound at the same time. Since it was not an emergency evacuation, people were not too nervous. Under the guidance of the monks and banshees who had received the notice long ago, they slowly walked towards the church.

Under the cathedral, the central furnace, which had been running at low power to save fuel, also emitted a low humming sound underground today. The protective inscriptions engraved on the top of the underground cavity of the cathedral lit up one character after another, and their full efficiency had been activated.

Hughes stood in the hall of the church, watching the monks guide the people to various rest areas.

"How are the factories doing?"

"Everything has basically stopped production. Only the steel mill is shutting down, which is a bit inconvenient. With a few banshees watching over there, there shouldn't be any trouble."

Behind Hughes, Chloe stood quietly, a look of hesitation on her face. After struggling for a moment, she whispered, "Do we really need to be so cautious? Perhaps this is all just a coincidence. After all, with so many cognitive interferences happening at the same time, the possibility is too low."

Since a large number of strange events occurred on the island at the same time, Zeus acted decisively to stop all industrial production that could be stopped and let everyone take refuge in the cathedral.

Although he didn't know what happened, based on Xius' experience, it was better to be calm at this time.

It would be a big trouble if a pollution storm came and covered the entire island.

Moreover, whether it is the success of a scientific research project or the sudden discovery of a mine, it all looks too much like cognitive interference.

If he wanted saltpeter, he would find it right in front of his factory. If he wanted weapons, he would find just enough guns wrapped in oil paper.

He sealed away all the minerals and weapons. He remembered the consequences of the last cognitive interference incident vividly: all those delicious soaps had been contaminated. This also made him give up the idea of using cognitive interference. Otherwise, this characteristic of a wishing machine could be used to advance technology at will.

Hmm? Thinking about it this way, it seems that it might be possible. Perhaps I could use cognitive interference to create some pollution, or even use the enemy as the target of cognitive interference.

"Speaking of which, can cognitive interference be used against the enemy? On the battlefield, I advertise that the enemy is a paper tiger. Will the enemy actually become a paper tiger made of pollution?"

Chloe's eyes lit up when she heard this. "That's a brilliant idea! Normal people would stay as far away as possible after knowing about cognitive interference, and you're still thinking of using it. Even cultists wouldn't dare do that."

"Is this strange? Cognitive interference is an objective phenomenon. Why not use it if we can? As long as we isolate the pollution properly, cognitive interference won't cause any major harm."

Well, it does exist objectively, but it is caused by an individual's subjective will.

Chloe stared at Hughes for a moment, then sighed. "You make it sound so easy. Indeed, as long as you're not afraid of pollution, cognitive interference isn't a big deal. But that statement itself is a false assumption. We fear cognitive interference because we can't handle pollution."

This was somewhat beyond Zeus's expectations. In his opinion, pollution was indeed a troublesome thing, but it was not that difficult to solve. What's more, the Fire Moth where Chloe was and the Candlelight Club had many messy connections. How could the Candlelight Club not solve the pollution problem for so many years?
"What's that look on your face? Do you really think pollution is so easy to solve?" Chloe said angrily. "After the pollution appeared in the ocean, all the major churches retreated. The Church of Poseidon even perished because of it. If pollution were so easy to deal with, humans wouldn't have hidden on the shore for over a thousand years."

"Hidden on the shore for over a thousand years?"

"Yes, you and the Banshee are not afraid of pollution. I'm afraid you don't even know the characteristics of pollution. Look, we at the Fire Moth dare to try almost all the experiments, but has anyone ever asked you for a pollution-related experiment?"

Hughes blinked, as if he hadn't seen them apply for it. You know, Chloe even applied to blow up the volcano in the southwest to see if it could trigger an eruption.
So Hughes looked at Chloe with a sincere expression, asking for advice.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you what I'm saying." Chloe quickly gave in. "Actually, the most troublesome thing about pollution is its ability to assimilate."

"assimilation?"

"Yes, you've seen polluted beasts, right? They're the beasts that have been doused in pollution. I remember Ash had a wolf."

"I've seen that wolf before. It doesn't seem to be anything special, just a bit irritable."

"That's because it can't speak and you don't know it, so you don't think anything has changed. If it were a human who came into contact with the pollution, you would be able to sense it."

"You mean"

Xius had some guesses in his mind.

"Yes, it will turn you into a completely different person, or rather, just look like a human being."

(End of this chapter)