Industrial Cthulhu? It's Cthulhu Industrial!!

Chapter 46 They are not human (please give me a monthly ticket!)

'Misty Islands:
Population: 2247 (Silver Gate) + 3000 (Sacrifice)
Basic productivity: 5.4 (this indicator grows exponentially and can be increased by wonders)
Food output: 1+8.4+2 (from Hanging Garden, plant flour, normal planting, and ocean fishing)
Education: 2.6 (slowly declining due to the scarcity of educated people)
Cultural output: 2.7 (slowly declining due to a small number of educated people)
Hygiene: 2.1 (declining due to crowds)

Theoretically, the Misty Islands were now considered a mature ocean port colony. Even by Britannia's standards, they were considered a mature port city.

With over two thousand official residents, they possess unique products and trade goods, enjoy the protection of the Lord of the Pioneer Order, pledge their support for Britannia's existence, and even pay a considerable amount of Queen's Tax and colonial taxes, including but not limited to various Lianshan Kiln porcelains and precious industrial products such as ceramic steel armor.

It can't be compared to the flagship colonies of the World Wings, but among all the companies' territories, this place, with its complete mythical defense system and unique production capabilities, is truly exceptional. And most importantly, thanks to the Great Lighthouse, it's the only way to enter the Storm Sea. Companies and individual organizations that have learned the painful lessons of the pioneering era will settle here, then have the World Lighthouse imprinted in their books or sketchbooks, using it as a crucial navigational aid to determine their location.

This is the power of wonders of the world. Each one is unique and can develop a system that profoundly changes the entire world. As long as Leon possesses the Great Lighthouse, then even if he doesn't do anything, he will theoretically receive a large amount of coordinate fees every year.

Covering up the situation with words or actions is completely meaningless. Rather than resorting to such chaotic activities that only increase the amount of convergence data and mysterious returns, it would be better to simply bring a batch of blood sacrifices or goods and send them here as colonial support. However, the core problem now is that due to the interference of an unknown sea god, it will take a considerable amount of time for all fleets to arrive here and explore the Storm Sea.

And if the unknown sea god is not killed, the fleets that can sustain more than six months of ocean voyage and reach the Misty Islands with their fleets are not good men and women.

Given Leon's current abilities and skills, if you ask him to conservatively, humbly, and objectively estimate his own strength, even if he were facing an opponent who had sailed across the ocean for six months, exhausted and lacking any special abilities, based on the combat power he calculated at the time of departure, he could only truly confront a medium-sized company's transport fleet, not even a pioneering fleet. Otherwise, if they casually sacrificed tens of thousands of people to curse his people point by point, this place would probably be empty in no time. They have Barat's Breeding Mother, and if they need a blood sacrifice, they can just fish in the sea and wait.

But Leon's men were all real, living beings, though they were all created from the Silver Gate or some strange creature pulled out of nowhere by the Oracle. Even so, he had no way to resist this attack from the very essence of the soul. Research on the soul has always been a top priority for major nations and related industries, but even Leon and the Misty Islands today have achieved little success.

According to the various reports sent by the Imperial Royal Navy—who were not on the same page with the major companies—it was obvious that the fall of a World Wing had driven all the major companies crazy. Each of them dreamed of becoming a major company that truly monopolized an industry and could have a strong influence in parliament.

But it is obvious that most of them do not deserve such ability, nor can they possess such strength.

Excluding those unfortunate individuals who would be devoured if they entered the Unknown Sea God's domain, there were probably over fifty companies that truly had the power, ability, and ambition to attack the Misty Islands where Leon was. Furthermore, these fleets were probably rubbing their hands, waiting for the news to be conveyed.

If Leon were in Britannia, he'd have the confidence to directly seek out these companies, negotiate with and persuade the nobles one by one, and secure some security for his assets. But now, even his own Hibernia family was pouring money into the scheme, and with his own family still in dire straits, Leon had little hope of escaping this maelstrom.

Britannia is already an unimaginable monster, and their development and cruelty can even be described as exponential growth.

If Britannia two hundred years ago was still the traditional fantasy land of sword and sorcery, then Britannia a hundred years ago was a land of wailing, altars, and demons of suffering. But now, Britannia is glorious and its people are mad.

Profit is blood, blood is life, life is currency, and currency is everything. Britannia today possesses this terrifying structure. A righteous god like Leon, who merely intends to establish a defensive perimeter and collect tolls, is so anthropomorphic that if he were in Parliament, he would be singled out as a saint imitating the saints of centuries past.

Although he still looked like a cruel and merciless tyrant, he did make everyone work for him wholeheartedly and without compromise.

It just provides people with food, a place to live, and entertainment facilities.

'System prompt: You have completed the upgrade of Lianshan Kiln!'

"System prompt: You can now connect the Lianshan Kiln to the mine production line to produce standard ceramic props in an assembly line manner. These props can undergo more precise secondary processing and can be cut into multiple sections using knives inlaid with soul stones or Lianshan Kiln porcelain to meet demand!"

System prompt: The first assembly line factory has appeared in your territory! You've achieved a quantum leap! Please also note that in this industrial age, people have higher expectations for logistics and a more complex lifestyle. Perhaps the lights will no longer shine brightly, and perhaps the current will no longer crackle in the circuits, but there is no doubt that we are finally embracing civilization and embarking on a new journey into the human world!

"..."

Li Ang actually didn't want to evaluate his own mental retardation system. Although it seemed effective, and indeed it was, the criteria for judging it were always too mysterious and difficult to accept. For example, it would be like telling him that he had entered the assembly line era in a place that was not much different from primitive society.

Strictly speaking, it was indeed the case, as the wonder of the Lianshan Kiln had undergone a second upgrade. The once seaside stretch of cave dwellings had now become a single structure nestled on Ceramic Island, resembling a small hilltop, a structure blazing with red light and fireworks day and night. Three thousand ritual sacrifices labored almost exclusively on Ceramic Island, excavating its rich kaolin deposits and feeding them into the assembly lines that fed the Lianshan Kiln.

This enormous, mountain-like structure now blazes a perpetually supernatural furnace. Precise controls, customized requirements, and well-labeled storage and processing chambers are meticulously arranged atop the mountain. The once inhabited Ceramic Island has now been transformed into a vast industrial production base. A small portion of the hilltop on the small island has already been occupied by the Lianshan Kiln. If further upgrades are made, the entire hilltop could become a massive porcelain production complex. This is perfectly natural; it's the true power of the upgradeable Wonder. Previously, the ceramics produced were of substandard quality. With this massive Wonder, they can now produce approximately one hundred tons of various ceramic-steel armor and an equal amount of Lianshan porcelain daily. In emergency production, this capacity could even increase tenfold.

While still not as impressive as many professional soul steel production bases, large-scale matrices like those, with a normal population of tens of thousands and requiring millions of blood sacrifices to operate, are beyond the reach of today's archipelago. The daily production of one hundred tons of armor and Lianshan porcelain has prompted those in the Silver Gate region to rekindle their plans for strengthening the Out Valley Gate defense system. Technicians who believe in the gods have some inspiration and are in need of large quantities of ceramic steel.

After discussing the laboring blood offerings, Leon discovered that they were practically unrecognizable as human. Their senses stripped, they were incapable of understanding theories or abilities. Their souls had long since been unified, their minds completely unified. They possessed only basic human cognition, along with the even stranger understanding that they must sacrifice their lives to receive the gods' gifts. Furthermore, while these blood offerings were human, their souls had already been manipulated by the Bharat Corporation.

As long as there is no blood sacrifice ritual, these people's souls will quickly fall into extreme rage and begin to self-destruct. They believe that any attempt to save them is a monster sent by the outer demons to interfere with their ascetic practice and must be defeated and killed.

So after doing it again and again, Li Ang honestly felt like giving up.

These blood offerings had no digestive organs or other comprehensive "organs" at all; they were born as specially manufactured genetic tools and weapons. Although these things possessed human souls and human cognition, Leon really couldn't figure out how to save them.

Perhaps if he stuffed it directly into the Silver Gate and rewashed it, he could obtain a living corpse completely controlled by Leon. That thing still existed within the Silver Gate, but it had no sense of self. It had become Leon's tentacle. Only Leon's own thoughts and will could make this thing, which had been completely corroded and disturbed, move.

Blood offerings don't rest, because they weren't designed to do so. They don't defecate or metabolize, because doing so would potentially result in other side effects when the product is sold. Simply put, under Barat's design, humans have become symbols and sacrificial offerings. Leon didn't know what to do, so he used the Silver Gate's broad judgment to recruit a thousand people as his normal manpower, and sent the rest to the mine to dig clay. He would dig and produce non-stop around the clock.

Because they even refuse to accept all kinds of warm and harmonious stories and cultures in their souls, and even more so refuse the so-called rest and care. They believe that only through their most tragic death and the most painful torture can they become the highest kind of people in the future.

What can be done? All Li Ang can do is respect and bless.

Moreover, with the addition of these flesh-and-blood monsters, the entire production efficiency became unusually smooth. To some extent, Porcelain Island also became the exclusive area of ​​these flesh-and-blood monsters. These sacrifices planned to work here until death, and live here forever until death.

Because that's how it's written in their culture.

'Special Culture: Sanskritization
Individuals who adhere to these idiosyncratic cultures believe that suffering and torture can be exchanged for happiness in the afterlife. Regardless of the sincerity of the sermons or the educational measures employed, they refuse to believe or understand, instead persisting in their own actions. Worse still, this theoretical system even possesses a certain magical power, closing off the parts of these cultures that are accessible to the outside world, completely completing the construction of a self-contained cycle.

This is a relatively perfect cultural system. You are not the owner of any mainstream Sanskritized country, nor are you the initiator of this culture. You cannot modify or elaborate on this culture. You cannot modify its essence through supernatural power.

This culture can be actively spread and is incompatible with other hostile cultures.

Due to its special settings, this culture cannot be spread at present.

Cultural conflict progress in your territory is zero.'

If the culture of Silver Gate is nothing more than worshipping Leon as the greatest individual and promoting self-training and improvement, then the culture that Leon has seen so far has already revealed to him a terrifying corner of the complex Britannia system.

Because, Barat Breeding Company wasn't even one of the top-ranked Wings of the World. They simply had experience in breeding and blood sacrifice, inheriting the legacy of the previous generation of companies.

"My lord, the Great Lighthouse has begun to activate, and we need soul stones to recharge it."

"Take it and use it yourself. Don't ask me."

"Yes, my lord."

Looking at the other part of his people starting to get active, Leon, sitting on the Silver Gate, couldn't help but sigh at the diversity of human beings.

(End of this chapter)