Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 309 Interlude: Newspaper Articles
"Shocking! The lord actually did such a thing in front of everyone!"

[Reported by Nini, reporter for this newspaper]

"On the 29th of this month, the lighting ceremony officially took place, but at the beginning of the ceremony, Lord Hughes, who was supposed to give a speech, raised his hands and made an embracing gesture in front of everyone."

"Hughes himself explained the gesture as an embrace of Castel, but according to an exclusive report by this newspaper, there is more to the story."

"This matter can be traced back to the Deep Sea Wars."

"During the war, the banshee Monica returned to Castel carrying a fragment of Poseidon and participated in the subsequent bombing of the Pirate King's court."

"She was transformed into something else due to the influence of the Poseidon fragments."

"And it was at this time that Lord Hughes fell in love with Monica—the sea god fragment within her."

"What a forbidden love! They once vowed to love each other until the seas turn into mulberry fields."

"Unfortunately, the ocean will one day dry up."

"On the day the furnace was completed, Monica (the Poseidon version) was determined to seal the monster of the Pirate King's Court with her own soul. Hughes tried his best to stop her, but he was still a step too late. He watched helplessly as the furnace was lit up in front of him, and the Poseidon's soul burned together with the monster's flesh and blood in the furnace."

"No--"

He shouted, but he could not call back his lover.

"The war ended, peace came, and everyone was celebrating. No one knew the grief in Lord Hughes' heart."

"Monica awoke from her coma to find him with an elaborately designed cake. They gazed romantically at the starry sky, but all they could see was a small, short, hot-tempered banshee. Her once gentle face was gone forever."

"It is said that gods and humans become stars in the sky after they die."

"Every night, Hughes would gaze at the starry sky alone, the sea breeze carrying away his thoughts, drifting and floating all the way up to the heavens."

"Shooting stars will streak across the sky; those are the tears of a former lover."

"On the day the furnace was completed, Hughes stood in the crowd and suddenly felt disoriented."

"I have everything, but I have lost you, my love."

"At that moment, a phantom image slowly rose from the furnace and floated toward Hughes."

"That was the lover he longed for day and night."

She stretched out her arms to him, and Hughes reached out to embrace her, but he only managed to hug himself.

"Her soul has vanished, leaving only the eternal furnace."

Hughes looked up at the sunlight, tears streaming down his face.

"—To be continued, next chapter: Chloe from above saw it all"

Comments from the editorial team of the Castel Daily:
I can't sleep tonight, I need to update quickly!

Comments from Nini, editor-in-chief of the Castel Daily:

Please publish this on the front page immediately.

Special reviewer (Monica)'s comments:

"what?"

Lord Castel (Hughes)'s opinion:

That's well written, but don't write it again next time.

The manuscript has been rejected and will not be published.

"The completion ceremony was successfully held, and Monica burst into tears on the spot. The furnace was named 'Stellar Furnace'."

[Reported by our correspondent, Finier]

"On the morning of the 29th, the furnace under Castel Cathedral was successfully capped, marking its complete completion."

"The construction of this furnace took a total of twenty-seven days. The original ignition time was today, but it was ignited ahead of schedule due to the strong refusal of the Machine Soul."

"After the topping-out ceremony today, a steam pipeline pressure test was conducted, and the factory equipment was successfully put into operation. Castells' distributed steam engines will be gradually converted to centralized steam power supply."

"In addition to Lord Shius of Castel, Tata, the chief designer of the furnace, also attended the ceremony. He was originally a researcher, but after his furnace concept was approved, he took the lead in this project."

"After the ignition ceremony, a voting ceremony was held to name the furnace. The name 'Gorgon's Wonderful Furnace,' submitted by Nini, won first place, but was vetoed by Lord Hughes." "After a recount, 'Stellar Furnace' defeated 'Gorgon's Furnace' by a narrow margin, and the furnace was officially named 'Stellar Furnace.'"

"The successful operation of the Stellar Furnace marks the end of the deep-sea war, and Castells will embark on a new chapter."

"After the ritual was completed, Monica attempted to summon the machine spirit but received no response, but Lord Hughes successfully communicated with the machine spirit."

"Monica broke down in tears and threatened to jump into the furnace and explode with it, but was held back by the others."

The following is part of the interview content.

"Ms. Nini, what are your thoughts on this vote?"

"A complete cover-up! An absolute cover-up! I request a vote to abolish Hughes's veto power!!"

"after a while"

"Ms. Nini, what is your opinion on the fact that your proposal to 'abolish the veto power' was vetoed by the lord?"

"I'll go write a report right now and say a lot of bad things about Hughes!"

"Is this something we can say? Won't the lord veto it?"

"Say it, you can say it all, what does Hughes know about news? I'm the editor-in-chief!"

"The following is an interview with Chloe."

"Ms. Chloe, what are your thoughts on this ceremony?"

"Could you please put me down? I've been hanging here all day."

"I'm sorry, Lord Hughes also vetoed this proposal."

〖.〗

"As a representative of the victims in this incident, is there anything you would like to say to everyone?"

In short, I regret it, I really regret it.

"what?"

I mean, you must cherish life. Nothing is more important than life. You'll understand when you die.

"Do you have any other words of blessing or anything else you'd like to say?"

May everyone live forever, and never die.

"The following is an interview with Monica."

"Monica, what do you think about the fact that the machine spirit you summoned is ignoring you and only paying attention to Hughes?"

"Ohh Ohh ohh!"

"Monica?"

"Monica, please cheer up. This kind of thing has happened many times before. You should be used to it by now, right?"

"Ughh ...

The interview was forced to stop because the interviewee became overly agitated and attempted to attack the reporter.

Comments from the editorial team of the Castel Daily:
I still want to see the love triangle between Hughes and Monica.

Comments from Nini, editor-in-chief of the Castel Daily:

Your writing isn't as good as mine, but the interview segment effectively exposed the dark side of the Castells newspaper. Where is freedom of speech? Where is fairness? What is the purpose of a newspaper? Should we be targeted for telling the truth?
Special reviewer (Monica)'s comments:

This line has been blacked out.

Lord Castel (Hughes)'s opinion:

You are the highest quality among this batch of manuscripts.

What other nonsense is there?
The interview segment could be removed next time.

It's acceptable to publish it; I'll just post it as is.

(End of this chapter)