Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 384 The Banshee Inspection Team

Hughes's order came a step too late.

By daybreak the next day, all sorts of rumors and gossip were already circulating in the streets and alleys of Castel, and just one glance was enough to tell that they were definitely related to Nini.

The key point is that Hughes sent someone to specifically supervise this time.

Monica's banshee inspection team had been monitoring and checking since early morning to see if anyone was secretly selling newspapers. They originally planned to collect them and destroy them all, but this time they didn't manage to confiscate a single one.

“Not a single one was confiscated! Do you know what that means?!” Monica stood in front of Hughes with a look of deep regret. “I didn’t even manage to get one myself!”

"Really?" Hughes looked suspicious. "I seem to remember you selling tabloids before. How could you not know the distribution channels for newspapers? Isn't this embezzlement?"

Monica's eyes widened: "How can you slander me out of thin air? If I could find even one copy, I wouldn't have found none at all. Anyway, that's the situation, so handle it accordingly!"

Hughes was so angry his teeth ached. This little succubus hadn't learned anything else, but she remembered his words perfectly.

How dare you use my magic against me?
"Alright, then I'll go check. Does Nini really think I can't find out?"

Hughes sneered, pushed Monica outside, and slammed the door shut.

Monica looked furious, but after glancing around furtively, she opened the telepathic link and found a secret underground group chat.

This is a new feature developed by the Banshees: a completely anonymous chat room can be created within the mind link, where everyone hides their identity; Monica calls it the Dark Web.

"Infiltrator Number Three reports: The Great Demon King has become highly suspicious. All comrades on the front lines of secrecy, please be careful of newspaper sales!"

"Received, transaction has been suspended!"

"Received, suspended. Number 3, please be extra careful!"

"Ah, I haven't finished watching it yet! Today's special was so exciting!"

"What? There's a special episode? Why didn't I get one?"

"Yours is the older version; the special episode just ended, mine is still fresh!"

Look at yours.

In the office, Hughes closed the door, sat down at the long table, propped his chin on his elbow, and buried his face in the shadows.

"Ha, the dark web? Do you think I don't know? It's time to show them how terrifying Skynet is."

Hughes pulled a diary from the drawer with a cold smile.

"Chloe, my net of heaven, you hang from the top of the church every day, with the entire Castel Cathedral in sight. You should have seen those people's clandestine actions, shouldn't you?"

〖.〗

There was a pause in the diary for a while, then a series of scribbled words began to appear.

"Boss, I'm already dead! Dead!! Do you even know what 'dead' means? You keep calling me over every day, what's the difference between you and a cultist desecrating a corpse?"

“You swore allegiance to me—but you never said whether you were alive or dead.”

[？？？！？！？！！]

"So you saw it?"

Even if I see it, I won't tell you.

"You'll benefit from our cooperation."

"Ha, you're threatening a dead man? I don't even have a body anymore, what in this world can tempt me? What is there for me to fear? At most, you can only make my soul vanish. Honestly, being oppressed by you like this every day is worse than death."

"I'll show you the article Nini wrote."

〖? 〗

At night, at the back gate of the explosives factory, Gaia was taking off her goggles and resting in the cool breeze when a question came from beside her.

How should we appease the machine's spirit?

Gaia's eyes lit up. She glanced around warily, then lowered her voice and whispered, "Present your beloved possession—"

The other side immediately followed with: "Offering my unfinished thoughts."

Their voices rang out together: "With my blood, with my spirit!" A hooded figure emerged from around the corner, his face obscured. He looked at Gaia: "Sister, how about the new issue's banned book?"

How prohibited?

"Look at these six autographs! This is a special chapter personally written by Lady Nini, the final chapter of Blood Harbor Chronicles, the grand finale of the Prince series!"

"Wow!" Gaia's eyes lit up. "Really? I've been waiting for so long! I wonder if the prince survived the disaster."

"Of course he survived. Wasn't he supposed to come to the island for a visit these next couple of days? Didn't you see the report?"

Gaia's face was full of anger: "How could you spoil the plot!"

The woman on the other end scratched her head awkwardly: "Alright, sis, cough, Ms. Gaia, this is a book, do you want to buy it?"

Just as the two men began furtively taking out their goods to prepare for the transaction, several bright lights suddenly shone on them, blinding them.

"Banshee Inspectorate! Hands up!"

"Lie down! Lie down right there!"

"Don't move, or I'll open fire!!"

A loud shouting sound came from above, and several figures quickly surrounded them.

Gaia and the hooded man exchanged a glance: "How did you get caught? Did you come with a tail?"

The hooded man said urgently, "Impossible, there's definitely no problem on my end!"

Seeing the banshees surrounding her, Gaia's eyes flashed with anger. She casually pulled up the corner of her clothes to cover her face, and pulled out a few glass bottles from her pocket, smashing them on the ground!
boom!
The explosion was accompanied by a blinding white light, and a thick cloud of smoke instantly spread in all directions.

The banshees coughed and took a few steps back. When the smoke cleared, the two figures were nowhere to be seen!
"Captain, what do we do? They escaped!"

"It's alright, let's go to the next place and follow the coordinates provided by Skynet."

"Yes!!"

The female demon inspection team gradually departed.

Such scenes are playing out all over the island.

In just one day, most of the clandestine transactions on the island were destroyed, and banned books were confiscated one after another. The battle between the dark web and the sky web quickly intensified.

A spiritual connection, in an underground chat room.

"Several more sisters were arrested today, and even Lady Nini almost didn't escape!"

"Those lackeys of Hughes, those traitors in the inspection team, how do they always manage to find our whereabouts?"

"We have a traitor among us!"

"Ha, not just one traitor, almost all the underground nodes were attacked simultaneously. This must be the Skynet the lord spoke of!"

"Skynet, what exactly is Skynet? I heard the Firemoths are developing patrol airships, could it be this?"

"No, I have inside information. It's supposedly related to that person whose name can't even be mentioned."

"What? She's dead?"

Believe me, sister, she is stronger in death than she was in life.

"Our lord has tainted the taboo of life and death, allowing the dead, who no longer exist in this world, to relentlessly spy on us. We must retaliate!"

"I have a plan to get out of this predicament, but it requires a small sacrifice from Number Three."

"It's alright, I'm not afraid. For our cause, no sacrifice is too great to be unacceptable!"

"That's good. Listen to me."

The next day, the workers at the factory were surprised to find a diary hanging above their heads—it was Chloe's, as everyone knew.

But Monica was also tied crookedly next to her, hanging there as well, staring at everyone below with hostile eyes.

(End of this chapter)