Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 530 Wriggling Bones

The military camp had a large stockpile of explosives and ammunition, enough to send a town into the air. Several squad leaders shouted, "Take cover!" and the expeditionary force soldiers all lay down on the ground.

The impact of the shockwave at this distance is not significant, but it's still better to be careful. If it blows into a metal part, there might be some casualties.

Hodge lay on the ground, silently counting in his mind.

"123"

"1213"

Strange, more than ten seconds have passed, where is the shockwave? Shouldn't there have been a strong gust of wind by now? He looked up in confusion, only to find that Ash had stood up at some point and was staring intently in the direction of the military camp.

Hodge turned his head and his eyes widened instantly.

The flames from that explosion should have carried thick smoke, spreading into a huge mushroom cloud, then billowing into the air and scattering dust in all directions, before gradually disappearing over a long period of time.

But there's nothing there now.

The sky was empty, as if the explosion had just been an illusion. We were more than ten kilometers away from the military camp, and we couldn't see any details at all, only a cloud of white smoke.

White smoke?

Hodge rubbed his eyes.

Will an explosion produce white smoke on the ground? More likely, black smoke; it's not like it's burning quietly.

"That's...smoke?"

"No." A deep voice came from above. Ash's tone remained indifferent, but a ripple appeared in her eyes.

"That's white mist."

"White mist? Why is there white mist?" Hodge asked, puzzled. When he turned around, he saw a mixture of fear and hatred on Gwen's face, and a terrible thought suddenly popped into his mind.

Is it
"White! Disaster!!" Gwen squeezed out the two words through clenched teeth, her voice trembling slightly, a rare occurrence.

The White Catastrophe, the White Crow people's eternal nightmare, has been the subject of countless attempts by the Silent Sanctuary, but all they can do in the end is to move people as far south as possible.

The White Calamity is an insurmountable natural disaster. Wherever the white fog reaches, no living thing can survive. The people of the White Crow can only flee with their families and can only return to their homeland when the fog recedes the following year.

Whether it was houses or objects, although only a few months had passed in the white disaster, it felt as if decades had passed; the wood rotted and the bricks and tiles weathered away.

Therefore, the Silent Temple always uses solid stones that are resistant to the passage of time to build its monasteries.

"How fast is the White Disaster? Will it catch up with us?" Hodge asked Gwen nervously.

He had heard of the White Calamity's reputation, but he didn't know the specific details.

Gwen was taken aback by his words and did not answer. Instead, she turned her head and looked towards the direction of the military camp.

"What's wrong? Is there a problem?"

"There's a problem, a big problem!" Gwen looked puzzled. "The White Calamity is very slow; that fog, advancing like a curtain, isn't even as fast as a snail. Its danger lies mainly in its unstoppable force. I've never heard of anyone being caught by it, but..."

But the military camp behind them, which they had just left an hour earlier, along with the huge explosion and flames, was now hidden in the white mist.

Is this an extremely slow-moving white disaster?
If they had delayed even a little bit, they would have been engulfed by the white fog in the military camp by now.
Hodge turned to the tall figure beside him: "Lord Ash, how fast is the White Calamity?"

"It's hard to estimate yet, but I'm afraid they won't be slower than us!"

Hodge was startled by this. The expeditionary force was already on a forced march, and the White Disaster was moving even faster.
Forced marches require rest stops. The soldiers of the expeditionary force might be able to run faster for a short time, but in the long run, they were destined to be worn down by the white fog. And this period probably wouldn't last long.

"Everyone! Immediately discard any unnecessary weight and continue south!" Hodge shouted the order. The soldiers of the expeditionary force were already traveling light, carrying little more than basic weapons, so discarding the weight would have a limited effect.

But it's not time to despair yet.

“If we just keep going along the railway, the next train will definitely notice us, and then we can take the train away and get away from this damn white fog!” Hodge whispered to Gwen and Ash.

Hodge hadn't told the expeditionary force that the White Calamity was pursuing them; currently, only the three of them knew.

When will the next train arrive?

"Soon! I already applied to have the previous train carry the message back. The train will arrive in a few hours at most. We can just drop off the cargo and leave immediately. There's plenty of time!"

Due to the need for rapid construction, the train from Bloodharbor to the North is currently only a single track, with locomotives attached to both ends of the carriages, making it very convenient to change direction.

You can simply use the other end as the front of the vehicle to drive it.

Of course, this means that the scheduling rules must be strictly followed, otherwise on the contrary, trains traveling in opposite directions may collide directly.

"We just need to hold out for a short while, Miss Gwen. As long as we don't enter the White Disaster's fog, we'll be safe, right?"

"Yes, no one knows what's in the fog, but as long as you're not swallowed by the White Catastrophe, you're safe."

"That's good. Although this mysterious fog is moving fast, as long as we don't stop, it won't be able to catch up with us for several hours. By then, the train will have already arrived, and we can evacuate safely!"

Hodge breathed a sigh of relief.

The steam locomotives weren't going very fast, and by firing warning shots in advance, they were sure to get the driver's attention and bring them to a stop in no time. They wouldn't be unable to stop and end up plunging into the fog.

Thinking of this, Hodge's steps became lighter.

"So that's what 'run away' means. It was a very timely warning. Luckily we made it out. Now we just need to keep moving forward and wait for the train."

"No, we're in trouble."

Hodge stopped what he was doing and looked up at Ash, who had suddenly spoken.

"That doesn't seem to be ordinary fog."

"I saw something moving in the fog."

Hodge quickly turned his head, but could only see a hazy white blur. He was just a mortal, and his eyesight was far worse than Ash's.

"What is that?" Gwen murmured to herself, her tone extremely shocked.

"What's wrong? What's that? Is there something in the fog?"

"Yes, I can't tell. They're densely packed, white, and constantly wriggling, like maggots, but also very stiff, just like..."

Gwen gestured for a long time, but couldn't explain it in detail.

“Like a pile of writhing bones,” Ash said in a deep voice.

"Looking at it this way, the white mist doesn't seem to be moving forward as slowly as the White Disaster."

"But it was following the writhing bones."