Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 534 The joy of machine soul
"You didn't teach me how to reload either!"

This statement left Hodge speechless.

To be honest, he couldn't remember whether he had taught her or not. The situation was too urgent just now, and frankly, he didn't have much hope. He just let Gwen give it a try, while he was already prepared to let the expeditionary force open fire.

As a result, Gwen single-handedly suppressed an entire wall of bones.
"No matter what, this heavy machine gun shouldn't be able to fire continuously like this. A few people, please help me lift the gun up."

Several expeditionary soldiers hurriedly helped Hodge lift the Gatling gun onto the special bracket by the window—this train was built for war and had plenty of firing positions.

Hodge took a brand new magazine, expertly locked it in, and then turned the crank.
"Ok?"

The crank handle seemed to be welded to the machine gun, and it wouldn't turn at all.

"Is this gun broken?"

"No?" Gwen looked puzzled; she had just been using it perfectly fine.

Hodge peered inside but didn't see anything stuck. Besides, even if a bullet were stuck, it should have traveled a bit before stopping. Why was this one completely immobile?

Gwen reached out, spun around a few times, and a string of bullets ricocheted out before she stepped aside.

Hodge gripped the crank—but it still wouldn't turn.

Damn it, this is a brand new gun, a brand new gun that was just taken out of the warehouse, and why can't I turn it?

After hesitating for a moment, Hodge took a can of gun oil from the soldier. This was gun oil used for cleaning, and he carefully poured it into the bearing of the cylinder along the gap.

Then he shook the crank handle again, and this time it worked. As the cylinder turned, gun oil was inexplicably squeezed out, spraying Hodge's face.

The surrounding expeditionary force soldiers all looked on with sudden realization.

"I understand," the machine spirit said, displeased.

The soldiers patted Hodge on the shoulder with sympathetic looks on their faces.

Most of the expeditionary force came from Castells; who hasn't seen a stoker being chased and yelled at by a steam engine?

Knowing how to please the engine is a skill; those who do it well can significantly increase the output of a steam engine. Many technical priests have truly developed a bond with machinery, and when they are transferred to other places, they always say goodbye by hugging a steam engine.

It is said that Captain Jeremiah would spend half an hour every day chatting with his Black Pearl, sitting in the captain's cabin and not coming out, almost leading people to mistakenly believe he had Castells syndrome.

just
"Has this gun undergone a blessing ceremony? Isn't this a standard-issue heavy machine gun?"

"Don't talk nonsense. What do you mean by consecration ceremony? That's called awakening the machine spirit. But I've never heard of anyone performing a ceremony on a heavy machine gun."

The expeditionary force whispered among themselves that the steam engine needed to awaken its "machine soul" because it had to burn pollutants; without the suppression of the machine soul, it simply couldn't burn.

What's the point of consecrating a heavy machine gun? It's not like a regular one can't be fired. Who would bother to perform a ritual on it for no reason? You know, machine spirits are very difficult to please.

"Gwen, have you done anything to this gun?"

"I've fired it."

"No, I mean something more unique, like performing some kind of ritual. You should know that there is a machine spirit inside this gun, which is a kind of will, right?"

“A ceremony? There wasn’t any ceremony.” Gwen scratched her head. “But I did talk to it before we started fighting, after I test-fired a few bullets.”

"what did you say?"

"Uh, well..." Gwen's face showed an embarrassed expression, and she blushed slightly.

"You're really something else, come be my friend." "."

"And then, how was it summoned?"

"Huh? I still need to summon it? I just opened fire on the enemy—this gun is really great, much better than the longsword!"

A deathly silence fell over the carriage.

The expeditionary force was dumbfounded; even Ash's icy expression faltered, and he looked as if he had seen a ghost.

Even Monica has to jump around for a long time to summon a machine spirit, but you can just say one sentence and the machine spirit will pop out on its own?
The last time I saw Machine Souls this active was when Tata went to the Lighthouse area, where the steam engines in the sunken ship almost jumped up to attack him.

Hodge pursed his lips. Good heavens, he was originally a boiler operator, but because the machine spirit disliked him, he had to give up boiler operation and join the army.
He took out a handkerchief from his pocket and silently wiped the gun grease off his face, while the soldiers next to him patted him on the shoulder.

"Alright, let's leave it at that for now. Gwen, here's the gun. Treat her well." Hodge took a while to clean it, then glanced at the heavy machine gun with a forlorn expression.

"Where is the train conductor? Bring him here, Lord Ash. We should discuss the situation with the White Disaster."

Once aboard the armored train, the soldiers instantly relaxed. Neither the skeletons nor the mist could catch up with their train. If they did, the heavy machine guns and dragon breath cannons on the roof would force them to turn back.

However, before the train conductor arrived, the message from the sentry on the roof came first.

"White fog detected on the right!"

Hodge and the others rushed to the observation hole, squinted for a while, and then turned to look at Ash.

“It is indeed white mist,” Ash nodded. “And there are writhing, crawling skeletons ahead.”

“The distance is not short, and the direction is good, so it’s difficult for it to pose a threat to the steam train,” Hodge said, stroking his chin. He suddenly turned to ask the train conductor who had just arrived.

What supplies were being transported on the truck?

"Two wagons of munitions, one wagon of miscellaneous goods, one wagon of medicine, seven wagons of various materials, and two wagons of livestock."

"What are livestock?"

"A few cows and pigs, and horses. I can't remember the exact number. Should I check?"

"No, but I need the train to cooperate."

Ahead in the fog, the train gradually slowed down. Suddenly, the door of one of the carriages opened, and the livestock inside were forcibly driven out.

The speed wasn't very fast; some animals broke their legs, while others were lucky enough to escape unharmed, scattering in all directions.

The train's speed increased slightly, but not by much. It simply kept a distance from the livestock behind it, slowly watching the skeletons rushing towards it from the side.

The skeleton that had been chasing the train suddenly changed direction and rushed towards the livestock.

A large number of livestock with broken legs were lying on the ground. When they saw the crawling skeleton, they went crazy and ran around frantically. Those that could not move also let out mournful cries.

But the speed of the skeletons far exceeded their feeble struggles; in just a moment, the pigs, cattle, and other livestock were instantly covered by the skeletons.

On the train in the distance, Hodge and the others stared wide-eyed at this direction.

Are they eating that flesh and blood?

"No, it doesn't seem like that. They seem to be dismantling those animals, like taking firearms apart."

(End of this chapter)