Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 654 The Untouchable

What Xiao Bu was holding in his arms was a pile of metal parts.

There was a gear with missing teeth, a rusty strip of paper, several bent connecting rods, and some other parts in better condition but whose purpose was unclear; they were all difficult to use.

But Xiao Bu held them carefully, his eyes full of affection.

This was one of her little hobbies. Once, she secretly looked out from the entrance to the lower area from the bottom floor and happened to see a mechanical doll.

The doll was tattered and torn, but it could still move with difficulty. It clapped its hands and staggered along on one leg.

Perhaps on impulse, Xiao Bu rushed out of the cave and left the bottom to retrieve the doll.

Untouchables are not allowed to leave the lower class, and she was besieged by the lower-class residents.

Frey's gaze fell on Little Brooks' right arm, which was pieced together from scrap metal, and lingered for a moment before looking away.

"Lord Frey, what's the situation outside?"

“Everyone is happy and content, living and working in peace and contentment, a scene of harmony and tranquility.” Frey sneered and stepped forward. “Let’s talk as we walk.”

The group of untouchables then followed him forward.

Frey moved through the underground with practiced ease.

It was quite a coincidence that when he first arrived in the Rhine, he only wanted to get a feel for the situation here and see if he could help Castell's delegation.

However, after only a brief contact, he noticed the anomaly in the lower level. As a result, he unexpectedly encountered this group of underground inhabitants.

Although it was dark underground, there were occasional lights hanging on the cave walls, so it wasn't impossible to see. Frey glanced at the wall casually and saw glowing fungi, a lit candle, and a lantern with half of its casing missing.

Surprisingly, no two of them were the same along the way.

The Untouchables escorted Frey to a settlement.

Although it was called a settlement, it looked more like a garbage dump, with all sorts of foul-smelling debris piled up together, and nauseating green sewage seeping from the ground.

Suddenly a shadow fell, and Frey looked up to see a tall machine above him—a massive body made of scrap steel and even wood, anything that was barely usable had been pieced together.

At its very center is a huge incinerator, with crooked arms that both support it and grab the surrounding garbage and feed it into the furnace.

Before Frey could speak, the Untouchables around him began to shout.

"Move the big guy away! Get him away from Lord Frey!"

"Yes, don't let it bring a curse!"

A few responses came from the machine, and soon it dragged its heavy footsteps away.

"Sigh, these tech lads, they just love tinkering with these things. Did they scare you, Lord Frey?" the person next to him said with a fawning expression, though he sounded somewhat timid.

Frey took a deep breath and slowly shook his head.

To be honest, he was quite startled when he first saw this behemoth. After all, White Stone Castle didn't have such a large machine. Even Castel's steam locomotive looked rather small in front of this "giant".

but
Looking at the enormous machine before him, Frey frowned and asked, "You have such powerful machinery, so why do you still live underground?"

The untouchables nearby were taken aback: "If we don't live underground, where else can we live?"

"Of course, we'll go to the surface, to the Rhine, to that so-called city of miracles!"

A hush fell over the surroundings. After a while, Xiao Bu spoke tremblingly, "W-W-we go to the ground?"

These words, like boiling water poured into hot oil, instantly caused an uproar underground: "How can we go to the surface?"

"Those are all residences of important people!"

“Yes, we can’t even become members of the church, we’re cursed!”

"We're already very grateful that we're underground, and the people up above even allow us to build ventilation shafts!"

Frey looked at the noisy crowd around him. In the past, he would have just nodded quietly without expressing his opinion, since he was only there to gather information and try to fit in.

But this time, for some reason, a nameless anger suddenly rose in his heart, and he couldn't suppress it.

"A curse? Everyone, can you tell me what kind of curse it is?" he called out.

The people around immediately fell silent, seemingly sensing the anger in his tone. These untouchables hesitated and dared not speak.

Finally, Little Bros. spoke up hesitantly: "Brother Frey, we are untouchables. If you get too close to us, you will be cursed, rejected by the candlelight, and will never be able to become a believer in the Church again."

"Then why must one become a follower of the Vatican?"

Xiao Bu was stunned, and stammered, unable to speak.

Frey shook his head, looked at the hesitant people around him, and said loudly, "Of course I know what you're thinking—becoming a member of the Candlelight Church means you can enter the Rhine, receive the church's relief food, and never go hungry again. You think that's the best of everything?"

The untouchables around them remained silent, looking at Frey with some fear, afraid of angering him.

But Frey knew that this was indeed what these people were thinking.

They had never left this underground world; the only world they could see was this cave and the Rhine.

Their most cherished dream was simply to become residents of the Rhine—the Lower Rhine.

They didn't even know that Upper Rhine existed.

As for the Empire, the Empress, the Mechanical Sanctuary, the Duchy of Tis, and Castel, these are even more abstract and ethereal concepts.

Frey's eyes dimmed slightly, revealing a hint of weariness: "In that case, I'll tell you about things on the surface, so you can know what the surface you yearn for is really like."

"Rhine"

Frey's thoughts drifted back to the day he had just entered the city.

After revealing his identity to the Candlelight priest, he quickly entered the city.

As he entered the city gate, he looked back and saw that the machine that was constantly spinning and whipping believers was still working. The priest seemed to sense something was wrong, forced a smile, and turned his body to block his view.

But while the priest blocked the machine, he couldn't block the eyes of the believers.

The believers knelt on the ground, some covered in wounds, others still lining up to chant prayers. They bowed their heads, but looked up at Frey.

In those gazes, there was contempt, disgust, and numbness, but no envy.

It was as if being whipped was a glorious honor to be proud of.

The city gate closed behind them, and the sound of the whip slicing through the air and hitting flesh was also blocked out.

Frey wrapped his dirty robe tighter around himself and turned to step into the Rhine.

(End of this chapter)