Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 686 Tata's New Research
"Who just said I was drowning?"

Monica lowered her head guiltily, and the surrounding banshees all took a step back, making it seem as if she had taken the initiative to step forward.

Hughes was amused and exasperated: "Can't you see if the coffin or the cabin is flooded? And even if it is, do you think I'm afraid of water?"

"Oh, by the way, Lord, you also have a symbiotic contract."

"He went down into the abyss with us back then."

I'd completely forgotten about it if you hadn't mentioned it.

The succubi whispered among themselves.

Monica awkwardly began pawing the ground with the tip of her tail.

Hughes's gaze fell on Monica, who trembled: "You're from the Knights Hospitaller? Did you learn your medical skills from Gwen?"

"Wow, what a vicious accusation!" "What's wrong with Gwen? Doesn't Gwen deserve to study medicine?"

“You know what, Gwen has actually gone to study medicine recently. She keeps saying things like ‘only by studying medicine can we save White Raven,’ and she’s always wandering around the hospital with her flails.”

"Would a flail be useful?"

"It really worked! All the priests from the Silent Church who were hospitalized were scared away, and the discharge rate reached 120%!"

"Monica's medical skills are probably not as good as Gwen's."

The surrounding succubi pointed and whispered, while Monica's eyes darted around, searching for an escape route.

Hughes sighed, but did not continue to blame them. He had a mental link with the banshees and could sense their emotions.

The moment he woke up, what flowed through the symbiotic contract was genuine concern and panic.

These succubi were concerned for themselves; they made mistakes because they were too anxious.

Moreover, Hughes knew what he would look like after his return, and his empty shell-like state truly frightened them.

Hughes's gaze passed over the group of banshees and landed on a tall figure.

Ash.

The two looked at each other, and then she gently shook her head.

Hughes knew that Ash hadn't said anything.

Ash should know what she will look like after her return, but she didn't tell the other banshees. Ash's thinking was simple—she wouldn't tell anyone unless Hughes gave her permission.

Hughes sighed inwardly. The banshee race was truly polarized. Ash was so reliable, while the other banshees were so outrageous.

What Hughes didn't notice was that, some distance away, Nini was hiding in a small corner, peeking out every now and then, her six hands busy writing and drawing.

Her tail kept slapping the ground, looking excited and thrilled.

After this disastrous voyage, Hughes finally reached the docks of Castel. There were quite a few people there, and if Hughes hadn't woken up in time, he probably would have been surrounded by onlookers.

After getting ashore, Hughes didn't go back to his office and went straight to the testing ground.

He felt that enough absurd things had happened today, and he didn't care how absurd the situation became.

The sirens who had dragged him there felt very guilty, as they had always thought that Hughes had fainted because they had been having too much fun while pulling the coffin in the sea.
As compensation, they proposed that Hughes sit in the morgue while they carried it away.

Hughes rejected this outrageous proposal without hesitation and ordered the morgue to be sealed away, to be used only in emergencies. He had no choice; waking up to find himself half-dead in a coffin had given him a bit of PTSD.
Hughes finally breathed a sigh of relief after entering the subway platform from the port's network entrance.

The subway is a normal mode of transportation, but compared to the fire trucks, "normal" is already a very valuable advantage.

The entrances to the network channel at this part of the pier have heavy gates that can be closed quickly, since it is close to the sea and there is a risk of seawater backflow in case of storms or tsunamis.

Moreover, freight in the dock area is transported by surface railway, while the railway within the network system is mainly for passenger transport. Only some military buildings use the network system to transport supplies.

After all, ground-based railways are much easier to maintain.

Taking the subway, it didn't take long to arrive at the test site. It's worth mentioning that the entrance to the network channel here also has gates, and they are even thicker than those at the dock.
The only thing that can be poured into the dock is seawater, but who knows what might come out of the test site.

It wasn't that Hughes didn't trust his men; it was just that he simply didn't. Given the nature of these fire-chasing moths, the fact that Castell hadn't been blown to bits was a testament to their strict adherence to safety protocols.

Emerging from the subway station, Hughes cautiously peered into the testing ground. Dark clouds loomed over there, with occasional lightning strikes, suggesting that a storm generator was being tested.

After asking in the telepathic link and receiving an affirmative reply from the banshees stationed at the testing grounds, Hughes patiently waited for them to stop the experiment.

Soon, the dark clouds in the sky dispersed, and the faint howling of coyotes in the air also stopped.

The gates of the testing ground opened, and Tata led a group of researchers in, looking quite pleased with themselves.

"My lord, you're back!"

Hughes didn't reply. He carefully examined her for a while, and only cautiously spoke after noticing anything unusual: "Tata, I remember that your research is only a part-time job."

Tata's expression turned serious: "Since it is the lord's appointment, I will do my best! Rest assured, I have been focusing on my research all this time and have not slacked off at all!"

"It's because you're doing research that I can't rest easy!" Hughes thought to himself.

But he still managed a smile, intending to offer a few words of praise.

But the next moment, his smile froze on his face.

A black man walked over.

Unfortunately, Hughes had never seen a black person before, so his first thought was...
"Tata, what experiments have you conducted this time that have caused the entire race to mutate!?"

"Huh?" Tata scratched her head, somewhat confused. She turned around and saw the black man approaching, then her expression changed to one of realization: "Oh, this is someone from the Silent Sanctuary."

"You're talking nonsense! There are no Black people in the North!"

The "black man" smiled, revealing his white teeth: "Count, I am indeed the [Buried One] of the Silent Sanctuary, but I just finished an experiment and am a bit disheveled."

Hughes stared at him for a long time before finally connecting him with a white-haired figure from his memory, and his eye twitched.

"What happened? How did it become like this?"

Upon hearing this, Tata excitedly stepped forward: "My lord, I've discovered a new use for the storm generator!"

"We previously discovered that there is a certain transformation relationship between lightning and pollution to some extent, so I wondered, since lightning can activate pollution, could we turn pollution into lightning?"

That makes sense, Hughes nodded. The storm generator turns pollution into lightning in the sky.

"Then it suddenly occurred to me, Lord, didn't you mention that there is also bioelectricity in the human body?"

"Is it possible to transform the pollution caused by the erosion within the body into lightning?"

(End of this chapter)