Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 704 Internal Combustion Locomotive
With that thought in mind, Beatrice stepped off the airship with her head held high.

Upon exiting the airship, one is greeted by a vast airport.

The airport ground is very flat, with many berths marked on the ground and many huge iron rings running through it.

Several staff members then threaded the thick cable into the ring, with the other end connected to the airship. Once the cable was tightened, the airship's docking was officially completed.

There weren't many other people around.

It wouldn't have been like this otherwise. At least all the banshees knew that a fountain lady was coming, and given their personalities, there would have been a huge crowd.

However, considering Beatrice's extremely poor condition, they decided against getting a close look, as seeing so many banshees at once might cause Beatrice to faint.
Even Nini, who loves to join in the fun, didn't show up.

However, even if he doesn't show his face, he will still come.

At this moment, many figures were hidden in the shadows around the empty airship.

"You're on my tail!"

"There's only so much space, there's nothing we can do about it—"

"Then get out of here!"

"Stop talking, Beatrice is coming out!"

"Oh my god, it's really out! Her Holiness the Pope, the Empress of the Empire, the new fountain of Castel, the legendary being who can support three industrial districts all by herself!"

"Why does it look so ordinary? With such a small frame, can it really spray enough for three industrial zones?"

"Why aren't you spraying anymore? Can't we let her perform? Let Monica talk to her!"

Beatrice set foot on Castel, and before she could even savor the feeling of returning to the island, she felt a chill run down her spine.

"Hmm? Someone's watching me? Wait a minute."

The investigator's abilities are very comprehensive, and his perception is excellent; Beatrice could feel the gaze fixed on her.

After realizing she was being watched, she instinctively activated her ability, trying to sense the gaze directed at her.
Then she shuddered on the spot.

The gazes fixed on her were incredibly dense; the last time she felt this way was when she was giving a speech on stage.

She felt like she was being shone under a searchlight.

Beatrice broke out in a cold sweat, her face stiff as she looked around—

It was deserted; apart from a few staff members, there was no one else around.

The Pope gasped, beginning to wonder if there was something dirty on Castel.
"what happened?"

Zoe, who was behind her, saw her stop and asked, somewhat confused.

“I… I feel like a lot of people are watching me,” Beatrice said, her face pale.

Zoe blinked, puzzled.

Zoe didn't know why, but Monica did. Right now, in the mind link, the banshee was live-streaming her spying on Beatrice while also spamming the chat like crazy, and the discussion was already reaching the level of spamming the screen.

Monica's eye twitched.

"Stop peeking! She's already noticed!"

"What?! How is that possible? I learned stealth from Nini!"

"That just means they didn't learn it."

"You can't say that, look, Nini even set up a camera!"

Monica clenched her fists angrily: "Get away from me right now! Beatrice is a patient! Getting scared will cause serious trouble!"

The banshees, who were just looking for a spectacle, all looked away when they heard Monica say that.

Meanwhile, Beatrice was nervously telling Zoe what had happened.

“You can sense it; there are really a lot of people watching me!” Zoe nodded seriously and activated her senses.

At that moment, Beatrice's body stiffened again.

She felt all the gazes fixed on her vanish in an instant.

There were hundreds of eyes on us!
Beatrice was instantly terrified. Being stared at could be excused as someone secretly watching her, but the sudden disappearance of hundreds of gazes was truly frightening.

Hundreds of people were so perfectly aligned that they looked like a single person.
Zoe sensed for a while but couldn't find anyone watching them, so she looked at Beatrice with some confusion.

She's a [Nymph] type, and her greatest strengths are perception and concealment, making her even better than Beatrice, the [Investigator]. There's no reason why Beatrice could sense it but she couldn't.

"What I just did..." Beatrice didn't know how to start, and was on the verge of tears.

Gaia, standing behind them, vaguely guessed the reason and glanced back at Monica.

Monica was so angry that she was cursing in the group chat, and the other banshees didn't dare to say a word.

Gaia sighed, "It's alright, Beatrice, don't be afraid. This is Castel, and Lord Hughes is here. Nothing can hurt you."

Beatrice paused for a moment, then nodded. She didn't know why, but hearing the words "Lord Hughes" made her feel much more relaxed.

It was as if this name could truly protect them.

“Yes, let’s go by car!” Zoe quickly urged, remembering that Beatrice was still injured.

After saying that, she seemed to remember something and added nervously, "Don't be afraid of the car we're taking later."

When Beatrice heard this, she knew that they definitely wouldn't be taking a carriage later.

But did they really think they had only ever ridden in horse-drawn carriages?
When Beatrice was a child, the Rhine already had horse-drawn carriages, and even steam-powered vehicles.

She had ridden in those huge machines before, but because the steam engines were so large, extremely noisy, and vibrated so much, the riding experience was a disaster. She only rode them for the novelty.

It looks like Castel has already been put into daily use, so it must have been miniaturized, right?
In addition, Beatrice had also seen Castells' steam locomotive.

On the very day Ignati cleaved the storm, she saw the steam locomotive with her own eyes and even stayed on it for a while.

Her condition was worse back then than it is now, so she only had a brief experience and didn't get to ride it properly, which she still regrets.

It seems this wish can be fulfilled now.

"Don't worry," Beatrice said with a smile, "I'm not afraid."

After saying that, she bent down to look for the railway tracks.

I looked around, but there was nothing there.

Looking at the bigger picture, there's nothing there either.

Looking into the distance, I finally spotted a freight train at the harbor a little further away, but it seemed so far away.
Keep in mind that airports are for airships, and even have berths for the Sky Giant Beast. They are extremely spacious, so relying solely on two legs would probably be exhausting.

Soon, Beatrice noticed a rather strange car driving up.

It resembles a horse-drawn carriage, except without horses or reins. The driver controls the direction via a rotating disc, which looks somewhat comical.

Beatrice nodded, not finding it surprising at all; it seemed to be a miniaturized steam locomotive.

She had seen this thing before.

"This is a new type of internal combustion locomotive that can run without a steam engine."

"I see," Beatrice nodded, she had a rough idea of ​​what the fuel was.

"Is this from burning pollutants?"

"No, this is nitroglycerin."

(End of this chapter)