Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 708 This is an external combustion engine
Hughes, from District 17, thought for a moment, then turned to look at the map on the wall.

That's southwest of Castel, in the sea next to the volcano.

Hughes breathed a long sigh of relief. Monica hadn't really gone too far; at least falling into the sea wouldn't kill her.

At least superhumans can't die.

"Emergency team, go and rescue them."

"receive."

In the banshee's duty room of the main church, several fully armed banshees stood up and pulled a lever in the room, revealing a large hole in the wall.

The banshees jumped in one by one.

Inside the cave is a sloping surface with a polished cement floor. Water flows over it, making it very smooth.

After the banshees jumped in, they began to slide down rapidly.

This is a water slide.

Banshees are known for their incredible swimming speed in water, far exceeding their walking speed on land. This is an innate ability of theirs, and the criteria for "in water" are not actually very strict.

For example, the water flowing beneath them right now is so shallow that it doesn't even reach the tail of a snake, yet they are still considered to be "swimming in the water."

In just a few moments, they swam down the water slide to the sea valve and entered the ocean.

This method of exploitation was recently developed; it was actually Monica's ingenious idea—she even managed to exploit a bug in her talent.
Hughes was also inspired by this and planned to fill the cockpit with liquid in future mech designs so that the Banshees could operate the mechs while submerged in water.

The wind ruffled the ends of Beatrice's hair, which she gently brushed aside with her hand.

To be honest, I was only scared at first when it flew overhead, but I gradually calmed down after getting used to it.

She actually quite liked this feeling of her heart pounding.
"Is this the internal combustion engine you were talking about? It's really amazing!"

It was fine when we were on the ground; the car was fast, but not that exaggerated.

While flying in the sky, she felt her speed was truly explosive, especially at ten times the throttle.
"No, internal combustion engines are on the ground; what flies in the sky is an external combustion engine."

"An external combustion engine? What kind of external combustion engine?" Beatrice was stunned. She thought an internal combustion engine would burn fuel inside the machine, so an external combustion engine...
"It's like putting the fuel behind the seat, and it ignites when you pull the accelerator."

"Huh?" Beatrice was stunned again. "I remember the fuel was..."

“Yes, nitroglycerin.” Monica nodded in satisfaction. “I sometimes feel that internal combustion engines are a bit redundant. Since an explosion has already occurred, why does it have to push the cylinders first and then the car? Wouldn’t it be better to just let it push the car directly?”

Beatrice was already somewhat numb. Although she didn't know much about mechanics, she still felt that something was off about this line of thinking.
"Look down!" Monica suddenly shouted excitedly, pointing downwards with her four hands that weren't on the accelerator.

Beatrice followed her finger and gasped.

She is right on the crater.

She had seen this volcano from afar the last time she visited; it was quite large and supposedly posed a risk of eruption, so she hadn't gone close.

I never expected to get close in this way.
Beatrice stared blankly at the crater, a sense of fear creeping into her heart—wouldn't it erupt now?
“It won’t erupt!” Monica shouted, as if she knew what Monica was thinking. “Look at those!”

The crater is surrounded by jagged volcanic rocks, a place that should be desolate, but is now bustling with activity. Inside the crater, spiral staircases descend along the circular rock walls, leading to thick pipes on steel platforms.

Inside the crater, although hot air was rising, no red magma could be seen; only pipes leading downwards were visible.

"what is that?"

"That's the second phase of the Stellar Furnace project: the mantle network."

"As you know, volcanoes bring mineral deposits and heat; they're practically a treasure trove. Most of Castel's mineral deposits are related to them."

"Then I thought, since it's a treasure trove, why don't we make use of it in advance? If the volcano erupts too slowly, we can just pump out the lava and use it, right?"

"Moreover, when magma and pollution are put together, some strange changes will occur."

"In short, we built an extraction platform on the crater and used pipelines to transport the magma into the stellar furnace. This can greatly increase the peak power and average output of the stellar furnace, and at the same time, we can also obtain a lot of by-products. The stellar furnace is really a great thing!"

“And there’s another advantage to this, which is that it can prevent volcanic eruptions.” Monica pointed to the inside of the crater. “As long as we pump fast enough, the volcano can’t erupt, or rather, it’s erupting all the time—erupting into the stellar furnace.”

Beatrice gaped in astonishment. This was just too crazy!
There are many active volcanoes within the empire, and most people choose to stay away from them. Volcanic ash does have some mining value, but most people are still afraid of it.

Instead of being afraid, Castells actively stepped forward and built pipes to the mantle network to pump away the magma.
Beatrice suddenly recalled the scene she had witnessed in the North: faced with a storm that seemed poised to destroy everything, Castor did not choose to flee, but instead charged into it and shattered it to pieces.

Mantle network, storm generator
Beatrice bit her lip. She had read many scriptures, some from the Candlelight Church and others from other churches.

These scriptures differ in their doctrines, but they all regard the power of nature as terrifying and insurmountable.

They are not something that "ordinary people" can touch.

Castells not only touched upon it, but also exploited and controlled it.

Looking down at the mantle network below, Beatrice suddenly felt a tremor in her heart.

Castells can pump the lava away, but can he also eject the lava?

This volcano, once a threat to Castel, is now a resource for Castel. Will it become a weapon for Castel in the future?

Castells
“Hey, have you noticed those pipes?” Monica suddenly asked.

"Pipes? What's wrong?"

Beatrice looked along the mantle network of pipes, which extended downwards from the crater, leading to some unknown part of the volcano, while at the other end they descended along the rock wall.
then
Beatrice rubbed her eyes. How come she couldn't see where the pipe led? How did it just disappear?

“These pipes run through a network system. You’ve never seen a network system before, have you?” Monica gestured with her hands: “Go down from here, follow this way and way, straight ahead, until you arrive at—”

Beatrice's gaze followed Monica's fingertip, moving towards the distant building.

It's only slightly lower than the crater, making it the second highest point in Castells.

Castel Cathedral.

"Mantle Networking Project"

(End of this chapter)