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Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Chapter 88: Descent into a Dead shell · Oct 18, 2026

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Chapter List (689)

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51 Chapter 51: Cognitive Barrier 2026-10-18
52 Chapter 52: Extraordinary Curse 2026-10-18
53 Chapter 53: Is Science Really Such an Inconvenient Thing? 2026-10-18
54 Chapter 54: Going to School 2026-10-18
55 Chapter 55: Chemistry Laboratory 2026-10-18
56 Chapter 56: A Seemingly Normal World 2026-10-18
57 Chapter 57: Nitroglycerin’s Dual Use 2026-10-18
58 Chapter 58: Enrollment 2026-10-18
59 Chapter 59: Meeting Chloe Again 2026-10-18
60 Chapter 60: The Sirens’ Spells 2026-10-18
61 Chapter 61: Production Accident 2026-10-18
62 Chapter 62: The Meaning of Knowledge 2026-10-18
63 Chapter 63: A World Gone Mad 2026-10-18
64 Chapter 64: Cognitive Interference 2026-10-18
65 Chapter 65: Martial Law 2026-10-18
66 Chapter 66: Shocking Change 2026-10-18
67 Chapter 67: A Peaceful Night 2026-10-18
68 Chapter 68: Methodology 2026-10-18
69 Chapter 69: How to Develop Industry in an Idealistic World? 2026-10-18
70 Chapter 70: Turning Fossils into Mud? 2026-10-18
71 Chapter 71: Idea 2026-10-18
72 Chapter 72: The Utilization of Pollution 2026-10-18
73 Chapter 73: Castel Manufacturing 2026-10-18
74 Chapter 74: Meaning 2026-10-18
75 Chapter 75: The Long-Awaited Steam Engine 2026-10-18
76 Chapter 76: Oiled Paper, Perfume, and Virtual Currency 2026-10-18
77 Chapter 77: The Siblings Who Couldn’t Afford School 2026-10-18
78 Chapter 78: Learning, Everything Can Be Learned 2026-10-18
79 Chapter 79: Steam Engine 2026-10-18
80 Chapter 80: The Awakening of the Steel Giant 2026-10-18
81 Chapter 81: The Awakening of the Steel Giant II 2026-10-18
82 Chapter 82: Gathering of Heroes 2026-10-18
83 Chapter 83: 2026-10-18
84 Chapter 84: The Cost of Moving Forward 2026-10-18
85 Chapter 85: The Return of the Previous Shell 2026-10-18
86 Chapter 86: Need to Pay Extra 2026-10-18
87 Chapter 87: The Secret of the Shell 2026-10-18
88 Chapter 88: Descent into a Dead shell 2026-10-18
89 Chapter 89 : Oh No, I Became a God 2026-10-18
90 Chapter 90: Oh No, I Became a God. 2026-10-18
91 Chapter 91: Who Hid My Corpse?! 2026-10-18
92 Chapter 92: Undercurrents Surging 2026-10-18
93 Chapter 93: 2026-10-18
94 Chapter 94: Moths Chasing Fire 2026-10-18
95 Chapter 95: 2026-10-18
96 Chapter 96: 2026-10-18
97 Chapter 97: How Did You Figure This Out? 2026-10-18
98 Chapter 98: You Created a Machine Spirit!? 2026-10-18
99 Chapter 99: Soul and Shell 2026-10-18
100 Chapter 100: Pirates, Cultists, and the Extraordinary 2026-10-18

Hughes’ pupils shrank instantly.

This… how could his shell start moving on its own?

Had the shell come back to life and developed its own consciousness?

Or had the Church done something to it, causing it to mutate?

No, that wasn’t important. He needed to try and make contact first to determine whether it was hostile.

Hughes took a deep breath.

”Hello.”

He greeted Worker Hughes with an unchanged expression.

Worker Hughes did not respond at all. He just stared blankly at his surroundings, occasionally making slight movements.

”Who are you?””…”

”Can you hear me?”

”…”

”When did you wake up?”

”…”

”Hughes?”

”…”

”Candlelight Church?”

”…”

Hughes tested for a long time and finally realized that this shell seemed to have gained some characteristics of life, but it didn’t seem to possess intelligence.

No, even calling it the characteristics of life might be inaccurate, it could simply move.

Hughes had tried suddenly shouting at full volume, attempting to startle it, but it showed no reaction whatsoever.

Any normal living being would have some instinctive response, and that was difficult to fake.

In short, Hughes found it baffling. This shell had changed from an unmoving puppet to a moving puppet, nothing more.

What did this mean?!

After pondering for a long time, he couldn’t make sense of it.

The shell did not respond to anything Hughes said, whether it was conversation or commands.

Yet, Hughes himself was still confined to the Golden Throne and had no way to deal with this self-moving shell.

Wait, was he really helpless?

Hughes’ eyes lit up.

He could try descending into this shell.

Previously, he had deliberately avoided making eye contact with it, afraid of accidentally descending into it.

At first, he was worried there might be a trap, but on second thought, this was his palace, his most crucial secret.

How could he allow a hidden danger to remain here?

No matter what it was, he had to investigate!

Hughes had never encountered a threat that could bypass his shell and attack him directly.

”Let’s see what you really are.”

Hughes stared at Worker Hughes, who continued to move randomly. After a long time, it finally turned its head toward him by chance.

Their eyes met.

Worker Hughes’ movements suddenly stopped.

Then, its body trembled slightly, as if struggling to break free, but it was inexplicably suppressed by an overwhelming force, forcing it down onto the chair.

Soon, it trembled and forced out a smile, a sign that a descent was taking place.

Hughes’ vision blacked out.

But this time, the darkness never lifted.

”Did it work? Did I really descend?!”

Hughes was bewildered.

He had never tried descending into a dead shell before, this was a first.

After all, he could create new shells at will, so he had never paid much attention to old ones. If they died, he simply replaced them.

Thus, he had never considered reusing a discarded shell.

”It worked, but… where am I?”

Everything was pitch-black. He couldn’t see anything. He tried to move but immediately bumped into something.

”Wait, I remember Worker Hughes was buried in the cemetery. Am I inside a coffin now?”

Hughes’ eye twitched. That… seemed quite likely.

”Forget it, I’ll return, hmm?”

He had just heard something.

No, not just heard it, Hughes felt like there was something else inside his body.

Damn it, could it be that consciousness from the palace that had been controlling Worker Hughes?!

A chill ran down his spine.

Hughes quickly focused his attention inward, searching for abnormalities within his body. Then, to his surprise, he discovered—

”Why is this shell filled with pollution?”

Hughes instantly thought of the strange pollution that had inexplicably appeared in his body when the Type-II Machine was first activated.

The pollution in this shell was similarly spread evenly throughout its limbs and body, but it was much denser and more stable.

This pollution didn’t act like newly formed pollution, which he could purify the moment it appeared. However, Hughes had the feeling that, if he wanted to, purifying this pollution wouldn’t be difficult.

”Strange, this is getting more and more mysterious. Why does my shell always seem to generate pollution?”

”Forget it, I’ll purify it first and deal with the rest later.”

Hughes willed it, and the pollution within his body began to be purified under his command.

If newly formed pollution was like snow melting under a flamethrower, then this pollution was as tough as hardened steel.

Unfortunately for it, Hughes’ will was like an unquenchable furnace, melting away the stubborn pollution.

”Hmm? What’s that sound?”

For some reason, Hughes vaguely heard something, like a dying wail, or perhaps mindless whispering.

It was faint, as though it truly existed, yet when he focused his attention on it, it disappeared completely.

Hughes listened for a while, but since the sounds posed no immediate threat, he ignored them and focused on purifying the pollution inside the shell.

Finally, as the last trace of pollution was purified, Hughes faintly heard a wail, then, silence.

He moved around a bit but still couldn’t leave. He decided to return and check on things.

There wasn’t much else to do here anyway.

Darkness shrouded everything like mist.

On the Golden Throne, Hughes opened his eyes once more.

He quickly scanned his surroundings. Finding nothing unusual, he turned his gaze toward Worker Hughes.

Then, he froze.

Worker Hughes, like a completely mindless puppet, was staring blankly at the table.

Now, it was no different from his other shells.

”Has it returned to normal? Just like that?”

Hughes rubbed his chin.

”Was I overthinking? Could it be that this shell simply accumulated too much pollution, causing a mutation?”

”Thinking about it, that does make sense.”

Hughes recalled the entity pollution, which also displayed some characteristics of life but had extremely low intelligence, barely reacting to external stimuli.

It only wriggled when purified or burned.

”Wait!”

”If I had thrown the unpurified Worker Hughes into a fire, wouldn’t it have burned for a long time?”

”What a waste! I shouldn’t have purified it so quickly!”

Hughes felt a pang of regret.

Ordinary entity pollution could be used as fuel, so a shell with pollution as dense as steel would have been like a miniature nuclear reactor.

Of course, this thought only flashed through his mind. The development and utilization of pollution were still far from reality—ensuring his own safety was the higher priority.

Throne Hughes looked into Worker Hughes’ eyes, and Worker Hughes slowly turned to meet his gaze. Its body became more animated.

It was completely indistinguishable from a normal shell.

Was it really that simple?

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