Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Below the gun barrel, three sets of copper pressure chambers were arranged in parallel, each equipped with a brass pressure gauge. The dial was marked with three warning zones: green, yellow, and red.

Following the pipeline upward from the pressure relief valve, Hughes discovered that the other end was connected to a metal cylinder. After estimating its weight, he gasped.

”This must be dozens of pounds, right?”

”More than that. The steam chamber hasn’t even been filled with mercury yet. Once full, it’s close to three hundred pounds.”

”Huh?” Hughes was dumbfounded. This thing was so heavy that forget about moving it on the battlefield—even a slightly weaker person wouldn’t even be able to lift it.

”You think this thing is made for ordinary people? This is something only Mechanical Priests would use. Even if you scraped them up and down, you might not even gather a pound of flesh. They’re already all metal prosthetics. Forget three hundred pounds—those with high-output power furnaces can easily carry three thousand pounds.”

Hughes fell into silence. What kind of extraterrestrial technology was this? On Blue Star, robots needed a string to twirl a handkerchief, yet in this world, they could easily lift a car.

He recalled the Mechanical Priest who had killed him last time—their inhuman speed was already beyond mortal limits. Even extraordinary beings might not be much stronger than that.

”If they have this kind of technology, why haven’t they unified the world yet? With this equipment, the Empire’s smoothbore muskets would be nothing but a joke.”

Hughes found it hard to believe. He had been quite pleased with the technological superiority of rifled muskets, yet he hadn’t expected the Mechanical Sanctum to have developed individual soldier cannons. From the way Chloe spoke, this thing’s power wasn’t low at all.What frustrated him the most was that this weapon had been unearthed right in his own manor. It was wrapped in oil paper, possibly buried there who knew how many years ago. He had worked so hard on research and development, yet it seemed he couldn’t compete with simply digging up ancient relics. It was absurd.

”Heh, you think they can still manufacture these things?” Chloe sneered. ”A steam rifle this new? If you take it to the Mechanical Sanctum, they’d worship it as a holy relic. Forget about using it in war—just applying gun oil on it would require someone to sing hymns beside it.”

”They can’t make them anymore?”

”They lost the ability long ago. The powerful ones were the Mechanical Society from a thousand years ago. The current Mechanical Sanctum is just a bunch of gravekeepers clinging to rotting corpses. The only reason they still resemble what they once were is that they cling onto the past tightly enough.”

Chloe shook her head, her tone carrying a hint of regret.

Hughes tried to pick up the steam rifle, pressing the sling against his shoulder. He barely managed to lift it with all his strength. ”Let’s find a place to test it?”

The two quickly arrived at the Eastern Test Site, where only a few Banshees were stationed. The previous experimenters had all withdrawn. A few Banshees helped Hughes set up a target before gathering around, their curiosity evident—they were clearly interested in the steam rifle.

”Do you know how to use this?”

”It’s not too difficult.” Chloe picked up the rifle and slung the steam chamber onto her back. She had brought a box of compressed steam rounds. After opening the box, she loaded the cylindrical rounds into the rifle’s steam chamber.

”This thing uses mercury vapor—that is, steam from mercury. No one really knows how it’s compressed and heated, not even the Mechanical Sanctum. They only know how to operate it, and even then, only partially. There’s definitely some supernatural application involved. Even with my Chrysalis vision, I can’t see through the inner structure of this steam chamber.”

”So, it’s a disposable weapon?”

”A disposable weapon with immense power.”

Chloe sealed the steam chamber, locked the latch, and then opened the steam pipeline valve. She watched through the observation window until the barrel was filled with mercury vapor, then nodded in satisfaction.

”Oh, by the way, you’d best keep your distance—mercury vapor is toxic.”

”You’ll be fine?”

”No problem. I don’t need to breathe.”

Hughes nodded and retreated with the Banshees to the upwind side. They watched as Chloe aimed the rifle at a target leaning against a rocky hill.

”This rifle has both precision long-range aiming and an explosive mode. I’m using explosive mode now.”

Chloe raised the rifle and, maintaining her stance, closed her eyes.

After a moment, her expression became blank, like a lifeless puppet. Then, she pulled the trigger.

”Boom!!!”

Even though Hughes had already retreated far enough, debris still flew around him. When the smoke and dust cleared, only a pile of rubble remained on the ground. The rocky hill had been blasted open, and the target was completely gone.

Chloe? Only a pile of shattered remains was left.

”I knew it!” Hughes turned around and saw Chloe walking toward him from behind. She looked a little shaken. ”Good thing I didn’t use my real body. As expected, this is something only the lunatics from the Mechanical Sanctum could come up with. The explosion range is greater than the shooting range.”

It seemed that the pile of broken pieces was just a duplicate she had created using her extraordinary abilities. She had actually been quite cautious this time.

But…

”The explosion range is greater than the shooting range? Does the Mechanical Sanctum make things like this often?” Hughes twitched at the sight of the blasted rock formation. Strictly speaking, it was more of a large dirt mound than a true hill, but the power of the explosion was still ridiculous.

”Heh, their steel bodies are far tougher than flesh and blood. Why do you think they’re called lunatics? Their favorite kind of weapon is one that doesn’t distinguish between friend and foe. It’s not just their enemies who fear them—their own teammates fear them even more!”

Chloe sneered.

Hughes frowned at the massive crater in the ground, lost in thought.

This weapon was indeed powerful, but using it was incredibly problematic.

Mercury vapor was toxic, and with its weight, ordinary soldiers couldn’t use it. If it were to be deployed in a suicide attack, it would be better to just have Nini send a sea serpent with a bomb. No matter how he looked at it, this thing was impractical.

Wait a minute.

Thinking carefully, there might be one other option.

Hughes turned to look at the eager Banshees.

”Do you breathe through gills or lungs?”

The Banshees widened their eyes.

It turned out that the Banshees had a highly complex respiratory system. Hughes conducted a simple test and found that they could breathe normally both underwater and on land. Unlike crabs, they didn’t need water to survive. Since he couldn’t dissect them, he turned to Chloe for help.

Unfortunately, even Chrysalis’ supernatural vision couldn’t see through the Banshees’ bodies. However, Hughes quickly realized that he didn’t need to worry about this issue.

The Banshees could easily hold their breath for over half an hour—more than enough time for the mercury vapor to dissipate. Mercury was toxic, but only if inhaled as vapor. Skin contact wasn’t much of a problem.

Besides, there was the Symbiotic Contract.

The Banshees eagerly picked up the steam rifles.