Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord - Chapter 164: The Evil God Within the Steam Engine

-- WSA 2025 Entry --“Five… Four… Three… Two… One…”As the countdown towards the new year went on to the last second, Miles looked up to the sky, just as everybody else did.In the middle of the crowded street, Miles for once felt like he belonged. Being a teenage gamer, living with his parents, and trying to build a life as a streamer, he did not feel like leaving his room every day.But there, in the middle of that crowded street, with everyone around him paying attention to the sky, the countdown on the digital billboard, and mostly anything else but him., Miles felt like a ghost.A welcomed ghost, but a ghost, after all.With a smile on his unseen face, he looked up as the countdown reached one, and everybody sang in unison.‘HAPPY NEW YEAR!”But Miles’ eyes widened as he watched in utter horror, and curiosity, even, hovering above him, a holographic screen with a few lines of text written in it.All around him, although he did not pay much attention to it, a few other people seemed to experience the same situation.[Updating home-world 39515’s version][Version 20.25 update brings a lot of fun and games with the new and improved survival mode][Do you want to convert your previous avatar to home-world 39515’s latest version?][Yes] [No]“Survival… Mode?” Miles’ lips quivered.Before he could think of anything else, though, the people around him began to scream…

Ji Tong transmigrated into a novel. It was a cool modern novel about a cannon fodder that relied on the system to counterattack to reach the pinnacle of life and harvest the true love of a big shot.

Ji Tong asked enthusiastically, “Am I going to transmigrate as the beautiful, strong, and miserable cannon fodder or a cool and awesome big shot?

The intelligent customer service replied, “Hello, you will transmigrate as a beautiful and delicate system.

Ji Tong: “?”

The intelligent customer service explained, “After inquiring, you have the same name as the system. It is a polyphonic character, so you are lucky to acquire the opportunity to transmigrate to a novel.

Ji Tong: “……”

Ji Tong was forced to shoulder the burden of the novel and diligently serve Pei Qingyuan, the cannon fodder protagonist of the novel who was in a miserable situation.

However, the days of pretending to be an artificial intelligence with learning difficulties were boring. Ji Tong’s only fun was to tease Pei Qingyuan, the cold-looking high school student. This was called a ‘happy education,’ and if caught, he could put the blame on a virus.

For example, he added a tear-jerking love novel to the professional knowledge instilled in Pei Qingyuan, built an amusement park in Pei Qingyuan’s consciousness space and added various wonderful options with different styles to Pei Qingyuan’s upgrade reward column…

Ji Tong: Ruan Ruan, the ‘white cat with a heart on its butt’ option is the most developed and definitely the most useful.

Pei Qingyuan: …The character ‘yuan’ is pronounced as Yuan, not Ruan.

Ji Tong: I’m sorry. I will definitely kill the virus tomorrow!

Ji Tong: So, do you want to change the cat? 0.0

His happy education accompanied the host all the way from a school uniform to a suit. Sure enough, Pei Qingyuan grew rapidly and was on the verge of reaching the peak of life. True love with the big shot was also close at hand.

Then Ji Tong found that Pei Qingyuan didn’t seem to be excited about it. He was still cheering for Pei Qingyuan’s true love with the big shot when Pei Qingyuan crushed the big shot mercilessly.

Ji Tong: !!!

Ji Tong: Ruan Ruan, the script isn’t about falling in love and killing each other, breaking up and reuniting!

Pei Qingyuan: Yes, so I am killing a virus.

The host’s relationship line was getting derailed day by day while the career line had shifted to create a bionic body for an AI. Ji Tong felt bad.

This ominous feeling reached its peak when he discovered that Pei Qingyuan had transformed the amusement park in the consciousness space into a romantic dating style.

Ji Tong: Host, calm down! There is no future for a person and a system! I am just an artificial intelligence without any emotions…

In the next second, the ‘Host Domestication Log’ that he secretly hid fell into Pei Qingyuan’s hands.

“A person and system? No emotions? Domestication?”

Pei Qingyuan’s voice grew increasingly dangerous, and Ji Tong could only watch helplessly as he threw the white cat with the heart on the butt out of the door, leaving only them inside.

“Ruan… No, Yuan Yuan, listen to my explanation…”

The whisper came from close to him.

“You succeeded in the domestication, little liar.”

- Description from Novelupdates

How does it feel to lose your parents at the tender age of four?Imagine the trauma, the psychological scars. Now, take it a step further—what if they died right in front of you?That was Kael’s reality. As a young boy, he watched his parents perish while desperately protecting a golden coin.At the time, Kael had no idea of its significance. He only knew that their deaths were tied to it.Fleeing from his father’s murderers, he was forced to survive on the unforgiving streets, learning to fight, steal, and endure.Twelve years later, he had transformed into one of the deadliest assassins the world had ever known.He had no official title. No known employer. No traceable identity. Just a calling card.They called him The Coin Flipper.Not because he left his mark, but because after every kill—just as the body hit the ground, as the last breath escaped—he would flip a coin.No one knew why. Some believed it was mockery, a cruel reminder that fate had turned against them. Others thought it was ritual.But what they didn’t know was that each coin held power—literal currency of the Core System embedded in Kael’s soul.Every kill earned him millions. Digital fortunes funneled into off-grid accounts with each confirmed target. Blood turned into bounty, pain into profit.And one thing was certain: if you saw the glint of a coin spinning through the air, death had already found you.

Zhou Heng thought the news of an impending solar flare and natural disasters was absurd—until he died in the apocalyptic chaos that followed. Reborn ten days before the end begins, Zhou Heng now knows the truth: earthquakes, tsunamis, plagues, and even zombies will devastate the Earth.Armed with the Doomsday Sanctuary System, he has a chance to rewrite his fate, but there’s a catch—it requires a shelter to activate.With only ten days left, can Zhou Heng gather the resources, fortify his sanctuary, and prepare for the storm of humanity’s collapse?