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

The crowd gathered around the steam engine instantly fell silent.

The metallic roar echoed sharply within the warehouse.

Chloe’s eyes widened as she looked at Hughes with a gaze filled with confusion and shock.

"Not Anou? But—" Her voice trembled with disbelief.

The three of them had clearly succeeded in communicating with the Machine Soul.

If the one roaring at this moment was not the Machine Soul they were familiar with, then what had just responded to them?!

Could Hughes have made a mistake?

Chloe instinctively wondered, both hoping for a definite answer and fearing a truth that might overturn her understanding.

A few of the sirens reacted. One rushed in front of Hughes, while another pulled him back.

They watched the steam engine warily, yet the roaring, massive machine appeared unchanged.

Hughes felt his heartbeat pounding wildly.

The moment he touched the Machine Soul, he sensed its unfamiliarity.

This Machine Soul seemed to be constantly screaming, completely opposite to the silent Anou.

Completely opposite?

It was as if Hughes had grasped some threads of the truth.

He suddenly turned around and grabbed Monica’s wrist, speaking urgently, "How did you communicate with the Machine Soul? What did you say? How did it respond? Tell me in detail!"

Monica was startled and took a step back, speaking softly, "I-I just told it to control the pollution, to use it as fuel, not to let it escape, and to work properly... That was all, I think."

"Did it respond to you?"

Monica bit her lip. "It seemed like it did... It felt like it was always saying something, but it was vague. I couldn’t hear it clearly."

"Always saying something? Even before you spoke to it?"

"Yes, the moment I touched it, it seemed to be speaking to me. I tried to listen, but I really couldn’t make out the words. Its voice was too strange, like whispers in my ear."

"No, that’s not right. The Machine Soul isn’t like that. The Machine Soul is always silent. This kind of endless whispering is more like—"

Hughes turned his gaze sharply toward Chloe.

The red-haired girl had clearly realized something as well.

She took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and said: "More like an Evil God!"

The Machine Soul was silent yet could receive human words.

The Evil God was incessantly talkative yet never truly communicated with mortals.

The people stared blankly at Chloe, stunned by her words.

Chloe herself was in turmoil. She had followed the Mechanical Sanctum’s procedures precisely, how could this have summoned an Evil God?

"Chloe! You’ve dealt with Evil Gods before. What should we do?" Hughes shouted at Chloe while simultaneously alerting the other sirens through their Mind Link.

He wasn’t entirely sure, but it was better to be cautious. Who knew if a new Evil God had truly been born within this steel behemoth?

"Damn it, I don’t know either! The Lord of Moths was a bound Evil God, and this one is different! For now, just step back and observe what it really is!" After a brief pause, she added, "Don’t worry. It definitely isn’t a newly born Evil God. I even suspect that it is being controlled!"

"Controlled? What do you mean?"

"Evil Gods instinctively expand, devour, and grow. Yet, this one has been running stably for so long. That’s impossible for an Evil God to do on its own. Only a bound Evil God, like the Lord of Moths, would behave like this!"

"Then how do we deal with a bound Evil God?"

"We don’t need to."

Chloe gradually calmed down. She bit her nails, thinking carefully for a moment. "Bound Evil Gods are safe, as long as they remain under control."

"Really? I don’t really trust your definition of ‘safe.’"

Chloe shot Hughes a fierce glare. "There’s no absolute safety when dealing with Evil Gods. Our control methods are already very stable."

"So, you think this is an Evil God under the Mechanical Cathedral’s control? The so-called Machine Spirit they worship?"

"Impossible. Controlling an Evil God inevitably requires supernatural means.”

“I’m certain that the Mechanical Priests of the Mechanical Cathedral are just ordinary mortals. They couldn’t have raised enough supernaturals right under the Church of Candlelight’s nose in Rhine. You can dislike the Church of Candlelight, but don’t underestimate their Investigators."

"In any case, this machine shouldn’t pose too much danger. Though the descent of an Evil God is accompanied by risk, it also absorbs pollution. The real danger comes from the Evil God itself."

The onlookers finally exhaled in relief.

After all, this was a sudden event, and for most of them, it was their first time encountering an Evil God, even a supposedly ‘safe’ one.

Sounds came from outside the warehouse.

A group of sirens rushed in, Hughes’ reinforcements had arrived.

They were stationed at the test site, as incidents occurred here far too frequently.

The stationed sirens were already well-versed in handling such situations.

Then, upon entering, they immediately fixed their wary gazes on Monica, Gaia, and Chloe.

The three of them: "..."

Hughes shrugged. "See? It’s not that I don’t trust you. You three are infamous even in the most dangerous Eastern Test Site."

"So, an Evil God was summoned into this machine? It’s trapped in there now?"

"Not necessarily. I even think the Evil God’s true form isn’t here at all. Summoning an Evil God is an extremely complex process. Any mistake could lead to failure. If you’re lucky, nothing appears. If you’re unlucky, the Evil God descends into a different vessel, usually the summoner’s body."

"So, you were performing a summoning ritual for an Evil God?"

Hughes recalled the prayers Chloe and the others had used to ‘appease’ the Machine Soul, suddenly feeling that something was very wrong.

For example, the last line—"Ignite the sacred boiler, awaken the soul within the steel!"

Wasn’t this prayer supposed to please the steam engine? Why did it sound more like... a summoning for a soul?

The first line was also suspicious—"Father of Steam, Spirit of Steel, hear our thundering hymn!"

It clearly identified a being called ‘Father of Steam.’

Perhaps ‘Spirit of Steel’ was another name for it. But wasn’t the Mechanical Cathedral supposed to worship machinery itself?

Even if they did worship, they weren’t a Church, so why venerate a specific entity?

At the time, he had only felt vaguely uneasy.

But upon reflection, the peculiarities only grew more apparent.

"Are you sure this prayer is fine? It doesn’t sound right to me. Didn’t you notice?"

"It does feel off, but it doesn’t match the key elements of a supernatural ritual.” ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

“If I were to summon an Evil God, I would need to prepare a vessel, a sacrifice imbued with supernatural power, precise prayers, and a gathering of enough people.”

“The last one is the most crucial< without a strong enough will to pierce reality, the ritual wouldn’t succeed."