Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord-Chapter 63: A World Gone Mad

Hughes was awakened by a series of knocks on the door.

"Lord! Lord, are you there?"

Hughes opened his eyes in a daze, staring blankly for a moment before reacting. He immediately threw off the covers and stood up.

"Alexei? Come in and speak."

The door was pushed open at once, and Alexei and Connor entered the room together.

"Lord, something has happened!"

"Where? It’s not the explosives workshop, is it?"

Alexei’s face turned strange.

"Yes, but it’s not just the explosives workshop, the soap workshop has also encountered some issues."

Hughes’ eye twitched. Could it be that the explosives workshop had exploded and taken the soap workshop with it?

That would mean his painstaking farming plans would be entirely scrapped.

Seeing Hughes’ face grow darker and darker, Alexei hurriedly explained:

"No, there wasn’t an explosion, but it was another kind of accident… uh, I don’t even know if it can be called an accident."

"Sit down first and explain slowly."

"Here’s what happened."

Due to the unreliable nature of the recruited craftsmen, Hughes had ultimately decided to shut down the nitroglycerin workshop.

However, this decision was not thoroughly explained to the craftsmen.

They only knew that the process they had practiced for so long had been put on hold.

The craftsmen discussed among themselves and concluded that it must be because their skills were not up to standard.

Wanting to prove their worth to the lord, they decided to make one last effort.

"Wait, why would they do that?"

"Because… you paid them too much."

Considering the dangers of nitroglycerin production, Hughes had set the craftsmen’s wages quite high, five Lios per day.

Even though they were only rehearsing the process at the moment, Hughes knew this situation wouldn’t last long, either they would start production, or the workshop would shut down.

So, he hadn’t bothered to set a lower wage for those few days.

Holding onto their mysteriously high salaries, the craftsmen didn’t want to give up what seemed like an easy job, so they gathered together…

"They gathered together and successfully produced nitroglycerin," Alexei said with an odd expression.

"Didn’t they lack the necessary materials?"

"During the practice runs, yes, but when the workshop closed, I moved the materials over. Since they were all sealed up, I thought it would be more convenient for future use."

"You know, we don’t have enough manpower to arrange night guards."

Hughes rubbed his forehead. "Alright, I’ll be recruiting some soldiers for patrols soon. But if they managed to make it, that’s actually a good thing. Just warn them and let it go."

"No, my lord," Alexei’s expression grew even stranger. "What they made wasn’t explosives-grade nitroglycerin."

"Not nitroglycerin?" Hughes was stunned, then frowned. "The process I provided uses sulfur ore to produce sulfuric acid and nitric acid. Did a catalyst issue cause the reaction to fail?"

"No, it wasn’t a failure. It was a success."

Hughes looked at Alexei in confusion. What was he even saying?

"They didn’t produce explosives-grade nitroglycerin, they produced medicinal nitroglycerin for heart disease!"

Now Hughes understood. He nodded and looked at Connor. "Do we still have the candy Nora provided? Bring some over!"

It seemed like he was exhausted and contaminated, causing his mind to become unclear.

Explosives-grade nitroglycerin and medicinal nitroglycerin were the same thing, weren’t they?

Both were nitroglycerin!

"No, no, I haven’t been contaminated, and I’m not crazy. I’m completely normal! I’m perfectly clear-headed!"

"Then… the world has gone mad?"

"Come with me, my lord. I didn’t dare bring that stuff into the manor."

Although he had no idea what his administrative officer was up to, Hughes still followed Alexei outside.

In a clearing not far away, a pile of items was placed, with several servants standing guard nearby.

Alexei stepped forward, picked up a bottle, and handed it to Hughes.

Hughes took the bottle, carefully swirling it. Inside was a slightly viscous, yellowish liquid.

It didn’t seem particularly pure, but it did look like nitroglycerin.

He slowly removed the cork, set the bottle down a short distance away, and fanned the air toward his nose with his hand.

A strange fragrance.

It didn’t seem problematic, this should be nitroglycerin, right?

Hughes looked at Alexei with suspicion.

Alexei said nothing. He took the bottle, poured some nitroglycerin onto a piece of paper, and struck it hard with a hammer—

Nothing happened.

Hughes’ eyes widened.

He took a small amount and instructed a nearby servant, who soon brought a fire pit.

They backed away and threw the bottle into the flames.

The fire burned, but there was no reaction.

Hughes looked down at the bottle in his hand. After hesitating for a moment, he dabbed a bit onto his tongue.

A strange sweetness exploded in his mouth, followed by a burning sensation.

The amount wasn’t large, so it wasn’t too severe.

He waved off Connor’s concerns and focused on the sensation.

After a while, he felt a throbbing pain in his forehead, the sign of blood vessels dilating, the effect of medicinal nitroglycerin.

Hughes: "..."

Hughes: "???"

Hughes: "?!?!?!"

What did this mean? Non-explosive nitroglycerin?

Had his craftsmen accidentally accomplished what Nobel spent a lifetime researching?

Damn it, could his craftsmen all win Nobel Prizes?

Hughes was utterly shocked. Staring at the bottle in his hand, he felt his worldview collapse.

"Lord Hughes… that’s the situation. I have no idea how this happened either."

Hughes stood there dazed for a moment before a terrible thought struck him.

"You just mentioned that the soap workshop also had a problem?"

"Yes."

Alexei kicked a crate at his feet. "In our soap workshop, we never explicitly told the craftsmen what they were making."

"But we didn’t keep it a strict secret either. Some workshops knew it was a cleaning product, while others, knowing it was made by boiling olive oil, assumed it was food."

"So… some workers secretly ate it."

"Eating soap shouldn’t be a big issue, as long as they didn’t consume too much."

"True, but what I mean is—"

Alexei picked up two pieces of soap from different crates and handed them to Hughes, then took two for himself.

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"This is cleaning soap. This is edible soap."

He stuffed both into his mouth and chewed.

Hughes bit into both as well.

One was slimy and greasy, with a disgusting taste.

The other… had a pleasant fragrance, tasting like a fruit pastry.

"Lord, I’ve inspected the entire workshop. I can guarantee, the production process for both soaps is exactly the same."

The soap slipped from Hughes’ hand and fell into the dirt.

••••••••••

Author note:- After sixty-three chapters of buildup, the grand reveal is finally here! This has been in the works for so long—now the world expands!!