Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

“An interesting concept in topology, considered advanced knowledge one could only learn in an advanced class of Mathematics. In short, I understand what you mean now—so long as my self-awareness has no issues, other people’s thoughts about me would not affect me, correct?”

Richard nodded. “Of course. Otherwise, that Empress of the Empire, cursed by people all day long, wouldn’t she have been cursed to death already?”

That sounded very reasonable.

“So Confrontation of Will only worked on objects?”

“That may not necessarily be the case.” Tata took over the conversation. “Do you still remember Mira, the High Priestess of the Life Mother Church? We suspected she might have been under the influence of Confrontation of Will.”

The Prince’s side had conducted follow-up investigations. Mira always believed the Compassionate Mother was under her own control, but in truth, she had been unknowingly manipulated by Her.

Hughes was a little enlightened. “So her self-awareness had been altered?”

“Yes. The lifespan of the Mother Priestess was often short. Their souls would be gradually devoured by the Heretical God, and a weakened soul could no longer maintain a sufficiently firm self-awareness. This created a vicious cycle, causing her to sink deeper and deeper, until there was no turning back.”

Tata sighed. “This is also why the Churches of the True Gods must suppress the cultists. Their powers are obtained through unorthodox means, making it even harder to maintain self-awareness, leaving them as nothing more than puppets of Heretical Gods.”

“And what about you Chasing Moths?”

“Oh, we are different. What we pursue is knowledge, not power or Heretical Gods. The Lord of Moths is merely a tool for cleansing pollution. Speaking of which, I have not been able to sense the Lord of Moths recently. Richard, do you have any clue?”

Hughes’s body stiffened.

That Lord of Moths… seemed to have been accidentally purified by him.

Alas, he had not understood at the time. Such a fine Heretical God—how good it would have been to capture and throw it into the furnace. What a waste, what a waste.

Richard and Tata discussed for a while but came to no conclusion.

“In any case, we Chasing Moths are not like the other cults of Heretical Gods. We are less likely to lose control, and our self-awareness is much more stable!” Tata lifted his head proudly.

Tsk.

Hughes smacked his lips. The Chasing Moths were indeed more stable in terms of cognition, but in this world, pursuing knowledge was far more dangerous than the descent of a Heretical God. The Chasing Moths were recognized as the most dangerous cult—even the Life Mother Church had to stand behind them.

However—

Hughes suddenly recalled something from long ago. At that time, he had not yet descended into this vessel. Out of boredom, he had told many random stories. Later, he thought it might have caused Confrontation of Will. Now, it seemed he had worried too much.

If casually telling stories could trigger the descent of pollution, then this world would have long been torn to shreds.

At last, Hughes truly felt at ease.

“There’s another matter. Have you ever heard of the 【Named One】?”

The moment that word was spoken, Tata and Richard both turned pale, retreating a step as though facing a great enemy.

Richard’s face stiffened further. Based on Hughes’s long observation of Chloe’s Escape Records, Richard seemed to have activated his Extraordinary Power. What stood before them now was likely only an empty shell.

Hughes was somewhat surprised by their reaction. He reached out and pressed the bell on the table.

Soon, a fully armed Banshee entered the room. Her gaze lingered curiously on Tata and Richard, before she spoke. “Which one of them has rebelled?”

From the slit in her armor, Hughes glimpsed a strand of golden hair, and he sighed helplessly. “Stop fooling around, Nini. There may be some trouble here.”

Nini’s eyes lit up at once. “What kind of trouble?”

Tata and Richard exchanged glances, somewhat embarrassed. “Ahem… we don’t know.”

“You don’t know, and you reacted like this?”

Tata’s face turned bitter. “It is precisely because we don’t know that it’s troublesome. In the Extraordinary World, the most dangerous thing is the unknown. The word you just spoke is clearly related to the Extraordinary. We Chasing Moths pursue knowledge. If there is something we do not know, then it is either extremely dangerous, or extremely secret. More often than not, it is both—dangerous and secret.”

Chloe had mentioned this before, but Hughes had long forgotten. Anyway, knowledge was always linked to pollution. At worst, he would just be eroded by it—and he wasn’t afraid of pollution.

“So the two of you really don’t know?”

The two looked at each other, then shook their heads. “Never heard of it. Perhaps you could ask Chloe?”

Hughes sighed and turned to Nini. “Go fetch Chloe from the Stele.”

When Nini, with excitement on her face, climbed up the Chapel Roof, Chloe was still chatting with Nora. The two of them had once been mortal enemies, but after death, they no longer were.

Chloe did not belong to the Church of Candlelight, and Nora was no longer of the Silent Sanctum. Now hanging from the same Roof Beam, after enough time, they had actually become good friends.

Nini brought them both over.

Learning from his earlier mistake, Hughes did not question them directly. His gaze fell on the diary. “In your current state, you wouldn’t be polluted anymore, right?”

〖Actually, I still could, but the risk is minimal. After all, I no longer have a vessel, and my cognition is stable. It’s truly hard for anything to corrupt me now.〗

“What about you, Nora?”

“The Burier’s pollution accumulates within the vessel. My body should already be destroyed, so there is no need to worry.”

“If your vessel were still intact—”

Nora tried to shake her head, but she had forgotten that her neck was broken. With a slight effort, her head began rolling and wobbling, only to be caught in time by Nini.

Nini held Nora’s head in her hands. After glancing at the flat table, she hesitated for a moment, then grabbed a vase from the windowsill. She tossed the flowers out and placed Nora inside.

She twisted it left and right—it was quite sturdy.

“Thank you.”

Nora moved slightly and found it comfortable. In fact, it even felt familiar—like when she wore her heavy armor of the Icefield. It pressed a little on her neck, and the white vase matched well with her white hair and eyes.

Hughes opened his mouth, but in the end, he said nothing. He felt the need to stabilize his own cognition.

“The Burier’s severed limbs would decay like those of ordinary mortals. Losing just the arms or legs, perhaps one could recover with Extraordinary Power. But once beheaded—there is no saving it.”

Her voice was as calm as ever, devoid of fluctuations.

“The greatest punishment for a Burier who has erred is to have the head severed. Perhaps one day, Chloe may still find another vessel. But for me, there is no such chance.”

Nora’s eyelashes trembled slightly. She took a deep breath, closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, she had regained her composure.

Hughes nodded heavily. It seemed that Earl Bazel did not merely fail to recognize her as an Extraordinary, but rather deliberately chose such a cruel method to torment her.

“So there is no need to worry about pollution accumulating in my vessel. My body should already have decayed. Even if pollution descended, there would be no harm.”