Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Looking around to the left and right, it seemed no one else was coming to buy, so Bettys, feeling a bit guilty, picked up the fries. She hesitated for a moment, then began sharing them with Gwen.

The strange young man from earlier had already left. Bettys curiously asked,

”Gwen, do you know him?”

”Mmm,”Gwen chewed on a fry, showing a blissful expression, nodding vaguely.

”That guy’s kind of odd… doesn’t seem like a good person. Gwen, you better be careful, okay?”

”He’s a good person.”

Bettys widened her eyes and scratched her head. ”How do you know that?”

Gwen gestured with the fries:

”It’s just a… feeling. A very familiar, very warm feeling. I don’t know how to explain it clearly.”

Her gaze turned to the silhouette of Hughes, now walking far away.

Hughes was happily munching on fried fries at that moment.

”This sweet fruit sauce is tangy and sweet—goes even better with fries than ketchup!”

”The fries are pretty thick, crispy on the outside and soft inside. The fluffy potatoes are really delicate… Who would’ve thought I could still eat something so familiar after coming to this place?”

The flavor of fried food was pretty much universally comforting. Hughes felt deeply nostalgic as he ate. His desire to return home had lessened significantly. After all, he now had his own territory—no longer needed to slave away at a factory every day.

At first, he just wanted to make contact with the supernatural. Then he wanted to go home. Only after getting his own territory did he begin thinking of developing industry—and now it was a runaway train.

He used to be very interested in the supernatural. But after hearing so many stories about supernatural curses, that interest had waned.

After all, even the strongest supernatural fighters couldn’t take a single blast from a Dragon’s Breath Cannon while invulnerable. So what was the point of the supernatural? Better off without it.

Besides, he now had a Symbiotic Contract. He could go into the sea, access the Mind Link, and even share a Life Pool with over a hundred Banshees. He already possessed a considerable portion of supernatural powers. There was no need to force more. Developing industry attracted him more.

Speaking of the supernatural, Gwen’s face resurfaced in his mind.

Just earlier, when he took the fried fish from her hands, Hughes had brushed against Gwen, and once again, what appeared in his mind was 【Named One】.

Combined with the other Gwen in the Resistance Army, it seemed this little girl was hiding many secrets.

This all had started not too long ago.

When Hughes descended into the body of Worker Hughes, he found himself surrounded by white mist. He tried to manipulate the threads but inexplicably failed. Further attempts led to the vague sense that something within the mist was pulling on the other end of the threads.

Without hesitation, Hughes chose to retreat.

Worker Hughes’ body did possess some strange abilities, but it wasn’t that important to Hughes anymore. He was no longer the reckless nobody he once was. Playing it safe had no downside.

After asking Richard and Granny about the white mist, they referred him to Nora.

Although Nora was still angry with Hughes, she wasn’t someone who confused right and wrong. She still helped resolve his confusion.

It was just—the answer was far more unexpected than he’d anticipated.

That moment resurfaced in his memory.

Hughes placed the specially prepared little cake on the table, grinning awkwardly at Nora.

Though Nora still seemed pouty, her tone remained serious and composed as she spoke:

”You’re here now, which means you probably have something urgent you want to ask, right?”

Hughes had initially wanted to say it wasn’t that urgent—at worst, he’d just lose a shell—but after hesitating, he nodded.

”Nora, do you know about a thick white mist that rises on the sea? Extremely dense mist—what is that?”

Nora’s eyes shifted. ”Granny and the others sent you to ask me, didn’t they?”

”Yes.”

”They might have misunderstood something. Descriptions of white mist usually refer to the White Calamity. But the White Calamity doesn’t happen on the sea. What you encountered was likely just regular sea fog.”

”The White Calamity can’t happen at sea? There’s no precedent?”

”Absolutely none!” Nora felt challenged, and unhappily leapt up onto a cabinet. Biting down on a rolled-up map, she bounced back down with a double hop. Hughes took the map and spread it out on the table.

”Look here. The White Raven Principality doesn’t have any sea. The nearest coast is near Grand Duke Alvarez’s domain. Any ship going to the White Raven must travel upriver.”

”And the White Calamity occurs only in the northern part of the White Raven Principality. It’s never crossed the Canary Mountains—let alone reached south into Grand Duke Alvarez’s domain. Which means the White Calamity’s range doesn’t even include the sea.”

”Granny and the others have never been to the Northlands. They’re not familiar with the region, so they mistook it for the White Calamity.”

Hughes nodded slowly. It did make sense.

However, his Worker Hughes shell did possess partial Heretical God powers. The perception he had back then shouldn’t have been wrong. There had to be something terrifying in that mist—that was why he had immediately chosen to flee.

”That kind of white mist can block all forms of communication… And there seemed to be something dreadful inside. Oh, right—the mist was extremely dense, and it smelled really good.”

Nora, who had just been confidently explaining, suddenly froze. A look of doubt and disbelief crept into her eyes.

”That description… does sound like the White Calamity… No—it’s exactly the same!”

Nora took a deep breath. ”The Silent Sanctum has done a lot of research on the White Calamity. Indeed, no form of communication can penetrate the mist. As for whether there’s something terrifying inside… That’s unconfirmed. After all, no one who goes in ever comes back out. As for the smell…”

Nora suddenly felt something off. Suspicion gleamed in her eyes.

”Where did you hear that? Did you go to the Northlands yourself?”

”I have a friend…”

Nora’s skeptical expression remained.

”She saw some related information in the restricted section of a massive library. It was so strange that she told me about it.”

That was at least a barely plausible explanation. Given Nora’s current status, there was no need to worry about silencing her for knowing too much. At worst, she’d just end up hanging on a stele. So she didn’t press further and focused on analyzing what Hughes had described.

”If it really is the White Calamity—and it’s on the sea—did that book mention which sea?”

Hughes paused, sounding uncertain:

”It should be the Storm Ocean, right?”

”There’s a legend that far north of the White Raven, in the Pure White Domain where no one can reach, lies a shattered sea filled with countless icebergs of all sizes… But that’s just a legend. No one’s ever actually been there. If the sea-borne White Calamity does exist, perhaps it appeared there.”

”Other than that, I can’t think of any sea area ever covered by the White Calamity—maybe what you saw was just a really big lake?”

”Impossible. That was definitely a sea. I remember it clearly,” Hughes replied with certainty.

Pure White Domain? Hughes vaguely recalled something like that. He thought for a while, and suddenly, a spark ignited in his heart.