Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord-Chapter 98: You Created a Machine Spirit!?

The study fell silent, with only the occasional sound of Monica sniffling.

"Did I hear you correctly? You said the solution to the problem of entity pollution being difficult to burn is... to scold it? What do you mean?"

"Just reprimand it with words, belittle it."

Hughes opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.

If fuel refuses to burn, just scold it?

Will getting angry make it easier to ignite?

What kind of nonsense is this?

This is way too idealistic—wait a minute, idealistic?

Is this really a property of the fuel?

Hughes’ eyes sharpened.

"Could it be cognitive interference? When did you start doing this?"

"Uh, a few days ago. There’s no problem at all. In fact, the pollution burns even better when scolded."

Hughes felt his worldview shattering.

If there’s no cognitive interference, that means Monica’s discovery is correct.

If the fuel refuses to enter the boiler, just scold it?

Is this world too idealistic or what?

How is this even useful?

Should every boiler in the future be equipped with a "fuel encourager"?

Or, in other words, a political commissar?

Someone specifically assigned to give ideological motivation to the fuel before it enters the furnace?

"Knowledge is truly polluted... Just imagining this scene is driving me crazy."

After sitting in a daze for a long time, Hughes suddenly raised his head again.

"So, how exactly did you break the steam engine? Did you scold it?"

Monica showed an embarrassed expression. "Sorry!"

Hughes: "?"

"Wait, you really got into an argument with the steam engine? And scolded it into going on strike?"

This doesn’t make sense.

Hughes’ already-confused brain suddenly caught onto a flash of inspiration.

"Wait a second, why didn’t this happen when I started the steam engine? What did you do to it? Why does it now have the characteristics of a living thing?"

That steam engine was assembled by his own hands.

He personally lit the boiler and successfully ran the test.

Even if this world is idealistic, he should have noticed something.

Why did it work fine for him?

"Uh, it’s like this..." Monica hesitated, looking a little uneasy.

She had pestered Sister Ash for a long time.

Finally, Ash, utterly exhausted by her nagging, gave her permission to participate in the pollution experiments.

Although burning pollution didn’t seem particularly dangerous, if it escaped, it could harm the island’s residents.

After all, this pollution wasn’t just inanimate matter, it could move on its own and was always trying to escape the furnace chamber.

Standing in front of the burning boiler, Monica tried various crazy ideas.

Scolding was actually one of the more normal approaches.

Eventually, she found that scolding worked best.

Sticking her hand into the fire to beat the pollution also worked, but it interfered with the combustion process and risked damaging already-burning pollution.

Once attacked, the pollution might go on strike again.

In short, this fuel was incredibly troublesome.

Even though Monica had figured out a few tricks, she still found them impractical.

So, she decided to let Anou do the scolding.

"Wait, who’s Anou? Did you name it?"

Hughes’ eye twitched.

"It’s a friend summoned by my friend."

Then, Hughes watched as Monica raised her hand and summoned a... sea serpent.

"That thing can talk?"

"Of course not. Have you ever seen a talking snake?"

Monica put her hands on her hips and spoke righteously.

Hughes was speechless.

"So, how did you make Anou scold the pollution?"

"I just gave it a mouth."

Standing before the furnace, Monica was getting tired of scolding.

Her throat was dry.

The pollution was barely burning properly, but the method was too exhausting.

She had six hands, but not six mouths.

She raised her hand and summoned a sea serpent.

"You... will be called Anou. Now, go scold it!"

The sea serpent looked at the writhing pollution in the furnace.

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Then, it turned to look at Monica.

It fell silent.

"You don’t even know how to curse? Don’t you feel ashamed?"

"Other snakes have already learned to bite onto nitroglycerin and self-destruct..I’m just asking you to scold something, and all you can do is stand there dumbly?"

"I order you, learn how to curse immediately!"

The sea serpent lowered its head in shame.

After venting her frustration on the sea serpent for a while, Monica realized that its throat could only produce hissing sounds.

It simply lacked the ability to curse.

So, she changed her approach.

If it didn’t have a throat, she would just find it a mouth.

Where in the lab could she find something that could talk?

She looked around.

Only the Type-II Machine was rumbling away in the corner.

Of course!

It couldn’t talk, but it was certainly loud enough.

"So, I thought, since this machine is so loud, why not let it scold its own fuel?"

Hughes: "..."

"So I tried using sea serpent summoning on the Type-II Machine. It was super difficult, but after trying for a long time, I finally succeeded."

"You summoned a sea serpent from the steam engine?"

"No! I couldn’t get it to work at first. Then, I started thinking about what it really meant to summon a sea serpent."

"I thought and thought, and suddenly it hit me. Summoning a sea serpent means I use magic to shape a serpent’s body, then summon a soul into it."

"So, what if I skip the magic shaping part and just shove the summoned soul straight into the steam engine?"

"And then... I succeeded.

The steam engine now has a soul and can curse people."

Hughes: "?????"

Hughes: "?!?!?!"

Hughes’ mind turned into mush.

For the first time, he truly understood why knowledge was a form of pollution.

These ideas were insane!

Even crazier, they actually worked.

For god’s sake, the steam engine now had a soul?

Why does a machine have a soul?

Does this mean they’ll need to provide psychological counseling for the steam engine regularly?

Will they have to comfort the machine spirit before starting it up?

Back on Earth, some bosses would hire masters to perform rituals before running their machines.

Is he really going to have to do the same thing in this world?

No, no, calm down.

This must be a temporary effect.

When the spell wears off, everything should go back to normal.

This has to be cognitive interference, please let it be cognitive interference.

Does he really have to add "How to Communicate with Your Steam Engine" to the operation manual?

"So, did the steam engine return to normal? The pollution—never mind the pollution, I don’t care if it burns or not anymore."

Hughes looked at Monica with a pleading expression.

Monica, however, shook her head.

"Anou is refusing to leave the steam engine. Even canceling the spell doesn’t work. It’s throwing a tantrum and refusing to work unless we provide it with White Raven-imported coal."