Chapter 419: The Queen’s Cage
"Why are you blushing?" Phield asked with a helpless smile. "I don’t want to get struck by lightning."
The basic structure of a blast furnace was actually quite simple. In theory, as long as there were enough materials and manpower, a single blast furnace could produce three thousand tons of pig iron per year.
Phield handed the blueprint to Gogris.
"Since we don’t have coke or steam engines yet, we’ll start with charcoal and manual labor. If the temperature isn’t high enough, we can even ask Alice to help."
Alice belonged to the Fire Divine lineage, making her perfect for maintaining the furnace. Unfortunately, her flames were far too violent for precision work.
"Industry has always been an integrated system. Blast furnaces should be built in sequence so they can support one another through staged heating."
Simply put, the products, byproducts, and residual heat generated by the first blast furnace would all be used to assist the second one.
"The first furnace produces pig iron. Feed that pig iron into the second furnace, and it can be refined into wrought iron."
"Let me explain the structure of the blast furnace. This is the cylindrical furnace throat with the charging hopper and burden probe. Gas pipelines need to be installed along the sides. By gas, I mean the combustible gas produced during smelting. It’s a byproduct. The furnace shaft is responsible for preheating and reduction..."
Meanwhile, upon the boundless sea...
The Queen of the Ancient Moon Empire slowly regained consciousness. Waves of dizziness and overwhelming thirst relentlessly gnawed at what remained of her sanity.
"Ugh... damn Calamity. Once I recover my nation’s hidden treasure, I’ll wipe every last one of you insects from existence."
Barely opening her dry eyes, Christie endured the salty sea breeze as she looked around.
The blazing sun hung overhead. Worse still, she found herself locked inside an iron cage.
The ruler of an entire empire had actually been imprisoned inside a cramped steel cage engraved with special runes. The foul stench of excrement surrounded her from every direction, filling her with humiliation and rage.
Fortunately, her demonic body could withstand intense heat. Otherwise, she might have been roasted alive beneath the scorching sun.
"Someone... come here..."
She opened her mouth, only to remember that this era no longer belonged to her.
Now she was Christie, a pureblood demon, a monster despised by every living creature.
"Shut up, you damn demon!"
One of the sailors cursed at her while nervously thrusting his spear through the bars.
"Stop. I am the Queen of the Ancient Moon Empire. Summon your king at once!" Christie ordered while dodging the spear thrusts.
"Still shouting? Save your strength. Once we reach Holy Angel City, you’ll have plenty of chances to scream."
The sailor took two steps back with obvious disgust.
"Oh? The demon’s awake. Cici, come take a look."
Luke stepped out of the cabin wearing an amused smile.
"She’s been making noise nonstop. It’s driving everyone crazy."
"What? Another Chosen of Destiny!"
The moment Christie saw Luke’s face, she froze.
Her thoughts raced before she immediately realized she had probably encountered an absurd case of identical twins.
She rushed to the bars of the cage and shouted at Luke.
"I need..."
Crackle!
The runes carved into the cage suddenly erupted with dazzling Holy Light.
Christie screamed and instinctively let go.
Both of her palms were burned pitch black. The power of Holy Light was naturally devastating against creatures of evil.
"Listen! Riemann’s expedition has been wiped out by Phield. The Calamity is spreading!"
To Christie, these were perfectly ordinary words.
To everyone else, however, they were nothing more than the shrill screeches of a demon.
She turned toward Cici and desperately shouted.
"The Holy Light protects me! I am also a follower of the Holy Light! Your Pope personally crowned me as Empress!"
"What is she yelling about?" Luke asked curiously. "Sister Cici, do you think she’s hungry and wants to eat people?"
"Perfect. We still have plenty of corpses that haven’t been disposed of. Feed them to her. I wouldn’t want my gift starving to death."
"I have no idea."
Cici shook her head.
"I’ve never bothered learning the language of demons."
"It doesn’t matter."
Luke waved his hand dismissively.
"Once we arrive at Holy Angel City, I’ll trade her for military support from His Holiness the Pope."
His eyes gleamed with excitement.
"A pureblood Demon Divine Chosen. His Holiness will definitely be pleased."
"Absolutely."
Cici revealed a bright smile and nodded repeatedly.
"The Holy Light Knights alone are enough to crush any army in Stormsea."
"I’m exhausted."
Luke yawned before turning to the guards beside him.
"If those Twilight Knights still refuse to surrender, kill them all and dump the bodies into the sea."
"Oh, and dispatch a fleet to locate the inland merfolk settlements. Capture them and sell them for profit."
With that, Luke returned to his cabin to rest.
Christie was completely dumbfounded.
None of that sounded like something a righteous man would say.
Meanwhile, Cici studied Christie with obvious interest.
"Poor little demon."
Completely unafraid of Christie’s fearsome appearance, Cici reached a slender, snow white hand through the bars and gently stroked Christie’s cheek.
The next instant, Holy Light erupted from her palm.
Sizzle!
"Ahhh!"
It felt as though a red hot branding iron had been pressed against her skin.
Christie had always considered herself mentally resilient, yet the touch of Holy Light made even her soul tremble violently.
It hurt.
The pain was unbearable.
Apparently still unsatisfied, Cici grabbed Christie by the throat and unleashed an even more intense burst of Holy Light.
Only after Christie’s neck had been burned into a festering wound did Cici finally release her with a look of satisfaction.
"Tsk, tsk. This is what happens when a bad dog betrays its master. Only disobedient dogs dare bare their fangs at their owner."
"Betray... my master?"
The Queen felt as though her mind had been struck by a hammer.
Everything suddenly became hazy.
"What is she talking about? Demons and the Holy Light have always been mortal enemies."
Back then, it had been the Pope himself who taught her the grand formation used to seal demons.
Chuckling softly, Cici placed a hand against Christie’s forehead and swept through her consciousness before shaking her head.
"I thought you were the Queen of the Ancient Moon Empire."
"It seems I was mistaken."
"So the Orb of Destiny really did fall into the hands of the Calamity."
"Riemann was truly worthless."
"So many people went in, yet not a single treasure made it back. They all died at the hands of the Calamity."
"What?"
The Queen was horrified.
She instinctively tried to summon her Divine Artifacts, only to discover that every single artifact she had hidden within her soul had disappeared.
"The Nether Divine Chosen!"
"She stole every one of my artifacts! How did she do it? She even sealed away my ability to speak!"
Christie’s face turned deathly pale as cold sweat poured down her body.
When she had been struck by the Nether Divine Chosen’s attack, she had assumed it merely damaged her soul.
She had never imagined the consequences would be this severe.
"No wonder..."
"She had the ability to teleport, yet she never bothered killing me."
"So that was her plan. She was afraid I’d dismantle all my Divine Artifacts before she could steal them."
"How vicious..."
All strength drained from Christie’s body as she collapsed onto the floor of the cage.
"I should have stayed behind and fought to the death inside those ruins."
"My treasures..."
"They’re all gone."
"How... how is that even possible?"
"No... impossible..."
Seeing Christie lying there in despair, Cici quickly lost interest and lazily turned to leave.
"Hey, time to eat."
"Don’t starve yourself to death."
"The distinguished guests in Holy Angel City are dying to discover where the demons’ nest is hidden."
A nearby guard casually tossed an uncleaned ribbonfish into the cage, letting it smack against Christie’s face.
He let out a cold laugh.
For the briefest instant, a deep violet glow flashed across his eyes.