Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 250 The real murderer
The step of asking for your name is not done casually. Knowing your own name is very important in mysticism. It means having a solid understanding of yourself.

The world is idealistic, and solid cognition is the cornerstone of everything. Even a powerful being like the evil god cannot have self-awareness. Therefore, although it is powerful, no organization attempts to cooperate with the evil god. They are all trying to seize their power.

And since this fishman knows his own name, it probably means that he has really lived, whether as a human or as a fishman.

Memories may be false, but self-seriousness can only be deflected, not fabricated.

A name is the shortest spell.

"Fabian" at least really existed in this world. Even if this fishman now is not him, he is the echo of this existence.

The lookout paused briefly, then, prompted by Chloe, replied, "Have you heard of Jeremiah?"

"Jeremiah?" The fishman reached out to scratch his head, but because his arm was too short to reach, he looked down at his hand in confusion and replied, "I have some impression of him. Isn't he the captain of the Black Pearl? I heard he's become very prosperous recently."

"When was the last time you saw him?"

The fishman's expression gradually became alert: "What does this have to do with you?"

The lookout rolled his eyes, took out a pocket watch from his pocket and handed it over: "Hey, help me, I have something to ask him."

The fishman picked up his pocket watch, looked down at it with some difficulty, and then grinned. "You are really generous. It's been almost two months since I last saw him. I have a lot of news about him. Is there anything else you want to ask?"

“Have there been many ships out to sea recently?”

"Going out to sea? What ship do you mean?"

"all."

"That must be a lot, uh, uh." It suddenly frowned and muttered to itself in some surprise, "It seems that there are no ships going out to sea recently?"

"Not only does it have self-awareness, it also has long-term memory, and even its recent memories are flawless!?"

The several Fire Moths on the airship looked at each other in confusion.

This is not something that can be explained by [entering a dream].

People who [enter dreams] often have only a few obsessions, such as living a normal life, going to work, etc. Apart from this obsession that is strong enough to override reality, those people are essentially just empty shells.

But the fish-man monster in front of him had clear logic, answered questions normally, and could even recall short-term and medium-term memories. This was a little too incredible.

Could it really be a human, and then suddenly turned into a fish-man?
How is this possible? How can a human turn into a merman? These are two completely unrelated creatures. It's a fantasy from any angle.

After trying to ask a few other fishmen, the Fire Moths fell into confusion.

"There seems to be nothing wrong with these islands—except that the humans have turned into murlocs."

"This situation is unlike anything we've encountered before."

The lookout had already returned to the airship from the ladder: "How about killing a few murlocs?"

Chloe hesitated for a moment and nodded: "Let's try firing a shot from the airship." At this time, there was no one on the island in the airship. The few of them increased the distance a little, out of the range of muskets and bows and arrows, and then Chloe picked up the bolt-action rifle.

A superhuman can keep his hands absolutely steady when holding a gun. Chloe can basically hit whatever she points. After she fired a few test shots to calibrate, she knocked down a fishman with one shot.

This murloc was located in a downtown area. Its sudden fall frightened the nearby murlocs, and the blood flowing on the ground caused panic in the murlocs who were unaware of the situation.

Because they were in a busy city, the panic spread instantly, but Chloe soon realized that something was wrong.

The panic didn't spread far before it gradually subsided.

After a bit of a fuss, the fishermen gradually returned to their normal ways, busying themselves with hawking, working, patrolling, and bargaining.

The murloc's body was still on the ground, and the rest of the murlocs simply walked around it as if it were an insignificant stone.

The people on the airship looked at each other and frowned.

The situation is getting weirder.

"Lower altitude," Chloe ordered.

The operator of the Noisier was stunned for a moment, then showed an expression of sudden realization. He understood what Chloe meant. Before, the fishmen had been ignoring the airship, but what if the airship lowered its altitude to a point where they could no longer ignore it?
The airship slowly descended, Chloe fired another shot, and then the airship descended again
Finally, the airship almost landed on the ground. Chloe pointed a gun at the merman's head and killed him. The merman was still in a panic and still ignored the airship.

Chloe flipped over and got off the airship. Amid the exclamations of the others, she took out a dagger and stabbed a murloc to death.

The other fishmen screamed in panic and pointed at Chloe. The harbor guards pushed through the crowd and rushed over, forcing Chloe to drop her weapons and surrender.

Chloe didn't move, just stood there with the dagger in her hand.

The patrols confronted Chloe for a while, then slowly dispersed. Even though Chloe still had a dagger in her hand, she just frowned and moved away, showing a wary expression.

Chloe waved at the airship, and the machine gun muzzle on the airship was retracted. Everyone on it was very anxious. Just when she was surrounded by the patrol team, the Fire Moths almost opened fire.

Chloe ignored the anxious calls of the people on the airship. She stood there thinking for a long time before climbing the ladder back to the airship.

"These murlocs are vivid and lifelike, completely different from the rigid and repetitive people in [Entering the Dream]. But after forcibly breaking their state, they became much more rigid. Whether it's their responses or reactions, they are very stiff."

"And even if they're killed directly, they won't realize their condition is wrong. This is completely different from [Entering a Dream]."

Several Fire Moths looked at each other with confused expressions, while a few seemed to have guessed something and fell into deep thought.

People who [fall into dreams] always have some doubts about their condition. If they realize that something is wrong with them, they will wake up - even if waking up means death.

But these fishmen seemed unwilling to wake up and could not be awakened no matter what they did.
What kind of person can’t be woken up?

Chloe's face became much gloomier - only those who pretend to be asleep can't be awakened.

"I can probably guess what's going on." She turned around and looked at the largest island in the distance. "Let's increase our altitude. Let's go over there—to the Pirate King's Court and see what the Pirate King is dreaming about."

(End of this chapter)