Industrial Cthulhu: Starting as an Island Lord

Chloe’s heart skipped a beat, an extremely ominous feeling rising within her. She shoved the lookout aside and rushed to the window to observe.

Unknowingly, the airship had already approached quite close to the Martha Archipelago. The bustling ports and ships were all exposed to Chloe’s eyes.

As an extraordinary being, her vision was far superior to that of ordinary people. Even without a telescope, she could tell that something was off below—the island was indeed full of people, orderly and busy, but just as the lookout had said, their appearances were strange.

Too large.

The proportions looked bizarre no matter how she viewed them. Chloe hastily grabbed the telescope and took a closer look below.

Sailors unloaded cargo from ships, the Pirate King’s patrols shouted to maintain order, and the archipelago’s natives peddled snacks and drinks—everything seemed normal.

Except for one thing: the ones doing all this were not humans, but murlocs.

Chloe’s pupils shrank to pinpoints, trembling uncontrollably.

She moved the telescope, looking toward a distant outpost where murlocs stood guard with curved blades. In the distant market, murlocs sold seafood and vegetables—other murlocs carried baskets, picking and choosing while haggling over prices.

She turned to another side—murlocs. Another turn—murlocs. Everywhere she looked—murlocs.The entire island was filled with murlocs. Not a single human in sight!!!

“What is the name of this island?”

“Tula Island.”

Tula Island, a relatively unimportant small island. The Martha Archipelago had many more islands. Perhaps only this place had an issue. This thought surfaced in Chloe’s mind.

The other islands must be fine!

The people on the airship quickly decided to check other islands first. As if fleeing, they hastened toward another nearby island.

“All murlocs.”

Chloe murmured. The few aboard the airship exchanged glances.

In the silence, the airship changed direction, heading for the next island.

Strictly speaking, the airship’s speed wasn’t slow—faster than a sailing ship. In no time, they had scouted most of Gem Bay, covering its key islands.

Every island appeared ”normal,” with no visible abnormalities—except that murlocs had replaced humans in daily life.

The murlocs worked diligently, drank, gambled, schemed, and made a ruckus.

If one ignored their appearance, no one would notice anything unusual. This was exactly how Gem Bay should be.

This left the members of the Moths Chasing Fire increasingly bewildered. Chloe even conducted several brief purification rituals to ensure they weren’t under some illusion, mistaking humans for murlocs due to contamination.

Yet after all their efforts, the islands were still full of murlocs—no humans in sight.

The people on the airship fell silent.

The sight before them was too dissonant. These murlocs and humans were indistinguishable in behavior, and they couldn’t detect any abnormalities, yet their eyes beheld terrifying monsters. This disparity was eerily unsettling, sending chills through their hearts.

They had seen murlocs before—both alive and dead. Most of them had even dissected them. These creatures were pathetic in combat once on land, little more than a joke before an army armed with firearms.

Yet watching the murlocs behave just like humans, they felt a deep, inexplicable fear creeping from the depths of their hearts, dragging them into a dark and frigid abyss.

If they were simply monsters, no matter how grotesque or repulsive, Chloe wouldn’t feel fear. But were the entities on these islands truly monsters? Or were they humans?

Chloe couldn’t tell.

Seeing those murlocs’ expressions, indistinguishable from human emotions, an unspeakable terror gripped Chloe. When the boundary between monster and human blurred, even the most normal actions became horrifying.

Chloe took several deep breaths before barely managing to calm herself. She turned to look at the others, only to find them frozen in place, terror-stricken.

Her gaze turned sharp, and she kicked and slapped them awake. They had been too overwhelmed by fear, causing their willpower to crack. In such moments, their consciousness might leak and be contaminated by the Sea of Unawareness.

Those with weak resolve were easily polluted; those too resolute polluted reality.

“Wake up! Now is not the time to sink into despair—Castel is still waiting for our report!”

Once they snapped back to reality, cold sweat drenched their bodies.

They were cultists of the Moths Chasing Fire, yet their minds had nearly collapsed. This bizarre phenomenon was beyond their comprehension.

“Chief, what do we do? Should we return and report this?” the lookout asked with a grim expression. He had been the first to notice the anomaly and was particularly sensitive, which was why he was chosen for this role.

This sensitivity had also been his downfall—his loss of control lasted the longest, exposing him to the most contamination. Though still a mortal, making the effects less severe than for an extraordinary being, his condition had still deteriorated significantly.

“No, we can’t go back. Castel doesn’t have much time left. We must uncover some information!” Chloe gritted her teeth, staring intensely at the ground. “Write our findings into the black box, then find a place to land—I’m going down to investigate!”

“Chief!?”

The group was startled. Although the murlocs weren’t particularly strong, their numbers were overwhelming. Even as an extraordinary being, she could be swarmed to death!

“Do you have a better idea?”

Silence.

Chloe’s tone softened slightly. “Look at our altitude. At this position, they should absolutely be able to see us. Yet those creatures have shown no reaction—I just checked through the telescope. Many murlocs glanced in our direction but didn’t focus on us at all!”

The Moths Chasing Fire members exchanged uneasy glances.

They had all been handpicked by Chloe for their research into secret histories.

Knowledge related to secret histories was extremely dangerous and offered little direct combat utility, so few pursued it. But at this moment, their expertise became invaluable.

One hesitated before speaking tentatively: 【Dreaming】?

“Yes, it looks very much like 【Dreaming】.” Chloe nodded.

Dreaming was a common occurrence in aberrations. The reality of this world was not stable—individual willpower, if strong enough, could pierce the walls of reality.

And 【Dreaming】 was the most common manifestation of this.

During an aberration, ordinary people were usually oblivious. They could not perceive changes in the Sea of Unawareness or recognize the occurrence of an aberration.

Thus, many mortals affected by an aberration stubbornly believed that everything was still ”normal.” Their willpower interfered with reality, allowing them to live ”normally” amid the anomaly.

But why did these people perceive themselves as murlocs?