Industrial Cthulhu, starting from the island lord

Chapter 193 Something is Wrong with This World (I)

Those arms seemed to be grabbing everywhere unconsciously, but the sea urchin set its sights on Ash. The moment it spotted Ash, it rushed over. Its speed was not fast, but even Zeus could see its trajectory clearly.

This is completely different from the reports of the banshees.

Was it because of the difference between the sea and the shore? Hughes didn't dare interrupt Ash's battle, so he opened a private chat to ask Nini.

"It wasn't like this before, was it?"

"No, in the sea it was incredibly fast, crushing everything it passed through. How did it become like this now?"

Nini was also shocked. The monster with arms all over it was really too weird and twisted. And why did these hands look so much like human arms?
Whether it is the polluted beast, the polluted snake, the sea urchin monster or the fishman in the abyss, they have nothing to do with humans. Why did this sea urchin suddenly grow human arms when it came ashore?
This is really too bizarre.

Ash easily led the arm monster around for a few rounds. Once it lost its terrifying speed, it was just an ordinary enemy that posed little threat. At most, it looked a little strange. Ash tried to chop off a few arms with a knife, and black liquid flowed out from the broken parts of those arms, as thick as oil.

After some testing, Ash led the monster to the ambush point. Soon, an explosion was heard, and the monster's flesh and blood was blown everywhere.

The explosion reduced it to a mere half, its tattered, twisted arms flailing feebly on the ground. But it wasn't dead, and was even rapidly recovering. Ash frowned and tossed in another bomb, finally finishing it off. Bombs exploding on land weren't as effective as those exploding in water, but the advantage was that they were much safer for the user.

"It has a very strong vitality and good recovery ability, but its other qualities are unremarkable."

Lacking the sea urchin's high speed and unstoppable strength, nor any new abilities, these arms seemed merely intimidating.

The banshees came out from their hiding places and looked at each other in bewilderment at the remains on the ground.

They spent so much effort and prepared for a long time, but the enemy was just defeated like this?
Even the dullest person could sense that something was amiss. Whether it was the fishmen or the sea urchin monsters, they all seemed to have undergone some inexplicable distortion, which did not make them stronger. Instead, these enemies were all pitifully weak, and just a little ugly in appearance.

The sea was calm and no more monsters appeared. After observing for a while, Zeus also walked out of the webway. The crowd made way for him and he slowly walked to the monster's body.

The changes in the sea urchins were so strange that he decided to come and see for himself.

Zeus picked up a severed hand, which was cut off by Ash's long sword. The broken end was very smooth. After wiping the black liquid with a handkerchief, the broken surface was revealed.

There are bones, which seem to be similar to those of humans. As for the structures such as muscles and blood vessels, Xu Si doesn't know much about them. At first glance, there seems to be no problem. The skin on the hands is covered with twisted lines, which have now dimmed.

After thinking for a while, he turned the severed hand over again, looked at the palm and examined it carefully.

As a result, this time the observation time was much longer than before, and Zeus's expression gradually became strange.

Richard on the side was a little confused. He was standing next to Zeus and he saw the severed hand. With his many years of experience in human anatomy, he didn't see anything wrong.

Besides, it's normal for this kind of monster to grow any kind of limbs.

"My Lord, have you found anything?"

"Yes." Hughes' face was gloomy. He picked up the severed hand and showed it to Richard and the banshees. "Look at the fingerprints on this hand."

Richard certainly knew about fingerprints. Everyone's fingerprints are different, and experienced patrolmen are said to be able to use them to solve cases. But what's so strange about fingerprints?

He took the severed hand from Hughes and examined it closely. After a while, a layer of sweat broke out on his forehead. The severed hand had fingerprints, but only on three fingers. Two fingers had none. Only part of the palm had fingerprints. The other part was empty.

It was as if a skilled sculptor had thrown his work halfway through to a shoddy apprentice, or as if a painter had drawn a detailed horse head but had a child sketch the body and limbs.

Half of the hand is lifelike, showing the natural beauty of the human body, while the other half is just for business purposes.

A strange feeling gripped Richard's heart, like a sticky, cold hand, causing him to shiver.

Hughes handed the severed hand to Richard and turned to examine the other arms on the ground. The banshees also came forward to help examine them.

Soon, the arm monster was checked.

"Some hands have fingerprints, some don't, some bones are normal, and some just look 'normal' but the structure inside is extremely chaotic."

"This monster"

Weird, chaotic, twisted, crazy—many words popped up in Hughes' mind. Finally, he just shook his head and said, "This operation was a success. Everyone, go back and rest. We should dissect the monster's corpse first. Mr. Richard, thank you for your help."

Richard nodded. "No problem, my lord. You can leave the interrogation of the murlocs to me. The Fire Moth is quite good at this."

The banshees began to clean up the battlefield. Richard hurriedly left with the corpses and the murloc captives. Zeus returned to the cathedral with a worried look on his face. He had set aside a separate room here as his office.

There were no decorations or furniture in the room, just a simple table. Zeus had a lot of things to deal with, and he estimated that there would be people coming and going here in the future, just like the manor.

But Xius really didn't expect that the place was so crowded with people now.

He stood at the door and looked into the house in surprise.

Connor, Alexi, Chloe, Una and others were all in the house. Almost all the senior executives of Castel were here. You know, they were all very busy after the war started, and Zeus might not be able to find them all even if he called them.

Hughes' heart skipped a beat, a terrible feeling forming. What could possibly have brought everyone together? He and Ash were the only ones present when the Murlocs and Sea Urchins attacked.

"If you have any trouble, just tell me directly."

He took a few deep breaths, slowly walked to the desk, and looked at everyone.

But after the people in the room looked at each other, their expressions became strange. They hesitated and looked as if they found it difficult to speak.

"My Lord, this is actually good news."

“I have good news too.”

"And here I am."

Hughes blinked, his face full of confusion.

(End of this chapter)