The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

Unlike the bizarre and fantastical "game" areas, which were set up in various special "scenes," the central part of this facility looked more like a prison. Although the reinforced doors, surveillance systems, and even automated defense devices had been completely destroyed by the previous intruders, Fish could still tell what level of security the facility once possessed.

Of course, he wasn't surprised at all: if there weren't even these basic defensive measures in a place like this, then the people of the old civilization were truly audacious. After all, the thing imprisoned here could mobilize thousands upon thousands of mindless puppet legions to fight for it with just a thought.

If left unchecked, theoretically, the "Tai Sui" (a mythical creature) could easily wreak havoc on the entire world.

"I can tell. Those guys who broke in earlier were obviously experts," Huang Yan said, unlike the others who were staring in disbelief at the various devices. "As technological archaeologists, they were quite skilled. They disarmed the defenses here with minimal damage and quickly took over the equipment... Mr. Fish, please sit down in the second seat on the left."

"Okay, sure," Fish nodded. Inside the room, there was a row of chairs corresponding to control consoles, some of which showed signs of having been moved. The screens on the consoles in front of some of the chairs were still lit, flashing various codes, records, and constantly changing graphics; however, no one present knew what they meant.

"Now, press the third white button from the top left twice. Then press the bottom of the green switch on the right side of the control panel," Huang Yan continued to instruct. "Okay, now put your hand on the control panel so I can directly connect to the system."

After Fish did as instructed, the indicator lights on the control panel flashed wildly for a while before falling silent. "The previous operation data has been exported. How interesting..."

"How is it interesting?" Ange asked.

"Oh, it seems that Miss Shana still has companions in this sad era," Huang Yan said. "That's truly a cause for celebration."

"W-What did you say?! Companion?!" Shana was taken aback.

"Well, that's not entirely accurate," Huang Yan said to the survivor of the old civilization era. "At least, the guy who visited here before was almost certainly not a resident of the reservation zone you used to live in, which was based on restricting technological development and prohibiting inhumane pleasures. But, that person was very likely also from the old civilization era."

"what?"

"This person's name is Iskandar Lomonosov—his information is in the old civilization's citizen database; he holds a doctorate in the history of science and technology," Huang Yan said. "Further information, such as when and where he obtained his degree, where he previously worked, and what papers and research achievements he has, is no longer available because the old civilization's citizen database itself has been destroyed. However, the system here has recognized the ID number he entered and confirmed his basic identity."

"Wait a minute," Ange said, "Iskander Lomonosov... isn't that the guy who recently helped General Rissem seize power in Fayon? The same one who's the archaeologist specializing in technological advancement?"

"At least the two names are exactly the same, and your intelligence sources have also confirmed that when this facility was invaded from the outside, Dr. Iskandar Lomonosov left the Duchy of Fayun and conducted a secret expedition with the support of Emperor Antemius III," Huang Yan said. "While we cannot completely rule out some extreme coincidences, the probability that the two are the same person is almost one hundred percent."

"So, the one who forced my father to abdicate and faked my 'death' was actually someone from an old civilization?" Ange asked.

Of course, this fact didn't surprise Ange too much: since ancient times, there had been legends circulating that "people from the old civilization could gain super-long lifespans by faking death." And after meeting Meru and Shana, these legends had been proven to be true. Therefore, it wasn't too surprising that people from the old civilization had survived to this era.

But why would someone from an old civilization serve the royal family of the Pan-Pacific Empire and get involved in the power struggle of the Principality of Fayun? Why did he come here? What is his ultimate goal?

"Hmm... Interesting. I've checked the data from the Coordination and Operations Headquarters. This person isn't an operator from headquarters, so he's definitely an enemy. The operation logs show that after destroying the access control and defense systems and breaking in, he quickly took over the facility's control system and set up a teleportation trap to throw anyone who enters into a death game... In fact, several unlucky souls who accidentally stumbled in have already been thrown into the 'game' and died because of this."

"This is truly wicked," Shuangye said. "Such an immoral act is simply intolerable to me."

"Considering that the original defenses of the facility were destroyed and could not be repaired, anyone can enter directly here, so I can understand this approach," Huang Yan commented. "What's even more interesting is that after that, that guy deliberately awakened the 'central brain' which was in a state of quiescent hibernation and partially lifted the restrictions on its ability to control the parasite and the host. Before that, this creature was used by the people of the old civilization as part of their immoral and bloodthirsty 'entertainment,' and was only allowed to issue commands to the host within the facility's boundaries according to the requirements of the 'game' designer."

"Just like the zombies and monsters we encountered before..." Alicia whispered.

"Yes, but after the restrictions were partially lifted, it is now allowed to directly contact and control all 'Tai Sui' hosts within a two-thousand-kilometer radius."

"Then... those 'Tai Sui' that originally existed as wild creatures in the forests and tundra were 'activated' and began to systematically possess various creatures under control, eventually becoming an army?" Fish said.

That's roughly it.

"Hmm..." Ange swayed the "fox radish" behind her, lost in thought. "But why two thousand kilometers? Can't it affect places further away?"

"Judging from the operation logs, it is clearly possible, although the efficiency will be reduced," Huang Yan replied. "It is obvious that, for whatever purpose, Iskandar Lomonosov wants to confine this stage of the crisis to the North End."

"Indeed." Fish bit his lip. Taking the Anadyr Plateau region where they were currently located as the center, a diameter of two thousand kilometers perfectly covered the northernmost lands formerly known as "Siberia" and "Outer Mongolia," but it basically could not reach the core territory of any major country or city-state. The purpose of this design was undoubtedly to make things bigger, but not to make them too big.

"It seems that Iskander Lomonosov's plan is to create a relatively controllable war," Ange continued, wagging her long tail—a characteristic of hers when she was deep in thought. "This war needs to affect enough people and regions, causing widespread chaos and high attention, but it can't be too large... So, the key question is, what is the purpose of 'causing chaos and attention'?"

"Generally speaking, wars also serve purposes such as diverting conflicts, consuming excess resources, and accumulating political capital... but so far, I haven't seen any possibility of that," Yue Die sighed. Although this guy's level as a military commander was really not flattering, as a noble lady from the Ten Victories Marquisate, she knew these basic political common sense principles.

“Indeed, that’s the most perplexing part,” Ange continued. “So far, the war in the North has resulted in a large number of casualties and refugees, but no existing political power has benefited from it: the Empire and the armies of the various duchies have suffered heavy losses, and the loss of newly conquered territories has actually harmed the interests of all countries. Although the expansion and invasion of the ‘Tai Sui’ have been contained on some battlefields, overall, there are no obvious winners.”

"In fact, the Empire seems to be trying its best to cover up what happened here," Moonbeam frowned. "I suspect that after the war, they may not even announce what actually happened here, but cover it up with things like 'accidental chimera riot' or 'cult rebellion.' In that case, it will be even less likely that many people will be recognized and rewarded."

"Good analysis. In fact, there's one more thing you all need to pay attention to," Huang Yan added, "Analysis of the last part of the operational logs left by Iskander Lomonosov shows that before he left, he assigned a series of coordinates to the 'Central Brain' here, requesting that they be prioritized for attack. These coordinates..."

"...I guess it overlaps with various facilities left behind by people from the past, right?" Shana said in a deep voice. Although she wasn't a professional researcher, as the descendant of a scientific research expert, she successfully activated several devices and accessed some data that didn't require any permissions.

"Yes. Like old automated factories, storage centers, and... hibernation facilities for people like you."

"That explains why there was a three-way conflict before—besides the New Human army and the host legion of 'Tai Sui,' a large number of autonomous weapons from the old civilization era were also involved," Fish nodded. "But what was the purpose of doing this? Those remnants of the old civilization era should have had defensive measures, right?"

"That's right. Moreover, these autonomous weapons are far more powerful than the individual combat capabilities of the wild animals that 'Tai Sui' inhabits. Although 'Tai Sui' later began to parasitize human soldiers and seize the weapons and equipment of the Pan-Pacific Empire's army, due to the technological gap, unless a large number of armored warriors are deployed, the regular army of this era is actually no match for the security equipment of that time."

"In other words..."

"From a military perspective, attacks on these facilities were ineffective, while the autonomous weapons that participated in the battle severely damaged the military strength of 'Tai Sui,' causing their combat effectiveness to decline significantly."

"Then why would it do this... wait, if the goal itself is to 'get the autonomous weapons of the old civilization into battle,' then that makes sense," Ange muttered to herself, "but what is the fundamental strategic objective?"

"I don't understand either, Your Highness," Huang Yan said. "However, congratulations on completing this investigation mission. I have uploaded all the relevant data. The Joint Operations Headquarters will fulfill its promise and provide you with a batch of important support. This will be extremely valuable for the future recapture of the Fayun Kingdom."

"Support? What kind?" Ange raised one eyebrow.

"That's a long story. I'll explain it slowly after we leave here," Huang Yan replied. "However, before that, there's one more thing we need to do."

"I know, go find that 'trapped soul'." Fish remembered the graffiti he saw when he entered this place.

"Yes, I guess it probably doesn't like the current situation either."

Because the room was relatively small, finding their target didn't take much effort: in the very center of the room, inside a multi-layered transparent enclosure, lay a writhing, rather bizarre-looking organic mass. Its appearance was nothing like a wrinkled human brain; rather, it resembled some kind of rotten fruit covered in spots, its grayish-green skin dotted with strange, sunken brown patches. Numerous tubes continuously injected life-sustaining nutrient solutions and gases into it, then extracted metabolic waste.

"Is this what they call the 'central brain'?" Ange asked.

"To be precise, it's an incomplete form of the 'Tai Sui's' central brain structure. After being captured, parts of its structure were removed for observation, research, and control... Wait, Fish, what happened to you?"

Unlike the others who were filled with astonishment, Fish was once again plunged into a bizarre memory upon seeing this thing: this time, what he recalled was a scene he had seen in his past memories—mountains and swamps shrouded in purple mist, strange creatures soaring through the sky in the fog. Lakes filled with purple mist, bizarre shapes constantly twisting and changing in the sunlight…

More importantly, this time, he could sense that the purple fog in his memory was "alive"—there was something with thought and consciousness within the fog, waiting to make contact with him.

"Mr. Fish?" Huang Yan asked again. This time, in order to bring Fish back to his senses as quickly as possible, she also gave Fish a slight electric shock between his legs.

"Meow?!"

"I noticed you were spacing out just now. What happened?"

"N-nothing." Although Fish subconsciously wanted to describe the scene he had just seen in his daydream, he ultimately chose to remain silent.

Next, he transformed Phoenix Flame's arm armor into the most commonly used ion gun, aimed at the sticky substance, and completed the charging.

In the instant before the plasma was launched, Fish suddenly had a peculiar feeling… a feeling that seemed to originate from the imprisoned matter. Besides resentment, rage, and hatred, there was another sensation.

That is liberation.

Thus, Fish temporarily put an end to the crisis in the North Pole.

But everyone knew that it was not over yet.