The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Huh? What's wrong?"

Fish, who had just been immersed in the sweet dilemma of how to deal with the woman beside him, was jolted awake by the scream. All the jumbled thoughts in his mind vanished instantly.

"Oh no! Shana's leg is cramping!" Melu screamed again, accompanied by the loud splashing sound of water being slapped against the surface. "She can't stand up! Someone help us!"

"I'm coming!" Startled, Fish rushed towards the direction of the sound—although the hot spring pool below was less than 1.5 meters deep, it was enough to drown a petite girl like Shana or Meru. More importantly, without proper emergency rescue measures, even very shallow water could drown a person, and even bathtubs and tubs could be fatal.

In short, this is something that cannot be taken lightly.

Melu's scream came not far from Fish's location, and he arrived there in just a few seconds: sure enough, Shana, dressed in a bear costume, was lying face down in the hot water, struggling in agony. Melu was trying to lift her head out of the water, but couldn't because of Shana's desperate struggles.

"Ugh... Oh no..." Fish bit his lip nervously—contrary to what many people with no lifesaving experience imagine, helping a drowning person, especially one who is completely unable to swim but is drowning, is not just about dragging the person to shore and then squeezing water out of their airway and performing the much-anticipated (only if the person is a beautiful girl) artificial respiration.

In fact, when people panic, they will struggle blindly due to biological instincts, and even subconsciously grab onto the rescuer, dragging the other person into the water as well!

"Step aside, let me do it." Seeing Meru in trouble, Fish immediately pulled her aside, then took matters into his own hands, supporting Shana's flat chest, and first lifted her head out of the hot spring water. Then, after her struggles weakened, he changed his position, restrained Shana's arms, and began trying to pull her ashore…

But just then, he noticed the smile on Shana's face.

"Everyone! Now's the time! Let's see who has the best skills!"

With Shana's shout, Moon Butterfly, Frost Leaf, Sachi, and Alicia, who had been lying in ambush for a long time, emerged simultaneously from behind the nearby artificial rocks, decorative bamboo groves, and sculptures. Meanwhile, Meru immediately pulled out the water gun and tomato she had hidden underwater.

"Fire!"

Tomato juice, laced with different colored dyes, and tomatoes flew into the air simultaneously from different directions... but none of them hit their target. This was because Fish, who had been on high alert, immediately released his grip the moment he realized something was wrong, and like a diver performing a backflip, he lay face up and disappeared underwater.

As a result, Shana and Meru, who were closest to him, unfortunately each got three or four tomatoes, their bodies soaked in colorful tomato juice, looking like unlucky characters who had just crawled out of some old-fashioned comedy cartoon.

As for the others... they could only look at each other blankly, because they had completely used up their "ammunition" in the attack just now.

"Whoaaaaah—Mr. Fish, you're so cunning!!" Moonbeam was the first to throw down her water gun and erupt in anger. "Tell me! Did you already know we were hiding here?"

"Of course I—don't know." Fish shrugged as he emerged from the water. "Otherwise, would I have been tricked into coming out? It's you guys who actually let Shana set such a dangerous trap..."

"It's alright," Shana waved her hand casually. "In the past, in order to improve everyone's physical abilities and cultivate an awareness of being close to nature, our reserve placed a lot of emphasis on physical labor and exercise. Besides, I'm the best swimmer among all the kids, so performing in this shallow water is completely risk-free."

"Besides, Shana doesn't care about inheritance rights or titles in this era. She's content as long as she can be protected and live safely," Melu added. "So she willingly gave up her opportunity and acted as bait. I'm sorry for taking advantage of your sympathy..."

"It's alright. Compared to rankings and all that, everyone's safety is the most important thing," Fish chuckled twice. "As for why I was able to dodge your attacks... come on, for me, 'staying vigilant in all circumstances' is as natural as breathing now. Even here, I won't completely let my guard down."

"Well said, Your Highness Fish." Frostleaf nodded vigorously. "Seeing your attitude of being ready for battle, I am completely at ease."

"But then... there are no winners today..." Compared to Frostleaf, Sachi seemed a little dejected. "Although I don't really care, but... wow!"

Just as Xiaoxing was dejectedly heading towards the basement exit, she suddenly slipped and fell into the water in a flurry of motion—what caused her to slip was a tomato that had missed its target in the previous "battle" and was now stuck on the small bridge after being smashed.

Of course, thanks to the quick reflexes of the Newtypes, Xiaoxing quickly closed her eyes, covered her mouth and nose, and protected her vital parts before falling into the water. So, apart from being a little frightened, she was completely unharmed. But then, something truly shocking happened: the rotten tomato flew through the air in an arc and then smashed down on Fish's head with perfect accuracy. Fish, whose attention was completely drawn to Xiaoxing falling into the water, didn't even notice the gooey mess falling towards his skull.

"Snapped!"

After hearing the soft sound, everyone present focused their attention on Fish, and then turned their mixed gazes to Xiaoxing, who had just emerged from the water. Xiaoxing paused for a moment, then smiled at the others.

"Hehehe...it looks like...I think I won?"

Of course, apart from Shana, who didn't care about it at all, everyone else's expressions looked... not very happy.

"Well……"

The next morning, when Fish sat up from his soft velvet bed, he was not surprised to find that he was sore all over.

Because of Xiaoxing's incredibly unexpected and lucky victory, although everyone else acknowledged her win, everyone except Shana was...in a terrible mood. To help everyone recover quickly, Fish had no choice but to agree to provide everyone else with a free service...

...and then he got exhausted.

The others were manageable, but the real problem lay with Frostleaf and Moonbeam—Frostleaf's request was to practice swordsmanship with her. And Moonbeam, her nemesis, immediately made the exact same request.

In an attempt to demonstrate their superior swordsmanship, the two women unleashed their full power, launching a fierce attack on Fish. They didn't stop until they nearly broke their training wooden swords.

Fish, who was not equipped with the Phoenix Flame and had no advantage in strength or speed, even hallucinated seeing the Sanzu River before the end of the training due to excessive fatigue and tension.

"I'm sorry, but I think a little bit of fatigue is a good thing," a calm voice suddenly came from the doorway, interrupting Fish's yawn. "Although according to our agreement, I must stay by your side until we finally achieve our goal, you can't always rely on me, considering the possibility of all sorts of extreme situations."

"Hmm... I understand..." Fish glanced at the pink-haired little girl who was talking to him and shrugged—this little girl was a "clone" they had accidentally picked up from the "labyrinth" before, used by ancient bloodthirsty spectators to personally experience life-or-death gladiatorial combat. At that time, because the original fairy-like terminal was accidentally destroyed in the battle, Phoenix Flame managed to take over and control this body.

During the journey to the North Pole, the body controlled by Huang Yan proved invaluable in a rather unique way: she donned meticulously crafted fake animal ears and a fake fox tail, dyed her hair gold, and used the mimicry skill she had previously gained through her devouring ability to don a "mask," disguising herself as An Jie and continuing to operate there under her identity. Although Huang Yan only left behind a relatively simple data copy to control this body, she managed to remain completely undetected.

Of course, after Ange returned, Huang Yan no longer needed to impersonate her with a clone. So, this body shed its disguise and rejoined the now greatly expanded maid corps, mainly responsible for waking Fish up every morning and providing him with a daily report.

"There shouldn't be anything important today, right?" Fish asked, taking a hot towel, toothpaste, and a soft-bristled brush from the tray brought by the pink-haired loli while grooming himself. "Now that we've finished arranging new identities for Baron Ruan Aofu and the others, and settling those children brought from the North, the main tasks for the near future are done. Now we should be able to enjoy a few months of slow-paced life, waiting..."

"That's right, if the plan remains unchanged, that's exactly how it is," the pink-haired loli said.

"Huh?" Fish shuddered—if Huang Yan said that, it meant that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, something must have gone wrong.

"To put it simply, the intelligence department of the Principality of Penglai has received an important report. Grand Duke Utamaro has requested that this report be handed over to us," Huang Yan said, taking out a document and reading it aloud. "The intelligence department has recently learned that the current regime of the Principality of Fayun—that is, the Regency Council that previously launched the coup—is semi-publicly contacting some small autonomous city-states, including Oasis Port."

"Oasis Harbor... I really miss it." Upon hearing the name, Fish recalled his past: on that stormy night a few years ago, when a strange meteorite appeared, his earliest memory was of being washed ashore on the breakwater of Oasis Harbor along with countless other fish. And most of his life, as he could remember, was spent in Oasis Harbor.

In a sense, it wouldn't be wrong to call that place Fish's "hometown." After all, it truly holds many of his memories.

"What exactly were the contents of these contacts?"

"According to intelligence from the Principality of Penglai, most of these are relatively minor matters, such as trying to persuade these city-states to continue to recognize the agreement made with the previous Grand Duke Fayun, and trying to persuade them not to recognize Princess Anjie's status. They are not particularly important," Huang Yan replied. "The only exception is the direction of Oasis Port."

"What's the exception?"

"The Duchy of Fayun has sent a special envoy to demand the purchase of Dark Island in Oasis Harbor at a high price, while conducting routine negotiations. And related negotiations have already begun," Huang Yan said. "Although the special envoy is nominally appointed by General Rissimer, the leader of the Regency Council, according to reliable sources, the instructions he carries come from Iskandar Lomonosov."

"Buy Dark Isle? What does that mean?" Fish was immediately filled with questions.

Of course, Fish did have some impression of the small island that Huang Yan mentioned—or rather, all the people of Oasis Harbor had quite a few impressions of it. Oasis Harbor itself is an atoll located on the edge of the Mariana Islands. Long ago, it was one of many volcanic islands formed by the geological activity of the Pacific Ocean floor tectonic plates. As the ocean floor tectonic plates drifted, these volcanic islands gradually moved and sank into the sea, and the corals that grew around the islands eventually formed a ring structure that emerged from the sea.

Around Oasis Harbor, the numerous islands are almost all rings formed by coral reefs. However, Deep Dark Island is an exception: as its name suggests, it is not like a typical coral atoll, with its gentle slopes, soft white sand, or lush vegetation, nor is it even ring-shaped.

This eerie island is small, less than a kilometer long and wide, with an area of ​​only 0.8 square kilometers. Even on the 1:50,000 scale map issued by Oasis Harbor, it is just a very insignificant piece. However, everyone who has seen it is awestruck by its magnificence: this is because Deep Dark Island has extremely steep black cliffs over a hundred meters high. The entire island is completely black, as if some mad god had cleaved a piece of the dark night sky with a knife and axe, shaped it into an island, and then forced it into the sea.

Of course, aside from its spectacular appearance, the island has nothing else to offer: it has almost no vegetation, the black minerals that make it up are just silica compounds similar to glass, and of course, there are no other usable resources. The largest-scale development and utilization of the island by Oasis Harbor to date has only involved building a small lighthouse and a sentry post, stationing five people there.

"What kind of guy would be so bored as to buy a place like the Dark Isle that's completely useless except for looking scary?" Fish muttered. "Unless..."

“That’s right, unless it’s not as ‘useless’ as it seems,” Huang Yan said, “and that’s the problem.”

"Well……"

"Anyway, if you don't mind, would you like to go back to your hometown for a visit?"

The latest update is now available on Cola Novels; we await your interpretation.