The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the south section of the fish market, the second worst place in the whole city."

After squeezing through a hidden hole through a dense hedge that mainly served as a fence, the boy named Felipe stood up on a bumpy, long-neglected path behind the hedge and waved to the group following behind him. Then, as Ange crawled through the hole, the stench of rotting fish made her instinctively cover her nose.

After all, even with mental preparation, the stench in the air was still close to the point of making one want to vomit. The reason... of course, was the massive amount of organic matter piled up in this area, literally interacting enthusiastically with all sorts of bacteria, fungi, and other microbial decomposers.

As the southern half of what was once the fish market area, this region was the lowest-lying, dampest, and dirtiest spot on the atoll where Oasis Harbor is located, and was long neglected. After the fish market closed, thousands of unsold small fish, fish entrails, heads, tail fins, scales, and other waste generated during seafood processing would be transported here, mixed with other organic fertilizers, crushed and stirred, and then composted in huge, filthy compost pits.

Despite its extreme stench, the bio-fertilizer, after being decomposed by microorganisms, is still extremely valuable to Oasis Harbor: after all, the atoll is nothing more than a layer of coral reef, with almost nothing but large amounts of limestone and sand. By turning miscellaneous fish, fish entrails, bones, and other organic matter into fertilizer and spreading it into the soil, Oasis Harbor can utilize these gifts of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium from the sea to grow a variety of vegetables and fruits, plant different kinds of roadside trees and ornamental flowers, thus gaining vitality.

That's why, even though the fish market has moved, this stinking place hasn't declined. Thousands of families who depend on the organic fertilizer industry live here, like flies drawn to the stench. Since decent people rarely come here, the area is also a haven for all sorts of illegal transactions.

"Um... speaking of which, don't you think the smell here is awful?" Shana and Melu, who followed them in, asked Felipe. "Someone like you, a canine Newtype, should be very sensitive to smells, right?"

“That’s certainly true. But after staying here for a while, you naturally stop feeling it,” Felipe said. “After all, I was born here.”

"And me too."

"Me too, me too."

Felipe's two companions, who also had dog ears and tails, chimed in—these two freckled, plain-looking girls were about Felipe's age, wearing the same vests, old capes, and canvas overalls. Both had short, ear-length hair to avoid lice and fleas, making them look like two cute little boys. Fish remembered that one was named Echo and the other Momo.

A few hours earlier, after Huang Yan completed the search using the "Akasha Encyclopedia" and claimed to have found a "suspicious location" in the city, Luca immediately announced that she would personally lead Fish and his group to the target area to investigate. However, when Huang Yan actually reported the specific coordinates of the target, Luca's memory suddenly "recovered at just the right time".

"Oh dear, I just remembered that I have an important internal meeting with the conglomerate tonight and can't get away... I'm sorry, Felipe will be handling the 'Red Cat' crew's mission today!" After saying this, Luca quickly bowed to everyone to apologize and then left.

However, until then, Fish and his group—including Fish himself, who had never been to this area before—did not realize what Luca's actions meant. It wasn't until they were enveloped in the sweltering stench that Fish understood why she had done it.

"Is this guy... unable to stand the stench here?"

"Yes, Lady Luca often does missions with us, but she almost never comes to the South District of the Fish Market." Felipe nodded. "Of course, there's nothing we can do about it... Although we can tolerate the stench here if we come often, it's not something we can get rid of quickly if we take the smell back with us."

"That's true," Ange said. "Someone like her would absolutely not be able to go back to a formal occasion smelling bad. If she were to wear a lot of perfume, it would also arouse suspicion."

"Fortunately, we're playing the role of 'insignificant ordinary people' right now," Fish said. "For us, getting a little bit of that smell on us is absolutely beneficial and harmless."

"In short, everyone be a little careful. The situation in the southern part of the fish market is even more dangerous than the fish market area itself," Felipe said in a low voice as they walked. "Although the slums are poor, at least there are some police officers patrolling because they are close to the port. Even when we were robbing the rich to help the poor, we had to abandon most of our operations because of the police. The fish market area is unregulated, but it is sparsely populated. If you commit a crime there, you may not find any prey all day. After all, apart from those strange Fayun people and a few people who buy and sell fishing gear, no one usually wanders around the ruins."

"That's true," commented Frostleaf, who was keeping watch at the back of the line. "Without people, there are naturally no perpetrators or victims of crime."

“However, the situation in the southern part of the fish market is different from those two places,” Petro’s companion, Eko, said. “There are a lot of people here, but people with decent jobs would never come to a place like this because they can’t stand the stench. So, among the people gathered here, there are lawless bastards everywhere. Not to mention the legendary dungeon, inhabited by indescribable horrors…”

"A dungeon? Could it be from an old civilization era..." Shana whispered.

"No," Huang Yan explained through the encrypted communication system, "I have thoroughly investigated the information in the 'Akasha Compendium.' Within a radius of one hundred nautical miles around Oasis Port, the only facility left behind by the old civilization era is 'Dark Isle.' The so-called 'underground city' here, although also a creation of the old civilization era, is of little value."

"Oh?"

"At the end of the old civilization era, this was once home to a small island city with a population of over 100,000, primarily engaged in tourism. However, over the course of thousands of years, sea levels have continued to rise, and the original island surface has sunk below sea level. According to my records, some biologists from the old civilization era developed genetically modified super coral polyps..."

"My mom and dad are among them!" Shana said proudly. "Their invention allows coral polyps to perform partial photosynthesis on their own, without relying on zooxanthellae. Their resistance to heat, acidity, alkali, and hypoxia has been significantly increased, and they can convert carbon in seawater into carbonates more efficiently, allowing coral islands to grow faster and preventing them from being swallowed by the sea."

"Yes," Huang Yan said, "However, the rapidly growing coral also swallowed up the deserted city—of course, most of the city's above-ground parts were destroyed in the war at the end of the old civilization era. But, click to begin the wondrous journey of 'The Final Odyssey: The Cat Boy's Fantastic Journey.' Its underground parts—parking lots, sewers, underground warehouses, and other facilities—were completely buried by the coral's skeleton, becoming an underground city deep within the 'sarcophagus.' Unlike many facilities that are still in operation, this city is a complete ruin and a dead city, devoid of value in itself."

"I see." Fish nodded. Although he had heard the stories before, it wasn't until today that he understood the origins of the legendary dungeon.

"However, I accidentally discovered through the 'Akasha Encyclopedia' that someone may have once activated a 'Level 1 Restricted Device' from an old civilization in this dead city surrounded by coral. Although the device is not currently activated, the encyclopedia detected its last activation record and its approximate location at that time," Huang Yan continued.

What is meant by "Level 1 Restricted Device"?

"That's the old civilization's classification of restrictions on civilian equipment—although lawlessness and madness had become the norm in the late old civilization, there were still some rules in place. According to the law, civilian equipment is divided into several restriction levels. The higher the level, the more likely it is to cause potential social security or problems, and the stricter the requirements for mandatory registration and filing," Huang Yan said. "For example, an automated military production line that can produce weapons and ammunition on its own as long as the corresponding raw materials are used is a level one restricted equipment."

"Wow...that sounds pretty good!" The eyes of the three "Red Cat" members widened immediately—of course, what attracted their attention was the keyword "weapons and ammunition." At the same time, a series of small-caliber gunshots suddenly came from nearby, but the three were clearly not very scared.

"If we had an endless supply of weapons and ammunition, we could sell them to supplement our family income!" Felipe said excitedly. "We could definitely get a good price for them in a place like this."

"Unfortunately, the device I detected wasn't an automated military production line," Huang Yan replied. Because the three "Red Cat" members couldn't access the communication channels that required smart combat armor, she had to use the voice-changing function of her megaphone to speak in a voice similar to Fish's. "It's classified as Category B."

What is Category B?

"Biotechnology and related fields," Huang Yan said, "If it's 'Level 1 restricted,' it usually includes rapid cloning devices, gene mutants, organ cultivation and replication systems, etc. These are all things that caused a sensation when they were first invented, sparked condemnation from the whole society, but in the end everyone was overjoyed and used them like crazy."

"My body was made from that kind of thing, wasn't it?" Alicia whispered.

"Hmm... I can understand," Shana said with a look of disgust. "After all, at least eight out of ten men can't resist the temptation of creating a living, breathing beast-eared girl. Of the remaining two, one might like older women, and the other is probably into dragon girls or white-haired, red-eyed vampire princesses or something..."

"In fact, there are quite a few people who like android girls... Of course, this is not the domain of Class B devices."

"But what kind of bioengineering is that thing you detected used for?" Fish asked.

"That's still unclear—aside from a number that could prove its restriction level and category, even the 'Akasha Compendium' doesn't have any further information. But what is certain is that it was activated underground in this area in the past few days," Huang Yan said. "However, I can't guarantee that it's still there now."

"It's alright, as long as we search slowly, we'll find some clues," Ange said. "However, I can sense that there seems to be some... malicious gaze watching us?"

"I sensed it too," Fish nodded. "Someone's got their eye on us... Meow?!"

Before he could finish speaking, a person wearing a hooded cloak suddenly circled around to his side and rear, then jogged towards him! However, Fish, who was already on guard, immediately and nimbly jumped aside, avoiding the collision.

"Who goes there?!" Frostleaf, Sachi, and Alicia behind Fish immediately got into a fighting stance. Fortunately, after Fish dodged the attack, the man didn't make any further moves—he simply lost his balance and fell headfirst onto the sewage-covered ground.

"Ah...woo..."

The guy was a burly man with bear ears, filthy and smelly, with weird tattoos on his arms. He was clearly one of the scumbag gang members hanging around in the south side of the fish market. After rubbing his head as he got up, he immediately stretched out a hand, pointed at Fish, and started yelling.

"Damn it! How dare you knock me down! My arm is broken! You have to pay my medical bills!"

“Oh, I’m sorry, sir. But there seem to be two very significant and serious factual errors in your statement just now,” Ange said. “Husband… uh, Mr. Fish did not bump into you. And you obviously didn’t break any bones. The fall just now would have only caused you some minor injuries at most.”

"Nonsense! I do have a broken bone! This... should cost at least two hundred Imperial dinars in medical expenses!"

The guy wouldn't let it go and continued yelling—however, although Fish wasn't short of money, he had no intention of actually paying him any medical expenses. After all, these kinds of scoundrels who used cheap tricks to stage accidents were as common as hairs on a cow in the chaotic alleyways, and he had seen plenty of them before.

Unfortunately, Anjie didn't seem to have encountered this type of person before. Therefore, she simply continued her argument in a calm tone: "Sir, a fracture requires a hospital medical record to apply for insurance reimbursement or civil damages. If you really feel a fracture, why don't you go to the hospital and make an appointment?"

"You stinking woman! Still arguing! I can't stand it anymore!" Another man in a dirty t-shirt "just in time" jumped out, ready to "be a hero"—of course, this is the standard trope in these kinds of messy situations: "I can testify, this gentleman really did suffer a broken bone!"

"Phew..." Fish sighed, quite impatient with the group's pitiful lack of imagination and innovation.

"I saw it too! He was violently knocked down by those people!" another ugly woman with a scarred face also started shouting.

"Pay up! Pay up!" A third man jumped out, his dirty apron covered in slime from fish entrails. "Or you're not leaving here!"

"But we didn't..." Although Ange could easily kill the people in front of her if she wanted to, her princess-like upbringing limited her actions. Moreover, her aristocratic education certainly didn't include "how to deal with con artists."

"Never mind," Shuangye walked quickly to her, "I'll negotiate with these friends."

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