The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Hey, are you here to pay me back?" The bear-eared man who had staged the accident asked loudly with a smug look on his face as he saw Shuangye walking towards him... However, his smug expression only lasted for a moment before it was replaced by unease.

Just as wild animals can instinctively sense the presence of predators, this guy, who frequented the chaotic and dangerous southern part of the fish market, could also sense approaching threats through his "sixth sense." Therefore, Frostleaf's approach made him feel extremely uneasy... However, his companions gave him confidence, preventing him from running away immediately.

"You said your hand is broken?" Shuangye asked in a detached tone.

"Ah...yes."

"You suffered a broken bone from the impact, right?"

"Exactly! Hurry up and pay up!"

"Brother Xiong San is such a pitiful man! He actually encountered such an unexpected disaster!"

"So you have to pay him two hundred imperial dinars, and then give me fifty... oh no, I mean, not a penny less!"

The "righteous" spectators nearby shouted again. Because they were far away from Shuangye, they did not notice the murderous aura emanating from this military police officer of the Penglai Kingdom, nor were they afraid at all.

Of course, these people will soon become afraid.

"It seems, sir, that you are not an honest man," Frostleaf said in a low voice. "Please tell me, can you swear that you are honest?"

"Yes, yes!" The other person took a step back, looking somewhat conflicted. He clearly sensed something was wrong, but was reluctant to give up this opportunity to stage an accident. "I swear... my arm is broken..."

"Alright, I believe you." Shuangye nodded, and in the next second, she suddenly transformed into a blur, leaping towards her opponent with astonishing speed!

"Woo-gaa ...

The guy who tried to stage an accident didn't even have time to react before he was violently knocked away—as a horse-type Newtype, Frostleaf's natural jumping ability was far beyond what ordinary people could match. Not to mention she had also undergone years of specialized training as a swordsman. After being knocked down, the tearful man rolled around repeatedly, clutching his arm, his face contorted in a horribly grotesque expression.

After all, his arm is now truly broken.

"Very good. In that case, you haven't broken your oath, and you'll never have a guilty conscience about what happened today." Frostleaf took out ten large gold coins, each weighing exactly 8 grams and worth twenty imperial dinars, from her pocket and threw them at the man's feet like trash. "This is the two hundred imperial dinars we're paying as compensation for breaking your arm. Please accept this and acknowledge my apology."

"Waaaaaahh ...

The man, writhing in pain with his eyes rolled back and tears and snot streaming down his face, didn't bother to check the large gold coins—after all, a broken bone isn't something you can just tough out on with sheer grit. As for his "heroic" friends… after seeing their companion fall, they swiftly picked up the money that had fallen to the ground and scattered in all directions.

"Is this okay?" Ange asked.

"Don't worry, Your Highness, I guarantee there won't be any problems," Shuangye nodded with a cold smile—however, Fish could see clearly that her expression was the "mischievous little horse girl" mode that only appeared when she was picking a fight with Yuedie, not her usual serious mode. "These good Samaritans will probably use the money I gave them to get a doctor to treat this unfortunate gentleman's arm later, won't they?"

"In that case, I'm relieved." Ange nodded and turned to leave the bear-eared man who was still wailing. But just then, another commotion broke out nearby.

One of the people who had just picked up the large gold coin that Frostleaf had dropped and scattered on the ground and fled unexpectedly bumped into a man wearing a large mask and sunglasses. This man was carrying an exceptionally large black woven bag and seemed to be in a hurry to get somewhere else, so he didn't notice the person who suddenly rushed out and was knocked right into his arms.

"You bastard! Can't you see?!" After the man fell, the woven bag he was carrying also fell to the ground. And as luck would have it, because the zipper on the bag wasn't secure, it broke the moment it hit the ground. Then, some rather...shameful things rolled out of it.

"Ah!" Upon seeing those things, Shana was so frightened that her eyes rolled back, and Melu had to quickly support her. The other battle-hardened individuals didn't react as strongly, but they all showed expressions of disgust, unease, and panic.

After all, what rolled out of the woven bag was... a huge pile of human limb remains. To be precise, it was the limb remains of underage children.

Although the South Fish Market was one of the worst places in Oasis Harbor, with at least one murder a day being a regular occurrence, the people there clearly hadn't evolved to the point of being indifferent to a pile of dismembered limbs suddenly lying on the street. Soon, screams and terrified prayers echoed through the street as many panicked or trouble-averse individuals fled, while others rushed forward, trying to grab the man in sunglasses.

However, this man in sunglasses was clearly not someone to be trifled with. Realizing his cover had been blown, he tossed aside the woven bag full of severed limbs and pulled a "Viper" automatic pistol from under his coat. This self-defense weapon, with a 15-round magazine and automatic firing capability, was originally designed for Imperial Army personnel such as pilots and drivers. Unfortunately, due to its instability, high rate of fire, and tendency to run out of ammunition quickly, it wasn't widely adopted. Large quantities of "Viper" pistol parts ended up in civilian hands and were widely used by various gangs.

In the street brawls that gang members often face, the disadvantages of these automatic pistols become advantages: such fights don't emphasize accuracy; on the contrary, sudden bursts of fire can be advantageous. This man in sunglasses, after drawing his pistol, didn't even aim before switching the fire selector to full automatic and spraying bullets at the surrounding crowd. He then drew a second gun and repeated the same action.

Thirty small-caliber pistol bullets flew in all directions, injuring several passersby and creating even more chaos. Taking advantage of the situation, the man immediately discarded two empty guns and, like a slippery catfish, darted into the scrambling crowd.

"You bastard, stop right there!" Fish was about to give chase, but realized he was already a step too slow—in an open field or in a less confined area, even if the other guy had a ten-second head start, he could easily overtake him using the boost to his stamina and speed from the Phoenix Flame. However, the book lovers were all in the discussion forum, chatting about the allure of science fiction novels. Once that guy disappeared into the chaotic crowd on the street, it would be very difficult to find him.

Especially when it is not possible to cause serious injury or death to pedestrians.

"That guy ran away," Ange said angrily.

"Not necessarily," Frostleaf suddenly said, then activated her smart combat armor, transforming it from a close-fitting bulletproof vest into a soft armor mode that covered most of her body. Needless to say, this change further exacerbated the panic on the street—after all, a fully armed armored warrior suddenly appearing on the street usually didn't mean anything good.

However, Shuangye did not pursue them. She simply clasped her hands together, stood still, and closed her eyes. Immediately afterward, a faint, refreshing fragrance, similar to that of pine forests after rain, suddenly spread around her, even temporarily dissipating the seemingly lingering fishy smell of the southern section of the fish market.

Then… nothing happened. The crowd stirred briefly, then dispersed on its own. Only the pile of body parts left in the middle of the road remained. At the same time, several men wearing dirty aprons and white armbands of the self-defense force walked over—in the fish market's southern section, where there were no patrol officers, these self-defense force members, hired by the composting association, were the only ones maintaining order. Although they were generally inefficient, their main task was cleaning up the scene afterward.

Of course, this time was no exception. After leisurely arriving at the crime scene and having the accompanying doctors take the injured away, these listless people casually made a note and then prepared to deal with the contents of the woven bag.

"Everyone, wait a minute," Fish quickly said.

"What's wrong?" one of the self-defense group members asked.

"Uh... my sister went missing a few days ago, and I wanted to see if there were any of her remains in this bag," Ange lied, then forced herself to look into the bag a few times, "Ah... it seems there aren't any."

"I hope she's still alive." Another member of the self-defense force picked up a woven bag with a look of disgust and labeled it "Under Investigation"—but Fish knew that the self-defense force, lacking resources and funding, would almost never conduct an investigation unless they caught the suspect on the spot. If no relatives came to claim it after a few days, the remains would be thrown into the compost pit for recycling along with the fish's entrails.

"How's it going, Angie?" Fish asked quietly after the self-defense group members left.

"It's terrible. There are at least the remains of three children. Judging from the wounds, it seems like an internal explosion occurred, and the bodies were blown to pieces," Ange said. "Does that make you think of anything?"

"Those recent bizarre bombing murders," Felipe and his two friends nodded, "the victims were all inexplicably blown to pieces, just like this."

"This means that at least that bastard in sunglasses who fired without saying a word is highly suspicious—moreover, Huang Yan has already discovered through the 'Akasha Compendium' that someone in this area has used highly restricted technology related to life sciences from the old civilization era. In that case, it's almost impossible that guy appeared here 'by chance'," Ange nodded. "Now, we can't let him get away."

“But Miss Angel,” Felipe said, “that guy has already escaped.”

"Huh?" Felipe and his companions all looked confused, but Fish's companions all smiled. In order to better cooperate with each other in future battles, they had already exchanged their abilities, combat habits and tactical preferences after the adventure in the North End, so they naturally knew exactly what Frostleaf had done.

"Alright, shall we chase after them now?"

"Of course." Shuangye took a deep breath, then quickly ran into a small alley. "This way!"

Despite their confusion, Felipe and the other members of the "Red Cat" crew had no choice but to follow. The group weaved through the winding alleyways until they finally arrived at a staircase entrance leading underground, covered by heavy wooden planks. Although the planks were concealed with a lot of debris, the observant Fish noticed footprints left in the surrounding dust.

“This appears to be one of the entrances to the ‘underground city’ from the past,” Felipe said, as he began deftly removing the heavy objects covering the wooden planks. His two female companions stood guard nearby, guns in hand, clearly familiar with the procedure. “Looks like someone just went down there.”

"How did you know that person was here?" Aiko asked, remaining on guard.

"Simple. Because I could smell it," Frostleaf said.

"Huh? But I can't smell anything?" Aiko twitched her nose. As a canine-type Newtype, her sense of smell was quite sensitive, but she couldn't detect any unusual scents that she could use to track.

"Because you can't smell it anyway. Due to her limited personal talent, Frostleaf's intelligent combat armor is only at the lowest 'Jade' level, but even so, it still has special abilities... She calls this ability 'Breath of the Forest'."

"I think I've heard that in the great forest, the most skilled hunters can find prey, water, and so on simply by 'sense the forest's presence," Felipe said. "I thought it was just a story."

"In fact, while it's not quite that miraculous, many experienced hunters can do it," Frostleaf explained. "However, the special ability of my smart combat armor is another matter: it releases a special, colorless and odorless trace amount of aerosol that adheres to surrounding targets. This aerosol is undetectable to ordinary people, but my armor sprays another trace amount of organic agent into my respiratory tract."

"Huh...wait, what's this all about..." The eyes of the three "Red Cat" members all turned into mosquito coils. For them, understanding this knowledge was extremely difficult.

"In short, it's a binary chemical agent. When that special aerosol mixes with this organic agent, it produces a rather distinctive odor—in other words, no other person or animal can smell the aerosol, but I can," Frostleaf said. "As a special ability of intelligent combat armor, it's indeed too weak; even Phoenix Flame didn't bother to 'absorb' a set for himself. However, it can come in handy in situations like this."

"So, there are no completely useless abilities in this world. Any ability needs to be used in the right context," Ange said after helping Felipe remove all the debris from the wooden planks, revealing the staircase below that seemed to stretch into an abyss. "Let's go down."