The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Damn it... It's so hot... I'm exhausted... What kind of lousy job is this..."

As the scorching sun finally began to disappear completely below the horizon, obscured by black glass, Fish, panting heavily, squatted down against the large crates filled with pre-made food cans, his eyes devoid of any energy or drive.

Although Fish initially thought he'd landed an easy job after hearing the cook's explanation, he soon learned that the kitchen was responsible for preparing food for two battalions of the Imperial Guard's 1st Brigade. While it might seem like a simple task of heating up pre-prepared food, the problem was, that meant nearly 1,500 people!

Each tin can of pre-cooked food, packed in a wooden crate, weighs five kilograms and can feed fifteen people for one meal. But nearly 1,500 people means heating one hundred large cans—and each of their iron pots can only hold ten of these cans. This means the kitchen has to boil ten large pots of water simultaneously.

At first glance, this might not seem like a difficult task. But the most crucial point is that only he and Anjie are capable of doing this job!

Indeed, although this kitchen was theoretically a platoon-sized unit, it actually only had two shifts, and most of the staff were busy making staple food—loose, crumbly bread that broke at the slightest touch because it hadn't fermented properly. When Fish asked about the whereabouts of the others, the pig-headed cook explained that they had been taken to the excavation site to replace the unfortunate "disappeared" regular engineers. That's why the military police were constantly recruiting people from the surrounding villages to supplement the manpower shortage.

As a result, because he had to take care of so many pots of hot water at the same time, Fish had to work like a train driver, constantly stuffing charcoal into the stove. Although the power boost from Phoenix Flame saved him a lot of energy, he still almost collapsed from exhaustion after more than an hour of continuous work.

Even worse, the daytime heat here was already quite sweltering when it wasn't raining, but in front of the boiler full of boiling water, the heat became hellish. To avoid being discovered, Fish had to keep Phoenix Flame in its close-fitting armor mode, unable to fully utilize its temperature regulation capabilities. As a result, the massive loss of electrolytes due to sweating almost made him pass out.

Fortunately, after discovering Fish's terrible condition through the physiological monitoring system, Huang Yan immediately gave him an intravenous injection of saline solution, which helped Fish recover.

"Excuse my bluntness, Mr. Fish," Huang Yan complained over the communication channel after dinner began, "I remember you always saying you were used to a hard life. Why can't you even handle this little bit of work?"

"I didn't do very well before, but I've never done this kind of work before," Fish replied innocently. "Aside from working at the Oasis Harbor shipyard for a while, I've made a living in bars by pleasing female customers. The heaviest job I've ever done was carrying drunk customers to bed."

"Just carry him to the bed?" Ange's big ears perked up—although she had repeatedly assured him that she wouldn't care about Fish's past, these words still caught her attention.

"Of course—after all, other services cost extra," Fish quickly explained. "Drunk customers won't pay if they don't remember when they wake up."

"That's true." Ange immediately felt relieved.

"But Ange, you don't seem that tired," Fish said after the greasy-faced cook brought them their dinner.

Their food was the same as that of the ordinary soldiers of the 1st Guards Brigade: canned pre-cooked dishes heated with boiling water and then reheated with some wild vegetables, plus a cheap bread. The dish was theoretically called "Sardine and Carrot Stew with Okra," but only the carrots were somewhat recognizable; the rest was just a sticky paste mixed with grayish-white okra seeds. If it weren't for the fresh wild vegetables floating on top, Fish would hardly have any appetite.

“Don’t forget, the Lyndonhild-Fayon family are descendants of that most valiant warrior. We are not weaklings pampered in fine clothes in the deep palace; everyone must be a warrior.” Since there was no one else around where they were eating, Ange wasn’t worried about being overheard. “I grew up in the Royal Guard’s barracks and started receiving weapons training at the age of eight. And part of my training was how to endure pain and discomfort.”

"Huh? Why?"

"Because according to the family motto of the Lyndenhild-Fayenne family, as nobles, we should be the role models and examples for the people—therefore, we must never show panic or cowardice at any time or in any place, and must maintain a proper demeanor," Ange said. "If we appear wavering and cowardly, it will only cause all those who are watching us to lose faith and hope."

"In other words, Ange is actually quite exhausted," Huang Yan said. "But it's alright, I can synthesize a stimulant with minimal side effects for you. If you need to carry out operations at night, I recommend using it—as long as you strictly follow my recommended dosage, there won't be any problems."

"That depends on what Mary finds out," Fish said, forcing himself to swallow the sticky food and bread that tasted like bean curd dregs.

Perhaps fearing the flavors would be too strong and make people unable to eat, these pre-made dishes only contained half the normal amount of seasoning, with the other half packaged in a seasoning bag for users to "add as needed." Unfortunately, when the food arrived, the logistics staff at the Imperial Army General Staff, lacking common sense, treated the separately packaged seasoning bags as "non-essential supplies" and didn't distribute them, in an effort to save time. As a result, every dish was so bland it was heartbreaking to smell and eat. Moreover, because the accompanying tableware hadn't arrived either, everyone had to use dirty tin lunchboxes to carry their food.

In this situation, Ange was still able to maintain a dignified demeanor as if she were dining at a state banquet, which alone made Fish admit his inferiority once again.

"Mr. Fish, Miss Ange." After Fish finally managed to swallow the whole pile of stuff, a golden dumpling popped out—it was Mary. "Have you finished eating?"

"Ah, thank you for your trouble." Fish and Ange simultaneously handed the round lunchbox to Mary. Because her physical strength was so poor, and her long hair could easily be accidentally set on fire by the stove flames. Therefore,

After being assigned to the kitchen, Mary was only given some odd jobs such as chopping vegetables, tidying up, and washing dishes, and she had plenty of free time.

And she certainly made good use of this advantage.

"How's it going? Have you found out everything we wanted you to know?" Fish asked quietly after Mary came back again.

"I found out," Mary nodded—after the three of them were assigned tasks, Fish told Mary he hoped she could help ask some questions that were quite important to him. Fortunately, she didn't seem to have too much trouble; "Everyone is happy to talk to Mary."

"That's great," Ange smiled—it seemed that Mary's lamb-like, innocent appearance had greatly reduced people's wariness of her. "Did you find the adults who were taken away from town?"

“Mary saw some familiar faces, and others she didn’t recognize, probably from other villages,” Mary nodded vigorously. “One of the uncles said that most of them were assigned to barracks on the edge of the ‘Secret Realm,’ where they were responsible for manual labor such as logging, filling sandbags, and transporting building materials. The Imperial Army only paid them one dinar a week, on the grounds that they were not formal employees.”

"Those bastards... well, at least they weren't subjected to anything more egregious. The Imperial Guard at least maintained a semblance of decency." Ange sighed. "Is anyone watching them?"

"Yes, but not many. During the day they are divided into small teams, each guarded by a soldier, and at night they are kept in tents and forbidden from going out. However, overall, there are not enough guards to protect them. The uncle who was talking to Mary mentioned that a few people managed to escape."

"Very well, I understand. So, is 'that gentleman' we're looking for here?"

"You mean Dr. Iskander Lomonosov? He is indeed at the excavation site," Mary said. "Everyone's talking about him."

"For example?"

“For example… Dr. Iskander Lomonosov’s barracks is the only one with air conditioning,” Mary tilted her head and thought for a moment in a cute pose. “Even the brigade headquarters doesn’t have something that rare. Besides his barracks, only the ammunition depot has air conditioning.”

"Hmm." Fish nodded—in this era, the technology of using gas compression to cause a phase change in refrigerant had just been reinvented. The use of refrigeration equipment was extremely rare; in the military, it was typically used to maintain the temperature of ammunition depots and prevent spontaneous combustion. Preparing such equipment for just one person would naturally draw criticism. "Anything else?"

“People also say that Dr. Iskander Lomonosov doesn’t seem to have ears and tails like us, nor does he have horns or claws. He looks like someone from an old civilization,” Mary continued. “But that must be a mistake…after all, the old humans have been extinct for a full thousand years.”

"Ah, that's right. The old humans are indeed extinct." Although he knew that wasn't the case, Fish had no intention of telling Mary the truth—after all, knowing too many things he shouldn't know meant potentially facing more risks. In Fish's view, the fewer people involved in these troublesome matters, the better.

"In addition, everyone is discussing the progress of the excavation of the 'well' located in the center of the 'secret realm'," Mary continued, recounting the news she had heard. "It is said that in the past two weeks, the Imperial Army has suffered more than 500 casualties in the effort to excavate the 'well' that was sealed by the melted glass floor—more than 300 of whom have died in action."

"This casualty ratio...it seems that what's hidden underground is indeed difficult to deal with." Fish raised one eyebrow.

"And everyone says that even the most elite armored warrior squads are struggling against them," Mary said. "Although the armored warriors have defeated the monsters that emerged from the bottom of the 'Well' several times, some very powerful 'Lapis Lazuli'-level armored warriors have also perished in battle... Oh, by the way, do you know those people?"

"Eh... this..." Fish then remembered that in Mary's eyes, he and Ange were both "Imperial Army armored soldiers who eloped for love." "We're not in the same unit, so we don't know each other. Besides, the people in the logistics department don't know us either, so as long as we stay in the kitchen, we'll definitely not be recognized."

"I see...that's good." Mary looked slightly relieved. "After all, it's hard to bear if someone you know dies, isn't it?"

"Besides that, did you find out anything else?" Fish continued to ask.

"This... I found this." Mary secretly slipped a piece of paper with a pencil drawing on it to Fish. After glancing at it, Fish's eyes widened immediately.

That was actually a sketch of the camp structure of the First Imperial Guard Brigade!

Although Mary was considered knowledgeable and quick-witted by the standards of her peers, Fish didn't think she could figure out and draw the entire camp's layout in such a short time. However, he also didn't think Mary would just hand him a random drawing.

"While cleaning, Mary found a lieutenant's notebook," Mary said proudly. "Out of curiosity, Mary flipped through the little notebook and discovered that it contained this map."

"Oh, not bad." Ange smiled and touched Mary's thick blonde hair.

"Well... of course, Mary has already returned the notebook to the lieutenant safely. He probably won't notice it's missing this page anytime soon, though. But Mary thinks you might need it, so..."

"Well done," Ange said. "We do have some... unfinished personal matters to take care of here, which is why we deliberately came back. You need to get a good night's sleep tonight, and no matter what happens, don't wander around unless we find you. Is that alright?"

"No problem... but, won't the adults in town be affected?" Mary looked uneasy. Although she disliked the Imperial Army, she keenly sensed that Ange's so-called "personal affairs" were probably not ordinary private matters.

"I must admit, that's a possibility. But please don't worry, we'll try to eliminate it," Ange said, extending a hand and making a pinky promise with Mary. "Please trust me."