The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

After hastily leaving the abandoned village in the forest, Fish and his group continued along the river according to their original route, gradually approaching the blocked area.

Although the two deformed bears that appeared in the village weren't particularly threatening overall—at most, they'd be rated C or C+ by synthetic beast standards—everyone became extremely vigilant after hearing Huang Yan's explanation of the "Tai Sui," maintaining a high level of alertness towards their surroundings at all times.

Of course, the most vigilant person was Fish himself, who had seen those sights of unknown origin, but which were clearly not purely from his imagination. For the next few hours, he kept a close eye on the forests on both sides of the river and the water beneath the hovercraft, fearing a sudden attack like the one in his "daydream."

Fortunately, the journey was calm until the hovercraft reached a checkpoint. Apart from a few small fish jumping out of the water in fright, the group did not encounter even the slightest mishap.

The checkpoint itself was clearly built hastily after the Far North Garrison Command announced a blockade of the area where the incident occurred. Its structure was naturally extremely simple: two large barges anchored in the middle of the river formed the main body of the checkpoint, connected by iron chains and planks, with heavy machine guns mounted on the decks.

Not far away, a paddle steamer temporarily requisitioned by the military was wandering back and forth, with a small-caliber rapid-fire cannon temporarily mounted on the foredeck pointing menacingly at the long line of civilian ships in front of the checkpoint.

"Interesting. It seems the military is aware of the situation to some extent," Ange said after watching through binoculars as several soldiers jumped onto a low-freeboard civilian boat and forced the crowd crammed on board to remove their clothes for inspection. "At least they're not completely unaware of what they're facing."

"Yes," Shuangye nodded, "This practice is obviously to check people who may be parasitized by 'Tai Sui'... although it's not really necessary."

"Is it unnecessary?" Ange asked.

"Generally speaking, the physical changes of the host of 'Tai Sui' are very obvious. Those weaponized, deformed limbs are impossible to hide; you don't even need to take off all their clothes to see them," Shuangye said angrily. "Doing so is completely pointless!"

"Exactly!" Xiaoxing exclaimed. "Among those people were women and children, and...and...they also had to strip naked for inspection like that, this..."

"I'm afraid that's what those people are after." Anjie frowned, watching several soldiers take the opportunity to grope the young women who had been forced to undress. Others were arguing heatedly with some more well-dressed people—judging from what they received from the other party at the end, it was clear that these people were using their "exemption from inspection" to solicit bribes. In addition, a large pile of personal belongings was stacked on the deck of the barge used as a checkpoint, obviously also confiscated during the inspection as "contraband." "For them, this is absolutely necessary."

"These bastards." Mint was the last to speak. Unlike the others, her eyesight was extremely sharp; even without binoculars, she could see what was happening ahead. "Your Highness, I've discovered that some of these soldiers are Fayun people."

"That's right." Ange's sharp canines unconsciously bit into her lower lip—on the arms of those guys who were taking advantage of the situation to grope and extort bribes, she saw the purple-and-white lotus emblem of the Duchy of Fayun's army.

Because the immigrants to the North Pole came from all over the empire, and various duchies, marquises, earls, and autonomous city-states had invested in the area, the local garrison was composed of troops drawn from various countries on a rotating basis. Therefore, the presence of the Fayun army here was not surprising. Anjie was also well aware that, apart from the capital's imperial guards and some elite troops, the Fayun army, like the armed forces of other duchies and city-states, was a mixed bag, containing all sorts of characters. Of course, there were also scoundrels.

Even though she understood this perfectly well, Ange's hands still trembled involuntarily when she saw these guys, who were theoretically her subordinates, acting recklessly.

"Your Highness... uh, Lieutenant, please don't do this!" Mint, who was the first to notice Ange's change in expression, quickly dissuaded her, "We can't get involved in a pointless conflict right now. Please be patient."

Anjie nodded. As a princess of Fayun, her imperial education from a young age gave her a thorough understanding of the saying "a small act of impatience can ruin a great plan." Therefore, although she was extremely unwilling, she took a deep breath, wiped away the tears streaming from the corners of her eyes, and forced her expression back to normal.

"But I can't tolerate this any longer," Shuangye said. To the unsuspecting Shuangye, Ange's hesitation only fueled her anger. "No matter what, I am a military police officer. I cannot stand by and watch such illegal and disorderly conduct happen. Miss Mint, I must go and stop them!"

"Stop it too!" Mint quickly grabbed Frostleaf and hissed in a low voice, "What are you doing?!"

"I am to arrest them—it is the duty of the military police."

"But how are you going to make an arrest in a place like this?!" Mint asked. "Exactly, there's only one platoon of men at that checkpoint, and not a single armored guard. If we were to take action, we could probably take them all down. And then what?"

"Detain them temporarily until they are handed over to a military court for trial," Shuangye replied matter-of-factly. "Military personnel harassing civilians and soliciting bribes by abusing their positions are both second-degree serious crimes. At the crime scene, with witnesses and physical evidence, any military police officer or sergeant has the right to announce an arrest on the spot, without the need for an arrest warrant from the court."

"Uh, Warrant Officer... is this the time to talk about these legal provisions?" Chief Officer Ange was completely dumbfounded—although Shuangye's answer would indeed be the correct one in the bar exam, this was still a case of talking past each other!

"Otherwise what?! If it's not for enforcement, what's the point of making laws?!" Shuangye raised this extremely serious and thought-provoking question in a righteous and stern tone.

...However, even the simple-minded Xiaoxing sighed after hearing this question.

Undoubtedly, as a typical aristocratic officer who had been away from society since childhood, spending his days practicing martial arts in the deep mountains, and later focusing on his studies at a military academy, Shuangye's world was much simpler than most people's.

"Alright, Warrant Officer Frostleaf, I understand your thinking," Ange said in the gentlest tone possible as the hovercraft approached the checkpoint, trying to prevent the military police officer from suddenly taking action to "execute justice." "However, there is sometimes a difference between actual execution and theory—especially when different tasks conflict."

"Different missions... clashing? I don't understand what you mean." Frostleaf twitched its long horse ears.

"In short, as a military police officer, you certainly have the right to arrest those soldiers here—caught red-handed, it's perfectly legally justifiable. Of course, there might be some unscrupulous individuals thinking, 'There's only one military police officer here, I'll just kill her and pretend it was an accident...'"

"If anyone dares to do this, I will behead him once I have confirmed his crime," Shuangye said, tapping the scabbard hanging at her waist with her knuckles. "According to the law, attacking military police on the performance of their duties is considered treason. One can be executed on the spot."

"Ah, well said. I believe you can definitely take care of any troublemakers," Ange unconsciously clenched her fist where Shuangye couldn't see... because she herself wanted to do so too. "But, as you've noticed, these people are doing it openly. This means they have the tacit approval of their superiors..."

"To condone the crimes committed by my subordinates constitutes dereliction of duty, and I will arrest those officers as well."

"But the problem is, who will guard the checkpoints then?" Anjie raised the most crucial question. "Although these bastards are taking advantage of the situation to extort money and steal, the crisis in Zhongbei is real. And the existence of these checkpoints is necessary. Currently, the area under lockdown is extremely large, and the garrison command's forces are bound to be stretched thin. If you arrest or even execute everyone, it will take a very long time for replacements to arrive."

"Hmm..." Shuangye was dumbfounded. Clearly, she hadn't considered this issue at all.

"As you can see, a large number of refugees have gathered around the checkpoint," Ange pointed to the numerous tents erected on both banks of the river in front of the checkpoint—many people who had just arrived and hadn't been allowed to leave were temporarily staying there. "At that time, we will have to take over the duties of these soldiers and maintain order here. This will take a long time. And you know what that means, right?"

"I... understand." Shuangye nodded. Although the Duke of Penglai would certainly not tell a lower-ranking noble like her the true identities of Ange and Fish, she did know that she was to escort Ange and the others on their investigation under the guise of "supervision."

Furthermore, although it wasn't explicitly stated what Ange and Fish were specifically investigating, the Grand Duke of Penglai emphasized that this task took precedence over all her other duties.

In other words, if she had to stay here to arrest these lawless soldiers, it would delay Ange and the others' investigation—which was undoubtedly unacceptable. Considering this, the choice in the whole matter becomes clear.

"Then... at least allow me to investigate and punish these people afterwards, right?" Shuangye asked, adopting a pitiful posture like a puppy begging for affection.

"But it's better than letting these people go." After saying this, Frostleaf forced herself to remove her hands from the two knives, one long and one short, at her waist. Then, Mint, who was on duty in the cockpit, gradually reduced the hovercraft's speed, allowing it to pass the checkpoint as slowly as possible.

Unlike those attempting to leave the blockade, the ships and personnel entering the blockade were subjected to far fewer checks—especially with a military police officer like Frostleaf on board. After a cursory check of everyone's documents, the sentries on the barge immediately let them through, refocusing their efforts on plundering the escapees.

However, Anjie did not choose to continue immediately after passing through the checkpoint, but instead stopped the boat on the riverbank not far away.

There was originally a small village here, similar to the abandoned forest village the group had encountered before, built on a logging camp, where only a hundred or two workers would stay during the logging season. Now, with a large number of people who were temporarily unable to pass through the checkpoint gathering here for various reasons, the small village has transformed into a settlement of thousands of people in just a few days, consisting of numerous temporary tents and shacks.

“Before we move on, I think we should take some time to ask around here… no, I mean, ‘interview’ the evacuated refugees,” Ange explained after the hovercraft docked. “They might be able to get some valuable information.”

“I agree,” Mint said, “but don’t get your hopes up too high… Most of them were probably just forcibly evacuated by the military, and they probably don’t even know why they had to run away from their homes. Besides, these people are probably terrified, and even if they know something, they might not be willing to tell us.”

Unfortunately, Mint was clearly right. Most of the people Fish and Ange first "interviewed" showed great wariness or seemed quite uneasy—especially after seeing the two men's officer uniforms and the military press badges they produced.

Some people said nothing or even turned and ran, while others glared at them with eyes mixed with panic and even hostility. They were clearly still full of resentment towards these people in military uniforms after being forcibly driven out of their villages and towns by the army. A few people who seemed to be lumberjack team leaders or village chiefs did answer the questions, but they only used meaningless official jargon and started by saying things like "thank you" for the army's help.

Of course, aside from the nonsense, these people did mention some relatively valuable information... however, this information was contradictory.

Some say that two or three weeks ago, they witnessed deformed creatures—both wild and synthetic—roaming the area and viciously attacking people and animals they encountered. There have even been reports of people living in remote areas or hunting and logging deep in the forest suddenly disappearing. Others claim to have seen deformed people.

As the number of disappearances rapidly increased, especially as some of the most remote settlements began to lose contact, the troops that arrived in the area began to forcibly evacuate the local residents. As a result, everyone could only hastily pack a few belongings and then use the river, the most important transportation route in the northernmost region, to evacuate from their homes.

However, some people have different accounts. They also claim to have witnessed or heard about the existence of strange, deformed creatures, but in addition, they frequently mention another particular concept and are clearly more afraid of it.

That is the "jinx".

If you could only read one science fiction novel in your life, it would probably be "The Last Odyssey: The Cat Boy's Fantastic Journey".