The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

Chapter 142 Where Are We Flying To? There's a surprise inside! Click to unlock now.

"Phew... those two guys are pretty smart." Fish muttered after seeing the two wisely jump off the plane themselves. "At least it saved me a lot of trouble. But... will they be alright?"

"Don't worry, those two guys have a survival rate of over 92%," Huang Yan said. "Right after you jumped onto the plane, the pilot pulled it up—we're at an altitude of about 400 meters now, which is plenty of time for them to deploy their parachutes and complete the necessary deceleration."

"Hopefully, Moonbeam and Frostleaf will be able to fish these guys out later," Fish muttered, then continued crawling forward. Like those professional acrobats who performed high-difficulty stunts on airplanes in the early 20th century, he grabbed the metal frame of the biplane's wing, slowly climbed to the underwing floats, and managed to move Ange, who was stuck there, back to the bombardier's seat.

Fortunately, although being hit head-on by an aircraft traveling at over 95 meters per second and weighing over three tons is by no means an easy or pleasant experience, "Golden Soup" successfully fulfilled its duty to protect its user, preventing Anjie from suffering any serious harm. Shortly after Fish helped her sit up, "Golden Soup's" automated medical system injected Anjie with a small dose of analgesic/stimulant, waking her up.

"Huh...wait a minute? What's this...?"

"To save you, Fish just made the boldest—or rather, most reckless—tactical move I've ever seen," Huang Yan interrupted before Fish could speak. "In short, he jumped onto a plane flying at Mach 4, threw everyone off, and then yanked you off from the float. Although tactically speaking, it was an overly risky and ill-considered move... I like it."

"So my husband went to such lengths to save me?" Ange exclaimed in surprise—it seemed that even she hadn't expected Fish to take such a risk for her.

"Well... I can't just stand by and watch you get taken away by those guys." Fish licked his lips, wanting to say something, but in the end he only managed to squeeze out this sentence.

“Indeed, my lord. But I still need to advise you once more,” Ange said. “Once you officially become the Grand Duke of Fayun and the head of the Lindenhild-Fayun family, you must always place your safety above all others—even me. This is not cowardice, but your duty. You have no right to risk your life.”

"Hehehe... But I'm not yet," Fish laughed awkwardly. "We're not even officially married yet."

"That's right, so I accept your whim this time," Ange said, "but don't let it happen again."

"I don't want it to happen again," Fish said, still shaken. "Uh... by the way, how do you open this thing?"

"Please sit in the pilot's seat. I will guide you in piloting this aircraft," Huang Yan said. "Just follow my instructions."

"You even know how to operate this thing?"

"Of course I don't know—after all, such outdated aircraft were already obsolete hundreds of years ago when I was created," Huang Yan said matter-of-factly. "However, based on my knowledge of aviation in my database, I can analyze the aircraft's control system on the spot and find out how to operate it."

"Analyze on-site? Is there enough time?"

"Don't worry, the operation of this simple and primitive aircraft cannot be too complicated," Huang Yan said. "Please sit down, put your feet on the footrests, hold the control stick, and fasten your seatbelt."

"Okay, sure," Fish quickly did as instructed. "And then?"

"Please look at the instrument panel. On it are the airspeed indicator, engine tachometer, altimeter, and compass... Hmm, there aren't even pitch and roll angle displays? What a bunch of junk," Huang Yan muttered. "Never mind, I can fill in these missing parts myself. After you grip the control stick, follow my instructions to control the aircraft to fly back."

"I understand... uh... wait, why isn't it working?" After following Huang Yan's instructions a few times, Fish was surprised to find that he couldn't effectively control the plane's direction—even controlling the plane's pitch angle was extremely difficult.

"That's impossible... I can assure you... Wait, Your Highness Ange, could you please check the condition of the tail fin?"

"Okay," Ange, sitting in the bombardier's seat, turned her head and glanced at the scene, then revealed a rather... embarrassed expression. "Uh, the current situation seems a bit... not very optimistic."

"What's wrong?"

"The tail of the plane was severely damaged, it looks like a gunshot wound... My lord, did you fire a shot at this plane?"

"How could that be?!" Fish quickly denied. A second later, he suddenly realized something. "Ah, right! It's from just now..."

Earlier, when Fish grabbed the tail and climbed up, the aircraft's communications and gunner fired an entire 50-round drum magazine at him. Although all the bullets were deflected by the shield formed by Phoenix Flame's arm armor, some of them accidentally pierced the tail fin, damaging a series of transmission components. As a result, the aircraft can now only change its pitch angle within a very limited range and is almost unable to perform even slightly large horizontal maneuvers.

"Um... Ange... can you think of something? Like, using your anti-gravity wings..."

"Not for now. The collision just now caused part of 'Golden Soup's' system to crash, and self-checking and a safe restart will take at least a few minutes," Anjie said.

"This is bad... Where are we going to end up now?" Fish's forehead immediately began to be covered in sweat.

"According to my location, the aircraft has enough fuel to fly another 70 to 80 kilometers, and it will likely make an emergency landing in the central mountains of Timor Island. Fortunately, although this type of biplane has poor performance, its aerodynamic shape is quite good, and its wing area is large enough that a safe emergency landing after running out of fuel will not be difficult," Huang Yan replied. "Of course, since the aircraft is already difficult to control, I suggest maintaining a certain altitude to avoid crashing into the mountains. Once Anjie's 'Golden Soup' is back to normal, I will find a suitable location for the two of you to jump out."

"How do we reunite with everyone?"

"Don't worry, the good news is that, based on my calculations, this plane's route will be very close to our final destination—the Lyndenhild-Fayun family's 'forbidden zone.' You've received a new chapter update: Chapter 142 Where Are We Flying To?", read the link. This is somewhat of a good thing, because the two of you can scout the area before the main force arrives," Huang Yan said. "Tactically speaking, we could very well use this opportunity to gain the upper hand. I'll pre-locate the expected landing area and send the coordinates to our personnel so they can come and meet us."

"Phew... I hope so." Hearing Huang Yan say that, Fish finally breathed a slight sigh of relief. In the next ten minutes or so, the dilapidated seaplane swept over the coral reef-covered southern coast of Timor Island and passed through the lush rainforest. Before long, the relatively flat coastal terrain was replaced by a series of abrupt mountain peaks.

Long, long ago, during the Quaternary Ice Age, this long, narrow island was part of a series of magnificent mountain ranges in Melanesia. Early humans migrated south along these mountain ranges, eventually reaching Australia while fleeing glaciers and chasing prey.

Now, with the passage of time, the once mighty mountain range has been transformed into a series of discontinuous islands due to massive sea-level rise. However, the terrain on these islands remains as rugged as it was before, resembling crumpled pieces of paper.

"Look on the bright side, my dear husband. Being able to take a plane for a while saves us a lot of trouble traveling over mountains and valleys," Ange said to Fish, looking at the cloud-shrouded peaks.

"Yes, but once we get to the 'secret realm,' the trouble will likely only increase," Fish said. "By the way, what exactly is there? Why are you so worried?"

"Well... actually, I don't know much about it either. Nearly a thousand years have passed, and even the stories passed down within the family have become somewhat unreliable," Anjie shook her head. "Huangyan and I have already told you everything we know: what's sealed down there is probably the highest-level control node of the 'Tai Sui,' which is the 'Tomb Ruler.'"

“I know that. But as long as you get there before that thing is released and stop whoever is planning to release it, there won’t be a problem,” Fish said. “However, these days I can sense that you’re still worried about something…something else.”

"Huh? You even noticed that?!" Ange shuddered. "Uh... As expected of my husband, you're so observant."

"Hehehe... I was mostly just going by instinct..." Fish said, while struggling to grip the control stick and using the remaining maneuverability of the aircraft to keep the nose from plummeting and crashing into the increasingly towering mountains. "Although you always seem so elegant and calm, it's actually like an oil painting, a delicate illusion presented to those who look at you from afar. If I spend enough time with you, I can... smell the anxiety on you."

"Smell it? Ah, I forgot, my husband, you are a cat-type new human," Ange suddenly chuckled. "Although your sense of smell isn't the strongest, you are particularly good at distinguishing subtle changes in pheromones."

“Indeed,” Huang Yan added, “the purpose of creating cat-type new humans is to serve as companion pets, so they are instinctively good at reading people's expressions and moods—including perceiving and analyzing the emotions of those they serve. Otherwise, how could a dull idiot like Fish possibly make a living by wagging his tail at rich women in a bar? Not to mention attracting top-tier customers like Miss Luca.”

"I'm not stupid, meow!" Fish shouted.

"Well, in short, my husband, you were right. I have been quite worried lately," Ange sighed softly, reaching out a hand towards the thin veil of clouds outside the cabin. "Because, in our family legend, there is another version of the story."

"It is said that the ancestors of the Lyndenhild-Fayun family, who sealed away the 'Tai Sui' back then, had already guessed that someone in later generations would try to rediscover them. Therefore, they deliberately used the technology of the old civilization era to set up a large number of guardians and traps," Ange explained. "These guardians and traps can not only directly eliminate trespassers, but also deceive and mislead them to a certain extent."

"Isn't this a good thing?" Fish asked. "At least those guys who were digging into the 'secret realm' are going to be in trouble."

“That’s right, but that also means that if they trigger the guards and traps while trying to stop them, we’ll face the same danger,” Ange said. “Most importantly, the legend also mentions that if you enter the place where the ‘Tai Sui’ was sealed in the past in the wrong way, it could lead to mutual destruction. Although it doesn’t specify what this ‘death’ is, I suspect it’s some kind of weapon of mass destruction that could completely destroy this area.”

"That's entirely possible," Huang Yan said. "Now, please pay attention to the northeast."

"Damn, what is this...?" After glancing in the direction Huang Yan indicated, Fish and Ange both instinctively gasped – through a deep canyon between mountains, what came into their view was a vast expanse of black, glassy ground.

This desolate valley had clearly been ravaged by some devastating attack; the original organic matter had vanished, and the silicates in the underground rock layers and soil had all melted and solidified into a dark, glassy "lens." In this ominous region, there was no vegetation, no wetlands, and no flowing rivers.

Of course, with the visual enhancements provided by Phoenix Flame, Fish could see hundreds of tents and temporary barracks scattered along the edge of this dead zone. Clearly, these were the Imperial Army soldiers sent by the Emperor himself to assist the Fayun Regency Council in uncovering their imagined "secret weapon."

In the center of this vitrified land, near a huge "funnel," various excavation tools, ventilation equipment, and power supply facilities are piled up, and a large number of people are like busy worker ants, constantly moving around the "funnel."

"Based on my deduction, the surface of the so-called 'secret realm' was most likely destroyed a thousand years ago by some kind of incredibly powerful weapon of mass destruction—the purpose of which was probably to seal off the underground facilities and, incidentally, to 'disinfect' the surrounding area."

"If we're not careful, this place might suffer a similar catastrophe again," Ange sighed. "Then..."

"I know. But I won't let that happen," Fish forced a smile at Ange as the black, glassy ground disappeared behind the mountains once more. "I promise I will... eh?"

Before Fish could finish speaking, he suddenly noticed something else: just now, the seaplane's engine had stopped running.