The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

Half an hour after reaching a "leniency" with the officer, Fish, Ange, and Mary left the town of "Golden Fleece," inhabited by the Satter family—Mary only told them the name when the town was almost out of sight. Before leaving, Mary packed a few simple belongings and handed over the position of acting mayor to another boy of similar age.

"Don't worry about me, I'll come back with your mother," Mary said to the children left behind in town as she left. Sadly, judging from the children's expressions, they couldn't even pretend to believe her. The expressions on everyone's faces were so somber, it was as if a funeral was being held.

After all, many people had been taken away from the town before, but none had ever returned. For these children, those who left meant they had completely "disappeared," and Mary was the latest among them.

No one believed they would ever see her again.

Along with the three, more than twenty other people were taken to the "secret realm," most of whom were no more than twenty years old. Clearly, the troops responsible for the excavation, mainly the First Imperial Guard Brigade, had suffered terrible manpower losses, which is why they had to continuously draw personnel from those "non-critical" positions to fill the gaps, and then capture people from the surrounding villages and towns to fill the "non-critical" positions.

"But these guys are really careless. They let us in without even checking our identities," Fish whispered to Ange as they boarded a dirty, old truck powered by a cumbersome wood-fired stove. "It's easier than I expected."

"I'm afraid this is because the Imperial Army didn't treat this mission as a military operation at all, but rather as an exploration mission—similar in nature to those warbands searching for loot in the ruins of the old civilization era," Ange said. "Although it was also dangerous, they probably thought that their enemies were limited to the autonomous weapons of the old civilization era hidden in the facilities, and that they didn't need to be afraid of anyone sabotaging them."

“That’s true,” Fish said. “After all, theoretically speaking, this area has always been a forbidden zone of the Duchy of Fayun, and outsiders have no idea what’s inside…”

“I know,” Mary, sitting next to the two, suddenly said. Although Fish and Ange tried their best to keep their voices down, she still heard them. “Our ancestors said that an evil spirit lurks in the forbidden area—that evil spirit is omnipresent and can see into anything. Even if you close your eyes and don’t look at it, cover your ears and don’t listen to it, and remain silent in its presence, it can still find your location, enter your soul, and leave you nowhere to escape. Then, you will become an empty shell manipulated by it, and you will never have the chance to transcend until the end of your life.”

"It sounds like...just a regular ghost story," Ange commented. "So, Mary, do you believe this story?"

"Uh... this... this story was told to me by my mother. I... I'm just repeating it." Mary's answer seemed irrelevant—of course, Ange knew very well that this was mostly because she herself couldn't figure out how much of the story was true and how much was false.

"In that case, Miss Mary, I can tell you responsibly that this story does indeed... have some basis in reality," Ange took a deep breath. "So, once you get there, please don't wander around, don't approach the excavation site unnecessarily, and don't touch anything you don't recognize, understand?"

"Yes." Mary nodded quickly.

After driving a long stretch of rugged mountain road, the slow, dilapidated old car finally entered an open area nestled in the mountains—just as Fish and Ange had seen from the air earlier, the surface of this open area had an eerie black glassy sheen in the sunlight, the smooth surface was empty, with only a few small, withered plants growing in the cracks where dust had accumulated.

"Good heavens, only space-based energy weapons—and the most powerful kind at that—can deliver this kind of attack," Huang Yan commented in a secure channel that only Fish and Ange could hear. "Even in the old civilization era, this kind of display was extremely rare."

"Well, I thought people in the past could create miracles so easily," Fish muttered to himself. His "muttering to himself" drew brief glances from his fellow passengers, but the others quickly looked away—aside from those from the town of "Golden Fleece," where little work was done and people lived a comfortable life selling wigs, most of these mountain people were used to hard and tedious work. For them, working for the army wasn't so bad in itself, but the numerous ominous rumors about this "secret realm" made everyone uneasy.

"A miracle? That's a relative concept, kid," Huang Yan replied. "For a primitive man who hadn't even learned how to make fire by rubbing sticks together, matches and lighters were both 'miracles'; while for ancient people who hadn't even invented hot air balloons, a propeller-driven biplane and a supersonic fighter jet were not much different 'miracles.' People in the old civilizations weren't omnipotent; some things, even for them, were extremely difficult to do."

"For example?"

"This place is the best example: although the range of energy weapons used in the late Old Civilization era was extremely wide, and intelligent combat armor like mine can be equipped with multiple models at the same time—but don't forget, what I can equip are all individual light weapons," Huang Yan said. "People back then also had heavier energy weapons, such as heavy ion cannons, ship-mounted powerful laser beams, etc., but even if the power of those common energy weapons were combined, it wouldn't be enough to burn down such a large area of ​​land."

"So..."

"In fact, even the powerful energy weapons installed on space battleships are not enough to do this. Their theoretical firing output may be on the same order of magnitude as the damage here, but the atmosphere will cause the power of energy weapons to decay," Huang Yan continued to say to himself. "According to the records in my database, the only ones that could possibly do this are those 'Pharsalus' class planetary fortresses."

"Planetary fortress? That sounds terrifying."

"Yes, those are the largest weapons ever built by humans in the old civilization era. Based on a famous image from a certain movie, people also call these things 'Dead Moon'."

"Death...yue?"

"The term is derived from the 'Death Star'—a colossal battle station the size of a planet that appeared in a series of past movies," Huang Yan explained. "It has the ability to shatter an entire planet with a single blow."

"Meow meow meow?"

"Ah, of course, that's just a movie setting. In reality, humanity has never been able to build a weapon with such powerful single-unit capabilities. After all, the chemical and gravitational binding energy of a terrestrial planet is astonishing. To destroy it, only a super-powerful interstellar civilization of level two or higher, like the legendary 'Galactic Empire,' could do it," Huang Yan said. "However, in terms of design, the 'Pharsalus'-class planetary fortress does resemble a miniature version of the Death Star. They are spheres with a diameter of four kilometers and a recessed energy weapon silo."

"And it's deployed in Earth's satellite orbit, so it's called 'Dead Moon'?" Ange asked.

"Yes. A single shot from its main gun can reach the equivalent of 1.45 million tons of TNT—of course, under the premise of firing at full power. But a place like the 'Secret Realm' could only be the result of such an attack," Huang Yan replied. "This attack method was not originally intended to attack spaceships, but to intercept high-risk small celestial bodies that might threaten Earth."

"Ugh..." Fish smacked his lips repeatedly, like a cat with a fishbone stuck in its throat, the fur on his ears standing on end. For him, the power of a hundred or two hundred kilograms of explosives was already astonishing; the unit "hundred million tons" was a concept he had never even dreamed of.

"However, there are still some things that don't quite add up." After explaining all this, Huang Yan suddenly added, "At least, the current situation doesn't quite match some of my records."

"Oh?"

"According to my records, at the end of the old civilization era, when the three 'heroes' led the new humans to rebel against the old humans, all the Pharsalus-class space fortresses suffered irreversible damage—the specific reason is unknown, but it was likely the result of the new humans' secret activities. After all, these were the most powerful weapons in the hands of the old humans, and the most feared targets for the rebels. The rebels were very worried that they would be used by the old humans for indiscriminate bombing."

"I understand," Ange said softly, "but if these records are true, does that mean these space fortresses have been repaired again?"

"Theoretically, this is absolutely impossible," Huang Yan said in a resolute tone in their ears.

Why?

"Because what I mean by 'irreversible damage' is falling directly into the atmosphere—they explode internally, lose control, eventually break away from their orbits 60,000 kilometers away, and then fall to the Earth's surface."

"The damage it caused must have been terrible, right?"

"Fortunately, none of the three Fasalus-class ships crashed into land, but instead landed near Point Nemo in the South Pacific... It was probably a controlled crash, as this would minimize the damage. According to my database, their crash triggered a sizable tsunami, reaching nearly four meters high even off the coast of Chile, resulting in 15 deaths and affecting more than 35,000 people—if they had landed elsewhere, the consequences would have been unimaginable."

"Well, in short, this means there's a very serious discrepancy between your records and the facts here: if all the Fasalus-class destroyers ceased to exist at the start of the war, it shouldn't be possible for anyone to have used them to bombard the surface and create the vitrified ground of the 'Secret Realm.' And you don't even know the cause of all this," Ange concluded. "It seems this discrepancy... probably indicates something very important."

"Yes, I think that if possible, we should try to find out the real cause and effect of this matter. That way..."

Before Huang Yan could say anything more, the old truck suddenly lurched forward, like a panting old ox, and stopped in front of a row of rough prefabricated houses and tents. "Everyone, get out!" the driver yelled gruffly from the cab. "Someone will assign you work down there!"

The dejected and listless laborers, upon hearing this, jumped off the carriages and onto the glassy ground. Several soldiers wearing rough red armbands were already waiting there, and after casually selecting the men, they pulled them into different teams. Although one of them initially wanted to take Mary away, she was ultimately not separated from the two due to Fish's objections.

Although Fish had emphasized his and Ange's superior strength and knowledge when boasting to the officer in charge of conscription, the sergeant in charge of assigning personnel didn't seem to believe it—or perhaps he simply didn't trust these two strangers to handle valuable and complex equipment. Therefore, Fish's wish to be assigned to a mechanics position was dashed. The three of them were handed over to a weary-looking warrant officer wearing an apron so dirty it was unrecognizable. Seeing the metal ladle in the latter's hand, Fish realized this guy was from the kitchen.

"You're lucky. At least the people assigned to the kitchen won't lack food." The logistics officer, looking exhausted and as if he hadn't slept well for days, said this only before leading his assigned group towards a large tent. Although called a tent, it only had canvas covering the top and one side to protect against the frequent downpours from the west. Several large metal boilers with long chimneys were lined up in one corner. The other corner was piled high with huge wooden crates.

Fish had imagined that a kitchen would be a place piled high with all sorts of meats, vegetables, staple foods, and various seasonings, but that wasn't the case at all. Upon seeing the three new recruits, a greasy-faced, bloated cook with pig ears that perfectly matched his appearance smiled and told them that the work ahead wouldn't be complicated.

"Look, it's okay if you can't cook, pfft," the pig-headed cook explained, "because your main task is to boil water. The rest of the logistics team will bring the charcoal and water here, you just need to boil the water, pfft."

"That's it?" Fish asked.

"That's right. Because we are the First Imperial Guard Brigade, and His Majesty the Emperor's sword is..." Mr. Pighead tried his best to look serious and spirited, but it was really useless. "We are given the best logistical support."

As he described, the kitchen was filled with boxes, densely packed with enormous tin cans. Labels indicated they contained various pre-cooked meals—mass-produced foods in food factories packaged in five-kilogram cans, simply opened, placed in metal containers, and heated with boiling water. While there were a few fresh vegetables from nearby farms, they were only a minor supplement.

"Yes, in unfamiliar places, eating canned food can indeed avoid the risk of food poisoning or an outbreak of epidemics," Ange commented. "However, these things probably don't taste very good."

"But at least it's not difficult to handle," Fish said. "I think that's a good thing."