The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"That's...could it be the 'Tidal Lightning' fleet?"

After staring at the orange marker on the holographic map for a while, Fish asked.

"Hmm, as expected. Even if you dropped out of prenatal education, you're not so stupid as not to see this," Huang Yan's remote terminal crossed its arms and chuckled a few times. "That's right, this is the fleet of those bastards who sacrificed you two and your companions as offerings."

"I told you I didn't drop out of prenatal education!" Fish was about to protest when the holographic map in front of him flickered and turned into an overhead view taken from a distance. Although the camera used to take the picture was obviously not cleaned for years and was full of salt stains and grime, Fish and Xiao Xing, who had spent several weeks in the "Tidal Lightning" war gang, could recognize the target just by seeing its outline.

Undoubtedly, the gray shadow cleaving through the dark blue sea between the skyscrapers, forging ahead against the waves, was the flagship of the "Tidal Lightning" warband, the "Black Storm." Like many ships used by warbands and mercenaries, the main body of this ship was built with tropical teak—one of the few shipbuilding materials available in abundance at this time—while the hull used armor steel with a thickness exceeding 3 centimeters in some places. The keel and some key load-bearing parts were made of carbon fiber, which could no longer be produced and was salvaged from ancient ruins. This material gave it exceptional toughness.

As a large ship with a normal displacement of nearly 600 tons, the "Black Storm" possessed abundant power: the triangular sails hanging on the three masts, each over 20 meters high, though worn and patched over a long period, still effectively utilized wind power for cruising. At the stern, twin propellers powered by two 700-horsepower internal combustion engines were used only for emergency acceleration; under extreme conditions, combined with the sails, they could propel the ship to over 30 knots, which was quite impressive for that era.

Furthermore, while not comparable to warships of any nation's navy, this ship was still equipped with a considerable amount of weaponry, including two 105mm cannons with gun shields, one fore and one aft, as well as several small-caliber autocannons and heavy machine guns. It was at least considered top-tier among irregular armed forces.

Above the "Black Storm" stood a cigar-shaped shadow—the "Eye of Surveillance," the most important air force of the "Tidal Lightning" warband. This small airship, only able to carry fewer than ten crew members, was equipped with minimal self-defense weaponry, but could ascend to altitudes exceeding 2500 meters during operations, providing immediate warning to ships below. Two days earlier, Fish's team had also been transported directly to the top of the tower using a gondola carried by this very airship.

Clearly, the second orange dot that appeared on the holographic map earlier was this airship.

So...

"That's strange, where did the 'Wave' go?" Xiaoxing asked.

"Yes..." Fish nodded in agreement—the Tide Lightning's main fleet consisted of two ships: the Black Storm and the Wave. The latter had a slightly smaller displacement and less power than the Black Storm, and was also older. In most cases, it operated in conjunction with the Black Storm.

But now, the ship is nowhere to be seen in the footage.

"Wait, what did you say? Those guys actually have two ships?!" To Fish's surprise, Huang Yan actually asked such a question.

"Wait, you mean you don't even know how many ships 'Tidal Lightning' has?" Fish asked.

"Yes. My terminal was only awakened from standby mode and began observing you after the battle broke out at the top of the tower. I can only learn about your previous experiences through conversations between you and your subordinates," Huang Yan answered frankly. "Although I immediately connected to all the surveillance equipment I was authorized to try to find the departing fleet, many facilities in this city were either damaged or unusable, so I only managed to capture a few shots... and all of them only showed one ship."

"So, you're not actually all-knowing and all-powerful after all," Fish said with a hint of smugness. Ever since they met, the almost omniscient Huang Yan had made Fish feel inferior and rather frustrated. But now, discovering that Huang Yan actually had things she didn't know actually made him feel... somewhat happy.

"Idiot." Huang Yan immediately manipulated Fish's arm, slapping himself across the face. "Is this something to be proud of?! The less information I have, the more likely you are to encounter unexpected events in your upcoming operations! Don't you understand such a simple truth?"

"Ugh..." Fish covered his swollen face and didn't say anything.

"In short, to minimize unforeseen circumstances, I will try to access and activate a batch of monitoring systems that failed to activate before, and try to find them," Huang Yan continued. "I don't want you to encounter any 'surprises' when you are about to achieve your goal."

"Hmm, well said! Well then, until you find the 'Waves,' Xiaoxing and I will rest a little longer, and then..."

"I'm sorry, but I suggest you act immediately," Huang Yan said. "Even setting aside the missing 'Wave,' according to my calculations, the 'Black Storm' is only eight hours away from our target as the crow flies."

"Is that all the time we have?!" Fish was taken aback.

"Of course, the closer you get to the city center, the denser the buildings will be, and there will be many reef areas formed by submerged low- and mid-rise buildings. The ship's speed will inevitably slow down significantly—so conservatively speaking, you have sixty to seventy-two hours left," Huang Yan explained. "However, that's still not enough time... at least, you can't catch up with the ship by swimming."

"Ah...yes," Fish nodded, "So...is there a boat here?"

"Of course not!" Huang Yan's answer greatly disappointed him. "Please use your brain! In the old civilization era, this place was hundreds of miles away from the sea. Apart from inflatable duck-shaped rubber boats used in swimming pools, no one would specifically prepare boats here."

"So what should we do? Build one now? That's too late."

"Don't flatter yourself. I didn't ask you to do that—after all, you don't seem like a professional shipbuilder, nor do you seem to have studied engineering or fluid dynamics," Huang Yan said. "Fortunately, in the old civilization era, people had some other forms of entertainment... and I remember that the storage room on the thirty-second floor of Tower C across the street had items for such entertainment, which might be of some help to you."

"Understood." Fish and Xiaoxing didn't even ask what kind of "entertainment activity" it was before leaving the medical center as quickly as possible and running along a skybridge connecting the towers toward Tower C.

Unlike their own cleared tower, Tower C still had a small number of chimeras and runaway automated machines roaming around. However, none of them were as troublesome as the "Black Destroyers"; most were just E-rank or at most D-rank minions according to Phoenix Flame's standards. Therefore, Fish thoughtfully gave the opportunity to eliminate them to Xiaoxing, so that she, who had little combat experience, could quickly adapt to operating her intelligent combat armor.

At first, Fish was a little worried about whether Xiaoxing could handle things on her own. But it turned out that Xiaoxing and "Grape" worked together even better than when he first obtained the Phoenix Flame. Her combat armor offered limited melee weaponry, consisting only of a long dagger and reinforced gauntlets. Her ranged weapon was a single, small, multi-functional crossbow, only about a foot long. While its accuracy was passable and it could fire various bolts, its firepower continuity and range were quite poor. However, Xiaoxing compensated for this through other means.

That is concealment.

Although Huang Yan can choose to change to camouflage in the function menu, its disguise effect is at most similar to ordinary camouflage clothing. Xiao Xing's "Grape" is different: after covering the whole body (including the fluffy "fox radish" on the back), it can achieve almost complete invisibility in a dynamic state. Moreover, it is not only in the visible light band, but also when Fish switches to thermal imaging and centimeter-wave radar modes, it is almost impossible to detect Xiao Xing's presence.

More importantly, Xiaoxing seemed to possess an innate talent for stealth: while invisible, she moved with almost no sound, avoiding all obstacles like a nimble cat. Then, from a distance of several meters, she systematically "executed" all the chimeras blocking her path with crossbow bolts infused with neurotoxin. As for the automated machines unaffected by the poison, they were dealt with one by one by her enhanced power gauntlets and daggers with monomolecular blades. Even the greatest assassins in history probably couldn't have done it better.

"Hey, hey... this isn't fair!" After watching Xiaoxing's series of smooth and fluid "executions" along the way, Fish protested in a low voice to Huang Yan, "Why can't you have this ability?!"

"There's no way around it. According to the settings, the specific functions of intelligent combat armor have different focuses. Different armors also have different focuses—and it's related to the user's personality traits," Huang Yan explained in a helpless tone.

"Combat armor functionality related to personality traits? That's ridiculous!"

"I know this sounds absurd, but that's the truth... Don't forget, our combat armor was originally designed for 'war games' rather than 'war'—and humans back then liked this kind of ridiculous concept," Huang Yan said indignantly. "In fact, there were quite a few perverted otaku who would choose their favorite Newtype gladiators for 'character development'—that's why this ridiculous concept came about."

"Well, at least this ability does suit Sachi quite well," Fish muttered. Although they were teammates, Fish and the fox-eared loli hadn't interacted much until they were the only two survivors left on the team. In his memory, Sachi was a very reserved and introverted girl. If he had to describe her, she was usually like a background character, with an extremely weak presence. Sometimes, he even felt that Sachi subconsciously didn't want to be noticed by others.

Perhaps this is why her combat armor possesses such abilities?

Fish wasn't sure if his thoughts were accurate, but Xiaoxing thoroughly enjoyed the process of sneaking up on the other person right under their nose and then delivering a fatal blow. Having grown up in the dilapidated slums of an atoll city, she was already used to violence and death, so she wouldn't be as shocked as other girls when she killed a living creature for the first time.

"Well done, Miss Xiaoxing, 102 points!" After the last few chimeras not far from the destination were wiped out, Huang Yan announced, "Out of 100 points, you did such a great job in your first real battle, so I'll add one point! And because you're a beautiful girl, I'll add another one point!"

"You, you're being way too biased with your score..." Fei Shi muttered under his breath, remembering the score Huang Yan had initially given him.

Huang Yan ignored his minor protest and continued to guide the two to their destination using the directional signs: the storage room on the thirty-second floor of Tower C, where they found some sealed supply crates. These crates contained a bunch of... soft, rubbery objects, a strangely textured dark blue film, retractable carbon fiber supports, and a propeller engine whose main components had been disassembled.

"Excuse me... what is this?" Xiaoxing asked as she wiped the dark green chimera blood off her power gauntlets.

"The 'Peregrine Falcon' is an ultralight inflatable powered glider, one of the smallest manned powered aircraft." Due to the time constraints, Huang Yan had no intention of letting Fish figure it out on his own. Instead, he directly transmitted the specific tasks to Fish's mind through neural signals, guiding him step by step to inflate the inflatable wings and assemble the fuselage frame, bathtub-shaped carbon fiber cockpit, control equipment, engine, and landing skid one by one. "Although in the past, this thing was mainly sold as recreational sports equipment, its performance is not bad: maximum speed of 150 kilometers per hour, service ceiling of 3000 meters, and payload of 140 kilograms. Moreover, theoretically, it can achieve unlimited range."

"Flight range...unlimited?"

"That's right, that's my favorite part," Huang Yan's remote control terminal first flew to the rear of the cockpit, patted the propeller there, and then came to the top of the inflatable delta wing, stepping on the blue film with its little feet. "The wings of this thing are equipped with the solar power generation film with the highest energy conversion rate in the old civilization era. Under sunlight, it can continuously charge the battery, which can maintain the minimum operation of the engine. In addition, because of its extremely low fuselage weight, wingspan and aerodynamic shape, it can still glide for a long time even after the engine is turned off—especially when making good use of updrafts."

"Wow, that's amazing..." Fish happily stroked the powered glider. "Now let's get Xiaoxing's too... Hey, you've already assembled it?!" After turning his gaze towards Xiaoxing, he was immediately dumbfounded.

Just as Fish was being "guided" by Huang Yan to assemble his "Peregrine Falcon" bit by bit, Xiao Xing actually completed the assembly of her aircraft simply by imitating it! At this moment, she was doing the last task: fixing the propeller located at the rear of the engine.

"Wait, Xiaoxing, what's wrong with you...?"

"...Uh, it's nothing," the fox-eared little girl swayed her big tail, unconcerned about Fish's surprised expression. "I just did it your way. The structure of this plane isn't complicated, with less than two hundred main parts, so it's easy to assemble."

"Very...easy?" Fish was dumbfounded—in his view, until the very last step of assembly, the "Peregrine Falcon" was as complex as a book written in heaven, its specific structure completely incomprehensible. But Xiaoxing actually thought it was "not complicated"?!