The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"I...I apologize."

After Xiaoxing, her face flushed, finished her questioning, everyone, including Fish, was stunned for a moment. Finally, Fish did something else that surprised everyone: he slowly bent his knees and then placed his hands and forehead on the ground.

This act, known as "dogeza," is rarely seen in this era. However, Fish and his companions had heard of it from Huang Yan; it was a most solemn way of apologizing from an old civilization. This was the first time Fish was putting it into practice.

"Ah...uh..." Although she had been sulking just now, after seeing Fish's reaction, Xiaoxing suddenly lost her composure and looked completely bewildered.

"I hereby as the Grand Duke of the Duchy of Fayun, and as your friend and companion, assure each and every one of you that from this moment on, I will never doubt anyone's resolve and will again," Fish continued. "From this moment on, we will share a common destiny and never abandon each other again—I absolutely believe that you all have enough resolve and will to shoulder the fate of this world."

"Connect Phoenix Flame to the device and begin the final checks." After Fish stood up, no one cheered, and no one malfunctioned—long-time comrades didn't need to express their emotions and thoughts in this way. Only Ange gave the order to her three female attendants. Soon, the three of them carried Phoenix Flame, which Fish had de-equipped, and placed it on the control panel located at the edge of this floor. Phoenix Flame then quickly extended pseudo-legs with nerve bundles and physically connected to the system.

After a tense, suffocating minute, Huang Yan finally concluded: "No signs of sabotage or traps detected. The equipment has been activated; the optimal teleportation capacity is 8 people."

"Is that so?" Fish removed the Phoenix Flame, letting it wriggle back to cover his body, transforming it back into its original form of tight-fitting armor. "Well, at least it's not too little."

Of course, despite saying that, Fish's forehead was genuinely beaded with sweat from embarrassment: after all, just moments ago, he had angered the usually good-natured Sachi by asking if anyone was planning to leave, and even had to resort to the ancient method of dogeza (a deep bow) to apologize. Although the current situation was somewhat understandable, he was still a little too embarrassed to take the initiative to ask someone to stay.

However, the others immediately realized his embarrassment and took the initiative to solve the problem for him.

"Peanut and Xiao Luo can stay," Mint said immediately. "Although the system here seems to operate autonomously, having someone stay here to look after it while it's running will provide more security."

"Yes, ma'am. We will keep a close eye on the security of the equipment here," the two female attendants said in unison.

"Alright, what about the others?" Fish looked at his remaining companions, still finding it hard to decide—there were six armored warriors present, including himself, and as the main fighting force, they were naturally all among those to be deployed.

In other words, only two spots remain. But aside from the two subordinates Mint was ordered to stay behind, the remaining four people present are Luca, Shana, Melu, and Alicia.

"Phew... In that case, I'll reluctantly stay here." Luca shrugged. "Although I'd love to see the legendary planetary fortress and watch Little Fish save the world, based on the results of the last simulation game, I'm better suited to strategizing from the rear. So, I regretfully have to give up my spot."

"Hmm." Angela, standing next to Fish, nodded, indicating her approval of Luca's decision. "And the other person who stayed behind..."

"I'll stay too," Melu suddenly said.

"You? But didn't you say you'd stay and protect Shana at all times?"

"I really don't want to leave Shana—in fact, if it weren't for wanting her to have a stable place to live in this era, I wouldn't be interested in being your concubine," the squirrel girl said, clutching her sniper rifle. However, Fish could detect a hint of... tsundere in her tone. "But now, I still have to stay. Because it's better for Shana."

"That's definitely true," Ange commented.

"Huh?" Fish was a little dumbfounded.

"That's right. While the best way to protect Shana is indeed to stay by her side and eliminate any danger that tries to approach her, that's not feasible right now." Melu shrugged her small shoulders. "After all, Shana's knowledge of the old civilization era is something I don't possess. Even Huang Yan might not know certain details she does know. Therefore, she can't not participate in this operation, but I'm different."

"Yes, aside from being an expert marksman who grew up as a hunter in the mountains of the Northland, Melu doesn't possess any other special talents," Huang Yan explained. "Ah, to be precise, I did teach Melu some necessary knowledge and skills, but in areas other than shooting, her abilities are at best 'good enough'..."

"Furthermore, my strengths are more suited to long-range combat, which would be of little use in the confined space facility," Meru summarized for Huang Yan. "In comparison, Alicia is more suited to complete the mission—if we can't capture the planetary fortress, there is no safe place in this world. Therefore, the only way to ensure Shana's safety is to increase the success rate of this operation as much as possible."

"I know!" Alicia said energetically. As a fast clone specifically produced for deathmatch, she was indeed more suited than Melu to life-or-death battles in most complex environments. More importantly, although she had always wanted to prove herself after being taken away from the Northlands by Fish, she had always played a background role in the series of battles she participated in, which made her a little... annoyed. Therefore, she would naturally not let go of such a good opportunity. "I'll take good care of Shana for you!"

"Then, I'll leave it to you," Melu bowed deeply to Alicia, then shouldered her sniper rifle and ran back towards the surface with Luca. "I will do everything I can to buy everyone some time."

"System initialization complete, entering startup preparation procedure!" Melu and Luca had just left.

Peanut and Xiao Luo, who were in charge of operating the teleportation equipment, announced: "Because the sophisticated equipment of the old civilization was generally highly standardized, there are actually quite a few people in this era who can operate it skillfully with a little training. Please enter the teleportation area."

"Okay." Fish nodded. The layout of the third underground level of this facility is somewhat similar to an ancient amphitheater. It is shaped like a bowl, with a lower center and higher edges. The control and observation equipment, as well as the personnel responsible for operating it, are located in the higher "spectator seats," while the central area is a blue circular area with a diameter equivalent to half a standard basketball court.

This is the area where long-distance spatial teleportation takes place.

"In the past, this place could probably transport two or three hundred people at a time, ensuring a daily flow of nearly ten thousand people," Huang Yan said as the group approached the blue circular area. "Back then, there were at least a hundred such teleportation hubs on Earth. This made it quite convenient for most people to travel within the inner solar system, between Jupiter's orbit and Venus's orbit."

"Phew, if we could still do that now, we could lead two companies to storm that planetary fortress." Moon Butterfly sighed. "That way, I could showcase my excellent command skills and show everyone how easily I can..."

"I'm afraid it won't be easy," Huang Yan immediately poured cold water on Yue Die's wishful thinking. "In fact, just like the mission to raid Drifting Continent can only use a few companies and not a few brigades, even if there is enough teleportation capacity here, the best option is to send a squad or platoon-level team. The reason why the 'Planetary Fortress' is called a 'Planetary Fortress' is because its interior is like a real fortress, with many defensive measures. This is to resist possible enemy infiltration and boarding. A large number of ordinary soldiers with limited combat power would become targets with limited mobility."

"I know about this kind of thing. I was just saying it casually just now," Yue Die said, her face flushing red.

"Also, Miss Luo, Miss Peanut, please pay attention," Huang Yan continued to speak to Mint's two subordinates through his megaphone, "when the teleportation begins, send me and Fish over first—your control panel should have a 'teleportation rate' setting; set ours to the highest '3', and the others to '1'."

"Yes, sir. But if I may be so bold as to ask, what is the reason for doing this?" Xiao Luo asked.

"Just in case. Because I just remembered a possibility that's quite small, but not zero," Huang Yan said. "Although this possibility is unlikely to materialize, I think it's necessary to take some precautionary measures."

"Yes." The two female attendants didn't say anything more. A few seconds later, the blue circle, about half the size of a basketball court, began to emit a deep blue luster, like sunlight shining through a sapphire, and everyone immediately stood on it.

"Location confirmed, coordinates established. Teleportation countdown: ten, nine, eight..."

"Everyone, one last reminder," Huang Yan added before the countdown ended, "Some of you may have already experienced short-distance spatial teleportation, but this long-distance teleportation, at least the first time, will have a very... unique feeling. Please be mentally prepared."

"Meow? What did you say?"

"...Three, two, one! Start!"

As soon as Fish asked the question, the blue circle beneath everyone's feet shone brightly. Then, he suddenly felt an extremely strong sense of weightlessness.

"Meow wah ...

Like most people in the old civilization who rode a roller coaster or drop tower for the first time, Fish was seized by the sudden, overwhelming feeling of weightlessness, as if he were plummeting into an abyss, causing him to let out a terrifying scream. However, as time went on, Fish gradually adapted to this weightlessness: in fact, although he felt dizzy and the feeling of not being able to hold on was strange, at least it wasn't so bad.

After some time, once he had fully adapted to the weightless environment, Fish's frantically secreted adrenaline gradually returned to normal levels. His survival instincts shut down, and his heartbeat and pulse returned to normal. At this moment, he even began to feel a little bored—after all, apart from a shimmering blue-white light, there was almost nothing around him; he could see neither the stars nor the black space, nor the figure of his companions.

More importantly, because there were no reference points to be seen, the passage of time seemed to have stopped. This made Fish feel extremely bored and tired, and he even yawned.

"Cheer up!" Huang Yan said immediately. "We have a third-class teleportation speed. We'll arrive at the target coordinates in fifteen seconds, three minutes ahead of Anjie and the others."

"Hmm...no wonder I haven't been able to see Ange and the others since just now. But why would they do that?" Fish asked.

"Just in case," Huang Yan said briefly, "Oh right, we're almost there."

"What—Gurgle!" Fish, who had just gotten used to the feeling of weightlessness, let out another short exclamation. If he had to describe it, this time, it felt more like he was in a car traveling at high speed, suddenly braked hard, and then being pulled back by the seatbelt.

Then, the blue-white wall of light disappeared from his side, replaced by... a dark space and a crescent moon hanging above.

No, that wasn't a new moon—at least, a new moon wouldn't be blue and white. After a while, Fish realized that what he was seeing was actually the Earth, mostly obscured by the moon.

Of course, seeing Earth suspended in the sky like a crescent moon is a rather novel experience. The only problem is that, according to the plan, Fish should have been teleported directly into the interior of that "Pharsalus"-class planetary fortress! And the fact that he's in space itself means…

"This is trouble! Activate the emergency system!" Huang Yan said quickly. At the same time, the intelligent combat armor covering Fish's body began to expand and seal itself, turning into a temporary spacesuit. Thanks to Huang Yan's help, Fish was at least not forced to choose between suffocation and depressurization, but the current situation obviously could not last.

"Why am I in space?!" Fish asked. "Where's the planetary fortress?"

"Regarding this matter, I have good news and bad news," Huang Yan replied. "Which would you like to hear first?"