The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Hmm... No matter what the news is, I still have to hear it, right?" Fish said as he floated in the endless black space. "Then, whatever you want."

"In that case, let me tell you the good news first," Huang Yan said. "On the bright side, our teleportation itself was quite accurate, and we successfully arrived at our destination... The problem with the destination was that the location of that planetary fortress had shifted slightly."

"My God, you call this good news?!" Fish exclaimed. Although the phrase "a little movement" sounds easy, after receiving a series of related educations, Fish knew very well that "a little" on the scale of space could easily be hundreds or thousands of kilometers!

For those lost souls without spaceships or chemical rockets, falling into the vast, uncharted territory of space is like throwing a fly into the middle of the Pacific Ocean. The chances of surviving are extremely slim.

"Oh, don't worry, it really is just 'a little bit'," Huang Yan explained. "To be specific, the 'Pharsalus'-class planetary fortress is right there."

As Huang Yan explained, a green line outlined a shape on Fish's helmet display: a dark area on the edge of the moon, not difficult to spot at first glance. But upon closer inspection, it became clear that within the shadows lay a complex, massive, ship-like structure. Strangely, in its very center stood a towering, bridge-like structure.

On Earth, bridges are a common ship structure. After all, due to the curvature of the Earth's surface, "the higher you stand, the farther you see" is common knowledge. However, in space, this is less necessary. Therefore, after examining this thing for a while, Fish was somewhat puzzled.

"According to calculations, the target is only 21 kilometers away from our position, which is still within the range of my own thrusters," Huang Yan continued to explain. "In addition, I have sent a message back to Earth, instructing Peanut and Xiao Luo to temporarily change their coordinates. This way, the others can at least be safely teleported into the space fortress."

"So, what you mean by 'just in case' is this?"

"Of course," Huang Yan replied. "After all, since the destination coordinates are located at a Lagrange point on the far side of the moon, I can't possibly observe it beforehand from Earth using optical or other means, nor do I know its specific conditions. In that case, I have no choice but to risk personally scouting at the forefront. Is there a problem with that?"

"Of course not." Fish shook his head—in fact, preventing others from danger was a great thing in his eyes. After all, it would be extremely dangerous for Shana, Alicia, and the others to fall directly into the vacuum of space without the protection of intelligent combat armor. "So, what's the bad news you mentioned?"

"The bad news is, there's not just one ship here, there are... two." Phoenix Flame then used a red outline to sketch the silhouette of another "something" above the "Pharsalus"-class planetary fortress... It appeared to be a ship resembling a giant flying saucer, its prow piercing directly into the planetary fortress's armored hull. Previously, Fish had subconsciously mistaken it for the bridge.

"What the hell is that? Why is it on top of the planetary fortress?!"

"In fact, I only just figured out what this thing is," Huang Yan replied. "It's the 13th ship of the 'Wanbao Giant Wheel' class of super luxury space cruise ships, the 'Guanghan Palace'."

"Uh, if I may be so bold, this doesn't sound like a proper ship," Fish muttered.

"Oh, of course," Huang Yan said. "'Wanbao Giant Wheel' class was a spaceship used by the entertainment industry at the end of the old civilization era. Like all the entertainment industries on Earth at that time, the services it provided were extremely bad and immoral by any era's standards... Although the situation on Earth at that time was similar, these space cruise ships catered to the wealthy and powerful, so they naturally played a more 'high-end' game."

"Hmm." Fish didn't say much, but simply activated the small jet propulsion system attached to the Phoenix Flame and slowly approached the two ships that had collided. Having witnessed enough of the rotten things that happened in the old civilization era, he had developed a certain immunity to this kind of thing, so he didn't even have the interest to continue asking about the specific details of the so-called "services".

"As for this 'Moon Palace' ship, according to the very limited records of the Joint Operations Headquarters, it seems to have been stationed in lunar orbit at the end of the old civilization era, serving customers who liked to live on the moon, but there are no records of it after the end of the old civilization era. Technically speaking, this thing is quite a distance from the Lagrange point where the 'Pharsalus'-class planetary fortress is located, and it should be impossible for it to collide with it under normal circumstances."

"Oh?"

"Generally, lunar orbits are only 200 to 300 kilometers from the lunar surface—after all, a lunar geostationary orbit is theoretically as high as 86,000 kilometers, and the perturbations from Earth's gravity are too great to allow spacecraft and space stations to remain stable for long periods, unlike lunar orbits which only require simple corrections. The Earth-Moon Lagrange point L2 is more than 60,000 kilometers from the Moon," Huang Yan said. "Also… be careful!"

"Meow!"

At Huang Yan's prompting, Fish made a timely maneuver, dodging a massive shard of debris hurtling towards his head. This shard, clearly from the surface of a spacecraft, weighed at least several hundred kilograms, its edges sharp and serrated like blades, and a large portion of it was red-hot.

This suggests that it must have been heated intensely by "some kind of energy" not long ago.

...For example, the heat energy generated from the kinetic energy of spacecraft colliding with each other.

For a short while afterward, more hot shrapnel grazed past Fish, forcing him to dodge left and right as he moved forward, much like the protagonist's mech in an old STG game... However, while playing games with a small plane or a busty girl flying in the sky is an easy and enjoyable thing, becoming the protagonist's mech and facing a barrage of bullets is a completely different story.

"Damn, this is really troublesome. The density is almost at the level of a washing machine, but it's still within my control," Huang Yan quickly estimated the relative positions, speeds, masses, and kinetic energy of the hundreds of fragments scattered in the surrounding space, and swiftly planned the best route to avoid them. A series of operational commands were immediately transmitted to Fish, "Watch my best support skills."

"What does 'drum washing machine' mean?" Fish asked, puzzled, as he dodged away.

"That's... uh... a reference from some old bullet hell shooter game. Of course, that's not important," Huang Yan said. "As the best support, I can take down the Shadow Bees without taking any damage, so this bullet hell is nothing to me."

"I don't think this is a trivial matter," Fish muttered as a twisted titanium beam spun past just a few feet away. The thing was over ten meters long and weighed at least a ton. A direct hit would likely result in more than just bruises; it would leave the ship a gruesome mess of pieces. "But in this situation… could it be… that the two ships just collided?"

"Yes, the collision occurred no more than three hours ago. I just simulated their possible trajectories," Huang Yan said. "Someone, or something, deliberately remotely controlled the 'Guanghan Palace,' which should have been orbiting the moon two or three hundred kilometers above it, forcing it to ignite and circle to the far end of the Earth-Moon system's Lagrange L2 point, approaching the planetary fortress that was parked there."

"And then?" Fish asked after accelerating twice to avoid the two large pieces of debris.

"It launched its attack on the Pharsalus-class planetary fortress from the side furthest from the moon. Because the Pharsalus-class's IFF system would identify the 'Guanghan Palace' as a 'first-class civilian ship,' it could not fire its shipborne weapons at the 'Guanghan Palace' even after it entered the 1000-kilometer defensive weapon warning zone; it could only evade. However, the 'Guanghan Palace' had superior maneuverability."

"And this is how it turned out?" Fish glanced at the wreckage of the two ships that had collided more than ten kilometers away.

"That's right. My calculations show that the two ships may have been chasing each other for one to two hours before the collision occurred. And these hot fragments flying everywhere are the result of that impact. Incidentally, under the current circumstances, they are gradually approaching the moon and will continue to accelerate due to the moon's gravity. If this acceleration cannot be stopped, based on this continuous acceleration trend, they will crash onto the lunar surface in a few hundred hours."

"Oh dear," Fish shook his head as he performed a violent "S"-shaped maneuver to avoid several of the sharpest and hottest fragments. "If that happened, everyone on Earth would be doomed. After all, we have no other way to stop the spread of 'Tai Sui'."

"Yes, but we still have a chance to solve the problem—both the 'Pharsalus'-class planetary fortress and the 'Guanghan Palace' are quite sturdy ships. Even if they were hit by an impact of this magnitude, most of their equipment should still be usable," Huang Yan said. "As long as we can get on board and restart the system, we may be able to find a solution before time runs out."

"Possibly? In a time like this, that word doesn't exactly inspire confidence."

"There's nothing we can do. Our abilities are limited after all. All we can do is try our best," Huang Yan's tone became somewhat dejected. "However, at least I can get you safely onto the ship."

However, as it turns out, Huang Yan almost failed to even achieve this guarantee. Indeed, with her excellent situational awareness and computing power, she was able to devise an evasion plan that would allow Fish to avoid all the flying "bullets." But the problem is that, as an intelligent combat armor, Huang Yan's abilities are limited in some aspects.

For example, due to its limited overall mass, it can only store a limited amount of compressed gas. Furthermore, in space, it cannot easily change direction by altering surface geometry or gliding, as it does in the atmosphere. This means that in the dense "barrage" of debris created by a spacecraft collision, each attempt to avoid dangerous fragments requires the consumption of gas.

Although Huang Yan tried her best to minimize the amount of compressed gas consumed for each change of direction and maneuver, and even decomposed some of her own matter to generate more compressed gas, her dwindling gas reserves ultimately forced her to make some reluctant choices.

Originally, Huang Yan planned to land directly on the hull of the planetary fortress, but due to a severe shortage of propulsion gas, she had to compromise and land on the surface of the closer "Guanghan Palace".

"Great, this door can still be opened." After guiding Fish to search for a while, Huang Yan finally found an emergency safety door that could be opened. These safety doors, which can be opened from the outside by turning the valve with a special wrench, were originally used to allow maintenance personnel in space to take emergency shelter. However, the designers obviously did not expect that it would play a role in this situation.

"Phew... We're finally in." After entering the security door, Fish first had Phoenix Flame collect and analyze the air samples inside the "Guanghan Palace". Only after confirming that it was breathable did he de-seal the smart combat suit. "We almost became space debris. I really don't know if this is lucky or unlucky."

"Currently, things aren't going well—because I can't contact anyone else," Huang Yan said seriously. "Of course, I can confirm that Xiao Luo and Peanut definitely changed their coordinates temporarily according to my instructions. Due to the delay, they must have already been teleported into the spaceship. However, there seems to be some kind of communication interference inside the 'Guanghan Palace.' Even the armored warriors' dedicated encrypted communication channel is..."

"There's so much trouble here..." Fish shook his head.

"In addition, I will inject you with small amounts of antidote as needed," Huang Yan continued. "The antidote is currently being prepared."

"What the hell is going on now?!"

"According to my tests, although there are no toxic gases in the air here that can directly endanger the body and the oxygen content is still sufficient, there are trace amounts of man-made organic compounds mixed in, at a concentration of 2 to 10 micrograms per cubic meter," Huang Yan said. "This mixture has been identified as a mild central nervous system depressant. If inhaled continuously, it will have hallucinogenic effects and impair judgment."

"No wonder there's always that weird smell here." Fish sniffed hard. "Is it the drugs those bastards used to take?"

"To be precise, it's the mildest and least harmful of all the junk they consume."

"But even so, you can't just put these weird things directly into the air circulation system, can you?" Fish muttered, sniffing the strange smell in the air that was a mixture of musk, ambergris, and ripe tropical fruit. "Only someone with a fried brain would do that."

"Oh, congratulations, you're right. People who consume this kind of junk every day are bound to have their brains fried, right?" Huang Yan said. "Now, we need to get to the ship's bridge or spare bridge as soon as possible to see which parts of the system are still usable, and then—"

Before Huang Yan could explain what to do next, a sudden, muffled explosion interrupted her speech.