The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Captain! Captain! We can't hold on any longer!"

As Fish took out the last 30-round spare magazine from the sharkskin ammunition pouch on his waist and attached it to his submachine gun, he saw Adan, the second youngest member of the 10th squad, running towards him in a panic from the edge of the tower.

The boy, who was only thirteen years old (by Chinese reckoning), was in a very bad situation: his left arm had disappeared below the wrist joint, and there had been no bandaging whatsoever.

Normally, this level of injury would have been enough to make him suffer excruciating pain, but now, due to the massive release of adrenaline and endorphins caused by extreme tension and fear, he didn't even realize that he was missing such a large part of his body.

"Adan, your hand..." Fish quickly pulled out the only first-aid kit in the entire squad. This thing was produced by the Pan-Pacific Empire military forty-five years ago. Most of the contents had expired before they were born. But right now, he didn't have time to worry about the expiration date.

"Captain, we only have six men left! We can't hold this place, we can't hold it!" Completely ignoring his injuries, Adan continued his hysterical screaming, "We're dead! What easy mission?! What 'not much danger'?! What 'a path to a glorious future'?! We're all on our way to the underworld now!"

"Uh..." Fish, who was pulling out a stack of yellowed old bandages from his first aid kit, paused for a moment, unsure how to answer: Liu Gang had indeed made that sincere promise to them before leaving their squad in this tower.

At the time, these promises did indeed sound quite reasonable and without any problems—guarding equipment in a place far from the center of the metropolitan ruins, where there were almost no enemies, was a low-risk mission that seemed perfect for novices like them to gain experience...

...until six hours ago, Liu Gang sent a signal, asking them to activate the "communication repeater".

Just two or three hours after Fish activated the "communication repeater," a large patch of dark clouds suddenly appeared out of nowhere in the clear sky and on the calm sea: hundreds and thousands of menacing chimeras and autonomous weapons.

These ferocious creatures quickly surrounded the tower complex standing amidst the waves, turning it into a bloody killing field.

Back when Fish lived in Oasis City, he had heard many stories from passing merchants about ancient city ruins and the adventures within them. A significant portion of these stories concerned chimeras and autonomous weapons.

Although there are many contradictions in their definitions and descriptions, generally speaking, the so-called "synthetic beasts" are a type of creature created by ancient human biotechnology that exists somewhere between living beings and machines, while autonomous weapons are more "professional" killers and destroyers mainly composed of inorganic matter.

These relics of ancient technology wander among various ancient ruins, posing a significant threat to anyone who trespasses into these forbidden areas—more dangerous than them is the ancient illusion known as "The Paradise of Illusions," a place steeped in myth and legend. For those skilled or fortunate enough explorers, the story of defeating these adversaries is naturally a feat worth boasting about at the dinner table.

Of course, even a greenhorn like Fish knew that because the stories had been re-created so much in the process of being passed down by word of mouth, and had been filled with the fantasies and dreams of drunkards whose brains were fried by alcohol and drug addicts who were delirious, those stories could not be taken entirely seriously.

But reality dealt a heavy blow to his confidence: even those low-level chimeras, whom people called "minor fodder" and thought could be easily swatted like flies and mosquitoes, could easily break through the defenses of these inexperienced novices. And high morale and unwavering confidence were of negligible value in such bloody carnage.

Reality is cruel: when telling stories over drinks, everyone can project themselves into the perspective of a one-in-a-million great hero and imagine how to achieve an epic victory. But on the battlefield where real swords and spears are needed, most people will find that even the most insignificant enemy soldiers can be a terrible threat to their lives.

"It's definitely this thing that's the problem!" As another team member on the edge of the tower was grabbed by a long, whip-like tentacle and yanked off the roof, Adam, who was having Fish bandage his severed hand, shouted, pointing at the still-functioning communications repeater, "The moment we turned it on, those monsters came! There's definitely something strange going on in here!"

"Impossible. Mr. Liu Gang said that the only use of this equipment is to provide a relay for long-distance communication. Besides, what reason would he have to specifically frame people like us who have no grudge against him?!" Fish shook his head.

"I don't care! This thing is a menace, I'm going to throw it into the water!"

"Absolutely not! I promised everyone in 'Tidal Lightning' that I would protect this equipment, and I absolutely cannot go back on my word! If I can't even complete this kind of mission, how will I ever be able to go to any further places in the future?!" Fish pulled out a rather old, potent sedative from his medical kit and injected it into Adam's carotid artery.

Although theoretically long past its expiration date, the sedative in the disposable syringe miraculously worked. As the drug entered his bloodstream, Adan quickly lost consciousness.

Fish checked the tourniquet near his severed limb, then had a big boy named Rock, with a pair of unusually large, curly ram's horns, carry him on his back, while he himself carried the communications repeater.

"Retreat!" Fish shouted. "Hold on a little longer, the War Gang will be here to rescue us soon!"

"Where are we supposed to retreat to?" one of his men asked, puzzled.

"Go inside the tower!" Fish pointed to the only passageway connecting the rooftop and the interior of the tower not far away. Only the bottom few floors of these towers, which were over fifty stories high, were submerged by seawater. Although the rest of the floors were dilapidated, they still stood above the sea.

However, due to years of corrosion from salty moisture, many areas inside the building, especially on the lower floors, were already crumbling and unstable. Therefore, Fish's 10th squad was transported directly to the rooftop by the Tide Lightning gang's small airship to establish their position.

Liu Gang even instructed them not to enter the building unless absolutely necessary.

But now, they have no choice.

On the short journey of a few dozen meters to the door, Fish lost another companion: a young man named Maham, who was at the forefront of the group and was about to successfully escape into the building, was suddenly grabbed by a pair of claws that swooped down and pierced his shoulder when he was only inches away from the door. He disappeared without a trace in front of everyone.

Attacked him by a Halpie, a chimera with powerful bird claws and a half-human female body, a higher-ranking creature than the Death Eagle. Maham only had time to let out a scream before vanishing into the swirling crimson clouds under the immense force of the giant claw.

"Run! Run downhill!"

Even Fish was surprised by the coldness he was showing at this moment: just a few hours earlier, he was an innocent boy with no combat experience and had never even witnessed a killing.

But at this moment, after watching his companions, with whom he had been eating and sleeping together just yesterday, die one by one, death seemed to him to be a very commonplace thing.

As the four survivors, including Fish, rushed into the cold, dark tower, the chimeras ravaging the rooftop were quickly left behind.

These abominable monsters, though ferocious and dangerous, were mostly designed with bodies highly adapted for flight, making it difficult for them to move nimbly inside confined buildings. However, Fish knew very well that they wouldn't just give up so easily.

What to do next? Fish racked his brains. On the way here, an elder in the Warband had told him that many chimeras and autonomous weapons exhibited collective behavior. They would even change their tactical coordination depending on the needs. Simply retreating into the building was merely buying himself a reprieve from his inevitable death.

"We need to find a sturdy spot to use as a defensive position," Fish said to his surviving companions as he jogged down the stairs. "The space inside is very cramped, which will effectively offset the monsters' numerical advantage. As long as we have this advantage, we'll hold out until our comrades come to our rescue!"

"But... will there really be a rescue?" Xiaoxing asked. In the entire squad, this little girl with long, fox-like ears was one of the few girls. Along the way, she was mainly responsible for washing clothes, cooking, and bandaging wounds for the others; she had almost no presence and was not considered a combat asset.

However, perhaps it is precisely because of this lack of presence that she was almost untouched during the fierce battle at the top of the tower and has survived to this day.

“Absolutely!” Fish said. “Even in the most desperate situations, we must trust our comrades! If we can’t even trust the comrades around us, how can we possibly conquer the world, make a name for ourselves, and go to farther places?!”

"Hmm..." Xiaoxing nervously licked her lips, but then her eyes suddenly lit up. "Look over there! There's something good!"

"Good stuff?" Fish repeated the word in confusion: at this moment, the floor they entered was filled with all kinds of garbage, the most numerous of which were "flowers, plants and trees" made of rubber and plastic.

Although the manufacturers of that time managed to make them look very much like real plants, Fish knew very well that these ancient interior decorations were neither alive nor could they produce edible fruit or even be cut down for firewood.

Burning these plastic products in an enclosed space could potentially cause dangerous poisoning.

"Yes, it's a fresh coconut!" Xiaoxing nodded.

"But I don't see anything." Fish followed Xiaoxing's gaze and only saw a plastic decorative tree that had been broken in half. There were no coconuts on it, and even the crown had disappeared.

More importantly, there was a large hole in the floor in front of the tree. But Xiaoxing ignored it, and walked towards the "tree" with a joyful expression...

"Great! There are fresh coconuts here!" Rock, carrying the unconscious Adan on his back, walked over, drooling. "Coconut juice is so good... I'm so thirsty..."

"Wait, don't go! You must be imagining things!" Fish exclaimed in surprise, quickly trying to dissuade them. "That's not a real tree at all, and there are no coconuts!"

"Captain, you're lying!" Xiaoxing exclaimed. "How could two people have the exact same illusion at the same time?!"

"Ah...but I..." Fish was momentarily speechless. However, when Xiaoxing reached the hole in the floor, he rushed over quickly, trying to stop her, "We can't go any further, what's down there—"

In the next second, due to a sudden change in the forces acting upon them, the already precarious floor beneath their feet collapsed once more. Grasped by an intense feeling of weightlessness, the four screamed and began to fall…

Is my life... over just like that?

After the fall ended, Fish felt a dull pain from the impact.

He could feel that he had broken at least two or three ribs and suffered a serious leg injury. Although he survived, in such a dangerous place, such an injury almost certainly meant certain death.

"I...I haven't gone any further...I...I don't want to..."

"Don't you want to die?" A cheerful girl's voice suddenly rang in his mind. "Then do as I say."