The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"My lord, I still don't quite understand," Ange said after Fish finished speaking. "Why do you think we can't do it? In my opinion, launching a surprise attack in the 'Peregrine Falcon' is indeed a very good choice."

"That's right, but don't forget, this rigid inflatable glider has no defenses whatsoever, and it's unarmed. Most importantly, its wingspan is huge, making it a very conspicuous target. Just one anti-aircraft gun... no, even just one large-caliber machine gun could shoot us down before we even get on the deck."

"But you weren't like that before..."

"Before this, everyone on the 'Wave', whether it was Captain Moore or his men, thought that Xiaoxing and I were already dead. In their view, once the so-called 'communication relay' was activated, there was no chance of survival for anyone in that tower," Fish said. "No one would deliberately guard against dead people, and even if someone noticed the appearance of the 'Peregrine Falcon,' they wouldn't care because it was unarmed and posed no threat."

"They would never have imagined we were up there," Xiaoxing added.

"That makes sense..." Ange nodded.

"In addition, at the time, the 'Wave' was focused on playing hide-and-seek with you, and it's very likely that no one was paying attention to other directions, which is also one of the reasons," Fish continued to analyze. "However, the 'Black Storm' is likely to maintain regular contact with the 'Wave.' Even if the 'Wave' didn't have time to send a message when it was attacked, and it hasn't restored communication with the 'Black Storm' yet, that in itself would raise suspicion."

"Then let's go and activate the 'Wave's' radio now..." Mint stood up.

"It's no use. The 'Tidal Lightning' warband has its own code. If you don't know it, it will only hasten your exposure. Only captains are authorized to know the code." At this point, Fish felt a sudden pang of mixed emotions: theoretically, he was one of those "captains" when he was still in the warband. However, neither Liu Gang nor Moore had ever told him the code, citing "the time is not right."

Damn it! How stupid I was back then! Fish involuntarily clenched his fists as he recalled the incident—if only he had been a little more astute and alert, he might have realized the true intentions of those treacherous individuals earlier. In that case, his companions wouldn't have died meaninglessly as bait and cannon fodder!

"In short, we'd better assume that the people on the Black Storm already know that the Wave is in trouble," Fish continued after taking a few deep breaths to calm himself down. "Moreover, unlike the Wave, the Black Storm is penetrating deep into the central area of ​​Dusk City. The equipment we activated earlier did attract away most of the chimeras and some autonomous weapons from the edge of the ruins, but its impact on the depths of the city is probably not that strong."

"Your Highness, you are right." Ange had clearly understood as well. "This means that the 'Black Storm' is most likely on high alert, and anything that approaches it will be the first to be attacked. Not to mention that it has a small reconnaissance airship assisting it. It is almost impossible to approach it from the air without being detected."

"Then we're helpless, aren't we?" Xiaoxing asked anxiously. "If they snatch that encyclopedia first, then..."

"The situation isn't that bad," Huang Yan's terminal suddenly flew among the group. "In fact, we don't need to deal with the 'Black Storm' at all."

"What did you say?" The three of them were taken aback at the same time.

"You've fallen into a cognitive trap," the remote control terminal of the intelligent combat armor said smugly, its little hands behind its back, seemingly genuinely pleased and proud of its superior intelligence compared to the three humans. "Yes, those bastards are closer to our destination than we are, but that doesn't mean we have to kill them to get the 'Akasha Encyclopedia'."

"You mean...we still have a chance to get ahead of them? To fly directly to our destination using the 'Peregrine Falcon'?"

"Theoretically, it's possible, but I don't recommend it," Phoenix Flame's fairy-girl terminal walked onto the unfolded map and tapped the center of Twilight City with her bare toes. "Because according to the records I've consulted, the location marked as the location of the 'Akasha Encyclopedia' is probably very dangerous. We'd better commit all our combat power at once. And the 'Peregrine Falcon' can't carry any extra people, so the combat power of only two armored warriors is inferior to that of four armored warriors."

"So..." Fish scratched his furry ears, "What should we do?"

"It's simple, use the 'Lucky Star'—which is also your fiancée's ship," Huang Yan replied directly. "This ship is light enough that even without an engine, its sails alone provide excellent cruising performance, making it at least three knots faster than the 'Black Storm'."

"But the 'black storm' is dozens of kilometers ahead of us," Fish pointed out.

"Yes, but the 'Lucky Star' has another advantage. As a small trimaran, its draft is less than 80 centimeters, similar to the river speedboats of the past," Huang Yan raised a small hand and waved it. "The closer you get to the city center, the denser the buildings become. In other words, there will be more underwater reefs formed by the ruins. These reefs pose a great threat to ships. Ships like the 'Black Storm' have a draft of over three meters and will be forced to slow down significantly as they approach their destination to prevent running aground or hitting reefs, while the 'Lucky Star' does not need to."

"If we calculate it this way... wouldn't we be able to get it done faster?" Xiaoxing said.

"Exactly. Ideally, we could even arrive at our destination three to six hours earlier than the 'Black Storm'... That way, while completing the mission, we can also prepare a memorable little 'surprise' for those treacherous scum." A somewhat sinister smile appeared on Huang Yan's remote terminal. "What do you all think?"

"Oh right, there's that too!" Fish slapped his forehead. "Your Highness Ange, what's the current condition of the 'Lucky Star'?"

"It suffered some damage on the way. When it was shelled, some rigging and hull were slightly damaged by shrapnel, but it only requires a little treatment and will not have a significant impact on navigation," Mint replied for Ange. "If Your Highness needs it, it can be ready to set sail again within an hour at most."

"One hour? Really?"

"You'll see, every word I've said is true," Mint replied.

Just as Mint had predicted, the Lucky Star completed its preparations on time within the next hour. Although she only had two subordinates, Mint refused Fish and Lucky's offer to help and skillfully completed the task: she and two other maids quickly repaired the rigging, filled the dents and holes left by shrapnel on the hull and mast with resin, and pumped out the water that had entered the ship.

In short, Fish was completely stunned after witnessing this whole operation—in his stereotype, a nobleman's maids were supposed to be pretty vases who only served tea and water, and even if they weren't completely helpless, their fighting ability wouldn't be more than an order of magnitude greater than a chicken's. What was happening now could only be described as "counterintuitive."

"Is it strange? Our noble ladies-in-waiting in Fayun aren't those pretty but useless vases of a maid," Mint said smugly after noticing Fish's surprised look. "The nobles of Fayun are all descendants of the 'Three Heroes,' always shouldering the responsibility of being the 'swords' protecting this world. If we couldn't even do something this simple, what right would we have to call ourselves nobles?"

"Ah... well... that makes sense." Fish could only nod repeatedly.

During this time, Fish and Xiaoxing were also busy. They boarded the dilapidated "Wave" with Ange and began to salvage the useful supplies: although the most valuable things on the ship were the 105mm 42-caliber cannon at the bow and several "Gorons," the cannon had its barrel and breech damaged in the previous conflict and was completely unusable. The "Gorons" had either sunk to the bottom of the sea or been damaged by Fish and were also completely unusable.

In addition, due to the explosion of machine gun shells stored in the bridge area, a large part of the critical equipment of the "Botao" was destroyed, but they still found some usable items: hundreds of firearms of various types, dozens of boxes of ammunition of various calibers, a lot of food that can be stored for a long time, industrial explosives, some tools, and barrels of biofuel made from a mixture of alcohol and palm oil.

When loading these spoils onto the Lucky Star, Fish spent a lot of time deciding what to take, ultimately only transporting one ton, and reluctantly throwing the rest into the water—after all, the Lucky Star's shallow draft was its greatest advantage. Loading too much cargo and restricting its movement within the city would be a greater loss than gain.

Furthermore, when Fish attempted to take the medicine kit from the "Wave," Huang Yan stopped him: "Medicines and medical equipment from this era would constitute a crime if used in the old civilization. Forgive my bluntness, but the emergency medical services I can provide are far superior to these things."

It's worth mentioning that their most important gain of the day came quite unexpectedly: after packing up all the valuable items they could easily find onto the Lucky Star, Fish placed the explosives he found in the hull of the Wave, intending to completely destroy the ship. Unexpectedly, at the moment of the explosion, large amounts of semi-molten gold fragments rained down from the sky—Captain Moore of the Wave had hidden most of his life's wealth in the ship's hull compartments, only to have it resurface in broad daylight in this way.

Of course, most of the gold fragments had fallen into the sea and sunk into the muddy streets, making retrieval extremely difficult. But after searching the rooftops and the deck of the Lucky Star, Fish and his crew found more than twenty pounds of gold fragments.

"Not bad. As the initial funding for saving the Duchy of Fayun, this is quite a sum," Ange said, appearing quite pleased after weighing the gold nuggets one by one. "At current market prices, it's worth 1.2 million Imperial Dinars. Not too much, but enough to hire a company of mercenaries for a whole year. If it's used to buy weapons..."

"We'll have to wait until we get out of here," Fish shook his head. "In the ruins of the city, neither gold nor imperial dinars are of any use, because we have nowhere to spend them even if we wanted to."

"I agree," Ange smiled slightly. "However, I believe that my brave and intelligent husband will lead us safely out of here. After all, we still have so many enemies to personally hunt down one by one."

"I'll definitely find them—but first, we need to take care of the one closest to us." After making this statement, Fish jumped onto the Lucky Star and loosened its mooring lines. The nimble and agile trimaran hoisted its two white triangular sails and resumed its journey in a strong wind blowing from the northeast. To conserve engine life, the two Peregrine Falcons that had been circling around were also retrieved and put back on board.

Over the next few hours, the Lucky Star swiftly traversed the collapsed giant towers, abandoned buildings, and small hills that had become isolated islands. Just as Huang Yan had said, the closer they got to the former city center of Twilight City, the more numerous and densely packed the abandoned buildings became. The reefs formed by the ruins were like countless sharp teeth lurking underwater, ready to slice through the bottoms of unsuspecting ships at any moment.

Fortunately, the Lucky Star, with its shallow draft, was not these creatures' primary target. It brazenly ignored most of the reefs, only avoiding a small portion that was clearly visible through the water, and its speed was hardly affected.

In addition, as the Lucky Star continues its journey, the appearance of chimeras and autonomous weapons becomes increasingly frequent. Flying monsters such as the Dead Eagle and Halpyea begin to circle in groups of three or five, occasionally launching probing attacks on the small ship; in the sea, the Dragon Turtle with the head of a giant python and a hard shell, as well as the Shipbreaker Skipjack Tuna that resembles a giant sailfish and crashes underwater at high speed, gradually replace the sharks that pose no threat to the ship and begin to eye the vessel covetously.

However, these creatures were no match for the four high-ranking armored warriors: the flying chimeras became perfect targets for Fish and Xiaoxing to practice their shooting, falling into the water one after another, trailing black smoke. Those that did come down from the water were either blasted into mincemeat by Ange's electromagnetic cannons and then devoured by their kind; or, if unlucky… they would fall into Mint's hands.

Although this green-haired maid's theoretical skills as a harpooner were inferior to Ange's, she was clearly very experienced. She held aloft a giant steel harpoon weighing nearly 100 kilograms, which was impossible for an ordinary person to use, just like a knight in the past would use a long spear to knock down his opponent in a jousting match. Using the opponent's acceleration, she would accurately and sharply pierce the head of the harpoon into the body of anyone who dared to ram the "Lucky Star".

Most surprisingly, the "Broken Boat Skipjack Tuna" whose body was pierced by mint was spared all its vital parts and was still alive when it was dragged onto the "Lucky Star"!

"My lords, you have had a long and arduous journey so far," after dragging a struggling and trembling "broken boat bonito" in front of everyone, Mint transformed the arm armor of her combat armor into a... sashimi knife, and then bowed deeply. "Now, please allow Mint to offer you a serving of fresh fish sashimi, full of energy and nutrition."