The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Um... Sister Huang Yan, do you have a way of telling which Xiao Xing is the real one?" After standing there dumbfounded for a few seconds, Fish finally spoke up, "I... uh... I can't tell who's who at all right now..."

"Technically speaking, there is indeed a way," Huang Yan said. "I have a built-in gene testing device, and I have already stored Xiao Xing's own gene sample. If I am allowed to conduct the test, I can give a preliminary conclusion in just 40 seconds."

"That's a great idea... just kidding!" Fish scoffed. In the current situation, conducting genetic testing on the two "Xiao Xing"s who were fighting like madmen was more impractical than asking a mouse to put a bell on a cat.

"On this point, I agree with you," Huang Yan said. "However, I have a general idea of ​​what's going on here."

"Oh?"

"Look at this." As she said this, a small, wriggling substance detached from Huang Yan's armor and crawled onto the face of the girl in pink camouflage who resembled Xiao Xing. After being shot and kicked away by Fish, the girl was still alive but had lost consciousness and was completely unaware of the substance crawling onto her face.

Then, as the writhing red "slime" began to spread and twist, the girl's entire face peeled off!

"Meow!"

At first glance, Fish was startled by the horrifying scene and shuddered. But he quickly realized that the reality was... not quite what he had initially imagined. After the face that resembled Xiaoxing fell off, another doll-like face was revealed.

"What...?"

"Under the control of experienced or specially trained users, intelligent combat armor can not only switch forms, disguise itself as other clothing, or transform into weapons and armor, but also be used to 'change faces' in extreme situations," Huang Yan sneered twice in Fish's ear, "In ancient Asia, there was such a performance style in an ancient and primitive drama... but compared with real technology, it is nothing."

"Damn it, is this even possible?"

"Yes. By the way, because the intelligent combat armor itself is biological tissue and has constant temperature properties, even when observed under the infrared spectrum, it is impossible to distinguish the mask from a real human face—in addition, the feel is almost identical. If necessary, we can simulate body hair, beards, and pores," Huang Yan added, "Only by forcibly deconstructing the transformation can the user reveal their true face."

"This is really troublesome..." Fish gasped. The girl in the pink camouflage had a delicate and cute face, but for some reason, Fish felt a little uncomfortable—perhaps it was precisely because of this exquisiteness that was so close to a work of art, so flawless, that she lacked a bit of human presence, and was more like a mannequin, a plastic mannequin.

Then, he shook his head and turned his gaze to the two people fighting back and forth in the walkway above the warehouse: in terms of close combat, the two "Xiao Xing" were very close in skill level - to be precise, they mainly relied on the power, information and reaction speed enhancement provided by the intelligent combat armor to carry out precise attacks and defenses in a computer-generated manner.

While this kind of battle may seem dazzling at first glance, it is actually incredibly boring, like two equally skilled AIs playing against each other, with every move and variable being obvious. However, the only advantage is that, due to the complete lack of variables, this battle is destined to last a very long time.

This at least gave Fish enough time.

"There shouldn't be any other suspicious persons around here," Huang Yan concluded after scanning and detecting the entire warehouse. At the same time, the small clump of matter that had separated from her "body" was still moving on the unconscious girl's body, and had even split into two small pieces—one of which crawled towards the most seriously injured groin, and the other seeped into her nostrils. "Let's go up first."

"Get up? How do we get up?"

"Over here!" With a jolt from the carrying pouch at Fish's waist, Phoenix Flame's fairy-type remote control, which had been "sleeping," finally "woke up." After climbing out of the pouch, the green-haired fairy flapped its wings and flew to a metal escalator in the shadows. "How many times have I told you to be observant in unfamiliar environments! How could you not even notice this?!"

"Hmm... isn't it enough that you noticed?" Fish shrugged, unable to think of a rebuttal, and muttered to himself as he began to climb down the walkway under the warehouse roof. "And then? What am I supposed to do? Ask a question that only Sachi knows the answer to?"

"It seems... not feasible." Just as Fish said this, one of the "Xiao Xing" suddenly adjusted her tactics, actively closing the distance between them, turning their fight from close combat to a near-zero-distance brawl. Under these circumstances, even if Xiao Xing did give the answer, Fish wouldn't be able to tell who was actually speaking.

"Then... should we have Xiaoxing activate optical camouflage stealth?"

"Good idea, I suggest you give it a try," Huang Yan said, "but don't get your hopes up too high."

"Why... Eh?!" Before Fish could finish asking his question, Xiao Xing, who had overheard his conversation with Huang Yan, immediately activated the special ability of "Grape," turning into a semi-transparent shadow and disappearing into thin air.

But then, another "Xiao Xing" also disappeared from Fish's sight in the same way!

"As expected," Huang Yan commented, "There are many intelligent combat armors with different levels of optical camouflage capabilities. It's not surprising that other armored warriors can achieve invisibility by relying on intelligent combat armor."

"What should I do?" Fish was completely dumbfounded. At the same time, the two, who had entered stealth mode, were still engaged in combat—relying on the individual radar and life detectors of their combat armor, they could still determine each other's approximate location.

"Don't count on me," Huang Yan said. "My IFF system can identify friendly units, though. But it's been useless since we entered this arena—clearly it's been deliberately interfered with. Now, you'll have to figure it out yourself."

"Damn it! I... I was thinking! But can't you at least help me out? This supposedly most powerful intelligent combat armor can't even solve this simple problem?"

"I'm just a set of armor, not Aladdin's lamp! I can't grant wishes indefinitely!" Huang Yan was also a little annoyed. "Besides, you're the one who's spent so much time with Xiao Xing, not me! You should know the behavior and thought processes of a real companion better than I do..."

"Uh... a true comrade... a true comrade..."

Fish hesitated for a long time, and then a blade suddenly pierced through his chest from behind and came out from the front of his chest!

Not far away, the fight between the two "invisible men" immediately stopped.

"Gulp... Ugh... Uh..." After being pierced by the sharp blade, Fish trembled, and a horrifying stream of blood flowed from the corner of his mouth. He instinctively lowered his head to look at the blade piercing his chest, seemingly in disbelief at what had happened. Then, he gasped for breath in pain and difficulty, slowly kneeling down, and collapsed like a stage puppet with its strings cut.

Not far away, the air suddenly began to distort and sway. Then, Xiaoxing abruptly deactivated her optical camouflage and charged towards Fish.

"Mr. Fish! No! Noooooo!"

Immediately afterward, something unseen suddenly shot towards her with a "whoosh"—it was a crossbow bolt with extremely high kinetic energy, coated with neurotoxin. However, this crossbow bolt, which was originally aimed at her back and determined to hit her, ultimately struck an unexpected target.

Phoenix Flame's fairy-type remote control terminal was pierced through in mid-air and fell to the ground.

Although essentially a machine, this remote control terminal, like the "Black Destroyer" previously "eaten" by Huang Yan, was largely a product of bioengineering. After being hit, the biological components of the remote control terminal rapidly died, and its pristine white skin began to turn blue and black at a visible speed.

At the same time, Fish, who had just been "hit", suddenly sat up and fired a shot at the direction from which the crossbow bolt was fired, using his ion gun, which had already been fully charged and overloaded.

A burst of blindingly bright high-energy plasma streaked through the air with a brief, teeth-grinding hiss, striking a target protected by optical camouflage. The target didn't even utter a sound before collapsing backward, puffing out blue smoke, completely still.

"Huh...?!" Xiaoxing, who had just been crying loudly, looked at the "resurrected" figure in surprise, then looked at the opponent he had defeated, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.

Then, Fish smiled slightly and patted her on the shoulder, which confirmed to her that Fish was still alive, and she stopped crying and started laughing.

"I'm so glad you're alright."

"Uh... what was that just now..." Xiaoxing looked at Fish's chest and found that there were no marks left.

“The projection robot we found before. Remember? I can control it using the special ability I acquired from Phoenix Flame,” Fish explained. “Coincidentally, its database contains a holographic video of someone being killed in hand-to-hand combat. I don’t know if it’s a real recording or a composite… but in any case, this video can be superimposed onto me. That’s enough to scare people.”

"You...you're trying to scare me with this kind of trick?!" Xiaoxing twitched her huge fox ears, looking very unhappy. "And I was just—"

"Ah, sorry! I don't like doing that either, meow!" Fish quickly adopted the adorable expression he'd honed in the Oasis City bar when dealing with wealthy female customers—as a naturally endearing cat-like new human, he knew very well that this trick could quell a woman's anger ninety percent of the time. "But I can't help it!"

"no way?!"

"You saw it too, those guys were disguised as you. Huang Yan said that unless genetic testing is done, it's impossible to quickly tell who's who. But under those circumstances, that was simply impossible," Fish quickly explained in a humble voice, "So, I had to use other methods to distinguish my real companions."

"And then..." Xiaoxing bit her lip.

"As far as I know, there's one thing a real comrade might do that a fake wouldn't, and that's caring for their comrades," Fish said. "Moreover, the performance of intelligent combat armor without its own consciousness largely depends on the user's mindset. So, whether or not someone cares about others is something that can't be faked."

"So, you mean 'concern leads to confusion'?" Xiaoxing drooped her ears, a look of understanding on her face. "So..."

"Sorry to scare you, but it was the only thing I could think of at the time," Fish shrugged. "I really didn't know what else I could do."

"Unfortunately, my remote terminal 'died.' That guy is really a bastard; he can actually use the same attack methods as Xiaoxing," Huang Yan muttered. At the same time, he issued a command to make his remote terminal get up again: although the "fairy" could still move with difficulty because the mechanical skeleton inside had not yet been destroyed, it looked like a hideous zombie.

"What are you going to do?"

"Using something like this as a remote control terminal... that would be too embarrassing. Besides, we're going to be active in normal society in the future, and it wouldn't be good to scare the children." Huang Yan quickly transformed, extending a curly beard to wrap around the fairy-shaped remote control terminal.

Within minutes, its organic matter was completely devoured, leaving only the mechanical parts. If a fan of early 21st-century science fiction films had seen this, they would have noticed that the remnants of the terminal looked remarkably like a miniature T-600 combat robot.

"We can only recycle it like this for now," Fish said, turning off the mechanical parts of the terminal and putting it back into the carrying bag on his waist under Huang Yan's instructions. "But it's okay, I've already gotten a better and more useful 'terminal', and it will be online in a little while."

"Phew... But at least you're alright, Xiaoxing!" Finally relieved, Fish hugged Xiaoxing tightly. "That level up was so dangerous, I thought..."

"Actually, it's not a big problem," Xiaoxing said. "My family is in the business of recycling metal parts, so when I was very young, I started crawling in and out of ancient giant machines with the 'Disintegrators.' I'm actually quite good at crawling through holes and stuff. And it's not difficult to use stealth to hide from enemies in dark caves."

"Hmm, it seems this is what they mean by 'each has their own strengths'," Huang Yan commented. "Alright, let's go find Princess Anjie now. The Joint Operations Headquarters considers her a very important figure."

"Where should we go?" Fish asked. "This factory is huge. If we just wander around aimlessly, I'm afraid..."

"Well... I'm not sure either. However, based on Anjie's behavior pattern, I speculate that she is more likely to go to the central administrative building complex," Huang Yan said.