The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Ugh... I feel... a little cold..."

Although he wasn't quite sure why he should do this, Fish had no choice but to comply, given the circumstances. After a brief hesitation, Fish took off his filthy clothes, which were covered in sweat, blood, and various other inexplicable stains, and tossed the dirty rags aside. Then, at the fairy girl's prompting, he opened his arms to the sides.

"Don't worry, just bear with it for a little while. If you pass the next acclimatization test, you'll soon stop feeling cold," the fairy girl replied with a smile. "This little problem will be easily solved."

"What if it doesn't meet the requirements?" Fish asked somewhat anxiously.

"Then congratulations, you'll never feel cold again."

"Huh? Really?"

"Absolutely true. And you can also be free from hunger, disease, poverty, thirst, fear, being kicked away by a girl, being NTR'd by a blond guy, and all other hardships forever, and get endless sweet sleep. The only problem is that you won't wake up."

"This... doesn't sound good," Fish swallowed nervously. "And where exactly is this intelligent combat armor you mentioned?"

"Of course it's here." The fairy girl patted the bottle filled with red semi-liquid in her hand, and then, to Fish's surprise, unscrewed the cap and, like some religions in the past performing an "initiation ceremony," poured the contents of the bottle directly onto Fish's shoulder. "Alright, please don't move."

Upon contact with Fish's skin, the viscous, cold, red substance, somewhat like a mixture of sea mud and jellyfish, immediately began to extend, expand, and deform, like an amoeba enveloping its prey.

As it all began, Fish was startled and even instinctively reached out to grab the semi-liquid substance wriggling on his body. However, as a sharp pain shot through the back of his neck, Fish suddenly realized that he had lost control and perception of his body below the neck!

"This is..." For a moment, Fish thought he was paralyzed—although he had never been to school, he had heard many stories of unfortunate people who were paralyzed from the neck down due to neck injuries while working odd jobs at a tavern in Oasis City, and he also knew the importance of the nerves in the cervical spine.

However, this panic lasted only a moment before being replaced by confusion: he noticed that his body did not fall down like a puppet with broken strings, but continued to function "normally" after he lost consciousness.

"Oh, although it's not entirely in accordance with the regulations, considering that some people who lack the necessary knowledge and education may act irrationally or even cause unnecessary losses due to panic during their first test, I will temporarily take over your body. Please don't panic." The petite fairy girl put down the empty can, flapped her wings and flew to Fish's head, using one of his furry ears as a seat back, and sat down without any hesitation.

"Take over, take over, take over my body?! How is that possible?!" Fish asked in surprise.

"For intelligent combat armor, this is merely the most basic capability," the fairy girl said with displeasure, clearly dissatisfied with Fish's ignorance. "If you can't even do this, how are you going to use the armor?"

"Um... I don't understand..."

"Fine, there's still time, so I'll kindly give you a little crash course," the fairy girl continued, as the red liquid completely covered Fish's body from the neck down, gradually forming a bodysuit that enveloped him except for his tail. "Although there's no educational requirement for using the intelligent combat armor, nor is it necessary to understand its principles, if you continue to remain completely ignorant, you won't be able to properly utilize the new equipment."

"Ugh..." Fish whimpered—although his body was almost numb and unable to move according to his will, unfortunately, as the tight-fitting armor took shape, more and more stinging sensations, like termites bore through wood, burrowed into his nerves, making him feel like a gudgeon being pierced alive with a barbecue skewer.

"First of all, although it's called combat armor, and it does indeed have the function of improving protection and providing nuclear, biological, and chemical defense, this intelligent combat armor is different from any individual soldier protective gear you know, and of course, it's also very different from the power armor of the space Marines in past science fiction novels," the fairy girl said while stroking the downy hair on Fish's pointed ears, "because it's alive."

"Alive?"

"That's right. This is a masterpiece of both human biological and military science! The basic unit that makes up the armor is not armor plates or fibers, but a very special kind of slime mold—in 2133, an asteroid belt exploration ship, due to a failure to properly remove biological contamination, brought some slime mold cells from Earth to the asteroid it was mining on. Years later, people were surprised to find that, due to the stimulation of the space environment, these slime molds exhibited amazing resilience and adaptability. One of the most crucial characteristics is the diversity produced by syncytia formed by the fusion of multiple slime mold cells."

Fish didn't quite understand what "slime mold" was, but he nodded nonetheless—in stories about armorers, their armor was often described as "alive" or even "having a soul." He used to think it was some kind of exaggeration. But now it all made sense.

"After that, people brought these accidentally mutated slime molds back to Earth and used them as raw materials for bioengineering. The armor you are using contains special syncytia produced by the fusion of thousands of genetically modified slime mold cells, which have extremely high variability and upgradeability. They can transform into weapons, tools, or protective gear in a very short time as needed, and their strength is quite excellent. However, their most outstanding feature is their computing power."

"Computational...power?" After hearing so many unheard-of concepts all at once, Fish's eyes started to dart around like mosquito coils.

"Each syncytium, formed by the fusion of slime mold communities, possesses hundreds to nearly ten thousand organelles modified into computing and storage units. When a large number of these syncytiums combine, they can form a highly efficient biochip by sharing computing power. In other words, this equipment is a suit of armor, a multi-functional arsenal, and also your AI assistant."

"Amazing..." Fish muttered foolishly—of course, he didn't say that because he understood what the other person was saying. On the contrary, this was his catchphrase when faced with things he couldn't understand.

"Hmph, hmph, hmph, it's good that you know how powerful it is," the fairy girl seemed quite proud of Fish's reply, then put her hands on her hips and showed a proud expression, "These intelligent combat armors can do a lot: they can connect to the individual's nervous system through pseudopodia containing nerve cords, and directly transmit the signals obtained by the sensors they form to the user, thus forming the user's 'second skin.' And because of the existence of neural connections, operating it only requires a thought—but only a few people with special genes can achieve this fusion without any problems. Of course, it has many other functions, but you'll have to explore them yourself."

"Is this the 'talent' you're talking about?" Fish gasped as another burning pain shot through him.

"Otherwise what? Do you think I enjoy tasting your blood?"

"That's true... Eek... Ouch ouch ouch ouch ouch—" As more and more pseudo-legs extended from the combat armor, piercing Fish's skin one by one and forcibly connecting with his nervous system, the burning pain made Fish feel as if he had fallen into the embrace of a large group of ferocious jellyfish, and he could hardly concentrate. "But... uh... do I have to go through this every time I equip this thing? If that's the case, then it's too..."

"Theoretically speaking, that's correct. Forcing neural fusion while conscious is never pleasant," the fairy girl smiled. "So it always happens... But even so, do you still want to continue?"

"I..." Fish hesitated for a few seconds, then nodded. "Of course I will! As long as this power allows me to avenge everyone who was sacrificed! As long as it allows me to go farther and higher! To the other side of the sky! Even if it's this kind of pain, I will... I will... Waaah..."

As the last batch of neural interfaces began to fuse, the surging pain mixed with the agony of his previous muscle contusions and fractures, reminding Fish of some unpleasant memories: when he first arrived in Oasis City, bored out of his mind, he and a few other equally aimless hooligans would put small fish they'd caught from the beach into glass jars and then cook them alive over a campfire. Back then, this petty cruelty had brought them immense amusement… but now, the retribution had finally come his way.

But Fish persevered—compared to his dream of going far away, and the hatred of being deceived and abandoned, these painful signals from within his nerves were nothing.

"Very good, passed." The fairy girl snapped her fingers. Then, as if someone had poured a bucket of cold water over his head, Fish's burning pain suddenly disappeared, as if it had all been a dream.

"It's approved...? What does that mean?"

"That means your determination has been recognized, and just now, the neural readings obtained indicate that you can indeed use this intelligent combat armor," the fairy girl replied with a smile. "In addition, although in theory, invasive neural fusion would cause severe discomfort, I can prevent you from feeling most of the pain if I want to, by blocking the transmission of neural signals."

"Huh?! You can do that?!" Fish suddenly had a terrible feeling that he had been tricked.

"Hmm—of course! But I also intend to test your willpower and determination. As for the results, at least… you've passed." The fairy girl flapped her wings and flew to a corner, then took out an object that looked like a conductor's baton. After flying to Fish, she tapped one end of the object, and the air beneath it began to distort and deform, eventually becoming a mirror that could reflect light. "Come on, take a look at your new look."

Fish blinked in surprise, looking at himself in the mirror: after repeated transformations, the can of red substance had formed a red and white bodysuit covering his entire body, resembling the attire of a "Red Warrior" from an ancient tokusatsu film. Some parts—such as his arms, legs, and hips—had even formed hardened gold-red armor. His entire head was encased in a closed helmet-like garment with an openable, one-way transparent visor.

What's even more interesting is that this armor even takes special care of certain parts of his body: to prevent his pointed cat ears from feeling uncomfortable when folded, his helmet has an extra pair of protrusions that perfectly accommodate them, while his tail is covered by a relatively thinner layer. Even custom-made clothing would hardly have such a snug fit. And on his arm, there's even a simple fish drawing badge, below which is the word "Fish"... which makes him chuckle wryly.

"How is it? Pretty good, right?" the fairy girl asked.

"Indeed." Fish had to admit—after the intelligent armor activated, he felt as if all his senses had been amplified many times over. The world became so clear and beautiful to him for the first time. Even in dim light, everything around him was crystal clear, and the faintest sound could be picked up by his ears… Most importantly, this influx of information placed almost no extra burden on his brain. This was because the armor itself, connected to his nerves, provided enormous real-time computing power, processing the information for him in a categorized manner.

After regaining control of his body, Fish first punched a piece of concrete, then casually twisted a steel bar exposed from the collapsed floor into a pretzel. Having witnessed all this, the fairy girl smiled contentedly: "Well then, now for the final step, give me a name?"

"you?"

"I forgot to mention, this armor is my true form," the fairy girl explained. "And this 'me' is merely a remote control terminal connected to the armor. Because the remote control terminal has a limited range of activity, for many years I could only stay here, unable to find another user... until you arrived here. As the new user, you have an obligation to rename me."

"Ah... I see..." Fish muttered, "How about calling her... Sadako?"

"Slap!" As he said those words, Fish suddenly raised one hand and slapped himself across the face.

"Think of another one! Do you think I'm like a virus on the internet?!"

"Okay, okay... uh... well..." Fish, his face burning, racked his brains. Then, another name appeared in his mind.

"You shall be called Huang Yan."