The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Interim operational statistics: Long-range weapons were fired a total of 38 times, hitting and destroying 22 targets, with an overall hit rate of less than 58%. Criterion: Fail."

As Fish struggled to push open a heavy metal blast door emblazoned with the enormous number "20," Phoenix Flame was leisurely calculating the numbers—initially, he had encountered Phoenix Flame on the 53rd floor of the tower. In twenty minutes, they had descended a total of 32 floors, having to change routes and take longer routes three times because stairwells or corridors were blocked by collapsed building debris. On average, Fish encountered a battle every minute.

Thanks to the "Song of the Sirens," the number of synthetic beasts and autonomous weapons it attracted from the surrounding area was quite substantial. Although the vast majority of them—especially the flying-specialized species like the "Dead Eagle" and the "Halpiah"—did not attempt to enter the relatively narrow and inconvenient interior of the tower, it was still fraught with danger.

As per Huang Yan's instructions, after cleanly and efficiently eliminating the first three "Reef Assassins" using close-quarters combat, Fish was to practice his marksmanship by using only the ranged weapons provided by the combat armor as much as possible. Based on the data within the combat armor, its primary ranged weapon was a 10mm plasma gun embedded in the left arm armor. Under normal conditions, the armor's energy reserves could support 80 rounds of full-power fire or 160 rounds of half-power fire, with selectable semi-automatic and three-round burst modes.

In this era, numerous relics from ancient civilizations have been discovered in the ruins, including a wide variety of energy weapons. Therefore, Fish, who spent his days listening to the chatter of all sorts of people in the tavern, naturally had some understanding of individual energy weapons. As far as he knew, Phoenix Flame's plasma gun was considered quite powerful among weapons of its level, with a single shot having the maximum energy equivalent to 1200 grams of TNT, enough to vaporize smaller targets... but the problem was, if it missed, its power was meaningless.

Despite having the fire control system of Phoenix Flame, Fish's marksmanship can only be described as "unremarkable"—especially when shooting at moving targets.

"I couldn't help it." Although Fish knew very well that his shooting skills still had many... areas that needed improvement, the word "failed" still stung him slightly. "Those guys were constantly running around and moving about, and I was carrying Xiaoxing on my back, so I had to keep an eye on her safety and couldn't make any sudden movements. It's normal to miss a few shots occasionally."

"These are not valid reasons," Huang Yan replied bluntly. "In battle, you can't expect the enemy to stand in front of you as sitting ducks. They will run away, seek cover, retaliate, and try to kill you. Although I can still handle most of the trouble for you now, if you can't adapt quickly, it will be absolutely impossible for you to live and achieve your goals—and those of the Joint Operations Headquarters."

"Thank you for your concern." After pushing the heavy blast door open a crack large enough for him to squeeze through, Fish took a few breaths and then said.

"Don't flatter yourself, I'm not... I'm not concerned about you at all," Huang Yan said. "It's just that, although your life isn't worth much, without you, I can't carry out missions for the Joint Operations Headquarters. Although I can wait for a suitable candidate, time is of the essence right now, 'that matter' is about to begin. Therefore, I can't let you die so easily."

"What is 'that matter'?"

"The relevant information requires Level 5 access permission, and you currently only have Level 2, which is insufficient." The fairy girl who passed by Fish said in a flat tone, "Once you complete enough missions and obtain higher access permissions, you will naturally have the right to know."

"Hmm... anyway, I don't think it's a good thing."

"In a sense... your hunch was right," Huang Yan said. "However, this matter isn't really your concern right now. Please continue. We've already entered the hospital area."

"Is this a hospital? Why does it look like a slaughterhouse? Can... can this place really cure Xiaoxing?" After taking two steps forward, Fish shuddered as he heard a crisp sound of something hard shattering under his feet—he had inadvertently crushed a piece of bone with his foot.

And those were clearly human bones!

Even more horrifying, the corridor behind the blast door was littered with corpses like these: more than a dozen bodies were scattered haphazardly in various corners, each in a different condition. Some were mangled, with only a few scattered bone fragments remaining, bearing signs of being gnawed and chewed, a truly gruesome sight; while others were relatively intact, even retaining the posture of someone on the verge of death. Large amounts of dried blood and other bodily fluids had settled on the floor, forming nauseating dark brown stains.

Scattered among the skeletons were some mechanical devices: an overturned small flatbed trailer lay across the corridor, completely charred. Another small forklift used for loading and unloading goods was stuck in the wall, its broken tires pressing down on a corpse that had long since turned into a mummy, but still retained a struggling posture. In a corner lay the remains of several androids dressed in nurse uniforms, their clothes torn and decayed along with their bodies.

"Don't worry, these aren't patients from the past," Huang Yan's remote control terminal, which resembled a fairy girl, flew to a skeleton curled up in a ball and removed a long tailbone. "Look, they are all new humans like you, not people from the old civilization era."

"Oh..." Fish nodded. Although the era known as the "Old Civilization Era" has long since faded into the shadowy mists of history, it is well known that the highly civilized "ancient humans" living in that era were significantly different from modern humans: in appearance, they did not possess features such as curved horns, animal ears, tails, claws, scales, well-developed canines, or larger eye sockets like modern humans; they looked rather...ordinary. And the dead in this hospital clearly appeared to be new humans like Fish and Xiaoxing.

"If I'm not mistaken, these people are probably the ones who came into this tower complex to search for treasure before—after all, there were several groups of people who visited here before I met you," the fairy girl said, flying back onto Fish's back after leaving behind the well-developed tailbone that was unique to the New Humans. "Of course, we couldn't find even one 'talented person' among them who would be suitable to be my equipment user."

"So, these people died while treasure hunting?" Fish breathed a slight sigh of relief—he knew very well that the ancient city ruins were fraught with danger. Whether it was a poorly equipped expedition team, a large warband like "Tidal Lightning," or even a regular army sent by a nation, operating in such a place would involve enormous risks. This was why the treasure hidden in the ruins had not yet been completely looted. And it was precisely to reduce this risk that "Tidal Lightning" came up with the underhanded trick of using these newcomers as bait.

"Possibly." Huang Yan's remote terminal flew back and forth in the corridor, marking several inhuman corpses with glowing powder: these creatures included several completely dried and hardened "Reef Assassins," and the skeleton of a serpentine creature over three meters long with sharp, blade-like claws and mouthparts—this type of synthetic beast was known as a "Hunter," said to be quite adept at ambushing targets in confined spaces and delivering deadly venom to its victims. A skull specimen of such a creature hung in the Oasis City bar. "It seems they may have been attacked by synthetic beasts here and were wiped out in the battle."

"How pathetic." Fish shrugged. Although a large proportion of explorers who ventured into the ruins of ancient cities never returned, he felt an indescribable... unease. In short, his instincts told him something was wrong, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it.

Fish shook his head vigorously, trying to banish the jumbled feelings from his mind, but to no avail. Then, guided by a green arrow, he arrived at a room filled with various complex devices, the purpose of which he couldn't decipher at all. "Hmm…we're in luck," Huang Yan said after having the remote terminal check several devices. "At least one of these multi-functional medical devices is working. Please wait a moment while I enter the patient's diagnosis."

"Okay." Fish waited obediently for about ten minutes, watching the fairy girl manipulate the flashing icons on the control panel with her small hands. Then, as a "bed" with a bubble-shaped canopy slowly rose from the floor, Fish, under Huang Yan's guidance, carefully took Xiao Xing, who was still unconscious, off his back and placed her on the bed.

Then, as the bubble-shaped hatch closed again, a large amount of transparent liquid suddenly poured in from the small hole at the bottom of the "bed", quickly filling the space inside the hatch.

"What's going on?! If this continues, Xiaoxing will drown!" Fish was startled and tried to forcefully reopen the hatch.

"Don't worry, these inhaled skin solutions for adjunctive treatment won't cause drowning, and the dissolved oxygen in them can be directly absorbed by the alveoli," Huang Yan explained. "We're lucky that this community health center also has an integrated medical system that's operational. Based on our estimates, your girlfriend will need about 3 to 6 hours of treatment, after which she should be mostly recovered within 72 to 96 hours."

"I already told you she's not my girlfriend!" Fish looked anxiously at the fox-eared loli soaking in the liquid, only relaxing slightly when he noticed her chest rising and falling. However, when two medical robotic arms suddenly appeared and began to undress Xiaoxing and apply something like ointment to her bare skin, he immediately blushed and turned his gaze to the window not far away.

In the distant past, this community medical center was located on the twentieth floor of the tower, more than seventy meters above the ground, while the coastline was tens of kilometers away. But now, with the dramatic rise in sea levels, the turbulent sea can be seen from the floor-to-ceiling windows in the center. The surging waves are only twenty or thirty meters away vertically, and some spray and foam can even be carried by the sea breeze to the outside of the windows, leaving bizarre and colorful salt stains on the thick glass surface year after year.

Fish stared blankly at the distant waves, his attention soon drawn to a floating object: a half-human, half-bird creature, a "Halpiah." Hours earlier, it had been killed in a concentrated barrage during an attack on the 10th Squadron atop the towers. Now, a flock of dead vultures, resembling ravens with skull-like heads, were scrambling to devour its remains.

On the human-like upper body of this Halpie, several bullet holes left by 7.7mm rifle rounds are clearly visible. With the impact and pounding of the waves, semi-congealed blood continues to flow from these bullet holes.

Wait... bullet holes...

In the next instant, Fish suddenly realized something. He then quickly left the French windows and ran towards the entrance of the room, simultaneously transforming his left arm into a longsword and activating the ion gun stored in his right arm.

"What's wrong? Did you sense something?!" The remote control terminal, resembling a fairy-like girl, immediately flapped its wings at full speed and caught up with Fish.

"It's not safe down here!" Fish said after carefully concealing himself in a corner near the room's door. "Those people who died outside... weren't killed by the chimeras we saw dying!"

"Not bad, not bad, you passed." Huang Yan didn't show any surprise at Fish's words; on the contrary, she was quite pleased. "I originally planned to notify you directly if you didn't realize the danger within fifteen minutes. Fortunately, your brain isn't too bad."

“If I were an idiot, I wouldn’t be alive now, okay?” Fish said. Ever since escaping the factory job the residents of Oasis City had arranged for him, he’d been drifting through the streets of that atoll city, a melting pot of all sorts of people, danger and opportunity. There, the overly naive and foolish would quickly be devoured like insects caught in a spider’s web. And Fish had honed a remarkably keen sense of danger in the process. If he hadn’t been so eager to “go far away,” he would never have been tricked into coming here.

"Interesting. I'll have to see just how clever you are," Huang Yan's tone became even more curious. "Tell me, how exactly did you realize that the situation down here is different from what you initially guessed?"

“It’s simple,” Fish replied. “Most of the corpses were too intact, and the dead chimeras didn’t have any bullet holes.”