The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Meow?!"

Upon hearing Shana say "not for now," Fish's first reaction was to leap three feet into the air like a startled cat.

He went through countless hardships and painstaking efforts to finally find Shana, hoping to escape the miserable life of being labeled a notorious villainous heiress with a pair of super cumbersome fat pads on her chest. But he never expected to receive such an unexpected answer.

"What exactly is wrong with it?" Xiaoxing, who was forced to use Fish's body, asked hurriedly.

"Because my equipment was stolen!" Shana trembled, on the verge of tears, afraid of being beaten for angering the other party. "Um... when I was captured by the autonomous weapon, everything on me was taken, so I really can't do anything now..."

"Quick! Search the remains of these Spider Tigers!" Hearing Shana say this, Fish was filled with hope again... Unfortunately, this hope did not last long - after searching all the destroyed Spider Tigers, he did find a black storage bag inside one of the damaged machines, but the contents had all been burned into unrecognizable black slag.

The worst part is that you can't blame anyone else for this... because this Spider Tiger was the very one that Fish himself destroyed using the ion gun's overload mode.

"Waaah—" Fish knelt on the ground, almost bursting into tears for his tragic fate—but after Ange slapped his shoulder hard, he quickly swallowed the sob that was about to come out.

"Don't worry," Anjie said. "Huang Yan just said there's another way."

"Is there another way?"

"Yes, at least theoretically," said the tactical AI residing in the intelligent combat armor. "To put it bluntly, the device Miss Shana carried was actually quite ordinary in the past. Its true purpose was simply to allow the user to temporarily take over the body of a new human through a brain-computer interface that is inherent in the genes of new humans and is generated from the embryonic stage. It was only because I took inappropriate intervention measures that everyone's consciousness was swapped due to the influence of the intervention."

"So..."

"The number of these devices produced was obviously very large, otherwise even the reservations that opposed the creation of new humans would not have been able to obtain some and use them as a means of emergency self-defense—after all, in that era, using the bodies of new humans to experience stimulation was a very popular form of entertainment."

"Uh, so that means we might have a chance to find a similar device in the future?"

"Yes. And we don't even need to wait until 'later'," Huang Yan replied. "Do you remember what we're going to do next?"

"Hmm... is it to find the 'brain' that controls the 'Tai Sui' host army in this area, and destroy it?"

"Yes, and just now, I confirmed its location through the information that Ange collected from those enemy armored warriors who were treated as child nodes—coincidentally, that location is the Old Era containment facility that was invaded and destroyed a year ago, and it is also the place that the Joint Operations Headquarters initially asked us to investigate."

"I think this is probably not a coincidence, is it?"

"Of course not. By the way, the intrusion into that facility was almost certainly carried out by the scientific archaeology team led by Iskander Lomonosov," Huang Yan added.

"Could it be... that the large-scale outbreak of these 'Tai Sui' in this area, and their evolution to this point, was all part of his plan? What exactly is he trying to do?" Fish clenched his fists. "Could what's happening here be related to the coup in the Duchy of Fayun?"

"I'm sorry I can't answer those questions right now. However, it's worth mentioning that the containment facility is actually an entertainment facility similar to the 'labyrinth' we visited last time—the Joint Operations Headquarters just sent me a batch of compiled ancient records. According to them, the facility is specifically designed to contain various dangerous creatures discovered during explorations of the outer solar system. They are kept inside, bred in a controlled environment, and used for 'entertainment performances'."

"I bet this 'entertainment performance' doesn't refer to acrobatics or circus acts," Ange muttered. "It's probably going to involve a lot of bloodshed, isn't it?"

"Yes, those guys from the old civilization era have such lowbrow tastes—but the key point is that, logically speaking, there should be all sorts of 'immersive experience' elements in this kind of 'entertainment facility.' In other words, there must be devices that work on the same principle as the one Miss Shana used," Huang Yan stated his conclusion. "After we enter the facility and deal with the 'central brain,' I will use these devices to let everyone switch back to their original bodies."

"Phew..." Fish finally let out a long sigh of relief. "Then let's hurry... Oh, right, there's one more thing."

"What's wrong?" Anjie asked.

"We need to go back to our position on Hill 503 first," Fish said. "We need to get Miss Shana back first."

"No need, I'll go with you!" Shana suddenly said.

"Huh? But you're not a tank, you might be a burden to everyone in battle..."

"If you're going to send me back to the base, it will take you a lot of time, won't it? Not to mention there are enemies everywhere nearby, and you'll have to take risks too," Shana shook her head vigorously. "I know, in the current situation, the hosts of 'Tai Sui' are probably attacking humans in many places. Every minute wasted might result in another person dying, or worse, becoming... like that."

"We know that," Fish nodded, "but, with your...

"Don't underestimate me just because I'm a child... I do have some skills!" Shana puffed out her chest. "My parents are both scientists, so I've received their training since I was little, especially in helping them handle and troubleshoot problems in the lab. I have a pretty good understanding of how to operate various systems. And, putting that aside, I'm still a human from the past!"

"That's true." Huang Yan said directly through the megaphone of his armor, "As an old human, Miss Shana's very existence in the ancient facility is enough to constitute a weapon: once it is sensed that she is in imminent danger, the security system will automatically side with us. In addition, she can unlock most access control systems and activate various services for us simply by virtue of her identity... possibly even those that I cannot open or activate."

"Eh?!" Shana was slightly startled upon hearing Huang Yan's voice, but quickly recovered. "You actually have tactical AI? That's... quite rare."

"Of course," Huang Yan clearly took this as a compliment. "I am a unique, special prototype advanced tactical AI. There is no tactical AI exactly like me."

"That sounds amazing!"

"That's right. So, is there anyone who disagrees with Shana joining?" Huang Yan asked—of course, no one expressed any objection.

"Well then, Miss Shana, welcome to our team." Ange was the first to shake Shana's hand. "Now, you're one of us."

Three and a half hours later, in the western hilly area of ​​the former Anadel-9 colony, near the entrance of an unnamed ancient facility.

As several unfamiliar figures approached from afar, the guard noticed their presence and became more alert: not long ago, this person was just an ordinary monkey-like new human from the lush southwestern island of the Cangwu Duchy, a regular conscript in the garrison.

Like his fellow villagers, apart from having slightly longer, more curved hands and feet than ordinary people, and a shorter but more flexible torso suitable for climbing trees, he was not much different from most people in the world... But this only lasted until he and his companions were surrounded and overwhelmed by a group of "Tai Sui" hosts.

In just a few dozen hours, this man was completely different from before: he had once fought for the Emperor of the Empire and the Grand Duke of the Cangwu Kingdom, a soldier who, while not particularly loyal or outstanding, was at least competent. But now, razor-sharp claws had sprouted from his hands and feet, and whip-like, barbed tentacles coiled and extended from the sides of his neck. And the only thing that could be called "will" in his mind was the thought of fighting for his own kind.

This idea originated in ancient times, on a planet nearly a thousand light-years away from our solar system, closer to the edge of the Milky Way. In that era, in order to explore distant worlds relatively safely and incidentally eliminate potential threats deep within the stars, intelligent life on another world designed this parasitic living probe, which humans later called "Tai Sui".

From that time on, it, and all the creatures it assimilated, were given a few simple and clear goals: to explore, observe, expand, and at the same time eliminate anything that was considered a threat.

However, when a small group of countless "Tai Sui" (a type of rare insect) dispersed toward a yellow dwarf star with a G-type spectrum, an unexpected event occurred: a deep-space exploration fleet dispatched by humanity captured them all and brought them back to Earth as spoils of war. After being processed and divided, the actual function of this group was greatly limited, leaving only very limited "assimilation" and "threat elimination" functions, to cater to the "entertainment" preferences of those bloodthirsty spectators.

Since then, time has passed, seasons have come and gone, and the Earth has completely changed over the past ten centuries. Apart from a few scattered fragments that have escaped into the wild and gone out of control, the captured "trophies" have been sealed underground and forgotten by the entire world—yet they still live on.

Ultimately, due to a series of coincidences, it was able to see the light of day again, but it was still under many restrictions and could only expand its influence to the outside world in a relatively indirect way.

Of course, given enough time, it still has a chance to break free of its constraints. By absorbing information from the minds of recently captured hosts—like this soldier—it has learned that, for reasons it doesn't yet understand, the world's civilization and technology have regressed significantly. If it can develop and eventually find a way to escape this underground cage, it can roam freely on this planet.

Now, all it needs is enough uninterrupted time.

Of course, its previous capture had taught it to be cautious. Therefore, even though it believed that the genetically engineered beings known as "new humans" on Earth posed little threat, it still actively organized an offensive to eliminate all potentially threatening armed forces in the surrounding area.

As it had anticipated, the enemy was completely unprepared for the offensive and collapsed at the first touch. Large numbers of personnel and weapons fell under its control, becoming its limbs and giving it even greater power. It was even capable of contending with autonomous weapons awakened from ancient facilities and clashing with its own subordinates.

At this critical moment, everything is reaching a crucial juncture. For it, the safety of its dwelling place—which is also its cage—is of paramount importance.

Therefore, it redeployed a significant number of new troops from the front lines, deployed defenses at the entrance to the facility, and ordered them to indiscriminately repel and eliminate all intruders.

At this very moment, its new subordinates were indeed carrying out this order with all their might: any approaching humans and large animals were captured and soon joined their ranks, while the autonomous weapons were annihilated. Even smaller creatures like rats and birds could not escape the barrage of fire—because they might also be carrying reconnaissance equipment or being impersonated by enemy androids.

In short, the defenses here have been flawless so far... but the unexpected happened at this very moment.

When the parasitized former soldier of the Cangwu Principality noticed several figures suddenly emerging from the woods in front of his assigned defense zone, his first reaction was to raise his automatic rifle—although his hands, covered in spikes and claws, made gripping the gun difficult, he still managed to aim as far as possible, setting the sights on the nearest person…

...and then he put down his gun.

Apart from a girl being held in someone's arms, all the newcomers were dressed in colorful, body-hugging armor, complete with various shoulder armor, knee pads, skirt armor, and arm guards, resembling masked warriors from a once-popular tokusatsu (special effects) film from an earlier civilization. Although neither the soldier from the Cangwu Duchy nor the "Tai Sui" controlling him knew anything about tokusatsu films, they knew the identities of these people.

They are armored warriors, the elite of the human armed forces in this era.

If these armored warriors were enemies, they would undoubtedly be extremely difficult opponents to defeat. But thankfully, they were clearly not: all of them had blank and dull expressions, some had mutated their eyes into insect-like compound eyes, and others had grown prominent fangs or barbed tongues protruding beyond their lips.

Most importantly, the aura emanating from these people was extremely familiar to him.

They're one of our own.

If it were a human, even if they encountered friendly personnel, they would still need to verify identities, exchange passwords, and even inquire about their whereabouts. However, this soldier did nothing—for the individual controlled by "Tai Sui," this was completely unnecessary.

After all, the central brain that issues commands to all individuals never does anything meaningless. Since these people have come here, it means they need to enter the facility.

So the soldier stepped aside and watched the group walk past him. And not far away, his comrades did the same.