The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Can you explain why the fact that most of the corpses are intact and there are no bullet holes means there is danger down there?" After hearing Fish's answer, Huang Yan did not give any new instructions, but instead posed another question to him, just like a teacher who keeps pressing students for answers in class.

"Because it's common knowledge that almost all chimeras eat the creatures they kill, including humans. But most of the bodies of those who died down here are intact except for fatal wounds. Although some parts are damaged, it's more like they were found and eaten by chimeras that wandered here after death." Fish obediently played the role of a "good student".

"Mostly correct, please continue."

"Furthermore, those who came to explore carried firearms for self-defense. If they died in battle with chimeras, there should be bullet holes on the bodies of the dead chimeras, as well as on the walls, floors, and ceilings of the corridors. But I found absolutely no such signs. In fact, some of the people and chimeras had no visible wounds at all. The rest either had cuts and lacerations, or died from impacts or explosions from machinery."

"But that 'reason' has likely already left this place," Huang Yan said.

"Perhaps, but I can't gamble—because the clothing on the dead indicates they were clearly not killed in the same group. Some were wearing military uniforms that the Principality of Penglai had phased out twenty years ago, while others' ammunition carrying gear and helmets with rear sun visors were models introduced by the Principality of Irian seven years ago. This suggests that the guys who killed them roamed around here for years." Fish said, swallowing nervously.

"Not bad, not bad. Observational ability 85 points, logical analysis ability 80 points. I'm more optimistic about your further training... oh no, I mean your development potential now, little kitty." Huang Yan said—However, Fish noticed that the voice of this intelligent combat armor sounded a bit strange this time: Previously, when Huang Yan communicated with him, it was always through a remote terminal that looked like a fairy girl speaking directly, but this time, the fairy girl on his shoulder didn't speak; her voice entered his mind directly.

Could it be that……

"You guessed right." Huang Yan clearly understood Fish's thoughts. "I'm currently using the neural connection system to send signals directly to your auditory nerves, because continuing to speak like before would likely expose our location—although with me here, most synthetic beasts and autonomous weapons below Rank C can't do anything to you, this guy is an exception."

"Who exactly is this 'guy' you're talking about...?" Fish asked in as low a voice as possible.

"Its codename is 'Black Destroyer,' and its positioning is somewhere between an autonomous weapon and a chimera. However, it is generally still regarded as a special chimera," Huang Yan explained.

"What does this mean?!"

"While generally speaking, chimeras are defined as special species created by genetic engineering in the old civilization era that do not exist in nature, and autonomous weapons refer to purely mechanical devices made of inorganic components, there is no very clear boundary between the two. Take my incredibly intelligent and excellent combat armor as an example: my main body is the culmination of genetic engineering, a cluster of carbon-based life forms that has reached the limits in every aspect. But the remote terminal used for reconnaissance and communication is theoretically also part of me. And this terminal, apart from its external skin and muscle connective tissue which are biological tissues, is actually a bionic mechanical skeleton and computer inside. It's a bit like the legendary T-800."

"Um, what the heck is the T-800?"

"Ah...sorry, sorry, I forgot that people in this era couldn't have seen 'The Terminator'," Huang Yan said. "Anyway, that thing is a kind of cyborg, cyborg destruction machine. While it doesn't possess intelligence like mine, it has extremely high tactical capabilities. It can detect traps, predict enemy actions, and even use certain complex tools. The 'Reef Assassin' is no match for it at all. Even if you were equipped with me, you might still have an accident if you didn't handle it properly."

"Then you'd better make sure nothing happens to me, otherwise you don't want to be left to rot in this godforsaken place, do you?" Fish tried to threaten the other party.

"Indeed. My time is running out. However, while I was testing Miss Xiaoxing just now, I unexpectedly discovered that she has barely reached the standard for using me in terms of talent," Huang Yan chuckled in Fish's mind. "So, you're not my last choice, little kitty. Although you're quite cute, from an aesthetic point of view, I actually prefer to be dressed by a real little loli."

"Ugh, you fickle, perverted combat armor..." Fish muttered a complaint under his breath, but his complaint was immediately interrupted by Phoenix Flame's warning.

"Ground vibration detected! A rough estimate indicates that something with a considerable mass is hurtling towards us at high speed. Get out of the way!"

"How could this be—" Due to the constant state of high tension, Fish's body moved even faster than his brain, and he rolled to the side. Less than a second later, the corner where he had just been hiding suddenly exploded with a deafening roar, and the choking dust from the broken building materials spread everywhere in the air, like a dirty snowfall out of nowhere.

The thing that crashed into the wall was a small forklift—Fish had seen the wreckage of a similar forklift in the hallway before. By motor vehicle standards, it was nothing special. But if Fish had dodged just a little later, he would have been seriously injured, if not killed on the spot.

As he stood up, Fish raised the arm armor equipped with an ion gun. A mass of compressed gas was heated, ionized, and confined by a strong magnetic field into a miniature, ellipsoidal "sun." Then, propelled by electromagnetic force, this mass of incandescent plasma, encased in a free electron layer, shot out, hissing as it flew toward the figure sitting in the forklift driver's seat.

Although it was the first time he'd ever encountered such a situation, Fish immediately realized one thing: to avoid further attacks, he had to ensure the forklift driver was killed with a single, decisive shot. Therefore, he specifically adjusted the ion gun to "charge overload" mode: in this firing mode, the ion gun would spend a short period overcharging before unleashing a devastating shot, particularly effective against armored vehicles or large living targets.

Just as Fish had predicted, after being hit by this indestructible high-energy plasma bomb, the black figure exploded into pieces like a punctured balloon, with many charred fragments even falling around him.

But then again, why do these fragments look... so much like fragments of plastic figurines used for display?!

No, that forklift wasn't actually being driven by anyone. The person in the driver's seat was just a doll!

Just as Fish realized the situation was dire, a dark figure suddenly leaped out from behind the forklift and pounced on him. Fish instinctively raised the muzzle of his ion gun to fire, but a striking red phrase flashed before his eyes.

"Weapon overheating! Weapon overheating!"

"Hey, don't do that—" Fish muttered disappointedly. While using the "Overload Charge" mode allowed the ion gun to unleash astonishing destructive power and achieve a one-hit kill on various troublesome targets, its drawbacks were also very obvious: after firing, the weapon would be forced to spend some time cooling down to prevent it from melting. Although the highly efficient heat dissipation generated by the combat armor could reduce this time to a dozen seconds, in the heat of battle, this meant…

...In a sense, this means that its user has gained an additional special melee weapon.

Seeing the dark figure closing in, Fish abandoned dodging and instead swung the arm armor equipped with the ion gun at the attacker, simultaneously opening the valve of the coolant storage tank. The scalding, high-pressure gas instantly formed several "blades," slashing viciously into the attacker's body.

Through the helmet's filter, Fish smelled the stench of burnt proteins and lipids. Then, he felt a belated stinging pain from his left shoulder blade: whoever the attacker was, its attack had successfully penetrated the Phoenix Flame's protection, which was theoretically capable of withstanding direct fire from a heavy machine gun within a hundred meters, leaving three not-too-deep cuts on Fish's skin.

Fortunately, as soon as the wound began to bleed, Huang Yan's medical system reacted automatically: near the cut, the armor quickly tightened, and some of the lining material liquefied, sealing the wound and the broken parts of the armor. Disinfectant mixed with a trace amount of analgesic also began to be secreted to prevent infection.

Just seconds later, Fish could barely feel the pain in his wound, but he didn't relax—it seemed that what Huang Yan said was indeed true. This opponent was not only cunning enough to use double traps to distract him and make him waste his precious firepower, but also knew exactly where to attack to maximize the damage.

If Fish hadn't acted quickly and decisively, that blow might have landed directly on his most vulnerable spot—his neck. It could even have severed his carotid artery, causing a fatal injury!

This is definitely not an opponent to be underestimated!

"Ugh... that bastard... he's terrifyingly clever." More unsettling than the lingering fear of being on the brink of death was the fact that the creature had vanished without a trace after the attack.

Undoubtedly, whatever this "Black Destroyer" may be, it is terrifyingly intelligent—just the fact that it anticipated Fish would be hiding near the entrance to ambush it, and then preemptively struck with the forklift, even placing a puppet in the driver's seat to draw fire, already surpasses most novice adventurers and mercenaries who would recklessly charge in. More than sharp teeth and claws or powerful firepower, intelligence is the most chilling weapon.

No… don’t panic, please don’t panic… Fish told himself, trying to regulate his breathing. If I’m afraid in this situation, how will I avenge everyone in the future? How will I go to farther and higher places?

Just as he was thinking this, with a slight hissing sound, a light brown gas suddenly surged out from the ventilation opening at the top of the corridor and dispersed into the air. Although he didn't know what the gas was, Fish's intuition told him that it was definitely something very ominous.

"Warning! Toxic gas detected. Preliminary analysis indicates it is a mustard gas-soman mixed aerosol," Huang Yan warned. "Releasing toxic gas is one of the 'Black Destroyer's' inherent abilities. Please be careful."

"This... can you handle it?" Having learned his lesson, Fish immediately began searching for the substances that Huang Yan had mentioned. The information in the intelligent armor database made him frown—although he couldn't understand about half of the text, especially the technical terms, the images of the dead with decaying bodies and suffocating pain still left a deep impression on him.

Clearly, the skeletons and mummies they found in the hospital corridor that did not have any obvious external injuries were likely killed by the "Black Destroyer" using poison gas.

"Please don't worry. As a qualified combat armor, I have full nuclear, biological, and chemical protection capabilities. Wearing me, you can survive even directly near an exposed nuclear reactor core—provided that I remain intact. And I must remind you, the 'Black Destroyer's' attack is enough to damage my airtightness," Huang Yan replied. "Although I can perform limited self-repair, it takes time. The damage of that level can be repaired in a short time, but if the damage is more severe, I may not be able to recover in time, which could lead to your poisoning."

"Don't worry, I won't let any girl get hurt in front of me!" Fish said.

"Wait a minute, what do you mean? Didn't I say I don't have a gender?!" Huang Yan quickly said after hearing Fish's words.

"But in my eyes, you are a girl. So I will definitely cherish you."

"You... ooh..." Huang Yan's voice became shy for the first time.

"Anyway, let's deal with the immediate problem first." Fish said as he searched through the "Consumable Support Weapons" section of Phoenix Flame. Perhaps because this combat armor was only recently activated, many of the options on the list were not many, and this section only had one option.

But having this option is enough.

"Hey, you bastard, take this!" After listening intently for a while, a drop of resin-like substance slowly seeped from the end of Fish's right arm armor, quickly solidifying into a flexible sphere the size of a tennis ball. He tossed the ball in his hand and then threw it. The sphere stuck to the bottom of a ventilation duct in the center of the corridor ceiling before exploding into a huge fireball.