The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Ancestors above..." After walking past the armed guards outside the facility's gate, Ange couldn't help but take a few deep breaths and then whispered, "I thought those guys would check us carefully, but I didn't expect to get past them so easily."

"Yes, I'm also puzzled as to why the enemy's defenses are so lax in such a crucial area," Shuangye said. "Could it be that we've come to the wrong place?"

"Unlikely," Huang Yan replied over the communication channel. "I can assure you, we made the right choice."

"I have to admit, these masks are really realistic," Moon Butterfly muttered, touching her face as she brought up the rear. Currently, everyone in Fish's group, including herself, was wearing disguise masks provided by Phoenix Flame. These masks were created by Phoenix Flame using a portion of her own material, derived from the disguise technique she acquired in the ancient "labyrinth" through her "devouring ability." After gaining this ability, she could mass-produce masks with details and textures indistinguishable from the real thing. "But just based on this..."

"That's enough," Huang Yan said. "After all, while the 'Tai Sui' is quite terrifying, it's not as invincible as you imagine."

"Oh?"

"After all, this parasitic biological detector and weapon has too many mission areas to cover, which limits its performance: although it can theoretically issue commands directly to any controlled host, as you have seen before, at least at the level of the central brain, the computing power of 'Tai Sui' is very limited."

"So, that's why it had to adopt that tree-like topology structure that sends commands down in layers and is easily damaged?" Ange asked.

"That's exactly right," Huang Yan replied immediately. "So, unless absolutely necessary, the central brain will not continue to directly command individual entities after the scale of the population it controls has grown to this level. Instead, it tends to rely on 'delegating' authority to each child node. And between different child nodes, in order to avoid consuming communication bandwidth, they will control the scale of their data transmission and rarely exchange detailed information with each other."

"Meow... This is so hard to understand," Fish said.

"In short, the hosts controlled by different child nodes are likely not communicating with each other. As long as we take proper disguise measures, we can easily fool them," Huang Yan concluded. "And the ability to create 'masks' that I gained from the last devouring can come in handy in this situation. In addition, the pheromones emitted from the bodily fluids extracted from the hosts we killed make it even more foolproof."

"Speaking of which, how many abilities have you gained through 'devouring' so far?" Ange asked curiously.

"Currently... there are only three," Fish thought for a moment. "After all, while 'Devour' seems powerful, it has many limitations in actual use: it's only effective against other intelligent combat armor, or chimeras like 'Black Destroyer.' Moreover, even if you use this ability on the right target, it's not guaranteed to succeed."

"That's quite a lot. The vast majority of chimeras and low-level mass-produced intelligent combat armor don't actually have any special abilities," Ange said.

"Yes, besides the disguise technique used to create the 'mask' just now, Phoenix Flame also has the ability to control individual ancient artifacts, as well as the 'generation of throwing weapons' that she just obtained from Frostleaf... Speaking of which, even the lowest level combat armor has unique abilities, it's really impressive." Fish muttered.

"Uh... it's nothing," Frostleaf said. "My intelligent combat armor's ability is merely a variation of 'melee weapon generation.' It allows weapons formed from a part of the armor to detach from the main structure of the armor for a period of time and form some special shapes that I am familiar with, such as darts and shuriken. It's just a very simple, basic ability."

"But in the hands of someone who knows how to use it, even the most basic ability can unleash tremendous power," Huang Yan said. A few hours earlier, when Shuang Ye retrieved the weapons she had thrown during the battle, she had asked to keep one of them. By absorbing that dart, this move naturally became one of her skills. "And I have a feeling this move might come in handy later."

"Attention everyone, we've arrived." After advancing a short distance, Frostleaf, who was at the front, pointed to a massive, damaged blast door. A conspicuous gash had been cut into its edge, and droplets of molten metal, now solidified, still clung to the ground. Clearly, someone had gone to great lengths to destroy this place. "This should be the entrance to that underground facility you mentioned earlier, the one that was compromised, right?"

"Exactly, this is also the hiding place of 'that thing' we're looking for," Huang Yan replied immediately. "Moreover, I strongly suspect that the reason it's still hiding down there is mainly because it 'cannot leave' rather than 'doesn't want to leave.'"

“This sounds very advantageous to us,” Ange said. “A ‘king’ who cannot act is easier to checkmate than one who can.”

"Huh?" Fish was a little confused. "What king?"

"That's a term used in chess... It's an ancient strategy game from a bygone era. However, nowadays, this game only exists in the Duchy of Fayun or the emperor's autonomous domain, though only among the nobles," Ange shrugged. "The 'Shogi' that exists in the Duchy of Penglai is a similar game."

"Never heard of it," Fish muttered. As a poor kid who grew up in Oasis City and made a living by literally "begging" rich women in bars, he naturally knew nothing about it.

"Well, that kind of strategy game isn't complicated, but we nobles treat it as a kind of simulation to hone our leadership and command skills," Ange replied. "The most important thing in this game is to arrange different pieces in the right way and use their abilities to cooperate with each other to kill the opponent's 'King'."

"That sounds interesting."

"Exactly—this is somewhat similar to our current situation. My lord, you are our 'King,' and you must not be allowed to fail. And I am the 'Queen,' the most powerful and versatile chess piece... Not to boast, but with my training and innate talent, I can handle almost any problem."

"What about the others?" Fish asked, somewhat curious.

"Frostleaf is our 'Castle,' known for its outstanding offensive capabilities and straightforward style. Little Lucky is our 'Knight,' with high agility, making her suitable as a support. Mint is our 'Bishop,' responsible for controlling the battlefield; she is calm and has strong operational capabilities," Ange, a noblewoman from Fayun who is quite familiar with and fond of chess, couldn't stop talking about it. "In short, the differences in the combat armor and personal fighting styles of armored warriors are, to a large extent, like the differences between chess pieces."

"Hey, hey, hey, what about me?" Yue Die asked somewhat angrily, as she hadn't been mentioned.

"Your Excellency? You are at best a 'soldier'—though I must admit, your talent is not bad, and your bloodline is acceptable, at least qualified to be ranked last among my husband's concubines. However, without courage, determination, and will, your talent and weapon cannot be fully utilized. Therefore, when faced with a real test, you can at most barely move forward with the protection or support of others, just like those 'soldiers' in a minion wave who rely on their comrades for protection."

"You, you, you—" Yue Die blushed instantly. However, she couldn't think of a way to refute it.

"Ah, of course. Since your exceptional talent is an objective fact, you are actually quite useful—for example, like now," Ange quietly walked to Fish, who was using the Moon Butterfly's body, gently put her arm around his waist, and then extended her fingers towards the two very elastic mounds of fat... "If this body is given to the right person, it's not impossible to make better use of it. It's like how a 'soldier' ​​can be promoted to a 'queen'."

"Hey! Please don't do this!"

"Damn it, don't you dare touch my body!"

Upon seeing Ange's actions, Fish and Moon Butterfly gasped in shock. However, it was Frostleaf who ultimately stopped her.

"Please be mindful of the situation, Your Highness," Shuangye said in a businesslike tone after lightly tapping Anjie on the back of the head with the scabbard. "This is not your White Lotus Palace, nor Camphor Leaf Palace, nor the Security Command Headquarters, but enemy-occupied territory. I do not wish to see Your Highness needlessly encounter an accident due to an inability to control yourself."

"Hehehe... I was just joking. If you get too nervous, you might cause everyone to make mistakes while they're on edge," Ange said, but she still withdrew her restless hands... no, I should say, her lewd hands. "Besides, as far as I'm concerned, this place isn't so dangerous anymore."

"Indeed," Fish nodded—on the way to the ancient facility, they had seen numerous defensive measures. Besides the animals roaming the forest, parasitized by the "Tai Sui," there were also a large number of parasitized human soldiers who had built fortifications and established three lines of defense. To defend against potential threats, these "Tai Sui" hosts had even deployed captured amphibious tanks, armored vehicles, and heavy mortars nearby.

However, after using stealth and Phoenix Flame's disguise to traverse these blockades, the group entered the melted armored doors but found no more "Tai Sui" hosts. The underground facility was as quiet as a giant tomb; there were no patrols, no guards, only the destroyed doors and various kinds of debris along the way.

"This is an 'Attack Bee,' a common autonomous weapon used for key location defense," Ange bent down and picked up a mechanical insect slightly longer than a hand, resembling a giant hornet, which had been flattened by some powerful force. All six pairs of its legs were equipped with retractable blades, and its tail had a high-energy laser emitter attached, making it look quite intimidating… unfortunately, it clearly hadn't stopped the previous intruders. "That one over there is the X-2 Defense Robot, the most orthodox heavy equipment for key location defense."

"Looks like the guys who invaded here before were pretty good." Frostleaf muttered as she inspected the tracked unmanned combat vehicle malfunctioning in the corner. This X-2 was about the same size as the light armored personnel carriers used by the Pan-Pacific Empire, but it was equipped with a turret with a large number of sensors and mini laser cannons and six-barreled machine guns mounted on either side. In a fair fight without the involvement of armored warriors, it could easily wipe out a modern armored company without taking any damage.

Unfortunately, its front armor plate had been melted through by some kind of energy weapon, and the equipment inside had long since turned into scrap and could no longer be recycled.

"Undoubtedly, the invaders are well-prepared, and they are either equipped with many advanced weapons from the old civilization era, or they have top-notch armored warriors as their vanguard—maybe both," Ange said. "But this also benefits us. After all, with them clearing the way beforehand, we don't need to waste our energy taking action ourselves."

"But why aren't there any troops deployed by 'Tai Sui' here?" Fish asked.

"I can explain that," Huang Yan answered his question. "According to the records of this facility found in the Unified Combat Headquarters' database, it was originally a rather unique 'entertainment' facility from that decadent and crazy old era. Its main purpose was to use 'Tai Sui' to conduct 'special entertainment programs.' Even the bloodthirsty audiences of the old civilization era had many complaints that this kind of 'program' was very bad, which led to its poor reputation at the time, and it eventually became a pure imprisonment and storage facility."

"Uh, but what does that have to do with the current situation?"

"When it was originally an 'entertainment facility,' the operators kept a complete 'brain' captured by humans inside and artificially cultivated a 'Tai Sui' parasite in a way similar to fungal cultivation. However, given its danger, this 'brain' was kept extremely secure, and it seemed that it would die immediately if its confinement equipment was damaged."

"But didn't the previous report say it had been released?"

"From what I can see, this 'release' is clearly not a physical escape—otherwise, this guy wouldn't have stayed down here, refusing to budge. I don't think it could develop any feelings for being in prison," Huang Yan replied. "The more likely scenario is that the previous intruders deliberately removed the shielding against the 'central brain' transmitting control signals to the outside world."

"I don't quite understand, you mean..."

"The 'Central Brain' interacts with its hosts, who are its child nodes, through a special neutrino pulse, allowing these hosts to control lower-level nodes until it commands each host. However, after being captured, its control signals are restricted, only usable within the facility, and subject to the facility's control procedures. Those who infiltrate this place cannot directly release the 'Central Brain,' thus removing the first restriction."

“I understand,” Ange said. “After the collapse of the old civilization era, a large number of ‘Tai Sui’ parasites were scattered in the wild in the chaos. So, as long as ‘that thing’ here can send control signals outside, it can operate these individuals that have become headless and mindless parasites outside and start causing trouble again.”

"Exactly. However, the intruders don't seem to have been able to lift the restrictions inside the facility. Therefore, the 'Central Brain' cannot freely deploy troops from inside and can only organize defenses from the outside."

"Then we've already won!" Moon Butterfly exclaimed happily. "The intruders have destroyed the automatic defense systems here, and 'Tai Sui' can't move around in here anymore. That means there's no defense down here at all!"

"Not entirely. At least, I don't think things are that simple," Huang Yan said. "We'd better be careful, otherwise..."

In the next instant, a circle of light indicating the activation of a teleportation device suddenly appeared around the group. Then, before anyone could react, they were surrounded by a blinding white light.

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