The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"So... if you can hide underwater, you'll be treated like you don't exist?" A few minutes later, Alicia, who had climbed back onto the riverbank and hidden behind an air rifle shooting stall, listened to Fish's explanation and then asked, "Why... is that?"

"It's probably a small problem in the program design: the person who designed the people counting system didn't take into account the limited space underwater, so they set the scope of the people counting to exclude the underwater area," Fish shrugged. "That's why the numbers are so strange."

"So, we can exploit this bug simply by hiding underwater?"

"Well... I'm afraid that won't work," Fish shook his head. "We've already tried it; you have to be completely submerged to achieve that effect. Besides, even breathing through a ventilator won't work; it'll be considered 'there's still someone there.'"

"Ah...right." Alicia deflated immediately—just as Fish had said, the two had just conducted repeated experiments and found that even if they put the gun barrels out of their mouths and surfaced to breathe, the number of people wouldn't decrease. To be considered "non-existent," they had to remain underwater continuously, without any direct or indirect contact with anything outside the water.

"Of course, technically speaking, this bug is indeed very meaningful—Huang Yan probably wants us to find a way to exploit it," Fish continued. "After all, as long as no survivors remain among the 'Little Witches,' the game will most likely end with the 'Ghost' winning. That way, there won't be any issues with being 'teleported away for winning.' However, judging from the previous two 'games,' to avoid misjudgments, it will probably take the system at least a few minutes, or even longer, to confirm 'no survivors'..."

"Right," Alicia nodded—they had indeed waited a while after achieving their goal before being teleported to the next game scene. "If we really have to wait a few more minutes, we can't hold our breath for that long."

“This… is indeed a problem,” Fish said, shrugging. “But we don’t necessarily have to use this method to solve it.”

"So, you have other options?"

"Of course, I have come up with a theoretically feasible solution," Fish said, "but to ensure its effectiveness, we'd better wait a while before proceeding."

While concisely explaining the plan to Alicia, Fish led her to a crossroads in the central area of ​​"Pumpkin Wonderland." The space here was relatively open, unlike other places that were filled with plastic pumpkins that obstructed the view. It was also far from any of the main rides and less affected by the noise from music and machinery, making it a relatively safe place.

To further enhance safety, Fish found a dry powder fire extinguisher and sprayed the powdery substance onto the surrounding asphalt road surface—this way, even if any invisible "ghosts" tried to sneak up, they would be exposed by leaving footprints.

However, perhaps because they were too busy to attend to this area, or perhaps because they preferred to prioritize easier prey, no one came to "visit" Fish and Alicia for a while. Meanwhile, the rest of the amusement park was quite lively: gunshots, explosions, and terrified screams echoed everywhere, especially in the roller coaster area on the northeast side and the go-kart track area on the southeast side.

"It seems the other 'little witches' have also realized what kind of opponent they're facing," Fish commented as the numbers on the roadside signs began to flash and decrease. "Judging from the sound, they're probably unleashing firepower in any suspicious direction... and it's certainly having some effect, though not too good."

"Oh?"

"If I were them, I would choose to hold out in a narrower building—that way, with just a few shotguns and automatic weapons, I could stop the enemy's movement," Fish commented. "Limited space would greatly diminish the advantage of stealth."

"Then why don't they do that?" Alicia asked.

"Perhaps due to a lack of experience and a lack of understanding of their opponents' situation, they were hesitant to enter the seemingly dangerous buildings at the beginning. By the time they discovered their opponents' true nature, it was too late," Fish commented. "Moreover, what I just described is only a theoretically effective approach. In reality, I'm also hesitant to enter buildings casually... After all, in this kind of 'game,' the probability of various 'surprises' hidden inside is very high."

As the two were talking, the battle around them gradually subsided. Unlike the Newtypes, who possessed strong sound localization abilities, and lacked Fish's reaction speed and combat experience, the "little witches" could buy time by frantically unleashing firepower in all directions. However, once their limited ammunition was exhausted, the balance of power once again began to tilt towards the "ghosts."

Ultimately, the two numbers on the roadside sign settled on "2" and "14".

"I must say," Fish licked his lips, "that's quite an impressive trade ratio considering the enemy isn't visible."

"But... if there are still fourteen enemies..." Alicia said somewhat anxiously, "Can we handle them?"

“Didn’t I tell you before? We don’t need to deal with them one by one,” Fish said. “If we really take care of all those monsters, we’ll be kicked out of here, and that would be a bigger problem.”

"Right," Alicia whispered, "We're going to take advantage of this bug... So, where do we go now?"

"Huang Yan said she would give us a hint." Fish, holding the M16A2 "wand," carefully stepped on the dry powder he had sprayed earlier and slowly walked out along the path—although their position was very conspicuous, no footprints appeared on the dry powder from beginning to end. This further proved that, unlike the school zombies in the first game scene and the beasts in the second scene, the "ghosts" here, although also hosts of "Tai Sui," were much more intelligent, at least knowing very well how to hide themselves.

This is not good news.

Then, at the end of the road, the two saw a sign. The two arrows on the sign pointed to "Haunted House" and "Pirate Ship" respectively. The decorative neon light above the arrow pointing to "Haunted House" was flashing, while the arrow pointing to "Pirate Ship" was not lit.

"Does this mean we should go this way?" Alicia asked.

"Possibly," Fish muttered to himself, "but it could also be no hint at all, maybe just a stray bullet that cut the circuit. After all, a haunted house isn't exactly a suitable place to fight invisible enemies."

"Because the space there is smaller and there's more noise, right?" Although not very bright, after hanging out with Fish, Alicia gradually developed some tactical analytical awareness.

“That’s right, not to mention the lighting inside must be very dim,” Fish nodded. There are more than one haunted house in the Oasis Harbor amusement park, and he has even accompanied female customers in the past, so he knows this kind of place quite well. “This means that the problem of holographic projections being disrupted by fast movement is not a problem in a haunted house.”

"So...should we still go?"

“Of course,” Fish thought for a few seconds, then nodded. “Haven’t you heard? A ‘crisis’ is not only danger, but also opportunity. Since we’re planning to exploit this ‘bug’ thoroughly, we probably can’t afford not to take some risks.”

"Indeed," Alicia said.

After walking a short distance towards the haunted house, what appeared before the two was a rather gruesome scene: at least ten corpses were scattered around a small roller coaster. The reason for saying "at least" ten is that many of the corpses had been blown to pieces, and it would be difficult to piece them together completely without a professional forensic doctor.

Judging from the clothing wrapped around the severed limbs, most of the corpses were "ghosts," with only two being "little witches." One of them was holding an Uzi submachine gun, with a kitchen knife stuck in her throat. The other's "wand" was quite astonishing.

"This thing... is an RPG-7."

After picking up the metal canister, Fish immediately recalled seeing something at the end of the "Wands" list when exchanging "Candy" for "Wands." According to the description, this 40mm man-portable rocket launcher, with its over-caliber design, was simple and durable, and quite powerful when using high-explosive warheads, making it a reliable piece of equipment from the old civilization era.

Judging from the roller coaster tracks bent by the explosion, the still-smoking tree trunks, and the shattered human bodies around them, this "little witch" with the rocket launcher fired at least four or five shots before she died. Although the damage she caused was not as great as that of a certain red-eyed blaster that Huang Yan occasionally mentioned, it was still terrifying enough.

Most importantly, there were still two rockets left in the large pockets of her witch dress.

"Excellent, this is exactly what I needed." Fish picked up the RPG-7, loaded one rocket into his skirt, and then loaded the other into the front of the rocket launcher. As the propellant tube containing the glycerol propellant slid into the launcher with a "thump," he noticed Alicia's uneasy expression.

"Don't make that face with my face. I know how to use this rocket launcher," Fish said. "The Pan Pacific Imperial Army's infantry equipment also has similar weapons."

"I know. But... in a confined space like a haunted house, is this really useful?"

"You don't need to worry about that," Fish smiled slightly. "I know what to do, trust me."

Perhaps because of the effect of "trust me," Alicia was no longer worried and followed Fish into the haunted house located on the other side of the small roller coaster area. This haunted house was quite large, with a giant octopus baring its fangs and claws at the entrance, and the words "Cthulhu Sanctuary" written next to it.

"What the heck is this?"

"I don't know either, maybe some kind of culture from an old civilization?" Fish slung the rocket launcher over his back with a canvas strap, and carrying the M16A2, walked into the dimly lit entrance to the "Sanctuary." Just seconds after he entered, a strange-looking creature, resembling an ugly fish, suddenly emerged from the pool inside the entrance!

"Meow me ...

The appearance of this guy terrified Alicia, even causing her to scream out Fish's catchphrase. However, despite her panic, she didn't lose her composure. Two 12-gauge shotgun shells riddled the "fishman" with holes in a second.

However, Fish, standing to the side, simply wore a... wry smile.

Because that thing was just a toy model made of foam and wood.

"Hehehe... Sorry for wasting ammo..." Realizing her blunder, Alicia awkwardly chuckled as she ejected the empty cartridge case—only then did she remember that all the "ghosts" she'd encountered earlier were invisible. The one that would suddenly jump out like this clearly couldn't be one of them!

"Hoo... Hehehehehe..."

"Hahahaha... Welcome to the territory of the Deep Ones..."

"Great Father Dagon, Mother Hydra await you..."

After the first fishman was blown up, several more mechanical fishmen staggered out of the pool, while an old-fashioned loudspeaker blared out cringe-worthy laughter and nonsensical words. Of course, having already learned from experience and knowing that these were just scare tactics, Alicia didn't waste her precious ammunition on them.

Behind these pools from which ugly fish-men emerge lies a long corridor. Perhaps to create a sense of horror and oppression, the corridor is darkly lit, with only a narrow suspension bridge spanning it. Below, a cluster of flashing red neon lights appears to simulate the glow of lava. Upon stepping onto the bridge, the ancient wooden planks immediately creak and groan. A sinister, groaning laugh echoes from the direction of the roof.

"Whoa?" Alicia was startled again—just as she feared, all sorts of noises were clouding their hearing. If this continued, they would be in an extremely passive state because they would be unable to use their hearing to pinpoint the enemy's location.

"Don't worry, just follow me," Fish patted Alicia's shoulder again, reassuring her with a calm smile. "There are no enemies ahead."

How can you be so sure?

"Because I'm using the body of my fiancée, Princess Ange of Fayun," Fish said. "Her senses are far more acute than mine in some ways. So I can assure you that, at least up ahead, there are no enemies lying in ambush."

And so, the two crossed the suspension bridge. The next room was painted dark blue, with walls adorned with numerous depictions of fish, octopuses, shrimp, and other creatures. "Hmm, what's this? A seafood market?"

"It seems so," Fish said. "I quite like it here. After all, Oasis Harbor, where I used to live, was also known for its seafood... Hmm?"

"What's wrong?"

"Something's coming this way," Fish said as a mechanism in the floor slowly activated. "Watch out."