The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"You...you're completely insane."

After listening to Iskandar Lomonosov's explanation, the first to speak wasn't Fish or Ange, but Huang Yan. This intelligent combat armor usually spoke either in a lukewarm, standard synthesized voice or in a sarcastic tone, mocking Fish. But this time, she unusually revealed an excited tone.

"Rest assured, I am perfectly lucid," Iskandar Lomonosov replied. "And, if I may be so bold, as an intelligent combat armor, you shouldn't be equipped with a psychological medical treatment module, so how can you be so sure I've gone mad?"

"If you're not insane, why would you try to activate 'Tai Sui'? This thing is a biological detector and weapon created by extraterrestrial intelligent civilizations, and only its creator can have ultimate control over it—this was already confirmed in the old civilization era," Huang Yan said. "Admittedly, in the tree-like topology of 'Tai Sui's' command-control network, the lower the level of the control node, the easier it is to seize. The 'central brain' in that old civilization era ruin you visited last time is an example of something whose freedom of movement was forcibly restricted, turning it into a tool for a death game. But do you know what's down there?"

"I know," the archaeologist said, shrugging. "It's just a 'Prime Minister,' what's the big deal?"

"What the hell do you mean 'it's just a thing'?! What do you mean 'it's no big deal'?!" As Huang Yan screamed, Fish suddenly felt an inexplicable urge to slap the other person—it seemed that this tech archaeologist had just unlocked a brand new achievement, which actually made a piece of intelligent combat armor want to punch someone.

Of course, before Fish could even try to stop it, the impulse transmitted through Huang Yan's neural interface vanished immediately. It seemed Huang Yan understood perfectly well that actually slapping the other person's head off wouldn't be a rational move.

"Well, I understand what you mean—you seem to think I'm unaware of the true dangers of 'Tai Sui.' But in fact, I understand its nature quite well," the archaeologist of technology continued. "I certainly know that 'Tomb Slayer' cannot be controlled. It cannot even be truly killed. That's why even the so-called 'heroes' of the past could only choose to seal it away. However, the claim that 'it can be controlled and used as a weapon' was merely a lie I told His Majesty the Emperor. Do you think I would believe it myself?"

"Then why did you release something that is harmful and useless to the world?!" Huang Yan questioned.

"Why? Didn't you use your advanced tactical logic deduction software to deduce several possibilities? Could it be... your memory is incomplete?" A chilling smile suddenly appeared on Iskandar Lomonosov's seemingly innocent, childlike face. "Ha! I see, your memory database probably lacks some of the most important documents, doesn't it?!"

Huang Yan did not answer, but this reaction itself was equivalent to answering the other party's question—it seems that what the scientific archaeologist said was indeed true.

"That's not surprising... Was it an accident caused by database corruption? Or did someone deliberately delete these documents? No, that's not important. What's important is that you have no idea why you're trying to stop me," Iskandar Lomonosov said. "Although I lied to His Majesty the Emperor, General Rissimer of the Regency Council, and many others to obtain the necessary support, I have never deceived anyone about my motives."

What exactly is your motive?

"The records passed down from the royal family are indeed true... at least in some sense. A thousand years after the end of the old civilization, a 'Great Catastrophe' is indeed approaching this world and is about to affect all of humanity. Therefore, I have no choice but to resort to this extreme measure to solve the problem," the archaeologist of technology said. "In this process, millions will perish. The entire world will be completely transformed. However, if my plan succeeds, humanity will not only survive, but will also achieve a fundamental... 'transformation'."

"Wait," Fish waved his hand, "what exactly do you mean by 'humanity'? Does it include all humans, including the various new humans currently living on Earth, or only...?"

“Now that things have come to this, even if I wanted to lie, I couldn’t possibly fool you, could I? After all, with the configuration of your intelligent combat armor, the most basic lie detection unit is definitely indispensable,” Iskandar Lomonosov sighed. “So, I have no choice but to tell the truth: the ‘humans’ I know are limited to those who have not been modified, that is, what you call ‘old humans’.”

"Just as I expected!" Ange said softly, "So, in your eyes, what are the New Humans? Are we so unimportant that we could be sacrificed for your so-called goal?"

"Ah, that's right—in fact, in my opinion, the new humans shouldn't exist at all. The existence of this artificial species, created by wantonly distorting and modifying humanity, is a very sad thing. In a sense, it is the most terrible vilification and insult to the human race, and a symbol of the moral and overall depravity of humanity at the end of the old civilization era."

"At least, I agree with his last sentence. Humanity at the end of the old civilization era had indeed become corrupt and degenerate to an alarming degree," Huang Yan said. "In addition, I did activate the lie detector just now. Although it can't compare to professional equipment, I think it's highly likely that he wasn't lying—with a confidence level of about 90%."

"In short, I can give you a chance: cooperate with me to lead the future of human civilization onto a broad road that no one in the past could have imagined," the scientific archaeologist said, extending a hand, palm up, as if making an invitation. "This is the best choice, please trust me."

"Hmm... excuse me, why would I cooperate with someone who claims that my race 'should not exist'?" Fish asked.

"Because my plan won't affect the future success of certain outstanding individuals among the new humans—admittedly, once the 'Chieftain' is released, many innocent people will die tragically, but that's a necessary price to pay. Those who cooperate with me will not only have a chance to survive, but I will also use the various legacies left by the old civilization era that I can control to fulfill any wish they make—yes, I said 'any' wish. After all, the legacies of the old civilization era are almost miraculous to people of this era. So, why not consider my proposal?"

"Well……"

"That statement is also sincere—at least, based on my analysis, the confidence level is over 90%," Huang Yan said. "However..."

"I won't accept it," Fish said bluntly. "I've had enough of sacrificing innocent people. No matter how many reasons you have or what benefits you promise, I don't care. But I can't accept this, it's that simple."

"Since my husband has made his decision, I can only obey," Ange said. "So, what does my husband intend to do with this guy?"

"On this point, I do have a suggestion," Huang Yan said. "Based on the information Miss Mary gathered earlier, it's not hard to determine that the activation of the ancient facility buried beneath the vitrified surface is nearing completion—otherwise, the ancient guardians wouldn't be launching frequent attacks on the Imperial Army. Even without Iskandar Lomonosov's command, the Imperial Army could still continue working according to the plan and eventually complete the excavation."

"This is really bad," Fish said.

"Indeed. But, as I expected, the vast majority of Imperial soldiers and officers here are probably unaware of this matter—this guy probably wouldn't dare tell the truth to these thousands of people," Huang Yan continued. "Fortunately, I just recorded the entire interrogation process. Next, all we need to do is go to the brigade headquarters, seize the communications center, and then release the recording to the officers and soldiers. I believe they will make the right choice."

"Brigade headquarters, right? Well, we'll probably have to try to 'persuade' our friends there to lend us their equipment," Fish said.

"For us, this shouldn't be difficult. Although elite units like the First Imperial Guard Brigade might be equipped with rapid reaction squads composed of 'Gron' walkers and armored warriors, which would be troublesome to encounter, these elite units can't be on standby at all times. The brigade command post probably won't have much defensive capability at night," Ange said. "As long as we can move quickly..."

"Oh, I'm sorry, gentlemen," Iskandar Lomonosov suddenly interjected, "but I didn't say you could leave."

"What?" Fish asked. "Are you still planning to keep us here?"

"I must say, that's exactly what I was thinking." The archaeologist suddenly picked up the tiny, toy-like pistol again. Although he didn't think it posed any threat, Fish still had a bad feeling and instinctively wanted to stop him...

...but it was still too late.

As the pistol fired, neither Fish nor Ange was hit. Instead, a strange mass of gray matter suddenly exploded in the room, as if someone had detonated a large lump of dough. Then, Fish and Ange suddenly felt their bodies become extremely heavy…

"What's going on?!"

"My support functions just malfunctioned," Huang Yan said. "Power dropped by 92%! And in all aspects, including strength enhancement, observation and aiming ability enhancement, automatic medical support, reaction speed improvement... The situation is very bad!"

"No wonder," Fish muttered. With the Phoenix Flame equipped, he had long been accustomed to the feeling of being almost weightless and light as a feather due to the continuous power enhancement function. At this moment, he felt like an astronaut who had been in a low-gravity space station for years was suddenly sent back to the Earth's surface. Although theoretically it was just a "return to normal," the actual physical sensation was very unpleasant, even enough to cause a considerable physical burden.

In the few seconds that he and Ange hadn't yet adjusted to the heaviness, Iskandar Lomonosov had already pushed open the door and dashed out.

"Damn it! Stop right there!" Having been thoroughly outmaneuvered, Ange finally lost her composure as a princess and let out an angry roar. However, by the time the two reached the door, Iskandar Lomonosov had already started the SUV parked in the nearby parking shed and sped away.

"What the hell is going on? What did that guy just do?!" Fish asked angrily.

"It's the 'Gray Mist'... I didn't expect that thing to still exist in this era," Huang Yan said in an equally annoyed tone. "It's a specially made cluster of nanomachines, but its function is quite simple: to disrupt the energy transmission and allocation within deployed intelligent combat armor. Of course, its effects are temporary; as long as I don't have prolonged and continuous contact with it, I can eliminate it on my own. But... the remaining effects will probably last for some time."

"Hmm... We must learn from this lesson... Next time something like this happens, we must remember to damage the surrounding vehicles first." Ange said softly as she watched the SUV drive away.

"A good summary of experience, but what should we do now?"

"Theoretically speaking, there's still a way to salvage this." Ange quickly glanced at "Golden Soup's" status page and, unsurprisingly, found that due to the drastic reduction in power output, its melee capabilities and energy weapon firing power had been severely weakened. However, this didn't stump her. After quickly checking the weapon page, she activated option 3.

Two miniature loitering munitions, each no bigger than a palm, were immediately ejected from inside "Golden Soup".

These small ammunitions, unlike the melee weapons and energy weapons generated by the transformation of intelligent combat armor, cannot be manufactured by "Golden Soup" itself. Their supply depends entirely on salvaging stock from the ruins of the old civilization era—fortunately, because these small items are extremely numerous, and only a few high-level armorers are their users in this era, their supply on the black market is quite plentiful, so there is no need to worry about shortages.

Most importantly, because they are not part of the intelligent combat armor, the combat effectiveness of these two mini loitering munitions will not be affected by the "Gray Fog".

Having witnessed the power of this thing in his past duel with Ange, Fish knew very well that these mini loitering munitions were not easy to deal with—their miniature ramjet rocket engines, although only working for two to three seconds, could briefly boost their flight speed to over 300 kilometers per hour.

Of course, after that, they will only be able to glide without power by relying on their unfolded membrane-like wings, and their speed will drop rapidly. But even without the aid of fire control computer calculations, Ange can confirm that these two mini loitering munitions are enough to catch up with that off-road vehicle.

"Uh... just asking, that guy won't fall, will he?" Fish asked.

"Please rest assured, my lord," Ange shrugged, "I've adjusted their warheads to armor-piercing mode; the explosive jets will only penetrate the area directly in front. According to my calculations, they will destroy the car's engine in a relatively safe manner in five seconds."

"I hope so," Fish said softly. However, he still had a...uneasy feeling. And as it turned out, his feeling was quite accurate.

Five seconds later, the two mini loitering munitions missed their target.

Because they exploded a second earlier.