The Final Odyssey, the fantastical journey of a cat boy

"Ready! Three! Two! One! Spin!"

A few seconds later, under Huang Yan's command, Fish and Ange simultaneously turned the key in their hands, unlocking all the functions of the communication center. Then, a prompt message written in bright red text suddenly popped up on the screen in front of them.

"Warning! Activating all functions of this center may result in a critical threat situation at the Alpha Plus level. Please confirm that no 'Tai Sui' host exists among personnel associated with this center."

"That's a bit strange," Ange commented.

"What...does this mean?" Fish asked. "Why do we need to do this to start a communications center?"

"Well... because past research seems to have found that the control signals emitted by the command/control unit of 'Tai Sui' can also be transmitted through human-made communication systems, such as radio, microwave, laser, or even neutrino communicators—they mix certain special hidden bands into the signals, and after playing for a certain period of time, they will 'activate' the receiving individual." Huang Yan spent about two seconds checking his database before giving his answer.

"I see..."

"However, this is just a guess, and it has not been effectively verified until the end of the Old Script Era," Huang Yan added. "In addition, judging from the situation since we arrived here, there is no observable 'Tai Sui' infection phenomenon on Timor Island—at least near the Imperial Guard First Brigade's base."

"That's true. Otherwise, this place would have become incredibly lively long ago." Ange and Fish nodded in unison, recalling their "thrilling" experiences in the North Pole.

"Well then, if you have no objections, let's now connect to the surveillance system of the sealed area," Huang Yan said. "Connection initiated."

After a brief flash, an image appeared on the screen in front of the two. Prior to this, Fish and the others had also seen a sub-high-level "Tai Sui" command/control structure known as the "Central Brain" within the ancient ruins of the Northland. In Fish's memory, that creature was extremely ugly and disgusting, like a rotting... He suspected that the higher-level so-called "Prime Ministers" mostly looked the same, since the human brain has no wrinkles.

But as it turns out... well, is this fact true?

"Hey, are you sure this is what Dr. Iskandar Lomonosov is looking for? The controller of 'Tai Sui'?" After opening his helmet visor and rubbing his eyes, Fish asked Huang Yan, "Are you kidding me?"

"I don't know either. The relevant information stored in my database is also very limited," Huang Yan replied. "At least the data from this research base shows that what's being held here is indeed 'The Grand Chancellor'... Of course, I admit that its appearance might be slightly different from what we expected..."

"Indeed." Ange had barely finished speaking when footsteps approached the communications center's entrance. A commando, clad in a breastplate and heavy helmet, carrying a light machine gun, had barely peeked out when Ange, remaining alert, struck him with her plasma shoulder cannon. The man's upper body was instantly vaporized into plasma, his remaining remains falling backward to the ground.

Several assault team members rushed in and fired a few shots haphazardly into the communications center. However, when a mini loitering munition launched by Ange flew in, they stopped firing amidst the explosion—although they had a significant numerical advantage, this advantage was completely rendered ineffective due to the narrow passageway. This was especially true when facing Ange's "Golden Soup," a "turret-like" intelligent combat armor known for its firepower.

"I can still buy some time," Ange said after dealing with the Imperial soldiers at the forefront. "My lord, please hurry."

"Hmm..." Fish scratched his head and turned his gaze back to the screen in front of him—what appeared on the screen was not a pile of rotten flesh or any other grotesque thing, but a person. To be precise, it was an old human boy with blood-red eyes and extremely pale hair and skin.

The thin boy lay on a white hospital bed, covered by a transparent lid, like a coffin, with his legs tucked into his arms, as if he were buried in a flexed burial. On either side of the bed, various instruments were operating, but they did not look like medical equipment; they looked more like devices used to monitor and control the condition of test samples.

In short, this gentleman cannot be said to be vastly different from the "central brain" he had seen before; rather, there is not even the slightest resemblance.

"What... what should we do?" Seeing this situation, Fish and Ange were immediately at a loss. Since the "Tai Sui" was relatively limited in its harm and more like a pure parasite without the control of a command-control system with a tree-like topology, most people were not very clear about the threat of the "Tai Sui" unless they were like Shuangye who had been trained in high-latitude forests for a long time when they were young. In the eyes of most people, the previous incident in Zhongbei was just a large-scale rampage of an ancient autonomous weapon.

Therefore, even if they possessed Iskander Lomonosov's recordings, convincing people was not a sure thing. In this situation, if the "Gravemaster" were some kind of ugly and terrifying inhuman being, it could enhance their persuasiveness to some extent... but if they insisted that this seemingly aloof and harmless boy was a terrifying big boss, not to mention others, even they themselves would find it hard to believe.

"Are we really going to...show people this guy's image?" Ange asked hesitantly. "From what I see, the publicity effect might be..."

"Uh... let me think about it some more..." Fish was also confused. However, at this moment, the boy who had been lying with his knees bent and seemingly oblivious to his fate suddenly opened his eyes.

The two locked eyes for a split second, even through the screen.

"My lord, what's wrong?!" Although Fish heard Ange's scream, he was too weak to turn his head—in fact, at this moment, he felt like an insect encased in warm resin, about to become amber. Although he was still conscious, he could hardly move his body; every movement of his limbs felt incredibly heavy. And certain memories, like spring water gushing from the broken earth, suddenly welled up from the corners of his consciousness…

"Meow? What's wrong with me...?"

In the next instant, author "Sokhov" recommends reading *The Final Odyssey: The Fantastic Journey of a Cat Boy* using the "Renren Bookstore" app, which can be downloaded and installed. Fish noticed that the scenery around him had changed once again—the communications center, filled with communication equipment and control systems, was gone, replaced by a more streamlined-looking room. Aside from the comfortably off-white walls and the practical gray carpeted floor, the only recognizable piece of equipment was a ceiling light that emitted a warm glow.

Several men and women, dressed in navy blue uniforms adorned with gold thread and resembling sailors or soldiers, moved about the room. Carefully placed spherical objects followed them, like satellites orbiting a planet. Every so often, one of the "satellites" would project images: sometimes charts of code and statistics, sometimes diagrams of enormous spaceships and machinery, and other times photographs of various landscapes and images of giant plants.

Fish suddenly realized that at this moment, he seemed to recognize these things.

These people in blue uniforms kept talking and moving around, and sometimes interacted with the images. Fish discovered that he now possessed a bionic body that mimicked the appearance of a human—although he looked like an ordinary and strong young man, he had no breath, no heartbeat, and no body temperature.

In other words, the "Cain" sisters, created based on genetically modified clones, were, in some ways, closer to real humans than Fish is now.

"Officer Singleton," a middle-aged man in a blue uniform approached Fish as a tremor came from below the room. "The mothership has entered the lower part of the planet's atmosphere and is traversing the stratosphere and troposphere. It is expected to land at your planned landing point A."

"Very good. What's the fleet's status?" Fish desperately wanted to know where he was and what his identity was. But at this moment, the body spoke on its own—and it was only then that Fish realized this was merely a fragment of his memory. A deeply buried memory, clearly from a long time ago.

At this moment, Fish himself was in a state similar to a "lucid dream." Although he knew this was not reality, he could only continue to be a powerless spectator, watching everything unfold from the sidelines.

Or more accurately, "everything that happened".

"The fleet is in good condition. It was attacked in orbit by some jet-propelled live ammunition. Three transport ships were damaged, but only slightly. Some space creatures, which appeared to be communication or observation satellites, were also captured by our side. In short, as expected, this world has intelligent life and a special industrial system based on life technology, and even has rudimentary space capabilities. However, they are still no match for us."

"Very good. Upon arrival, immediately establish ground defenses based on the reconnaissance unit's observations. Be sure to use seismographs and terrain radar for detection, in case the enemy launches a surprise attack using man-made tunnels or natural cave networks," Fish, known as "Singleton Staff Officer," waved his hand, summoning a series of holographic images, and quickly scanned their contents, issuing different instructions. "I don't want any unexpected incidents."

"I thought so too." The middle-aged man in the light blue uniform revealed a delighted smile—it seemed he had been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Then, in Fish's memory, Singleton dealt with various matters for a while before leaving the milky-white room. After walking down a corridor and taking an elevator, he arrived at a huge place that appeared to be a hangar.

Here, a large swarm of small aircraft with short wings, large spherical cockpits, and vectoring nozzles for vertical takeoff and landing are lined up like worker bees in a hive, ready to launch. Several giant armored transport vehicles with six pairs of huge tires and weighing hundreds of tons have just been started and are beginning to drive down the slope in single file, accompanied by a group of agile bipedal walking mechs, like infantry accompanying war elephants.

However, Singleton didn't choose to ride in the giant armored transport vehicle, nor did he board the walking mech or the small vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. Instead, he simply walked down the ramp leading from the end of the hangar. Only then did Fish realize that although Singleton appeared to be "strolling leisurely," his actual speed was almost the same as those walking mechs striding forward, exceeding fifty kilometers per hour!

Clearly, for Singleton, this robust artificial body was the best weapon, armor, and ground vehicle.

"Is this the surface of Asura Star? What a rotten place." At the end of the ramp was a faintly glowing force field wall. Although it looked like a thin film, it blocked the exchange of gas from both sides of the force field. Singleton, like a fish fry emerging from a soft eggshell, forcefully penetrated the invisible force field in front of him. Then, a hazy purplish-red mist suddenly enveloped him.

"Meow?! Could this be...?"

Unlike Singleton, who was muttering complaints, Fish was almost completely shocked when he saw the scene before him—after all, he had seen the same thing several times before in those inexplicable daydreams.

The bizarre, bloated vegetation, the damp swamps and mountains covered in tall purple grass, the ubiquitous, veil-like purplish-red mist, and the dim, red sun in the sky—all of this was exactly the same as what I had seen in my daydreams—only clearer and more real.

At that moment, Fish finally understood one thing: those flashbacks and daydreams were indeed real. They came from some ancient memories, and the source of these memories was located on this alien land that was obviously extremely far away from Earth.

The planet, designated AH-3570 and commonly known as "Shura Star," is 575 light-years from the solar system. It is a gas giant moon orbiting a K2 main-sequence star, with a mass of 0.91 Earth's, and boasts a native carbon-based biosphere. At that very moment, all this knowledge flooded Fish's mind.

This is the year 2478 AD. It is springtime in the northern hemisphere of Earth, and the same is true in the northern hemisphere of the planet Shura.

Of course, this was also an ominous spring.