"What do you mean?" Vegeta stopped in his tracks.
Cui said, "Lord Frieza might use that to obtain eternal youth."
Hearing that, Vegeta's brows knitted tight. His whole body started trembling as he thought grimly: If I don't find a way to surpass him soon, I'll be trampled under his foot forever.
Seeing his reaction, Cui immediately said, "Don't tell me you want the Seven Dragon Balls too—so you can gain eternal life? I'd advise you to give up. Once Lord Frieza's wish is fulfilled, he's planning to destroy Namek."
Vegeta didn't hesitate anymore. He dashed forward, snatched the scouter from one of Cui's men, and sprinted away at full speed.
At the same time, while Creed and the others were searching for the last Dragon Ball, an unexpected accident happened.
When they went to search across the lake, Leichi and Zalok—those two "Namekians"—suddenly bound Bulma's hands. Before Bulma could even process what was happening, the two of them began to swell, their bodies expanding as they gradually transformed into two hideous pink monsters.
Bulma screamed in terror and collapsed to the ground. Hearing the commotion, Creed turned his head. His figure flashed, and he appeared beside her at once.
Softly, he said, "I've felt something was off from the start. So this really isn't Namek—and you're not Namekians either."
"Yeah." Leichi sneered. "You're only figuring that out now? Don't you think that's a bit late?"
Creed frowned slightly. The route he'd given was definitely correct, so why had they flown to this planet? Was it because the ship had been struck by asteroids and drifted off course?
He took out the Dragon Balls they had found, only to discover they'd already turned into stone.
At that moment, a massive rumble shook the world. Creed looked up and saw everything around them starting to collapse like even the air itself was cracking apart. The ground began to twist and warp, and the once-quiet forest turned into churned, pitted mud in the blink of an eye.
At the same time, countless octopus-like monsters burst from the lake, blocking Goku and Gohan's retreat.
Standing in front of Bulma, Creed originally planned to kill the two of them on the spot. But after a brief thought, he decided to ask first.
He said, "What is this place, exactly?"
Leichi snorted. "This is just some random planet in a cosmic trash heap. No cities, no residents, and no decent food or booze. We were swept near here by space currents and had to make an emergency landing. Our ship broke down, so we couldn't leave. Then you showed up at the perfect time."
Creed smiled. "Then why didn't you steal our ship and escape while we were out looking for Dragon Balls?"
Leichi said coldly, "That was the plan. But there was a barrier blocking the way to get out. So we used you to stall for time, waiting for the currents to change. That barrier shifts every day. Sometimes a tiny gap appears, but it disappears fast."
"A gap?" Creed pressed, already realizing these two weren't exactly smart. If he wanted to get Bulma and the others off this planet, he might actually need these idiots.
"Yes," Leichi replied just as he expected. "This fog is the sign that the gap is about to appear. Only when the fog rises can we leave."
Creed chuckled. "Thanks."
The next instant, his figure vanished right in front of them. These two only had tricks for creating illusions, they had no real strength. By the time they snapped back to their senses, Creed's hands had already pierced through their chests.
Only then did the pain explode through their bodies—but it didn't last long. They collapsed to the ground and died.
Goku and Gohan rushed over as well. Creed untied Bulma, and the three of them sprinted back toward the ship.
Fortunately, because Leichi and the others wanted to escape as soon as possible, they had already repaired the ship. Creed and the others jumped inside. Under Bulma's direction, the ship shot through the gap in the currents, broke into outer space, and headed toward Namek.
In truth, Creed's original route had been completely correct. It was only because they had collided with an asteroid field that the ship had drifted slightly off course.
In less than two days, they arrived at Namek.
Even though they'd taken a wide detour, they still reached it more than ten days earlier than expected.
The ship landed on an uninhabited plain. Mountains rose unevenly in the distance. With no time to waste, Bulma quickly got to work, using instruments to analyze the atmosphere and preparing oxygen tanks.
But when she looked up, she found Creed and Goku already standing outside the ship.
From the look of it, Namek's oxygen content was similar to Earth's—they could breathe freely here.
Gohan hopped out of the ship, staring at the surroundings as he murmured, "This looks like the place Piccolo-ojisan took me to train…"
Creed said, "Maybe Piccolo accidentally chose a place similar to his homeland."
Bulma couldn't wait either. She hopped out, pulled out the Dragon Radar, and saw three bright dots nearby—each with a very strong signal. Just as she was about to jump for joy, Creed suddenly said, "You two haven't sensed it? Ki is nearby."
Only then did Goku calm himself and focus. "Yeah… it's there. And every presence is really strong. What's going on?"
Bulma waved it off. "What's so strange about that? It's gotta be Namekian ki. Think about it—Kami and Piccolo-ojisan are strong, right? So the Namekians from their home planet have to be strong too."
"No," Creed said grimly. "Every one of those ki signatures is stronger than Piccolo and Kami put together—and they're filled with malice. You'd better be careful."
In his mind, Creed thought: Don't tell me we landed near Frieza's base… If that's the case, we'll end up fighting Frieza before we even run into Vegeta. That would be a terrible situation. With Goku as he is now without my help he's nowhere near enough to face Frieza.
But Bulma wasn't worried at all. She smiled and said, "Don't worry. King Kai already said Namekians are gentle by nature."
The moment she finished speaking, a ship flew overhead—and it carried an extremely powerful ki.
Goku's brows instantly furrowed. He understood very clearly: among all the people he'd ever met, only Vegeta had a ki this strong.
Bulma dropped to the ground. "His injuries healed that fast? And he knows about the Dragon Balls too… We should hurry and leave!"
(End of Chapter)
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