After that, they returned to the cave where Bulma was staying. They'd thought Bulma would've gone crazy from waiting, but when they got back, they found a door deep inside the cave. Beyond it was a small house Bulma had made using capsules—compact, yet fully furnished, and even divided into several rooms.
At the same time, because Frieza had lost the scouter, he had no way to track the Namekians' locations, and no way to learn what Vegeta was doing either. He could only stay put and send low-level soldiers to search across the planet.
However, Vegeta moved faster than them. He found a Namekian village—one that hadn't been destroyed yet. That alone proved Frieza's army had never been there.
In the village, the Namekians were working in the fields.
Vegeta landed fearlessly in the middle of the settlement and asked outright, "Where's your Elder? I'm here to take the Dragon Ball from him."
Seeing a stranger they'd never met before especially one wearing battle armor the Namekians froze, at a loss. They were peace-loving and didn't even have the concept of attacking.
Just as they didn't know what to do, an elderly Namekian stepped out from the crowd and said slowly, "I am the Elder. Tell me, why do you want to take the Dragon Ball?"
Vegeta replied, "The reason doesn't matter. Hurry up and hand it over."
The Elder slammed his cane against the ground. "Go back. I will not give you the Dragon Ball. There's an evil aura on you."
"Then die." Vegeta chuckled, raised a hand, and a purple beam shot from his fingertip.
He meant to kill the Elder and then take the Dragon Ball for himself—but a young Namekian beside the Elder saw the danger and threw himself in front of him.
The beam pierced straight through the young man's chest. Before he could even speak, he collapsed to the ground.
The sudden attack made many people shrink back in fear.
But some of the younger men stepped forward, slowly surrounding Vegeta in a circle. They began gathering energy, and more than ten of them fired Energy Waves from every direction.
Boom!
A violent explosion swallowed the spot where Vegeta stood.
But when the smoke cleared, Vegeta was still standing there, perfectly fine, his clothes not even damaged.
To him, their power was nothing but ants.
In less than half a minute, he slaughtered the dozen or so who had attacked him. The leftover blast force even swept into the children nearby.
Looking at the bodies scattered across the ground, Vegeta laughed as if it were nothing. "Hand over the Dragon Ball. Otherwise, everyone here will die."
The Elder clutched a child's corpse and shouted, "I will never give the Dragon Ball to a villain like you!"
"Stubborn old man… fine. I'll look for it myself."
Vegeta lifted his hand. A surging blast swept out in a clean arc, and white light swallowed the Elder whole.
After killing him, Vegeta walked into the most central room. On the table against the wall sat the Four-Star Dragon Ball.
Vegeta grinned. "I was ready to spend time searching… and it's just sitting here."
After obtaining it, he didn't take it with him. Instead, he tossed the Dragon Ball into the water.
That way, no one could find it.
Frieza wouldn't be able to summon Shenlong and gain eternal life.
And the only one who knew where that Dragon Ball was… was Vegeta.
Meanwhile, Creed and the others were eating inside the house Bulma had made. The ingredients were all already stocked in the fridge, just heat them in the microwave.
It wasn't as good as what they usually ate, but it was better than having nothing.
Still, the Namekian child hadn't touched any food at all.
Gohan couldn't help saying, "You should eat a little too. Don't be shy."
Bulma sighed. "That's understandable. Everyone in his village was killed… he's not in the mood to eat."
"No." The child lowered his head. "Namekians don't eat things like this. Just give me water and that's enough."
He continued softly, "In our village, we were planting Ajisa seedlings. Before the climate anomaly happened, Namek was a beautiful planet covered in Ajisa. But after the anomaly… the Ajisa forests vanished. To restore Namek's old scenery, we started planting Ajisa seedlings again."
As he spoke, tears slid down his face. "I never thought… just when the seedlings finally grew… Frieza and his people would come…"
"Oh yeah." Creed suddenly asked, "What's your name?"
"Dende…" the child said. "Who… who are you people, really?"
Creed was about to answer, but he stopped. He stood up and headed outside.
Not just him—everyone else sensed it too.
The auras of nearby villages were vanishing one by one.
More Namekians were being slaughtered.
If the Dragon Balls were all found and someone gained eternal life… then Earth really would be finished.
Bulma also suggested they find a Dragon Ball first and hide it.
But Gohan immediately objected.
"No. If we do that, they'll keep killing Namekians—until they force the Dragon Ball's location out of someone."
When Dende chased out after them, he happened to hear that and screamed, "Please—save our people!"
"You don't need to tell us that," Goku said. "The Guardian of our Earth is a Namekian who fled to Earth. We came to use the Dragon Balls here to revive our dead companions. If the wish can be granted, Earth's Dragon Balls will come back with the Guardian too."
Dende said, "Now I understand you. Please come with me. I'll take you to the Grand Elder. He's the one who gave birth to all of us. When the climate anomaly happened back then, he was the only one who survived. He's the one who gave the Namekians life again."
"I'm the Grand Elder's 201st child."
Goku scratched his head. "Then your Grand Elder must be a woman, right?"
"A woman?" Dende looked confused. "What's a woman?"
At this time, Frieza and the others were still waiting in that village for Dodoria to return.
Without a scouter, they had no idea what was happening over there.
With no other choice, Frieza sent Zarbon and a low-level soldier to nearby villages to search for Dragon Balls, while he stayed where he was and waited.
After waiting so long, even if Dodoria came back, Frieza intended to kill him—useless subordinates who couldn't even catch anyone were better off dead.
But Frieza was still uneasy.
He was worried the last two Dragon Balls would be taken by Vegeta first.
Then again… even if Vegeta found them, Frieza would come and take them back anyway.
That would actually save him time searching.
He could kill Vegeta and seize Vegeta's Dragon Balls all at once.
(End of Chapter)
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