The morning sun filtered through the windows of the Capsule House, casting a golden glow over the living area.
On the floor, Goku and Oolong were sprawled out on inflatable mattresses, the air filled with the snoring of Oolong and the quiet breathing of Goku.
Suddenly, the door to the master bedroom flew open.
Bulma stepped out, already dressed in a white shirt, black sweater vest, blue plaid skirt, and black sneakers, with her turquoise hair tied in a ponytail.
"Rise and shine, boys! Up and at 'em!" Bulma chirped, her voice echoing with motivational fire.
"We've got five days left on the clock and we already have three Dragon Balls in our pockets! If we find one a day, we'll have a whole extra day left over just for the victory party! Come on, move it!"
Oolong groaned, rubbing his bleary eyes as he sat up.
"Five more days of running for our lives? Joy..."
Goku, meanwhile, sprang to his feet with a somber focus.
"Where is it? Has anyone seen my Nyoibo?"
"It's leaning against the fridge," Bulma said, pointing.
She walked over to the windows and shut the blinds.
"Listen up. I spent the whole night digging into those call logs I pulled from Dimcha's office. I'm going to throw some images up on the projector, and I want you to pay close attention."
She retrieved a projector and a laptop from her bedroom, brought them out to the living room, and set them on an ottoman, aiming the lens at a blank wall.
Goku grabbed his staff, twirling it once before securing it, and headed back into the living room to join them.
"Did you find the bad guys?"
"It's complicated. Have a seat. I need to lay this all out from the beginning." Bulma insisted.
Oolong and Goku plopped down on the couch, fixing their eyes on Bulma.
She powered up the projector, and the first image flickered to life. A vast, panoramic shot of a sprawling metropolis appeared on the wall.
"The person who spoke to Dimcha was definitely a woman, but she was a professional. She never stayed on the line long enough for a voice print, and they mostly arranged face-to-face meetings. They were incredibly good at covering their tracks."
Oolong slumped his shoulders, looking unimpressed.
"So, after all that work, you got nothing? We're still flying blind?"
"Would you let me finish, Oolong? I said she was skilled; I didn't say she was on my level. While this woman was cautious, she slipped up on one thing: location. I traced the electronic footprint of every single call. They all bounced out of the Rokki Region."
Bulma started cycling through surveillance-style photos of different city locations on the screen.
"Five calls total with Dimcha. Every single one originated from a different dead zone in the city, remote locations deliberately chosen because they lack camera coverage."
She paused, a triumphant grin spreading across her face.
"Regardless, she left traces. I pinpointed the exact execution times for the calls, and that led me to start cross-referencing."
The projector clicked again, filling the wall with a grid of grainy, gray-scale images. They were clearly still frames from low-quality video feeds.
"Since the actual spots where she made the calls were surveillance dead zones, I had to get creative. I acquired access to the security footage of convenience stores, gas stations, and ATMs located in the surrounding blocks near those call sites."
She tapped the screen emphatically.
"It was incredibly difficult to connect the dots initially. This woman was thorough. Five different calls, five completely different vehicles used for transport. And take a look at her attire; she always wore baggy clothes, hoodies, long coats... anything to obscure her build and features."
Bulma rapidly cycled through the photos, showing blurry figures stepping quickly out of sedans or walking past storefront windows.
Finally, she paused on one frame that was slightly clearer than the rest.
"But she slipped up here. The wind caught her hood just as she was passing this bodega's camera."
The image on the wall showed the suspect clearly for the first time. It was undeniably a woman. Despite the jacket, a mass of long hair had tumbled out, framing a face partially obscured by distinct, straight bangs cut across her forehead.
"Standard facial recognition was useless, obviously, given how covered up she was. But lucky for us, my father recently developed a proprietary algorithm for the ECPD, designed specifically to reconstruct facial structures partially obscured by masks, scarves, or, in this case, hoods."
She tapped a few keys on the laptop connected to the projector. The grainy surveillance shot on the wall vanished, replaced by a computer-generated portrait of the woman's face. She had long black hair with bangs and intense eyes.
"It took the whole night, but I managed to build a composite. This is our ghost."
Oolong leaned forward, studying the face.
"Never seen her before."
"Neither has anyone else. I ran this face through every major database I could hack into in the Federation, but... nothing. Digitally speaking, she doesn't exist."
She clicked one last time, bringing up a small, outdated-looking data card next to the portrait.
"Except for one obscure hit deep in a localized archive."
A single ID registration popped up.
"Her name is recorded as Misha. The location is Ice Bridge City, way out in the frozen Koldar Region. And the record was created exactly eight years ago. It hasn't been touched since."
With a final click of the remote, Bulma powered down the projector.
The vibrant, reconstructed image of the woman faded, plunging the living room back into the dim morning light filtering through the closed blinds.
Oolong scratched his head, his brow furrowed in profound confusion.
"Wait a minute. So, let me get this straight: you managed to figure out exactly who the client is... but at the same time, you have absolutely no idea who she actually is?"
"That's more or less it. She's a ghost with a fake name from a frozen wasteland." Bulma admitted.
She leaned back against the table, a sly, excited glint returning to her eyes as she prepared to drop the real bombshell.
"But here's where it gets interesting. It's a massive coincidence, or maybe it's destiny. I checked the Radar just before I woke you guys up. A new signal just popped up... and there's a Dragon Ball located right on the outskirts of Rokki!"
Goku's eyes lit up.
"Two birds with one stone! We get the ball and we find the bad guys!"
"Exactly. Pack your bags, boys. We have a destination!"