In Dragon Ball: A brutal beating of Frieza at the start

Page 88

The Energy Devourer let out a mechanical laugh: Dark matter conversion technology, specially prepared for energy beings like you. A purple glow emanated from the armor's surface; soon, your power will become a part of us.

Gohan gritted his teeth and gathered a ki blast, but the energy was completely absorbed by the black hole-like device on his opponent's arm as soon as it took shape.

It's no use. The more you resist, the faster I absorb energy as the energy devourer approaches.

Just as Gohan was about to be captured, a green energy wave descended from the sky, knocking the Energy Eater back dozens of meters!

"Uncle Piccolo!" Gohan looked at the newcomer with surprise.

Piccolo landed slowly, but his posture was somewhat stiff: Get out of here, Gohan. He's not someone you can handle.

The energy devourer got up, tilted his head, and looked Piccolo up and down: Another test subject? Your controller seems a bit unstable.

Bick's expression suddenly contorted; he pressed his temple, seemingly struggling: Quick...go!

Gohan was stunned: Uncle Piccolo? What's wrong with you?

Piccolo's body began to tremble uncontrollably, and mechanical patterns could be faintly seen flashing beneath his green skin. He suddenly sprang up, not to attack his enemy, but to grab Gohan by the neck!

"I can't control it... I can't..." Piccolo's voice trailed off, but the pressure on his hands kept increasing. "Run... ah..."

The Energy Eater laughed: It seems the implants from the Machine Gods are more effective than expected!

Gohan's face flushed red from lack of oxygen. He struggled to gather his last bit of strength and struck Piccolo's elbow with a palm strike. Piccolo's arm was briefly paralyzed, and Gohan seized the opportunity to break free.

Uncle Piccolo, wake up! Gohan took a few steps back, assuming the starting stance for the Special Beam Cannon. "I don't want to hurt you!"

Piccolo's eyes flashed alternately between green and red, as if engaged in a fierce internal struggle. Suddenly, he let out a roar and turned to pounce on the Energy Devourer!

Don't... hurt... Gohan!

Caught off guard, the Energy Eater was knocked to the ground by Piccolo. The two engaged in fierce combat, with Piccolo completely abandoning his defenses, each strike carrying the intent to destroy the other.

"Madman!" the Energy Devourer roared, its chest armor suddenly opening to reveal a swirling black hole. "Since you want to die, then become nourishment!"

The black hole generated a terrifying suction force, and Piccolo's body began to disintegrate into specks of light and be sucked in. But he clung tightly to the Energy Eater, turning back to shout to Gohan: "Go! Notify... Lin Ye... they can absorb... the system..."

Gohan tried to rush to his aid, but was thrown back by a sudden energy wave. When he got up, he only saw Piccolo's entire body erupting with a blinding green light—

boom! ! !

The shockwave from the explosion leveled all the trees within a radius of several miles. Gohan was propelled hundreds of meters by the blast wave and crashed heavily to the ground.

As the smoke cleared, only a huge crater remained. Gohan staggered over and found Piccolo, barely alive, at the bottom of the crater.

"Hold on! I'll take you back to Capsule Corporation!" Gohan trembled as he picked up Piccolo, only to find that half of Piccolo's body had been mechanized.

Bick shook his head weakly: Too late... Listen... the Machine Gods and the pirate crew... have cooperated... He coughed up a glob of silver liquid, they... are creating... more... Energy Devourers...

Gohan's communicator suddenly rang. It was Lin Ye: Gohan! Where are you? We detected a violent energy reaction!

Uncle Piccolo is injured! We need... Gohan's words were cut short as he felt a chill run down his spine.

Three dark figures slowly descended from the edge of the scorched crater—all of them were energy devourers, their armor pulsating with the same purple light.

"Perfect experimental data." The leader of the energy devourers said coldly, "Number 7's sacrifice was worthwhile."

Gohan shielded Piccolo behind him, even though he was exhausted: You won't be able to touch him again!

The energy devourers simultaneously raised their arms, and the black hole device began to operate: We don't need to touch it, we just need to retrieve the data.

Gohan felt his power draining away again, and he almost lost the strength to stand. Just as he was about to collapse, a blue energy blade slashed through the air, forcing back the Energy Devourer!

Sorry I'm late. Lin Ye descended from the sky, the Blade of Time humming in his hand. Bulma's flying vehicle followed closely behind, its cannons locked onto the enemy.

The energy devourers took a few steps back, then suddenly stopped: the target had been marked. Retreat.

The space around them distorted, and they disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Lin Ye did not give chase, but immediately checked Bick's injuries: Damn it, the mechanical conversion rate is over 60%!

Bulma activates the emergency medical pod: Take him back first, maybe it can still be reversed.

Gohan grabbed Lin Ye's arm, his voice choked with emotion: He said... the Machine Gods and the pirate crew cooperated... those Energy Devourers can absorb system energy...

Lin Ye's expression turned serious. He looked at Bulma: "We need to speed up the deployment of the spacetime barrier. If energy devourers appear on a large scale..."

Bulma was about to respond when a piercing alarm suddenly sounded from the medical bay. Piccolo's body convulsed violently, and his mechanical parts began to rapidly disintegrate!

He's resisting control! Bulma frantically manipulates the control panel, but if this continues, his body will break down!

Piccolo suddenly opened his eyes, his pupils turning a completely mechanical red. He grabbed Bulma's wrist, his mechanical vocal cords emitting a distorted sound:

Spacetime coordinates are locked.

Lin Ye immediately made his move, severing Piccolo's arm with the Blade of Time. What spurted from the severed arm wasn't blood, but silver nanomachines.

He's completely under control! Lin Ye pulled Bulma behind him. Gohan, hold him down!

Gohan lunged to subdue Piccolo, only to discover that his master's strength was astonishing. Piccolo's remaining hand suddenly pierced through Gohan's abdomen!

"Ouch!" Gohan cried out in pain, but still wouldn't let go. "Uncle Piccolo, wake up! It's me!"

Piccolo's mechanical eyes flickered a few times, then suddenly green tears streamed down his face. His voice switched between mechanical and normal: "Kill...me..."

Lin Ye knew he had no choice. He raised the Blade of Time, aiming at the mechanical core in Piccolo's chest: Sorry, old friend.

Just as the blade was about to pierce through, Piccolo used his last bit of willpower to grab the blade and guide it towards his head: This...is...the...control...center...

The Blade of Time pierced Piccolo's forehead. His body stiffened abruptly, then collapsed. The mechanical parts stopped spreading, but his vital signs continued to decline rapidly.

Bulma immediately initiated emergency procedures: There are still faint signs of life! Quick, back to the lab!

As the aircraft returned at full speed, Lin Ye checked Gohan's injuries. The edges of the wounds had already begun to show a metallic sheen.

They injected you with nanomechanics. Lin Ye's expression changed drastically after scanning with the system; it was the same control program as Bick!

Gohan smiled weakly: It seems I'm going to follow in Piccolo's footsteps...

"Don't talk nonsense!" Bulma roared without turning her head. "I'm the smartest scientist on Earth, I'll definitely find a solution!"

Lin Ye clenched his fists as he looked at the unconscious Piccolo and the gradually mechanizing Gohan. Suddenly, an emergency warning popped up on the system interface:

Large-scale spatiotemporal fluctuations detected

[Expected to reach peak in 12 hours]

The main fleet of the Mech Protoss is about to arrive.

Bulma's monitor beeped simultaneously. She glanced at it, her face turning deathly pale: it wasn't just the fleet... they were opening a spacetime portal spanning the entire galaxy! If completed, the entire solar system would be swallowed up!

As the aircraft swept through the clouds, countless purple dots of light suddenly appeared on the ground below—the Energy Devourer Legion was awakening globally.

Lin Ye finally understood the message that Bick had conveyed with his life: this was an invasion that had already begun, and they had only just seen the full picture of the enemy.

Chapter 229 System Origin

Are you sure you want to do this? Bulma's finger hovered above the start button, her brow furrowed. Directly accessing the system core was too dangerous.

Lin Ye lay in the specially designed consciousness connection pod, with electrodes attached to his temples: Piccolo was unconscious, Gohan was being mechanized, and we had no time to lose.

The laboratory lights cast deep shadows on Bulma's face. She looked towards the medical pod on the other side—Gohan lay inside, his right arm completely transformed into silver metal, and Bulma's father was trying to slow down the transformation.

Okay. Bulma took a deep breath, but I'll disconnect immediately if the brainwaves become abnormal.

Lin Ye nodded and closed his eyes. As Bulma pressed the start button, a strong electric current surged through his body, and his consciousness was abruptly pulled into darkness.

When his vision cleared again, Lin Ye found himself standing in a pure white space, with countless streams of glowing code flowing beneath his feet and extending into the distance.

The system's core space... Lin Ye looked around; it was even more chaotic than when he last came.

The once orderly data flow was now a chaotic jumble, with some areas even turning a dangerous dark red. Lin Ye carefully avoided those areas, following the path he remembered towards the core area.

[WARNING: Unauthorized access attempt]

[Identification in progress...]

The familiar system notification sound rang out, but the sound was distorted and unnatural. Lin Ye raised his hand and summoned the system interface, only to find that the originally blue interface was now glowing with a sickly purple light.

Who's there? A strange voice suddenly came from behind.

Lin Ye whirled around and saw a blurry humanoid figure standing in the data stream. It wasn't a system assistant, but an entity he had never seen before.

I am Lin Ye, the host of this system.

The light and shadow flickered: Host? No...you shouldn't be...wait...it suddenly moved closer, as if carefully examining Lin Ye, you've been altered.

what?

The system has been reprogrammed. The sounds and lights have become rapid, and the core protocols have been overwritten. You shouldn't be here; it's dangerous!

Just as Lin Ye was about to press further, the entire space suddenly trembled violently. The data stream in the distance twisted into grotesque black spikes, spreading towards them.

They've spotted you! Light and Shadow grabbed Lin Ye's arm. "Run!"

Wait! I need answers! Lin Ye broke free. What was the system's original purpose? Why was it able to fight against the Mechanical Gods?

The black spikes drew ever closer, and the light and shadow frantically waved their arms: No time! Go to the deepest level of the memory bank, find the original code! The truth lies there!

It shoved Lin Ye hard, then turned to face the black spikes. At the moment of impact, Lin Ye saw the light and shadow transform into countless golden particles, temporarily halting the advance of the black spikes.

Without hesitation, Lin Ye rushed deeper into the core. The path had completely changed; the once familiar passage was now filled with unfamiliar obstacles. He activated the Blade of Time, cleaving through the data barriers blocking his way.

[WARNING: Core area damaged]

The repair program failed to start.

The system alarms grew increasingly urgent. Lin Ye arrived at a massive data door, covered in chain-like encryption codes. He tried to unlock it with administrator privileges but received an access denied message.

Damn it! Lin Ye slammed his fist on the door. Just then, he noticed a small gap in the lower right corner of the door—it seemed to be a back door left from a previous visit.

Lin Ye crouched down and squeezed through the opening. The scene inside left him frozen in place.

It was a circular room with a massive mechanical heart suspended in the center, entwined by dozens of black data chains. Each beat of the heart was labored and painful, emitting a dull metallic sound.

This is...the core of the system?

Lin Ye approached the mechanical heart and found its surface covered with scars and repair marks. Most disturbingly, a purple crystal was embedded in the center of the heart, constantly releasing distorted code.

This is the part that was altered.

He reached out and touched the mechanical heart, when suddenly the world spun around him, and he was pulled into an unfamiliar memory—

Countless galaxies swirl before your eyes, and a colossal mechanical civilization is devouring planet after planet. Resistance is futile; any technological or energy attacks will be absorbed and transformed.

"We must create a weapon they cannot understand," an aged voice said. "A weapon based on spacetime itself."