Pan struggled forward through the sewers. Everything that had happened over the past half month was still vivid in her mind.
It had all started with Bulma's family company developing a new model of spaceship in recent years, making interstellar travel something even ordinary well-off families could afford.
After the great cosmic disaster eighteen years ago, Earthlings had learned that many other civilizations still lurked within this vast universe.
Once space travel became popular, some people bought spaceships from Bulma's family to seek their fortunes among the stars.
After all, rare metals were limited on Earth, but that might not be the case on other planets.
Interstellar trade was profitable as well. Bringing local specialties from other planets back to Earth often multiplied their value many times over.
Gold was a precious metal on other planets too. Because it had immense industrial value and was generally Rare throughout the universe, interstellar trade had once driven Earth's gold prices to absurd heights.
Yet even after exchanging gold at high prices on Earth, people could still make a fortune by going to other planets and buying unusual items unavailable on Earth.
And so, humanity on Earth entered an age of interstellar adventure. Bulma's family's spaceships flew everywhere, and the people of this world showed no concern whatsoever for the dark forest theory.
That was mainly thanks to Lu Li. Back then, he had destroyed several criminal syndicates in succession and even wiped out the universe's strongest force, the Frieza Force. From then on, the universe entered a brief period of peace. At the very least, no large-scale criminal organizations were active among the stars.
Under those circumstances, Earth's spaceships headed all across the universe and came into contact with numerous civilizations.
And once Earth began integrating with cosmic civilization, it was inevitable