Return to the North Galaxy!

"Boom!"

Once again breaking through the atmosphere, Betkas's spaceship plunged into the planet, landing in the seawater. The violent impact churned the ocean, forcibly splitting the water at the landing site as a massive crater gradually formed. Betkas slowly opened the hatch and stepped out.

His tall frame, those unchanging pale-gold pupils, and the ever-consistent light-yellow hairstyle—his eyes revealed a detached emotion. Clad in a new blue Battle Armor, he exuded the pure aura of a warrior. The golden scouter on his face and the slight curve of his lips added a touch of sinister charm.

Nearly a decade of growth had pushed his body to its peak. Thanks to relentless training, he now stood about 1.8 meters tall, though his physique remained sleek and aesthetic—not the bulging muscle type. Despite Betkas's seemingly lean build, the power within him was something only those who had fought him firsthand could truly comprehend as terrifying.

"Trade coordinates are 88231... I can sense a few ki signatures. Hmph? This level of battle power is all they've got? Tch, what a disappointment."

Betkas briefly recalled the trade location, then turned his head eastward, sensing the ki there. His expression shifted slightly as he muttered in annoyance—he had indeed detected several ki signatures, but they were far too weak. For Betkas, they were genuinely weak.

There were six of them, and the strongest among them was only around 20,000 in battle power, based on his ki estimation. The weakest was just a few thousand. How could that not disappoint Betkas?

He had hoped to run into some familiar faces, but it turned out to be a wasted expectation.

"Still, it's work. Better get it done quickly."

Betkas shook his head, lamenting his bad luck this time, then shot off at full speed toward that direction. Having not fought in five years, his hands were itching. He wanted to finish this boring task fast and move on to a high-end planet.

In just a few blinks, Betkas's speed was extreme. His full-speed flight brought him to the trade location in mere moments.

He hovered in the air, looking down at the six people below.

More precisely, they were figures in black trench coats, their faces and forms hidden.

Betkas frowned slightly as he observed them, and the six seemed to notice him, staring back. Both sides sized each other up. Then Betkas caught sight of the leader's right hand making some kind of signal before stepping forward and speaking: "We're the ones sent by Lord Frieza for the trade! We're the buyers of the planet."

"That's right."

Betkas landed slowly, his sharp gaze fixed on the faceless speaker. From his voice, Betkas could clearly tell it was a man, but that was all the useful info he could glean.

"Regarding the purchase of Arles Planet as discussed, we've gathered the funds."

The leading black-clad man continued, as two others stepped forward, carrying four large chests and placing them between the parties.

"Snap!"

Betkas walked over, opened a chest, and inspected the amount of money inside. He glanced sidelong at the leader, who seemed to be trembling slightly, then suddenly smiled as he stood up and said, "The amount's correct. Congratulations. From now on, Arles Planet is your new home. Our personnel will withdraw soon. Pleasure doing business."

"No, no—we should thank Lord Frieza. Without him, we'd never have found such a good planet."

The leader didn't seem to notice anything odd about Betkas's smile and replied politely.

"Then you can head off now. I need to take this money back to base."

Betkas picked up the four chests, turned, and flew off, speaking as he did. The six seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, then floated into the air and departed.

Betkas watched their vanishing figures, a cryptic smile spreading across his face. He mouthed a few words under his breath before heading back toward his spaceship.

"Turles... Tree of Might Fruit..."

"Dodoria, Zarbon—load all the important items from the base into the spaceships. We're leaving immediately!"

At that moment, on Frieza Planet's base, Frieza sat on his floating throne, in high spirits, addressing Zarbon and Dodoria beside him.

"Yes, Lord Frieza... But where are we going?"

Zarbon paused, then asked cautiously.

"Heh heh... Father just contacted me. He said he's handing the North Galaxy over to me. So we're leaving here and heading back to the North Galaxy!"

Frieza was in such a good mood that he didn't mind Zarbon's question and answered cheerfully.

"Understood!"

Zarbon snapped to attention and hurried out to prepare. Dodoria, meanwhile, stayed put and asked the still-cheerful Frieza, "Lord Frieza, since we're returning to the North Galaxy, should we pull all our forces out of the South Galaxy?"

"Hmm! No can do. The South Galaxy has been developed for years—how could I abandon it? Leave a certain number of deployed personnel here. The rest will return to the North Galaxy with me."

Frieza pondered briefly before replying. To him, letting go of the South Galaxy was unthinkable. He'd worked too hard to build it up, unless he'd never taken it over in the first place.

"Dodoria, go notify everyone currently on missions. Change their course—they're to return directly to the old base in the North Galaxy. Now!"

Frieza suddenly remembered some of his capable subordinates who were out on assignments and gave another order.

"As you command!"

Dodoria nodded seriously in acknowledgment, then slowly withdrew from the room.

...Line Break...

"All personnel currently on missions: due to special circumstances, your return target has changed. The new destination is Aide Planet."

Betkas had just boarded his spaceship and set off when a message alert popped up, snapping him to attention. He read it carefully, then frowned in confusion: "Aide Planet? Isn't that the old Frieza Planet in the North Galaxy? Why set the target there?"

He puzzled over it briefly, then pulled up the details. A few minutes later, he got his answer: Frieza was returning to the North Galaxy.

"That works. The remaining four years will still let me grow stronger. I need to boost my power."

Betkas smiled in anticipation, instantly changed the spaceship's navigation target, and the vessel curved its trajectory, heading off in a new direction.