Vegeta Was Stunned

As for why Soya had Cui drink the Battle God Water, he was taking a gamble—betting that the other man wouldn't kill him.

If he really wanted to kill me... there'd be no need for all this talk.

He could've finished me off with one Energy Blast from the air.

But this guy had actually come down to chat for a while!

After thinking it over, Soya decided that triggering the Battle God Water's side effects was the best way to get rid of him.

It was better than drinking it myself, anyway.

Who knew how long the side effects would last?

What if they were permanent...? That'd be a complete disaster.

Soya had already made up his mind: it was best not to drink this stuff until the test subject's results came in.

"Soya, not bad! This Battle God Water is amazing!" Cui glanced at the Battle God Water in Soya's hands again, his eyes gleaming with greed.

Seeing Cui sizing him up with an unreadable expression and eyeing the Battle God Water, Soya quickly laughed it off and handed him the large barrel with both hands.

"What's this?" Cui asked, slightly taken aback.

"It's yours!" Soya laughed.

"Oh? Are you sure?" Cui suddenly felt that this kid knew how to read the room.

Having him as a lackey would be a pretty good choice.

"With my low-class warrior talent, I'll probably have to say goodbye to this divine water someday. I might as well give it to someone worthy." Soya grinned with grand resolve.

"You know your place!" Cui nodded in satisfaction and took the barrel of divine water. "Good. From now on, you're my lackey! As long as you do a good enough job, I'll let you run wild on any planet in the universe!"

"Thank you very much!" Soya grinned brightly. Then he pointed at the barrel of Battle God Water Cui was holding and suggested, "Let me carry that for you! It wouldn't do for the boss to carry things like this himself, would it? Just call me whenever you need it, and I'll bring it over right away!"

Cui gave Soya a long look, thinking that the kid really was a model lackey.

He was right!

What kind of look would it be for me to carry it myself?

Wouldn't it be better to have him serve me when I need it?

Besides, it seems like drinking more won't do anything for me.

From now on, the only use this stuff has for me is as a reward for my underlings.

"Go ahead and carry it," Cui readily agreed. Then, still unwilling to give up, he asked, "Are you sure it can't raise my power any further?"

"If you improve your physical condition, it should go up some more." Soya considered it for a moment, then immediately put on a fawning smile. "How about this? Are you hungry? I'll make you something delicious to help you regain your strength! We'll rest for an hour, then try again. Oh, and my power went up a little after I rested for an hour and drank four more mouthfuls. It wasn't a huge increase... not as many times higher as before, but it still doubled."

"So the second time, the increase is cut in half, right?" Cui understood.

"Mm-hmm!" Soya nodded vigorously.

Raditz held back a laugh nearby.

Drink more after an hour?

In an hour, your power will probably have dropped to 1,700!

What a tragic toad.

"Then it's settled!" Cui nodded happily and told Soya to prepare some food.

Soya gave a little chuckle. Fortunately, there was a dead wild-boar-like monster nearby, so he set about cleaning it.

"I... I'll help you... Soya," Raditz hurriedly offered, then followed him over to lend a hand.

The two of them busied themselves for quite a while, each trying to hide a more shameless grin than the other.

Soya and Raditz understood each other perfectly. They were sticking to one principle: drag things out.

Cui was thrilled and didn't bother giving Soya and Raditz a hard time.

As his power soared, Cui grew more and more reckless.

He was already imagining what he'd do once he became the emperor of the universe.

In a mountainous region.

Vegeta's pupils contracted. His face went pale, and he dropped onto his backside, his eyes full of shock.

Just as Cui's power doubled, Vegeta's Scouter immediately flashed a warning.

Vegeta clearly saw Cui's power jump from 17,000 to 34,000.

"W-what the hell?" Vegeta stammered. "How is this possible? Why did his power suddenly increase so much?"

"Bam!"

Before Vegeta could recover from his shock, his Scouter's readings went off the charts.

Vegeta was completely stunned, his jaw nearly hitting the ground.

The Scouter had blown up!

This model of Scouter could only handle power levels up to 20,000.

What on earth had happened to Cui?

Was his power already over 20,000?

What was going on over there?

Judging by Cui's power reading just now, he must've gone to Soya's location.

There was someone else with Soya whose power level was 175... was it Raditz?

Vegeta decided to go take a look.

What exactly was going on?

Since my Scouter blew up, Cui's must have blown up too.

So he probably won't know I'm sneaking up on him.

Having made up his mind, Vegeta quietly approached the place where Soya and the others were.

On another vast grassland.

At the same time, Nappa saw Cui's power level change on his Scouter. Unable to withstand the immense energy fluctuations, it blew apart on the spot.

"Over there! What the hell is going on over there?" Nappa exclaimed. He turned and stared into the distance in the direction of Soya and the others. Though he couldn't see a thing, the shock in his eyes was plain as day.

Nappa hesitated.

Without his Scouter, he'd completely lost contact with his companions.

Should I wait by the spaceship?

Or go over there and take a look?

Too dangerous. I'm not going.

I'll wait by the spaceship!

Nappa made up his mind and hurried toward the spaceship.

Soya and Raditz soon finished preparing the wild boar.

Just cleaning it—removing the innards, skinning it, and so on—would take at least half an hour.

During that time, Soya and Raditz both took off their Scouters.

Cui's power was already high enough to send the readings off the charts. If they accidentally detected his power with their Scouters on, the devices would break.

"Go add something to this piece of meat and let it marinate," Soya said, giving Raditz a meaningful look.

"What do you mean?" Raditz didn't understand.

Soya leaned close to Raditz's ear and whispered something.

Raditz's mouth twitched.

Could you stop being such a menace?

...Actually, I like it!

Raditz sneaked a glance at Cui and saw him standing there, still daydreaming.

"Come to think of it, what's he doing over there?" Raditz asked curiously.

"His power just shot up so much. Just like you, he's probably imagining how he'll show off," Soya said with a smile.

Raditz: "..."

"Negative Emotion Points from Raditz +666!"