Misunderstanding

Reke and Eighth flew through the air.

Reke looked relaxed and carefree, while Eighth's cheeks were bright red—a stark contrast.

It was already their third day out, and during that time, Reke had learned Eighth's name: Lola.

Four-Eyes and the others still hadn't met Reke's requirements, so he'd left them behind in the cave. He couldn't wait any longer to enjoy life with modern technology.

When they left, the one with the best grasp of ki wasn't Four-Eyes, who had the highest battle power, but Thirteen, the long-legged, short-armed woman.

She could already hover off the ground, but she still couldn't fly very high or control her direction.

Bored out of his mind, Reke asked, "Lola, how much farther? Can't you pick up the pace? I could walk faster than this."

Lola shot Reke a sidelong glance and beat her wings with all her strength. She didn't have any energy left to answer him.

These three days had been miserable for her. They set off before dawn every day and flew all day long.

And she had to put up with Reke's constant complaining.

It had taken a toll on both her body and her mind.

Reke noticed Lola's silent protest. He put his hands behind his head, crossed his legs, and leaned back until he was practically lying flat.

He also realized they were going far too slowly.

"Stop, stop." He called out to Lola, then said, "Answer my question first."

"At our current speed, it'll take about another month." Lola did a quick mental calculation and replied.

"What?"

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Reke was stunned.

He had no intention of spending a leisurely month flying with this woman.

"Point me in the right direction and tell me how far it is. I'll take you there," Reke said helplessly.

"This way. It's about twenty thousand li."

Reke glanced in the direction she pointed, flew in front of her, and grabbed her by the waist.

"Vrrr."

Reke's ki formed a protective barrier around Lola.

"Whoosh!"

The two of them vanished from the sky.

Their travel speed shot up in an instant.

Dangling from Reke's grasp, Lola was still dazed. They were flying at more than a hundred times her speed, and they were still accelerating.

She couldn't even make out the scenery around them before it was left far behind.

She curled up obediently and didn't dare move.

An hour later, a dark speck appeared ahead.

Out of the corner of her eye, Lola saw what looked like a flying craft being overtaken by them. It also looked a lot like the one used by her adventure group.

She didn't bother with anything else and hurriedly said, "Wait!"

Reke stopped and looked at her in confusion.

"Reke, did we just pass a flying craft? A red-and-black one." Lola wasn't sure and asked carefully, afraid she might have seen it wrong.

Reke nodded to confirm it.

"It's our group's craft. Let's go over. I'll explain things to them."

"Sure. We should be almost there anyway. We can take the craft for the rest of the trip," Reke replied indifferently.

"Ah? Does that mean we just crossed nearly twenty thousand li?" Lola covered her mouth, astonished by Reke once again.

Reke turned back and stopped by a window in the craft. He waved and called out to the people inside.

It was a saucer-shaped craft, and the pilot inside jumped at the sight of Reke.

Lola, still in Reke's grasp, raised her hand and smiled at them.

The craft slowly came to a stop in midair, and the door slowly opened.

Reke's figure blurred, and he was inside the craft in an instant.

He set Lola down, glanced around, spotted the kitchen, and headed over.

He left Lola to explain what had happened to her companions.

"Lola, can I eat this?"

Reke still didn't help himself. He asked his host first.

"Go ahead, go ahead. Eat until you burst, for all I care," Lola replied weakly.

After spending the past few days together, Lola wasn't as nervous around Reke as she'd been at first. She could even joke around with him now.

Sure enough, Reke didn't pay any attention to what Lola had said.

He picked up a piece of cake-like food and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Mmm!" Tears of happiness streamed down Reke's face.

Before long, Reke had polished off a week's worth of their food and collapsed onto the sofa.

Lola, meanwhile, began explaining the whole story to her companions.

Every so often, someone let out an exclamation of surprise.

Fifth was different, though. Ever since Reke had entered the craft, he'd been staring at him.

Fifth sensed something familiar about Reke, but couldn't remember where he'd seen him before.

He kept frowning and trying to figure it out.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the tail behind Reke.

His whole body began trembling uncontrollably.

His strange behavior caught Reke's attention. Reke tilted his head and said to Lola, "Lola, is your companion having a seizure? Does he have epilepsy?"

Damn, doesn't this guy have some kind of contagious disease? Reke began to worry.

Honestly, he wasn't afraid of getting hurt. He was afraid of those strange diseases.

He knew that even the main character of this world, his fellow Saiyan Kakarot, had once been taken down by a virus—and that was after he'd transformed into a Super Saiyan.

Someone with a battle power of hundreds of millions hadn't been able to withstand it. Reke didn't think he could, either.

At the thought, he couldn't sit still any longer and stood up.

He shouted at the pilot, "Open the door! I'm getting out!"

"Reke, what's wrong?" Lola asked in confusion as she walked toward him.

"Stop! Don't come any closer. Damn it, don't infect me with that virus!" When Reke saw that the pilot was ignoring him, his expression gradually turned serious.

Without worrying about anything else, he held his breath and burst through the window.

Only after he'd reached the outside did he start gulping down fresh air.

When Lola saw Reke break through the window, she flew out right after him, wanting to find out what had happened.

"Reke, what's wrong?"

"Damn it, you're asking me what's wrong? Does that four-eared companion of yours have some contagious disease? Is he trying to infect me too?" Reke shouted furiously, his ki beginning to radiate from his body.

"Did you misunderstand something? My Fifth Brother isn't sick."

"Damn it, and you're still trying to lie to me? If he's not sick, why's his whole body shaking?"

"He's been staring at me ever since I got on the craft. I didn't want to bother with him at first, but then he started shaking. How could he not be sick?" Reke's argument was airtight.

Bracing herself against the pressure radiating from Reke, Lola said, "Wait here. I'll go ask him what's going on."

Half a moment later, Lola flew out of the craft.

She looked both amused and exasperated.

She spoke slowly. "My Fifth Brother isn't sick. He was scared by you, so his whole body started trembling. He was afraid."

But Reke didn't believe a single punctuation mark of Lola's explanation.

"Bullshit! I haven't let out even the slightest trace of ki. There's no way that little nobody with four ears could sense it!" Reke retorted.

Wasn't what she'd just said calling his control into question? Bullshit. Had he wasted five years of training?

He could believe it if someone around his level, with a battle power of a hundred thousand, had sensed a threat from him. But what was that thing just now?

Reke could blow him away with a single breath, and he thought he could sense Reke's strength? Not even in his dreams.