The Sky Tears Open, Invaders Arrive

A year of time, spent in extreme focus and preparation, passed as quickly as a fleeting moment.

The final deadline had finally arrived.

138 degrees east longitude, 36 degrees north latitude.

Above the desolate red Gobi, the air seemed to have solidified into heavy lead.

The wind seemed to sense something as well, ceasing its howl and leaving behind a deathly silence and a suffocating sense of oppression.

The Z Fighters were already standing at the ready, positioned according to the spots they had rehearsed countless times, their energies faintly connected yet maintaining enough distance to maneuver.

Everyone's face was etched with gravity, their eyes sharp as hawks, locked onto the unchanging, dim sky.

The hellish, arduous training of the past year had transformed each of them, making their energies far more powerful and refined than they were a year ago.

Sweat barely seeped from Krillin's bald head before it was evaporated; he clenched his fists and whispered to Tien Shinhan beside him, "Is it here? Why is there no movement at all?"

Tien Shinhan's three eyes scanned the sky in every direction, saying in a low voice, "Don't be impatient. Keep your cool. What is meant to come will come."

Yamcha assumed the starting stance of the Wolf Fang Fist, his body leaning slightly forward like a beast ready to pounce, though he couldn't help but mutter, "Tch, I hope that guy Lin Fan's array can actually be of some use..."

After a year of hard training and the aid of medicinal pills, his strength was no longer what it once was, yet the fear of the Saiyans deep in his heart had not been entirely erased.

Chiaotzu floated behind Tien Shinhan, his small face full of tension: "Umm... it feels... so scary..."

Piccolo stood alone on a giant rock a little further away, his green figure appearing exceptionally aloof against the vast backdrop.

He crossed his arms and closed his eyes to rest, appearing indifferent to the impending battle, but the uncontrollable, boiling power radiating from his body signaled that he was already prepared for an all-out fight.

His combat power, through secret competition with Lin Fan over the past year and the assistance of the Spirit Gathering Array, had reached a staggering 4,200!

Lin Fan stood slightly toward the center in front of the others, wearing a simple training outfit, yet his energy was the most peculiar.

The Golden Core within him rotated slowly, his True Essence restrained to the extreme; were it not for the fact that he was visible to the naked eye, one could barely sense his existence.

However, his spirit was highly concentrated, his divine sense acting like the most precise radar, scanning the firmament over and over while maintaining a subtle connection with the massive Lesser Five Elements Origin Array beneath the ground.

He was the eye of the array, and the key to activating it.

Bulma, Master Roshi, Oolong, and Puar remained in a camouflaged observation base far away, equipped with the strongest energy shields.

Over a dozen screens in front of Bulma displayed images of the battlefield from various angles along with energy monitoring data; her palms were drenched in sweat.

"Everything will be fine... they have all become so strong..."

She muttered to herself, as if trying to comfort herself.

Suddenly!

Lin Fan lifted his head abruptly, a brilliant light exploding in his eyes: "They're here!"

Almost the exact moment his words fell, two inconspicuous little points of light high in the distant firmament suddenly magnified!

They tore through the clouds, accompanied by a piercing shriek that no Earth aircraft could produce, and with a near-savage posture, they crashed straight down toward this pre-designated desert!

The speed was far beyond supersonic!

In the blink of an eye, those two points of light transformed into two meteors burning with intense flames!

"So fast!"

Krillin gasped.

"Prepare!"

Tien Shinhan roared, his entire body's energy surging instantly.

BOOM!!!!

A deafening explosion erupted, the earth shaking violently as if a magnitude-ten earthquake had struck!

A terrifying shockwave, carrying scorching heat and sand filling the sky, spread crazily in all directions like a tsunami!

The Z Fighters hurriedly channeled their energy to steady themselves, their clothes flapping violently as they could barely keep their eyes open.

Dust and smoke billowed into the sky, forming two massive mushroom clouds that lingered for a long time.

When the pervasive sand and dust settled slightly, gradually revealing the scene at the center of the impact, everyone's pupils involuntarily contracted.

Two massive, hideously shaped spherical spaceships, like two evil seeds, were deeply embedded into the desert earth.

The surfaces of the ships were still radiating a dark red heat, melting the surrounding sand into glass-like crystals.

Clack—crackle—

The hatch of one of the ships emitted a harsh sound of metal grinding as it slowly opened upward.

A cold, brutal, and wild aura surged out from the hatch like a physical force, instantly enveloping the entire battlefield and making the temperature of the air seem to drop by several degrees.

The first to step out was a giant of an extremely burly and imposing stature.

He wore a standard Saiyan combat suit with simple shoulder armor over it.

Scars crisscrossed his bald head, a thick beard covered his face, and his eyes were fierce and arrogant; he grinned, revealing a beast-like smile.

He rolled his thick neck, causing it to crack, his massive aura flaunting itself without restraint.

Immediately following, another figure stepped out slowly.

Unlike the giant's ostentatious display, his build was relatively balanced, yet the bone-chilling arrogance and aura of disdain he exuded were far more unsettling than the giant's ferocity.

He wore the same style of combat suit, layered under a white, long-sleeved short jacket.

His black hair stood upright like flames, with a few bangs hanging over his forehead.

With his arms crossed over his chest, his cold gaze swept across the desolate land and the Z Fighters standing in battle formation, looking at them as if they were nothing more than ants blocking his path.

It was Nappa and Vegeta!

"Hmph, so this is the kind of godforsaken, pathetic planet we're talking about?"

Nappa spoke in a gruff, booming voice like rolling thunder, "That trash Kakarot actually fell here? He's completely disgraced us Saiyans!"

Vegeta ignored Nappa's complaints; he tilted his head slightly, glancing out of the corner of his eye at the Battle Power Detector worn over his left eye.

The detector immediately emitted a series of electronic beeps, reporting the scanned data.

"Oh?" Nappa activated his own detector as well, a smile of mixed amusement and cruelty spreading across his face, "Tsk tsk, looks like the bugs on this planet are actually somewhat interesting. One with a battle power of 4,200... hmm, passable. And a few others at over a thousand, or just past two thousand... a tiny bit stronger than expected, but still trash."

His gaze swept over Piccolo, Tien Shinhan, Krillin, and the others, much like a butcher selecting livestock.

Suddenly, Nappa's detector locked onto Lin Fan, who was standing at the front, and the numbers on the screen began to jump wildly and erratically.

"Huh?" The smile on Nappa's face froze, and he tapped the detector hard with his finger in confusion, "What's going on? Is this piece of junk broken? This guy's energy signature... why is it so strange? The value is at 50... 150... 800... then it drops back to 100... Damn it, it jumped as high as 3,000, but it won't stabilize! What the hell is this?"

Vegeta also noticed the anomaly with Lin Fan; for the first time, his cold eyes held a trace of slight surprise, though it was quickly overshadowed by impatience and haughty disdain: "Hmph, probably just some weakling whose battle power is so low the detector can't even get a stable reading, or perhaps he's using some clumsy technique from a low-level civilization to hide his energy. Don't worry about it."

He didn't believe for a second that anyone on Earth could be worth his serious attention, simply dismissing Lin Fan's abnormality as a machine malfunction or the opponent being too weak.

Vegeta took a step forward, his gaze finally locking onto the group, his eyes looking as if he had already passed their death sentences. His voice was low, yet carried an unquestionable authority and extreme coldness:

"Hey, trash. Tell me, where is Kakarot?"

"If you answer honestly, and I happen to be in a good mood, perhaps I'll grant you a quick death."

The sky seemed to tear open, and an endless killing intent, like a cold front, swept across the entire desert.

The great battle was on the verge of erupting!