The World on the Other Side

After crawling out of the black circular hole, what revealed itself to Zhang Wutian was a normal world.

Green trees, flowing water, birdsong, and the chirping of insects—in short, this place contained every element a normal world should have. Zhang Wutian could conclude that he had escaped that bizarre space and returned to his original world.

The reason he called it "conclude" was that Zhang Wutian had discovered a slight anomaly.

The portable communicator Bulma had made for everyone possessed both calling and positioning functions. Even if others had turned their location services off, Zhang Wutian knew that Son Wukong's should have been enabled. Yet, at this moment, Zhang Wutian's communicator could not locate Son Wukong, which was clearly abnormal.

Then, Zhang Wutian attempted to dial the numbers of the others, but it was all in vain; every attempt to make contact ended in failure.

Bulma possessed astonishing development capabilities—calling it "black technology" would not be an exaggeration. When she manufactured the phones, she had boasted: "My phones have no blind spots. You can make calls freely from any corner of the Earth, so take them on your travels with peace of mind."

Thus, with the phone unable to connect, Zhang Wutian reached the following conclusions.

"Either my phone is broken, this isn't Earth, or there is no one here to call."

A broken phone could basically be ruled out; after all, just a short while ago, Zhang Wutian had used it to locate Son Wukong in Penguin Village. As for it not being Earth, looking at the mountains, the water, the sky, and the trees, the scenery was unmistakably that of Earth, and Zhang Wutian could find no evidence that he was on an alien planet.

Having formed a vague hypothesis, Zhang Wutian moved quickly, soon leaving behind the forest that resembled Son Wukong's hometown.

"Was this hit by a meteorite?"

Reaching the outskirts of the mountains, Zhang Wutian soon found a human village, yet the village that appeared before him had already become something that could almost be called ruins.

A massive crater sat in the center of the village, and the remaining structures were destroyed beyond recognition. Nature had reclaimed most of the man-made buildings, and the village was as silent as a ghost town, with no trace of human life to be seen.

Staring at the dilapidated village, Zhang Wutian remained silent before walking inside.

After conducting a search, Zhang Wutian found a map in a collapsed house on the edge of the crater.

"So I really am still in the Dragon Ball World?" Looking at the familiar world map, Zhang Wutian checked his current location and took the opportunity to determine the route to West City.

After putting the map away, Zhang Wutian began his journey across mountains and rivers.

Compared to the days when he had just walked out of the forest and had to rely on a Tyrannosaurus for transport, Zhang Wutian's foot speed had increased many times over. Using his immense speed to travel, he arrived at the familiar West Metropolis a few days later.

Along the way, Zhang Wutian had barely encountered a living soul. Vast stretches of cities had vanished, replaced by craters of varying sizes. It was common to see thousands of miles of uninhabited land, as if the entire world had become a paradise for animals and plants, and humanity—once at the top of the food chain—had suddenly disappeared.

"Was it an alien invasion or something? It's a complete mess."

It wasn't until Zhang Wutian reached West City that he finally saw traces of humanity in this world-class metropolis.

The state of West City was also dire. It no longer possessed the glamorous appearance of the international metropolis in Zhang Wutian's memory; broken walls and ruins were everywhere. The dilapidated buildings seemed to recount the tragic experiences of humanity, and most people were scavenging through the debris like wasteland scavengers. This apocalyptic scene felt completely out of place for a city named West City. Following his memory, Zhang Wutian first went to the address of his martial arts gym, only to find that nothing remained but a pile of broken building debris—and these ruins weren't even from his gym, but from some unrelated structures.

Subsequently, Zhang Wutian arrived at Bulma's home.

This place still maintained the appearance of his memories, though most of the buildings had collapsed, and the massive, intimidating garden had been neglected, turning into a desolate wasteland.

Zhang Wutian found the communication screen at the entrance to a basement. After pressing the button, the haggard face of Bulma's father, Dr. Brief, appeared on the screen.

"Long time no see, Dr. Brief."

"Who are you? I don't know you."

"I am a friend of Bulma. Where is she?"

Dr. Brief's eyes suddenly turned fierce, making it impossible to connect him with the mild-mannered doctor he once knew.

"You say you're a friend of my daughter? Do you have proof?"

Zhang Wutian thought for a moment, then took out his Tomato Phone and held it up to the screen.

"Does this count?"

Dr. Brief was silent for a moment before saying, "It does look like my daughter's handiwork, but looking at the casing alone isn't enough to prove it was made by her. Besides, even if this thing was made by my daughter, it doesn't prove you are her friend."

"When did you become so suspicious? This isn't like the doctor I know," Zhang Wutian said.

"In times like these, everyone changes. As long as I can defeat that demon, I don't mind becoming a devil myself!"

"A demon?" Zhang Wutian was puzzled.

Thinking about the demons that might have appeared recently, Zhang Wutian tentatively asked, "The demon you speak of... could it be King Piccolo?"

"King Piccolo? You mean that useless green-skinned piece of trash? No, he's not even a match for that demon!"

"Fine, it seems we have a significant difference in our view of the world. But before that, can you let me in?"

"No! I cannot trust you!"

Zhang Wutian scratched his head, then tapped his phone again, pulled up a photo, and displayed it in front of the screen.

It was a group photo taken after the World Martial Arts Tournament ended, featuring Zhang Wutian, Son Wukong, Bulma, Krillin, Yamcha, Master Roshi, Oolong, and Puar.

"This should prove it, right? I really am Bulma's friend."

However, Dr. Brief's expression on the screen changed drastically. "Ho... how is this possible?! It's that demon! How could he be with my daughter? What is your motive for forging such a photo?!"

"What on earth are you talking about? What exactly is this 'demon'?" Zhang Wutian was utterly confused, but Dr. Brief did not give him another chance to negotiate.

"Suspicious fellow, go tell your story to the Red Ribbon Army, who are protecting the world!"

The screen went dark, leaving a bewildered Zhang Wutian standing before it, ruminating on the information Dr. Brief had just revealed.

"The... Red Ribbon Army, who are protecting the world??"

"Has this old man finally gone senile?"

"Or, there is another possibility..."

About five minutes later, just as Zhang Wutian, who had been pacing before the ruins of Bulma's home, was about to use force to break through the ground and drag Dr. Brief out from his hiding spot, five car-sized airships approached from the sky, surrounding him in the center.

On the hulls of the identical airships, Zhang Wutian saw the red logo composed of the letters RR.

The Red Ribbon Army, making a dashing entrance!