After finishing their training, the airship Krillin had summoned brought Zhang Wutian and the others to the Red Ribbon Army headquarters.
"I never thought I'd enter this place like this."
Zhang Wutian said with a sigh, "I thought we'd have to fight our way in."
"Shh, don't say things like that here. This is still our headquarters, after all!"
Noticing the hostile looks from the people nearby who had heard Zhang Wutian's remark, Krillin hurriedly spoke up.
"Did that really make them angry? They're so thin-skinned. No wonder Dr. Gero was still obsessed with getting revenge on Son Goku so many years after the Red Ribbon Army was wiped out. With his talent, he could've achieved so much more if he'd done something else."
"Oh, so that's the future of the Red Ribbon Army in another world?" Seated on a raised platform that resembled a throne, with the Red Ribbon Army's color-named officers standing in rows on either side, a middle-aged man in white watched Zhang Wutian and Son Wukong enter the room with Krillin and Tien Shinhan. He looked somewhat younger now, but it was obvious at a glance that he was Dr. Gero. He spoke in a cold voice.
"I'm genuinely surprised. I thought I'd see the short commander and the Black general here."
"You mean those two useless fools? In peacetime, I'd put them out front as figureheads. But these are extraordinary times. Only by taking charge myself can I bring the Red Ribbon Army's full strength to bear."
"Welcome to my organization, people from another world. As you can see, I'm Dr. Gero, commander of the Red Ribbon Army. I hope you can give me some new ideas."
"Quite the commanding presence, Dr. Gero. I've got some good news for you: at least two people in this world will build a Time Machine."
Dr. Gero's imposing air faltered abruptly. Zhang Wutian's tone was clearly provocative, and the meaning behind his words wasn't hard to guess. Besides, even for a genius like him, something as unscientific as a Time Machine was a little beyond the pale. Frowning, he slowly asked, "Could one of them be Dr. Brief?"
"Heh, who knows?" After getting under Dr. Gero's skin, Zhang Wutian said, "We didn't come to this world to talk about that. Tell me where that guy is."
After Zhang Wutian had given him a good jab, Dr. Gero's bluster faded. He pressed a few buttons, and the screen displayed the guy's location.
"It's not that far. Come on, let's go meet him."
"Wait!" Dr. Gero stopped Zhang Wutian from going any further. "The safety of this world is at stake, so I have to make this decision carefully. Before I allow you to approach that guy, I need to test your strength."
At Dr. Gero's signal, the woman known in the original story as Colonel Violet stepped forward and stood in front of Zhang Wutian and the others.
"This is my latest creation, Android 12. If you can defeat her, I'll let you meet that guy."
"Is that guy your pet? Do we need your permission to meet him? And when he destroys cities and kills people, does he have your permission for that, too?"
"Idiot! If you approach him recklessly and provoke him into going on a rampage and destroying a city, can you shoulder the blame?"
Zhang Wutian was taken aback. Scratching his head, he said, "I can't believe you talked me into it. Fine, let's get this over with quickly."
Moments later, a tremendous explosion shook the Red Ribbon Army base. Amid the crash of the blast, a huge hole was punched through the fortress-like headquarters' sturdy outer wall.
Inside the room where Dr. Gero was, the modified Colonel Violet had vanished. The gaping hole in the wall and the cold wind blowing in made it clear what had happened.
"Uh-oh. I really was trying to hold back, but I'm used to four times gravity, and I didn't have time to adjust to fighting under normal gravity..."
Dr. Gero stared at Zhang Wutian, the corner of his eye twitching.
But he bore the weight of this massive organization. Regaining his composure, Dr. Gero raised his voice. "From this moment on, I'll have the entire Red Ribbon Army accompany you. Warriors of the Red Ribbon Army, the final hour has come! This will be the decisive battle. Let's destroy that monster, save this world, and write a future for all of us!"
Dr. Gero's voice echoed throughout the base over the loudspeakers.
"Ohhhhh!!!" All the soldiers erupted with excitement. This world had been oppressed for far too long; humanity needed to unleash its pent-up fury.
After the order to mobilize was given, the entire military base plunged into a flurry of orderly activity.
"I never thought I'd see the day when I'd fight alongside the Red Ribbon Army. Oh no, what if I can't bring myself to fight the Red Ribbon Army in our world when we get back?"
"Why would we fight the Red Ribbon Army? I think they're all good people," Son Wukong said, puzzled by Zhang Wutian's remark.
"I don't think I can explain it to you," Zhang Wutian said.
"You called me stupid again!" Son Wukong pouted and glared at Zhang Wutian.
"You figured it out?! Impossible! My Wukong couldn't be that smart!"
"I'll bite you!" Son Wukong lunged at Zhang Wutian, baring her teeth as she bit down on his arm.
"You already did! You man-eating monkey! Let go already!"
"Can we really trust those two...?" Watching them fool around on the monitors, Dr. Gero rubbed his forehead helplessly.
"Trust them. At least they're strong," Tien Shinhan said beside him.
After a burst of commotion, the giant airship—the ultimate weapon for the decisive battle, armed with thousands of beam cannons and a massive main cannon—hovered in the air and headed toward the guy's location.
"Instead of wasting resources on building a giant target like this, I think it'd be more useful to build a thousand smaller airships. At least those wouldn't get blown up by a single Shockwave," Zhang Wutian commented.
"A thousand small airships couldn't unleash an attack powerful enough to destroy a city. Even that guy couldn't withstand one shot from the battle fortress's main cannon," Dr. Gero said disdainfully.
"That's assuming he just stands there and lets you hit him," Zhang Wutian said.
"Hmph!" Dr. Gero snorted and fell silent.
When Dr. Gero stopped responding, Zhang Wutian fell silent for a moment, too.
"Though I've heard about all the incredible things that guy's done, this is the first time I'll actually meet him since entering this world."
"I'm so excited! I'm fired up!"
Meanwhile, on a street that had been half destroyed, almost every shop had closed, but one restaurant was still serving customers.
"Is the food here yet? If you keep dawdling, I'll kill every last one of you!"
A scruffy young man with sharp, crab-like hair stood before a pile of bowls. He wore stolen clothes haphazardly, and a furry tail dragged behind him. Shoving the leftover food into his mouth with his bare hands, he impatiently threatened them.
"C-coming right away!" Everyone, from the servers to the cooks, looked terrified. A moment later, a waitress nervously pushed a cart piled with food toward the young man.
"Y-your food."
"Too slow! My stomach got hungry again waiting for you, you know?!"
With a casual wave of his hand, as if shooing away a fly, the young man smashed through the waitress's waist, splitting her in two. Her upper and lower body flew toward the corner of the room amid a wet, splattering mess of blood and flesh.
The fear and resentment in her pale green eyes slowly faded, leaving only emptiness.
The others didn't even dare scream, afraid it would anger the monster. They could only tremble and weep, clamping their hands over their mouths as they prayed for heaven to save them.
"How weak. What a bunch of useless trash. Are there really no half-decent people left in this world?" The tailed young man licked the blood from his palm with a grin, then resumed gorging himself.
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