An Unexpected Turn

After saying that, Li Lin took the lead and flew off.

Seeing this, the others said nothing. They followed Li Lin and charged after him.

With such a powerful fighter on their side, they no longer had to worry about the threat of the Androids.

They flew on, and before long, they spotted Vegeta hovering in the sky, repeatedly looking down.

"What's wrong, Vegeta? Why did you stop chasing him?" Li Lin asked with a faint smile as he stopped beside him.

"Tch." Vegeta curled his lip and pointed at the mountains below. "That old geezer's too slippery. I was about to catch up with him, but then he hid in there and won't come out."

Since the Androids had no ki, Vegeta couldn't pinpoint Dr. Gero's location.

Dr. Gero was hiding in a narrow crevice in the mountains, quietly watching the group above without daring to show his face.

Vegeta was feeling restless. Now that he could transform into a Super Saiyan, he'd wanted to show off his power.

He hadn't expected things to turn out like this. He had all this strength and nowhere to use it!

"Grah!"

Growing more and more impatient, Vegeta roared. Golden energy flared around him as he transformed into a Super Saiyan.

Once the transformation was complete, a ball of golden energy suddenly gathered in his palm.

"Whoosh!"

Vegeta fired a golden Ki Blast.

"Since I can't find the old geezer, I'll just destroy this whole area!" he declared.

Watching the golden energy Vegeta unleashed, Li Lin could only sigh inwardly. Typical Vegeta.

Unfortunately, the plan didn't work.

Dr. Gero was exceptionally crafty. When he saw the Ki Blast coming down from the sky, he emerged just in time to stand where the attack would hit.

At the same time, he raised his right hand and absorbed all the energy from the Ki Blast.

Vegeta nearly exploded with rage at the sight.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!"

He casually fired several more Ki Blasts.

But Dr. Gero was simply too cunning.

He absorbed every one of those attacks.

Now he had plenty of energy inside him, and his strength had increased considerably!

"Need a hand?" Li Lin asked with a smile.

Vegeta's expression darkened at those words.

That was clearly a challenge to his abilities.

"No. This prince has a plan of his own!"

Vegeta replied coldly, refusing the offer.

He didn't believe that he, a mighty Super Saiyan, couldn't deal with one piece of trash.

After saying that, he looked toward the mountains below.

Suddenly, his aura surged, and brilliant golden light gathered in both his hands.

"Ha-da-da-da..."

As he shouted, countless golden Ki Blasts rained down from the sky like machine-gun fire.

When Li Lin saw the attack, he couldn't help thinking, Well, would you look at that. Isn't this the famous Prince Tactics?

So that's what it is. I never would've expected that.

Dr. Gero's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the attack.

The blasts were too fast and too densely packed. He could no longer absorb them like he had before.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Explosions rang out throughout the mountains.

Flames soared into the sky, turning the mountains red.

With nowhere left to hide, Dr. Gero was forced to fly back into the sky.

Seeing that his attack had worked, Vegeta's mouth curled into a smug smile. "Old man, don't you love playing hide-and-seek? Why not hide now?"

The others saw that Dr. Gero had finally shown himself and rushed toward him all at once.

Surrounded by their hostile stares, Dr. Gero felt utterly miserable.

Cold sweat poured down his body.

"So this is the power of the Androids? I really can't imagine how our future selves could've been wiped out by trash like you!"

Vegeta continued taunting him even more harshly.

Dr. Gero was completely baffled. What did he mean by "the future"? What was he talking about?

But he had no time to worry about that now. All he could think about was how to escape the encirclement.

When Dr. Gero didn't respond, Vegeta shook his head in disappointment. "Looks like this is the end!"

He raised his hand, ready to take Dr. Gero's life.

Just then, someone suddenly appeared in their midst.

Recognizing him, Li Lin said with a faint smile, "Trunks, you're here."

Vegeta froze at the name.

He looked up at the mysterious boy who shared his son's name.

For a moment, he was dazed, as though he'd figured something out.

Frowning, Trunks looked at Dr. Gero and asked slowly, "Who is this man?"

Vegeta was startled by the question and snapped back to his senses.

"What do you mean? Isn't he one of the Androids?"

Before Trunks could explain, Piccolo spoke up first. "Li Lin said earlier that he is an Android, but not one of the two from the future!"

Trunks turned his gaze to Li Lin, his doubts growing.

He was becoming more and more curious about Li Lin's identity. How did he know so much about the Androids?

Seeing everyone looking at him, Li Lin spread his hands and explained, "I told you, these two Androids are too weak to threaten the future. So the ones who wreak havoc in the future must be someone else!"

Trunks slowly nodded at Li Lin's explanation. It made sense.

"Mr. Li Lin is right. This man isn't one of the Androids from the future!"

Trunks explained to the others.

He also gave them a general description of the Androids' builds and appearances.

Dr. Gero had no interest in listening to their discussion.

Seeing that everyone was distracted by the boy who had suddenly appeared, he thought he'd found his chance.

Suddenly, he swept out his hand, sending two energy beams toward the group.

The others noticed and hurriedly dodged.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Everything the beams struck exploded violently.

The nearby rocks were blasted to pieces, kicking up clouds of dust.

The dust obscured the vision of most of the people there.

As Li Lin dodged, he kept his eyes fixed on Dr. Gero.

By then, Dr. Gero's figure had been swallowed by the dust.

A faint smile tugged at Li Lin's lips.

If he'd wanted to kill Dr. Gero, he could've done it already.

He hadn't attacked because he wanted Dr. Gero to escape and activate Android 18.

Even if the old geezer hadn't made a move, Li Lin would've helped him create a few "accidents"...

As the smoke slowly cleared, everyone looked toward where Dr. Gero had been—but he was nowhere to be seen!

"Damn it! He got away!"

Vegeta clenched his fists and ground his teeth.

But then he remembered there were two other powerful Androids, and excitement stirred in him again.

Letting the old geezer escape might not be such a bad thing after all!