Beating the Grass to Startle the Snake

"Big Brother, what do we do now?" Aboard the Flying Nimbus, the two brothers observed the signal on the Dragon Radar.

At this moment, three Dragon Balls were already gathered together, and a fourth was moving toward them.

"Flush them out," Wuchen said after a moment of thought.

"What does that mean, Big Brother?" Goku asked, confused. What snake? Where was a snake?

"If we intercept this Dragon Ball, the people behind it will naturally reveal themselves," Wuchen said softly, pointing at the moving signal.

The two then pushed the Flying Nimbus to full speed, heading straight for the area indicated by the radar.

Unexpectedly, the Dragon Ball stopped just as they were about to arrive.

"Down there..." As they passed a small town, both Goku and Wuchen felt a surge of fury.

The town below was a ruin, riddled with craters and littered with corpses lying in every direction.

The forests and fields nearby had been scorched and blasted, as if someone had tried to turn the very earth over.

"The Dragon Ball's signal was right here," the brothers said, their faces grim. This other group searching for the Dragon Balls was truly stopping at nothing!

Picking up speed again, the Flying Nimbus seemed to sense their emotions, arriving at the radar's target zone in moments.

"That's them!" Below, dozens of armored personnel carriers were stationed in a formation. Hundreds of heavily armed men were everywhere, as if preparing to set up camp.

At the same time, Wuchen sensed three familiar auras. It was Pilaf and his two cohorts. Could they be responsible for all this? Did they really command such a massive force?

"Goku, land over there." Although he was confident in their strength, he dared not be careless against such a large army. After all, this world possessed many formidable weapons.

The destruction of the town they had just passed was proof enough of that.

"Big Brother, are they the ones who caused all this destruction?" Goku gritted his teeth.

"I believe so," Wuchen confirmed, watching the radar.

"Why would they do this? Just for the Dragon Balls?!" Goku's anger was mixed with bewilderment. Why would anyone commit such atrocities for the sake of the Dragon Balls?

Wuchen offered no explanation. Instead, he pulled out a Hoi-Poi Capsule and tossed it onto the ground.

Bang! Amidst a cloud of smoke, a mech appeared.

It was the same one they had seized from Pilaf and his group, though it looked different now; the materials on its critical components had been altered.

The entire body of the mech, including the cockpit, was etched with intricate inscriptions.

Wuchen performed a hand seal, and the inscriptions began to glow. Then, the unmanned mech began to move on its own.

It charged directly toward the distant camp, kicking up a trail of dust, its momentum nothing short of imposing.

"Colonel Silver, intelligence from headquarters!"

"Has that Dragon Ball been located?" Silver, who had been napping in his vehicle, was a burly man with short red hair. He spoke with a look of interest.

"Yes, sir. According to headquarters, the signal from that Dragon Ball overlapped with the one we have ten minutes ago. We can't pinpoint the exact location, but the margin of error is within fifteen kilometers."

"Colonel Silver! Emergency!" Another soldier reported, "An unidentified mech is closing in on our position! The model looks very similar to the one piloted by the three people we captured earlier!"

"One?" Silver found it hard to believe his ears, but he immediately ordered, "Destroy it!"

He didn't take it to heart, however, and added, "Go, bring those three over here."

Soon, the Pilaf trio was dragged before him.

"Tell me, how many accomplices do you have left? How many Dragon Balls have you found in total?" Silver lit a cigarette, speaking in a leisurely tone.

"?" The trio was filled with question marks. Accomplices? Theirs?

"Not talking? Your accomplices have already come to save you, and it's highly likely one of them has a Dragon Ball."

Silver decided to give them a hint, but seeing the trio still playing dumb, he grew annoyed and looked at one of his men:

"Take them to see how their accomplices are about to be destroyed."

The trio was dragged to the front lines, where they stood frozen in shock:

"That... that really looks like the mech King Pilaf built, but it's a bit different."

"King Pilaf, besides me and Mai, do you really have other subordinates?"

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! The mech I built couldn't possibly have this kind of combat power! Otherwise, how would we have been captured and had our Four-Star Ball stolen?!"

The battlefield ahead was engulfed in fire. Bullets were being sprayed as if they were free, and shells and rockets exploded one after another!

Yet, the mech was impossibly agile, dodging every single shell and rocket! As for the overwhelming hail of bullets, while unavoidable, they couldn't even scratch the mech's armor.

Even worse, the mech would occasionally toss a fireball, killing or wounding a large group at once!

Silver ran over, staring like an idiot at the mech that was rampaging through his lines as if no one were there.

"What... kind of technology... is that!" Through his binoculars, Silver clearly saw that the mech seemed to be surrounded by an invisible barrier; every bullet was deflected before it could even get close!

The speed of the mech was completely disproportionate to its size, making it impossible for his heavy weapons to lock onto it!

"Retreat!" Silver made a split-second decision. He grabbed the Dragon Ball and fled in his vehicle, not caring if the order reached his men, let alone the Pilaf trio.

"Oh no! Someone is taking the Dragon Ball!" Watching the signal on the radar move rapidly away, Wuchen turned to Goku: "Goku, take the radar and chase after the Dragon Ball. I'll handle the rest of them!"

With that, the brothers split up to act.

Goku pursued the one fleeing with the orb, while Wuchen headed straight for the front lines.

At this moment, Wuchen's Inscription Mecha had already left the convoy of armored vehicles in tatters, and the majority of the enemy forces were dead or wounded.

Like a phantom, Wuchen used the Inscription Mecha to draw the bulk of the enemy fire, seizing the opportunity to enter the fray and reap lives himself!

The first to catch his attention were those in command, followed by the ones carrying rocket launchers and heavy machine guns.

With this flurry of movement, the rebel army's formation collapsed entirely. Combined with the mecha, he quickly mopped up the remaining resistance; aside from a small number of fleeing stragglers, the entire rebel force was wiped out!

Wuchen did not rush to regroup with Goku, instead chasing off in another direction, where he caught three familiar faces!

It was none other than Pilaf and his two cohorts, who had tried to escape in the chaos!

"It's you again! What do you want?!"

"Stay back!"