Undying Body

"I checked in to the Dragon Ball world and received the reward [Undying Body]."

"Next check-in location: Son Goku's home. Reward: [Saiyan Bloodline]."

Li Shu's eyes flew open. Hearing the system's voice in his mind, he realized he had transmigrated.

But he had no idea how he'd died. He'd just transmigrated out of nowhere. It was ridiculous.

"Whatever. I was an orphan in my previous life, with nothing tying me down. The Dragon Ball world is pretty good, too. [Undying Body] is awesome!"

Li Shu was a little excited, but also a little disappointed. Dragon Ball was an anime from decades ago, and he'd more or less forgotten the plot. He remembered that the last time he'd watched Dragon Ball was... the time before last.

"Whatever. I have [Undying Body]. I'll just take my time looking around."

"If I remember right, Saiyans are a warlike race with the trait of growing stronger the more they fight. As long as you don't get killed, you keep getting stronger."

"[Saiyan Bloodline] and [Undying Body] are the perfect combination." Li Shu grew a little excited again, filled with anticipation for his future.

The strong in the Dragon Ball world could blow up the Earth with a single punch and shatter the universe with a kick. But whatever—he had [Undying Body], so he wasn't worried about his safety at all. He could cut loose without a care.

Li Shu looked around. He was in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by enormous rocks and towering mountains. He couldn't tell north from south, east from west. He couldn't tell north from south, east from west.

"Damn, I'm going to get lost right from the start. But if I remember right, Son Goku and Son Gohan live in the mountains, too?"

What was that mountain called? Naizi Mountain, maybe? Yeah, that sounded right.

"I just don't know what point in the timeline this is. If Son Goku is already an adult, he'll have moved to the city."

Just then, a roar rang out from the mountains, and the ground began to shake.

A green dinosaur appeared in the distance, drooling as it stared at him.

Li Shu wasn't the least bit panicked or surprised. A dinosaur showing up in the Dragon Ball world was perfectly normal.

He even beckoned to it with a finger. He wanted to find out just how powerful this [Undying Body] was.

According to Dragon Ball lore, an adult had a power level of five—commonly known as "a five-point weakling."

But he wasn't an ordinary adult. He had hypoglycemia, high uric acid, microscopic blood in his urine, osteoporosis, kidney yin deficiency, kidney yang deficiency, digestive problems, one leg shorter than the other, selective amnesia, and so on. His power level was probably around three?

And the dinosaur's power level...

Before Li Shu could finish analyzing it, he was gone. The green dinosaur swallowed him whole.

Huh?

A flicker of confusion crossed the green dinosaur's eyes. It had eaten humans before—often, in fact—but why couldn't it chew this one up?

At that moment, Li Shu was experiencing something entirely new.

As the green dinosaur chewed, his body was repeatedly torn apart and reassembled. It still couldn't chew him up.

"I may be impossible to kill, but it still hurts!" Li Shu cried out in pain, wailing at the top of his lungs.

Having lived in peaceful times, Li Shu had never endured anything like this. Normally, if he got even a tiny paper cut, he'd call an ambulance and demand general anesthesia!

"Stop chewing! Stop chewing! You can't chew me up! Please, just swallow me whole."

Li Shu's pleading voice came from inside the green dinosaur's mouth.

"Σ(⊙▽⊙"a!" The dinosaur was stunned.

"Ptooey!" The dinosaur spat Li Shu out. This human wasn't just impossible to chew; he was sour, too, and a little fishy. He tasted awful—practically impossible to swallow.

When it saw the food it had spat out, its flesh and blood writhing as they constantly reassembled, a trace of terror appeared in its eyes. With a howl, the dinosaur ran away.

"Heh, that's it?" Reborn, Li Shu wiped the tears from the corners of his eyes, brushed the dust off himself, and stood up. He watched the fleeing dinosaur with an expression full of mockery.

"Once I've collected all seven Dragon Balls, my first wish will be to become immune to pain!" Li Shu thought.

Ten days later, Li Shu was skin and bones.

"I'm done for, I'm done for! I can't die, but I can still starve!"

Dragging his frail body, Li Shu stumbled through the mountains, gazing hungrily at the fruit in the trees. He couldn't climb them.

"I might as well be dead! This is torture!" Li Shu had cried himself dry. With no will to live, he leaned against a tree and decided to give up, to wait for monkeys to come to him. He wasn't going anywhere.

In this godforsaken place, he hadn't seen a single person in ten days. There was food, but he was furious—he couldn't reach it. He'd even been eaten and spat out by thirty-eight dinosaurs of all kinds.

Eventually, the dinosaurs started shaking their heads whenever they saw him.

Li Shu had never realized he could be so useless. He really was a useless young man of the new generation. Sure enough, comfort made people fall behind. Having lived in peaceful times, he'd long since lost the ability to survive in the wilderness.

"Once I've collected all seven Dragon Balls, my second wish will be to never feel hungry!" Li Shu thought bitterly, then drifted into a hazy sleep.

After an unknown amount of time, the rich aroma of meat jolted Li Shu awake.

He raised his heavy eyelids. His vision was still blurry, and he could only make out two heads bobbing in front of him.

"Konnichiwa! (Hello!)" said a child.

"Da yu wa, myo ah, sha ma shi da. (He's awake.)" said an old man.

"..." Li Shu was dumbfounded. He suddenly realized that people here didn't speak Mandarin. He couldn't understand Japanese!

Damn it! Li Shu felt utterly helpless all over again. Why hadn't he transmigrated into the Mandarin-dubbed version of Dragon Ball?

What was he supposed to do now?

"Ue kara shi, tai na? (Are you hungry?)" the old man asked again.

"Da yu wa, ma ka mi se i dai. (He seems kind of stupid.)" said the child.

Li Shu had recovered a little strength. He sat up in bed and racked his brains, trying to remember the Japanese he'd picked up from movies and shows.

He ventured, "Yamete?"

"Ue kara shi, tai naiko ro? (Aren't you hungry?)" the old man asked, puzzled.

Naizi?

Li Shu understood that sentence. He said this was Naizi Mountain!

The old man and child before him had to be Son Goku and Son Gohan!

It all fit. It fit perfectly!

It seemed his plan to lie in wait for a monkey had worked. Li Shu was a little excited and tried out a second Japanese phrase: "Iku iku?"

"Sō desu ne. (I see.)" The old man smiled and nodded. He ladled a bowl of meat soup from the pot set up in an open spot nearby, then brought it over.

"Arigatō! (Thank you!)" Li Shu's eyes lit up. It seemed his Japanese wasn't too bad. He could manage a basic conversation. He hurriedly began eating.

Before long, Li Shu had polished off the entire pot of meat soup. Satisfied, he leaned back against the tree.

At the same time, a voice rang out in his mind.

"Side quest 'The Taste of Dinosaur Meat' complete. Reward received: [Language Proficiency]."