The Undying Body

"Check-in in the Dragon Ball world successful. Reward obtained: [Immortal Body]."

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

Li Shu snapped his eyes open. Listening to the system's voice in his mind, he realized he had transmigrated.

Yet, he didn't even know how he had died; this transmigration was absurd, truly absurd.

"Whatever. I was an orphan in my past life anyway, with no ties to hold me back. The Dragon Ball world is pretty good, and [Immortal Body] is awesome!"

Li Shu was somewhat excited, though also a bit regretful. Dragon Ball was an anime from decades ago, and he had mostly forgotten the plot. He remembered the last time he watched Dragon Ball was, well, the last time.

"Doesn't matter. I have an [Immortal Body], I'll just find it slowly."

"If I recall correctly, Saiyans are a warlike race with the trait of growing stronger the more they fight. As long as they don't die, they just keep getting stronger."

"[Saiyan Bloodline] and [Immortal Body] are a perfect match." Li Shu felt a surge of excitement again, filled with anticipation for his future.

The powerhouses of the Dragon Ball world could shatter the Earth with a punch or collapse the universe with a kick, but it didn't matter. He had an [Immortal Body], so he had no concerns for his own safety and could act as recklessly as he pleased.

Li Shu surveyed his surroundings. It was the wilderness, filled with massive rocks and high mountains. Unable to tell north from south, he was completely lost.

"Great, I'm lost right from the start. But if I remember right, Son Goku and Son Gohan live in the mountains too, don't they?"

What was the mountain called? Naizi Mountain, I think? Yeah, that must be it.

"I just don't know the timeline. If Son Goku is already an adult, he would have moved to the city."

Just then, a roar echoed through the mountains, and the ground began to tremble.

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

Li Shu wasn't the least bit panicked, nor was he surprised. A dinosaur appearing in the Dragon Ball world was perfectly normal.

He even beckoned to the dinosaur with his finger; he wanted to test just how far this [Immortal Body] could go.

According to Dragon Ball lore, an average adult's combat power is 5, commonly known as "trash with a power level of 5."

But he wasn't an average adult. He suffered from hypoglycemia, high uric acid, hematuria, osteoporosis, kidney yin deficiency, kidney yang deficiency, poor spleen and stomach function, uneven leg length, and selective amnesia. His combat power was probably around 3?

And the combat power of a dinosaur...

Before Li Shu could finish his analysis, he was gone, swallowed in one gulp by the green-skinned dinosaur.

Hm?

A flicker of confusion crossed the green-skinned dinosaur's eyes. It wasn't its first time eating a human—it did so often—but why couldn't it chew this one?

At this moment, Li Shu was experiencing a brand-new sensation.

As the green-skinned dinosaur chewed, his body was caught in a cycle of tearing and reforming; it simply wouldn't be chewed through.

"I can't die, but it hurts!" Li Shu cried out in pain, howling miserably.

Having lived in a peaceful era, when had Li Shu ever endured such suffering? Back home, if he even scratched his finger, he'd call an ambulance and demand full anesthesia!

"Stop chewing, stop chewing! You can't chew through me, I beg you, just swallow me whole!"

Li Shu's pleas echoed from inside the dinosaur's mouth.

"Σ(⊙▽⊙"a!" The dinosaur was instantly shocked.

"Ptooey!" The dinosaur spat Li Shu out immediately. This human was not only impossible to chew, but also sour and a bit fishy—it tasted terrible and was impossible to swallow.

When it saw the "food" it had spat out, its flesh and blood constantly squirming and reforming, a look of terror appeared in the dinosaur's eyes, and it let out a howl before bolting away.

"Heh, is that all?" After his rebirth, Li Shu wiped the tears from his eyes, brushed the dust off his clothes, and stood up from the ground. He watched the fleeing dinosaur with a face full of mockery.

"Once I collect the seven Dragon Balls, my first wish will be to never feel pain again!" Li Shu thought to himself.

Ten days later, Li Shu was skin and bones.

"It's over, it's over. I can't die, but I'm starving!"

Li Shu dragged his weak body, stumbling through the mountains, staring longingly at the fruit on the trees. He didn't know how to climb.

"I'd rather be dead! This is pure torture!" Li Shu had long since cried himself dry. He leaned against a tree, hopeless, deciding to just lie flat and wait for a monkey to fall into his lap. He wasn't moving anymore.

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

Eventually, even the dinosaurs would just shake their heads when they saw him.

Li Shu had never felt so useless. As a member of the "useless youth" generation, he realized that comfort truly leads to regression. Having lived in a peaceful era, he had long since lost the ability to survive in the wild.

"Once I collect the seven Dragon Balls, my second wish will be to never feel hunger again!" Li Shu thought resentfully before drifting into a groggy sleep.

He didn't know how much time had passed when a rich, meaty aroma jolted the sleeping Li Shu awake.

He lifted his heavy eyelids, his vision still hazy, and felt two heads bobbing in front of him.

"Konnichiwa!" It was the voice of a child.

"Konnichiwa, meo a, shimashta (He's awake)." It was the voice of an old man.

"..." Li Shu was stunned. He suddenly realized that they didn't speak Mandarin here, and he couldn't understand Japanese!

Damn it! Li Shu felt a deep sense of powerlessness once again. Why hadn't he transmigrated into the Mandarin-dubbed version of the Dragon Ball world?

What was he supposed to do now?

"Onaka ga suita, tabetai desu ka? (Are you hungry?)" the old man asked again.

"Konnichiwa, baka mitai da. (He seems like an idiot)," the child said.

Li Shu regained a bit of strength and sat up from the bed, racking his brains to recall the Japanese he had learned from movies and shows.

He tentatively said, "Yamete?"

"Onaka ga suita, tabenai desu ka? (Aren't you hungry?)" the old man asked, looking puzzled.

Tabenai?

Li Shu understood that part; he thought he was talking about Mount Tabenai!

The old man and the young boy before him must be Son Goku and Son Gohan!

It matched, everything matched perfectly!

It seemed his "wait for the monkey" strategy had succeeded. Li Shu felt a surge of excitement and tentatively tried a second Japanese phrase: "Iku iku?"

"Sou desu ne. (Understood)," the old man nodded with a smile, ladled a bowl of meat broth from a pot set up on the clearing nearby, and brought it over.

"Arigato!" Li Shu's eyes lit up. It seemed his Japanese wasn't half bad; he could manage basic communication. He hurriedly began to eat.

In no time at all, Li Shu had polished off the entire pot of meat broth and leaned back against the tree, feeling satisfied.

At that moment, a voice rang out in his mind.

"Side quest 'The Taste of Dinosaur Meat' completed. Reward obtained: [Language Mastery]."