Waiting by the Tree for the Horse

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, Li Shu had spent five years on Mount Paozu.

Son Goku was now eleven years old.

It is worth mentioning that his grandfather, Son Gohan, passed away two years ago, when Son Goku was nine.

This left Li Shu feeling deeply moved. Although with his help, Son Gohan had not died under Son Goku's feet, what was meant to come would come eventually; such were the gears of fate.

Perhaps this was already the best possible outcome.

At first, Son Goku was heartbroken, but time can erode everything, and with Li Shu's comfort, Son Goku soon moved past the grief.

Over these five years, Son Goku had transformed a few more times, and he was now basically able to control the power of his Great Ape form and maintain his sanity.

As for Li Shu... never mind, it's not worth mentioning.

His tail could not be severed; it simply could not be cut off. Every time it was severed, it would automatically reattach itself instantly, which left the then-living Son Gohan utterly speechless.

Fortunately, every time his tail was severed, Li Shu would regain a moment of clarity. After experiencing the pain of tail-severing many times, he mastered his sanity completely after just one transformation.

In his Great Ape form, he was invincible on Mount Paozu, and even Son Gohan was no match for him.

Transforming into a Great Ape had become Li Shu's most powerful trump card.

Son Goku's tail had also grown back.

"Goku, the dinosaurs on Mount Paozu are almost eaten up by us! I hereby announce that from now on, the dinosaurs of Mount Paozu are classified as first-class protected animals, and hunting them is prohibited." Li Shu chewed on a charcoal-grilled dinosaur leg with satisfaction, saying with feigned regret.

And let's be honest, this dinosaur meat was truly delicious; one could never get tired of it, absolutely never.

Perhaps this was the real reason why dinosaurs went extinct during the Jurassic period?

"Huh?" Son Goku was gnawing on a dinosaur rump and looked at Li Shu in confusion, saying indistinctly, "But these are the best to eat."

"That's true, too. How about we reduce it from five a day to just one?"

"Does this one count?" Son Goku pointed to the half-eaten dinosaur meat left on the grill.

Li Shu coughed dryly and said, "Of course not!"

"Hehe." Son Goku grinned and said happily, "Then tonight I want to eat them with minced garlic—no, raw marinated, no, no, no, let's have dinosaur sashimi instead."

"Hmph, look at your lack of ambition. Tonight, your big brother will whip up eighteen ways to eat dinosaur!"

Li Shu had been a chef in his past life, and over these few years, he had completely conquered Goku's stomach.

Hearing about a brand-new way to eat, Son Goku immediately became expectant and asked impatiently, "Then what ingredients are we catching today? Are there any Giant Piranhas?"

Aside from dinosaurs, what Goku loved to eat most was raw marinated Giant Piranha. At the mention of it, he started drooling.

"There are." Li Shu laughed heartily.

In these five years, there was nothing happier than this.

The two quickly finished off the remaining dinosaur meat and rushed toward the river, each dangling their tails into the water to wait for their prey to take the bait.

In no time at all, the two had a bountiful harvest.

"Another day of a good harvest." After gathering all the ingredients, Li Shu tied them together and, while chatting and laughing with Goku, dragged them back. The scene was quite spectacular.

Just then, Li Shu felt a strange human presence through his Ki Sense. He couldn't help but stop and look in that direction.

Goku also stopped and looked over curiously.

Not long after, a speeding car came rushing around the corner, honking its loud horn, accompanied by a young girl's scream: "Move! Quickly, move!"

Bulma?

The "wait for the girl" plan was a success!

Li Shu had his suspicions, but he had no intention of backing down.

It was just a car moving at full speed; it posed no threat to him at all.

Bulma, inside the car, was startled by the mountain of terrifying piranhas. In her panic, she mistook the gas pedal for the brake and crashed straight into them.

Bulma closed her eyes with a scream, followed by a loud boom.

It sent Li Shu and Goku flying.

"..." Li Shu felt a bit of regret. If he had known, he should have moved. Although he wasn't seriously hurt, it really did hurt.

No rush; Bulma had arrived. Could the collection of the seven Dragon Balls be far off? The wish for [Pain Immunity] was about to be realized.

"Oh no, I hit someone!" She hurriedly leaned half her body out of the car window, looking at the figures she had sent flying into the distance.

Goku stood up and walked toward Bulma, furious: "Hey, what kind of monster are you? Why did you hit us? Are you trying to steal our food!"

Bulma's eyes widened as she looked at the two in front of her in disbelief. She watched as one of the children, without a word, simply lifted the car and flipped it over.

This terrified Bulma. Alone in the wilderness as a young girl, she felt the danger and immediately pulled out her gun and fired.

Goku felt the pain, but he was unharmed.

"How are you still not dead?" Bulma looked at Goku in shock.

"Why would I die? My body is trained to be as hard as steel. You monster, you actually wanted to steal our food!" As he spoke, Goku prepared to attack; he had never seen the outside world before.

Bulma immediately reacted and hurriedly said, "Wait, I'm not a monster, I'm a human! And I don't want to steal your food."

"A human?" Son Goku stopped in his tracks. He scrutinized Bulma with curiosity and asked, "Why do you look so different from us? You look so weak."

"Of course I'm different from you, I'm a girl."

"A girl? You're a girl?" Son Goku blinked, studied Bulma with interest, and quite naturally lifted her skirt to take a peek inside.

"Hey, what are you doing!" Bulma was instantly overcome with shame and rage.

Son Goku asked, "Do girls not have tails either?"

A tail?

Bulma couldn't help but look behind Son Goku, and sure enough, there was a tail. She then glanced at Li Shu in the distance, who was watching the spectacle; the young man also had a tail.

These two bumpkins, they actually attached fake tails to their backsides thinking it's trendy. How tacky, Bulma thought to herself.

Upon learning that the other party was a girl, Son Goku scratched his head in embarrassment and said, "Except for Grandpa and Big Brother, you're the first human girl I've ever met."

Li Shu watched the scene with a chuckle. Childhood memories suddenly flooded his mind; this immersive, cinematic experience was truly indescribable.

"Grandpa said that if you meet a girl, you must be gentle with her. Why don't you come over to my place? Big Brother is going to make something delicious tonight."

"Do you live with your grandpa and big brother?" Bulma asked.

Son Goku replied, "Grandpa passed away a long time ago. It's just me and Big Brother."

Bulma felt a flicker of interest. She had seen Son Goku's strength with her own eyes; he was a rare source of power, and she needed someone to help her find the Dragon Balls.

At the same time, she felt a twinge of apprehension.