The ruins at dusk looked as if someone had gouged a piece out of the world.
Broken walls and shattered bricks all cast long shadows beneath the setting sun, while dust and the smell of gunpowder hung in the air.
Jiang Che hovered alone above the ground, his black clothes snapping in the evening breeze.
His right hand gripped Son Goku like a pair of iron tongs—the once-invincible Great Sage, Equal to Heaven.
Now Goku was covered in wounds, his golden armor almost reduced to scraps. Blood dripped from his tattered clothes, staining the rubble beneath him dark red.
Jiang Che's expression was blank as he stared coldly down at the scene below.
The setting sun shone from behind him, gilding his silhouette with a cold golden light.
He gave Goku a shake, as if he were nothing more than a rag doll.
The blood on Goku's body traced a thin arc through the air.
Jiang Che looked down and asked in a toneless voice, "Hey, you still alive?"
Goku struggled to open his eyes, his eyelids heavy as lead.
His vision was blurry. He could only make out a familiar, indifferent face, and for a moment he froze, his pupils contracting. "You... you're..."
"Good. If you can talk, that's enough." Jiang Che cut him off, his voice utterly flat.
Then he let go, flinging Goku into a pile of ruins in the distance as if tossing away something useless.
Goku's body arced through the air, the rushing sound painfully sharp.
Far away, Pan and Mr. Satan were still huddled behind a half-collapsed wall, its surface riddled with cracks and bullet holes.
Pan hugged her knees, her eyes fixed on the battle in the sky, her palms slick with sweat.
Mr. Satan crouched beside her, his teeth chattering as sweat ran down his head. He kept muttering, "It's over, it's over. That monster's back..."
At Jiang Che's words, Pan immediately looked up, a glimmer of hope in her eyes.
She shoved Mr. Satan aside and rushed out, dashing over rubble and charred beams and kicking up a trail of dust.
Mr. Satan froze for a moment, then hurried after her unsteadily, his heavy body knocking over an iron rod.
Jiang Che's voice drifted down from the sky, tinged with mockery. "Catch your dad/son!" Pan reached both hands toward the sky and saw Goku plummeting straight down.
She gritted her teeth, pushed off the ground, and charged forward against the impact.
"Thud!" Pan caught Goku securely, but the force still drove her back three steps. Her heel struck a steel bar, and she staggered.
Holding Goku tightly, she saw her father's battered face, and her smile vanished. Her eyes reddened. "Dad!"
Goku weakly raised a hand, wanting to touch her face, but he didn't have the strength. His lips moved. "Kid..." His voice was barely audible.
Mr. Satan came rushing over, panting. He crouched and tremblingly pulled aside Goku's torn clothes, revealing several terrifying wounds on his chest—three deep claw marks, down to the bone, still bleeding.
He sucked in a sharp breath. "Th-this is... what awful..."
Suddenly, he looked up toward the distance, his pupils contracting.
At the edge of the ruins, Great Ape Baby slowly turned around.
Its enormous body seemed to blend into the ruins. Coarse black fur covered it from head to toe, and its burning-red eyes glared at them.
The ground shook with every step, and rubble pattered down from the walls.
Mr. Satan's face turned as white as paper. His lips trembled, and his voice shook with fear. "H-hey, this is bad... That monster's still here!"
Jiang Che remained suspended high in the air, facing Great Ape Baby from a distance.
He folded his arms across his chest, his clothes whipping in the wind as he coldly watched Great Ape Baby, like someone eyeing a cockroach that refused to die.
Great Ape Baby hunched over, its massive head bowed, blood-red eyes fixed on Jiang Che.
A second later, it let out a deep roar, its voice seeming to shatter the air. "It's you... you! I remember you!"
A mocking smile suddenly curled at the corner of Jiang Che's mouth. He lightly tapped the air with his toe and leaned forward. "Should I feel honored that a lowly creature like you remembers me? I'm trembling with gratitude."
He spoke without hurry, but his eyes were full of murderous intent.
"Bastard!" Great Ape Baby roared, the shockwaves sending rubble flying and ripples of dust billowing outward.
It abruptly raised its massive hand, spreading five fingers as thick as pillars. Its shadow engulfed Jiang Che. "Last time, you beat me to a pulp. This time, I'll rip you apart and twist your head off to kick it around like a ball!"
Its voice was hoarse, and spittle flew through its teeth.
The smile gradually disappeared from Jiang Che's face, leaving only icy contempt in his eyes. "You think you can?"
He slowly raised his right hand and tapped his temple with his index finger. "A thing that can only survive by parasitizing someone else's body thinks it can talk like that? Are you still dreaming?"
"You're asking for death!" Great Ape Baby's eyes turned completely red. With a roar, it swung its enormous palm down, moving so fast that it kicked up a gale. Sand and debris swirled into a gray wall of dust.
The air ripped open with a fierce howl. Several half-collapsed stone pillars cracked under the force of the blow and crashed down.
But Jiang Che didn't dodge at all. He didn't even blink.
He merely raised his right hand, curling his fingers slightly, and gave a gentle squeeze in midair.
The movement was as delicate as pinching a dandelion.
"Boom—"
A loud crash rang out, and dust sifted down through the ruins.
The enormous palm, powerful enough to crush an entire building, had been stopped dead in midair by Jiang Che.
His right hand held one of its fingers firmly, his wrist perfectly still, as if he had grabbed a blade of grass.
Great Ape Baby froze, staring down at its restrained hand, disbelief filling its eyes.
Its pupils contracted and its muscles tensed, but no matter how it struggled, it couldn't break free.
Jiang Che gripped the finger, which was as thick as a person's waist, tightened his hold, and twisted hard—
"Crack!"
The sound of breaking bone rang coldly through the ruins.
The finger was wrenched off. White bone pierced its fur, blood gushed out, and splattered across half of Jiang Che's face.
The corner of his mouth lifted. He licked the blood from his lips, his eyes cold as ice.
"Roar—!"
Great Ape Baby let out a heart-wrenching howl, its face contorted in agony.
Its enormous body staggered backward, crushing heaps of rubble with every step and crashing into half a building. Stones flew everywhere amid a series of thunderous crashes.
Jiang Che flicked the blood from his hand. The droplets burst apart in the air like a string of red pearls.
He watched the agonized Great Ape coldly, his voice drifting lazily through the air, yet cutting like a knife. "That's it?"
He folded his arms again and tilted his head. The contempt on his face was almost piercing. "You changed into this thing, and you're still this weak? Did you really think a new face would turn things around?"
In the distance, Mr. Satan and Pan stood at the edge of a broken highway, their pupils contracting as they froze in place.
Mr. Satan's mouth hung open wide enough to fit a fist. Sweat ran down his forehead onto the broken road.
He rubbed his eyes, wondering if he was seeing things. "Th-that young man... he actually blocked that monster with one hand?"
His voice was hoarse, and his calves shook so badly he nearly fell over.
Pan stood beside him, her long hair whipping in the wind, disbelief written across her face.
She stared at the figure hovering in the sky, her lips trembling. "Who... who is he? How can someone this strong still exist in this world?"
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