Got them!
This mission was easy!
It was the second-easiest mission.
Looking at the seven Dragon Balls in his hands,
"After this, I'll have over thirty points of battle power.
Sun Wukong and the others won't be able to beat me anymore."
Li Xing was very confident.
Before the Saiyans arrived on Earth in the Saiyan Saga, he would be the strongest person on the planet.
"Claim reward!"
"Congratulations, Host. You have completed Mission Three. Reward: +5 energy."
Another warm current flowed through Li Xing's body.
He felt as strong as an ox.
Of course, that was just his imagination. He was much stronger than an ox.
"Status!"
He looked closely.
His lifespan was unchanged, his constitution had reached 1.5, his energy had reached 28, and his mental strength was unchanged.
In this battle, he had not only received a five-point energy reward, but his constitution had also increased by 0.05, and he had gained one point of energy himself.
As a result, his overall battle power had risen from 32 to 42, a full increase of ten points.
As his constitution gradually improved, he would only grow stronger.
"Phew!"
"Too bad my constitution is increasing so slowly.
I wonder how to level up Devour Ability from LV1. Does it grow with the number of times I use it, or with my constitution?"
After using this ability for so long, Li Xing had at least begun to figure out how Devour Ability worked.
It was a lot like the Northern Darkness Divine Art from martial arts novels.
The only difference was that he couldn't directly devour the energy inside another person's body. He could only devour energy from external sources.
After devouring it, the energy didn't increase his inner power—or ki, as it was called in the Dragon Ball World. Instead, it was converted into physical strength.
To put it another way, it could be considered a cultivation technique from a fantasy world, one that combined body refinement with the Northern Darkness Divine Art's devouring ability.
He couldn't cultivate this technique on his own. He had to devour others.
For now, he didn't know what its limits were, and he didn't know much about potential side effects either.
With a smile at the corner of his eye, Li Xing started the car and drove toward the castle.
On the way, he picked up three "cuties."
"Boo-hoo, sir, we're so touched."
Ashu burst into loud sobs.
Li Xing's face wore a warm smile, but his words sent the temperature in the car plummeting.
"All right, Ashu. Your share of this year's profits is being cut to four percent."
"Gah—"
Ashu stood there with his mouth open, face flushed, at a loss for words.
He remembered that Number One had indeed said something like that before they left.
"I-I understand."
Li Xing looked at the dejected Ashu with a beaming smile.
"You'd better learn your lesson. I don't want to dock all your pay.
That money amounts to hundreds of billions. You could spend ten billion a day and still never run out."
As he drove, Li Xing shook his head with a self-satisfied air.
"You'll never spend it all. There's just no way."
"Ah, sir, watch out!"
Xiao Wu suddenly screamed in panic inside the car.
Crash!
As Xiao Wu screamed, the car sped straight into a huge tree standing quietly by the roadside.
Parts scattered everywhere.
The three members of Pilaf's group were sent flying, landing in different directions.
Li Xing was dizzy too, but managed to struggle to his feet.
"Ptooey!"
After getting away from the wreckage,
"'There are countless roads, but safety comes first. Drive without care, and your loved ones will shed tears.'"
"At any time, anywhere, drive carefully and avoid accidents."
With a pained expression, Li Xing recited the humorous, tongue-in-cheek traffic safety slogan from his previous life, the one that had stuck in everyone's mind.
Only now did he understand how much effort the authorities had put into protecting ordinary people's lives.
Looking at the two clear seat belt marks on his body, Li Xing gave a wry smile.
"Good thing I wore a seat belt. This taught me a lesson: safety always comes first."
As the driver, Li Xing hadn't even considered the possibility of crashing.
"Everyone, make sure you wear your seat belts when you drive."
Li Xing looked at the three people walking toward him, each clutching an arm or dragging a leg, and earnestly offered them the same advice.
"Everyone, whether you're driving to the office, the bedroom, the kitchen, or the sofa, you have to wear your seat belt."
The others clearly didn't get the joke. They looked from one to another, utterly bewildered.
Li Xing didn't bother to explain.
A little teasing now and then was enough.
He didn't know that many jokes anyway.
Taking out another Hoi-Poi Capsule, Li Xing returned to the castle with the three of them, who were all limping.
On the way, Li Xing thought about something.
What should he wish for with the Dragon Balls?
"Go on down and get back to work.
Get the network up as soon as possible, and the computers too. Smart devices are only the basics. Once we have those, there'll be plenty of other things we can do.
But the most profitable thing is the internet.
Just think: once we've built the internet infrastructure, we won't have to do anything at all. We can sit at home and wait for the money to roll in."
Li Xing grinned at the three of them and gave them another pep talk.
Ahem!
He encouraged them.
He painted them a bright future.
The effect was dramatic. Their eyes lit up at the thought of money, and they nodded over and over.
Li Xing chuckled.
He didn't make fun of them.
Such good, simple-minded subordinates.
Li Xing turned and left the villa.
He had the Dragon Balls now. It would be a complete waste not to summon Shenron.
If he kept them, Bulma and the others would definitely keep thinking about them.
Once he used them, they wouldn't have anything to fixate on.
They were only a little over fifty kilometers away. They could reach him by car in less than twenty minutes.
They would be able to see Shenron appear.
Once they realized the Dragon Balls had been used, no one except Sun Wukong would come back to bother him.
In fact, Li Xing was overthinking it.
He thought that after he stole the Dragon Ball Radar, Bulma and the others would have no way to track him down.
He had completely forgotten that they could simply follow his tracks.
No matter how powerful he was, he couldn't make the tire marks disappear.
Bulma and the others were already heading toward Li Xing.
In an open area outside the castle,
the seven sparkling Dragon Balls lay on the ground.
Li Xing didn't hesitate or get excited.
"Shenron, come forth!"
Whoosh!
The Dragon Balls, already glowing faintly, suddenly blazed with boundless light.
The light gradually converged.
Bulma and the others, who were on their way, immediately spotted the brightest pillar of light in the night sky.
"Look!"
Bulma's face darkened, and her teeth ground together.
"Damn it! It's too late. The mysterious person who stole the Dragon Balls has already summoned Shenron."
Yamcha had the same goal. He clenched both fists.
"No, we can't give up. Let's speed up and head over there.
Oolong and Puar, turn into birds and fly ahead. See if you can stop him."
Sun Wukong's eyes spun in circles.
He'd eaten a little food, but it hadn't been nearly enough.
Hunger gnawed at him. He couldn't care less about the Dragon Balls.
"I'm so hungry."
Bulma and Yamcha held their foreheads, but there was nothing they could do about Sun Wukong.
Back with Sack,
he looked up at the ugly green dragon.
"State your wish. No matter what it is, I can grant one wish."
Li Xing curled his lip.
"Let me master Instant Transmission."
Shenron closed his eyes, as if communicating with something.
A gust of wind blew past. Li Xing felt as though nothing about him had changed.
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