Bardock brings back definitive proof of planet destruction, my hidden spaceship becomes an iron coffin

Gou Kong, whose face had just been flushed scarlet by Gine's "scrub your back" declaration, had not even managed to force down that surge of embarrassment before Bardock's rarely seen serious expression yanked him back to reality.

The small living room still held a trace of that awkward warmth from earlier. Cold lamps embedded in the alloy walls cast a deathly pale light, and Gine had already briskly ushered the three of them over to the rough alloy dining table.

Bardock dropped heavily into the main seat, his brows knotted tight, his whole body radiating a low pressure that warned strangers away. Even the usually lively Gine obediently shut her mouth, only daring to sneak Gou Kong a reassuring look.

Gou Kong tugged at the corner of his mouth, suppressed the lingering discomfort in his heart, and casually picked up the cup of high-energy water on the table, chilled with condensed ice at minus fifty degrees. He spun the cup between his fingertips and said lazily, "All right, stop looking like you're marching off to your death. You said you had something to say. I'm listening."

He knew perfectly well that if this tight-lipped bastard Bardock hadn't been dealing with something as serious as the sky falling, he would never have kept him here right after he had woken up.

Besides, the aftershocks of his "expulsion from the palace" had not yet faded. He wanted to see exactly what this Saiyan elite was up to.

Bardock did not answer. Instead, he raised his hand and, with a click, switched off the green Scouter over his left eye, then casually slammed it onto the tabletop. Metal struck alloy with a dull thud.

"Frieza's recent behavior is very wrong." Bardock's voice was as low as magma churning beneath Planet Vegeta. "You slept for a month and know nothing about what's been happening outside. I need to give you the truth."

Gou Kong lifted an eyebrow and sneered inwardly. This old bastard was cautious, at least. He knew Frieza's Scouters could eavesdrop, so he cut the power first. If he dared chat with this thing still on, Frieza's planet-destruction order would land on King Vegeta's head the next moment. By then, the whole race being buried with him would be getting off easy.

He tilted his head back and took a gulp of high-energy water. The icy liquid slid down his throat, pushing down the irritation in his chest before he drawled, "What good intentions could that purple onion-head possibly have? If he suddenly turned over a new leaf, I'd sooner believe the sun was rising in the west."

Bardock ignored his teasing and continued on his own. "I shouldn't have returned to Planet Vegeta today. The occupation progress on my mission planet was only halfway done. By convention, I should have been stationed there for at least another half month to wrap things up. But halfway through, the scouts passed down a recall order: all Saiyans carrying out missions outside, regardless of progress, were to return to Planet Vegeta for assembly immediately."

"All Saiyans? Not a single one left out?" Gou Kong's fingers tightened slightly around the cup, making the condensed ice inside clink loudly.

"Not a single one." Bardock nodded, undisguised gravity in his eyes. "You used to be a royal guard and never had to go out occupying planets, so you may not know Frieza's temperament. That bastard hates people giving up halfway more than anything. There was an elite squad before that couldn't take Kai Planet. They dragged it out for three months and still failed, and Zarbon blasted them into slag in front of the whole army. In his eyes, failing to complete a mission is a capital offense. Now he suddenly wants everyone to abandon their missions and return to the nest. That in itself is abnormal to the extreme."

Gou Kong snorted inwardly. What abnormal? This was clearly the butcher herding all the sheep back into the pen, waiting to slaughter them.

Without changing expression, he took a sip of water and listened as Bardock continued, "And on my way back, I met up with the captains of several other teams. The grunts in Frieza's army have been privately asking around about the legends of the Super Saiyan and the Super Saiyan God lately. That bastard used to mock us as an inferior race and didn't even care to look at our myths and legends. Now he's suddenly rushing to investigate them? Even an idiot knows he's up to no good."

"Super Saiyan?" Gou Kong nearly laughed out loud, ranting wildly in his heart. Did that purple onion-head dream about getting beaten until he cried for his parents by golden flames and wake up scared? He used to act like the tyrant of the universe, but now he was afraid of a legend?

Bardock was clearly not surprised by his reaction. He said in a deep voice, "I was the same as you the first time I heard it. What kind of person is Frieza? Petty, vindictive, unable to tolerate even a grain of sand in his eye. Now he's suddenly interested in Saiyan legends, and he's even sending his men all over the universe to ask about them. He must have heard something. What's even more coincidental is that on my way back, I saw Frieza's giant command ship parked outside Planet Vegeta's atmosphere with all its cannons deployed. It was obvious he had no good intentions."

As he spoke, he crossed his arms and leaned back, his rough knuckles rubbing the new scar on his chin. "Putting all the signs together, that bastard is going to make a move sooner or later. And it'll be something big enough to wipe out the entire Planet Vegeta."

Gou Kong's heart suddenly sank.

It was here.

It was finally here.

He had previously combed through Planet Vegeta's historical records and had long since calculated that the countdown to Frieza destroying the planet was thirty days away.

He had originally planned to use this month to sneak off to Earth and find a place with beautiful mountains and clear rivers to retire. But wonderful—he had slept for a whole month and landed right in the line of fire.

Now Frieza's ship was parked outside the atmosphere, and the surveillance network across the entire planet had definitely been pushed to the limit. The space pod he had hidden in the barren highlands was now nothing but an iron coffin for show.

After Bardock finished, he grabbed the high-energy water on the table, tilted his head back, and drained it in one gulp. He did not even leave the condensed ice in the cup, stuffing it straight into his mouth and crunching it to pieces before swallowing.

Gine had clearly long since gotten used to this habit of her man's. She rolled her eyes, familiarly picked up the water jug, and refilled his cup, not forgetting to complain, "Every time you drink water, you're like a beast that's been starving for three days. You won't even spare the ice chips."

Bardock mumbled, "Thanks," and his gaze returned to Gou Kong. He did not notice his wife's eye roll, nor did he notice the dark tide surging in Gou Kong's eyes.

Gou Kong was already cursing up a storm in his heart.

That old bastard Frieza was sharp as hell. His reputation stank throughout the universe now. Occupying planets, forced buying and selling—who knew how much hatred he had stirred up?

If any Saiyan really escaped from the planet's destruction and explosion, then came back after gathering enough strength to start a rebellion, where would Frieza put his face?

So that bastard was definitely going to pen every Saiyan on this planet, not leaving a single one behind, not even giving them a chance to run.

The current Planet Vegeta was an iron barrel sealed tight on all sides.

Frieza's fleet had the atmosphere surrounded so tightly that not even water could leak through. As long as any ship dared take off without permission, no matter whose it was, they would blast it into space fireworks first and ask questions later.

Unless someone had the kind of protagonist halo Son Goku had, or luck good enough to dodge a concentrated volley of ship cannons, an ordinary person would not even break through the atmosphere before turning into cosmic dust.

But what did he, Gou Kong, have?

No system, no cheat ability, and definitely none of the protagonist's cockroach-like physique that refused to die.

The space pod he had hidden before had a modified power system, so it was indeed fast, but inside Frieza's surveillance network, it was just a moving target.

Taking off now?

That was the same as voluntarily ramming himself into the muzzle of a cannon, getting blown up so thoroughly that not even scraps remained.

What made it even more stifling was that he had originally planned to pilot the ship and run in the next few days.

In the end, Beerus had knocked him unconscious with a single move, he had slept for a month, and he had directly missed the best window.

Great. Now he was a turtle in a jar, without even room to struggle.

"In other words..." Gou Kong gripped the cup, the condensed ice creaking under his fingers, while in his heart he cursed eighteen generations of King Vegeta's and Frieza's ancestors. "I've become that poor bastard who has to blow up into fireworks with this rotten planet in the end?"

He had previously thought that since he saved Prince Vegeta, even if he was driven out of the palace, he could at least hang on until it was time to run.

Now it seemed that was all a joke.

King Vegeta had discarded him after using him, Frieza was sharpening his butcher's knife, and this time, Gou Kong had pleased neither side. In the end, he was going to die without an intact corpse.

Bardock did not notice his thoughts and was still frowning as he analyzed the situation. Gine, meanwhile, watched the two of them worriedly, wanting to comfort them but not knowing what to say.

The atmosphere in the living room was so heavy it felt like water could be wrung from it. Only the occasional crunch of Bardock chewing ice reminded everyone that time was still passing.

Gou Kong tilted his head back and poured the remaining water into his stomach, but the icy liquid could not extinguish the fire in his heart.

He stared at the Scouter on the table, his eyes dark and unreadable.

Thirty days.

Only thirty days left.

If he truly wanted to live, then within these thirty days, he had to come up with a way to deceive the surveillance of Frieza's entire fleet.

Otherwise, he really was going to become a burial offering for Planet Vegeta's explosion.