Goku's Son

In the blink of an eye, a year passed. Perhaps this had been Earth's most peaceful period, but it was also the period in which martial arts declined most visibly. A group of so-called "fighters," relying on a little strength and massive media promotion, stepped onto the stage of history like clowns.

As for those who truly devoted themselves to martial arts, most chose to withdraw from the world. The reason was simple: their schools had no real foundation to begin with, and at the very least, they could hardly contend with modern weaponry.

Even the once-glorious Turtle School and Crane School could not halt the changing times. After all, Master Roshi himself pursued a life of going with the flow—and beach girl posters...

Master Shen, meanwhile, chose to hide away because he and his younger brother, Tao Pai Pai, were already advanced in years, compounded by Tien Shinhan's betrayal.

Thus, the martial arts civilization that had once spread across the entire Earth seemed to have vanished completely.

Honestly, it wasn't as though there were no technologically advanced races in the universe. The problem was that the humans of Earth in the Seventh Universe were bizarre—had the entire planet's technology tree really been invested solely in Dr. Gero and the Brief Family?

At least, Li Ming had never encountered any other Earthlings with such powerful technology...

"A small island near East City?"

"Mm, I may have to trouble you with this. Bulma's older sister, Tights, is there. Bulma apparently doesn't want to see her sister, so I hope you can go pick her up. Her mother and I haven't seen her in a long time either." Dr. Brief stroked the cat on his shoulder as he spoke.

Li Ming's eye twitched. This matter had to be explained starting from an hour earlier.

He had asked Dr. Brief whether he could build a spaceship, but the answer was that they were limited by the lack of a cosmic star map, several key technologies, and energy-related issues.

These problems could be solved given enough time, but the necessary experiments and time investment might be considerable.

It just so happened that Dr. Brief recalled that Li Ming's gravity device had come from the spaceship of an alien named Jaco.

Jaco was a Galactic Patrol officer who had come to Earth years ago intending to kill the young Goku. Due to his carelessness, he crashed into the moon, and afterward happened to meet Dr. Omori and Tights, who had run away from home while working on her writing at the time.

In the end, Tights pushed Jaco off a cliff, causing him to miss the time when Goku landed on Earth. Goku survived because of that.

Since Earth did not have the spaceship Li Ming needed, Dr. Brief simply contacted Tights. After asking around, he had indeed received some good news.

"Dr. Omori has kept some materials related to spaceships. He has already agreed to lend them to me. If we can use them as reference, it could save us quite a bit of time."

"I understand. Then I'll make the trip."

Li Ming ultimately decided to go. After all, spaceships were not so easy to build. If something went wrong, he might end up stranded in some corner of the universe.

Saiyans could not survive in space. Once trapped, he might be stranded for the rest of his life...

East City could be considered the other end of Earth in this universe. After all, the two most famous cities were East City and West City.

One was the capital, while the other was home to Capsule Corporation, the world's most famous and wealthiest corporation. The Brief Family probably had enough money to buy the entire Earth.

Otherwise, Dr. Brief would not have so readily agreed to Li Ming's requests to build a gravity device and spaceship. It was merely a hobby of his, but the money poured into it was astronomical.

Soon, following the location Dr. Brief had given him, Li Ming arrived at the small island near East City.

The island appeared uninhabited. It was less than ten thousand square meters in area, yet it had quite a few buildings. Besides the laboratory, there were some basic facilities and even several simple wooden structures.

Back then, to thank Jaco for giving him the antigravity device, Dr. Brief had given Jaco a sum of money. It was hard to say exactly how much, but it was more than enough to buy the entire island.

Jaco had no use for Earth money, so he gave it all to Dr. Omori.

And in pursuit of her dream of becoming an SF writer, Tights would contact Jaco from time to time, listening to his stories of adventures in space. She would even leave Earth to explore.

But works based on Jaco were not particularly popular.

Tap...

Dressed in loose casual clothes, Li Ming landed on the shore and carefully surveyed the entire island.

He found that there were indeed two presences. One was on the other side of the island, seemingly where the laboratory was located, while the other, somewhat stronger presence was inside the wooden house before him.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

"Hmm?" Tights looked up inside the house. Her face bore a strong resemblance to Bulma's, and with her head of blonde hair, she seemed to have inherited Mrs. Brief's looks.

No wonder she did not possess Bulma's frightening talent for engineering—the genius who could repair a spaceship at the age of five...

"Hello, I'm Li Ming. You're Tights, right? Dr. Brief sent me."

"Oh, it's you. I heard Dad mention you. I didn't expect you to be even more handsome than I imagined, hehe." With a mature, intelligent smile, Tights walked over.

Li Ming smiled politely as well. At nearly 1.8 meters tall, he was practically looking down at Tights, but fortunately, she did not mind.

She was dressed casually, and the overall impression could only be described as cool and breezy. The climate on islands like this was generally mild, so it did not seem out of place.

"Come in and sit." Tights led Li Ming into the wooden house. The building clearly had some age to it, but it had likely been renovated several times, so it still looked rather charming.

"Sorry to intrude."

"What would you like to drink?"

Li Ming felt a little awkward. To be honest, he could now understand why Goku was such a blockhead. The Saiyan bloodline simply did not contain the word "etiquette."

This slow, orderly pace was truly uncomfortable. Shaking his head, he said, "No need. Is Dr. Omori busy right now? I came for..."

"The spaceship materials? They're all here. But I'm not planning to go back. My parents are just like that—they've forgotten that I'm already independent. Honestly."

She took out the materials she had prepared long ago from a stack of drafts beside her and handed them to Li Ming.

Then she began to complain. At that moment, Li Ming suddenly felt that Tights was the most normal member of the entire Brief Family!

"Thank you. I'll relay that truthfully. Then I won't disturb you any longer."

"Mm." Tights poured herself a cup of coffee and took a sip, but then suddenly noticed the tail around Li Ming's waist. Surprised, she asked, "Um, may I ask something presumptuous? Is that a tail?"

"Uh... yes. Is there a problem?"

Caught off guard by the question, Li Ming thought, There were even dinosaurs around—would a tail really seem that strange to normal people? Had everyone already forgotten the chaos King Piccolo caused when he ravaged the world a few years ago?

"You're a Saiyan?"

"???"

Question marks practically appeared over Li Ming's head. How did Earthlings know about Saiyans!?

"Hehe, don't be nervous. Jaco told me." Smiling again, Tights spoke with the same relaxed expression. "He said that you Saiyans are an evil race in the universe, that you destroy other planets, and that you're monstrously strong. But after hearing about what happened with you, I don't agree with that assessment."

You're overthinking it. If they were ordinary Saiyans, Earth would've been destroyed long ago. Li Ming grumbled inwardly. If Goku hadn't hit his head and lost his memory back then, Son Gohan would never have been able to keep him under control for long.

Under normal circumstances, Earth would either have been destroyed when Goku grew up and transformed into a Great Ape, or it would have been destroyed by King Piccolo.

All he could say was that fate worked in mysterious ways. In this universe, Goku had not only failed to destroy Earth, but had even protected it more than once in the future.

"Maybe. Still, thanks. Oh, and Dr. Brief and the others really hope you'll go back and see them sometime."

Li Ming left after saying that. Dr. Omori was probably researching a time machine, and that thing was nothing but trouble.

Traveling through time would inevitably cause timelines to split. Neither the Galactic Patrol nor the Supreme Kais and Gods of Destruction above them would permit such a thing.

After all, no one wanted another version of themselves to exist in a different dimension. The more time was interfered with, the more timelines would branch apart.

Her hand paused as she drank her coffee. Tights watched Li Ming fly away thoughtfully before lowering her head and continuing to write.

Whoosh!

A transparent layer of ki continuously erupted around his body. Maintaining this low-intensity ki output gave him an astonishing speed.

"Hm? Is that Goku's ki? Is this Mount Paozu?" Passing through a stretch of primitive terrain, Li Ming suddenly sensed Goku's ki nearby and simply flew down.

Although he had sworn never to trade beams with anyone surnamed Son again, he and Goku had not seen each other in over a year. He could not avoid him forever.

"Gohan!"

"Huh? Holy shit!"

Li Ming had just landed when he sensed an incredibly powerful burst of ki. A stroller was racing down the hillside!

After suddenly hitting a rock, the child inside—whose hairstyle looked exactly like Goku's—was flung straight out. Goku flew after him at full speed in a panic, but he was too late!

Just as the child was about to crash into a tree, a powerful burst of ki suddenly erupted from his body!

Bang!

A black figure flashed in and caught the child, but even so, he slammed into the tree hard enough to leave a deep indentation in it!

A familiar voice rang out. "Goku, you've gotten lazy. It looks like you haven't improved much this past year."

"Li Ming!"

The familiar voice brought a delighted look to Goku's face. He seemed to have even forgotten that his son had nearly died just moments ago. Fortunately, Chi-Chi ran over, picked up Gohan, and began comforting him.

Strangely enough, Gohan neither cried nor fussed. Instead, he stared at Li Ming with wide eyes, looking rather adorable.

"This little brat is only a year old, right? That talent probably surpasses even high-class Saiyan warriors."

Li Ming muttered inwardly. That burst of ki just now had not been weak at all. Conservatively speaking, it was comparable to Goku's strength when he first drank the Ultra Divine Water and challenged King Piccolo.