Free America, Gunshots Are the Alarm Clock

The Little Devil is powered by the "Essence of Grievance," which includes negative emotions like anger, despair, fear, hatred, and resentment, with the most valuable being the grievance released at the moment of a living being's death.

Fifteen years had passed since Lin Hao obtained the Little Devil at age thirteen. Back in his home country, he'd been constrained, unable to stir up large-scale slaughter. Forced to go off-script, he'd practically driven himself into the role of a full-time "Great Demon Lord" who specialized in picking fights, draining every bit of grievance from his classmates, relatives, and colleagues.

Now, those close to him were long immune, unable to offer even a shred of grievance.

Compared to America, serious crime was rare in his homeland, and it couldn't all be handed over to S.P.E.A.R. to handle. Lin Hao only got chances to let the Little Devil feast when he was out on field missions.

That was the real reason Lin Hao had applied to go to America multiple times—America was his paradise for harvesting "Essence of Grievance."

With enough energy, the Little Devil could travel to other worlds and bring back things from them. Unfortunately, each trip was brief, limiting it to searching near its arrival point, and since it couldn't judge value, the items it brought back were all over the place.

At first, it was rocks, plants, and such. Later, Lin Hao taught it to grab things that stood out or looked unusual, so the Little Devil started returning with shiny trinkets, gold, jewels, jade, and the like.

While this somewhat solved Lin Hao's teenage money troubles, it did nothing to boost his own strength.

It wasn't until two years later, when the Little Devil lugged back a massive head, that Lin Hao's life truly changed.

That head was the long, club-like object with a forked top now sealed in a glass display case.

Whenever Lin Hao touched something the Little Devil brought back, he'd automatically know which world it came from, what it was, and could selectively absorb the energy, knowledge, or other special substances within it.

If the object had a unique structure, Lin Hao could also choose to replicate it, gaining its special ability.

This massive head came from the "One Piece" world—the brain of Vegapunk, the scientist hailed as "the man who surpassed human intelligence by 500 years."

The moment Lin Hao touched that brain, he automatically absorbed all the knowledge within it. To digest this vast trove, he gritted his teeth and replicated its structure. Luckily, his head didn't deform, and he instead gained the power of the "Brain-Brain Fruit."

From then on, the ordinary time-traveler Lin Hao leaped to become a scientist wielding countless black technologies, earning him a spot at S.P.E.A.R. as the youngest leader in the Tech Development Department.

After acquiring Vegapunk's brain, over the next thirteen years, the Little Devil made countless travels but only brought back two... no, three useful items.

They were Yang Guo's left arm, Bulma's panties, and a box of Capsule Corp Capsules that came with the panties.

Yang Guo's left arm let Lin Hao absorb the residual Inner Force within it and replicate the meridians already opened in that arm onto his own left hand.

Though Yang Guo had learned the Quanzhen Sect's martial arts, the Tomb Sect's techniques, and the Nine Yin Manual before losing his arm, the meridians in a single arm weren't enough for Lin Hao to grasp the full energy circulation route for his whole body.

He had to rely on the "Brain-Brain Fruit" ability, drawing from a wealth of Taoist texts, to slowly piece together a basic internal cultivation method from scratch.

Thinking back to when the Little Devil had come running over, one hand clutching the panties and the other holding the capsule box, looking for praise, Lin Hao couldn't help but feel especially happy.

Not because of Bulma's panties, of course!

From those two items, Lin Hao absorbed the unique energy known as "Ki" and successfully understood the structure of the Capsule Corp Capsules. Using the "Brain-Brain Fruit" ability, after some analysis, he mastered the method for making them.

The whole box of Capsule Corp Capsules contained a flying car, a portable villa, and other black-tech items unique to the Dragon Ball World. The technology in all of them was absorbed into Lin Hao's knowledge base.

Besides the major gain of "Ki," Lin Hao also extracted Bulma's genes and bloodline factors from the panties.

When he first touched the panties, Lin Hao had wondered why his mind was suddenly flooded with wild ideas and why he felt even smarter. After a closer look, he realized there was a smear of secretion inside...

From the Little Devil's description of the scene, Lin Hao guessed that Bulma had just met young Goku and was on the road to find the Dragon Balls together.

It was probably the first night, when Bulma pulled out her capsule house, and young Goku got curious about the differences between male and female bodies.

The Little Devil must have swiped the panties and the capsule box while Bulma was taking a bath.

To that, Lin Hao could only say: Well done!

Without those two items, how could he have mastered "Ki," such a powerful energy, right?

Aren't things with such commemorative value worth treasuring?

The forgotten Capsule Corp Capsules: Yeah, whatever you say!

Behind the three glass display cases stood three delicate cultivation pods, each filled with nutrient fluid where three growing figures lay.

They were an eleven-year-old Clone Bulma, a ten-year-old Clone Vegapunk, and a nine-year-old Clone Yang Guo.

Unlike the cheap androids from before, these three clones were growing naturally, free of additives, and would become Director Lin's capable assistants and efficient secretaries in the future.

Why, when he got Vegapunk's genes first, did he cultivate Bulma first?

Director Lin declared that in this life, he would never compromise with gambling or drugs.

Now do you see why he had to treasure those cotton panties?

Because they were panties that made a huge contribution to scientific research!

After checking on the cultivation progress, Lin Hao picked up the Little Devil and examined its stored energy. Though it had just fed on the "Essence of Grievance" from a few farming tools, it was still far short of the amount needed for a hundred travels.

The energy required for each travel was fixed, but the real pain was the "randomness." Lin Hao had no control over which world it would go to or what it would bring back.

So after gaining the "Brain-Brain Fruit" ability, Lin Hao used technical means to turn scenes from movies, anime, and novels in his memory into 3D videos. He played them on loop for the Little Devil every day, highlighting famous moments and high-value items.

Worlds the Little Devil had already visited were given top priority.

Even so, a "ten-pull" never brought Lin Hao any surprises, so he switched to a "hundred-pull," hoping that brute force would yield a miracle.

Leaving that special space and returning to his study, Lin Hao saw it was past five o'clock. Instead of resting, he went to his east-facing training room and sat cross-legged in meditation.

Ever since obtaining these things, driven by the pressure of an impending life-or-death crisis, Lin Hao's daily routine had become extremely disciplined.

On days without surprises, he'd get up at six, meditate for two hours to cultivate his Inner Force, eat breakfast, then spend two hours training his external skills using the Navy Six Styles techniques from Vegapunk's memories. After that, he'd go to work, and after work, he'd put in another four hours of internal and external training.

Inner Force not only amplified the power of his punches and kicks but also repaired the damage from his intense body training. It kept him full of energy and vitality—enough to go seven rounds in a night without wearing himself out.

What, you wouldn't train?

Through both internal and external cultivation, Lin Hao's physique kept strengthening, and the "qi" within him grew day by day. Unfortunately, he didn't know the corresponding techniques and could only fumble around on his own.

The rising sun broke the horizon, painting the sky in brilliant dawn hues.

In the distance, a continuous string of gunfire rang out, like an alarm clock waking up the people of America.

Free America had begun another day.

"What a uniquely American alarm clock!" Lin Hao opened his eyes, a knowing smile spreading across his face.

"Little cutie, it's time for you to make your move."

The Little Devil popped out, the three white marks on its spherical body twisting into a cheerful grin.

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