Broly's Dad: "Vegeta, where are you?" "In the grave."

Android 18 maintained a flying speed of at least two thousand kilometers per hour.

Chen Mo was tucked under her arm, his face pressed against her denim vest. The only part of his body exposed was his lower back, where the wind felt like it was about to peel off a layer of skin.

The sound of the wind changed because something had appeared in the sky.

Out of the corner of his eye, Chen Mo caught a shadow streaking past from the upper right.

Not a bird. Too big. The outline was wrong, too.

It looked like a ship. A spaceship.

Android 18 saw it too.

She made a slight adjustment to her flight path. She did not slow down, but tilted her body slightly.

Using that angle, Chen Mo finally got a clear look at the object.

It was a spaceship.

Its hull was purple-gray, with four landing struts underneath. The cabin was curved, and blue flames trailed from the rear thrusters.

It was not large, perhaps fifteen or sixteen meters long, like a flattened egg.

That was not an Earth design.

Earthlings could not produce metal with that kind of texture.

Nor that kind of shape.

Chen Mo's stomach churned.

"Android 18."

"I see it."

Android 18's voice was flat.

She did not stop and continued flying forward.

The spaceship was roughly three hundred meters to their side, descending toward the ground.

Chen Mo turned his head and stared at the ship.

His mind rifled through its database.

Curved cabin. Purple-gray paint. Four-strut landing structure.

Saiyan spaceships did not look like that.

Neither did Frieza's. This specification and design style resembled—

Something from one of the movies.

The spaceship landed on a stretch of wasteland below.

The dust it kicked up spread out in a fan-shaped plume.

The landing struts extended, and the hatch slowly opened.

Android 18 stopped.

She hovered five hundred meters in the air, looking down at the spaceship below.

"Aliens," Android 18 said.

"I can tell."

"Are they connected to the ones you know?"

"Not sure. Let's watch first."

Android 18 did not fly down. She simply remained suspended five hundred meters up, holding Chen Mo under her arm as they watched below.

After the hatch opened, two people walked out.

The first was a middle-aged man.

He was rather thin and wore a dark Saiyan battle suit. His features were sinister, with an old scar over his left eye. His hair was graying, yet still stood up in the typical Saiyan style. A small remote-control-like device hung from his waist.

The second—

Chen Mo stopped breathing.

Tall. Extremely tall.

He was nearly two meters tall, but not burly. He could even be called thin.

He wore white trousers and a simple sash around his upper body.

Long black hair fell to his waist, and he wore a golden circlet on his head.

His expression was calm. His eyes were hollow.

His hands hung at his sides as he stood half a step behind the middle-aged man, like a shadow.

Chen Mo recognized them.

He recognized both of them.

The middle-aged man was Paragus.

The tall young man behind him was Broly.

The old version of Broly.

Not the Super Space-Time version of Broly who had grown up on a barren planet.

He was the Broly from the Z-era movie—the legendary Super Saiyan whose power had been suppressed by Paragus using a control device.

Chen Mo's mind exploded.

No.

This timeline was Future Trunks's timeline. The Z Fighters were all dead.

Broly had never appeared on this timeline.

Even if he did appear, it would have been the frozen Broly from another time and space.

Besides, in the old Broly movie's plot, Paragus was eventually crushed to death by Broly.

In that parallel universe, Paragus was already dead.

But now he was alive. Standing down there. Broly was there too. The golden circlet on his head was still intact.

That meant Paragus was still using the control device to suppress Broly's power.

In other words, these two had come from a point in time before Broly had completely lost control.

And they had somehow come to this timeline.

Every movie was a parallel universe.

That realization took shape in Chen Mo's mind.

He had vaguely considered this question before.

The Dragon Ball setting had a multiverse.

When Trunks traveled through time using the time machine, he had already proven that different timelines existed.

Cell had also come from another timeline.

But Chen Mo had never expected the movie universes to intersect with this timeline as well.

If every movie was an independent parallel universe, then some kind of passage existed between this "future timeline" and those universes.

Cell had crossed over from another timeline. Now Paragus and Broly had crossed over from theirs as well.

A coincidence?

Or was there something wrong with this timeline itself?

"What are you thinking about?" Android 18's voice came from overhead.

"Something very troublesome."

"Speak normally."

"The two down there are Saiyans."

Android 18's movement paused.

"Saiyans," she repeated. "Weren't they all wiped out?"

"The ones on Earth were. These two aren't from Earth." Chen Mo glanced down from the angle his scanner could barely make out. "They came from outside."

Android 18 said nothing. She began descending.

"Wait." Chen Mo hurriedly spoke up. "Don't provoke that young one."

"Why?"

"He's very, very strong. Strong enough that you might not be able to beat him."

Android 18 slowed down a little.

But she continued descending.

"Be specific."

"The young man is Broly. The legendary Super Saiyan. It's hard to estimate his combat power at full strength—"

Android 18 stopped at an altitude of one hundred meters.

"But the circlet on his head right now is a control device. His father uses it to suppress his power and emotions. As long as that circlet stays on, he's about the same as an ordinary person. Quiet. Even a little... timid."

Android 18 looked down at the two people on the ground.

Broly stood behind Paragus, bent over as he looked at a withered blade of grass on the ground.

He reached out and touched the tip with a finger. The grass snapped. He pulled his hand back, looking almost a little saddened.

"That's the powerful one?" Android 18's tone was openly skeptical.

"Yes. Don't be fooled by appearances."

Paragus looked up.

He noticed the two people in the sky.

His left eye narrowed.

His right hand pressed against the control device at his waist.

He shifted half a step back, entering a guarded stance.

"Who are you?" Paragus's voice carried upward. It was hoarse, carrying the commanding pressure of an order. It was the tone of someone accustomed to giving commands for years.

Android 18 did not answer. Carrying Chen Mo, she descended in a straight line and landed thirty meters in front of the spaceship.

Only after landing did she release Chen Mo from under her arm.

Chen Mo's feet touched the ground, and he rubbed his ribs, numb from being clamped there.

Paragus's gaze swept between the two of them. In the end, his eyes settled on Android 18.

"People from this planet?" Paragus said.

"Who are you?" Android 18's tone was even colder than his.

Paragus's eyebrow twitched. He was not used to being questioned in return like that.

"I am the Saiyan Paragus." He raised his chin. "I came to this planet to find Prince Vegeta."

Chen Mo listened from the side.

Vegeta.

Just as expected.

In the old movie version, Paragus's goal had been to find Vegeta and take revenge.

His plan had been to use Broly to kill Vegeta, because King Vegeta had thrown the newborn Broly onto a remote frontier planet.

But that had been the plot of the parallel universe Paragus came from.

On this timeline, Vegeta had died long ago.

"Vegeta?" Android 18 tilted her head.

"The prince of the Saiyans." Paragus took a step forward. "I tracked the Saiyan energy signal to this planet. Vegeta should be here."

Android 18 glanced at Chen Mo.

Chen Mo shook his head, meaning: You tell him.

Android 18 turned back around.

"Vegeta is dead."

Paragus's face froze.

"What?"

"Dead. I killed him." Android 18's tone was flat. "About four years ago. The Namekian, Earth's martial artists, and plenty of others died with him."

Paragus's expression twitched.

"You killed him?"

"Yeah."

"You, an ordinary human?"

"I'm not human," Android 18 said.

Paragus's scouter lit up. He lowered his head and looked at the data terminal on his wrist.

Then his expression changed.

He could not detect Android 18's battle power, but he could detect that her energy signature was not that of an organic lifeform.

"An android..." Paragus rolled the word around in his mouth.

His expression darkened.

"Prince Vegeta, one of the Saiyans' noblest warriors, was killed by some artificial thing?"

Android 18 did not respond.

Paragus clenched his teeth.

He stared at Android 18, and the emotions in his eyes were complicated.

Anger. But not the anger of grief for Vegeta. It was more like the anger of having his prey stolen.

He had wanted to kill Vegeta. Yet Vegeta had been killed by someone else. His revenge plan had come to nothing.

"I planned this for ten years." Paragus's voice was very low. "I crossed half the galaxy. I spent three years tracking the Saiyans' residual energy to this planet."

"And you're telling me he's dead?"

"How many times do you want to hear it?" Android 18 said.

Paragus's face twisted.