Cell: How do you know about the time machine?

A trail of red aura streaked down through the clouds.

When Chen Mo landed, his knees slammed into the rubble, kicking up a ring of dust.

He looked up.

Fifty meters away.

A humanoid creature over two meters tall stood in the center of the ruins.

Green skin, black markings, a row of carapace growing from the back of its head, its tail tucked behind it, the needle-like structure at its tip glinting in the sunlight.

Cell.

First form.

Even bigger than he had looked in the manga.

Android 18 was at his left side.

Held in his left hand.

Cell's fingers were clamped around Android 18's wrist.

Her feet hung about half a meter above the ground, leaving her entire body suspended.

Her gi had several tears, left over from her fight with Broly.

Her hair was disheveled, golden strands scattered across her face.

She was struggling.

But Cell was stronger than she was.

Just as he landed, Android 18's eyes turned toward him.

Those blue eyes swept over him, sizing him up from head to toe before her expression shifted.

It was something Chen Mo found difficult to describe.

"Where the hell did you run off to?"

Android 18's voice was flat.

Chen Mo got to his feet and brushed the dust from his knees.

"Went out to take care of something."

Only then did Cell shift his attention away from Android 18.

He turned his head and looked at Chen Mo.

Compound eyes. Red, divided into several small sections, built like an insect's eyes.

Chen Mo had read descriptions of those eyes in the original work, but being stared at by them for real was another feeling entirely.

Like being placed under a microscope.

"Interesting." Cell spoke, his voice deeper than Chen Mo had expected, carrying a faint echo as if it came from deep within his chest. "The Z Fighters should have already been wiped out."

"And yet this planet still has someone with this level of combat power."

"You're Cell?"

Cell did not move.

"The one Dr. Gero created," Chen Mo continued. "The one made to absorb Android 17 and Android 18."

Cell tilted his head slightly.

"You know my purpose."

"I know more than that." Chen Mo stood firm. "I also know you came here in a time machine."

The wind through the ruins stirred dust off the shattered stones. It drifted between them for a moment before dispersing.

Cell's compound eyes remained fixed on him without moving.

Then he said, "What did you say?"

His tone dropped half a degree lower than before.

He took the bait.

Chen Mo did not rush to continue.

"A time machine," he repeated. "The kind that comes from another timeline. Something must have gone wrong in your original timeline, right? You couldn't make it to Earth?"

Cell still said nothing.

But his grip on Android 18's wrist loosened slightly.

Just slightly.

Android 18 landed.

Her feet touched the rubble and she steadied herself. She remained where she was, staring at Chen Mo, that strange expression still on her face.

Chen Mo had no time to dwell on Android 18's expression.

He continued, "You're not Cell from this timeline. The Cell of this timeline is still in some underground base, not yet emerged. We found the shell you shed in the ruined city."

"That shell was yours, not that Cell's."

Cell's tail twitched.

The tail traced an arc behind him, and its syringe-like tip turned in another direction.

"You know a great deal," Cell said.

"Knowing a lot is an advantage," Chen Mo said. "It's also a disadvantage."

"For instance, I know too much right now. You definitely don't want to let me live."

The corner of Cell's mouth rose slightly.

It did not look like a human expression.

"Earth's humans haven't spoken to me this much in a long time," Cell said. "Among the Z Fighters, Krillin liked talking the most. He died while telling me to stop."

Chen Mo said, "...Okay, thanks. That told me absolutely nothing."

"You know about the time machine." Cell brought the conversation back around. "That alone is something no one in this timeline should know."

He took a step forward.

The ruined ground trembled faintly beneath his foot.

"Who told you?"

Chen Mo thought for a second.

Tell the truth?

Say that he had transmigrated here, bringing a head full of knowledge from another universe?

Cell would most likely think it was the ravings of a madman.

But that would not make him spare Chen Mo.

"Dr. Gero's surveillance robots," Chen Mo said. "He tracked the Z Fighters for many years, and his data records were extensive. The robots captured footage of the time machine."

Cell paused.

"Gero's robots," he repeated. "Before he died, he actually let the data leak out."

"It wasn't leaked," Chen Mo said. "I went looking for it. If you're interested, the laboratory is in the northern mountains, three levels beneath the old Red Ribbon Army headquarters. The remaining data archives are still there. Though Android 18 and Android 17 have already torn the place apart pretty thoroughly."

Cell did not respond.

He was thinking.

Chen Mo stood where he was, looking calm on the surface as his toes curled inside his boots.

You could not rush when talking to Cell.

This thing ranked among the smartest of all villains. Speak too quickly and you exposed flaws; speak too slowly and he dismissed it as nonsense.

"How did you come to Earth?" Chen Mo asked. "Where is the time machine?"

Cell's compound eyes swept over him.

"You're questioning me."

"You're questioning me too," Chen Mo said. "A fair exchange of information. You lose nothing."

"Why should I exchange information with a human whose power level is twenty thousand?"

"Because I know things you don't," Chen Mo said. "You know how you got here. What you don't know is what happened in this timeline that caused the plan to go off track."

"For example, that Super Saiyan." He paused. "Even in your Perfect Form, you might not be a match for one whose power can grow without limit."

Cell truly stopped.

He had probably been in this ruined city even earlier than Android 18.

If he had sensed Broly's battle aura, he should have known that level of power was abnormal.

The aura of a Legendary Super Saiyan was simply not on the same level as an ordinary Super Saiyan's.

"Outsiders," Cell said. "More than one outsider has appeared in this timeline."

"That's right," Chen Mo said. "Multiple timelines intersecting. This planet is very lively right now."

Cell fell silent for several seconds.

His gaze shifted away from Chen Mo and swept across the surrounding area.

Ruins.

Broken walls and shattered remnants.

A gray sky.

Then his gaze settled on Android 18.

It lingered for only a second.

Chen Mo heard a notification pop up in his mind.

[Current emotions of the emotion collection target: anger (ongoing), vigilance (high), curiosity (rising).]

[Collecting emotion points.]

Curiosity.

Who was she curious about?

Cell?

Didn't seem like it.

[Note: The emotion collection target's attention has remained focused on the host for over three minutes.]

Chen Mo: ...Could you give it a rest at a time like this?

Cell spoke.

"I want to know," it said, "where you obtained Dr. Gero's data. The exact location, and the exact contents."

"Trade." Chen Mo said. "You tell me where the time machine is parked first, and when you arrived on this timeline."

Cell's compound eyes fixed on him.

"You're negotiating terms with me."

"Yes."

"With your current combat power."

"Yes."

Silence fell for about three seconds.

Then Cell made a sound.

It didn't sound like laughter. It sounded more like air being forced out of its chest.

"Interesting," it said. "The last human on Earth to say something interesting and actually make me find it interesting."

Its tail retracted.

The syringe-like tip, which had been aimed in Android 18's direction, turned away.

It wasn't pointed at anyone.

Cell stood amid the ruins. Under the gray sky overhead, a bird flew past in the distance before quickly vanishing behind the broken walls.

"The time machine," Cell said, "is in an underground shelter southeast of this city. I arrived on this timeline twelve days ago."

"I've given you the information you wanted."

Its compound eyes turned toward Chen Mo.

"Now it's your turn."

Chen Mo drew a deep breath.

Talking big was easy at the start. Keeping it going was the hard part.

He had to figure out what information to give and what to withhold.

Give too little, and Cell would decide it wasn't worth the trade. Give too much, and Cell wouldn't need him another second.

The balance between them was a tightrope.

And he had stepped onto it.

"Before Dr. Gero died," Chen Mo said, "he encrypted and sealed away part of his core files. They aren't in the laboratory's mainframe. They're in a separate external storage device."

"That storage device is in my hands now."

Cell said nothing.

It waited for him to continue.

Chen Mo swallowed the rest of the sentence.

He touched his pocket.

Inside was the scanner. There was no Dr. Gero storage device.

He had lied just now.

But Cell didn't know that yet.

[Emotion points of the emotion collection target: anger (decreasing), vigilance (ongoing), curiosity (continuing to rise).]

[New emotion: possessiveness (initial detection).]