How is Android 17 from this timeline so strong?

In the town square, Android 17 sat atop an overturned bus with one leg crossed over the other, holding a can of soda he had scavenged from a ruined supermarket.

He was the first to spot the green figure flying in from above.

Android 17 crushed the soda can in his hand and tossed it aside.

"Another one."

Android 17 rose to his feet. He had black hair and blue eyes, much like Android 18, though his features were sharper.

His gi was neater than Android 18's, because he had never fought Broly.

Cell landed at the other end of the square. About thirty meters separated the two.

"Android 17," Cell said.

Android 17 looked at it.

"You know my name."

"I know everything about you." Cell took a step forward. "I watched your blueprints being completed. I already existed when Dr. Gero created you. Your infinite-energy model, your combat programming, your weaknesses. I know them all."

The corner of Android 17's mouth twitched.

"So?"

"So don't waste time." Cell's tail emerged from behind it, its syringe-like tip aimed at Android 17. "You are part of my evolution. Accept that fact, and you'll suffer less."

Android 17 slipped both hands into his pockets.

"The last person who told me to accept reality," Android 17 said, "was the army commander of West City. After he said that, I blew up his entire headquarters."

Cell's compound eyes narrowed.

Android 17 pulled his hands free.

Two golden beams of energy shot from his palms at once, incredibly fast, slamming into Cell.

An explosion. Dust and rubble blasted into the air.

Cell charged out of the smoke, its tail whipping toward him. Android 17 twisted aside, then drove an elbow into Cell's abdominal armor.

Smack.

Cell slid back three meters.

It lowered its head and looked at its abdominal armor. It had cracked.

Cracked?

Android 17 gave it no time to react.

Three consecutive punches crashed down. His left fist struck Cell's right carapace. His right fist hit its chest.

The third punch was an uppercut that landed directly on its chin.

Cell's head snapped back.

When it swept its tail at him, Android 17 had already leaped away. He stood five meters off, both hands back in his pockets.

"That's it?" Android 17 said.

Cell's compound eyes twitched.

Something was wrong.

This Android 17.

On the timeline Cell came from, it knew Android 17's combat strength perfectly. It had Dr. Gero's design data.

It had reviewed all of it.

That Android 17 should have held the upper hand against Cell's first form, but without any overwhelming advantage.

After a hundred exchanges, Cell was supposed to succeed with a surprise attack from its tail and complete its absorption and evolution.

That was the script.

But the force behind this Android 17's attacks...

Wrong. The difference was far too great.

"You are far stronger than you should be," Cell said, its tone changing.

The condescension from before had turned into something more appraising.

"'Should be'?" Android 17 tilted his head. "What are you talking about?"

"On this timeline, the Z Fighters were all killed by you two." Cell's voice lowered. "No one threatened you. No enemies forced you to grow stronger. You should have remained where you were."

"Who told you that?" Android 17 slowly rolled up his sleeves.

"If there are no enemies, I fight Android 18. If Android 18 won't fight me, I tear down cities. Once I'm done with one, I move on to the next."

His tone was casual.

"Do you know how many I've torn down? Four years. I lost count. You think I was just playing?" One corner of Android 17's mouth curled up. "I was playing. But as I kept playing, I got the feel for it."

Cell's tail recoiled slightly.

Android 17 took a step forward.

"You came from another timeline. The me from that timeline was probably a flower raised in a greenhouse."

"But the me from this timeline—"

Android 17 vanished.

Before Cell's compound eyes could lock onto his direction, a foot had already slammed into the back of its head.

Boom.

Cell's entire body was kicked into the ground. Rocks and dirt flew everywhere.

Android 17 stood at the edge of the crater, looking down at Cell, which had been driven three meters into the ground.

"No one's fought me in four years. You came at just the right time."

Under the sea.

Chen Mo leaned against a reef wall, staring at the Scouter.

Android 17 and Cell's signals had overlapped. They were fluctuating violently. They were fighting.

"Android 17's signal is fluctuating a lot," Chen Mo said. "But it isn't weakening. Cell's signal, on the other hand, is being continuously suppressed."

Android 18 stood beside him. The seawater reached her waist. They had already made their way from the seabed into the shallow waters near the shore.

More than forty minutes had passed since Cell left the surface.

Android 18's injuries were healing. An android's recovery speed was neither fast nor slow. Her perpetual energy source continuously maintained her bodily functions, but physical damage still needed time to heal.

The bruise on her left shoulder had changed from purple to dark red. Her ribs had yet to recover.

"Can Android 17 win?" Android 18 asked.

"Cell in its first form can't beat the current Android 17," Chen Mo said. "But Cell won't be stupid enough to keep fighting head-on. It'll run. It'll stay alive and look for another opportunity."

Android 18 rested her hand on the reef, her fingertips scratching across its surface.

"That human was right." She did not seem to know who she was talking to.

"What human?"

Android 18 glanced at him.

"You."

Chen Mo: "...Oh."

Android 18 walked out of the shallows.

Seawater streamed down from her gi.

Her white cropped vest was soaked through, clinging to her body and clearly outlining the shape beneath the fabric.

The edges of her denim shorts were wet as well, hanging against her hipbones, while a strip of skin above her waistline gleamed with water in the sunlight.

She walked a few steps onto the beach, then stopped.

She turned around.

Chen Mo was putting away the Scouter.

"Where are you going?" Android 18 asked.

"The Hyperbolic Time Chamber," Chen Mo said. "I stayed in there for half a month before. It wasn't enough. I need to go back and continue."

"No."

Chen Mo looked up.

Android 18 stood barefoot on the white sand, seawater still dripping from the tips of her hair.

Her eyes were light blue beneath the sunlight.

That color was different from under the sea. Under the sea, they had been dark blue. Now they were pale. Bright.

But what was inside those eyes had not changed.

It had been there when they first met. It had been there when she stepped on his chest. It had been there when she gave him the air bubble beneath the sea.

Exactly the same.

"You ran off and left me once just now," Android 18 said. "Above that city. You ran while I was fighting that Super Saiyan."

Chen Mo said nothing.

"Then you came back," Android 18 continued. "When Cell caught me, you rushed down."

She took two steps forward.

"Run away first. Then come back. Run away. Come back."

Android 18 walked up to him. Less than half a meter separated them. Her eyes fixed on his, holding something Chen Mo knew all too well.

"You're mine," Android 18 said.

"You're not allowed to run away again."

Chen Mo's mouth moved.

"If I don't run, what happens when Cell gets here? My current battle power—"

Android 18 raised her hand.

Her hand rested on his shoulder.

It was not heavy. But Chen Mo knew exactly how strong that hand was. It could twist steel rebar into a spiral.

"You're weak," Android 18 said. "But you know everything. You know about Cell. You know about Broly. You know about the time machine. You know my name."

Her fingers tightened slightly on his shoulder.

"You know more than anyone else."

"I won't allow anyone else to know these things."

Android 18 leaned closer.

She was so close that Chen Mo could see droplets of water clinging to her eyelashes.

"You stay by my side. You're not going anywhere."

[Emotion collection target's emotion values: Possessiveness (extremely strong), obsession (extremely strong), desire for control (high).]

[New emotion: Fear (latent, low intensity, cause analysis: afraid of losing the source of information/target individual).]

[Emotion values are being continuously collected.]

Chen Mo looked into those pale blue eyes.

Their owner could tear apart an entire city with her bare hands. She could fight the Legendary Super Saiyan to a standstill.

She could treat first-form Cell like a toy.

And now, the owner of those eyes was telling him, "You're mine."

Chen Mo quickly ran through everything in his mind.

He really did need to go to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber.

He needed time. He needed tenfold gravity. He needed to push his base battle power beyond five thousand.

The Tenfold King Kai Fist would bring him to fifty thousand, but fifty thousand was still nothing on this timeline.

But Android 18 would not let him leave.

If he forced his way out, the Tenfold King Kai Fist could indeed put some distance between them.

But once Android 18 recovered and caught up, he would not get a second chance to use Solar Flare.

And besides.

If he really ran, what would happen to the system?

There was only one emotion collection target. Just this one. The system was bound to her.

If he ran, he would not be able to collect emotion values.

Without emotion values, he could not level up.

Without leveling up, even if he trained himself to death in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, he would only reach the level of the Saiyan invasion arc.

What use would that be?

Cell required Super Saiyan-level power to deal with.

He needed Android 18.

Android 18 needed what he knew.

"Fine," Chen Mo said.

Android 18's fingers loosened slightly.

"But I have a condition," Chen Mo continued.

Android 18 narrowed her eyes.

"I'll stay by your side. But you have to take me to Kami's Lookout. The Hyperbolic Time Chamber is there. I'll go inside to train, and you wait outside. One year inside is one day outside. You only need to wait one day."

"Why should I wait for you?"

"Because you need me to get stronger," Chen Mo said. "Cell can't absorb Android 17 right now. But it'll find a way. It came from another timeline, and it already has methods to absorb you two ahead of time. Ambushes, dirty tricks—it can do anything. You're injured right now. Android 17 doesn't know Cell's background. I do."

He looked into Android 18's eyes.

"Let me get a little stronger. I'll come out after one day and keep being your strategist. It's a good deal."

Android 18 stared at him for five seconds.

Her hand slid down from his shoulder, along his arm, until it reached his wrist.

Then she clasped it.

Her fingers circled his wrist, not tightly. Like a lock.

"One day," Android 18 said.

"One day."

"If it takes longer than a day, I'll tear the door down."

"...The door to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber isn't easy to tear down."

"Then I'll tear down all of Kami's Lookout."

Chen Mo didn't think she was joking.

The system quietly popped up a notification in his mind.

[Emotional value accumulation has reached the threshold. Tenfold King Kai Fist has fully stabilized.]

[Next-stage unlock objective: Twentyfold King Kai Fist.]

[Required emotional value... greatly increased. Host is advised to increase the intensity and duration of interactions with the target.]

Chen Mo rolled his eyes at that line internally.

Increase the intensity and duration of interactions.

Why not just suggest I marry her outright?

Just as he was about to say something, the Scouter in his backpack beeped.

It was a very soft sound—the alert for passively receiving a signal.

Chen Mo unzipped his backpack and pulled out the Scouter.

An extra dot had appeared on the screen.

It wasn't Cell. It wasn't Android 17.

A third signal.

Direction—due north.

The power level reading was fluctuating. Rising.

That number doubled every three seconds.

Chen Mo stared at the screen, his fingers motionless.

Broly's signal.

It had gone quiet for a while. It had vanished to the north earlier, but now it had appeared again.

And its signal strength was an entire order of magnitude higher than before.

Android 18 saw it too.

Her hand was still clasped around Chen Mo's wrist.

"That Super Saiyan," she said.

Chen Mo looked toward Broly's signal, then toward the direction where Cell and Android 17 were fighting.

Three signals. Three directions.

All of them were converging on this area.

The control device was broken. Paragus couldn't control him anymore.

Broly's signal was still rising.

Still rising.

Broly's signal was still rising.

Chen Mo stared at the Scouter as the number doubled every three seconds.

From fifty thousand to one hundred thousand. From one hundred thousand to two hundred thousand. From two hundred thousand to four hundred thousand.

There was no sign of it stopping.

The Legendary Super Saiyan. An infinitely growing type. Completely different from the path Goku and Vegeta took, improving through training.

Broly's strength welled out from inside his body on its own.

Like water from a well, with no upper limit.

And this version of Broly had a broken control device.

Paragus couldn't control him anymore.

Chen Mo switched off the Scouter and stuffed it back into his backpack.

Then he looked up.

Android 18 stood on the beach with her back to him, facing the sea.

Her martial arts uniform was still wet.

Her white cropped tank top clung tightly to her back, the outline of her spine visible beneath the fabric, vertebra by vertebra.

Her waist narrowed sharply below that, and her denim shorts sat against her hipbones, their color darkened a shade by the water.

Her legs were bare, her feet planted in the white sand. The wound at her ankle was still there.

But the edges of the wound were moving.

Chen Mo froze for a moment.

He stepped closer and lowered his head to inspect the wound.

The skin tissue around the wound was visibly drawing together toward the center.

It was not scabbing. It was not ordinary healing. The cells were reorganizing.

It was as if someone were using an eraser to gradually rub the wound away.

"Your ankle..."

Android 18 lowered her head for a look and rotated her ankle.

"It's healed."

Healed?

Chen Mo crouched down to look. The wound really was gone.

The skin was smooth, without even a scar.

Then he looked at Android 18's left shoulder.

The spot that had been a purple bruise ten minutes ago was now only faintly red.

Just ten minutes.

"Your perpetual motion machine..."

"Eternal Furnace," Android 18 corrected him.

Chen Mo's mind turned.

Eternal Furnace.

The manga had only called it a "permanent energy reactor," which had been translated as a perpetual motion machine.

But Android 18 herself called it the Eternal Furnace.

"Did the Eternal Furnace's repair function work this fast before you fought Broly?" Chen Mo asked, rising to his feet.

"I'd never been hurt this badly before." Android 18 swept her wet hair behind her ear. "Dr. Gero never told us it could repair our bodies too. I thought it only supplied energy."

A chill crept down Chen Mo's back.

In the original story, Android 18 had never displayed this level of self-repair for a long time after the Cell Saga.

After Cell spat her out, she had still been unconscious. After being defeated in the Tournament of Power, she had recovered normally as well.

Either the Eternal Furnace in this timeline was different from the original.

Or—

After a battle against a Super Saiyan-level opponent like Broly, the Eternal Furnace had activated some deeper function.

Chen Mo thought of a possibility, and the chill along his spine deepened.

Saiyans grew stronger after near-death experiences. Every time they nearly died and survived, their battle power soared.

What if the Eternal Furnace had a similar mechanism?

"What are you thinking about?"

Android 18 turned around.

Her injuries had almost completely healed.

The bruise on her left shoulder had vanished entirely. She pressed at her ribs without frowning.

The abrasions on her waist were gone too.

In just ten minutes, she had gone from being covered in injuries to looking completely unharmed.

The speed was abnormal.