The Universe's Most Tragic Mage: I Was Blown Away Before I Even Finished My Incantation?

The nineteenth day of warp travel.

When Chen Mo woke from a light sleep, Android 18 was chewing on his emergency rations.

"You don't need to eat."

"I wanted to try it." Android 18 took a bite, chewed twice, then spat it into her palm. "Disgusting."

"That was my last three portions."

"Then eat less."

Chen Mo took a deep breath. He did not continue the conversation.

Because there were only two possible outcomes if he did.

First, he won the argument, and Android 18 threw all the emergency rations into space.

Second, he lost, and wasted his breath for nothing.

He fished out a water bottle from beneath his seat and took a sip.

Room-temperature recycled water. He had been drinking it for nineteen days. There was no taste left in his mouth at all.

The detector sat on the dashboard. Its screen was pitch-black.

During warp travel, the detector's scanning range was compressed to its limit.

It could basically only detect objects within fifty kilometers of the ship.

Normally, there would be nothing within fifty kilometers in deep space.

But today was different.

Buzz.

The detector sounded.

Chen Mo's gaze shifted from the water bottle to the screen.

A point of light. Very faint, but moving toward the ship.

"There's something." Chen Mo set down the water bottle.

Android 18 did not move. She placed the emergency ration she had bitten onto the dashboard and glanced at the screen.

"Small," she said. "Its combat power is small too."

Chen Mo stared at the point of light for three seconds. Its trajectory was steady. Not a meteorite. It had propulsion.

"Slow down." Chen Mo pressed the button to disengage warp.

The ship shifted from warp to sublight cruise. The starlight outside the viewport, stretched into white lines, returned to scattered dots. The dark universe spread out before them once more.

The detector's scanning range immediately expanded to five hundred kilometers.

The point of light became clear.

It was not one. It was four.

An extremely weak energy signal was at the front, followed by three slightly stronger ones. The four points moved in formation.

There was a spacecraft.

Chen Mo brought up the optical magnification window.

The image zoomed in. In the void five hundred kilometers away, a flat orange-yellow spacecraft was moving slowly forward.

Its design was bizarre. Like a toad lying flat on the ground. A hemispherical transparent cabin sat atop it.

Three creatures followed outside the spacecraft.

Two had insectoid forms. Dark-green carapaces. Multiple legs. Eyes growing from the tops of their heads.

The other was a red-skinned humanoid. Broad and powerfully built, with two curved horns on its head.

Inside the transparent cabin sat a small figure.

Yellow skin. Wrinkled. A pointed white hat perched atop its head.

Its body was only half the height of an ordinary human. Its slender fingers gripped a staff.

Chen Mo's pupils contracted.

Babidi.

The wizard Babidi.

The culprit who had released Majin Buu in the original story. Bibidi's son. A universe-spanning conspirator who controlled others' minds through dark magic.

Chen Mo quickly ran through the original story's information in his mind.

In the original story, Babidi had come to Earth to gather energy and unseal Buu.

The strongest fighter under his command was Dabura, king of the Dark Demon Realm.

After Babidi controlled Dabura with magic, Dabura became his most loyal enforcer.

But the Babidi before him did not have Dabura by his side.

Of the three creatures following him, the energy readings on the scanner showed that the strongest—the red, bent-horned creature—had a combat power of around twenty thousand.

The other two insectoids combined did not exceed ten thousand.

They were nowhere near the level of the Ginyu Force.

Chen Mo understood at once.

Babidi in this timeline had not yet found Dabura.

He was wandering the universe, looking for powerful warriors to subdue or use.

Buu's sealed orb might already have been buried on Earth, but without the energy Dabura could provide, Babidi had no way to break the seal.

So he was drifting around everywhere, looking for muscle.

Like a player with no SSRs desperately pulling cards across the universe.

"That ugly thing." Android 18's voice came from beside him. "You know him?"

"I do." Chen Mo's tone was calm. "He's a famous wizard in the universe. His name is Babidi. His father was even more famous."

"Is he strong?"

"He himself isn't strong. His combat power is practically zero. But his magic can control people's minds." Chen Mo looked at the toad-like spaceship on the screen. "The more evil thoughts someone has, the easier they are to control."

"Then he has nothing to do with me." Android 18 leaned back in her seat. "Go around him."

Chen Mo was just about to adjust their course.

Then, on the scanner, Babidi's spaceship suddenly changed direction.

It headed straight toward them.

"He found us." Chen Mo frowned slightly.

Babidi's spaceship might have been shabby, but a sorcerer's ability to sense energy fluctuations did not follow conventional rules.

What he sensed was not combat power, but the "mental fluctuations of living beings."

There were two living beings in the ship. One human. One artificial human who retained human emotional modules.

To Babidi, they were two lamps glowing in the darkness.

Three minutes later.

Babidi's spaceship stopped two hundred meters directly in front of them.

The three followers spread out into formation. The two insectoids took the left and right flanks, while the red, bent-horned creature stood in the center.

The transparent hatch opened.

Babidi floated out. His staff rested against empty space, and an unsettling smile hung on his wrinkled yellow face.

Chen Mo shut down the engines. The spaceship came to a stop.

Android 18 rose from her seat.

"I'm going out."

"Wait." Chen Mo tugged lightly on her sleeve. "Let me say a few words to him first."

"Say what?"

"He doesn't know us, but I know him. Let me probe him first."

Android 18 looked at Chen Mo for three seconds.

"One minute," she said. "If he hasn't left after one minute, I hit him."

Chen Mo nodded.

He took a spacesuit from the emergency locker in the cabin. After putting it on, he opened the side hatch. Once the pressure had equalized, he floated outside.

Babidi was two hundred meters away. A dim purple light glowed at the tip of his staff—the visual hallmark of dark magic.

"Oh ho ho?" Babidi's shrill, piercing voice carried over through magical energy vibrations. "A human? In a place like this? Interesting. Very interesting."

He cocked his head and examined Chen Mo. Then his eyes lit up.

"Your mental fluctuations are very special." Babidi raised his staff and pointed it at Chen Mo. "There is fear inside you. Obsession. Greed. And some... other things. Very complicated. Hee hee. Lord Babidi likes complicated minds best."

Chen Mo said nothing.

He was waiting for Babidi's next move.

"Papara Papa!"

The dim purple light at the tip of Babidi's staff swelled.

An invisible wave passed through the vacuum and slammed directly into Chen Mo's mind.

A mind-control spell.

Babidi's signature skill. It acted directly upon the target's consciousness.

No contact was needed. No medium was needed. It crossed space and struck directly at the mind.

Chen Mo's head buzzed.

The starry sky before him warped for half a second. A strange force tried to burrow deep into his consciousness.

In that instant, he felt a bizarre urge. Stop thinking. Kneel. Obey.

Then the urge vanished.

The system displayed a line.

[External mental interference detected.]

[Infinite Kaio-ken System has automatically purified it.]

[Note: This system is bound to the host's consciousness core. All external mental control is ineffective.]

Chen Mo's mind cleared.

Before he could react, he heard the sound of air pressure leaking behind him.

Android 18 stepped out of the spaceship.

She was not wearing a spacesuit. The Eternal Furnace's energy field enveloped her.

Her short golden hair fanned out in zero gravity. Her icy blue eyes fixed on Babidi two hundred meters away.

The minute was up.

"What did you do to him?" Android 18's voice was cold.

Babidi froze for a moment. His senses settled on Android 18, and then his expression changed.

"Unbelievable... this energy... these psychic fluctuations..." Babidi's eyes widened. "Powerful! Too powerful! If I could make you one of Lord Babidi's subordinates—"

"Pappara Pappa!"

Without hesitation, he pointed his staff straight at Android 18. A dark purple wave of magic surged forth at full power.

Mind control. Full-power version.

Dark purple light engulfed Android 18.

It lasted 0.3 seconds.

Then Android 18 vanished.

Babidi saw only a white afterimage before a slap struck his face.

Android 18's palm landed on Babidi's yellow, wrinkled face. She did not hold back at all.

Babidi vanished from where he stood.

His body shot straight in the direction he had been slapped, moving so fast that the three attendants did not even have time to turn their heads.

He flew roughly thirty kilometers before stopping.

The three attendants were dumbfounded.

The red, curved-horned creature snapped back to its senses and charged Android 18 with bared fangs and claws. The two insectoids flanked her from both sides.

Android 18 raised her right hand and flicked her index finger three times.

Three pale pink beams.

The three attendants vanished simultaneously.

Babidi steadied himself thirty kilometers away. Half his face was swollen, and dark purple blood seeped from his nostrils and the corner of his mouth, floating in the vacuum and forming tiny spheres.

"M-Monster..." Babidi's voice trembled.

He had lived for centuries. He had traveled through countless star systems and subdued innumerable powerful beings.

Never had any creature sent him flying thirty kilometers with a single slap.

And it had been such a casual slap, like a human swatting away a fly.

Babidi clenched his staff.

"You think this is over?!" His voice became shrill. "Lord Babidi is not so easy to bully!"

The dark purple light at the tip of his staff turned thick and murky.

It was no longer mind control. It was something older, darker.

A curse.

The ultimate method of dark magic. It required no contact and no suppression through strength, so long as the caster was willing to pay a sufficient price.

"Pappara Pappa—Lappa!"

Babidi's body began to glow.

Not his staff. His own body.

Black-purple mist spilled from every pore across his body, gathering into a thin thread.

It crossed thirty kilometers of vacuum and pierced Android 18's temple.

Android 18's movements paused for a moment.

Her Eternal Furnace let out a hum within her chest.

The energy field expanded instantly. The blackish-purple threads were torn apart from within. Severed. Dissipated.

The curse had been broken.

Babidi's eyes widened.

"Impossible... My curse... the curse I cast by burning my lifespan..."

Android 18 vanished again. When she reappeared before Babidi, she raised her hand.

Babidi let out a shrill scream.

"I'll remember all of you!" His body shot backward through the air as he pulled a black sphere from his robes.

An emergency teleportation device.

"Lord Babidi will definitely find the King of the Demon Realm! He'll definitely break the seal! When that happens, all of you will die! You'll all die!"

The black sphere shattered.

Babidi's body was enveloped in dark light.

He vanished.

Along with that toad spaceship.

He had escaped through a spatial jump.

The universe fell silent again.

Only the ship's engines gave off a low hum.

Chen Mo floated outside the ship. The entire fight had lasted around forty seconds from start to finish. He had not intervened once.

Android 18 turned around.

Chen Mo saw her face through his spacesuit visor.

Something was off.

Android 18's expression... was unfocused.

Her eyes were still ice-blue, but her gaze was a little scattered.

Her body swayed ever so slightly in zero gravity.

Normally, Android 18 remained perfectly still while floating in space.

But she had swayed.

"Android 18," Chen Mo called.

Android 18 looked at him and blinked.

"There's something..." Her voice traveled through the vibrations of the energy field, half a beat slower than usual. "Something in my head."

The curse.

The Eternal Furnace had broken Babidi's curse. But the attack Babidi had unleashed by burning his lifespan was no ordinary magic.

It targeted the level of consciousness. Android 18's Eternal Furnace could shatter attacks of any energy-based form.

But Android 18's brain was human.

Dr. Gero had preserved her human brain.

The Eternal Furnace had cleared away the main body of the curse, but residual demonic power had seeped into her human brain tissue.

Not enough to harm her. Not enough to control her. But enough to cause a brief disturbance in her consciousness.

Something like... being slightly drunk.

Chen Mo floated over in his spacesuit. He reached out and held Android 18's arm.

Android 18 lowered her eyes to look at his hand.

She did not shake it off.

That was very wrong. Normally, Android 18 would have said, "Who said you could touch me?"

"Back to the ship," Chen Mo said.

Android 18 said nothing. She let Chen Mo support her as they floated back into the cabin. The hatch closed, and the pressure returned.

Chen Mo took off his spacesuit and turned around.

Android 18 stood in the middle of the corridor, her head slightly lowered. Her short golden hair fell over half her face.

"Android 18?"

"Mm."

"How do you feel?"

Android 18 raised her head. Her ice-blue eyes looked at him.

But her gaze lacked its usual sharpness. There was a layer of mist over it. A faint mist.

"My mind's moving slowly," she said. "Like... what was that word called..."

"Dizzy?"

"Right. Dizzy." Android 18 frowned slightly. "I've never been dizzy before. This feeling is awful."

Chen Mo checked the scanner. Android 18's electromagnetic signals showed no abnormalities. Her energy output was stable, and her bodily functions were normal. Only her brainwave frequency was about fifteen percent lower than usual.

"Your Eternal Furnace cleared the curse," Chen Mo said. "But the residual magic affected your brain. Human brains have relatively low resistance to dark magic. It'll need time to metabolize."

"How long?"

"Not sure. Maybe a few hours. Maybe a day or two."

Android 18 fell silent for two seconds.

Then she walked over to the pilot's seat. She did not sit in it. Instead, she shoved Chen Mo onto the folding chair.

Chen Mo's back hit the chair back. Before he could react, Android 18 had already lain down sideways.

On the folding chair.

Crowding together with Chen Mo.

Her arm slipped around Chen Mo's waist and wrapped around him. She buried her face in his chest.

"Android 18."

"Shut up."

"What are you doing?"

"Sleeping."

"You don't need sleep."

"I do now." Android 18's voice was muffled against his chest, indistinct. "My mind's moving slowly. I'm shutting down for a bit."

Chen Mo's body stiffened.

Android 18's body temperature was almost the same as a human's.

The Eternal Furnace kept her surface temperature at a constant thirty-seven degrees Celsius. Her hair brushed against Chen Mo's chin.

It smelled of rock dust. The kind left behind from when she blew up planets.

"Let go of me. Go sit in the passenger seat."

Android 18 tightened her arms.

Chen Mo's waist was pinned. She was not using much force, but with Android 18's arm strength, "not much force" was enough to leave him completely unable to move.

"Try moving," Android 18 said.

Chen Mo did not move.

The folding chair was about sixty centimeters wide.

For two people to squeeze onto it, they needed to be in extremely close contact.

Android 18 lay on her side, her entire body pressed against the right half of Chen Mo's. Her left arm circled his waist. At some point, her right hand had grabbed Chen Mo's collar.

The system messages flooded across the screen.

[Current emotional state of emotion collection target: dependence (extremely high), need for security (high), possessiveness (ongoing), drowsiness (abnormal, not an emotion native to the system).]

[Emotion Value +3200.]

[Note: The target's "drowsiness" is caused by residual external magic. Androids do not possess natural sleep functions. Current state is a passive dormancy response in the human regions of the brain.]

[King Kai Fist multiplier limit unlocked: twenty-four times.]

Chen Mo looked at the system panel.

Twenty-four times.

Even faster than expected.

But he had no mind to focus on the numbers right now.

Because Android 18's breathing was slowing.

From sixteen breaths per minute, down to twelve. Down to eight.

Her arm still held Chen Mo tightly around the waist, but the strength was fading. It went from an "iron restraint" to the level of an "ordinary hug."

Her eyes closed.

Her eyelashes cast a small patch of shadow beneath the spaceship's cold white lights.

This was the first time Chen Mo had seen Android 18 with her eyes closed from so close.

No sharp gaze. No dangerous smile. No oppressive feeling of You can't run away.

Just a face. The face of an eighteen-year-old girl.

Quiet. Relaxed.

A little pretty.

Chen Mo crushed that thought.

He tried to move. Android 18's arm immediately tightened.

"Don't move," she said.

Her voice was already very soft, carrying a hazy, clingy thickness.

Nothing like the usual Android 18.

"I'm not running," Chen Mo said.

"Liar."

"I'm on a spaceship. Where would I run to?"

Android 18 fell silent for three seconds.

"You run every time," she said. "You ran twice on Earth. Going into that time room was running too. The moment you get a chance, you run."

Chen Mo opened his mouth, but didn't argue. Because she was telling the truth.

"I won't run this time," he said.

Android 18 didn't answer.

Her breathing slowed to four breaths per minute.

She had fallen asleep.

An android powered by an Eternal Furnace. A doomsday weapon with a power level exceeding 350 million.

Sleeping while hugging a human man with a power level of 50,000.

Chen Mo couldn't move.

Even asleep, Android 18's arm was far too strong for him to break free.

He could only remain as he was, lying flat in the folding chair while Android 18 held him like a body pillow.

The spaceship continued onward at sublight cruising speed. The autopilot handled everything; no one needed to control it.

The engines hummed.

Android 18's breathing was shallow and even.

Chen Mo stared at the ceiling.

Babidi.

That short, yellow-skinned wizard.

He said he was going to find the king of the Demon Realm.

Dabura.

In the original story, after being subdued by Babidi, Dabura's strength had increased tremendously, reaching the level of Cell's Perfect Form.

And on this timeline, Android 17's power level already far surpassed the original story.

Cell was evolving somewhere in the universe as well.

Who knew where Broly had drifted off to.

If Babidi found Dabura. If they returned to Earth. If they unearthed Buu's sealed sphere.

Majin Buu.

That pink monster whom even Super Saiyan 3 Goku couldn't defeat in the original story.

Chen Mo closed his eyes.

Before one wave had settled, another had risen.

Were the bosses of this shitty world lining up to make their entrances or what?