Namek

The wind over the wasteland gradually died down, leaving only the charred earth giving off a pungent smell of gunpowder in the afterglow of the setting sun.

The spherical spaceship shot into the sky with a piercing roar, eventually becoming a barely visible speck of light on the horizon. Vegeta was gone, but the devastation he had left behind on this land resembled wounds that would never heal.

Piccolo knelt on one knee amid a pile of rubble, a trace of green blood still hanging from the corner of his mouth.

"Uncle Piccolo..."

Gohan timidly walked over, his little martial arts uniform already tattered beyond recognition. Looking at Piccolo's face, so gloomy it seemed ready to drip water, he felt a little afraid—but even more than that, he felt an indescribable ache. During that year of harsh wilderness training, this Demon King who looked so vicious never spared him with his words, yet on countless nights when wild beasts lurked nearby, he had silently stood guard beside Gohan's campfire.

"What are you crying for?! I can still take it!" Piccolo glared at Gohan irritably, but when he saw the dirt all over the child's face and the exhaustion in his eyes, his gaze softened despite himself. He turned his head away in annoyance.

On the other side, Goku lay spread-eagled on the ground, gasping for breath. The severe overload from the tenfold Kaio-ken had left his muscles spasming uncontrollably even now.

"Haha... Chen He, you really are a monster." Goku turned his head toward Chen He, who sat atop a broken wall, an incredibly complicated mix of excitement and disappointment flashing in his eyes. "I had to use the tenfold Kaio-ken just to barely keep up with that guy's speed. Yet you... you could still use the same technique at a time like that."

Chen He did not answer. He lowered his head and looked at his slightly trembling palm. The dark crimson aura boiling around his body from the Kaio-ken had completely subsided.

"Goku! Piccolo! Are you guys okay?!"

Urgent shouts came from the horizon. Bulma drove a Capsule Corporation hovercar, bringing Krillin and Yamcha as they hurriedly descended into the center of the ruins.

When Bulma saw Goku covered in blood, along with the mountaintop in the distance that had been cleanly sliced in half, she clamped both hands over her mouth as her eyes instantly reddened. She had thought the battle in Kapok City had been the limit of what humanity could endure. She had never imagined that over the past year, Goku had been carrying such a brutal hell on his back without telling her.

"Cough, cough... cough..." Piccolo spat out several more mouthfuls of blood. Nappa's attack had been far too powerful. He had thought he could withstand it, but was he really going to die like this...?

"Uncle Piccolo..."

"Kami... Kami, he..."

Mr. Popo, the guardian of the Lookout, had descended with the hovercar as well. His usually expressionless face was now filled with unprecedented sorrow. Looking at Piccolo, his voice trembled violently. "Just now... Kami's presence... disappeared completely."

Those words landed like a heavy hammer upon everyone's hearts.

Kami was dead.

That meant the Dragon Balls on Earth would become lifeless stones for good. Their companions who had died in the previous battle, the cities that had been destroyed—there would no longer be any way to revive or restore them.

"How could this happen..." Krillin collapsed onto the ground, utterly drained, his eyes filled with despair. They had paid such a terrible price. Even Goku had taken a trip through the afterlife. Yet in the end, Earth had still lost its final trump card.

"Mr. Popo, don't panic just yet."

Chen He brushed the dust from his clothes and stood up. His voice remained low and hoarse, sounding exceptionally calm—almost cold—in the atmosphere of despair. "Kami may be dead, but the source of the Dragon Balls isn't here. Raditz and Vegeta mentioned a place called Namek before. Kami was originally a Namekian, right?"

Mr. Popo froze for a moment, then nodded blankly. "Yes... Lord Chen He. Kami did indeed come to Earth long ago aboard a spaceship. That spaceship... is still parked atop the towering Yunzabit Heights."

"Then that settles it."

Chen He slipped both hands back into his pockets, with no unnecessary sorrow in his eyes. "As long as we go to Namek and find the Dragon Balls there, we can revive Kami, and Earth's Dragon Balls will come back to life as well. Bulma, how many days will you need to repair that spaceship?"

Caught by Chen He's cold gaze, Bulma instinctively straightened her back. But when she looked at Goku lying on the ground, hope rekindling in his eyes, and at Gohan standing there helplessly, the unyielding pride deep in the gifted young woman was thoroughly ignited.

"Who do you think you're looking down on?! As long as that spaceship's engine is still there, I can tear it apart and rebuild it whether it's some centuries-old antique or alien technology!" Bulma gritted her teeth fiercely, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, and shouted at Mr. Popo, "Mr. Popo! Lead the way! Take me to Yunzabit Heights right now!"

"I'm going too." Krillin got to his feet, his eyes turning resolute. "I can't always stay behind and watch. Count me in for this trip to another planet."

Goku struggled to prop himself up and gave Bulma and Krillin a somewhat weak but incomparably bright smile. "I'm counting on you... My body needs a few more days to recover. Once the spaceship is fixed, we'll leave together."

The sun finally sank beneath the horizon, swallowing the ravaged wasteland in boundless night.

Chen He stood silently at the edge of the ruins. The cold wind whipped his tattered black training uniform with a loud flutter. In his mind, the system interface still glowed with an icy metallic sheen, and the next phase of the mission had quietly refreshed.

"Namek, huh..."

Chen He withdrew his gaze and, with steady steps that held not the slightest hesitation, was the first to head toward the hovercar.