Abyss

Darkness.

That was Gohan's first impression when he stepped into the underground passage.

The cold fluorescent lights at the entrance flickered with a ghastly white glow, like the eyes of a dying man. Unknown pipes crawled across the walls, occasionally emitting hissing electrical sounds, as though something were writhing inside them.

The air was thick with the stale smell of disinfectant, mixed with an indescribable sweet stench—the unique odor of blood fermenting in an enclosed space.

"This place..." Gohan frowned. "It's much bigger than I imagined."

Android 18 hovered expressionlessly behind him, her cold gaze sweeping over the surroundings.

"Dr. Gero had been operating here for at least twenty years," she said. "The scale of these facilities far exceeds any building on the surface."

Gohan nodded, not slowing his pace.

He extended his ki senses to their limit, his golden perception spreading in every direction. But strangely, the underground space seemed like a massive maze, interfering with his senses.

"Don't waste your strength." Android 18's voice came from behind him. "The walls here have special energy-shielding layers that interfere with ki perception."

"How do you know?"

"Android 17 told me." Android 18's gaze fell on the dim passage ahead. "He said the doctor once used this underground laboratory to study android weaknesses."

Gohan halted.

"Studied android weaknesses?"

"Cell regeneration, energy circulation, information storage." Android 18's voice remained utterly flat. "The doctor knew everything about us."

She paused.

"That's why he was able to create Cell."

Gohan was silent for several seconds before continuing forward.

The passage grew deeper, and the temperature around them dropped lower and lower. The cold lights on the walls became increasingly sparse, while the darkness pressed in like a solid wall.

Suddenly, a massive metal door appeared ahead.

It was covered in rust and marked by traces of some corrosive substance. A faint light seeped through the crack beneath it, accompanied by a barely audible hum.

"This is it," Gohan said quietly.

He reached out and gently pushed the door open.

With a harsh creak of grinding hinges, the door slowly swung open.

The sight beyond made Gohan's pupils contract.

It was a vast circular chamber, at least five hundred meters in diameter. The dome rose dozens of meters overhead, covered in dense networks of pipes and advanced machinery.

But what truly shocked Gohan was what stood in the center of the chamber.

Rows upon rows of enormous incubation tanks stood in neat formation.

Inside each tank floated some kind of partially formed biological tissue. Some resembled humans, some insects, and others... were impossible to identify.

They floated in pale green liquid. Some twitched faintly, some slowly grew, while others... appeared to have died, leaving behind only indistinct masses of flesh and blood.

"This is..." Gohan's voice tightened.

"The doctor's experimental records." Android 18's voice came from behind him, carrying a barely perceptible tremor. "Before creating Cell, he conducted countless experiments."

"These... are all failures?"

"Former 'Cells.'"

Gohan sucked in a sharp breath.

To create Cell, Dr. Gero had carried out so many inhuman experiments. Every creature inside those incubation tanks was a living being, every one of them treated as experimental material.

"Freak," Gohan muttered.

"More terrifying than a freak." Android 18's voice was cold. "He's a madman who would stop at nothing for revenge."

Gohan said nothing.

His gaze swept over the incubation tanks before finally settling on the far end of the chamber.

There was a faint glow there.

The source of the light was a figure forcibly pinned against the wall—Dr. Gero.

Beside him, a tall blond man stared coldly at something.

"Android 16?" Gohan said quietly.

The figure turned around.

"Gohan." Android 16's voice was as calm and emotionless as ever. "You've come."

"And her." His gaze fell on Android 18.

Android 18 gave a slight nod.

"How is Android 17?"

"Out of danger," Android 16 replied. "Krillin is taking care of him."

Android 18 let out a breath of relief, but her expression remained cold.

"Where's Cell?" Gohan asked.

Android 16 fell silent for a second.

Then he raised a hand and pointed toward the deepest part of the chamber.

Gohan followed his finger, and his pupils abruptly contracted.

At the very back, beyond all those incubation tanks, a massive black figure floated inside a special apparatus.

The figure was larger than ever before, at least three meters tall. Its body was covered in bizarre patterns, and a huge hollow gaped in its chest like an abyss that could never be filled.

Something was writhing inside that hollow.

"Cell..." Gohan's voice tightened.

"He is completing his final evolution," Android 16 said calmly. "Dr. Gero's laboratory stored a large amount of android research data, including cell samples from Android 17 and Android 18."

"He is using those samples to achieve his Perfect Form."

Gohan sharply turned toward Dr. Gero.

The old doctor's face was pale as paper, a trace of madness curling at the corner of his mouth.

"You think you can control him?" Gohan demanded angrily.

"Control?" Dr. Gero let out a raspy laugh. "I never intended to control him from the very beginning."

"I only wanted to see all of you destroyed."

He raised a hand, holding a device about the size of a remote control.

"That is Cell's controller," Android 16 said. "I had been protecting it to prevent Cell from losing control after completing his evolution."

"But the doctor appears to have other plans."

Gohan stared at the controller, alarm bells ringing in his mind.

Something was wrong.

Something was very wrong.

Cell had fled into the underground laboratory not merely to complete his evolution.

He wanted to retrieve that controller.

And what he was doing now...

Gohan suddenly turned back toward the black figure.

Then he saw something that made his blood run cold.

Cell's body was undergoing some kind of bizarre transformation.

The hollow absorption organ in his chest was extending outward, the tips of its tendrils connected to an incubation tank.

The liquid inside the tank had already been drained away, and floating within was some familiar-looking cellular tissue.

Android 17 and Android 18's cells.

"He isn't absorbing a complete Android 17 or Android 18," Gohan said, his voice tight. "He's using their cell samples..."

"To reconstruct a new Perfect Form!" Android 18's expression finally changed.

"You only figured that out now?" Dr. Gero laughed madly. "Too late, Gohan."

"This laboratory contains every result of the android research, including their cell samples, energy circulation data, and even... memory backups."

"Cell does not need to absorb you whole. He only needs this data to complete his final evolution."

"And—"

His smile grew increasingly twisted.

"This version of Cell will be even stronger than the one in the original work."

The original work.

Those two words struck Gohan's heart like a sledgehammer.

He knew.

Dr. Gero knew.

He knew that Gohan was a transmigrator.

"You..." Gohan's voice tightened.

"You thought you were the only one who knew the plot?" Dr. Gero's smile became even stranger. "Son Gohan—no, I should say, that soul from another world inside you."

"I know you came from another world."

"I also know that you have been trying to change fate by using those 'memories of the original work.'"

"But you were wrong."

His gaze fell upon the black figure.

"This time, everything was different."

"Cell's evolution is far beyond anything you imagined."

"And that so-called 'original knowledge' of yours—"

"Here, it's worthless."

Gohan clenched his fists, golden flames beginning to burn around him.

"Is that so?"

His voice suddenly turned icy.

"Then let's find out."

Before his words had even faded, a golden figure shot forward, charging straight at the black silhouette!

At the same time, Android 18 moved as well.

Two golden flashes attacked Cell at once, the roar of energy blasts echoing throughout the underground space.

But just as their attacks were about to strike Cell, the black figure opened his eyes.

Yellow pupils, like a demon lurking in the abyss.

A strange smile curled across Cell's lips.

"Perfect timing."

His voice seemed to come from the depths of hell, carrying a chilling tremor.

"Let me see—"

"How long you can last."

His figure vanished.

The next instant—

Bang!

Gohan and Android 18 were sent flying at the same time, smashing through several incubation pods before crashing into the wreckage.

"Cough, cough..." Gohan crawled out of the rubble, a trace of blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.

"How is this possible..." He stared at the black figure in disbelief. "His speed..."

"His evolution is complete." Android 18's voice was cold. "No... he's even stronger than his perfect form."

Cell floated in the air, looking down at the two below.

A terrifying aura radiated from his body. It was not merely an energy fluctuation, but something more primal, more dangerous.

"Gohan." His voice carried a hint of amusement. "Are you surprised?"

"This version of Cell is stronger than the one you remember."

"Because I don't just have Android 17's and Android 18's cells."

He raised a hand and pointed at the densely packed incubation pods throughout the chamber.

"There are thousands of failed specimens here."

"Every one of them contains evolutionary data from different stages."

"I absorbed all of them."

"Now, I—"

His aura suddenly surged, and a terrifying pressure descended like a solid wall.

"Am the true perfect life-form."

Gohan gritted his teeth, the golden flames burning even fiercer.

"So what?"

He slowly rose to his feet, his eyes fixed on Cell.

"I've fought for so many years. I've never believed in any 'perfection.'"

"No matter how perfect something is—"

"It has weaknesses."

His gaze swept toward the remote control in Dr. Gero's hand.

That was their only chance.

Cell seemed to notice where he was looking, and his smile became even stranger.

"Want to take the remote?"

"Why do you think I insisted on coming back here?"

He raised his hand and pointed at Dr. Gero.

"Doctor, give me the remote."

"No." Android 16 stepped in front of Dr. Gero. "I won't let you succeed."

"Android 16..." Gohan looked at the tall, blond android.

"The reason I exist is to stop Cell." Android 16's voice remained calm. "That is the mission the doctor gave me."

"But now..."

He looked at Gohan.

"I choose to believe in you."

He held out his hand and passed the remote control to Gohan.

"Cell's weakness is right here."

Gohan took the remote and stared straight at Cell.

Cell's expression finally changed.

"You think this is enough to defeat me?" There was a trace of panic in his voice. "That remote can only control incomplete forms—"

"Incomplete forms?" Gohan sneered. "Didn't you just say you absorbed all the failed products?"

"How many of those failed products were incomplete forms?"

Cell's face changed drastically.

"And..." Gohan pressed a button on the remote.

In an instant, the failed products inside the incubation chambers throughout the space let out piercing wails all at once.

"These samples were split off from your cells." Gohan's voice grew colder and colder. "The remote can control them."

"Naturally, it can control you too."

Cell's face turned livid.

"Impossible..." he muttered. "This is impossible..."

"Nothing is impossible." Gohan raised the remote. "Cell, you've underestimated human wisdom."

"And you've also underestimated..."

His gaze sharpened.

"The determination of a transmigrator."

But just then, a faint ki came from the depths of the space.

That ki was familiar.

It was Vegeta.

"Cell!" A wildly arrogant voice rang out from afar. "I'm here to take your life!"

A streak of golden light cut across the sky and landed beside Gohan and Android 18.

Vegeta stood proudly, his golden aura blazing fiercely.

"Gohan, well done." He looked at the black figure, a cold smile curling at the corner of his mouth.

"Now, let's send him on his way together."