A Legend Was Born

Watching Octopus disappear from sight, Old Zhou could not help patting his chest.

"Good thing I kept my wits about me. That gave me the greatest possible safeguard." That was right. When there had been no way up and no way underground, when he had been on the verge of death, his mind had become unprecedentedly calm. Then, when he saw this character who had never appeared in the original story, a plan took shape in his mind.

Since he could not be sure he would survive safely, he could only raise his odds as much as possible. So he thought of Frieza's personality, first putting pressure on him, then following his lead and shifting the blame onto another colleague. In truth, whether that person had such thoughts or not did not matter. As long as Octopus Head feared death, this supposed rival who threatened his position would appear. It was like thinking someone wanted to harm you—everything he did would seem like part of a plot against you.

Of course, Old Zhou had not lied to Octopus either. That person had not appeared when the original story began. Judging by the situation, something had most likely gone wrong with this result. He had merely moved up the time when Frieza would make his move. Naturally, that depended on how important this person was in Frieza's eyes.

Nothing important happened over the next few days. Aside from daily physical examinations, Old Zhou was made to do whatever exercises he could manage, bringing his body into optimal condition to increase the surgery's success rate.

"Damn it, Old Sa, why are you bringing me this food again? I've eaten it for two whole weeks!"

The Octopus doctor called Old Sa unusually did not scold him. Instead, he looked out into space beyond the window. "Yeah. It's been two weeks."

"Hm?"

"I won't beat you up today. Enjoy yourself. Whether you live or die will be decided tomorrow!" With that, Octopus walked out.

Hearing this, Old Zhou threw away the nutrient meal in his hand. He seemed to be recalling this unbelievable journey as his thoughts drifted away. "Is that so? Has the day that truly decides life and death arrived?"

"Beep beep beep. Target's heartbeat is too fast. Beep beep beep. Target's heart rate has reached the threshold."

"Kid, you have to hold on!"

Old Zhou lay sprawled on the bed, his face twisted in agony and his mouth stretched wide as if screaming, yet not a sound emerged from his throat. He had been howling for over twenty hours. Half an hour ago, his mouth had stopped producing any sound at all. Over these hours, he had endured the most painful experience of his life. A person's spine had been forcibly pulled from his body. He could feel nearly every major nerve throughout his body being cut open stroke by stroke beneath the scalpel. Even death by a thousand cuts probably wasn't this bad.

Even Octopus had not expected the weak little thing before him to hold on this long. It only made him look forward to the experiment's result even more.

Compared to what came before, the feeling of having a new spine installed was barely worth mentioning. Old Zhou's brain finally activated its defensive mode, and he passed out. Before losing consciousness, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. "I survived."

But Old Zhou did not know that his nightmare journey had only just begun.

"Old Sa, what the hell is going on?" Old Zhou stared at the octopus-like alien with terror written across his face.

"I don't know either. This is the first time I've succeeded with this experiment. But I'd guess it's a side effect of the blood replacement."

"A side effect? A side effect hurts this much? It's practically no different from the surgery before! And the pain lasts for fourteen hours! I haven't slept for three whole days—three days!" Old Zhou pointed at the dark circles beneath his eyes.

"It's fine. It's just not sleeping. Endure it, and it'll pass."

"The worst part is that you won't even let me sleep during the day. You say I have to eat on schedule and cooperate with the examinations. Damn it, do you know how hard that is?"

"It's fine. From what I've observed, your symptoms will continue for a while longer."

"What? For a while longer?"

"Of course. This is quite a lengthy process. But in this state, you are closest to the original Saiyan race. A new legend has been born." The more Octopus spoke, the more excited he became. For researchers like him, nothing brought more joy than an invention.

In the days that followed, Old Zhou's life could be summed up in one word: pain. The only good news was that its duration gradually decreased.

On the thirty-first day, which was also Old Zhou's forty-fifth day in this world, Octopus came to Old Zhou's room as usual. But Old Zhou noticed that Octopus's expression was somewhat strange, as though he were struggling with something.

As he tidied the things on the table, he said, "Brat, I've got good news for you."

"What good news? Let's hear it."

"The success of my experiment made Lord Frieza very happy, so my position in his eyes has risen again."

"Heh, congratulations." Old Zhou smiled, as if the two of them truly were friends.

"I told Lord Frieza about the pleasant time we spent together. He praised you, saying you really were a clever little fellow."

At that moment, Old Zhou sensed that something was wrong. He slowly moved toward the door.

"But Lord Frieza doesn't need subordinates who are that clever. He~ needs a real enforcer." Before he finished speaking, Octopus Head suddenly fired an energy blast at Old Zhou.

Facing the energy blast, Old Zhou closed his eyes. So I was going to die after all?

He lost consciousness.

Then his life vanished from this world.

The awakened youth—oh, no, boy—touched where his spine was and sighed. "That really was a hair-raising journey." In fact, he had known all along that Octopus had wanted to kill him. After all, now that the experiment had succeeded, it proved that Octopus's idea was sound. If he wanted to, he could make as many test subjects like Old Zhou as he pleased, continuously improving them as well. There was no need to keep an initial model like him, was there? Octopus had merely been unsure what his boss meant. What if Frieza said he needed Old Zhou? Wouldn't that leave Octopus finished?

"Sigh, forget the past. What happened before has nothing to do with me anymore. It's all over, isn't it? People have to look ahead. But what's with this body? Why did it turn me into a kid? Wait, did I go back nineteen years? Damn, Daddy Ma, Daddy Ma, here I come!"

Yet before he could stand up, he heard someone crying for help.

"Help! Help! Is anyone there? Help!" The cries sounded childish, probably a girl's voice. And they were getting closer and closer.

"Huh? Seriously? This is a law-abiding society—are people still trafficking children?" With that thought, Old Zhou habitually wanted to go stop it. "Wait, I seem to be a child too." He searched himself out of habit. Great. His phone had been left in the other world.