Chapter 135: A New Beginning, Units in Billions Part 1
Cell's menacing demeanor was terrifying.
To be honest, he never expected to come to this era and still be struggling for survival.
In the future, he will take advantage of various opportunities and even travel to other planets to devour life forms.
But when he returned to Earth, intending to absorb Android 17 and 18, he found no chance.
It wasn't because he wasn't strong enough, nor because Android 17 and 18 were gone.
It was because the Z Fighters had grown ridiculously strong.
Their strength left him with no way to act, and any one of them had the power to kill him.
His once-proud strength was like that of an ant before them, leaving him utterly helpless.
Ultimately, he had to hide in the shadows, biding his time.
On that day, he finally got his chance.
Bulma from Capsule Corporation had created a time machine capable of traveling through time.
Their goal was to deliver medicine to Goku in the past timeline.
This presented Cell with an opportunity. Cell sneaked in when Gohan, returning from delivering the medicine, carelessly left the time machine in the warehouse.
Fortunately, the control interface was simple. Even though he wasn't familiar with such technological devices, he roughly figured out how to use them.
Thus, he piloted the time machine to an earlier era.
The humiliation he suffered in the future must be repaid to the Z Fighters!
He would make them understand that they were only strong because they were born earlier.
If he had risen in this era, no one would be a match for his Ultimate Cell form.
"Hehehehe~~! Just wait, Lin Chuan, Goku, Vegeta, Raditz, and Piccolo..." His eyes gleamed with a savage light, his killing intent so intense that it affected half the forest.
All the animals in the forest dared not approach him, fearing for their lives.
These wild creatures of nature wouldn't know they would be in trouble for a while.
Because Cell couldn't temporarily target humans, he had to start with these wild animals.
Although fewer in number, devouring enough beasts would provide a more significant power boost than absorbing individual humans.
The cell preferred to devour participants of the World Martial Arts Tournament because, although their strength was average, they at least possessed purer life energy.
Cell even considered seeking out Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Chiaotzu, and Yamcha from this era.
After all, they were the only Z Fighters he could defeat in this era.
However, he couldn't act on this thought.
Better safe than sorry.
If he got exposed without enough power, he would die.
...
Several days later.
Lin Chuan and Piccolo had been discussing future crises and waiting for Bulma's biological comparison information and research results.
Eventually, they learned that the creature had human genes and various bizarre animal genes, which shocked Piccolo considerably.
In simple terms, it was a magical amalgamation, but it existed.
Lin Chuan kept silent about his knowledge, while Piccolo was shrouded in gloom because he couldn't find any clues and had to give up temporarily.
During their conversations, Lin Chuan learned that Piccolo had recently teamed up with Kami from the Lookout to investigate.
Their goal was to eliminate the threat.
For Kami, protecting Earth from harm was a given.
Earth was his jurisdiction, and he didn't want more uncontrollable events.
They even considered collecting the Dragon Balls to summon Shenron and wished to know the hidden entity and where it was located.
It's worth mentioning that Earth's Dragon Balls, with Dende's assistance, were no longer the same as before.
Shenron's power limit had been increased many times, and the number of wishes had increased from one to two.
Lin Chuan would have been pleased in the past because it meant he could make one more wish each year.
Now, it's different; he has already achieved the basic wishes he needed.
Even if there are still many hidden thoughts in his heart, it is impossible to fulfill them with the Earth's Dragon Balls due to Shenron's limitations.
In the future, if he wants to make more wishes, he will still rely on Porunga.
Or, find Planet Cyril!
Planet Cyril also has Namekians who created a dragon with a low threshold but high potential.
According to the original setting, if the wisher is willing to sacrifice their lifespan, they can fulfill wishes that exceed the dragon's inherent abilities.
Although it operates on a transactional basis, the advantage is that Cyril's Dragon Balls have no cooldown period.
"It seems we can only stop here for now."
"After all these days, that unknown existence must have known we were searching for him and thus has hidden away."
With arms crossed, Piccolo stood on the rooftop, murmuring to himself.
Hearing this, Lin Chuan nodded in agreement.
How could he not know?!
These days, he hadn't planned to let Cell off the hook, but after a thorough search, there wasn't a single trace to be found.
Even though Earth is small compared to the universe, finding a specific being is still like looking for a needle in a haystack.
If someone wants to hide, even he would find it hard to discover them.
"At this point, we can only wait for the opportunity!"
"One thing to not worry about is that Xiaoxue mentioned the Android incident in passing, so it shouldn't escalate too much."
"Rather than wasting time on this, it's better to focus on training, making ourselves stronger to face the impending crises."
Lin Chuan's words deeply inspired Piccolo.
Lin Chuan had been instilling this idea into him over the past two days, but it was just now that Piccolo ultimately gave up the pursuit.
It was the reluctance in his heart that kept him going, having spent more than a month without results despite some gained information being useless.
"You're right, if we continue wasting time like this, Raditz and Vegeta might surpass me," Piccolo murmured.
Having stayed here recently, Piccolo knew well about Vegeta's rapid increase in power and that both Raditz and Vegeta were constantly sparring and training.
Even though his power had surged due to his fusion with Nail.
But to put it bluntly, this power boost came from assimilation, not his training.
"Indeed, according to my calculations, it won't be long before Raditz and Vegeta, even Kakarot, surpass you."
"Times have changed! Over a year ago, a power level over ten thousand was considered immensely powerful. But now, a power level of over a million, or even over ten million, is nothing."
"A power level of a hundred million is the new starting point, the new platform."
Lin Chuan said.
"A hundred million power level units?! Although I'm not fond of numbers, I understand what you mean! According to what you said back then, Frieza's final power level was 120 million, which means now we must reach that level just to barely keep up with the new era," Piccolo nodded, sharing his thoughts.
His gaze remained fixed on Lin Chuan without any doubt.
Frieza was considered obsolete then; otherwise, Lin Chuan wouldn't have killed him instantly.
"Can you tell me, if calculated in numbers, how strong you are now?" Piccolo asked.
This was the answer he had always wanted to know.
According to his calculations, Lin Chuan's power level should be at least 500 million, maybe even 1 billion.
In response to Piccolo's inquiry, Lin Chuan didn't evade but directly answered: "I can't give you an exact number, but I can tell you that with my current strength, I can easily exhibit a power level of over 2 billion, even over 3 billion! And I'm still getting stronger, improving every moment, so go and get stronger, Piccolo!"
A sharp glint flashed in Lin Chuan's eyes as he spoke: "Perhaps it's time for you to become whole again! As a complete being, your power would be immensely strong, and your potential would be fully realized, allowing you to become the legendary Super Namekian of your kind."
Hearing this suggestion, Piccolo was momentarily overwhelmed by his emotions.
First, he was shocked by Lin Chuan's terrifying strength and realized that his previous guess of 1 billion was far too low.
Secondly, Lin Chuan's words left him deeply conflicted. Merging with the old Piccolo (Kami) to become whole was something he found hard to accept.
He could accept merging with Nail because circumstances forced it, and Nail was similar to him, without affecting him.
Memories surged, and Piccolo remembered that Kami Piccolo had hinted at him more than once recently.
Kami was old and nearing death.
The idea was that before he died, if he could merge with Kami and become whole, he would become more robust, which would be better for Earth, and Dende would have greater security in the future.
The Piccolo wanted him to act as Dende's bodyguard.
Seeing Piccolo remain silent, Lin Chuan knew his temperament.
He didn't continue on this topic and instead changed the subject to Gohan: "It seems like Gohan has stopped training recently. The last time he came to see me was almost half a month ago."
(End of chapter Part 1)