Chapter 39: Slaves of the Machine

Vegeta believed that after training in the gravity room, his strength should have improved to the point where even the Ginyu Force would fear him. Dealing with some robot should have been a piece of cake, but the reality turned out completely different from what he expected.

The metal giant actually absorbed his energy attacks and transformed them into its own strength! After a barrage of attacks, the metal giant had suffered very little damage. Instead, it had absorbed so much energy that it grew in size, and with just one punch, it sent Vegeta flying.

"Bastard! I'm going to tear you apart!" Vegeta flew toward the giant again, ready for hand-to-hand combat since energy blasts were useless.

But the metal giant had no intention of fighting him. It retracted its body and sank back into the cavern. Even the mechanical arms withdrew until the cracks in the ground closed completely.

Scattered fragments still remained on the surface, but the main body had disappeared. Vegeta hovered in the air and let out a frustrated "Tch!"

"What's going on?" Raditz muttered, thoroughly puzzled. He looked back at the landed spacecraft and startled. "Could it be that its only target was our ship? What is this planet?"

Many questions surfaced in his mind, but Raditz couldn't answer any of them.

Piccolo was also deep in thought, scanning the lifeless metal planet with a wary expression.

"Why did the spaceship land, Raditz?" Vegeta flew over, his tone accusatory. He had withstood the metal giant's assault and suffered a powerful blow, yet still couldn't prevent the spaceship from landing. Naturally, anger rose in his heart.

"The power system overheated and temporarily can't fly."

"Damn it!"

Goku scratched his head. "So how long are we stuck here?"

"I'm afraid it'll be at least five hours. The system has a self-diagnostic process, and we can't skip the mandatory safety protocols," Raditz said, gazing intently at the firmly grounded spaceship. "But the real problem is that we can't guarantee the power system will recover enough to take off. Plus, we still don't know the metal planet's true purpose, so we need to stay alert."

"Hmph, the next time that thing appears, I'll destroy it."

Vegeta's words were bold, but he knew it wouldn't be that simple. The recent battle had revealed a shocking fact: the metal giant was connected to the entire planet! Besides absorbing his energy blasts, he had seen broken areas quickly filled with new metal, regenerating at an astonishing speed visible to the naked eye!

If that was the case, trying to destroy it would be equivalent to obliterating the entire planet.

"Let's talk more inside. We should rest first," Raditz said. He couldn't predict how the situation would develop, so he needed to plan for the long term.

Goku and Piccolo exchanged glances before following. Finally, Vegeta—after turning to stare at the crack in the ground and struggling with his impulses—reluctantly joined them.

The spaceship rested quietly behind metal pillars, its surface damage not serious—mostly just scratches. The injector at the rear and the energy panels on top were hot, but everything else seemed fine.

Everyone disembarked from the ship. Although the temperature, gravity, and atmospheric composition weren't much different from Earth's, they all felt an inexplicable chill when facing the desolate metal landscape.

This place was just too strange!

"Five hours on this haunted planet..."

"It'll pass in a blink. Everyone just hang in there."

"It's weird—like it pulled us in and then just stopped."

Everyone shared their thoughts, but nobody dared explore the area. They could only wait and see what would happen.

What Raditz found most difficult to understand was why, after capturing their spacecraft, the planet hadn't taken any further action. What was going on?

While pondering this, Tien suddenly exclaimed, "Look! People!"

With his extraordinary eyesight, he pointed toward several tall alloy buildings in the distance, where shadows were moving. But from this distance, no one could see clearly what they were.

Krillin squinted, trying his best to look: "Are they really human? Or just more of those machines?"

"I'm not mistaken," Tien said, confident in his vision.

Raditz gritted his teeth and flew upward. "I'll go check. If they're really human, I'll come back and let you know." He knew that without understanding the truth about this strange planet, escaping would be difficult even if the spaceship regained power. Making contact with whatever inhabited this world—whether machine or human—was necessary!

He flew over the figures, looking down at them, and was slightly taken aback.

They were indeed human! Their appearance was almost identical to humans on Earth. Their limbs, facial features, and body shapes were all similar. There were tall ones, short ones, fat and thin, old and young, men and women—but with one significant difference: they were all bound together by electronic chains as they moved forward.

There were more than twenty of them in total, staggering forward in a long line. Following behind them were armored, tracked machines.

"Are they prisoners? Regardless, this means there are people on this planet. Even if they're criminals, there must be others who judge them," Raditz muttered to himself before deciding to approach them.

The Dragon Ball universe generally shared a common galactic language. The native Namekian tongue was one of the few exceptions, but most major races could communicate with each other. Thinking about it, Raditz smiled slightly—King Kai might not be very useful in a fight, but his contribution to cultural exchange was significant!

Raditz landed, thinking it might be awkward to appear suddenly, but he tried to be friendly.

As soon as he landed, he raised his hand in greeting.

After waving twice, the people were genuinely shocked and hurriedly shouted: "It's actually a human being!"

"Quick! Run!"

Before Raditz could react—thinking he had frightened them and about to explain—the machines beside them extended long barrels, all muzzles aimed directly at him.

"RATATATATATA!!!" The barrage erupted, gunfire thundering as bullets spewed from the muzzles like long dragons. The hard ground was pockmarked with impact craters.

"Hey! I'm not trying to free any prisoners!"

"Stop shooting!"

"How do I make them stop? I'm sorry! I made a mistake!"

Raditz found himself chased by these machines, running back and forth. The machines seemed to follow some programmed formation, lining up to pursue him as he zigzagged, all while firing non-stop.

"Damn it! Let's see you follow me in the air!" Raditz jumped high and hovered. He could tell that although these heavily tracked machines had attack capabilities, they definitely couldn't fly.

But three seconds later, he was dumbfounded.

The heavy, heavily armored machines made sounds of grinding gears. With mechanical friction noises, they began to transform... Their tracks disassembled, barrels retracted, and heavy armor plates shifted. Gradually, they stood upright on two feet, taking humanoid form.

"What the— Transformers? Is this Cybertron??"

Raditz froze in midair, completely stupefied.

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