Chapter 41: Wrong Evolution

The dull reverberation of metal echoed like a somber symphony, sending waves vibrating through everyone's ears.

The natives of Tumat lowered their heads when they heard Raditz's words. He had guessed correctly.

"And then?" Raditz prompted.

"Then, we gathered hundreds of top scientists, ancient linguists, historians, and archaeologists to crack the secrets of ancient technology. We finally discovered what had caused the prosperity of Tumatian."

"The metal planet?" Raditz asked.

"No! This is a mistake—we don't know why." The old man shook his head frantically. "We copied the original data completely without any errors and finally produced a smart technology chip named 'Boundless.' This chip was meant to serve as the core of the planet, providing energy and evolutionary calculations. According to the records, it has the ability to absorb energy from the star system, and even from the outer galaxy. Additionally, it can provide eternal energy to any technological products it creates! And as the core, it could also determine the most logical and rapid evolutionary path, making Tumat stronger!"

At this point, the old man couldn't continue. He looked around at the silent, metallic wasteland surrounding them.

Obviously, they had failed. Tumat must have been a habitable planet similar to Earth before, but now there was no vegetation—it had become a "Death Star" covered with metal from core to surface.

"The chip soon began its first evolution. It autonomously turned part of the planet into metal, then absorbed vast amounts of energy from other planets to build a mechatronic army. It captured all the Tumatian and turned us into slaves. Then it began terraforming the entire planet. As you can see, almost all the land has been converted to metal, and it's still expanding, intending to engulf other planets and increase its volume."

"How long?" Raditz asked suddenly.

"What?"

"I said, how long has it been since that disaster?"

"It's been more than ten years. Since the decline of our technology, the average life expectancy of Tumatian is only 50 years."

The old man bowed his head, his gray hair catching the dim light. Raditz had thought he was in his 80s, but he was surprised to learn that 50 years was now considered a full lifespan here.

At this moment, Raditz finally understood everything.

The spaceship was attracted by nothing more than the devouring desire of "Boundless." Raditz also discovered a weakness: after more than ten years of evolution, the entity's energy must be enormous, but it wasn't as easy as they expected to deal with multiple Saiyans with power levels over 100,000. This showed that it still couldn't concentrate all its energy effectively. In other words, its evolution was still in its infancy!

"I'll take you away!" Raditz reached out to cut off the electronic chains.

All the Tumatian panicked and shouted for him to stop.

"No, it will kill us!"

"You might not fear it, but we do! It can track our location, and a new robot inspector will arrive soon! You need to leave!"

"Its intelligence is far beyond your imagination."

Everyone waved their hands frantically, panic deeply engraved in their hearts.

"Are you going to be its slaves forever?" Raditz was becoming angry.

"For now, it still needs to study our physiological state to understand human life. It won't threaten our lives. Your spaceship is what's in real danger. If you can truly do the impossible, please stop Boundless!"

Raditz suddenly realized that the purpose of "Boundless" was to consume energy sources, and their spaceship was the perfect meal.

The old man was right—even if they rescued these people now, they couldn't eliminate the planet's pursuit. The real key was stopping the chip. Since these people weren't in immediate danger, Raditz gave them a final glance before rushing back.

When he returned to the spaceship's location, mechanical fragments were scattered everywhere. Severed robotic limbs smoked and sparked with electricity, filling the air with an acrid burning smell. The chip had indeed sent attackers, and these mechanical weapons were dark blue, larger in size, and equipped with a variety of weapons. Beyond ordinary shells, they had cluster lasers, electromagnetic missiles, and lightsabers.

It seemed that to recover the spaceship, Boundless had sent an elite troop, but unfortunately, it had miscalculated the strength of Goku and the others, leading to the annihilation of the entire robotic army.

"Raditz, what's going on?" Vegeta had just finished the battle, his anger still evident.

The others also looked to him with questioning expressions.

"These are guards created by the planet itself. Their goal is to capture all approaching objects. I'll explain in detail..."

Raditz summarized what the old Tumat man had told him. Everyone was surprised by this sudden information—it was the first time they'd heard of a living planet!

Autonomous consciousness, powerful mechanical troops, and unknown forces...

"Okay, since that's the case, let's go save those people!" Goku was gearing up, ready to attack the chip's location with all his might.

"Wait, is there any way we can get out of here quickly?" Krillin felt increasingly frightened and kept rubbing his arms anxiously.

"Even if the spaceship recovers its power, we still need to break through the obstacles. The metal giant and those tentacle-like mechanical arms are very difficult to deal with, and there might be more than one next time," Raditz said in a low voice.

At that moment, the ground shook. A dull, thunderous sound echoed through the ground, as if thousands of beasts were about to charge from nowhere!

"Earthquake?"

"No, its power is approaching!"

Before he could finish speaking, the distant dark golden building was covered by a layer of black light. It expanded like a whirlpool, spinning outward to form a circle at least 500 meters in diameter around the base of the building. The area suddenly transformed into a dark abyss, from which emerged a swarm of bee-like flying weapons!

Though small in size, they were countless in number. Each had a sharp head and two pairs of fan-like wings, creating a deafening buzz as they approached in a dense cloud!

"Everyone be careful!" Goku shouted.

The group adopted defensive stances, focused their attention, and stood in a row facing the oncoming enemy tide.

The flying weapons rushed forward at high speed, with the leader almost touching Raditz.

"BOOM!"

Suddenly, there was an explosion, and the lead flying weapon fell to the ground with billowing smoke before detonating.

Raditz quickly looked toward the source of the sound. In the distance, several modified blue mechanical armored vehicles were driving toward them, with someone standing at the front holding a sniper rifle.

Had they fired that shot?

"Get out of the way!" the person at the front of the vehicle yelled.

The mechanical cars came barreling forward. Many people emerged from the vehicles holding various weapons and firing continuously: "RATATATATATA!!!"

Raditz and the others dodged to avoid being caught in the crossfire. What they hadn't expected was the presence of other humans!

"Hey, come to us quickly! We have weapons!" shouted a brawny man operating a turret, his thick arms exposed.

Standing at the front of the lead vehicle was a young, beautiful woman wearing a navel-baring outfit. She had long legs, a slim waist, and red boots that wrapped her feet like flames. She looked heroic, her every movement chic and precise.

She adjusted her snake-patterned earrings and said, "Come here quickly! Their attacks are too fierce—we can only hold them off temporarily!" As she finished speaking, she threw an explosive device that created a small mushroom cloud in the midst of the "swarm" weapons.

"Actually, we can help—" Goku was interrupted by another explosion before he could finish.

A well-endowed woman jumped out of one vehicle, scooped up Gohan, and hurried back, saying as she ran, "Such a cute little boy! Don't get hurt."

"I want to fight with my dad!"

"Kid, don't try to be brave. Come with me!"

Gohan was helplessly carried away from the group.

A huge bee-shaped weapon suddenly emerged from the black vortex. Its entire body was dark red and shiny, with a metallic luster like rippling water.

It was completely different from the smaller drones, and its imposing presence was enough to intimidate everyone.

"The 'Dark Queen Bee' has appeared! Retreat immediately!"

A scream came over the loudspeaker, and the faces of everyone in and around the vehicles changed instantly. Their equipment had been cobbled together from salvaged mechs—adequate for dealing with ordinary enemy craft, but powerless against this formidable opponent.

The resistance fighters made the prudent decision to retreat.

As they hurriedly pulled back, they offered Raditz and the others two armored vehicles. "Use these mechs! As long as you stay inside and run the shielding system, you won't be detected."

Vegeta snorted coldly with disdain and stepped in front of a blue armored vehicle, facing the "Dark Queen Bee." Piccolo and Goku did the same, with Raditz standing before them with one hand raised. Krillin, Tien, and Nappa remained further back, with Krillin leaning casually against a tracked vehicle.

Were they insane? These strangers were telling them to run, and they were refusing. Wasn't this just asking for death?

"You..."

The woman leading the resistance fighters felt both afraid and angry—afraid of the "Dark Queen Bee's" attack power and angry at what she perceived as the Z Fighters' stupidity. But her voice suddenly died in her throat...

What was she seeing?

These strangers were gathering enormous energy in their hands, then firing it like laser cannons! White, blue, and green beams struck the Dark Queen Bee in succession, blasting it to ashes. The surrounding area was also reduced to dust, with scorched smoke rising everywhere.

One drone that had slipped through their barrage flew toward the woman who held Gohan. With her hands full, she had no time to raise her weapon.

Gohan quickly raised his hand and shot an energy ball that struck the drone, creating an explosion that rang in everyone's ears.

The resistance fighters froze, their eyeballs nearly popping out. The woman unconsciously loosened her grip on Gohan, and the muscular man nearly choked on his own saliva.

Was this real? Could humans actually do this?

What happened next amazed them even more. The Z Fighters fired energy waves continuously, forcefully suppressing the enemy assault and causing the distant black vortex to shrink, close, and finally disappear...

"Clatter—" The sniper rifle fell to the ground with a crisp sound.

Raditz turned first and said to Goku and the others with a wry smile, "Seems we scared them."

Vegeta remained disdainful: "Hmph, boring. These things' power levels are pathetic."

"But these resistance fighters must have some special abilities to survive here and avoid the metal planet's pursuit. Let's find a place to hide first." After thinking for a moment, Raditz placed the "HOPE" spacecraft into a capsule.

"Hello, my name is Raditz, and these are my companions."

"You, you... hello..." In front of the powerful Z Fighters, the resistance members could only stammer out a single greeting.

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