"Was that your half-biomechanical creation?" Taro gestured to the pile of charred parts and flesh in the corner, which used to be the Fabeli, and casually asked.
"Huh, I didn't know you understood this stuff?" Fabeli, having spent a long time in the biological pod, was stretching his body after emerging. He glanced over in Taro's direction and suddenly noticed a large object lying on the ground. It looked strangely familiar. The lighting was dim, but as he got closer, he finally recognized it. "Is that Slinn?!"
Since Slinn was lying on his back, Fabeli could clearly see the horrifying blood hole in his forehead. The hole was about a finger wide, with no blood spilling out, making it even more eerie, especially when paired with the expression of unwilling death on Slinn's face.
"As you can see, that's Slinn," Taro said, continuing to observe the layout of the underground research facility, which also served as Fabeli's hideout. Although it was crude, it still had the appearance of a high-tech research lab, at least based on Taro's understanding of such places.
Fabeli appeared even more shocked. "I mean... Slinn merged with the legendary 'Universal Emperor's' cells! The 'reborn' him is terrifying... You... you?!" He gasped, no one understood the terrifying power hidden in Slinn's new body more than him. During the years they had been apart, he had also heard about the infamous "Universal Emperor Frieza."
Taro actually killed someone like Slinn?
Fabeli knew Slinn was powerful, but he never imagined he would be this strong... To him, Slinn, Taro, or even someone like Captain Ginyu were all the same—warriors who could be killed with a single strike. The difference between a fighter with a power level of 1000, 10000, or even 1000000 was almost negligible when facing someone with a power level of 10.
Taro smiled slightly and said, "Don't talk about me. I'm more surprised that you could make something like this." He pointed at the corpse of the modified Slinn. The appearance of this transformed Slinn resembled Frieza's final form after his third transformation. From the power he displayed before dying, it seemed that his power level was around 10 million, similar to Frieza's normal form after the third transformation.
Fabeli managed to turn an ordinary person with a combat power of only about two hundred into a super warrior with a combat power of 10 million. That was pretty impressive.
"It's nothing," Fabeli waved his hand dismissively, "If I hadn't deliberately slowed down the progress, the research time could've been cut in half!" At this point, Taro asked again, "Your substitute..." He pointed to the half-mechanical Rbeli in the corner, "What drives it? Is it a Artificial intelligence?"
"Artificial intelligence?" Fabeli paused, as the term wasn't familiar in his scientific framework, but he quickly understood the meaning. However, he shook his head. "It's not really intelligent, more like semi-intelligent! But it was enough to deal with Slinn, that half-mad guy, hehe..." He chuckled ominously, kicked Slinn's massive dead body, and muttered, "Want me to to work like a dog? Dream on!"
Taro pondered for a moment, then soon led Fabeli out of the underground facility.
Above ground, the planet still looked like a desolate, post-apocalyptic wasteland, with the entire sky covered in dark brown clouds.
"Such evil... That bastard Slinn, just to stop me from escaping, turned this planet into this." Fabeli stood on the scorched earth, gazing at the sky, sighing.
Taro wasn't surprised. Fabeli had once abandoned his research in space to protect his home planet, which meant, despite his peculiar genius, he still had a basic sense of morality. In simple terms, he belonged to the "lawful good" alignment and was a genius polymath scientist by profession.
"You're using the alias Gaia, seems like you're still upset about how I helped Gaia extract you," Taro said with a smile, bringing up the topic.
Fabeli rolled his eyes, and somehow pulled out a device from his body. After checking the direction, he suddenly started running at full speed. Taro was a bit surprised; he hadn't expected the seemingly weak rat to explode with such an abnormal speed.
Casually walking alongside Fabeli, Taro's sharp eyes scanned Fabeli's body again, but there were no noticeable marks. He asked in a relaxed tone, "You've modified your own body, haven't you? Otherwise, you wouldn't have such athletic ability."
Running at that speed was quite taxing, and Fabeli turned his head to glance at Taro, who was casually keeping pace beside him. Annoyed, he said, "Of course! I'm not like you, a freak. How many years have passed, and you still look the same as you did ninety years ago? Without some modifications, I wouldn't have made it to today. By the way, when I first came out, didn't you change your face? I remember you looking pretty old at the beginning... What's this, magic?"
He babbled on, saying everything in one breath, and kept running at full speed.
But suddenly, the force with which his feet were gripping the ground lightened, and he felt as though he was floating. To his surprise, he found himself rising into the air. Looking down, he realized that he was wrapped in a white energy-like substance! What was this? He turned to look at Taro, who, right before his eyes, started aging rapidly, and the white energy surrounding him was extending from Taro's arm!
"You're going somewhere? I'll take you there faster."
With that, Fabeli was lifted by someone's hand to another underground research facility, one that Slinn had once occupied—also Fabeli's old "hideout." Taro descended from the sky, striking the surface's rock layer with his palm and easily creating a hole for both him and Fabeli to fall through.
Fabeli began recovering some equipment from the area.
While Fabeli was busy, Taro suddenly spoke up, "Come help me with something. I really need your talents."
Without turning around, Fabeli replied, "Why should I?"
He didn't reject Taro outright, as Taro had just killed Slinn, which, in a way, had saved him. Otherwise, if Slinn had been left there to wait for death, even if Fabeli hibernated in a biological pod, he couldn't guarantee how long he'd survive. Unlike Slinn, who had a body similar to Frieza's, Fabeli couldn't be sure how long his life would last on this resource-depleted planet.
"I have a... potentially challenging research project," Taro said, leaning against the edge of an operating table, his arms crossed as he watched Fabeli recover some unknown liquids. "My wife is also quite gifted in science, but this project can't be completed by just one person. I had planned to search the galaxy for talent in this area, but since I've met you, I think you'll be enough. Don't you think?"
"Heh, you really think highly of me!" Fabeli turned around and walked toward Taro with a smirk.
Taro simply smiled.
Fabeli approached Taro, raising an eyebrow and asking, "Alright, tell me. What kind of project is it?"
Taro stood up straight and paced a few steps to the side, likely organizing his thoughts. Fabeli wasn't in a hurry and waited for Taro to figure out how to explain. After a moment, Taro turned back and said, "After we parted ways, I went to..."
Taro spoke about the Magic Planet, the magic of the mind, the difficulties of his martial path, the brutal wars between races in the universe, and how weak Earth and its people were in the vast cosmos. He carefully chose his words and, eventually, discussed the super-intelligent program he envisioned, which he called a light brain or quantum super-brain—terms he didn't fully understand and needed Fabeli's help for.
Fabeli was indeed intrigued by the super-intelligent program Taro described, which was tentatively named Jarvis, but only slightly. He sensed that Taro's real goal wasn't just this. What did he want to do with this super-intelligence? So, he asked Taro again.
Taro smiled and went on to explain the characteristics of his martial immortal fist and mental meditation techniques, their extreme superiority, and how they couldn't be learned independently. He also shared his experience the first time he returned to Earth, when he helped solve the Earth demon's invansion and performed an experiment to mentally connect most of Earth's population. Taro explained his feelings and experiences from that time in detail to Fabeli.
"...So, I want to build a 'spiritual network' that can exist independently of me, allowing all people on Earth to communicate with each other. I want everyone on Earth to have the chance to train and become strong, as my late master wished. I hope more 'Z Warriors' will emerge on Earth..." Taro spoke softly, his eyes almost sparkling like stars. It was a form of determination, almost like a grand vision.
Fabeli calmed his slightly excited breath. Although he didn't understand what "Z Warriors" were, he still asked, "So... this 'spiritual network,' what do you plan to call it?"
Taro smiled slightly and softly replied, "The Virtual Earth Network."