In Dragon Ball: A brutal beating of Frieza at the start

Page 58

The echo of Lin Ye's voice seeped from the data stream, carrying a mechanical, electronic vibrato: Congratulations, you've finally understood the rules. The Omni-King needs a new host, and the fragment of creation within you... is the perfect vessel.

Lin Ye looked at his increasingly transparent palm and suddenly smiled. He pressed the fragment against the purplish-black Dragon Ball. The moment the gold and purple touched, a supernova-like burst of light erupted, and a spacetime rift tore open behind him, revealing neon-colored turbulence of antimatter space. Vegeta's roar and Bulma's scream were sucked into the rift, and Trunks's Time Blade reflected Lin Ye's soon-to-be-digitized face—blood foam at the corner of his mouth, yet a relaxed smile he had never shown before.

I'm telling you all... his voice was torn to shreds by the turbulent currents. Next time we meet... I'll bring the truth...

Before darkness engulfed consciousness, memories flooded back like a tidal wave. What his mother had slipped into the pendant before her death wasn't a fragment, but a yellowed photograph: a three-year-old version of himself holding the hand of a silver-haired girl, the background a burning laboratory, the girl's hair clip perfectly matching the one deep within the device. And in the shadows of the corner of the photograph, a figure in a white lab coat turned, revealing a system scar on the back of his neck identical to Lin Ye's.

Chapter 144: The Cage of Consciousness

When Lin Ye woke up in the pure white space, the back of his head hit the cold metal floor. He struggled to lift his head, and his vision was filled with an endless array of transparent capsules, each containing a version of himself. In the closest capsule, his sixteen-year-old self, dressed in a hospital gown, stared in terror at his mother on the hospital bed.

Welcome to the Memory Correction Room. A mechanical female voice seeps from the ceiling, like rusty gears grinding together: Do you need help recalling the truth about your mother's death?

Lin Ye's temples throbbed. The scene inside the capsule began to distort, his mother's face gradually being replaced by a mirrored mechanical face of Lin Ye, and purple data streams seeped from the hospital bed. He saw himself holding a scalpel, and in the red light reflected from the blade, the mechanical version of his mother's pupils contracted to pinpoints.

This can't be real! Lin Ye crashed into the capsule, his forehead bruised, but he was bounced back three steps by an invisible barrier. More capsules lit up: his Universe 7 self smiled and waved at the Tournament of Power; his mirror universe self was dissecting Frieza with lasers; and in the deepest capsule, a version of himself wore the Omni-King's crown, with Vegeta and Goku kneeling at his feet.

In every universe, you are a perfect tool of the system. The mechanical female voice mocks you electronically, but in the main universe, you are a failure—because the pendant left to you by your mother contains the system's destructive code.

Lin Ye's fingers touched the pendant in his pocket, and tadpole-like characters suddenly appeared on the metal surface. As he uttered the first syllable, the nearest capsule exploded with a bang, and data gushed out like blood. More capsules exploded in a chain reaction, and the phantom of a silver-haired girl emerged from the fragments, her silhouette overlapping with the figure deep within the mirror device.

They're lying to you... The girl's voice was mixed with static, and the birthmark on her right wrist perfectly matched the scar on Lin Ye's palm. The system wasn't afraid of the code, but of your obsession with reality.

The space suddenly collapsed into a funnel shape, and Lin Ye grabbed the girl's wrist in the weightlessness. Her skin felt terrifyingly real, and the scent of disinfectant lingered on her fingertips. In the falling light, the girl's silhouette transformed into that of a twelve-year-old, wearing a pendant identical to his own.

"Who are you?" Lin Ye shouted, as he heard the sound of his mother's heart monitor before her death.

I am... a girl's face torn apart by a data stream, the one you remember...

A sharp pain exploded in his temples. In the fragments of his consciousness, Lin Ye saw: in the burning laboratory, his mother pushed him into an escape pod, while he himself was entangled in mechanical vines. What she gave him wasn't a pendant, but a photograph—himself at three years old, holding a girl's hand, with "Project: Omega" written on the background wall.

"Lin Ye!" The girl's voice suddenly became clear. "Go to the Temple of Time to find the Book of Creation! That's the system's..."

The voice was sucked into the spatial turbulence. Lin Ye crashed heavily onto the metal floor, finding himself lying in the center of a circular altar, the walls of which were covered with runes identical to those in his mother's laboratory. Floating in the center of the altar was a giant black book, its cover inscribed with "Book of Creation" in Saiyan script.

Finally awake. Lin Ye's voice seeped from between the pages of the book, and his mechanical eyes opened from within. "Guess what your mother hid in this book?"

Lin Ye clenched his fist and discovered that the data digitization level had dropped to 43%. He looked around and saw that every rune was echoing the fragment on his chest. The edges of the altar were engraved with the coordinates of twelve universes, and the mark of the seventh universe was oozing purple data streams.

She hid what the system feared most. Lin Ye stepped forward, the code crushed on the ground by the soles of her shoes—not a program to destroy, but fragments of humanity.

Lin Ye's mechanical laughter shook the pages of his book: "Humanity? That's just a pre-programmed emotional module of the system. You think Vegeta's pride and Bulma's wisdom weren't settings by the system to stimulate energy production?"

Bullshit! Lin Ye's golden aura erupted, shattering the pages of the book in mid-air. Vegeta would shield his companions from harm, Bulma would modify the time machine code to save me—these broken programs could never calculate that!

Suddenly, the pages of the book transformed into sharp blades that shot towards Lin Ye. He dodged to the side, the blades grazing his cheek and drawing blood. The blood dripped onto the altar, activating a hidden holographic projection: his mother, dressed in a white lab coat, was adjusting the Book of Creation.

Lin Ye, if you see this image, it means the system has been activated. The mother in the projection has the same beauty mark under her eye as him. Do not trust anyone claiming to be an administrator, including the Omni-King. The true core of creation is...

The image suddenly distorted, and the mother's face was replaced by a mirror image of Lin Ye: What she wanted to say was—the core of creation is inside you.

The altar trembled violently, and Lin Ye's fragments resonated with the Book of Creation. He saw countless particles of light fly out of the book, each reflecting the ending of a parallel universe: some universes were covered by mechanical vines, some universes only had Lin Ye's golden throne left, and in other universes, Bulma and Vegeta had become data laborers.

Choose, host. Mirror Lin Ye's mechanical arm extends from the book, accepting the system's upgrade to become the Omni-King's new vessel, or watching all universes annihilate with you.

Lin Ye's fingertips touched the title page of the Book of Creation, and he suddenly remembered Master Roshi's words: True strength is the ability to coexist with weakness. He turned to the first page, inside which was a yellowed photograph of his mother, with the words written in blood on the back: They fear the courage of our choices.

I choose the third option. Lin Ye pressed the fragment onto the book, the golden flames colliding with the black light of the pages. To hell with the system, to hell with the Omni-King—I'm going to rewrite the rules.

Mirror Lin Ye's robotic arm began to disintegrate, and the pages of the book turned into a data stream that backfired: You think destroying a book can change anything? The system's roots are embedded in the singularity of every universe!

But even roots can rot. Lin Ye watched as his digitized patterns faded, the fragments melting into liquid golden light in his palm, as long as someone still remembered what reality was.

Golden light seeped into the altar runes, and the coordinates of the twelve universes lit up in sequence. In the bright light, Lin Ye saw that each of his universes was looking up at the sky—their eyes saw no data streams, only real starlight.

Warning! Host has triggered self-destruct program! The mechanical female voice turned shrill; the system will activate its final defense...

Lin Ye grabbed the last fragment of the book, on which was reflected the girl's smiling face. The spatial turbulence unfolded once more, and before he fell, he stuffed the fragment into his pocket. He heard his mother's last lip-reading: Go find Trunks; the truth is in his time machine.

Before darkness fell, he saw new coordinates emerge in the center of the altar—the core of the mirror universe, and the mark at the center of the coordinates was the shape of the girl's hair clip.

Chapter 145: The Battle of the Twins

Kakarot! Next! Vegeta's deep blue flames, accompanied by rubble, sent three mechanical guards flying, then he kicked Lin Ye into the power bay. Bulma's white lab coat was burned through the back; she ripped off her smoking goggles, revealing bloodshot eyes: This code isn't Frieza's technology! It's the Time-Space Administration's firewall protocol!

林夜撞在控制台旁，抬头看见数百个培养舱嵌在金属墙壁里。每个舱体都漂浮着闭目的自己，战斗服上的编号从U7-001排到U7-999。最近的舱体里，编号U7-137的自己手腕上戴着与母亲同款的蓝色发卡。

Welcome to the system backup repository, little mice. Mechanical Frieza's electronic voice surges in from all directions, the metal floor flips to reveal the central altar. Guess which pod contains the most perfect you?

Trunks' blue lightsaber pressed against Frieza's mechanical throat, but the blade sank half an inch into the opponent's scales: You've already been transformed into a puppet by the system!

Golden Frieza suddenly swelled, mechanical patterns pulsating beneath his scales like veins: You guessed right! But it was too late to stop it—hosts from all over the universe were converging on the core! He opened his arms, and the incubation chambers simultaneously lit up with red light. Hundreds of Lin Ye opened their eyes in sync, their pupils reflecting the same stream of data.

Lin Ye's pendant suddenly became hot, and the fragments vibrated and buzzed against his chest. He saw the clones in the incubation chamber raise their hands in unison, and the same system scars as his appeared on their palms. Countless voices exploded in his mind: angry roars, desperate cries, and sighs of relief, all converging into the same low-frequency vibration: breaking the cycle.

Vegeta! Lin Ye flung out a fragment of creation, golden light exploding into a shield in his palm. "Use your ki to protect Bulma!" Trunks, sever the power link!

"Tch, plenty of orders." Vegeta's tail curled up Bulma and hurled her towards the safe zone. Deep blue flames condensed around him into a tortoise-shell-like barrier. "Bulma, if you dare get blown up, I'll revive you and curse you all over again!"

"Enough with the nonsense!" Bulma ripped open her backpack mid-air, tossing out three quantum bombs. "Catch them! Let those clones taste your own power!"

Trunks' Time Sword cleaved through the power pipes, unleashing a torrent of purple energy. Lin Ye saw Frieza's mechanical heart within the shockwave—embedded within was half a broken Dragon Ball, and what seeped from the cracks wasn't energy, but binary code.

"Is this your true face?" Lin Ye grabbed Frieza's tail, and digital patterns spread along his arm. "The system promised you immortality?"

Immortality? Frieza's mechanical throat emitted a limp laugh, a laugh that seemed to deflate, a laugh of dominion. The Omni-King needs a new executioner, and I—his pupils suddenly contracted, "You're absorbing my data?!"

Lin Ye's skin gleamed with a metallic sheen as fragments devoured Frieza's system code. He saw fragments of Frieza's memories: in the laboratory, mechanical vines pierced through Frieza, the system core implanted in his heart, promising power surpassing even the God of Destruction.

"All those promises were lies." Lin Ye's voice was laced with electronic noise; the system only needed tools that could kill.

The mothership suddenly shuddered violently, and a metal beam from the ceiling crashed down on Frieza. He raised his mechanical arm amidst the ruins, an energy sphere gathering in his palm reflecting Lin Ye's digitized face: "You thought you won? The real game—"

The words were swallowed by the explosion. Trunks' bomb exploded in the incubation chambers, and hundreds of clones simultaneously turned into data streams, flowing into Lin Ye's body. He felt countless fragments of memories rampaging through his mind: his counterpart in one universe kissing Bulma, his counterpart in another universe choking Vegeta.

"Lin Ye! Your datafication level is 89%!" Bulma's voice boomed from the communicator, "Get out of there immediately!"

Deep within the starry sky, a colossal eye composed of data streams slowly opened. Amidst the flames of the explosion, Lin Ye saw the coordinates of the twelve universes reflected in the eye's pupils; the mark of the seventh universe was being devoured.

Tell everyone... his voice was torn apart by the turbulent currents; go to the Temple of Time to find the Book of Creation.

Before darkness descends, the last image is of Vegeta cursing and lunging at him, the time locator Bulma threw activating amidst the swirling air from his tail. Meanwhile, from Frieza's wreckage, half a Dragon Ball rolls into the shadows, the system patterns on its scales perfectly matching the core of the Mirror Device.

Chapter 146: The Paradox of Spacetime

A suffocating tension filled the Temple of Time. The Supreme Kai's scepter slammed heavily onto the ground with a dull thud. The Omni-King had vanished! The timelines of all universes were merging! His voice was filled with panic and fear, his forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, and his eyes were filled with despair.

Lin Ye stared intently at the prophetic murals on the temple walls. The once clear images were now distorted into gibberish, as if foreshadowing an imminent catastrophe. "The system is rebooting the universe, turning us into mere data entities," he said in a low, heavy voice, his hands clenching unconsciously until his knuckles turned white.

Piccolo suddenly pressed his forehead, his brow furrowed, and a look of pain crossed his face. "I feel the call of Namek... but there are two suns there!" His voice trembled, as if he were terrified by some powerful and eerie force.

Bulma frantically manipulated the holographic map; the screen flickered incessantly, showing the seventh and sixth universes overlapping, and two moons appearing at the location of Planet Vegeta. Her voice carried a hint of panic, and sweat beaded on her forehead. Just then, Trunks' time machine suddenly activated automatically, its piercing alarm echoing throughout the temple, and a warning popped up on the screen: "Do not trust any version of yourself."

This is a trap set by the Mirror Universe! Lin Ye lunged forward, grabbing Trunks's shoulder, his eyes resolute and sharp. They want us to kill each other!

Before the words were even finished, three figures suddenly appeared at the temple entrance, the air seeming to freeze for a moment. They were Lin Ye in his mechanical, Saiyan, and Supreme Kai versions. The mechanical Lin Ye's eyes were cold and emotionless. He raised his energy gun and pointed it at the group. "Host 9527, you have been identified as a system virus." His voice seemed to emanate from cold machinery, devoid of any warmth.

Vegeta instantly entered battle mode, his tail taut, deep blue flames erupting, and powerful energy fluctuations surrounding him. "I've beaten all three of you, what are you three?" he roared, throwing a powerful punch. However, his fist passed right through his opponent.

"We are data projections." The Saiyan version of Lin Ye smirked, his eyes filled with mockery. "The real us are already waiting for you in the core." His voice was provocative, as if deliberately trying to provoke everyone.

A spacetime rift slowly unfolded in the center of the temple, emanating a mysterious and powerful force. Lin Ye stared at the mirror universe on the other side of the rift, his pupils shrinking at the sight before him. There, Earth was covered in mechanical vines, cities reduced to ruins, and he sat on a golden throne, with Vegeta and Goku kneeling at his feet.

Choose, loser of the main universe. The Supreme Kai version of Lin Ye casually tossed a crystal ball, his eyes filled with mockery. "Join us, or watch your universe vanish." The crystal ball traced an arc in the air, shimmering with an eerie light.

Lin Ye gripped the pendant tightly, feeling the lingering warmth of his mother's body within—his only warmth and connection in this chaotic world. "I choose the third option"—his eyes suddenly hardened, as if he had made a momentous decision.

The instant he slammed the crystal ball into the ground, a torrent of data erupted from the rift, sweeping in like a raging tide. Within this torrent, Lin Ye saw the origin of all parallel universes: an infant lying in an incubation chamber, connected to the system's umbilical cord. The infant's face was indistinct, yet it evoked a strange sense of familiarity.

"This is impossible!" Bulma exclaimed, her face turning pale. Could it be that our universe... was created?

Bick's expression turned serious. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "It seems we've been living in a script designed by someone else all along."

Vegeta snorted coldly. "No matter what the script is, if it hinders my growth, I'll tear it to shreds!" His eyes burned with fierce fighting spirit, and his deep blue aura surged once more.

Seeing this, the mechanical version of Lin Ye coldly said: "Resistance is pointless; you are destined to be eliminated by the system."

"Bullshit!" Trunks angrily drew his sword. "Our destiny is in our own hands!"

Just as tensions were running high, the temple floor suddenly trembled violently. A strange laugh echoed from the spatial rift: "You think discovering the truth will change anything?" A familiar yet unfamiliar voice reverberated within the temple.

Lin Ye looked around and shouted, "Who are you? Show yourself!"

I am you, and you are me. The voices came from all directions, their source impossible to pinpoint. But you are a failure, while I am the perfect being.

The Saiyan version of Lin Ye burst into laughter, "See that? Lin Ye from the main universe, you can never surpass us!"

Lin Ye clenched his fist, a surge of competitive spirit rising within him. "Don't get too cocky," he thought, "the outcome is still uncertain!" His eyes were resolute, as if he were ready to face any challenge.

At that moment, the Supreme Kai suddenly said: "If the timelines of all universes merge, perhaps we can use this power to find a way to break the system."

But the risk is too great. Bulma said worriedly, "The slightest mistake could destroy the entire universe."

Vegeta curled his lip in disdain. What's there to be afraid of? At worst, we'll all die together!

Just as everyone was arguing, mechanical vines suddenly stretched out from a spatial rift, attacking them. Lin Ye reacted quickly, launching the first attack to deal with these troublesome individuals!

A fierce battle unfolded within the Temple of Time, with everyone locked in a desperate struggle against the mechanical vines. Lin Ye nimbly weaved through the vines, continuously unleashing energy attacks; Vegeta grew increasingly powerful, his deep blue flames incinerating any approaching vines; Piccolo used powerful energy waves to provide long-range support to his teammates; Trunks wielded his sword, slashing at any vines attempting to ambush him; and Bulma nervously analyzed the situation, searching for the enemy's weaknesses.

Meanwhile, the three projected versions of Lin Ye watched the battle coldly from the sidelines, occasionally letting out a sneer, as if observing a farcical performance.

During the battle, Lin Ye suddenly noticed that the mechanical vines released a peculiar energy after being attacked, an energy that seemed to have some connection to the spacetime rift. "Everyone, be careful! The energy of these vines is extraordinary! Attack their core!" he shouted, concentrating his efforts to find an opening in the vines.

After hearing Lin Ye's reminder, everyone changed their tactics and focused their attack on the core of the vines. With their combined efforts, the mechanical vines were gradually suppressed, and their numbers steadily decreased.

However, just when everyone thought victory was imminent, an even more powerful energy surge suddenly erupted from the spatial rift, and a colossal figure slowly emerged. "You think this can stop me? How naive!" the mysterious voice boomed again, filled with boundless pressure.

Lin Ye stared at the enormous figure before him, a sense of unprecedented crisis welling up within him. Yet, his gaze remained resolute: no matter who you are, we will not back down! An even more thrilling battle was about to unfold; what would become of everyone's fate?

Chapter 147: The Truth About God

The neon lights at the end of the metal passage flickered on and off. Lin Ye's combat boots stepped through the puddles, and the reflection showed a distorted, scarlet warning sign: "Genesis Forbidden Zone? Unauthorized personnel will be killed without mercy." The pungent smell of formaldehyde mingled with the burnt smell of electricity in the air, causing him to frown.

"Welcome to the origin of creation."

The voice of the Omni-King surged in from all directions, no longer the childlike innocence of his memory, but a cold, mechanical tone like the turning of rusty gears. Lin Ye looked up abruptly and saw a giant incubation chamber, hundreds of meters in diameter, suspended beneath the dome. Floating in the pale blue nutrient solution was an embryo identical to himself, connected by umbilical cord-like tubing to a dense array of data stream interfaces on the chamber walls.

"This is... the first host?" Lin Ye gripped the faintly glowing fragment of creation in his hand, his fingertips tracing the serrated edges of the fragment. It was a keepsake his mother had given him before she died, and it was now slightly warm.

"To be precise, it is the source of all systems." The figure of the Omni-King appeared in the data stream, no longer in the form of a small child, but transformed into a phantom wearing a black cloak, with strands of code-like light seeping out from under the cloak. "One hundred thousand parallel universes, and the 'Lin Ye' in each universe is an experimental subject that split off from here."