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

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Air pressure inside the station: Normal

Temperature: Low temperature (suitable for mechanical maintenance)

Life support system: operating at minimum power consumption

External Environment: ...Warning...Abnormal spatial fluctuations detected...Source...Unknown...Intensity...Continuously increasing...

caveat!

The red warning symbol suddenly started flashing wildly on the panel! The monotonous electronic voice also became urgent:

High-energy object detected approaching rapidly! Estimated contact time: 3 minutes!

Identification failed! Energy signature matching...matches...partially matches the 'Void Erosion' pattern!

Alert! The outpost may have been discovered! (Repeated: The outpost may have been discovered!)

They had barely arrived, and hadn't even stepped out the door, when the crisis struck!

"What?!" Trunks gripped the hilt of his sword instantly.

A glint of violent golden light flashed in Vegeta's eyes, and his aura surged uncontrollably: "Damn it! I knew it wouldn't be that simple!"

Lin Ye's heart sank. Low risk? Standby mode? The feeling of fragments...did something go wrong? Or perhaps, they came...at the worst possible time?

Number 18 had already slipped to the airtight door and was looking out through the observation window—outside was a pitch-black universe, and in the distance, an ominous, dark light that was becoming increasingly clear!

Chapter 514 Encounter! Void Hound

Before the dizziness from the teleportation had completely subsided, the piercing alarm sounded like an ice pick stabbing into everyone's eardrums.

"High-energy object detected approaching rapidly! Estimated contact time: 3 minutes!"

"Identification failed! Energy signature matching...partially matches the 'Void Erosion' pattern!"

"Alert! The outpost may have been discovered!"

The cold, electronic voice echoed in the cramped teleportation chamber, each word carrying an ominous premonition.

"What?! We just arrived and we've already run into this?" Trunks's expression changed, and the longsword on his back automatically drew half an inch from its sheath with a "clang," and a pale blue aura instinctively covered his entire body, illuminating the dim cabin slightly.

"Damn it! I knew it wouldn't be that simple!" Vegeta roared, his dark golden pupils contracting instantly, and his aura surging like a suppressed volcano, radiating a dangerous presence. He didn't immediately unleash his power, but instead spread his senses outward like a spiderweb, attempting to pinpoint the number and strength of the attackers.

Unit 18 had already moved like a ghost to the observation window next to the airtight door, its cold eyes peering through the high-strength glass into the pitch-black universe outside. In the distance, against the once still backdrop of the starry sky, several dim lights were growing larger at an alarming rate, leaving distorted trails of light like stains splattered on a canvas. "Number three... no, five units. Extremely fast, energy reaction... chaotic and aggressive. Not a conventional warship."

Lin Ye's heart sank the moment the alarm sounded, but the faint sense of reassurance from the fragments and his own hardened will quickly calmed him down. He took a deep breath of the cold, ozone-scented air, his sharp gaze sweeping across the cabin. "The fragments' feeling was right; the risk here is inherently low. Perhaps our timing was too perfect, or… we're being 'tracked' by something." He immediately looked at Night Owl, "Night Owl, can you take over the defense system here or obtain more detailed external surveillance?"

Night Owl had already pounced on the rudimentary control panel, his fingers moving across it like phantoms, his mouth gurgling: "Attempting... Permission confirmed... Retrieving external sensor data... Damn it! The equipment at this outpost is too outdated; most of the active detection systems are dormant! We can only rely on passive sensors to capture their energy trajectories and general outlines!"

The image on the panel was blurry; only a few twisted, shadow-like claw-like objects could be seen silently tearing through space, heading straight for the outpost. Their energy signature was the same as the void constructs encountered on the Ark, but more condensed, more…efficient.

“Like… scouts, or hunting dogs,” Lin Ye said in a deep voice, staring at the blurry image. The fragments were slightly warm in his palm, conveying a faint sense of vigilance, but not a warning of a deadly threat. “The energy intensity of the individuals isn’t too high, roughly equivalent to… an elite special forces member? But the nature of their energy is troublesome.”

“Just five small fry.” Vegeta’s lips curled into a cruel smile. “Perfect for using them to stretch our muscles and test how well we’ve recovered.” He looked at Lin Ye. “Kid, can the door be opened? Or are we just supposed to wait in this tin can for them to break it down?”

“It can be opened.” Lin Ye walked to the control gate next to the airtight door, pressed his palm on it, and the light of the fragment flashed slightly, seeping into the control circuitry. “But it’s a vacuum outside. The outpost has basic life support, but it only covers the main passageways and functional compartments. We need to act quickly, or find protective suits.”

“No need for that,” Trunks said, his aura stabilizing and forming a thin, resilient protective layer over his body. “By enveloping oneself in a gas, one can move in a vacuum for a short time. Uncle Vegeta, Mr. Lin Ye, you should be able to do that too. Miss 18 is an android, so she doesn’t need to breathe. Mr. Night Owl, you…”

Night Owl pulled a small metal box from his waist, quickly pressed a few buttons, and a thin, shimmering, energy-glowing personal force field generator swiftly covered his entire body. "Personal life-sustaining force field, can sustain you for thirty units of standard time. Don't count on me for combat, but self-defense and movement are no problem." As a top agent, he clearly had his own means of survival.

"That's enough." Lin Ye nodded, his eyes narrowing. "Prepare to engage the enemy! Their target is clear: this teleportation room! We can't let the battle break out here. If the teleportation array is damaged, we'll be trapped here! Take the initiative and deal with them outside the station!"

"Just what I wanted!" Vegeta laughed wildly, his aura exploding and his silver hair flying upwards. "Let's go!"

Lin Ye abruptly pulled the gate open, and the airtight door slid open to one side with a heavy "hiss". Outside the door was a brief docking corridor connecting the teleportation room and the main passage. Further away, another airtight door leading to the external maintenance platform was already faintly visible.

Almost the instant the door opened, a wave of cold, deathly malice, carrying a sense of spatial distortion, surged in, causing everyone except Vegeta to feel a chill.

"Go!" Lin Ye shouted, charging forward first, with Vegeta close behind, Trunks and Android 18 flanking them, while Night Owl remained in the center, his instruments constantly scanning the surrounding environment.

The five moved with incredible speed, instantly traversing the docking corridor and arriving at the airtight door leading to the outer platform. Through the observation window in this door, they could clearly see the five shadowy figures—roughly the size of small shuttles, their forms resembling twisted, emaciated hounds composed of shadow and purple energy, eyeless, with only two constantly rotating energy vortexes serving as their heads. Their sharp claws tore through space itself, leaving brief black cracks, as they silently lunged towards the platform!

"Open the door!" Vegeta couldn't wait any longer.

Lin Ye used his fragmented access to open the last airtight door once again.

"laugh--!"

The instant the door opened, the absolute silence and profound chill of the universe enveloped everyone. At the same time, the five Void Hounds, like sharks smelling blood, suddenly accelerated and pounced with a will to tear everything apart!

"The two on the left are mine!" Vegeta roared, and before anyone could react, he transformed into a golden lightning bolt, crashing directly into the two hounds charging at the front. His fists, brimming with destructive energy, unleashed a swift and unpretentious punch!

"Boom! Boom!"

A violent energy explosion silently erupted in the vacuum, with only blinding light and a violent energy shockwave spreading outwards, causing the entire outpost to tremble slightly. The shadow armor on the two Void Hounds was like paper before Vegeta's absolute power, instantly torn apart, and the core energy vortex emitted a silent shriek before abruptly disappearing.

However, the other three hounds were extremely cunning. They seemed to have judged that Vegeta was the most difficult to deal with, and they strangely changed direction in the air, bypassing Vegeta and attacking Lin Ye, Trunks and Android 18 from three directions!

"Watch out! Their energy can erode defenses!" Night Owl warned loudly, his instruments displaying the ominous purple energy field emanating from the hounds.

"Understood!" Trunks' eyes narrowed, and he drew his longsword, its blade enveloped in a condensed blue aura, to meet a hunting dog. "Swish!" A sharp flash of light swept across, precisely striking the dog's neck. However, the expected clean cut did not occur. The blade seemed to have pierced through viscous asphalt, encountering immense resistance. The dog's shadowy body twisted and contorted, attempting to erode Trunks's aura along the sword's edge!

"What?!" Trunks was shocked and immediately increased his energy output. The sword light surged, barely managing to force the hound back, but a small portion of the energy attached to the sword had already been eroded away.

On the other side, facing the charging hound, Number 18 calmly raised his hands, unleashing a barrage of energy cannon fire from his palms. "Bang! Bang! Bang!" Blazing white energy beams struck the hound, shattering it into clusters of shadowy fragments, but the hound's speed was barely affected. The damaged parts were visibly absorbing the surrounding cosmic energy to repair themselves! It opened its massive, energy-formed maw and bit at Number 18's mechanical arm.

Number 18 frowned slightly, dodging to the side. The alloy on her arm grazed the hound's claws, sending sparks flying and producing a sickening metallic scraping sound. Her scanning system revealed that the microstructure of her arm armor was being slowly disintegrated by an unknown energy source.

"Physical and energy attacks are much less effective! They have extremely high resistance to conventional attacks!" Number 18 quickly analyzed and shared the information.

At this moment, the last hunting dog pounced on Lin Ye, and the swirling energy vortex emitted a strong suction force, as if it wanted to devour him along with his soul.

Lin Ye did not take the blow head-on. He shifted his feet and slid to the side like a ghost. At the same time, the fragment in his palm flashed with light, and an invisible force with orderly fluctuations blocked in front of him like a shield.

"Buzz!"

The Void Hound crashed into the invisible shield, unleashing a violent surge of energy. The power of order seemed to have a natural resistance to void energy; the shadow on the hound's body hissed and melted away like ice meeting the sun. It let out a silent howl of pain, and its attack paused.

"It works!" Lin Ye's eyes lit up. "Attack them with energy that has ordered properties! Or destroy the core instantly with absolute power!"

"Did you hear that, Vegeta!" Trunks perked up and swung his sword again. This time, he didn't aim for a slash, but instead compressed his ki to form a condensed blue shockwave, which blasted towards the hound's core energy vortex.

Number 18 also changed its strategy, no longer using area-of-effect energy cannons, but instead concentrating energy at its fingertips to form a high-frequency energy drill, precisely piercing the hound's repair nodes.

After dealing with the first two, Vegeta initially showed little interest in the remaining minions. However, upon hearing Lin Ye's words and seeing Trunks and Android 18 fighting somewhat hesitantly, he clicked his tongue impatiently. He flashed behind the hound that was currently battling Trunks, his five fingers like hooks, covered in destructive golden flames, and plunged directly into the core of the hound's shadowy body!

"Pfft!"

There was no violent explosion, only a soft thud. The hound's core vortex dimmed and shattered instantly, like a lamp being extinguished, and its entire shadowy body collapsed, dissipating into nothingness energy particles in the vacuum.

"Waste of time!" Vegeta didn't even look, and with a backhand punch, he blasted another hound that was trying to ambush Android 18. The extremely concentrated fist pressure was like an invisible giant hammer, directly causing the hound and the space around it to collapse, and its core was instantly annihilated.

In the blink of an eye, only the Void Hound that had attacked Lin Ye remained of the five. It seemed to sense the death of its companion and Vegeta's terrifying pressure, emitting a wave of fear before turning to try and escape into the void.

"Trying to run?" Lin Ye's eyes turned cold. He had finally found an opportunity to test the effects of the power of order on void creatures, so how could he let it go? He stopped defending and took the initiative to attack. The fragment in his palm shone brightly, and an invisible force field of order instantly unfolded like a cage, enveloping the hound within it.

The hound struggled frantically within the force field, its shadowy body twisting and thrashing about, yet it moved with extreme sluggishness, like a flying insect trapped in amber, and the corrosive energy on its surface rapidly dissolved under the force field of order.

"Analyze its structure and find the weak point connecting the energy core to the body." Night Owl's voice came through the team's encrypted channel. He was scanning the bound hounds from a distance using instruments.

Lin Ye understood, concentrated his mind, and used the fragment's perception to penetrate it. Soon, he "saw" a tiny, constantly shifting dark spot deep within the hound's ever-rotating energy vortex, emanating the purest void energy.

"found it!"

Lin Ye pointed his fingers like a sword, and a highly compressed silver-white energy, infused with his own aura and fragmented order fluctuations, condensed at his fingertips. He shot it out with the precision of a scalpel, instantly piercing through the order force field and striking the ever-changing dark spot.

"Boom——"

With a soft pop, like a bubble bursting, the hound's struggle abruptly ceased. The core dark spot shattered, and the entire shadowy body disintegrated and vanished silently, like a sand sculpture scattered by the wind.

The battle was over. The repair platform fell silent again, with only the faint glow of a distant star and the lingering energy of the explosion illuminating the five figures.

Sound cannot travel in a vacuum, but everyone could feel the somber atmosphere following the great battle. These "hounds" weren't particularly strong, but their bizarre characteristics—resistance to conventional attacks, powerful regenerative abilities, and an all-consuming energy attribute—foreshadowed just how formidable future enemies would be.

"Cleaned up." Vegeta dissipated his aura, crossed his arms, and spoke with his usual disdain, but a hint of seriousness crept into his eyes. He admitted that if the numbers had increased dozens of times, or if even more powerful individuals had emerged, even he would have found it troublesome.

“They are just vanguard reconnaissance units.” Number 18 examined the fine marks of erosion on his arm and calmly stated the facts. “Our position has been exposed. We must obtain what we need as soon as possible and then leave.”

Trunks sheathed his sword, his face filled with worry: "How did they find this place? Was it a coincidence, or were we marked?"

Lin Ye hovered in the vacuum, watching the direction the hounds had disappeared in. A faint pull emanated from the fragment in his palm, pointing towards a certain direction within the station. He slowly said, "Now is not the time to delve deeper. The hounds are dead, but their owners may have already received the message. We don't have much time left. The fragment is guiding me; there's something we need inside the station."

He turned to look at the airtight door leading into the station.

"Let's go in and take a look. What exactly has this 'low-risk' outpost left us with?"

Chapter 515 The Secret of the Outpost

The external airtight door was closed again, and the weak artificial gravity inside the cabin acted on everyone once more, dispelling the floating sensation caused by weightlessness in space, but it could not dispel the sense of urgency in everyone's hearts.

The air inside the station remained frigid, carrying a stronger smell of worn metal and machine oil than in the teleportation chambers. The corridor lights flickered dimly, occasionally illuminating the mottled marks on the walls and some long-dormant pipe connections. Everything here exuded a sense of silence, as if forgotten by time.

“The life support system is operating at low power only in the core area; everything else is in a dormant state.” Night Owl looked at the data displayed on the instrument on his wrist. “Temperature: minus ten degrees Celsius; radiation levels: normal; no other life signals detected… except for us.”

“It seems this place has been abandoned for a long time.” Trunks cautiously surveyed his surroundings. There were some closed hatches on both sides of the corridor, marked with words such as “Equipment Maintenance Room”, “Energy Storage Unit”, and “Environmental Sample Library”, but most of them were covered in dust.

"Don't look around, keep up." Vegeta walked in front, his senses constantly extended to the maximum range, like a human radar, detecting even the slightest energy fluctuations. "That broken rock is pointing this way, right, Lin Ye?"

The fragment of the Key of Creation in Lin Ye's palm continued to radiate a gentle warmth, pointing towards the depths of the corridor. "That's right, keep going forward. It feels... like a control center or a database."

Number 18 silently followed alongside the group, her electronic eyes constantly scanning the surrounding environment and recording all visible symbols and markings, attempting to cross-reference them with the information from the slab-like objects brought out from Shelter Seven. "The architectural style and energy circuits are the same as Shelter Seven, but more... rudimentary and functional. It places more emphasis on practicality and stability for long-term unattended operation."

The five people moved quickly in the direction indicated by the fragments, their footsteps echoing clearly in the empty corridor. After passing through several intersecting passages and a central hall that had ceased to function, a large metal door, thicker than any they had seen before and with a large crystal plate embedded in its center, blocked their way. Engraved on the door was a symbol composed of multiple concentric circles and radiating lines, strikingly similar to a mark on the plate.

"This is it." Lin Ye stopped in front of the door. He could feel a strong resonance between the fragments and something inside the door. "The control room, or the advanced database."

He placed his palm on the identification panel beside the door. Fragments of light swirled and seeped into the panel. A clicking sound came from inside the door, but the door only vibrated slightly and did not open. A red warning sign lit up on the panel, next to which appeared a line of ancient Creator script.

"What's going on? Not enough permissions?" Trunks asked.

Lin Ye frowned, carefully sensing the information fed back by the fragments: "No, the access has been granted. However... the energy is insufficient. The independent energy system of this door has been exhausted, and we need to manually activate the backup energy source, or... force it open by injecting energy from the outside."

“The backup power interface is over there.” Night Owl, with his sharp eyes, pointed to a recessed area covered by a protective cover on the right wall of the door. He stepped forward and pried open the cover, revealing a complex energy conduction interface. “A standard high-energy particle flow interface, but the model is quite old. It requires a stable, high-purity energy input, and the power requirements are not low.”

“Energy? Simple.” Vegeta stepped forward, golden flames beginning to gather in his palm. “How much do you want? I’ll give you as much as you need!”

"Wait, Vegeta!" Lin Ye quickly stopped him. "Your ki energy is too violent. Directly inputting it might damage the delicate energy circuits inside. You need a gentler, more stable energy source." His gaze shifted to Android 18 and Trunks. "Or, extremely refined and precisely controlled energy."

Number 18 stepped forward: "I can try. My energy output is precisely regulated and can simulate various energy waveforms." She aligned her finger with the interface, and a soft but highly concentrated white light shone from her fingertip as she carefully began to inject energy.

"Om..."

The mechanisms inside the gate started operating again, and the crystal panel glowed faintly, but the light dimmed again after only a few seconds. Number 18 shook his head: "No. My energy purity is sufficient, but the 'nature' seems wrong. This interface is selective about energy; it prefers... a kind of energy with 'life' or 'order' characteristics."