Chapter 9
At an altitude of 10,000 meters, a colossal Red Ribbon Army airship—its metallic frame bristling with surveillance dishes and drone launch ports cut through the clouds like a floating fortress.
Inside the command cabin, Jack, commander of the Divine Machine Unit, sat lazily on a black-leather sofa. His steel-plated limbs rested crossed, and his crimson cybernetic eye glinted with data as he watched the monitor. On screen, Ye Lin sprinted through dense forest, dodging automated sniper fire.
"Lord Jack," reported a uniformed officer. "All ten aerial reconnaissance drones have successfully locked on Ye Lin's energy signature. His position updates in real-time. But the last sniper deployment failed. Target avoided the kill zone."
"Based on current data," another technician added, "his reflexes are abnormally high. Ordinary sniper rounds won't breach his defensive movements anymore."
Jack scoffed.
"Hmph. Reflexes? Speed? Even that doesn't matter. The human body has limits. He can't dodge forever."
He stood up and paced slowly, his hydraulic joints hissing with mechanical precision. Jack once trained as a martial artist in his youth until he realized the fragile limitations of flesh. He'd then chosen to augment his entire body, becoming a cybernetic war machine. He no longer knew fatigue. He didn't eat. He didn't sleep. As long as his fusion core had fuel, he could wage war indefinitely.
"He thinks he's fast? Then don't give him a second to rest. Keep tracking him. Keep pressing. Snipers, drones, shock units—I want him running until he drops."
He smirked.
"This is my favorite kind of torture. I've broken dozens of so-called martial arts 'geniuses' this way. Let's see how long this one lasts."
---
Below, Ye Lin's body darted through the forest, weaving between trunks and canopies. For three consecutive days and nights, he hadn't had a moment's rest. Every time he paused—bang! another bullet would zip through the air.
He had already eliminated over 100 snipers, each more relentless than the last. But even as their numbers dropped, new ones replaced them without hesitation. There was no end.
It was clear now: the Divine Machine Unit wasn't trying to kill him outright. They were attempting to break him physically and mentally.by grinding him down, step by step, second by second.
And to an ordinary martial artist, the tactic would've worked.
But Ye Lin wasn't ordinary.
"They miscalculated one thing," he murmured between breaths. "I've got Senzu Beans."
Hidden in a pouch on his belt were nine Senzu Beans—miraculous gifts from Korin Tower that restored both stamina and energy to full capacity. He'd earned them after a previous side quest involving a mutated Red Ribbon cyborg.
Even if they chased him for a month, he could restore his condition each time.
But Ye Lin wasn't satisfied with simply surviving.
"I can't keep burning Senzu Beans. That just delays the problem. I need to eliminate the root."
He stopped behind a fallen log and looked skyward. For the past three days, he had observed the aerial drones constantly circling overhead, their energy detectors locking onto his Ki signature.
"That's how they track me—Red Ribbon recon drones with thermal and Ki sensors."
They flew too high and too fast for a normal attack. Ye Lin had no ranged weapons or flight capabilities yet. Any Ki blast he launched from the ground couldn't reach those altitudes.
But Ye Lin had a plan.
He had been grinding his martial skills.
In particular, he'd been focusing on Shave—a high-speed movement technique similar to what Earth's martial artists like Master Roshi and Tien Shinhan once used.
And now, his system had hinted that once Shave reached maximum proficiency, it could evolve possibly into Moon Step, a skill similar to the Geppō technique of aerial movement through rapid energy bursts.
"If I can unlock Moon Step, I can reach those drones. Then I'll take out their eyes in the sky."
So Ye Lin continued training nonstop. He repeated Shave hundreds of times vanishing and reappearing between trees, leaving afterimages. The system tracked each use, and his proficiency bar inched upward.
---
Back aboard the high-altitude airship, Jack continued monitoring the feed. He watched Ye Lin dart through forest after forest, tree after tree, the drones hovering miles above.
"Three days of constant pursuit," he mused aloud. "He must be close to collapse. The human mind starts breaking down under prolonged stress. He's only flesh and bone."
"However," a nearby technician spoke, tapping his tablet, "our latest metrics show Ye Lin's acceleration has actually increased. His top speed is now 12% higher than when tracking began."
Jack's robotic eye flickered. His face twisted.
"Nonsense. That's impossible. He's human."
"Perhaps his latent potential is being forced out?" the technician suggested hesitantly.
"Hmph," Jack growled. "That's not potential. That's desperation. The final flickers of stamina before collapse."
He crushed a steel cup in his hand.
"No matter how fast a rabbit runs, it tires. And when it does... the wolf strikes."
---
Back in the forest, Ye Lin skidded to a halt atop a boulder.
System Notification: Skill [Shave] Mastered.
New Skill Unlocked: [Moon Step] – Temporary aerial maneuvering enabled through concentrated Ki bursts.
Ye Lin's eyes lit up.
"It's here."
With a deep breath, he focused his Ki into his legs and launched upward.
BOOM!
A shockwave cracked the earth beneath him as he rocketed into the air.
High above, one of the Red Ribbon drones suddenly registered a fast-approaching energy signature but it was already too late.
CRASH!
Ye Lin's rising knee strike smashed through its metal frame, causing an explosion that sent debris flying.
One drone down. Nine to go.
And for the first time in days, Ye Lin smiled.
"They wanted a hunt? They're about to learn what happens when the rabbit grows fangs."
Jack lay comfortably on the sofa inside the high-altitude Red Ribbon airship, cradling a glass of aged red wine. On the screen in front of him, the ongoing pursuit of Ye Lin played like a theatrical cat-and-mouse drama. A sinister grin curved his lips as he imagined collecting a generous payment from Commander Ritter, one of the elite financiers of the revived Red Ribbon Army, once this mission was complete.
The thrill of the hunt. The certainty of victory. The money.
What more could a man want?
---
The pursuit stretched for another two relentless days, bringing the total chase to five. By now, Ye Lin had consumed five Senzu Beans a dangerously high frequency of usage for even the most seasoned warriors.
In the original Dragon Ball world, each Senzu Bean restored all stamina, energy, and physical condition instantly. But consuming too many in a short time taxed even the toughest martial artists, potentially dulling their reflexes or weakening long-term Ki output.
Yet Ye Lin didn't use them just to recover he used them to grind skill proficiency under duress.
A sharp notification tone rang out in his consciousness.
Ding!
System Alert: Congratulations! Skill [Shave] mastery complete. Skill has evolved into [Moon Step]!
Ye Lin's tired eyes instantly lit up. His grueling efforts had finally borne fruit.
Ye Lin
Combat Power: 55
Skills:
1. Great Rasengan (Intermediate 7/1000) — Boosts combat power by 50% temporarily.
2. Moon Step (Intermediate 0/1000) — Grants the ability to fly using rapid air-stepping via concentrated Ki bursts.
Inventory: Senzu Beans x4, Dragon Radar x1, Dragon Balls x6
Just as he had predicted, Shave had evolved into Moon Step—a technique analogous to Geppō from One Piece or Bukūjutsu (Sky Dance Technique) from Dragon Ball, except powered by Ye Lin's unique system mechanics.
With Moon Step now unlocked, Ye Lin could finally attack the airborne drones that had hounded him for days.
He clenched his fists.
"Moon Step!"
A shockwave boomed behind him as Ye Lin launched into the air, using a burst of Ki to propel himself upward. The air below his feet cracked and popped with sonic speed as he raced higher with each step, sprinting vertically through the sky.
Down below, a Red Ribbon sniper stationed in the forest watched in shock. He blinked, rubbed his eyes, and stared in disbelief at the sight of Ye Lin running through the air like a myth made real.
Within seconds, Ye Lin closed the distance to the ten aerial surveillance drones.
Boom!
With one solid punch, he shattered the nearest drone into metallic confetti. Without missing a beat, he zipped to the next, destroying them one by one until only the final drone remained.
He seized it in his hand and aimed the onboard camera squarely at his face.
"You tell Jack of the Divine Machine Unit this—I'm coming for him. And I'm not stopping until I shut down every cog in his twisted war machine."
With that, Ye Lin crushed the last drone, letting it explode into scraps of wire and flame.
---
Boom!
Inside the Red Ribbon airship, Jack hurled the wine glass into the wall, red droplets splattering across polished steel.
The screens in front of him went black one by one each drone feed replaced by static.
But the final image—Ye Lin looking directly into the lens and delivering his vow of vengeance burned itself into Jack's memory.
Veins bulged on Jack's synthetic forehead. His cybernetic eye twitched as it replayed Ye Lin's final words on a loop.
"That little bastard thinks he can threaten me? That he can destroy my unit?"
Jack stood slowly. His alloy-enhanced spine cracked with a metallic hiss.
"He still thinks like a human. Thinking threats and pride are power. He doesn't understand how small he is."
But even as he mocked Ye Lin, a voice in the back of his mind whispered unease. Ye Lin had not only survived the Divine Machine Unit's longest pursuit op—he had thrived.
And worse he had grown stronger.
"Master Jack!" a technician cried out. "The radar just picked up an energy source moving fast, heading straight for us!"
Jack's eye flared red.
"Put it on the screen."
"Yes, sir!"
The monitor blinked to life and there he was. Ye Lin, charging up from below, his silhouette bathed in sunlight as he ran across the air itself, white energy bursting from his feet with every step.
"He's already here...?" Jack growled.
"Master Jack, what are your orders?"
Jack clenched his metallic fist. Then he sneered.
"He's just a kid with no long-range firepower. This airship's made of Red Ribbon titanium plating. It can only be accessed by secured entry points. Our auto-turret systems, energy shields, and shockwave cannons are all operational."
Jack waved his hand with contempt.
"Activate the defense grid. Line the exterior with machine gun emplacements. If he gets within range, light him up."
"Understood!"
As the commands went out, gun ports opened along the belly of the airship. Auto-tracking turrets extended, scanning the incoming Ki signal.
Jack's eyes remained fixed on Ye Lin's form on the screen. He whispered under his breath.
"This isn't just about one boy anymore. He's proof. Proof that humans... can evolve. And that's what I've always feared."
Because Jack had abandoned humanity to become machine.
But Ye Lin, still human... was surpassing those limits.
---
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