Ethan led the way forward, and everyone noticed that he was flying toward Dr. Gero's secret laboratory.
"Wasn't that already destroyed by Trunks? What are we going to find there?"
The upper part of the mountain had been blown away, leaving only the lower half. Looking at it now, there was nothing noteworthy to see, just scattered rocks.
Ethan landed directly on the rubble. After everyone else had landed, he spoke up to remind them.
"This is Dr. Gero's laboratory. It should have more than one level. Everyone, look for passages or hidden doors."
"Huh? A basement?"
Piccolo and Krillin, being quick-witted, immediately understood what Ethan meant. The androids, however, stood silently to the side, unsure if they should help.
They did not speak, wanting to see what Ethan was up to. Unexpectedly, Ethan was the first to ask Android 16.
"Do you know where the entrance is?"
Android 16 thought for a moment and finally gave a negative answer, but he could help search using his detection devices, looking for differences in air flow, temperature, and humidity. After looking around, he pointed toward a spot not far away.
"That location might be the entrance to the basement you're looking for."
Everyone immediately gathered at that spot and quickly found a downward passage, although there were a few rocks blocking the way.
Casually moving the rocks aside, everyone exchanged glances. Ethan was the first to jump in.
One by one, they all jumped into the passage, leaving only the androids.
Because of this situation, everyone had somewhat overlooked the androids. Seeing this, Android 18 suggested again, "Why don't we take this chance to run away?"
"No, I want to see what this guy is really up to."
Android 17 did not want to leave. He wanted to know what was down there. Android 16 also wanted to figure out what was happening. This place was not recorded in his database, and from Ethan's reaction, this place was related to the "guy who was targeting them" that he had mentioned earlier.
"Let's go down and see. We should get an answer."
The androids also jumped down. As soon as they landed, they discovered that although the upper laboratory had been completely destroyed, it had not affected the lower levels at all. The equipment here was intact, many devices of unknown purpose were still running, and even the lighting was unaffected.
"This is..."
Not only were the androids stunned, but Piccolo and the others also looked around in surprise, then turned their questioning gazes toward Ethan, who was not far away.
Ethan looked around. There were many things of interest here, not just a lot of equipment, but also blueprints for the androids, and most importantly, Cell, who was currently just a small embryo in a cultivation device.
Standing in front of the huge, glass-like cultivation tank, Ethan glanced at the control panel beside it and began operating it, calling up various data.
"Luckily, Dr. Gero didn't set a password."
Dr. Gero certainly had not expected his secret lab to be discovered. All the data on these devices was unencrypted, and Ethan could easily retrieve all of it.
With this data, everyone could better understand the current situation.
"Alright, I think everyone has a lot of questions they want to ask. You can ask them now."
Of course, everyone had many questions, such as why Ethan had brought them here.
"Because of this!"
Ethan pointed to the cultivation device beside them. Everyone could see the strange, not-yet-large thing inside the cultivation tank.
"What is that?"
"Dr. Gero's designed ultimate artificial life form, named Cell."
"What?"
It was not just Krillin and the others who were shocked. Even the androids were startled.
"The strongest android is clearly me!"
Android 17 said this before remembering Android 16 beside him. Although the data Dr. Gero had input showed that he was the strongest android, Android 16's power...
Ethan looked at Android 17, whose expression did not look very good, and gave a simple explanation.
"Cell is the ultimate artificial life form designed by Dr. Gero, combining the cells of all the powerful beings he could collect, and then merging these cells into one ultimate being. It just takes a lot of time to complete... As you can see, he's only this big right now."
He did not directly deny Android 17's claim of being the strongest. He just told Android 17 that even if he had originally been the strongest android, Dr. Gero had already designed something even stronger.
"Damn it!"
It was unclear whether Android 17 was upset about not being the strongest or unhappy with Dr. Gero's other actions.
Ethan did not care. Piccolo asked another question that everyone was more concerned about.
"You said collecting cells of strong individuals?"
"Yes!"
Ethan brought up the data on the computer. Not only were there detailed data descriptions, but there were even accompanying photos.
"Dr. Gero created a very special type of micro-robot that collected cells from all of us without anyone noticing. Even Vegeta and Nappa, the two Saiyans who only stayed on Earth briefly, were no exception."
In the original story, he had also collected cells from Frieza and his father, King Cold, but in this world, those two had not come to Earth, so it was mainly cells from Earth's strong individuals, Saiyans, and Piccolo.
Oh right, and himself... But before he squeezed out the Black Dragon energy, his cells should have been no different from ordinary Earthlings, just containing more energy.
After checking the data, Dr. Gero's robots had collected his cells early on and had not continued to collect from him... No wonder he had not found these little things appearing after he became stronger. Besides the fact that this thing had not come back for repeated collection, the micro-robots also chose to collect samples nearby when the target was severely injured, to avoid being directly discovered.
And he was rarely injured, so this thing did not have many opportunities to get close to him.
While reviewing the data, he explained Cell's situation. Everyone finally understood why Ethan had brought them here. According to Ethan, because the creation of this artificial life form, Cell, took too long, Dr. Gero left it to the computer to complete automatically. So even if Dr. Gero was already dead, Cell would eventually be born.
"You mean the one targeting us is this guy?"
Android 17 looked at the little guy in the cultivation device and found it ridiculous, but the data Ethan had pulled up from the computer all indicated that once Cell was completed, he would become the most powerful artificial life form.
"Yes!"
"Hmph, something that isn't even completed, what kind of threat can that pose?"
"No, you're wrong. Cell is already complete!"
"What?"
According to Ethan's description and the data displayed on the computer, Cell was a terrifying creature. But everyone still did not feel worried, because the strongest artificial life form was currently just an embryo, still soaking in a cultivation device.
No matter how terrifying or powerful he was, that would only be after he was complete. Right now, anyone here could easily destroy him.
But Ethan said Cell was already complete. What did that mean?
Piccolo suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Trunks. Trunks had not reacted yet, only realizing a possibility when Piccolo looked at him.
"You mean..."
"That's right. Cell is already complete in the future... If I hadn't reminded you, would you have noticed this place?"
"..."
Everyone already knew that in Trunks' world, Ethan did not exist. Moreover, they had all been killed by the androids, so no one would have come to destroy Dr. Gero's laboratory.
With no one destroying the lab, the computer would continue its work until it was finished!
"In that case, isn't Trunks in great danger?"
Not only would he have to face the androids, but also a terrifying existence like Cell. However, Ethan gave them even more frightening information.
"You should worry about yourselves. Cell has already come here, to our time."
"How is that possi... A time machine?"
Everyone thought of Trunks' time machine. Although it was called a time machine, it was actually a machine that traveled to parallel worlds.
Everyone fell silent. This was indeed bad news.
"Hmph, even if that Cell guy is very strong, I'm not afraid..."
"You should be afraid, Seventeen!"
"Why?"
"Because for Cell to achieve his final evolution, he needs to absorb a special type of life form." Ethan looked at Android 17 and Android 18. "That's you two."
Cell could only evolve into his perfect form by absorbing Android 17 and Android 18. According to the data provided by the computer, Cell's power would become unimaginably strong at that point.
"How strong... He can't be stronger than you and Goku, can he?"
In Krillin's view, Ethan and Goku had already reached another realm. No matter how strong Cell was, could he really become stronger than the two of them?
"I don't know, but based on the data from this computer, he might be even stronger than me and Goku."
"This... How is this possible?"
"Tsk!"
Piccolo pursed his lips, suddenly feeling dissatisfied with his own strength. Even the androids could easily defeat him, and now an even more terrifying existence had appeared. Was he just going to be useless waste?
He remembered what the Grand Elder and Nail had said to him when he went to Namek. If he had not split into two, his potential would be very great, but if he continued in his current state, he could never become a true strong fighter.
Did he really have to go find Kami? Thinking of this made Piccolo very unhappy, and when he was unhappy, he wanted to pick a fight.
"You knew all of this already, didn't you? How do you know all this?"
He had wanted to ask this question for a long time. How did Ethan know so much? He would not blindly trust Ethan like Yamcha, Krillin, and the others.
"Because... I'm not from this world."
Ethan shrugged, preparing to reveal some of the truth.
"I know most of your experiences, including what kind of enemies you will encounter!"
(To be continued.)