In the sky, the atmosphere fell into a strange silence. Raditz blocked the path of Android 17 and the others, but he didn't make any moves, and even faded from his Super Saiyan state.
The sea was calm and waveless, and white birds chirped as they flew away.
Android 17 stared at Raditz cautiously. He had accumulated enough strength and was ready to fight at any moment. Since he couldn't run away, he was also prepared to fight to the death. Androids 16 and 18 were also facing the enemy, staring solemnly at this terrifying opponent.
"Don't be nervous. I don't want to hurt you." Raditz waved his hand and smiled.
"Hmph, our target is you." Android 17 said in a deep voice. "Will you let us go? Stop joking."
Raditz was slightly taken aback: "The target is me? If I'm not mistaken, you should have been created to defeat Goku. How did it become me?"
"Except for Android 16, our goal has always been you! Raditz."
"Really?" Raditz frowned—there was one more thing that was different from what he knew. "No matter who you're targeting, here's a friendly reminder: Goku is my younger brother. Although his strength isn't as good as mine, he's not something you can deal with."
Before now, Android 17 definitely wouldn't have believed it, but after the battle just now, he had to re-examine reality. Including what Android 16 had said before, there were at least three existences that surpassed him—oh, and Android 16 himself.
And judging from Raditz's tone, it seemed that he really wanted to let them go!
"You...you really don't care about us?" Android 18's eyes widened, as if she still couldn't believe it.
"That's right. As long as you don't cause trouble, I won't act. But... I have a question. Since you started moving, have you seen any new android being developed?"
"We don't know about this." Android 18 blinked and recalled. "We didn't find one, but we saw a chip in a glass cover."
"Chip..." Raditz pondered, feeling very confused. "Can you take me there?"
Take him to the institute? Androids 17 and 18 looked at each other and fell silent. They hated that place so much and destroyed it when they left. Now there should be only ruins in the barren hills.
"Sorry, it's been destroyed, but I can tell you the location." Android 18 told the truth.
"Deal."
Raditz learned the location of the new institute from the androids and recorded it in his scouter. Then he backed away from in front of the three of them, making way for them.
The three of them didn't have a high degree of trust in Raditz, so they flew forward cautiously.
Suddenly, Raditz stretched out his hand, and they immediately took defensive stances in surprise.
"Uh, I just wanted to say goodbye." After that, Raditz took the initiative to fly in another direction to meet Trunks.
When Android 18 saw Raditz's final wave, she suddenly remembered the Ki wave from just now. The warm hand pressed against her abdomen had released soft energy, which wasn't destructive.
"Let's go, 18." Android 17 had already flown a certain distance but found that Android 18 was still in place. "Are you thinking about Raditz?"
"What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Don't be tempted just because he let us go. It's not certain what he has in mind."
"Hmph, don't guess what I'm thinking!" Android 18 crossed her arms and glanced at Android 17 coldly. "Think about what to do next? We can't beat Raditz, so where are we going?"
"My goal is still Goku." Android 16 said stubbornly.
Android 17 looked at Android 16 with his hands on his hips. "You're really persistent. Is Gero's order that important? Forget it, who knows if Raditz lied to us—maybe we can defeat his brother. It should be very interesting."
"Now let's find a place to rest for a while."
"Hmph, at least let me heal the scars on my face." Android 17 said lightly.
The three of them discussed their next itinerary and planned to find a small town where they could live, then rest for a while.
And Raditz had returned to Trunks' side.
"Mr. Raditz, did you defeat them?"
"This... the androids in our world are different from yours. How should I put it?" Raditz scratched his hair. "They're just not very evil, so I had a friendly exchange with them, then let them go."
"Let... let go..." Trunks couldn't close his mouth and looked at Raditz in a daze.
He couldn't imagine that Raditz would release the androids who were going to take his life—and those were Androids 17 and 18! Were there really non-evil androids? Trunks, who had lived in the apocalyptic era, couldn't react for a while.
Raditz was more concerned about Gero's research institute. "Leave them alone. If there's a problem, I'll solve it. Now there's one biggest hidden danger."
"Hidden danger?"
"Follow me."
Raditz took Trunks to the mountains and found Gero's new research institute after relocation according to the address given by the androids. Now this place had also become a pile of rubble, and some metal devices could be vaguely seen protruding from the debris.
Sure enough, when they left, they had used Ki waves to destroy the entire research institute, blowing up the entire mountain.
Raditz landed on the ruins and looked at the debris on the ground, bursting out with powerful energy! With him as the center, airflow swept across the entire space, and gravel and dust flew out in a daze, as if the earth had been swept by a storm.
Amid the powerful aura, rocks were flying, and Raditz's eyes wandered, trying to find something worthy of attention. His eyes moved back and forth, but he didn't find any traces of Cell's embryo. After the rubble was cleared away, several large machines were revealed. Raditz violently dismantled them with his bare hands but didn't see any noteworthy equipment.
The glass cover mentioned by the androids was still there, but the liquid inside had flowed everywhere, several lines were broken in half, and the chips inside were also missing.
"Mr. Raditz, is that thing gone?" Trunks didn't know what to look for.
"It doesn't look like it's here. Stay back—I'll burn this area clean. Even if it's hidden underground, I'll let it be disintegrated into powder by my energy!"
"Burn..." Trunks was taken aback for a moment, then suddenly noticed that Raditz's energy was soaring and immediately backed away.
Suddenly, a golden light shot up into the sky, and the surrounding hilltops within a radius of hundreds of meters were shrouded in massive energy, as if a semicircular dome covered the earth.
Trunks felt that his eyes were full of brilliant light, and the ground within the energy range was sinking. Raditz really intended to dig three feet into the ground!
Then, the pure energy scorched and burned. The mountain melted like chocolate, rocks crumbled and disintegrated, then turned into tiny pieces, and finally became ash that merged into the void. Nothing remained but Raditz!