The lavender-haired youth was none other than Future Trunks, who had just traveled back through time from a grim apocalyptic future to alter history.
Judging by the timeline, he had arrived on Earth significantly earlier than in the original historical record.
Compressing his time machine back into a Hoi-Poi Capsule, Trunks tucked it into his pocket and floated gently into the air, closing his eyes to sense the energy signatures across the planet.
"I can sense the Ki of Gohan-sensei and Mom... but I can't locate Goku-san's Ki anywhere. Has he not returned to Earth yet, or did I mess up the temporal coordinates?" Trunks mused with a furrowed brow.
After a moment's hesitation, he decided to locate familiar faces first. Perhaps they would know Goku's current whereabouts.
Over the next short while, he scouted around Earth, eventually arriving near Master Roshi's Kame House.
Upon arriving near the island, Trunks quickly picked up on his mother Bulma's Ki. She was currently hanging out with Krillin and Master Roshi inside the house.
Gazing at Bulma from afar, a complex swell of emotion rose within his chest.
"Mom, don't worry. I will definitely save Goku-san and change that terrible future!" Trunks clenched his fists, resolving himself internally.
The primary reason Trunks had traveled back to this era was to deliver a special heart medicine developed by future medical technology to Goku.
In the future timeline years from now, two deadly Androids created by Dr. Gero would plunge the world into a living nightmare. Goku had contracted a lethal heart virus and passed away before the crisis began because the medicine of this era couldn't cure it. Lacking Goku's formidable strength, all of Earth's Z-Fighters—including Trunks' father, Vegeta—were ruthlessly slaughtered by the Androids.
Piccolo's death resulted in the destruction of the Dragon Balls, and because the Androids possessed overwhelming power, Trunks alone was completely incapable of defeating them.
Ultimately, his only hope lay in the time machine constructed by his mother, Bulma, allowing him to travel back in time to deliver the heart medication to Goku so that Goku could survive and alter the tragic history.
However, to Trunks' utter dismay, it seemed his temporal jump had suffered a malfunction. Not only was Goku nowhere to be found on Earth, but he couldn't even sense the Ki of his father, Vegeta!
Furthermore, he noticed several strange, powerful Ki signatures elsewhere on Earth. Weirdly enough, those energies felt cold and abnormal, almost completely devoid of living vitality.
Why was the current situation so radically different from what his mother had described?
Where had things gone wrong?
Trunks scratched his head in utter confusion, completely at a loss for what to do next.
At that exact moment, his expression suddenly jolted!
He picked up a strange, unique aura rapidly approaching Kame House. The aura's Ki didn't feel exceptionally massive, yet for some mysterious reason, an overwhelming sense of instinctual dread surged from the depths of his soul!
Trunks looked up toward the sky.
A black-haired young man, accompanied by several stunning women, descended gracefully from the air and walked into Kame House.
What shocked Trunks even more was his mother Bulma's reaction. The moment the black-haired man entered, Bulma greeted him with extreme enthusiasm—her eyes filled with intense admiration and romantic affection!
Trunks' brow knit tightly into a anxious knot. *'Strange... Who are those people? Why did Mom never mention a man like him?'*
Everything he knew about this era had been told to him by his mother in the future.
Seeing Bulma treat that young man with such passionate affection left Trunks deeply alarmed. Could history have changed so drastically that his own existence might end up being erased?!
*'Forget it. I'd better find Goku-san first and complete my mission!'* Trunks thought to himself.
He turned, preparing to leap away and search elsewhere.
However, the instant he turned around, he froze dead in his tracks!
Standing directly behind him was a young man, staring back at him with an amused smile.
Trunks' pupils shrank to the size of pinpricks! Instinctively drawing the long sword strapped to his back, he pointed the blade forward and dropped into a defensive combat stance.
He instantly recognized the man standing in front of him—it was the very same black-haired youth who had just walked into Kame House a moment ago!
This realization sent a chill running down Trunks' spine.
He hadn't detected a single sound, nor felt even the faintest trace of Ki before the man materialized right behind him!
If this stranger had harbored malicious intent, Trunks might have been killed before he even realized he was under attack!
Lin Xuan looked at Trunks, the corners of his mouth curling into a knowing grin.
With Trunks' iconic jacket, sword, and lavender hair, Lin Xuan recognized his identity instantly.
*'It seems my presence has indeed altered certain events, but the overarching flow of history still brought Trunks to Earth,'* Lin Xuan mused.
In truth, Lin Xuan wasn't surprised by Trunks' appearance.
The moment Trunks' time machine landed on Earth, Lin Xuan had already picked up his energy signature; he simply hadn't bothered to suppress him with pressure.
Lin Xuan was also fully aware that the timeline had shifted.
Due to the butterfly effect of his arrival, historical events had diverged—just as Frieza's arrival on Planet Namek had occurred at a completely different time compared to the original story.
Fortunately, despite the altered timeline, key events were still falling into place.
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T/N:
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