"Lin Chen, the situation is clear now. Those Dragon Balls are time anomalies, and their appearance is closely related to the Dark Demon Realm," Chronoa said with a serious expression.
Upon hearing Chronoa's assessment, Lin Chen was once again puzzled. He raised his head, trying to find answers from Chronoa.
"Chronoa-sama, do you know the origin of these Dark Dragon Balls?"
Chronoa shook her head in embarrassment: "I'm sorry, I've searched, but there have never been Dark Dragon Balls like this in any timeline. So I suspect these Dark Dragon Balls must have been created by the people of the Demon Realm."
"People of the Demon Realm?"
Lin Chen felt a knot in his heart. "Chronoa-sama, Hearts told me that the mastermind behind him is the Dragon God Zalama. Could these Dark Dragon Balls be his creation?"
"Impossible!"
Before Chronoa could speak, Piccolo, who overheard their conversation, exclaimed. Like the Namekians from Universe 6, he also reacted strongly to Lin Chen's words.
"Mr. Lin Chen, Zalama-sama is a great Dragon God! How could he collude with the people of the Demon Realm?"
"But Piccolo, do you know that Zalama was sealed away a long time ago?"
Lin Chen dropped a bombshell, leaving Piccolo stunned.
"Zalama-sama? Sealed away?"
"Yes, that was a long time ago," Chronoa nodded. "I won't say the exact time, but one day, Dragon God Zalama rebelled against Zeno-sama across all main-worlds simultaneously, but he was suppressed and sealed away somewhere. If what Lin Chen is saying is true, then these Dark Dragon Balls could indeed be his creation. Only Zalama-sama could create Dragon Balls with such divine power that can traverse through timelines."
"Z-Zalama-sama betrayed Zeno-sama? And he was sealed away. This, this..."
Piccolo was completely thrown into confusion.
In Lin Chen's world, Piccolo had fused not only with Kami but also with Slug, who had previously fused with the Great Elder. Therefore, his understanding of the Dragon God Zalama was deeper than most.
Yet even so, Piccolo never imagined that Zalama, revered as the supreme god by all Namekians, had been sealed away by someone.
Wait a minute...
Piccolo suddenly looked up. "Chronoa-sama! If Zalama-sama has been sealed away, how could he appear in the Demon Realm?"
Chronoa replied, "Before being sealed away, Zalama created his own clone..."
She pointed at Piccolo. "You Namekians should also have similar cloning ability, right? Zalama did something similar back then. He laid an egg before being sealed away and sent it to the Dark Demon Realm, a place even beyond Zeno's control."
"So that's how it is!"
Piccolo's entire body trembled.
He fully believed Chronoa's words because even Piccolo himself was nothing more than a clone born from the old Great Demon King Piccolo before his death.
Bang!
Piccolo knelt on the ground, pounding it with force.
"Why! Why would Zalama-sama do such a thing!"
"Uncle Piccolo..." Gohan stood worriedly beside Piccolo, and gently comforted him with his words.
The others didn't know how to comfort the depressed Piccolo.
Although not everyone present worships Dragon God Zalama like Piccolo does, Zalama's Dragon Balls held great significance for most of them.
Many of the people gathered here initially came together because of the Dragon Balls or they met and became friends because of Dragon Balls.
Dragon Balls have almost been a central part of their lives.
Now, Lin Chen cruelly told them that this treasure, so significant to them, was actually a tool left behind by a great monster to achieve his nefarious goals.
Every time they used the Dragon Balls, they could be helping this monster...
Seeing everyone's faces filled with disappointment, Chronoa clapped her hands in frustration.
"All right! The truth of the matter may not be as it seems. What we need to do now is to quickly stop these anomalies and find a way to obtain at least one Dark Dragon Ball."
"Dragon Balls are only useful when you gather all seven. As long as we can get one, whatever schemes the Demon Realm has won't work."
Lin Chen also nodded. "Exactly! Chronoa-sama, I'll join you all in this operation this time!"
"That's great!" Chronoa exclaimed with joy.
After three consecutive mission failures by the Time Patrol, they finally welcomed the strongest reinforcement.
...
Shortly after, in a certain timeline.
Shortly after discussing with Chronoa and the others, a new anomaly appeared.
This time, the Time Patrol, originally divided into three groups, reorganized. Goku and Vegeta's group formed one team, while Lin Chen, with Broly, joined his two sons in another group.
Afterward, both sides continued to act separately.
This time, their task was to investigate a mini-world.
Although it was a mini-world, energy from temporal anomalies was still detected here.
"Dad, the anomaly is still on Earth," Lin Luo said, checking the time patrol scouter on his arm.
Lin Chen nodded. "Let's go then, hold onto me."
A moment later, they instantly teleported to Earth.
But as soon as they landed, everyone gasped in disbelief.
Because at this moment, the scene before them was almost unbelievable; this was Earth.
Looking around, they saw a desolate landscape devoid of greenery.
Trees were withered, the ground cracked, rivers dried up.
Dead animal bodies littered the land.
The whole Earth seemed to have turned into a dead star.
"What's going on?" Tights ran her fingers through her hair, asking, "Lin Chen, are you sure we've arrived on Earth?"
"Of course!"
"But how could Earth become like this? Is this Earth from tens of thousands of years later in this timeline?"
"No! The problem might be there!" Broly suddenly pointed to the distant horizon.
They saw something lying flat like a small mountain at least several kilometers away from them.
Initially, Lin Luo and the others thought it was a small mountain or hill, but upon hearing Broly's reminder, they looked again.
To their astonishment, it wasn't a mountain at all! It was a massive tree root!
A root at least hundreds of meters tall, like a giant hill, lay exposed on the ground!
Lin Luo, Taro, and the others didn't know what it was, but Lin Chen exclaimed.
"Tree of Might?!"
That's right, what appeared before them was the massive tree root of the Tree of Might that had once appeared on Planet Vegeta and nearly destroyed it!
Chapter 554 Encountering a Tree of Might again
****Please support on pat*eon for extra chapters or by giving review or voting
https://www.pat*eon.com/dmtranslations
You can read ahead upto 31 chapters on my pa*reon and I've also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon. [7-day trial available]