Bulma and Krillin, along with Goku and the unconscious girl, entered the castle. Following Goku's lead, they made their way to the dining hall. Along the way, the three of them discovered about a dozen other girls who were also unconscious, similar to the girl Krillin was carrying. Though they were dressed well, it was clear they were country girls at first glance.
Bulma paid particular attention to the castle's interior. She glanced at some hidden corners of the hall and wrinkled her nose. In those corners, she noticed things that looked like pinhole cameras.
Without a doubt, those were placed by that damn trickster!
"Disgusting! This is terrible, this kind of person!" Bulma couldn't help but feel deeply repulsed by such actions. Abducting women was already a brutal and shameless act, and using shapeshifting to deceive and trap them was even more despicable. Installing cameras to spy on the girls while they were kidnapped and confined was utterly vile.
This was also why Bulma had never released any of her delicate inventions to the market. She didn't bother registering patents either, as she wasn't short on money. The thought of her inventions being used by all sorts of chaotic people made her uncomfortable.
In the dining hall, they indeed found a messy table.
Bulma wasn't surprised. She had already fully realized Goku's monstrous appetite in the past few days. If Goku didn't have his ability to travel with the Flying Nimbus and hunt in the wilderness, Bulma wouldn't have been able to feed him with the food she brought.
But for some reason, Krillin's face turned pale as he stared at the table. His eyes widened, and he pressed his lips together, silent.
"What's wrong with you?" Bulma tapped Krillin on the back.
Krillin jumped, then calmed himself down. He didn't dare look at the scattered dishes, sauces, and leftovers on the table, feeling a bit disturbed. His voice trembled as he said, "Uh… since we've found these girls, let's quickly get them back to their village!"
"Are these the girls that were taken?" Goku asked curiously, then paused and muttered to himself, "But I remember them being companions of that guy… this is really strange!" He looked around. "Where did that guy go?"
Probably inside your stomach!
Krillin's mind froze in horror as he screamed internally, his face turning even paler. When Goku looked at him oddly, Krillin tensed up. Bulma frowned, feeling something was off with Krillin…
After thinking for a moment, Bulma said, "Forget it, let's just get these girls back to their village. As for that guy, now that the villagers know his true identity, there's no need to worry about him bothering us after we leave."
No, he probably could never do that again… Krillin's face twitched as he looked at the girls lying on the ground. For a moment, he couldn't find the words and silently sighed, his hands pressed together in prayer.
----
Bulma took out the off-road jeep and loaded the dozen unconscious girls onto it. Due to the weight and the difficult terrain, the jeep moved slowly, and it wasn't until the sun was setting that they finally saw the village again.
"My daughter!"
"My child!"
"They've finally returned!"
The villagers rushed out of the village, their faces filled with excitement and joy. The girls who had been taken by Oolong were reclaimed one by one. As the girls began to wake up, they weren't as emotional as expected. One of them, upon seeing Goku, screamed in terror, then fainted again.
"Goku, why do they seem so scared of you?" Bulma adjusted her cap, bent at the waist, and asked Goku, glancing sideways at him.
"Seems like it… it's troubling." Goku didn't know the reason either.
Bulma looked at Krillin from the corner of her eye. His gaze kept drifting toward Goku. When Krillin noticed Bulma's look, he awkwardly smiled and quickly looked away. Bulma felt even more confused and decided to ask him about it later.
"The girl from the city, here's the gift we promised you." A couple from the village stepped out of the crowd. Their little daughter was holding a yellow-orange ball, the Three-Star Dragon Ball, which was exactly what Bulma and the others had been searching for. The little girl smiled innocently, "Thank you, this is for you!"
"Thank you!" Bulma happily accepted it. She felt good about it, knowing that those who had worked for something deserved to be rewarded.
Goku was also happy. With this, they had found four Dragon Balls. "Only three more to go!" he said contentedly, his tail swishing behind him. Soon, he'd be able to go back to training with Grandpa Gohan and get even stronger. And who knows, maybe they'd meet some powerful opponents along the way… this was so exciting!
---
After politely refusing the villagers' invitations to stay, the three of them drove off in the jeep.
Goku, as usual, sat on the Flying Nimbus, hovering above the jeep at a low height.
"This road isn't…?" Krillin, bouncing in the jeep, looked surprised at the direction Bulma was driving. Goku, still riding the yellow cloud, appeared beside the car window and asked curiously, "I see that castle again, Bulma. Do you want to go there?"
Bulma glanced at Krillin and smirked. "There are some things… I really want to figure out. Don't you think so, Krillin? You have something you're not telling us, right?"
"Sorry…" Krillin lowered his head.
A large question mark appeared above Goku head. Bulma sighed, pressed the accelerator all the way down, and vroom! The jeep bounced violently, causing Krillin to jump high in his seat, his head slamming directly into the ceiling of the car.
"Hold on tight! We're going full speed now!"
"You should have said that earlier!" Krillin shouted.
---
Re-entering the castle, Bulma found the light switch, pressed it, and the lights immediately illuminated the entire place.
"Krillin, tell me, why... have you been afraid of Goku since we entered this castle?" Bulma turned around and stared at Krillin. Under her gaze, he gave a bitter smile.
"Hmm?" Goku was completely confused.
"Bulma, you really didn't guess it? You're a lot smarter than me," Krillin sighed. He paused for a moment, glancing at Goku. He saw the same innocent and naive expression on Goku's face, but his mind flashed back to the horrific expression that suddenly twisted Goku's face that night.
Bulma fell silent. She directly asked Goku, "Goku, are you really sure you don't remember anything that happened between when you found that person outside the castle and when you woke up next to the table?"
"Yeah, I really don't remember!" Goku said, feeling puzzled by both Bulma and Krillin. Then suddenly, he had a flash of inspiration. "Oh, right! I remember now!"
"What did you remember?" Krillin asked nervously, and Bulma furrowed her brows, waiting for Goku's answer.
Goku grinned. "That guy was a pig! But he seemed to get along really well with those girls..." He finally remembered the scene when he had just caught up with Oolong outside the castle. At that time, Oolong had already used the transformation technique and changed back to his original form.
"A pig?" Krillin was puzzled, but Bulma immediately understood. "It's a half-beastman! No wonder they can master the transformation technique. I heard that half-beastmen and beastmen... are more suited to learning those strange and rare spells than pure humans!"
"Is that so? Who cares!" Goku laughed without a care in the world.
Bulma asked again, "Then Goku, do you remember how you got 'full' in the end? You don't remember that either?"
"Of course I remember!" Goku replied without hesitation.
"...?!" Krillin and Bulma exchanged a look, both seeing the heaviness in each other's eyes. Krillin cautiously asked, "Uh... Goku, you really remember... what do you remember?"
Goku scratched the back of his head, wagging his tail and looking at them both with an expression like they were fools. He casually said, "Of course, I was just eating all the time until I was full! What else could it be?"
Krillin waited a moment, realizing that Goku had no further explanation. He was puzzled. "That's... it?!"
Goku tilted his head, equally confused.
Bulma rubbed her forehead, as if she had finally figured something out, and sighed weakly. "Then... do you remember what you ate? I mean, can you recall what your first dish was? Who made the food? Who brought it to the table? Do you remember any of those details?"
"Ah..." Goku tilted his head again, frowning and thinking for a while. Then he grinned. "Hehe, I don't remember any of that! It's probably the same as usual, just eating food! Is that really important? You guys are so weird today!"
"You're the weird one! What are we even worried about! You don't even realize it!!" Krillin finally couldn't hold back his frustration. Probably influenced by Goku's usual carefree attitude, he wasn't as intimidated by him anymore.
Bulma sighed. "It seems like when Goku says he remembers, he's just filling in the blanks based on his life experience... Seriously!"
Krillin immediately fell silent.
"Since that's the case, how about this? There are cameras in this castle. Follow me, I'll go see if I can find some footage from the kitchen during that time." Bulma didn't directly tell Goku their suspicions. She felt there was no need to mention it until they had clear evidence.
Krillin quickly followed. "Wait for me!"
Goku scratched his head in confusion but also followed behind with his hands on the back of his head.
However, in the control room that Bulma discovered where Oolong had been, she did find the surveillance system. But all the footage was gone.
"It's been damaged!" Bulma exclaimed in surprise. She kept fiddling with the equipment, but there was no response.
"What's going on?!" Goku said, growing impatient. "I'm hungry, can we eat now?"
Krillin took a deep breath and turned around, looking at Goku very seriously. "Goku, did you eat that bastard's... I mean, the pig you saw?"