Dragon Ball Roshi-Chapter 301: Life or Death

Just then, a servant from the Briefs household walked in and whispered something into Dr. Briefs' ear. His brows furrowed, his lips tightened, and his expression grew a shade heavier... He quickly excused himself and left with the servant.

"Oh my, I wonder what that was about?" Mrs. Briefs held her face in curiosity.

Hathaway noticed the change in Briefs' expression. While answering Buma's earlier question, she casually replied, "Yes, much older than Ninn." At the same time, she glanced at her husband. Hathaway knew very well that no matter how softly the servant had spoken, nothing could escape Taro's ears.

"I see..." Little Buma blinked adorably.

Taro sat still with his eyes closed for a moment, then opened them and said softly to Hathaway, "It's nothing."

Hathaway looked down, then up at Taro again. She quickly calculated something in her head and asked in a daze, "Was it about Little Ninn?"

"Little Ninn?" Buma tilted her head.

Taro let out a quiet sigh and said in a low voice, "Nothing gets past you..." After a moment's thought, he turned to Mrs. Briefs and said, "Child, Hathaway and I would like to take Buma out for a bit. Would that be alright?"

"Oh... Oh, of course, Ancestor." Though Mrs. Briefs was a bit airheaded, she wasn't a complete fool. Her husband had said these two weren't just the legendary Immortals—they were the ancestral founders of their family. How could she possibly say no? Surely, they wouldn't harm their own descendant!

Buma was even more direct. She understood what the adults were saying and immediately jumped off the sofa, walked over to take Hathaway's hand, and looked up: "Where are we going? Grandpa Immortal? Grandma Hathaway?"

Hathaway stood up and looked at Taro.

"Do you want to meet your Grandmother Ninn?" Taro asked with a smile as he gently patted Buma's little head.

"Can I? But Papa said Grandmother is too old to be around me too much... What does that mean?" Buma asked, with some dissatisfaction and confusion in her tone toward the end.

"If you want to see her, Grandpa will make it happen," Taro said. He and Hathaway exchanged a glance, then took Buma's hands and nodded toward Mrs. Briefs. The three vanished from the bright, spacious living room. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm

Mrs. Briefs blinked, holding her face in awe. "Oh my, Buma and the two Ancestors disappeared... How amazing!"

Just then, Dr. Briefs returned with a rather emotional expression on his face. But when he found the two living ancestors gone, along with his daughter Buma, he couldn't help but ask, confused, "Where are the Ancestors and Buma?"

"Oh, they said they were taking Buma to see Grandmother Ninn. Then they went BIU and disappeared..." Mrs. Briefs cupped her face and exclaimed in admiration—though what exactly she was admiring was unclear. Perhaps it was Taro and Hathaway's instant transmission ability.

The cigarette in Dr. Briefs' mouth tilted slightly. He stood frozen for a moment and murmured, "But... I just got word... Grandmother Ninn passed away..."

"Hmm, then the Ancestors won't be able to see her after all!" Mrs. Briefs, ever so oblivious, simply replied.

"Yeah... Little Buma will be disappointed..." Dr. Briefs took a drag of his cigarette, exhaled slowly, and sighed.

---

Other World, outside the Palace of Yemma.

Ninn looked at her own body in complete shock, thoroughly confused.

If she remembered correctly, she had just died... yet now she could clearly feel the vigor in her body—she had actually reverted to her youthful form? Could it be that death came with such a benefit?

"Hey, little girl, what are you staring at?" came an old voice that snapped Ninn out of her daze. She had been looking up at a golden ring hovering above her head, unsure of what it was.

Startled, she looked down and to the side—and there sat an old woman on a floating crystal ball, wearing a pointed black witch hat.

It was Fortuneteller Baba.

Ninn's soul had been guided here by Baba, and her young body was something Baba had helped arrange to be rebuilt.

But Ninn didn't know any of that. In fact, she didn't even recognize Baba.

"Granny, who are you? Are you Lord Yemma?" she asked curiously. Now that she had a young body, her mindset had also become more lively, shedding much of the elderly weariness she'd had when she passed at over a hundred years old.

After all, myths and legends across Earth and many intelligent civilizations in the universe included stories of Yemma, the judge of the dead.

If Goku and the others had been able to return from the afterlife, surely people on other planets had done the same. Those who returned from death naturally brought some truth of the afterlife back with them.

Baba scoffed, "Little girl, don't talk nonsense. I'm no Lord Yemma. I'm just a witch from Earth. Come on, don't just stand there—let's go. Time to meet Lord Yemma. And... there's someone waiting for you."

She, of course, knew Ninn was her younger brother Taro's granddaughter, but she had no interest in getting chummy with family.

In fact, even Taro himself no longer held much interest for Fortuneteller Baba. As her mastery of Yin-Yang magic deepened, not only had she transcended the mortal cycle of life and death, but her personality had also shifted—becoming increasingly detached and erratic.

To put it bluntly: she was moody and unpredictable. Sometimes pleasant, sometimes not. Utterly eccentric.

"Someone's waiting for me? With Lord Yemma?"

Ninn tilted her head, frowning slightly. She didn't quite understand what the strange old woman meant by that. Following Baba's gaze, she looked ahead and saw towering clouds of yellow mist parting to reveal a majestic, square-shaped grand hall. It had to be the fabled Palace of Yemma.

Who in the world could be waiting for her in there?

Still puzzled, Ninn followed Baba into the palace.

As they passed through several antechambers, she saw many grotesque and bizarre demon-like creatures. Although she had visited numerous planets in her youth with her grandfather and seen many strange alien species, the underworld's ambiance still struck her as curious. She kept looking around in awe as they walked, until she suddenly heard Baba—still floating ahead on her crystal ball—say, "We're here, girl. Stop gawking."

"I'm over a hundred years old, and she's calling me 'girl'..." Ninn rolled her eyes inwardly, but followed Baba's gaze toward the throne of the hall—only to completely ignore the imposing Lord Yemma seated behind the massive desk.

Instead, her eyes locked onto the small figure seated in front of his desk—so small and familiar that she froze in place, stunned, with a hint of disbelief in her expression.