"Aunt Vera's house?" Xiao Chen looked curious. He wasn't very familiar with this relative.
"Well, Ben and Gwen have met her more often, but you've rarely seen her, so it's normal that you don't remember much. Today is a good chance for you to get to know her," Max replied.
"Nooo, Aunt Vera's place is really boring," Ben sighed. "If I knew we were going there, I'd have kept fishing on that lake instead!"
"Think positively, Ben. Maybe at Aunt Vera's you'll actually have normal meals." Xiao Chen lowered his voice and stole a glance at Max.
"Food…"
A flicker of memory crossed Ben's eyes. It had been a long time since his last visit, and even he couldn't remember it clearly.
"Bighead, when we get there, don't go saying rude things like that," Gwen teased him with a smirk.
"Come on, nerd," Ben replied. "I'm not who you think I am! Besides, it's just one day. Not a big deal."
He turned to look at Xiao Chen.
With a friend like Xiao Chen around, even a boring place could turn fun.
"If nothing unexpected happens," Xiao Chen said with a grin, "I'll use the Omnitrix and show you just how powerful I can be as an alien hero!"
He shook the Omnitrix on his wrist with confidence.
"That's awesome!" Ben perked up, cheering with his arms raised.
The three of them spent the next stretch of the drive chatting happily in that light mood.
When the old car finally rolled off the deserted highway and into a small town, the scenery became lively.
There were rows of quaint two-story houses — no towering skyscrapers, just cozy, peaceful homes. Birds chirped, flowers bloomed. The streets were full of elderly folks and the occasional middle-aged person, all going about their day — watering lawns, sweeping porches, or taking walks. The town felt... harmonious.
"Still boring as ever," Ben muttered, resting his chin on his palm, looking out the window with disinterest.
His lazy eyes scanned over the busy townsfolk—until…
Whoosh!!
He caught sight of an old man whose neck stretched like rubber and whose head popped right off!
"What the heck?!"
Ben shot upright, instantly alert. The car kept moving, but he twisted around and pressed his face to the window, trying to catch another glimpse.
Sure enough, the old man was back to normal—peacefully watering his flowers like nothing had happened.
Then…
The old man noticed Ben watching him.
He slowly raised his head—stiffly, unnaturally—like a zombie.
And grinned.
A horrible, stiff, unnatural grin.
"How creepy!!" Ben yelped, pulling the curtain shut and breaking into a cold sweat.
"What's wrong, Ben?" Xiao Chen asked, puzzled by his reaction.
"I-I saw an old man whose head flew off!" Ben said shakily to Xiao Chen and Gwen.
"A flying head?" Gwen scoffed, folding her arms. "I think the sun's baked your brain."
She even reenacted the moment, pretending to faint dramatically.
Ben jumped to his feet. "I'm serious! His head flew off!"
"Stop making up lame stories," Gwen said.
"Okay, okay," Xiao Chen interjected. "Ben, open the curtain. Let's see for ourselves. If it's true, we'll believe you."
Reluctantly, Ben yanked the curtain back.
The three of them peeked outside.
Everything looked normal.
Friendly elderly neighbors strolled about. There were no rubber-necked, head-popping seniors in sight.
"Told you," Gwen said, sounding victorious.
Sploosh!
Just then, an old man outside accidentally triggered a water pipe, spraying himself with water.
None of them paid it much attention—people getting wet was no big deal.
Whoosh!!
The old man backflipped three times, landing gracefully five meters away to avoid getting wet.
"What?!"
His movements were inhuman—way too agile for someone his age.
"There's something seriously wrong with this town!" Xiao Chen suddenly realized, his face turning grim.
Adding this to Ben's earlier flying-head sighting, they now had evidence of at least two monsters in this quiet little town.
Even worse?
No one else seemed to care.
Passersby just muttered complaints like:
"Why'd you turn on the water pipe again?"
"Hurry up and bury those pipes underground already."
Like they were used to seeing people backflip like Olympic gymnasts.
As the car drove further, Xiao Chen leaned out the window beside Ben, studying everyone more closely.
He saw that the man who did the flips was now digging with inhuman speed, ripping through dirt like a machine.
That's when it hit him.
"Most of this town's residents... they aren't human."
He turned pale.
Maybe half the town... or maybe almost all of them... were monsters in disguise.
If it came to a fight—even if he transformed into Fourarms and started punching—fighting off thousands of enemies would still take way too long.
Even a giant can be taken down by ants.
This situation was very bad.
"How's it look, Xiao Chen?" Ben asked, hopeful. "Did you see anything?"
Xiao Chen turned to Gwen with a serious expression. "Ben was right. Something's wrong here."
"What?" Gwen blinked in surprise.
Ben stood proudly with a smug grin. Finally, someone believes me!
Xiao Chen then shared everything he had seen and what he suspected.
Ben's grin slowly faded.
"Wait... you're saying like... 90% of this town are those freaks?!"
Max, who had been driving quietly, finally spoke. "So your theory is that almost everyone here has turned into human-like monsters?"
"That's right," Xiao Chen nodded. "We should turn back."
"But..." Max hesitated, eyes flickering with concern. "Aunt Vera and Uncle... they might not be monsters. If we're going to leave, we have to take them with us. And we still need to uncover the truth."
That complicated things.
Having relatives here made retreat much more difficult.
"As you say." Xiao Chen agreed.
From that moment on, he stopped relaxing and stayed fully alert. Ben and Gwen also kept their eyes peeled for anything suspicious.
Luckily, the strange residents only stole glances at them without doing anything.
Eventually, their beat-up old car reached Aunt Vera's house.
Standing in front of it were two elderly people—an older lady about Max's size, and a tall, thin man. They both wore welcoming smiles and seemed to have been waiting for their guests.
"They look... normal," Xiao Chen muttered, undoing his seatbelt and stepping out with the others.
Max greeted Aunt Vera warmly and started chatting. Aunt Vera handed little gifts to Ben and Gwen like any ordinary sweet old lady.
"Maybe they aren't infected," Xiao Chen wondered aloud.
"Who's this?" Aunt Vera asked, eyes landing on Xiao Chen in surprise.
"This is Xiao Chen. You can just call him Xiaochen," Max said, patting him on the shoulder with a subtle glance.
Xiao Chen smiled politely. "Hello, Aunt, Uncle."
"What a polite boy!" Aunt Vera beamed.
Her husband snorted. "Enough chatter. They've been standing around too long. Vera, let's get lunch ready."
"Oh goodness, you're right!" she said, smacking her forehead. "My memory's no good these days. Come in, come in!"
"Haha, Vera's cooking is amazing. I want my grandson to try it!" Max laughed and headed inside.
Ben gagged. "If Grandpa likes it... yuck."
"I'm more interested in finding out," Gwen whispered, "whether Aunt Vera and Uncle are monsters too."
"So far, they don't seem like it," Xiao Chen replied cautiously.
"Why are you kids still outside?" Aunt Vera blinked at them.
"Nothing! We're coming!" Xiao Chen quickly put on his polite face again and walked inside like everything was normal.
Ben and Gwen followed closely behind.
Bang!
The door shut behind them.