Four Arms didn't bother chasing down the remaining aliens. They were obviously terrified and just wanted to escape home. Besides, even if he rushed in to fight them, killing wasn't necessary, and with so many of them packed into the spaceship, a real battle inside would turn into a chaotic brawl with no guarantee of victory.
He glanced down at the Omnitrix symbol on his chest. The transformation time is almost up. No point continuing this fight.
BOOM!
After all the surviving aliens scrambled aboard their spaceship, the door slowly sealed shut with a hydraulic hiss. The engine roared to life inside with a thunderous rumble!
"Is that spaceship actually taking off?" Gwen stared at the spacecraft with wide, curious eyes. This was the first time she'd witnessed an alien vessel launch!
"Alright, we've driven off the evil aliens again!" Ben patted his chest proudly, a grin spreading across his face.
"Asher, Ben, Gwen, you're all heroes." Max looked at the three of them with genuine approval, his tone filled with affirmation. They had truly rescued this town. They'd earned his recognition!
"Thank you, Grandpa." Asher answered without arrogance, showing only a small smile of satisfaction.
Ben's face lit up with excitement, holding his hands together. This was the first time he'd been recognized like this by others, by his grandfather, no less!
Even Gwen, surprisingly, didn't quarrel with Ben. She simply accepted the praise in silence, a faint blush on her cheeks.
VRRROOOOM!!
At that moment, the spaceship's engines ignited fully. Brilliant rays of light flashed from its hull, and scorching lines of fire erupted from the bottom thrusters, burning the ground and sending up bursts of smoke. The spacecraft lifted from its position, breaking through the rock formations above and creating a massive opening that led straight to the surface!
In moments, the spaceship disappeared into the sky, positioning itself to leave the solar system. The terrified aliens vowed never to return to this "dangerous" place again.
Asher, who had just transformed back into his human form, didn't know yet that in the minds of those aliens, he had become a cosmic gangster, the super villain they would remember as "The Tennyson Terror"!
Ding! Congratulations to the host for signing in successfully!
Get the green reward: Weapon Crafting Information Manual, a comprehensive guide recording extensive weapon specifications. With this manual, you can manufacture any firearm currently existing on Earth through the detailed blueprints provided!
The reward this time was a weapon crafting information manual. For Asher, it wasn't particularly necessary. But for Ben and the others, especially if they encountered situations where they needed conventional weapons, it could prove invaluable!
"System, I'm in an underground cave right now, so it's not convenient to receive a physical reward. Can you store it in the Rust Bucket?" Asher asked, glancing at Max, Ben, and Gwen.
It has been stored in the Rust Bucket's storage compartment. The system replied in its usual cold tone.
Asher breathed a sigh of relief. Regardless of the system's perpetually emotionless voice, its work efficiency remained impressively strong.
"Asher, these egg pods are too difficult to move to the surface with just our strength alone!" Max's sudden words interrupted Asher's internal conversation with the system.
Asher snapped back to attention and looked at Max. "Grandpa, you mean we need to move these pods to the surface before opening them?"
"Exactly. This cave is a considerable distance from the surface. With so many people down here at once, oxygen could become scarce. More importantly, we can't let everyone know about the existence of aliens."
Max gave Asher a meaningful look.
Asher didn't react at first, but soon understood what Max meant. If the town's residents learned about aliens, the next question would inevitably be: who saved them?
If that news spread, Asher could easily be suspected of being the alien hero!
Therefore, Max's careful consideration, bringing people to the surface before waking them, showed remarkable prudence and foresight.
As expected of a veteran Plumber. He acts cautiously and thinks several steps ahead of me. I have much to learn, Asher thought admiringly.
"We can't move all these people ourselves. We'll have to rely on Asher's alien hero," Gwen said thoughtfully.
"Right, but it'll take a while before I can transform into Four Arms again. Before that, we can look around and observe these containers more carefully," Asher replied, not even bothering to check the Omnitrix. He knew it needed time to recharge after his recent transformation.
With idle time on their hands, he followed Gwen and Ben to examine the structure of the strange containers more closely, occasionally stepping around leaking water from damaged pipes.
An hour passed quickly.
On the streets of the town, egg pods were now positioned everywhere!
Ben, Max, and Gwen wiped sweat from their foreheads, exhausted from their efforts.
BOOM!
A loud crash echoed from the alley behind them!
Four Arms emerged from the basement entrance in the alley, holding several more egg pods in his four massive arms. His usually domineering face showed clear fatigue. "Finally! That's the last of them."
The pods he carried contained Aunt Vera and Uncle Frank, along with a few other townspeople.
After carefully placing the final pods on the ground, Four Arms shook his entire body, flinging sweat droplets in all directions, and let out a heavy breath of relief.
Moving the pods out didn't mean their work was finished. Next, Max and the others needed to place each pod at the appropriate residence and carefully dismantle them.
The people inside had been trapped for varying lengths of time, some for a week or two, others for only two or three days. Even after being freed from the pods, they remained unconscious, which meant they wouldn't disturb Max and the team's work.
Four Arms, meanwhile, welded the metal gate shut over the basement entrance and buried it with soil to prevent anyone from accidentally discovering the alien facility.
Once everything was finished, it was already six or seven in the evening.
Asher, Max, and the others had completely vanished without a trace.
On the streets, confused residents began walking out of their homes one by one. They looked at each other with bewildered expressions, disoriented and uncertain. Eventually, everyone resumed their original routines as though waking from a strange dream. The town's plumber even repaired the burst water pipe, restoring normal water pressure.
At Aunt Vera's house, she suddenly jolted awake with a gasp.
"Oh no! I just remembered, we're supposed to pick up Max and Ben!" Aunt Vera said anxiously, pressing her hand to her forehead. "How could I forget something so important?"
"I must have overslept and completely forgotten!" Uncle Frank looked equally guilty.
Ding-dong.
The doorbell rang.
Aunt Vera hurried to the door, opened it, and saw Max, Asher, Ben, and Gwen standing on the doorstep.
The four of them wore pleasant expressions, pretending they had just arrived, greeting Aunt Vera warmly.
"Oh my!" Aunt Vera looked at Asher with a surprised expression. "And who might you be?"
The scene felt strangely familiar, like déjà vu.
"Auntie, my name is Asher," Asher repeated the same introduction from before, perfectly recreating everything he had experienced earlier, right down to offering the chicken-flavored jelly!
All in all, they maintained the charade flawlessly, without revealing any clues. The alien incident passed unnoticed by the town's residents.
The only difference from the original timeline was that tonight, Asher, Ben, and Gwen would stay at Aunt Vera's house overnight. They'd leave at dawn.
The town returned to its former tranquility, its residents blissfully unaware of how close they'd come to becoming alien livestock.
Meanwhile, in the depths of space, three mercenaries from a distant galaxy quietly approached the abandoned spacecraft once occupied by the shapeshifters, searching for salvage items and potential profit.