Chapter 164: Crop Circles? No, Circuit Boards
Kevin kept his eyes on the road as he explained, "Alan is most likely a half-alien, a hybrid born from an Earthling and an extraterrestrial. They usually inherit some kind of superpower from their alien side. Honestly, it is a pretty common occurrence out there."
Hearing this, Klein and Gwen exchanged a deeply knowing, slightly disturbed glance. Both of their minds instantly flashed to Grandpa Max.
'Hmm... So Grandpa wasn't the only one with a hobby for exotic extraterrestrial romance,' Klein thought, keeping his expression perfectly neutral.
Neither Klein nor Gwen said another word on the matter. They were absolutely terrified that if they kept talking, the topic would inevitably shift to Grandpa Max's legendary dating history, and neither of them wanted to open that particular can of worms.
A short while later, the car tires crunched against the dirt driveway. Kevin parked the vehicle right outside the old barn.
Just as the engine cut off, Ben and Alan walked out of the wooden structure.
Klein and the others stepped out of the car, stretching their legs. Kevin leaned against the hood, crossing his arms as he looked the new kid up and down. "Who is the kid?"
Hearing the question, Alan instinctively triggered his powers. Flames erupted across his skin, transforming him into Heatblast right before their eyes.
Kevin raised an eyebrow, immediately recognizing the Pyronite form. "Woah. Not bad."
Ben stepped forward, reached out, and casually snapped a small, smoldering piece of rock right off Alan's fiery shoulder.
Alan flinched, instinctively letting out a sharp, "Ow!"
Having spent an entire summer wearing that exact same alien skin, Ben could not help but roll his eyes. "Oh, shut up. It doesn't even hurt."
Ben then turned his back on the complaining hybrid, found an empty patch of dirt, and squatted down. He picked up a stick and began to sketch out a crude diagram in the soil. "I want to show you guys what I saw when I flew over the wheat field earlier."
He dragged the stick through the dirt, forming a complex geometric design. "It is not exactly like this, but it is close enough. These aren't just random paths cut into a cornfield. They are crop totems."
"Like the kind aliens use as navigation markers?" Alan asked, the flames on his head flickering. Apparently, even he had heard the local rumors about crop circles.
Kevin scoffed, a dismissive smirk playing on his lips. "Please. It is probably just something local farmers made to prank gullible city bumpkins."
Ben dropped the stick and smiled. "Kevin, we aren't exactly unfamiliar with aliens."
Klein stepped closer, his eyes narrowing as he analyzed the crude drawing in the dirt. He realized immediately that this pattern had a highly specific, deliberate structure. It was far too organized to be a simple hoax. "No, Ben is right. This isn't a standard crop circle."
Gwen leaned in, her eyes tracing the intersecting lines. "He is right. It looks exactly like some kind of massive circuit board."
Hearing her deduction, Klein shot Gwen a look of genuine appreciation. Her intellect was always sharp.
Standing on the sidelines, Ben and Kevin exchanged blank stares. They suddenly felt like they were being treated as the slow kids in class, completely excluded from the intellectual conversation.
Klein stood up, brushing the dust off his coat. "Gwen, take us up. I want a bird's-eye view."
Gwen nodded. She raised her hands, her palms glowing with a brilliant pinkish-purple light as she gathered raw mana. With a swift motion, she projected the energy downward, forming a solid, translucent purple barrier right beneath their feet. The mana platform hummed with power and slowly began to levitate, lifting the entire group into the air.
"Woah, cool!" Alan gasped, his fiery eyes wide with astonishment as he experienced Anodite magic for the very first time.
Once the platform ascended high enough above the valley, the entire landscape revealed itself. The massive wheat field stretched out below them, and the sprawling, complex pattern carved into the crops was impossible to miss.
Seeing the sheer scale and precision of the design, Gwen became absolutely certain of her earlier theory. "I told you. This is a giant circuit board. This entire valley might be functioning as one massive machine."
Klein's gaze swept across the horizon until his eyes locked onto a specific anomaly. "There seems to be something going on over there." He pointed toward the far end of the distance, where a faint, unnatural glow was pulsing from the depths of the wheat field.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the valley.
Two DNAliens were trudging through the thick crops. They were using a heavy, humming machine that looked like an oversized metal detector to carve the final lines of the circuit board into the earth. As they worked, they chatted with the casual laziness of rear-echelon grunts.
"Hey, man, you think a bunch of guys are gonna suddenly pop out of the stalks and jump us?" the younger DNAlien asked, glancing nervously over his shoulder.
The older DNAlien let out a guttural laugh. "What are you sweating for? We are just small-fry grunts who got pulled back to the sixteenth defensive line. We aren't anywhere near the front lines of the battlefield. Who the hell would come all the way out here to fight us? The only guys safer than us are the ones transporting the toilet paper supplies."
"Yeah, you make a good point. Let's just finish this up quickly and get back to Little Red. Man... the way she uses those claws of hers... it really gives you that special feeling."
The two DNAliens continued to carve up the field, happily reminiscing about their bizarre romantic prospects.
"Alright, I'm done on this end," the younger one called out as the machine burned the final patch of wheat.
"Copy that." The older DNAlien reached into his bulky suit, pulled out a heavy mechanical joystick, and yanked it downward.
A deep, rumbling vibration shook the earth. The entire wheat field circuit board flared to life, glowing with intense energy. The ground split apart, and a massive, metallic weather tower slowly breached the surface, rising high into the sky.
Almost immediately after the tower locked into place, the atmosphere shifted. Unnatural dark clouds violently gathered overhead, blotting out the sun. The temperature plummeted, and thick white snow began to fall over the valley.
"Work is done. Hehe, Little Red, here I come," the older DNAlien chuckled, turning around to leave.
Just then, a calm, chilling voice echoed through the falling snow.
"Kevin. Trash them."
The two DNAliens froze. 'No way?! There really are people out here!'
Before either of them could even raise their weapons, a blur of motion slammed into them. Kevin grabbed both of their heads in his massive hands and violently smashed them together. A sickening crack echoed through the cold air, and both aliens dropped to the ground, completely unconscious.
Klein strolled forward, his boots crunching against the fresh snow. He knelt beside the unconscious bodies and casually ripped their disguise helmets off, exposing their grotesque, fleshy faces. "DNAliens. Just as ugly as I remember. They are the ones who built this weather tower."
Before anyone could make another move, the piercing wail of police sirens shattered the quiet valley. Red and blue lights flashed through the falling snow.
"Nobody move! Keep your hands where I can see them!"
Klein slowly stood up, a dangerous smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. 'So arrogant? Do these local cops want a one-way ticket to orbit for afternoon tea?'
He shifted his weight, fully intending to send the entire police squad flying over the horizon with a single telekinetic blast.
But Ben quickly stepped in front of him, shooting Klein a desperate, pleading look.
Klein stared at his cousin for a second, then let out a lazy sigh. He shrugged, dropping his hands into his pockets, deciding to hold back and watch the drama unfold instead.
"Alright, I said don't move." Sheriff Mason marched forward, his hand resting heavily on his holstered weapon as a group of deputies fanned out behind him.
Sheriff Mason locked eyes with the fiery hybrid. "I really don't want to make things difficult for you, Alan, because I have a lot of respect for your parents. But you built this giant machine, and you stole the town's heat energy to power it. So..." The Sheriff let out a heavy sigh. "I am sorry, son."
"No, I didn't do this!" Alan shouted, waving his burning hands defensively.
Two deputies instantly raised their shotguns, aiming right at Alan's chest, barking at him to shut his mouth.
"It wasn't us, Sheriff," Ben tried to explain, stepping forward with his hands raised.
Sheriff Mason sneered, his grip tightening on his gun. "Hehe. Not you? Then who else could it possibly be?"
Klein smiled, casually pointing a finger right over the Sheriff's shoulder. "Maybe them?"
"Behind me? There is no— Holy crap!"
Sheriff Mason whipped his head around, his jaw dropping in absolute horror.
"For the Highbreed!"
"For the DNAliens!"
"For Little Red!"
A massive swarm of grotesque DNAliens suddenly erupted from the snow-covered wheat stalks. They descended upon the police officers like a pack of rabid wolves, unleashing a ruthless, utterly shameless barrage of dirty street-fighting combos.
It was absolute chaos. The aliens employed every cheap shot in the book: groin kicks, eye gouges, vicious uppercuts, and kidney punches. The poor deputies were left screaming in absolute misery as they were battered from all sides.
"What in the... Ahhhh!!!"
Sheriff Mason didn't even get to finish his sentence before a swift, brutal kick landed squarely between his legs. His eyes bugged out. The world stopped.
A fresh wave of DNAliens charged out of the crops, wielding heavy, alien rifles. They pulled the triggers, firing thick blue beams of freezing energy at the writhing police officers, encasing them in solid blocks of ice.
One of the freezing beams shot straight toward the paralyzed Sheriff Mason. Just as it was about to hit him, a glowing purple barrier materialized out of thin air, blocking the blast completely.
Sheriff Mason slowly turned his head, fighting through the blinding pain in his lower half. He saw Gwen standing a few feet away, her hands glowing with that same purple light. The realization hit him like a freight train. 'So... you kids really are the good guys!'
A deep wave of regret washed over the Sheriff. If he had just listened to them two minutes ago, could he have saved his family jewels?
He didn't dare dwell on it. The more he thought about it, the more it hurt. The physical agony was blinding, but the emotional heartache was even worse. The local widows would be devastated to learn that the usually helpful Sheriff Mason was officially out of commission!
"What are you spacing out for? Start shooting!"
Klein strolled over and lightly kicked the paralyzed Sheriff in the shin, snapping him out of his tragic internal monologue.
Left with absolutely no other choice, Sheriff Mason awkwardly covered his last shred of dignity with his left hand, drew his service weapon with his right, and began firing blindly into the swarm of DNAliens.
"I'm on it!" Ben shouted. He slammed his hand down on the Omnitrix dial. "Swampfire!"
A blinding flash of emerald light illuminated the snow, and Swampfire stood in Ben's place, roaring a challenge.
Swampfire charged headfirst into the horde of DNAliens, throwing heavy, muddy punches. Every strike landed with the force of a battering ram, sending groups of aliens flying backward into the snowdrifts.
"I'm coming too!" Alan yelled. Imitating Swampfire's battle cry, the Pyronite hybrid recklessly charged straight into the thickest part of the melee, throwing wild, uncoordinated punches.
Klein stood in the back, watching the fiery teenager flail around. He blinked, genuinely dumbfounded. 'Wait a minute. Since when was Heatblast a close-quarters brawler? Doesn't he shoot fire?'
"Two absolute idiots," Kevin muttered under his breath. He didn't even bother transforming. He just grabbed a charging DNAlien by the arm, pivoted on his heel, and casually slammed the creature into the frozen dirt with a flawless over-the-shoulder throw.
[Akarin's Note:
Enjoying the story? Dropping a quick review, comment, or Power Stone means the world to me and keeps these daily updates flowing!
Want to read 50 chapters ahead or just want to help keep a shameless translator alive? (My livelihood actually depends on this, haha 😭). You can support me directly here:
(P.S. Just remove the brackets and replace the [.] with a regular dot . to use the links!)
✨ Patreon (50 Advanced Chapters): patreon[.]com/AkarinTL
☕ Ko-fi (Support / Sponsor): ko-fi[.]com/AkarinTL
🔗 All My Links: linktr[.]ee/AkarinTL
Thank you so much for reading and keeping this project alive!]