Ben10: A Romantic Adventure with a Gender-Swapped Class

Just as Xiao Ban was about to say something, Kang Du, who was walking in front, abruptly stopped his eloquent speech about the association's efforts to improve facilities and turned around.

The same formulaic, enthusiastic smile remained on his face, but it was like a carefully crafted mask, and a hint of unquestionable authority flashed deep in his eyes.

"Come with me first." His voice wasn't loud, but it carried a strange penetrating power, instantly interrupting Xiao Ban's words and cutting off the silent flow of thoughts between the three of them.

Xiao Ban had no choice but to swallow back the words that were about to slip out, and exchanged a look of helplessness and wariness with Mo Bai and Kevin.

The three silently followed Kangdu's footsteps and left the foyer, which was inexplicably oppressive and had a huge, cold flame logo hanging on it.

They entered a corridor covered with the same thick, dark gray carpet.

The walls on both sides are made of a smooth, almost pure white material with excellent sound absorption, completely swallowing their footsteps and making the corridor seem even longer and deeper.

Evenly spaced strip lights are embedded in the ceiling, emitting a uniform but cold white light that casts long, thin shadows onto the smooth wall, like silent companions.

With his back to them, Kanto walked steadily ahead, his perfectly tailored dark gray suit looking impeccably tailored in the cold light.

His voice echoed in the empty corridor as he continued his unfinished "revelation".

He uttered the name "Great Pioneer, Great Steel" in an almost chanting tone, filled with boundless reverence. "Before leaving Earth, he promised us! He pledged that in the distant future, he would return to this planet he had favored! He would bring 'intelligence' technology beyond our imagination! With that supreme power, he would completely liberate humanity from the quagmire of war, the torment of famine, and the ravages of disease!" Kandu opened his arms as if embracing a magnificent vision about to unfold, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "He will personally create for us an eternal, painless—utopian ideal world!"

This overly grand and unrealistic promise seemed particularly hollow and unreal against the backdrop of the cold corridor.

As Xiao Ban listened, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly, revealing a teasing smile.

She quickened her pace, moving slightly closer to Kangdu, and said in a lighthearted, joking tone, "So the Intellectual Mars Transmission Society is like a welcoming party?"

Kandu seemed completely unconcerned by the slightly offensive analogy from the younger classmate, and didn't even turn around.

He continued walking without stopping, his voice steady and full of a sense of mission, seamlessly introducing the topic.

"At the same time, we did not wait passively. We followed the guidance of the Great Steel! Utilizing the resources we had gathered and some transcendent insights," his wording became somewhat ambiguous, "we actively assisted those in distress! We improved the dilapidated facilities in schools in underdeveloped areas, allowing the flame of knowledge to be passed on; we upgraded the rudimentary equipment in remote hospitals, ensuring that the glimmer of life was not easily extinguished."

"These are the cornerstones for us to practice 'knowledge' and embrace the new era!"

He had barely finished speaking when the corridor came to an end.

Kando pushed open a heavy, dark wooden door that also had excellent sound absorption properties.

"Please come in." He stepped aside.

Inside the door was a relatively enclosed small living room, or rather, a reception room that was decorated in an overly rigid manner.

The space was small, and the lighting was dimmer and softer than in the corridor.

The most striking feature is a huge projection screen hanging on the wall directly opposite the door, almost covering the entire wall. It is currently closed, presenting a deathly gray-white scene.

In front of the curtain, heavy, deep red floor-length curtains hung on both sides, completely obscuring the walls and adding a sense of mystery and oppression to the room.

Kevin seemed to dislike this kind of pretentious arrangement the most.

He strode in, his goal clear, and went straight to the huge, deep red curtain on the left.

He stretched out his hand, which had distinct knuckles and was stained with machine oil, and grabbed the thick velvet fabric without any hesitation. His fingertips could even feel some kind of hard support under the fabric.

As he pretended to pull away, he turned to look at Kang Du, a cynical, clearly provocative smile playing on his lips. His tone was flippant: "I say, Professor Kang Du," he deliberately drawled, "'Da Gang has been around for thousands of years, hasn't he? Not even a trace of him, not even a single interstellar long-distance call.' He made a crisp, clean chop motion across his neck with his other hand, making a 'crack' sound, 'Could it be...already...'"

Kevin's highly insulting gestures and words pierced Kando's carefully maintained calm like a cold awl.

The perfect smile on Kangdu's face froze instantly.

He took a deep breath, turned around, and faced Kevin, his voice deliberately calm, yet carrying an undeniable firmness.

“I can personally guarantee,” he said, staring into Kevin’s eyes, “that Big Steel is still alive! He exists in some dimension of the universe, and his will has never left!” The fervor and certainty in his eyes were almost scorching.

"Oh?" Xiao Ban's curiosity was completely piqued. She leaned forward, her green eyes fixed on Kang Du. "How can you be so sure?" Her tone was full of undisguised doubt.

Upon hearing Xiao Ban's follow-up question, Kang Du's tense face was replaced by an almost eerie smile that mixed with a sense of superiority and mystery.

His lips curled into a mysterious smile: "Because..." He raised his chin slightly, with an arrogant air of "I am the only one who is sober in a world of fools," "As a 'mentor' of the association, I have been granted access to certain... 'secret knowledge'."

He deliberately emphasized the words "secret wisdom," as if it were the only key to the temple of truth.

Just as Kangdu finished speaking, a sudden, sharp, and piercing metallic scraping sound rang out.

It's the noise made by the curtain rings being pulled forcefully on the rough track!

The sound instantly tore through the stagnant air in the room and interrupted Kangdu's pretentious act.

The three of them turned their heads sharply at almost the same time in response to the sound!

Kevin had already taken action without anyone noticing. He completely ignored Kando's "secret wisdom" rhetoric and, while the other was immersed in his sense of superiority, he forcefully pulled open the heavy, dark red curtain on the left!

Behind the curtains, instead of the expected window or wall, stood a tightly closed, unusually tall double door.

The door has a heavy, ancient, dark bronze color that looks like it has been eroded by time.

The door panel was unusually thick, with its edges wrapped in equally old, gleaming metal strips.

What is most unsettling is the pattern carved on the door panel—not the flames that are the symbol of the "Spiritual Mars Mission," but a huge, distorted, and eerie dark green relief mural.

The main subject of the design is an enormous, indescribable octopus-like creature that almost occupies the entire door panel.

Countless tentacles, seemingly still wriggling, extended, coiled, and entangled in all directions with a frenzied and ferocious posture.

At the center of the tentacle, the vague outline of a huge head covered with compound eyes could be seen, exuding a chilling aura of evil and madness.

The dark green pigment seemed to flow with an eerie glow in the dim light, exuding a nauseating chill from the deep sea.

Kevin was still holding onto the open curtains with one hand, while casually patting the cold, heavy door with the other, making a dull "thump-thump" sound.

He turned his head, his face showing an air of knowing "I knew it" and undisguised mockery, and asked Kang Du, whose face had instantly turned extremely ugly, in his usual tone.

“Mentor Kangdu, that ‘secret knowledge’ you mentioned…” He deliberately dragged out the words, tapping his finger on the menacing octopus relief on the door, “is it referring to what’s behind this ‘awesome’ door?”

Kando stared intently at Kevin, then glanced at the ominous octopus door, his lips pressed into a stiff line.

He didn't answer Kevin's question, not even a single angry rebuke.

He let out a very short, chilling laugh from his nose, as if mocking their ignorance and stupidity.

He then abruptly turned around, no longer looking at the door or paying attention to the three people. With stiff and hurried steps, he walked straight back to the doorway he had come from, leaving behind only a curt voice.

"Come with me"

This sudden turn of events left the three of them stunned for a moment.

Kevin was the first to react. He shrugged indifferently, released his grip on the curtains, and the thick, dark red velvet slowly slid back to its original position, once again completely covering the ferocious dark green octopus and the heavy bronze door, as if the spying had never happened.

Kevin quickly caught up with Kangdu, and as he passed by the still somewhat dazed Xiaoban and Mobai, he quickly lowered his voice and spoke in a volume that only the two of them could hear.

“That’s where he keeps his donations,” he said, quickening his pace to catch up with the gloomy figure ahead.

Xiao Ban also came to his senses, and filled with doubt and unease, slowly followed.

Mo Bai remained rooted to the spot, her brows furrowed, her gaze fixed on the wall now covered by the red curtain, as if she could see through the thick velvet to see the door and the extremely unsettling pattern on it once more.

A strong, lingering sense of familiarity, like cold vines, coiled around his heart—the twisted tentacles, the dark green sheen, the overwhelming aura of evil...

He must have seen him somewhere before!

In some forgotten corner, in some fragment of a nightmare...

No matter how hard he tried to retrieve those crucial fragments of information from the abyss of memory, they were like slippery fish, impossible to grasp.

The more I thought about it, the more my head ached, and my temples throbbed.

In the end, he could only shake his head in frustration, forcibly suppressing the annoying sense of déjà vu.

Now is not the time to dwell on this. He took a deep breath, suppressed the pounding in his heart, turned around and quickly followed Xiao Ban, leaving the room filled with an eerie and ominous atmosphere.

The group silently retraced their steps, the atmosphere even more somber than when they had arrived.

Once again, I walked through that deep and quiet corridor and returned to the high-ceilinged, spacious, and dimly lit lobby in front of the elevator.

The huge flame logo relief still hung coldly on the wall. At this moment, in Mo Bai's eyes, the twisted and rising flame lines seemed to carry a trace of the same indescribable evil feeling as the Octopus Gate.

Kangdu stopped in front of the logo, his back to the cold flame totem, facing the three people. The anger on his face seemed to have been forcibly suppressed, and he put on that mentor-like expression, full of compassion and tolerance.

“I know very well,” he began slowly, his voice regaining its previous calmness, even carrying a hint of understanding. “Suspicion and distrust are part of human nature.” His gaze swept over the three, lingering for a moment on Kevin’s face. “This is the mark left by a long period of ignorance, the shadow cast before the light of knowledge could fully illuminate it.”

He leaned forward slightly, adopting a sincere and open posture, his voice becoming more earnest and possessing a captivating power.

“But believe every word I say! Put aside your doubts and open your hearts!” His voice suddenly rose, filled with unquestionable fervor and certainty, as if issuing a divine oracle: “Great Steel! He has come! His return is imminent! A new era for mankind, a golden age forged by pure intellect and supreme power, is about to begin before us!” He opened his arms as if to embrace the entire future, his face radiating the glow of a martyr.

“And I am very happy and honored to invite you—Tian Xiaoban, Mo Bai, and this…” He glanced at Kevin, as if only then remembering that there was such a person, “friends, to listen with us to that enlightening and soul-cleansing hymn!”

The overly dramatic and sentimental invitation left the three of them looking at each other in bewilderment.

Their silent gazes met rapidly in the air, each seeing the wariness, absurdity, and a barely perceptible chill in the other's eyes.

The youngest student cleared his throat and, as a representative, replied in as polite but distant a tone as possible.

"Uh... let's... think about it some more." The refusal was clear.

Without any further pleasantries, the three of them turned and headed for the elevator almost impatiently.

The metal door slid open and closed silently, completely isolating Kangdu and the huge, cold flame logo behind him.

The suffocating sense of oppression only eased slightly once the elevator began to descend smoothly.

Stepping out of the ominous "Intellectual Mars Transmission Society" building, and bathed in the scorching afternoon sun, breathing in the "free" air thick with car exhaust and city dust, Mo Bai finally felt the invisible boulder in his chest had been lifted a little.

They walked quickly toward Kevin's car parked on the side of the road not far away, as if trying to escape some invisible source of pollution.

Kevin opened the car door, got in, started the engine, and the car merged into traffic, driving away from the area shrouded in the shadow of the huge, cold sign.

Inside the carriage, after a brief silence, Xiao Ban couldn't help but speak, his voice carrying a hint of worry and seriousness.

"Should we report this to the Heavenly Crafts Association?"

"After all, using alien technology to improve Earth violates interstellar law."