Arrival at the Newbie Village!

A ten-year-old boy wearing a black and white striped short-sleeved shirt is carefully sliding down charred trees into the bottom of a huge meteorite crater.

In the center of the pit, lay an opened metal spherical box.

Inside the sphere case, a green mechanical device resembling a watch was quietly placed.

"What is this? Some kind of satellite part?"

Ten-year-old Ben Tennyson curiously reached out, wanting to touch the watch.

In that instant, the watch seemed to come alive, suddenly springing up and snapping firmly onto Ben's left wrist with a "click".

"Whoa! It's falling! It's falling down!"

The Ben was startled and frantically shook his arm, trying to pull the strange watch off.

And on the tree trunk less than twenty meters from the crater.

The Nega Ben, dressed in black and white, watched this scene indifferently.

"What a noisy brat. Even if you kill him now, it won't change the fact that the world is incredibly boring."

The voice of the Nega Ben was filled with extreme misanthropy and exhaustion. He raised his right hand and pressed it against the pure black dial on his left wrist.

"Finish your work early so you can go home and sleep."

Bang!

A black light shone on the tree trunk.

Nega Ben transformed into a rocky alien engulfed in blackish-gray flames.

Negative form: [Heatblast].

He raised his right hand, which was enveloped in black flames, and pointed his palm at the ten-year-old Ben at the bottom of the pit who was still struggling with his watch.

Goodbye, my past self.

Boom!

An extremely hot black pillar of fire tore through the night in the forest, carrying deadly heat, and slammed straight into the back of ten-year-old Ben!

With his current mortal body, a ten-year-old Ben would instantly turn to ashes if hit.

At the critical moment.

Buzz--!

Without warning, the space behind Ben distorted, and a ghostly green portal suddenly opened.

Jiang Li stepped out of the portal and stood in front of the ten-year-old Ben.

Faced with the black pillar of fire powerful enough to melt steel, Jiang Li didn't even transform or dodge. He simply raised his right hand casually, spread his five fingers, and met the pillar of fire head-on.

Bang!

The raging black fire struck Jiang Li's palm with a muffled thud, sending Mars flying.

But the pillar of fire could not be pushed forward any further. Jiang Li's Krypton body could withstand even nuclear fusion, so this level of flame was not even warm enough to warm his hands.

"What?!"

The Negative Heatblast on the tree was stunned. He had never seen anyone catch his black flame with their bare hands.

Jiang Li clenched his fists tightly.

With a "crack," the thick, dark gray pillar of fire was actually crushed by his sheer grip strength!

Ten-year-old Ben heard the noise and turned around. When he saw a man in a black trench coat standing behind him, crushing the flames with his bare hands, his eyes lit up instantly.

"That's awesome! Are you an alien superhero?!" Ben shouted excitedly.

Jiang Li glanced back at the ten-year-old Ben, whose face was still childlike and whose eyes were full of innocence, and a gentle smile appeared on his lips.

"Stay in this pit and don't move."

After speaking, Jiang Li turned around, his gaze locking onto the Negative Heatblast in the tree, his eyes instantly turning icy cold.

Jiang Li slowly raised his left hand and pressed his thumb on the watch face.

Buzz!

A pure green light shot into the sky, illuminating the entire crater.

The green light dissipated.

An alien, resembling a combination of a moth and a ghost, draped in a deep blue Cloak and seemingly emerging from an extremely cold Hell, hovered in mid-air. The air around him instantly condensed into fine ice crystals.

Galvan System, Necrofriggian.

[Big Chill]!

"You're a variant too?!"

The Negative Heatblast glanced at the Omnitrix on Jiang Li's wrist, a hint of apprehension flashing in his eyes. But being inherently cold and ruthless, he suddenly clasped his hands together, condensing a massive black fireball.

"Have a finger in the pie."

The Negative Heatblast hurled a fireball at Jiang Li, simultaneously leaping backward to create distance.

"Too slow."

Jiang Li's ethereal voice seemed to resonate directly in the ears of the Negative Heatblast.

Before the Negative Heatblast could even see Jiang Li's movements, Jiang Li had already transformed into a blue phantom, instantly piercing through the huge black fireball and appearing before him unharmed.

The Big Chill possesses the ability to become ethereal, rendering it immune to both physical and energy attacks.

"Your fire is too weak."

Jiang Li looked down at the Negative Heatblast and took a deep breath.

Call--!

A pure white, extremely cold aura shot out from Jiang Li's mouth!

This is not ordinary freezing; it's cosmic-level extreme cold, approaching absolute zero!

Click click click click!

Before the Negative Heatblast could even scream, the black flames on his body instantly went out. The extreme cold froze him and the tree beneath his feet into a giant, crystal-clear ice sculpture in a fraction of a second!

Instant kill. No delays whatsoever.

Jiang Li hovered in mid-air, glancing at the ice sculpture. If he were to touch it even slightly now, the Nega Ben would shatter into a pile of ice shards.

But he didn't do that.

Only by leaving one alive can we follow the clues to find the Clockwork's location.

Jiang Li landed on the ground, deactivated his transformation, and reverted to his black-clad youth. With a casual wave of his hand, a green energy rope flew out, binding the ice sculpture tightly and dragging it to the edge of the meteorite crater.

"Done." Jiang Li clapped his hands.

Wow...

Ten-year-old Ben climbed out of the pit and excitedly circled around Jiang Li, his eyes fixed on the watch face on Jiang Li's left wrist.

"You just transformed! It was like magic! That fire-breathing monster was frozen in one move! Are you an alien policeman from some planet?"

"You can call me Jiang Li." Jiang Li looked at this energetic first-generation Ben, a hint of reminiscence flashing in her eyes.

Just then...

"Ben! Where are you?!"

"You idiot, I told you not to run around!"

Accompanied by the beam of a flashlight and anxious shouts.

An elderly man with white hair and a robust build, wearing a Hawaii shirt, hurriedly ran over, accompanied by a ten-year-old girl with short orange hair and wearing a blue and white top.

Max and ten-year-old Tian Xiaowen.

When Grandpa Max saw the huge meteorite crater, the strange man frozen into an ice sculpture, and the unfamiliar man and woman standing next to Ben.

The former top-level Plumbers's eyes sharpened instantly. He instinctively shielded the two children behind him, his gaze fixed intently on Jiang Li.

"Who are you? Stay away from my grandson." Max's tone was stern and experienced.

Gwen, who was standing behind Jiang Li, couldn't help but take a step forward.

She removed the hood of her battle suit, revealing short, golden-pink hair and a stunningly beautiful face.

She looked at the ten-year-old girl with short orange hair and a wary expression, and her eyes softened.

"Don't be nervous, Grandpa Max. We mean no harm."

Gwen walked up to ten-year-old Wen, knelt down, and gently ruffled the girl's short orange hair.

"Nice to meet you, Xiaowen."