"Hello? It's me, what's up? ... No way? Okay, I'll go back and check it out now. Thank you, ma'am." Barry hung up the phone and scratched his head, puzzled.
Hal looked at him and asked, "What's going on?"
"The lady from the property management said that my family's old house might have been intruded upon," Barry said. "I know that in some places, if someone else lives in a house for some time, the ownership might change. But that's not the rule in Central City. And plus, the security there has always been good. Who would sneak in and live in someone else's house?"
"Do you want to go back and check?" Hal asked, "Should I accompany you?"
"No need, didn't you just get off work? You should rest," Barry said. "I suspect the property management made a mistake. I'll go back and take a look, then I'll be back."
With that, he turned into a flash of lightning, left the Justice League base, and quickly ran back to Central City, arriving at the old house.
The place where Barry currently lived was also a property of their family, but it wasn't where he grew up. It was a small apartment his parents prepared for him in advance. The house in front of him now was his childhood home, the Allen family's old residence.
This place was a bit out of the way, but it was very peaceful and tranquil. There hadn't been any serious incidents in the neighborhood for many years, and the neighbors all had a very good relationship. Otherwise, they wouldn't have gone out of their way to warn him.
Barry took out the key, pushed the door open, and went in. He looked at the yard, and it seemed well-maintained. Every time the neighbors hired someone to cut the grass, they would also help take care of their yard. This was actually because his parents were kind to people when they were alive, so the neighbors were more than happy to look after him in return.
He walked through the yard and opened the front door of the house. As soon as he opened the door, he froze because he saw his father sitting on the sofa reading a newspaper.
It was like those weekend afternoons years ago when the sunlight shone into the room through the windows after they had returned from a trip to the supermarket, organizing groceries into the fridge. Before dinner, his father would sit on the sofa reading a newspaper, his mother would be watering the flowers in the backyard, and he would play with toys on the carpet in the living room. Those kinds of days lasted for a long time until one day, it all came to an end.
Barry thought it was an illusion. He often had such illusions. Every time he returned to the old house, he would casually pick up the newspaper and place it on the coffee table as if his father would pick it up to read at any time; he would fill the watering pot with water just like his mother used to ask him to do. The passing of loved ones is such a long, wet tide. The imprint they leave on you surfaces at every moment in life.
Barry stepped inside, but soon he realized, it didn't seem to be an illusion. He wasn't someone with a vivid imagination, so every time an illusion appeared, the scene was always vague and blurry. But the man before him was too clear.
Hearing his voice, the man turned his head and, upon seeing Barry, smiled and said, "You're back."
Barry didn't show a touched or happy expression. He rushed out in shock like a cat with its fur bristled, and shouted into the house, "Who are you?! Why are you pretending to be my father?!!"
The man was taken aback and then said, "I'm not pretending to be your father, I am your father, Little Barry. Don't you recognize me?"
"But my parents are dead!" Barry raised his voice, "Don't try to make me believe some fantasy about resurrection; it's impossible. Even the Mother Box can't fully revive someone, and you're telling me you can? Then why don't you go fight Darkseid?!"
Soon, a woman came down from upstairs, it was his mom. She stood at the top of the stairs, waved and said, "Come in, Barry, we were just about to talk to you. We don't know why, but we indeed woke up from the cemetery. With nowhere to go, we came back to the original house."
"Impossible!" Barry shook his head like a rattle drum, "First of all, you can't resurrect from the grave. Even if you were buried, the body would quickly become part of the natural cycle and would have long disappeared. Matter doesn't just appear out of thin air. So the bodies you have now must not be the original ones but rather composed of some unknown force's strange matter."
"And a soul is not the same person just because it has the same memories. Your way of thinking is clearly completely different from my parents. If it were them, they would worry about immediately coming home after being resurrected, whether it would scare the neighbors, especially if it would scare me."
"So, if you were indeed my parents resurrected, you would probably leave quietly or find a place to settle down first and slowly contact me, letting me accept the matter, instead of just directly coming back to the original house and giving me a big scare."
Barry looked at his father and then said, "You know what? My dad knew I was afraid of the dark, so he installed lights in every corner of the house, trying to make it as bright as day. My mom knew I feared crustaceans, and once when I was scared by a longhorn beetle, she threw away all the flowers that might attract them, even though she liked some of them. They're the most concerned about whether I would get scared, sometimes even making a fuss over nothing."
At this point, Barry couldn't hold back his red-rimmed eyes and said, "I know them. If they really were brought back, no matter how hard life was, they wouldn't suddenly appear in front of me. Because they would worry I couldn't handle it, afraid of scaring me."
"And you two monsters, not only did you give no thought to me, you also occupied my house and shamelessly claimed to be my parents. Now leave immediately, or I'll call the police!"
"Don't do this, Barry. You have to listen to our explanation. Your mother and I really are..."
Before finishing their words, the blue lightning flashed. Immediately with a "swish," Barry, whose eyes were red, appeared in front of the house, dragging a bewildered Hal. Barry pointed at the front door of the house and said, "It's them, they've turned into my parents. Hal, quickly drive these two monsters away!!!"
Hal was also startled. He walked in and glanced at them, sizing them up and down, then said, "Doesn't look like monsters, they seem to be ordinary humans..."
"Impossible!" Barry kept shaking his head, "They absolutely cannot be my parents. This isn't their house. Get them out!"
"Alright." Hal chose to respect Barry's wishes, he said, "Are you two going to walk out by yourselves, or should I show you the way?"
"We..."
Before finishing their words, two police cars arrived at Barry's door. Barry turned back in shock. The officers stepped forward and said, "Someone reported illegal entry. What's going on here?"
Barry was just about to explain when Hal gave him a look. Since neither of them reported it, those impostors in the room must have. Even if they couldn't see the flaws in those two people, regular police certainly couldn't distinguish them either.
If they overreacted and became unreasonable, it would be easy to get caught in their flaws. Although Hal wasn't in good shape recently, he slightly improved after learning the Meditation Method from Sinestro. Besides, he had always been sharp, he directly said, "Officers, don't approach the house yet, there might be Mars people inside!"
"What?!" The two officers nervously pulled out their guns.
"It's like this," Hal gave Barry a look, then said, "You should know this is the old house of the Allen Family, right? The Allen couple died many years ago, and he is the only son of the Allen Family. Just now, he received a call from someone claiming to be his parents. We thought it was a prank, but neighbors said it seemed like there were shadows in the house."
"He was worried about illegal entry, so he rushed over to check it out and also called the police. Unexpectedly, the long-dead Allen couple has resurrected. Of course, they claim to be resurrected, but I think they are Mars people disguised as the Allen couple!"
"Remember the Mars people's declaration earlier? They want to fully invade Earth, keep Earthlings from pulling out the nail, so they're definitely sending more people to infiltrate Earth. There's no time to prepare anew, so they try to replace the identities of dead people. Luckily, Mr. Allen was alert and didn't let them succeed. You have to help us!"
The younger officer was still a bit confused. But the older officer looked at Barry, then said, "I know you. I think you were just entering primary school when I was transferred here, right?"
Barry recalled and felt the officer looked familiar too, he said, "Seems so, didn't you buy snacks at our school gate? Mexican fruit cup?"
The older officer was thoroughly convinced this time. Hal stepped aside, and he peeked inside, almost dropping his gun in shock.
"Ce-ce-ce-central command! I-I-I am... I need reinforcement... I need reinforcement!! There might be Mars people here!!!!" The older officer screamed into the communicator.
If he only had a vague impression of Barry, he had a profound impression of the Allen couple. They were nice people; every time they picked up their child from school, they would buy coffee for the police they encountered. This older officer had also met them several times. He knew very well, even if the Allen couple weren't dead, they couldn't possibly be this young. These two things inside absolutely were impostors!
When Hal went to look at the couple's expressions again, he found they weren't infuriated from being exposed but genuinely felt a bit helpless. He realized that even though they might have been sent by someone, they probably didn't know the real situation, and truly thought they had resurrected.
Yet even so, it can't be ignored. This matter is too bizarre; it must be thoroughly investigated first.
Soon, the police sent a batch of reinforcements. Not just police cars, but armed helicopters arrived too. They quickly took the two inside away, thinking they would fiercely resist, but they didn't actually do it, obediently following the police. Of course, Barry and Hal were also taken back for questioning.
Upon learning they were members of the Justice League, people's attitudes improved a lot. Although the Justice League now also handles taxes, they primarily target those extremely few who resist stubbornly, not regular individuals.
Moreover, those who dare to commit crimes at this critical moment are even more reckless at ordinary times. They are always uprooted with one investigation. They've recently solved many such major cases, clearing many injustices, thus holding high prestige among the public.
And if they're Justice League members, encountering something like this is quite normal. Right now, it's the crucial moment for implementing new policies. Whether the policies can be executed relates to whether the human race can successfully pull the nail out. Since the new president can't be moved, the president's trusted aides are targeted first. Mars people's plan makes perfect sense.