Chapter 479: When Schiller Found a New Streetlamp (Part 2)

Previously, Hal, who still possessed the Green Lantern Ring, had broken into Wayne Manor alone, was captured by Alfred, had his Green Lantern Ring knocked off by Aisha, and finally had it picked up by Dick.

The key lies in the moment when Aisha knocked off the Green Lantern Ring—previously explained, the Green Lantern Ring is equivalent to a safe, and inside that safe is stored Green Lantern energy.

Only a Lantern who has been authenticated by the Green Lantern Ring can open this safe and extract the energy within—it is part of the Ring's security lock.

An ordinary person who has not been authenticated by the Ring, even if they wear it, cannot open the safe or obtain the energy, and no ordinary person can bypass the Green Lantern Ring's security lock.

The detailed process of Hal's Ring being knocked off was this: Hal, using his identity as a Green Lantern, passed the security lock's authentication, opened the safe's door, and was just about to retrieve something from inside when Aisha bit his arm, causing the safe to be thrown away.

But at that moment, the safe was already open, and energy was continuously leaking out, so when Dick picked up the safe, he could immediately use Green Lantern energy—even though he had never bypassed the security lock or been authenticated by the Ring, he still gained partial Green Lantern abilities.

After hearing Dick's full description, Schiller deduced the principle behind it, and the key to it all was Aisha.

The Green Lantern Corps had operated across the universe for so many years that their security measures were highly refined; there had been almost no reports of ordinary people stumbling upon a Ring by sheer luck and then going on a rampage.

Such accidents rarely occurred precisely because the Green Lantern Ring possessed a sophisticated security lock mechanism—just as Hal had previously said, during energy transmission, the Ring could not fall off, even if the Lantern himself tried to pull it off.

But the one exception was Aisha.

Aisha was equivalent to the physical form of the Yellow Lantern beast Parallax; while any material in this world could potentially conduct Green Lantern energy, the other Lantern beasts were uniquely excluded—Green Lantern energy could not be conducted through Aisha's body.

When Hal opened the safe's door and was about to retrieve its contents, Aisha bit his arm, cutting off the Green Lantern energy, while the safe's door remained open.

Thus, when the Ring was knocked off, a safe with its door wide open appeared—any child, even one like Dick who had never undergone willpower training, could use that energy.

Based on this principle, Schiller conducted an experiment.

Willpower has no fixed standard, but in most cases, it relates to focus, endurance, and emotional control.

Different people possess different levels of willpower under different circumstances—you could break Batman's leg and he might not even grunt, but if you snapped a pearl necklace right in front of him…

Therefore, Schiller could switch between his different personas to meet the Green Lantern's required standard of willpower—a simpler, more efficient method.

Naturally, he summoned a Green Lantern Ring, but unlike the reluctant Lantern Batman, Schiller had no reason to refuse wearing it due to some "not wanting to rely on external power"—the Ring had come to him; wearing it was no harm.

But Schiller had no interest in putting on the Ring and going on a rampage; power-fantasy transmigrators choose a feast, wisdom-fantasy transmigrators choose constant meals, and Schiller-type transmigrators chose a new streetlamp.

Schiller put on the Green Lantern Ring, used his willpower to unlock the safe, had Aisha grasp his arm to cut off the Green Lantern energy, then removed the Ring—thus recreating Hal's exact situation, turning his Green Lantern Ring into an unlocked safe.

Because the moment the Ring got stuck, its energy continued to output, which was why Dick could activate its power immediately upon picking it up; Schiller exploited this by, after removing the Ring, directing its energy directly into the kryptonite crystal that had already been drained of energy.

The principle behind this new material's application remained Schiller's original "color convergence" theory: Green Lantern energy was green, and the radiation energy stored in the kryptonite was also green; after the gray mist had drained its energy, the remaining colorless crystal became Schiller's container for Green Lantern energy—and, as expected, it succeeded.

But Schiller did not transfer all the energy from the Green Lantern Ring into the kryptonite crystal—he left a tiny amount behind.

Because, as Hal had said, the Green Lantern Ring had a security lock; when its energy ran critically low, it would automatically return to the Central Battery to recharge.

Although Hal's dropped ring, due to Dick's reluctant control, had not successfully returned to the Corps to recharge, Schiller made no attempt to control his own ring—and so it returned smoothly to the Central Battery and recharged fully.

But simultaneously, this Ring was neither lost nor reclaimed by the Corps; its owner remained Schiller Rodriguez, so after recharging, it returned to Schiller's side.

Then Schiller put the fully charged Ring back on his finger, opened the lock again, used Aisha to jam it again, drained the energy into the kryptonite crystal again, and sent it back to the Central Battery to recharge again…

Remarkably, the Green Lantern energy extracted and pumped into the kryptonite crystal was preserved intact; this crystal, capable of storing special radiation, seemed to possess unique properties that prevented Green Lantern energy from dispersing into the universe, instead retaining it permanently within the crystal.

Thus, through his scientific little experiment, Schiller fundamentally understood the nature of the Green Lantern Corps, the Green Lantern Ring, the Central Battery, and Green Lantern energy—and with his exceptional economic acumen and well-tested moral standards, he successfully harvested the Green Lantern Corps' wool.

After hearing Schiller's account, Hal was stunned.

Since this was around the 1990s, exploiting bugs was not yet common—certainly, Hal, with no computer education background, had no idea how to describe this behavior.

"Actually, I'm cleaning up your mess," Schiller suddenly changed the subject, shifting blame onto Hal, who stared in disbelief: "Cleaning up my mess? What did I do?"

Schiller tapped the table with his finger: "You had zero vigilance—you picked up a strange Ring and just put it on your hand; received a strange order and immediately carried it out."

"You sold Earth's secrets to aliens, and even used the power they gave you to run rampant in Gotham…"

"I didn't run rampant! I…"

Looking into Schiller's eyes, Hal's voice grew weaker; he knew he was guilty and lowered his head, trying not to recall the horrific scene beneath the Gotham Central Roundabout when he had disguised himself as a Green Lantern.

"But now the deed is done—your information has been leaked, those aliens have probably passed it around among themselves; the breach is irreversible. So at least let's recover some losses?"

"But this was done without their consent…"

"Did they get your consent before giving you power?"

"They needed my consent to give me power…?"

"Of course they did," Schiller interrupted. "Before they granted you this power, did they inform you of the specific responsibilities it entailed? Did they obtain your consent before collecting your personal biological data? Were there any privacy clauses? Did they explain the potential risks of using this power?"

"Let me give you an example: No one, in any written or verbal form, ever warned you that using this power while landing on a human traffic light pole might cause traffic congestion—so the losses from Gotham's Central Roundabout traffic jam are not solely your responsibility."

"But you said they're aliens—aliens probably don't understand Earth's contract terms and such, right?"

"Because they didn't understand Earth's rules but recklessly gave you this power, causing destruction on Earth—who is to blame?"

Because they didn't understand Earth's rules but recklessly gave you this power, causing destruction on Earth—whose fault is it?

Hal nearly blurted it out, but he touched his conscience and swallowed the rest.

After Schiller's words, he was beginning to waver—he remembered that when he received the Green Lantern Ring, no one had told him how to use the power without harming Earth's people.

In truth, being accused by Alfred and Batman of betraying Earth's secrets had left Hal feeling wronged.

He was just an ordinary person who suddenly received divine power, and the other side spoke with such moral certainty—it was understandable he hadn't suspected their ulterior motives.

Now, thinking back, if a contract offered nothing but benefits—constant power, money, righteous justification—only asking you to do a few small favors—it was obviously suspicious, and the hidden risks must be unimaginable.

"If aliens have such rules among themselves but didn't tell you, that's contract fraud—they deliberately deceived you."

"If aliens don't even have such rules among themselves, aren't they more barbaric than humans? Then why should you believe them?"

Listening to Schiller, Hal fell into thought; Schiller continued: "As I said before, the deed is done. Like all victims of deception, what matters most is not shame or self-blame, but recovering your losses."

Schiller tossed the green crystal to Hal, who caught it and examined it from all sides.

Suddenly, he realized that when he focused his mind, the energy within the crystal spread up his arm—in less than a second, he was once again the Green Lantern, glowing with green light.

Suddenly, he realized that when he focused his attention, the energy within the crystal spread up his arm; in less than a second, he became the Green Lantern once more, his body radiating green light.

【67】 Your ideal is noble, and I believe your willpower can uphold justice—but the only problem is that during its implementation, we may need vast amounts of funding…

Schiller looked up at the floating Hal, meeting his eyes: "Do you know, I once asked Batman a question…"

"What question?" Hal looked back into Schiller's eyes.

"Whose justice are you trying to enforce?"

Hal hovered in midair, his expression gradually turning serious, then resolute.

He had no strange or tragic backstory like Batman—he was simply a kind, steadfast ordinary man—and his heart told him that any justice bestowed upon him by others was merely power disguised as righteousness.

"Actually, I still don't know… I don't know what justice is."

Hal gave Schiller an unexpected answer, but he added: "But I will use this power to seek that answer—and until I find it, I will never stop walking, even if it costs me my entire life."

As he spoke, Hal slowly descended; the green light on his body faded—but did not vanish, returning instead to the crystal. Clearly, having solidified his conviction, his control over Green Lantern energy had reached a new level.

"Your ideal is noble, and I believe your willpower can uphold justice—but the only problem is, enforcing it may require substantial funding…"

Your ideal is noble, and I believe that with your willpower, you can uphold justice—but the only problem is that during the process, we may need a great deal of funding...

Just then, Hal paused, his gaze falling on the green crystal on the table.

"Fortunately, I've already secured our startup capital."

"Secured it? How?"

"I already said—they breached the contract first, so collecting a reasonable penalty fee is justified."

Hal suddenly had a bad feeling; he stared at Schiller: "... How much did you take?"

Hal saw Schiller bend down and drag out a large box from beneath the coffee table—inside was a mountain of green crystals.

Green Lantern Corps Headquarters: the Corps Commander, clad in green uniform, stood before a massive Central Battery, turning to his subordinate with a puzzled expression: "The Central Battery's energy consumption has been extremely high lately—any idea why?"

Hal saw Schiller bend down and drag a large box out from beneath the coffee table—inside it piled high with mountains of green crystals.

At the Green Lantern Corps headquarters, the commander in green uniform stood before a massive lantern furnace and turned to his subordinate, asking in confusion:

"The energy consumption of the headquarters furnace has been extremely high lately—do you have any idea why?"