Chapter 480: The Green Lantern Corps Suffers a Great Misfortune (Part 1)

The Green Lantern Corps, a mysterious organization within the universe, is called mysterious because each member possesses unique abilities granted by a Green Lantern ring, yet relatively speaking, it is an open organization, and many civilizations across the universe are aware of its existence.

It cannot be denied that the vast majority of Green Lanterns are just and helpful; the Corps divides the universe into many sectors, each with a Green Lantern assigned to maintain cosmic order, and these Lanterns generally work diligently and conscientiously, making considerable contributions to cosmic security.

If one says so, then Wei En exploiting the Green Lantern Corps seems more like the act of a villain, though Wei En does not care whether anyone truly sees him as one, he still has grounds to justify his actions—the key lies in the creators of the Green Lantern Corps, the little blue guardians.

As previously mentioned, the little blue guardians are incredibly unreliable, but in reality, their unreliability exceeds anyone's imagination; for example, the leader of the Red Lantern Corps, representing anger, is itself a product of the little blue guardians' blunder.

The little blue guardians created a mechanical lifeform that slaughtered the civilization of Sector 666, leaving only a handful of survivors; the surviving Atrocitus, consumed by rage over the destruction of his civilization, was chosen by the red light spectrum to become the leader of the Red Lantern Corps.

From a cosmic perspective, this story seems dull, but viewed from the micro level of life, Batman merely lost his parents and spent his life haunted by vengeance, whereas a tiny mistake by the little blue guardians led to the annihilation of all civilizations across a vast region of the universe—and yet, no cosmic Batman ever emerged to make them pay.

Another example: during the Blackest Night event in the comics, several Lantern Corps began fighting each other—this too was caused by the little blue guardians; the leader of the Blue Lantern Corps disagreed with them, and so did the leaders of the Purple, Indigo, and Yellow Lantern Corps.

The little blue guardians tolerated the Ultra Lanterns suppressing Green Lanterns, yet turned a blind eye to the Orange Lantern leader hoarding all orange energy; these decisions bred resentment in every Corps, leading to open warfare.

They made wrong choices at every critical juncture, ultimately triggering this grand event; the price they paid for these errors was merely bearing blame, and often not even that—the blame always fell on the Lantern Corps.

For the Lantern Corps, their mistakes resulted in catastrophic losses, a plummeting prestige across the universe, and even the erosion of their foundational legitimacy.

It sounds devastating, but compared to the destruction suffered by ordinary civilizations across the universe, it is nothing; the massacre in Sector 666 alone claimed billions upon billions of ordinary lives.

And what lessons did the little blue guardians learn from this? None whatsoever.

They continued creating messes, sowing discord among the Lantern Corps, inciting Lanterns to kill each other, and ultimately causing Blackest Night.

Humans always yearn for justice and beauty; thus, when the Green Lantern ring arrived on this planet bearing the banner of justice, many, like Hal, lacked sufficient vigilance, even dreaming that Green Lanterns would truly bring peace to the universe.

But in truth, even though most Green Lanterns are just and friendly, ordinary surface-dwellers cannot perceive the immense danger lurking behind them due to differences in cognition and capability.

It is like an ant colony facing humans: if humans are friendly, all is well; but should any accident occur, neither the ants nor their nest can withstand the terrifying catastrophe descending from above.

Most troubling of all, because humans have shown friendliness, many ants, when disaster strikes, do not resist—even welcome death, singing hymns of friendship with humans as they die.

It is foreseeable that if Hal does not break free from the brainwashing of blindly accepting missions and upholding Green Lantern justice, one day Hal Jordan will cease to exist, leaving only a Green Lantern whose spirit and body belong entirely to Oa.

"I rarely speak of my hometown—Coastal City has a poor reputation on the West Coast, due to the influx of immigrants during the previous generation's gold rush, where lawlessness once became a serious concern."

"Yet I still love my homeland; I was born and raised there, and for a long time, I feared leaving it."

Sitting on the estate's sofa, Hal played with the kryptonite crystal infused with Green Lantern energy; the green light reflected in his pupils, making his eyes appear like glowing emeralds.

"Perhaps you won't believe it, but when I first arrived in Gotham, I had a fleeting moment of clarity, breaking free from that grand ideal of justice—I missed home."

"But…" Hal exhaled, relaxing against the sofa back, "the people and events in Gotham opened my eyes; I'd never traveled this far before. Now, it seems time to go out and see more."

"Where do you plan to go?" Wei En asked.

"I want to tour the East Coast first—no fixed plan, just wherever I end up. Maybe head west again; I've always had a cowboy dream…"

"I thought that after learning about these cosmic matters, your ambitions would grow larger."

Wei En also picked up a green crystal from the box, observing it; its faint green glow radiated a vibrant vitality, like a young sprout emerging in spring.

Hal paused his motion, looking up at Wei En; he sensed the implication in his words and asked, "Larger? What do you mean?"

"After becoming a Green Lantern, have you never thought of visiting the Corps' headquarters?"

"I…" Hal hesitated, then sighed, "Alright, I admit I'm not particularly adventurous. Until now, Gotham has been the farthest I've ever been. I couldn't possibly have never left my hometown and then leap millions of light-years to some alien world, could I?"

"But you've already been to Gotham—what are you afraid of with an alien world?" Wei En pointed out again; Hal fell silent.

"Hal, though I said I was cleaning up your mess, you know that was just a joke—I collect this energy for my own purposes, and it cannot undo the consequences of the leaked intelligence."

Wei En's expression turned serious; Hal's attention snapped to him as he heard Wei En say: "You should know how fragile human civilization is. Forget aliens—Earth's internal situation is already on the brink. Any minor influence could destroy the entire societal structure."

"At this moment, no one wants an unknown cosmic force interfering here—but no one knows whether they might become aware of this place through the information you sent."

Hal's face also grew serious; Wei En sighed, "Yes, Earth may be a backwater—even if you sent every detailed piece of information about it to the Green Lantern Corps' headquarters, no one would care about such a tiny planet. But dare you gamble?"

"Even if it's only one Green Lantern who takes interest in this place, it could bring unpredictable destruction—just as you did in Gotham. He may mean no harm, but humans are truly fragile."

"Don't say the entire Green Lantern Corps—even if just one Green Lantern took interest here, it could bring unpredictable destruction, just as you did in Gotham. He may mean no harm, but humans are truly fragile."

"No, I'm certain—they'll take interest in Earth." Hal's expression darkened. "Or rather, they'll definitely take interest in Gotham."

"Fortunately, since arriving in Gotham, I entered your dream—and since then, I've stopped sending any further information. Otherwise, once they learned the situation here, a flood of Green Lanterns would swarm in, eager to purify this city."

Hal covered his forehead with his hand. "Good heavens, I really might have to go to Oa—if even one of them takes interest in Earth and comes here, discovers Gotham, the Green Lantern Corps will surely attack."

The more he spoke, the more anxious he became; he rose abruptly from the sofa, the green kryptonite crystal in his hand emitting a faint glow, its green light spreading along his arm to his body.

"Wait—are you just going to leave like this? Do you even know where the Green Lantern Corps' headquarters is?"

"Of course—the ring will tell me… oh, this isn't a ring." Hal looked down at his hand; he held a stone, not a ring.

Wei En picked up the bell on the coffee table and rang it lightly; soon, Merkel entered with Dick and Aisha.

Wei En gestured to Dick; Dick walked over, and Wei En patted his shoulder. "As I told you before, Dick—take off that ring. Your Uncle Hal needs it now."

Dick rubbed his tired eyes, extended his arm; the ring on his finger emitted a faint glow—it had nearly drained after so long.

Aisha stepped forward, grasped Dick's arm, and pulled the ring off his finger; just as she was about to put it in her mouth, Wei En took it and returned it to Hal.

"The Green Lantern energy in this crystal can also charge the ring in reverse—the principle is the same as a Lantern Battery. This crystal contains roughly the energy of ten Green Lantern rings—enough to fully recharge your ring ten times."

Hal sucked in a sharp breath, staring again at the pile of crystals in the large box. "My god! So each of these crystals equals ten Green Lantern rings? You didn't drain the central battery, did you?"

"This is another favor I'm asking of you—if you're planning to go to the Green Lantern Corps' headquarters, please check how much energy remains in their central battery."

"Why do you want to know that? You're not planning to steal all the Green Lantern energy, are you?"

"How could I…" Wei En denied it; Hal exhaled in relief—then immediately heard Wei En say: "I couldn't do it alone. So it's not 'I' who wants to drain the central battery—it's 'we.'"

Ten minutes later, at the Green Lantern Corps' headquarters on Oa, a Green Lantern in military uniform strode into the Energy Core chamber carrying a stack of files.

He saluted the Corps leader and said: "Sir, we found it—the Green Lantern who has been drawing energy most frequently recently is Shiler Rodriguez, from Sector 2814, Earth."

The Corps leader frowned deeply. At that moment, a younger Lantern entered, saluted the group, and said: "A new member has reported in—Hal Jordan, recently recruited, from Sector 2814, Earth."

The Corps leader and his deputy exchanged glances; the young Lantern was confused. "If there's no issue, I'll arrange a welcome ceremony and begin his training."

"Wait!" the Corps leader said. "We'll welcome him ourselves."

The legion commander and his adjutant exchanged a glance; the young Green Lantern was puzzled and said, "If there are no issues, I'll arrange a welcome ceremony for him and then enroll him in training."

"Wait!" the legion commander said. "We'll go welcome him ourselves."