Chapter 493

After sending Constantine away, Merkel took a rag and rubbed the chair and table he had sat on up and down several times. The feeling of disgust was almost written on his face.

Just as he finished all this, the second visitor arrived as scheduled. When Merkel went down to greet him, he saw Bruce standing outside the manor gate.

Bruce had an appointment, so Merkel was much more enthusiastic. He stepped forward to open the door for Bruce. After Bruce entered the manor, he still went straight to Shiler's study, familiar with the road.

Arriving at the study, Bruce's gaze fell on the abacus. Watching Shiler keep moving the abacus beads against a bill, he knew what the theme of today was.

"You're here? Sit." Shiler pointed to the chair opposite again. After Bruce sat down, Shiler glanced at him and was about to speak, but Bruce snatched the words before him: "My thesis will be finished tomorrow."

Shiler sighed and wanted to speak again, but Bruce said again: "3000 words written."

Shiler opened his mouth again, and Bruce said again: "This time it definitely didn't go off-topic, and I carefully proofread the symbols."

Shiler sighed and said: "You can even snatch the answer, but that's not what I want to talk about today."

On Bruce's face, which had been expressionless for years, a rare trace of surprise appeared. Looking at Shiler's eyes was like looking at a parrot that had grown a second head overnight.

Shiler stretched out his hand to Bruce and said: "What about the detailed bill for the reconstruction and compensation of the damaged buildings in Cat Getan that we talked about on the phone before?"

Bruce took out a document and handed it to Shiler. After Shiler took it, he frowned as soon as he opened the first page. He said: "I forgot to tell you, the unit of this reimbursement bill is not dollars, but Green Lantern rings."

"Are you trying to ask the Green Lantern Corps for compensation?" Bruce immediately understood Shiler's meaning, but he shook his head and said: "But they won't compensate. If they really took humans seriously, they wouldn't have descended here so unscrupulously and then turned this place into a mess."

"That's not important, we just need a name."

"If they don't compensate, what do you plan to do?"

Shiler sighed and said to Bruce: "I'll say it again, it's not that I issue a bill to the other side and then the other side decides whether to compensate."

"If they don't compensate, do you plan to cause another big event, or even blow up their home planet?"

Shiler's expression suddenly paused. Seeing his expression, Bruce's expression also stiffened, staring at him and asking: "You don't really want to blow it up, do you?"

Shiler lowered his head and started playing with the abacus again. Bruce stared into his eyes and said: "I don't oppose you using certain means to seek more benefits for humanity in the universe, but if it is too radical, it may increase unnecessary losses..."

Shiler coughed twice and changed the subject very stiffly. He said: "I know, the general process is that we issue a compensation bill here and send it to the other side. If the other side doesn't agree, then we go through legal procedures. But the problem is, the other side is the court itself."

"There is no third-party force in the universe that can adjudicate this matter, or even if there is, contacting them too early is not good for us."

"This Star Wants to Retire"

"So, I didn't plan to go through legal procedures with them. Have you forgotten? There is one of our people on the other side."

"Before, I had already studied it. The structure of the Green Lantern Corps is very simple, even a bit crude. The Corps Commander of the Green Lantern Corps generally has two assistants, one responsible for external military aspects and one responsible for internal management. Internal management is mainly personnel arrangements and financial management."

"However, because Sinestro suddenly betrayed the Green Lantern Corps before, the current Corps Commander of the Green Lantern Corps took the position in a time of crisis. He didn't find two adjutants at all. The duties of these two aspects were directly unified into one person's head, and now, the person holding this position is Hal."

"I think you have also discovered that the duties are highly unified and there is a lack of corresponding supervision systems. This has led to the feasibility of many operations. This can save the process of legal procedures or military threats and can also achieve the goal."

When Shiler said these words, Bruce kept staring at him. After listening, he said: "It seems that your anxiety is really serious, serious to the point of split personality. Who are you?"

"I am Shiler. It's just that if you let the Professor Shiler you are familiar with hear these words of yours, your final grade will be in danger." Shiler shook his head and said.

Bruce's expression was surprised first, followed by that classic suspicious expression. But before he could continue to pursue, Shiler took the bill and said: "Even if the price on this is in dollars, it is estimated too conservatively."

"Loss of one traffic light at the Central Power Battery? The product name 'traffic light' is not very accurate. Have you forgotten? Gordon borrowed your Bat-Signal and transformed it into the traffic light of the Central Power Battery."

"What technology does your Bat-Signal use?... Forget it, anyway, I wouldn't understand even if you told me, just write nuclear fusion."

Shiler put on his glasses, moved the bill further away, and continued to frown and look carefully. Soon, he said again: "Asphalt road surface destroyed... hmm, you call the whole ground being blown down 3.5 meters 'road surface destroyed'?"

"Let me think, your Batcave has an underground part, right? Do you have a land permit?"

"Later, you go to the mayor and treat the Batcave as a public building part of the Central Power Battery, count it as public shared area, just report it as a building fire and damage to important equipment. As for what equipment is important, it depends on you, Victor, and other technical personnel."

"What else? Oh, here, this part of the reconstruction also needs to be changed."

"Didn't we say when planning traffic before? At the beginning of the establishment of the Central Power Battery, the limitations were too great. Because the area was too small, it limited traffic flow. It's just right to widen it a bit."

"Widen by how much?"

"Is 2000 kilometers okay?"

"... I'm afraid the Soviet Union won't agree." Bruce replied expressionlessly: "If you intend to turn the entire Pacific Ocean into Cat Getan's traffic hub, you need to negotiate with the Kremlin first."

"Then count the Pacific Ocean as Cat Getan's public shared area... alright, let's repair it according to the damaged area first. How big is it?"

"The diameter has been expanded to 1.5 times the original. The joint report given by the Urban Planning Administration and the Cat Getan University Department of Architecture states that it is enough to use."

Shiler sighed deeply. He glanced at Merkel next to him and asked: "Can we really not make a phone call to the Kremlin?"

Bruce just looked at him with that classic expression, saying nothing. Shiler lowered his head and continued to look at the report. Then he pointed to one of the items and said: "The warehouse damage part is a big problem."

Shiler thought for a while and said: "Do you have a moon landing plan recently?"

Hearing this question, Bruce's expression changed slightly. Seeing Bruce's expression, Shiler's expression stiffened, and he said: "You don't really have a moon landing plan, do you?"

Bruce was expressionless. Shiler sighed and continued to look at the bill and said: "Warehouse goods unified to fill in space engines and their supporting parts, report goods damage, then report electronic waste disposal fees, chemical disposal fees, radiation and hazardous goods disposal fees..."

"Are you trying to make them mortgage the planet to you?"

Shiler shook his head and said: "I don't want large planet garbage, energy is enough."

He put down the bill, looked at Bruce and said: "The military asks for military spending every year to attack oil countries. Essentially, they are not looking at that piece of desert, but the oil fields under the desert."

"The emotional spectrum is equivalent to the oil fields in the universe. Currently, humanity does not have the strength to develop this oil field on a large scale. At this time, we have two choices. Either use the stupid method like I did before to steal some oil, but this method has high risk, is not sustainable, and is really troublesome."

"There is another way, which is just like what the military and we are doing right now: launch a war, create a bunch of trouble, let them reshuffle internally, insert our own people, gradually shake the leadership, and then let some of them willingly sell oil to us."

"So, next you are going to..."

Shiler put away all the bills, gently moved the beads on the abacus, and then showed a smile that Bruce had never seen before.

The next day, in the Green Lantern Corps headquarters, in the confinement room, Deputy Corps Commander Owen stared fixedly at Hal in front of him, but Hal did not speak to him in that angry tone again, but said very calmly:

"I think you should be very angry now, feeling that I have obtained everything you should have obtained, but I must tell you, anger is useless."

"Are you just planning to come and mock me?!" Owen shouted angrily, but he had been deprived of the Green Lantern ring and faced Hal, who was covered in rich green light, with no power to resist.

"Don't be excited. In a way, I can understand you. Don't you think the Green Lantern's screening mechanism is a bit unreasonable?"

Owen still stared coldly at Hal, but it could be seen that he was waiting for Hal's next sentence.

Hal turned the ring on his hand and then said: "Actually, I was not outstanding in my hometown. Before getting the ring, I was not famous at all, holding a meager salary and doing dangerous work."

"In my hometown, there are too many people stronger than me. They are smarter than me and have more vision than me, but just because of an illusory willpower, they were blocked outside the door of this powerful force."

"I think you should also be in this situation, right?" Hal looked into Owen's eyes. Owen turned his head away and didn't look at him, but from his tightly pressed corners of the mouth, it could be seen that Hal had guessed right.

"I think you should be a standout in your hometown, received a good education since childhood, quite talented, achieved considerable achievements after growing up, considered yourself a genius with extraordinary wisdom, but the Green Lantern didn't choose you..."

"Enough!" Owen's tone suppressed anger, as if his heart's scar had been uncovered by someone. He said: "If you just came to mock me, you succeeded. So can you get lost now?"

Hal crossed his arms and still said very calmly: "I am not mocking you from the perspective of a winner, but telling you that I also think this is very unfair."

"My hometown is in a remote area, but actually there are many geniuses there, just rejected by these vague rules. And relatively speaking, in some prosperous sectors, more people can obtain this powerful force. I think this is not fair enough."

"If my home planet could also produce dozens of Lanterns, maybe it would have flown out of the universe long ago. Since I have already reached this position, why can't I seek some benefits for myself and my hometown?"

Owen turned his head and looked into Hal's eyes. He didn't see any meaning of joking in Hal's eyes. Suddenly, he let out a cold laugh and said: "I knew it, all those who keep saying justice are just pretending."

"Thaal is the Corps Commander, and you are the Deputy Corps Commander. Isn't it obvious who to please? But also, it is obvious who to do business with."

"What do you want to do?" Owen stared at Hal and asked.

"I said it all..." Hal approached Owen and looked at him: "No matter what method you and I used to reach this position, we can unite and take back what we deserve."