Chapter 494

In Corps Commander Thaal's office, after Hal finished delivering the documents, he turned to leave but was stopped by Thaal.

Thaal said while looking at the documents: "Seriously, it's beyond my expectation that you can forgive Owen. It seems you are a broad-minded person."

Hal paused and said: "It's not that I forgive him, it's just that I know the headquarters needs manpower now, and he often handles paperwork. If it weren't for him, the two of us wouldn't be able to handle so many things."

Thaal sighed and said with some emotion: "Since Sinestro's betrayal, they have begun to strictly supervise the headquarters. I heard..."

Thaal lowered his voice and said: "They intend to form a special military police force. The members of the military police force are not Green Lanterns recognized by the Green Lantern ring, but Green Lantern weapons created by them."

"You saw Owen's situation before, that was an experiment they had done. They have been trying various methods to extract Green Lantern energy, and the Green Lantern ring is just one of them."

"Will they succeed?" Hal asked.

"I don't know, but if they succeed, our situation will be bad." Thaal seemed a bit worried. Hal could also understand him. Everyone knows how terrifying a military police force responsible for supervision is.

Moreover, Green Lanterns are bound by certain codes in the Green Lantern ring and cannot use lethal force. But if the military police force is created, it is unknown whether they will have such constraints. But if not, I am afraid a terrifying great purge will come.

"I am sorry, Hal, for involving you in this kind of thing." Thaal lowered his eyes and pretended to look at the report, but in reality, his thoughts had flown to a very far place.

"Earth is the same as my hometown. It is too difficult for remote places like ours to enter the universe. It is hard to have a standout, but he was not born in the right era."

Hal walked back, stood opposite Thaal, and said: "Is that so? I don't think so."

"You don't understand the severity of the matter yet, Hal. Actually, they pushed me up because I have no civilization to rely on behind me. If they pushed out a Corps Commander from an advanced civilization, if they wanted to replace him in the end, they would encounter resistance from the civilization behind him."

"But I... I am just a bumpkin from a small place. After mixing in the headquarters for so many years, I only got the position of Deputy Corps Commander's assistant. But after Sinestro's betrayal, the original Deputy Corps Commander and the two adjutants could not become the new Corps Commander."

"When this position fell on my head, I knew what they were going to do. But despite this, I still have to walk this path, even if the end of it might be a dead end."

Hal was silent. He looked at Thaal's face. Thaal's appearance was very similar to a human's, and therefore he could better understand the emotions conveyed by Thaal's expression.

But Hal said nothing. He wanted to turn and leave the room. Just as he pushed the door open, Thaal made a puzzled "Hmm??"

"Wait! Hal, come back!" Thaal called Hal back again. He frowned, looked at the report, and said: "Regarding the financial report on the aftermath of Earth, why can't I understand it a bit?"

"Oh, is that so? But this part was not done by me." Hal showed a somewhat difficult expression. Thaal looked up at him and said: "If you have something to say, just say it, don't stammer."

Hal sighed and said: "Originally, I was doing this part of the work, but Owen said I am an Earthling, and if I handled it myself, I would definitely engage in favoritism, and then he snatched this work away."

Thaal frowned, seemingly a bit dissatisfied with Owen's approach, but he couldn't pick out any faults, because the Green Lantern Corps did have such regulations. Those involving one's own hometown sector need to avoid suspicion.

Thaal tapped the table and said: "You go and find Owen. I don't quite understand the report he submitted."

After a while, Hal called Owen over. Owen looked impatient, his face as black as the bottom of a pot toward Hal. Thaal didn't care either. He asked: "What's going on with the budget you mentioned in the report to increase the energy used for Cat Getan's aftermath work? Is the existing budget not enough?"

"Don't mention it!"

Owen "snorted" and said: "Before, that Shiler Rodriguez who drained half the energy, that was his good deed."

"What do you think he relied on to persist for so long in Cat Getan? Relying on himself? How is that possible! Do you think everyone is the so-called greatest Green Lantern?"

Owen's tone was full of mockery, but Thaal still asked patiently: "Then what did he rely on? And what does it have to do with the budget?"

"He made large empty checks and hired quite a few mercenaries, including Constantine, who is famous in the spirit world."

"Spirit world? I don't know much about this aspect. What's wrong with him?"

"You don't need to understand. You only need to know that he is a dog-skin plaster, an ultimate rotten person. If we don't pay the bill, he will definitely make trouble to the headquarters. And this person is very evil. People who go against him and his teammates will all die very ugly."

Owen took a deep breath and also said quite helplessly: "If we don't send him away, we will be disgusted to death."

"But there is no other way. If it were you, persisting for so long in Cat Getan, could you not rely on external forces?" Hal retorted loudly.

"That is not the reason for him to promise large remuneration! Do you know how tight our energy is now? The charging time of more than 100 sector power batteries has been postponed!" Owen also shouted loudly.

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Thaal hurriedly mediated, saying: "Alright, this can be considered reasonable, but Cat Getan demands compensation, this..."

"This bunch of damn surface creatures, I don't know where they got the method of space communication. They said that if we don't compensate them, they will shout this matter out..."

Owen rubbed his brow with his finger and said: "Originally, our prestige was hit hard. If any more trouble is caused because of this matter, the prestige of the Green Lantern Corps will be shaken very severely."

"Of course, the terms they proposed are completely lion's mouth, I won't pay according to the price." Owen crossed his arms and said: "At most give them one percent. Anyway, they are just a bunch of ignorant surface creatures. A little money can send them away."

"Each item is a little money, but adding them up is quite a lot." Thaal said worriedly, but in the end, he signed and agreed.

After Owen left, Hal didn't leave. He sat opposite Thaal and asked him: "If the situation really develops to the worst case, what do you plan to do?"

Thaal shook his head and said: "If I could have a way to deal with it, they wouldn't have chosen me."

Hal took a deep breath. Thaal saw that he had something to say. Thaal said thoughtfully: "Do you feel that the next words are not easy to say?"

"No, I just want to know, are there any monitoring facilities left by them here?"

Thaal looked up, staring into Hal's eyes. Hal looked at him with a firm expression, completely without a guilty expression. Finally, Thaal said: "Don't worry, the former Corps Commander Sinestro was a suspicious person. At that time, they still had to rely on him, so there must be no monitoring facilities in this office."

"Don't you want to save yourself?" Hal asked him: "Are you planning to wait for them to build the military police force, ride on your head, and maybe even kill you?"

Thaal was silent. He said: "It's not that I don't want to, but I can't do it, Hal. Not everyone has talent like you, just obtained the Green Lantern ring and can get the recognition of the Ion Shark."

"But I have a way, do you want to hear it?"

Thaal put down the report in his hand and looked at Hal. There was a trace of hesitation between his brows, because he had a premonition that what Hal said might be shocking.

But then, he heard Hal say: "Not just for yourself, but also for your civilization, your hometown, and places like yours and mine..."

"Tell me, no matter what you said, it won't leave this room."

Hal pointed to the report with his finger and said: "You saw what was written on that report. Among all the energy consumption reported here, Owen and I each take one-fifth."

Thaal slowly widened his eyes. A trace of anger climbed onto his face, but it soon stiffened. He said: "You..."

"It's just what you think, but we are just self-defending. We must accumulate strength for the upcoming purge, otherwise we can only wait to be slaughtered."

"Thaal, it was they who betrayed us first."

As the voice fell, Hal saw Thaal's Adam's apple trembling up and down. He continued: "And now, this plan is only the last link away. With just Owen and me, we can only make small trouble."

"And that energy..." Hal stretched out his arm and pointed to the next room: "They are placed there. After that bunch of damn military police kill us all, they will take them away. Are you planning to wait here?"

Thaal's lips trembled a bit. He said: "But I am the Corps Commander, I cannot..."

Hal put his hand on the table and said: "I don't believe you don't know that the Green Lantern Corps controlled by them actually cannot represent anyone's justice at all. We are just guns used by them to rule the universe, and Green Lantern energy is the bullet."

Thaal was silent. He took a deep breath, feeling his whole chest trembling. Hal's words were like the devil's whisper. He had to admit that facing this temptation, he wavered, because he knew very well how powerful Green Lantern energy was.

"But we cannot abuse this energy. You should know that if you cannot pass the ring's certification, you cannot use this energy. Even if you can extract them, ordinary people cannot use them."

"What if I say, I have a way?"

Thaal felt his heart start to beat thumping. He said with a dry mouth: "You mean, you have a way to let Green Lantern energy be used by surface creatures? Become... a kind of energy?"

"A kind of universal energy." Hal added.

Thaal's hands started to tremble a bit. He said: "Are you sure?"

Hal nodded. Thaal started to be silent. He was silent for a long time, about ten minutes, without saying a word. He seemed to have fallen into memories. From his eyes, Hal could see that he thought of his hometown.

g.

Hal didn't feel surprised. Even if he didn't have a high degree, he knew that if human civilization could use Green Lantern energy as energy, even if it wasn't permanent, just obtaining some for experiments and manufacturing certain equipment limited by energy, it would be a qualitative leap for civilization.

After a long wait, he finally heard Thaal say:

"... What do you plan to do?"

"Do you remember that Shiler Rodriguez who was stationed in Cat Getan before?"

"Uh... remember, but didn't you say he was injured in the melee and is recuperating in his hometown?"

"Yes, but he has recovered. I recommend him to be the internal adjutant of the Green Lantern Corps Corps Commander, in charge of finance."

Thaal said somewhat hesitantly: "You mean, he can..."

Hal nodded forcefully and said:

"He really can."