Chapter 495

In the Green Lantern Corps headquarters, in the Corps Commander's office, Thaal and Shiler shook hands.

From Hal, Thaal learned that shaking hands is a courtesy on Earth. He was willing to take the initiative to make this movement, which meant he believed Hal's judgment, believing that Shiler indeed had the ability to help them break through the current predicament.

Shiler made a "please" gesture. Thaal and Hal sat on both sides of the table respectively, while Shiler sat in front of the table.

Hal turned to Shiler and said: "Before, I already told you. Now, the situation we are facing is very severe. On one hand, Green Lantern energy is in short supply, and many subordinate sectors have dissatisfied voices. On the other hand, the Guardians of the Universe want to build a Green Lantern military police force to limit the Green Lantern Corps."

Hearing that Hal didn't mention the kickback, Thaal cleared his throat and also put on a serious expression, saying: "That's right, I heard from Hal that you are relatively experienced in handling this kind of event..."

Shiler lowered his head and smiled, saying: "I believe there are many capable people in the Green Lantern Corps, and it is not necessarily me. It's just that times change. There are too few people who can be used now. My suggestion is just to throw a brick to attract jade, everyone just listen..."

"Alright, no need for courtesy." Hal interrupted Shiler's civil servant-style rhetoric and said: "There is no monitoring in this room. We are all grasshoppers on the same rope now. How to break the situation now?"

Shiler glanced at Hal, the meaning of his eyes was "Why didn't you say so earlier?".

He directly restrained that fake smile and took out two documents, handing them to Thaal and Hal respectively.

Thaal narrowed his eyes, looking at the big characters on the document cover, and said: "Expansion plan? What does it mean?"

"It's the literal meaning." Shiler put his hands on the table and said: "Expansion means expanding the army."

Thaal felt very confused looking at the plan. He said: "Expanding the army? But now energy is not enough. If more people are recruited, wouldn't it be even less to share?"

"And, they are forming a military police force, which is actually because they are wary of us. If we propose to expand the army at this time, won't it stimulate them?"

Hal also looked at Shiler and asked: "At this time, shouldn't the fewer people the better?"

"That's right, but expanding the army doesn't mean expanding more soldiers, but expanding the establishment."

Thaal was thoughtful. Obviously, he had been in contact with this kind of work. Then, he saw Shiler flipping through the materials in his hand and saying:

"As far as I know, so far, the universe is divided into 3600 sectors. According to the rules, it should be one sector one Lantern, but in reality, it is not..."

Thaal sighed. He thought Shiler was still struggling with the problem Hal was struggling with. He explained:

"I think you should understand that the system of one sector one Lantern is completely paper talk. If we arrange one Lantern for one sector, even if we arrange one power battery for ten sectors, we need 360 power batteries..."

"Not to mention the cost of manufacturing these power batteries, just the routes for them to come and go to the headquarters to replenish energy cannot be arranged at all..."

"And, if a Lantern in a sector unfortunately sacrifices, and the sector he is in cannot immediately select another Lantern, then it will definitely need a Lantern from a neighboring sector to manage it."

"Then what about the sector of the managing Lantern? If hundreds of Lanterns cannot participate in work at the same time, who will manage these areas? If one Lantern is not enough to deal with certain problems in the sector and needs help, then what about the security work of the sector maintained by the helping Lantern?"

"This method simply doesn't work. So, the Lantern Corps now adopts a regional responsibility system, with about 100 sectors as a large area, establishing resident teams, and with about 20 sectors as a small area, establishing sub-regional patrol teams..."

Shiler nodded and said: "That's right, this method is more scientific. Although it is still slightly crude, it can barely run. The problem I want to point out is the problem of the Green Lantern Corps' logistics support system."

"At least, in my hometown Earth, logistics is the top priority, but..." Shiler lowered his head to look at the materials somewhat hesitantly, frowning and saying: "I didn't see logistics establishment in the Green Lantern Corps establishment. How do you handle your logistics problems?"

"Logistics? What do you mean? Paperwork?"

"Not just that, hardware maintenance, intelligence gathering, medical, exploration and monitoring, etc. Don't you have these?"

Thaal spread his hands and said: "I know, on Earth, the army may have these personnel, and it is the same on my planet, but that is only because we are relatively backward surface creatures."

"In fact, Green Lantern energy is very powerful. The power battery will not be damaged, nor will it be consumed. The only engineers at the headquarters are mostly just maintaining the equipment around the power battery."

"In the Green Lantern ring, there is a Galactic Encyclopedia. All Green Lanterns can upload the information they collect to here for everyone to view."

"The Green Lantern ring comes with healing capabilities, which can heal the injuries received by Green Lanterns anytime, anywhere. At the same time, it also has scanning functions for biology, terrain, space, environment, etc., and does not need additional exploration and monitoring."

"A Green Lantern is an army by himself, and a team is almost equivalent to the military armed forces of an entire civilization..."

Unexpectedly to Thaal, Shiler did not refute this point. He just nodded and said: "Yes, but that was before."

Thaal frowned, and then he heard Shiler say: "I saw in previous combat reports that we almost never won against the Yellow Lantern Corps?"

"Including this time in Gotham, I saw with my own eyes that after the Yellow Lantern energy swept across the sky, all the Green Lanterns fell down."

"With all due respect, this problem is already big enough to be visible to the naked eye, right? Has no one wanted to investigate what is going on behind this?"

Thaal touched his chin and said: "Actually, I am also a bit puzzled, just didn't say it, fearing to shake the morale. I don't know why, when we encounter Yellow Lantern energy, we feel fear. That energy will dissolve our Green Lantern energy, making us lose all abilities."

"Look, the Green Lantern ring is not omnipotent. It didn't give the answer to this problem. All this has to be investigated by ourselves."

Shiler changed the way of asking and said: "Do you think, for the Guardians of the Universe, is the threat of the Green Lantern itself more important, or is the threat from the Yellow Lantern Corps more important?"

Thaal hesitated and said: "Of course it's the Yellow Lantern. Although I don't know why Sinestro betrayed the Corps, he seems to hate the Guardians of the Universe very much. If the Yellow Lantern Corps is allowed to grow, even if the Guardians of the Universe are very strong, there may be danger."

"So, what's the problem with our expansion?"

Thaal's movement paused. He found that what Shiler said made sense. If the expansion is for the reason of facing the threat of the Yellow Lantern Corps, it can be justified.

Shiler said again: "And, I said it all, we are not expanding combat soldiers, just expanding the establishment of logistics support personnel."

Shiler took out a pen, tapped the table, lowered his head to look at the materials, and then said:

"First of all, in order to deal with the problem of Yellow Lantern energy restraining Green Lantern energy, we need to conduct a comprehensive inspection of the power batteries in 3600 sectors. On average, one power battery needs to be equipped with three engineers and one supervisor, and the importance of the Central Power Battery is self-evident. It needs an entire engineering department, fully equipped with 300 engineers..."

"Considering that the civilization levels of Green Lanterns are different and the education they receive is also different, there is no way to take up the post directly. We also need a training base and its supporting related facilities and personnel..."

"In addition, we need to figure out why Yellow Lantern energy dissolves Green Lantern energy. Therefore, we need an entire expert team to study this matter. And the expert team cannot do research out of thin air, so we need a research institute. In order to prevent possibilities from being missed, at the same time, we need to establish about 20 research groups..."

"In order to maximize research results, we can link with higher education institutions of various civilizations, accept graduate students for internships, provide school buildings, dormitories, laboratories, and their supporting related facilities and personnel..."

"At the same time, the threat brought by Sinestro, who is still roaming in the universe, cannot be underestimated. We need professional agents to investigate the movements of members of the Yellow Lantern Corps..."

"Wait!" Hal suddenly spoke and interrupted him. He said: "Monitoring the movements of the Yellow Lantern Corps can be completed by ordinary Green Lanterns. Even if some agent skills are needed, then training is enough, right?"

Shiler shook his head and looked at Hal: "Why do you think the FBI and CIA need to be divided into two agencies?"

"Mutual supervision, mutual checks and balances, preventing the concentration of power." Hal said while falling into thought.

Shiler said: "Now, all ordinary Green Lanterns are equivalent to the FBI. They have internal law enforcement power, such as regulating interstellar disputes, cracking down on space pirates, arresting wanted criminals, etc..."

"And the newly established intelligence organization is equivalent to the CIA. It has no law enforcement power in the scope of interstellar civilization, only targeting the external enemies of the Green Lantern Corps. At the same time, it also plays a role in supervising and warning the Green Lanterns managing the interior."

Seeing Thaal's suddenly changed complexion, Shiler said: "That's right, this is actually the military police force, but we build it first."

Thaal opened his mouth and said: "You mean, actually we can build an organization first to supervise us? But, if this organization is not controlled by them, they will not trust him."

"We don't need the Guardians of the Universe to trust this intelligence organization. After we establish this organization, it will have the same authority as the military police force."

"And at this time, if the Guardians of the Universe propose to establish a military police force again, then the most anxious one is not us, but this organization, because once the authority overlaps, their power will be weakened."

"So, I propose to let Hal take the lead in establishing an intelligence organization, give him the greatest power, select the most capable soldiers from all Green Lanterns, stand alone, and become an elite force for external strikes against Yellow Lanterns and internal supervision."

Thaal touched his chin and said: "I understand everything you mean. We first establish an organization including internal supervision. If they want to establish such an organization again, after their authority overlaps, contradictions will definitely occur. In this way, the firepower is transferred."

"But, why is it Hal?" Thaal asked somewhat puzzled: "He is your compatriot, aren't you worried that the Guardians of the Universe will target him?"

Shiler glanced at Hal and said: "Corps Commander Thaal, what do you think is the relationship between the Guardians of the Universe and Green Lantern energy? Did the Guardians create the emotional spectrum?"

Mentioning this question, Thaal hesitated and said: "Externally, we say that the entire Green Lantern Corps was created by the Guardians of the Universe, but in fact, from the materials I have come into contact with, the emotional spectrum should be something naturally born in the universe. The Guardians just built power batteries and rings to utilize this energy."

As he spoke, he and Shiler looked at Hal together, and then said: "Wait, you don't need to rely on the ring now, you can also communicate with Green Lantern energy, so actually you don't have to fear the Guardians of the Universe at all..."

"That's right." Shiler nodded and said: "The Green Lantern's light beast, the Ion Shark, is also naturally born. It represents willpower in the universe. And now, the Ion Shark has chosen Hal, which also means that Hal is closer to the essence of Green Lantern than the Guardians of the Universe, and there is no need to fear the Guardians at all."

"Because of this, as long as he leads a team out and occupies the authority of the military police force first, then if the Guardians of the Universe want to build a military police force again, they have to consider whether the military police force they built can resist the Ion Shark and his team."

"At the same time, we also occupy righteousness. The Guardians of the Universe establishing a military police force inevitably has the suspicion of clearing out dissidents. And if we propose to establish a supervisory organization ourselves, doesn't it show our high style?"

Thaal and Hal looked at each other, and then turned to look at Shiler together. Shiler, who felt the atmosphere quiet down, looked up and found that the green light in Thaal and Hal's eyes was not an illusion.

"Alright, the surface work is done, now let's talk about the practical one." Shiler changed the subject again.

"Tian'a Descends"

Thaal originally stood up and wanted to leave, but sat down again. He looked at Shiler somewhat puzzled and asked: "Practical? What practical?"

"Hal, didn't you tell me that you and the Corps Commander have already talked it over?" Shiler looked at Hal and asked. Hal gave Thaal a look, and Thaal reacted, this is to talk about kickbacks.

A green crystal suddenly appeared in Shiler's hand. After he placed the crystal on the table, the eyes of Thaal and Hal fell on this crystal. Thaal was very familiar with the energy in the crystal. He said: "Inside is Green Lantern energy..."

"That's right, and there is no safety lock."

Thaal reached out half-believingly. The moment he touched the crystal, he widened his eyes, because he found that the Green Lantern energy inside could indeed be extracted freely.

"This..." Thaal felt it, then looked at Hal and said: "This is what you said, a method that can let ordinary people use Green Lantern energy?"

"That's right." Hal nodded.

"So, you want to expand the establishment of the Green Lantern Corps, thereby extracting more energy from the Central Power Battery, then pour the energy into these crystals, and then... and then... let us take them away?" Thaal was still not used to saying this.

"The first half is correct. As long as there are enough names, we can wantonly call the energy in the Central Power Battery." Shiler explained.

Actually, even without these names, Shiler, who had already colluded with the Corps Commander, could directly drain the energy in the Central Power Battery. But considering the need for sustainable fishing, it is more convenient to establish a perfect system of eating empty pay.

"The first half is correct, then what is the problem with the second half?" Hal also asked.

"If these crystals are given directly to you, what will you do with them?" Shiler looked at Hal and asked.

"Uh, for the development of human civilization, I will hand them over to scientists for research. Maybe they can be used as a kind of new energy?"

"This choice cannot be said to be wrong, only that the efficiency is not very high." Shiler said relatively tactfully: "Judging from the current level of human technological development, I am afraid it will take a period of research to use this kind of energy, and if you want to crack the secret of this energy, I am afraid..."

"And, have you ever considered that research actually doesn't take much energy? The energy stored in this crystal is enough for all human scientists to study for several years."

"Also..." Hal thought while touching his chin. Shiler was right. Don't look at this crystal being small, it contains the energy of 10 full rings, enough to fight a local space war. And judging from Shiler's plan, they are not just greedy for one piece, at least it must be four digits, and it comes often.

"If this is the case, it seems that I really have to consider how to use so much Green Lantern energy to be more cost-effective."

"I heard that many interstellar civilizations are very interested in the identity of Green Lanterns and Green Lantern energy?" Shiler looked at Thaal and asked.

"Yes, after all, you also know how powerful this energy is. And the reputation of the Green Lantern Corps has always been very good. Being able to become a Green Lantern is a very glorious thing in the eyes of many civilizations."

"But, actually, the Green Lantern Corps is very hard to enter, right?"

Thaal nodded again and said: "The use of the Green Lantern ring has a threshold. If the willpower is not strong enough, even if other aspects are very prominent, it is useless."

Shiler picked up the green crystal on the table again, looked at it and said: "But the use of this thing has no threshold."

Thaal gradually widened his eyes. He looked at Shiler and said in shock: "You don't want to resell Green Lantern energy, do you?"

"No!" Thaal denied it in one breath. He said: "This is too dangerous. If some people with ulterior motives get this thing, it will trigger an interstellar war!"

"Then we don't let people with ulterior motives get it, right?"

"But there is no safety lock on this, anyone who gets it can use it. What if it is resold, what should we do?"

"There is no safety lock on this now, but it doesn't mean there won't be in the future. You, a Corps Commander of the Green Lantern Corps, and a future director of the Green Lantern Corps CIA, won't even be able to get the technology of the safety lock, right?"

Thaal and Hal looked at each other. Hal said: "Don't sell the pass, tell us the specific plan."

"Actually, we are doing the same thing as the Guardians of the Universe. Green Lantern energy was originally a gift from nature, but they built power batteries and created rings, intercepted the energy, and established the Green Lantern Corps, letting the Green Lantern Corps be used by them."

"Green Lanterns want to use Green Lantern energy, they must wear rings, must return to the power battery to recharge, and must also use it under the restriction of the safety lock."

"Then we can also do this. Find something, add a safety lock to it, pour Green Lantern energy into it, and sell it to civilizations in the stars that are interested in it."

"We can restrict the objects that use this kind of crystal with a safety lock. At the same time, we can sign an agreement with them. The crystal is only lent to them temporarily. After the energy inside is consumed, it must be renewed to be recharged again."

"The payment method is monthly or yearly. There will be a fixed monthly rent fee. No matter if it is used or not, it must be deducted. If you don't pay, the safety lock will be locked."

"In addition to the monthly rent, there are package fees, providing a certain amount of Green Lantern energy every month, included in the package. If you use it up and want to continue using it, you must deduct money according to the amount or buy an additional package."

"The package also includes some benefits, such as the Green Lantern Corps' security service or teleportation service, etc. Of course, if you want to experience higher-level benefits, you must upgrade the package, increase the monthly rent, and also provide one hundred and twenty levels of membership..."

"The most important thing is that the crystal will have an independent code. The code will be linked to the credit level of the civilization in the Green Lantern Corps. Once the Green Lantern energy in the crystal they control is out of control, the credit level will drop. If you don't pay the debt or don't renew for too long, the credit level will also drop."

"Afterwards, we can develop a third-party credit platform in the universe, include all civilizations using Green Lantern energy into the Green Lantern credit system, and the blacklist of dishonesty will lose the protection of interstellar society..."

"The Green Lantern Corps is good, but I still prefer the Green Lantern industry. Now is the time to set industry standards, why not?"

Thaal and Hal looked at Shiler together. They saw that Shiler was no longer the smiling look, his eyes were full of mockery. They heard Shiler say:

"The Guardians of the Universe control such powerful energy, but they only made a Green Lantern Corps. I have to say, they are still quite passionate about peace."

The two didn't hear any meaning of praise in Shiler's tone. Thaal just wanted to speak, but Shiler continued:

"But don't feel sympathy for them. They don't do this because they really want to do something for the universe, just because they are too greedy, wanting both profit and fame."

"The good reputation of the Green Lantern Corps is just a means they paved. They will tighten the noose step by step until the Corps they created becomes a machine that only obeys their orders. The military police force is just the first step..."

"And we are going to tell them..." Shiler showed a smile that made Thaal and Hal feel a bit cold on their backs.

"Your cooked duck is very good, now it's mine."

Before Thaal and Hal could evaluate this plan, Shiler put that crystal on the middle of the table with a "pop" and said:

"Of course, this is just a long-term plan. It may take hundreds of years to fully realize it, but your civilization and mine cannot wait that long."

"We urgently need a qualitative leap. Studying this thing is not the best method."

"Then what do you plan to do?" Thaal asked.

"Now, this thing has been placed here. If you were the leader of an interstellar civilization, would you be interested in it?"

On this question, Thaal was very confident. He said: "You take this thing out, it will really trigger a war. I'm not joking. There are too many people in the universe coveting Green Lantern energy. No civilization will not want this kind of powerful and convenient power."

"Alright, then now, we have encountered some difficulties in the research of this technology. Of course, what specific difficulties, it depends on what technology Earth and your civilization need. Are you willing to make some reasonable investment in this?"

Hal widened his eyes and looked at Shiler and asked: "Cheat investment?? This is not good, right?!"

"What do you mean cheat! What do you mean cheat!" Shiler retorted loudly: "Isn't the real thing already placed in front of your eyes now? We even independently completed most of the development, just missing that little bit..."

"We are going against the current in such a difficult environment, striving for innovation. If it weren't for the urgent funds, how could we take out such a precious opportunity to let profit to the public?"

Hal had already closed his mouth and didn't speak, because Shiler's tone made him think of some industries on Earth that were not very good to talk about. But Thaal was amazed by this idea. He said:

"That's right, we don't even need to pour such full energy into it, just put a little bit in, let them feel it. As long as they find that there is such technology, then they will definitely try their best to get it..."

"And we rely on the Green Lantern Corps, they definitely dare not rob it openly." Shiler smiled and looked at Hal:

"At this time, it's time for our powerful Ion Shark to go out again."