Chapter 402 Batman: I think it’s funny! Hahahahahahaha! (5000 words long chapter)
Not far away, Death Storm once again volunteered to be the vessel for capturing Parallax Monster. Bane grabbed Death Storm who was screaming constantly and used him like a chamber pot, pouring Parallax Monster's body into it like a flowing paste.
If Death Storm had not accepted the power of the Black of Decay, if he had not accepted Luther's transformation, he might still have the power to resist when facing Bane, but at this moment, Death Storm, who was almost completely immersed in the power of the Black of Decay, saw Bane like a grandson seeing his ancestor, and let the other party control him.
His body was full of holes, and the huge yellow power of fear almost crushed his bones. The severe pain made him basically unable to speak normally.
Originally, the action of capturing Parallax Monster would not be so easy, but Parallax Monster had been restrained by Mongo and Sinestro using the methods of Karona and the First Lantern respectively, and there was no time to resist.
Sinestro, who was standing next to him, had lost his green lantern and returned to his yellow lantern. He had just watched Bane suck the Parallax Monster back into the Death Storm Matrix and seemed to be trying to stop it, but somehow he didn't do it.
For Sinestro, a Parallax Monster sealed in a container was actually better than a Parallax Monster running around outside, even if the container was a living person - or a living skeleton.
"Very interesting, right, Huo Rong."
At this moment, Lantern No. 1 heard Batman's voice.
"The mutual generation and mutual restraint between all things is so interesting."
"What did you do, Batman?"
Lantern No. 1 asked.
He wanted to say something else, but then, the manic voice sounded in his ears again, and he felt that the host controlled by the power ring struggled desperately, resisting himself with all his strength.
This was unreasonable.
"Pfft, this is the most interesting part... I didn't do anything." Lantern No. 1 briefly turned his attention to the Karona ghost who was escaping outside. At this time, the blue ghost condensed into the face of Caronna, and then hit a transparent barrier in the space not far away, and it was scattered like a bag full of vegetables falling from the third floor.
Then he condensed his body again.
"Ah, didn't I tell you?" Lantern No. 1 heard Batman say: "From Brainiac's position, in the past, our cosmic collectors would use this position to dig them out of their home planet after they took a fancy to a new city, just like putting them in an oversized glass bottle. Then he would use the shrinking ray to make them smaller and put them in his pocket. Of course, with just these..."
Chen Tao said: "It is impossible to stop Caronna. Although it is only a part of his ghost power."
As Batman's voice sounded, as expected, although there was no lantern ring on his hand at this time, Caronna's ghost still used some method to summon the green will energy out of thin air.
He controlled the green will energy to materialize a combination of a drill and a pile driver, trying to make a hole in the transparent barrier in front of him, but the next second, he found a figure standing behind him.
Blood and tears gushed out of Atrocitus' eyes like burning flames.
Karona turned his head to look at him.
Although he was in the state of a ghost, he still took a deep breath, and then he regained his indifferent expression and turned to look at Atrocitus.
"Sector 666?"
"Yes."
Silence.
"Nothing to say?"
"I cried for the destruction of your sector until my last tear. I had to resort to this measure to make my compatriots realize that creatures without emotions cannot protect the universe. But no matter how many times, I will apologize for this."
Karona said: "I'm sorry, I..."
"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
Karona let out a horrifying scream, and Atrocitus grabbed his ghost and tore him into millions of pieces, but because of the immortal soul that belonged to the guardian of the universe, this part of Karona's ghost energy would not be destroyed so easily.
The next moment, the red light energy helped Karona's ghost power reshape its body, but the reason why Atrocitus did so was just...
To tear it apart again.
"Karona knew he couldn't run away." Chen Tao said.
He told Lantern No. 1: "But Kalona's body is imprisoned in the cosmic egg, so destroying these images of Kalona made of ghost energy in front of him, although it can cause Kalona to break his bones, it cannot really kill him." "So if that's the case, there's no need to show a crying expression before dying." Chen Tao said: "But what surprised me is that... he didn't take the initiative to give up this part of his ghost energy to avoid the mental pain inflicted by Atrocitus. Instead, he still maintained the connection with this pile of ghost energy and let Atrocitus vent his anger." At this time, Batman actually stopped his hand and said to Lantern No. 1 as if chatting: "What do you think is the reason?" Without waiting for Lantern No. 1 to answer, Chen Tao answered himself:
"Atrocitus is venting his anger, and Caronna is venting his guilt. He punishes himself in this way, and then seeks psychological compensation for himself. In this way, next time, he can accept his behavior of causing the 666 sector massacre with peace of mind, because he has already "paid the price". Similarly, the next time he faces Atrocitus..." Chen Tao smiled. "He can kill without any guilt. Because he has "evened" with Atrocitus." For some reason, Lantern No. 1 did not do anything at this time, and Sinestro, who was not far away, also remained strangely silent at this time. The two of them stood there quietly with Chen Tao, watching the blue ghost power finally consumed in the process of being torn apart by Atrocitus. Even if he tried to glue it with red light energy, he could no longer maintain his form and eventually slowly dissipated in the universe. Together, they watched Atrocitus roar at the boundless starry sky with a deafening roar, which contained indescribable sadness, like an old wolf that had long been homeless and howled at the moon.
"How did you talk to Sinestro?"
The First Lantern suddenly heard Batman ask.
"Did Sinestro agree to your terms and decide to help you escape from my clutches?"
The First Lantern looked a little ugly when he heard Batman say, "You talked to him in secret for so long, but you didn't convince Sinestro to help you?"
He realized that he had taken advantage of Caronna's escape to attract the other party's attention and used the green will energy to secretly communicate and negotiate with Sinestro. Batman had always known about it, but he didn't care.
"I have no conflict with you, Batman." Lantern No. 1 said in a deep voice: "I am fundamentally different from villains like Kalonna or cosmic dictators like Mongo." "I come from a parallel universe. My mother and I are both scientists. We discovered the emotional spectrum, but then..." Lantern No. 1 told his origin story. At the end, he seemed very sincere and said to Chen Tao: "I am different from dangerous characters like Kalonna. Releasing it will only bring disaster to the universe, and me?" He said: "The only people I have a grudge against are the group of cosmic guardians, but they have been killed by you now. I have no one to avenge, so this grudge is written off. I just need to find a way to forge the shuttle lantern again, and then I will leave your universe. Universe, go back to the multiverse, and continue to seek ways to reverse time and save my hometown. We will keep our distance, Batman. "
The face of the first Lantern, which was made of green will energy, showed a somewhat sad look: "I am no threat to you, Batman."
"I... I just want to go home."
With a bang, his green head was hit by a toy mini Batman. He turned his head and looked at the ventriloquist holding a mini bat baby in one hand. Another voice sounded in his mind through the lantern ring: "Don't call the name of the God of Bats directly! Call the great Batman master!"
"..."
The first Lantern took a deep breath. He had seen that the coward he possessed was a madman, a split personality. The power ring was an early work he forged. There were too many problems and loopholes to exploit, but this was not the time to consider these.
"How dare you!" The bat baby in the ventriloquist's hand cursed: "You maggot!" Then he kept repeating "rotten things", "dang, are you worthy?" "Kneel down!" and other nonsense, and the First Lantern ignored him. He looked at Batman. "I can help you, and I can give you much more than you can imagine." He said: "In this universe, no one knows the emotional spectrum better than me, not even... Kalonna. I am the first person to teach the emotional spectrum to the Guardians of the Universe." "I can also give you the Great Heart, you know? That was created by me and the Guardians of the Universe..." The First Lantern was stating his conditions, but Chen Tao shook his head slightly in his heart. He had read the comics, and there was a reason why he didn't intend to let the First Lantern go. First, the First Lantern would not let the Green Lantern Corps go. Although the Guardians of the Universe were destroyed, the Green Lantern Corps still existed. He was so resentful that it was almost impossible for him not to attack the Green Lantern Corps. Second, even if he gave up, he successfully created the shuttle lamp and planned to leave this universe and go to other universes to continue looking for ways... He will eventually return to this universe. Because there is one thing that even Lantern No. 1 does not know at this time: about the destruction of his hometown. Lantern No. 1 still does not know how his hometown was destroyed. He only knows that his hometown Earth 15 was destroyed by a pulse of energy. Therefore, he wants to change the past and prevent the destruction of Earth 15. But how to stop it specifically? He has no idea. But Chen Tao has read the comics, so he knows. The person who destroyed Earth 15 is a villain named [Time Trapper]. That is to say, if Lantern No. 1 wants to prevent the destruction of his hometown, he must find a way to kill [Time Trapper] in advance, so that he can achieve his goal. So, who is [Time Trapper]?
This answer may be a little sad...
Because [Time Trapper] is Superboy Prime, the Superboy Prime in a certain timeline in the future.
Well, if we don't mention the powerful power of Superboy Prime, this situation alone is not a completely hopeless thing for Lantern No. 1, but another serious problem is:
The existence of [Time Trapper] has long become a bug in the timeline of the DC universe, a non-existent person.
In the storyline of "Final Crisis: Legion of Three Realms", the old Superboy Prime in the future has become the ruler sitting at the end of time, but he is not satisfied with this, but intends to extend his rule to the past and invade that glorious era, the era of heroes.
Therefore, he used the young Superboy Prime and planned to let him destroy the superhero organization "Legion of Super-Heroes" in the 31st century.
In short, after a series of battles and stories, Superboy Prime finally discovered that the Time Trapper was his future self, and this discovery made Superboy Prime furious.
He refused to believe that his future self would become such an old, twisted, disgusting, evil conspirator. He believed that even if he killed people and set fires, and destroying the universe was as easy as farting, he was still a kind boy. His ultimate goal was to build a beautiful world, and then his sins would be erased, instead of becoming a bad guy like the Time Trapper.
So Superboy-Prime punched the Time Trapper with all his strength, and this punch directly caused a time paradox, because at this moment, Superboy-Prime refused his fate of becoming the Time Trapper, and the Time Trapper disappeared from the timeline!
But this is bad. The Time Trapper caused the destruction of Earth-15, the home of Lantern No. 1, so he traveled through the multiverse and eventually directly led to the establishment of the Green Lantern Corps;
If the Time Trapper is gone, then Lantern No. 1 will stay in his hometown until he dies, and the Green Lantern Corps will not be born;
The Green Lantern Corps will not be born, and the 31st century Superhero Corps will be gone directly, and the story of "Final Crisis: Tri-Realm Corps" will not happen. If this event does not happen, Superboy-Prime will not give the Time Trapper a big slap, and then things will go back, the timeline will not match, and it will not run.
What to do?
This bug cannot be fixed no matter how it is fixed, and the timeline is finally forced into a corner: since it cannot be fixed, let it continue to run. Anyway, as long as Lantern No. 1's home is gone, the Green Lantern Corps will appear, so I will directly record the history of the Time Trapper destroying Earth-15, and then let Superboy-Prime decide not to become the Time Trapper one day, then all this will be explained, right?
So this is the result now. Everything else has been rounded off by the timeline. The timeline is stable, and the story of DC can continue. Only the world where Lantern No. 1's hometown was bombed has been created.
So for Lantern No. 1, the Time Trapper who bombed his hometown has become a non-existent person. If you have to say it, it is the future, or the Prime Superboy in some corner of the timeline who has done what the Time Trapper should have done, and then suddenly slapped his head and said, "I don't want the Time Trapper" and then patted his butt and left. The main thing is a Prime Superboy in Schrodinger state.
Stop it?
Stop nothing.
You don't even know which timeline the Prime Superboy destroyed his hometown, how to stop it?
(Note: In fact, it was Superboy-Prime during the "Countdown to Final Crisis" period who destroyed Earth-15. After the big event "Sinestro Corps War", he was defeated by the Guardians of the Universe using self-destruction, exiled into the infinite multiverse, and then accidentally drifted to Earth-15, and then destroyed an Earth in anger)
So, everything that Lantern No. 1 pursued was destined to be a tragedy.
He was chasing a non-existent pseudo-person, and he was desperately looking for a person who had long been erased from the timeline, like looking for the remnants of pencil marks erased by an eraser on a piece of paper.
Especially since this remnant had long been covered by new pencil notes, it was even more impossible for Lantern No. 1 to find it.
But even so...
Voron still has the opportunity to create a new paradox:
For example, he can find a way to prevent the birth of the Green Lantern Corps. Without the Green Lantern Corps, there will be no Superhero Corps. Without the Superhero Corps, Superboy-Prime will not attack the Time Trapper, and the Time Trapper will continue to exist.
Then he may kill the Time Trapper and save his home.
But how messed up would the timeline become without the Green Lantern Corps?
This is not a problem that Lantern No. 1 would care about, so the dispute between Lantern No. 1 and the Green Lantern Corps is essentially impossible to reconcile.
Let him return to the multiverse to continue looking for a way, he will sooner or later discover these things, and then come back to trouble the Green Lantern Corps.
This behavior is essentially letting the tiger go back to the mountain, so for Chen Tao, it is safer for Lantern No. 1 to be a otaku in the Shadow Cabinet quietly.
"Not only can I provide you with the emotional spectrum, but I can also help you maintain the order of this universe, as long as..."
Lantern No. 1 is still giving his conditions, but Chen Tao interrupted him with a complicated expression.
He really sympathizes with Lantern No. 1's experience, but...
He will never watch Lantern No. 1 destroy the Green Lantern Corps and then destroy the entire timeline.
So...
"Why? Why not?"
The First Lantern was silent for a while. He looked at Chen Tao's expression under his mask and understood what he meant.
He asked in a deep voice: "I need a reason. This is obviously a win-win situation for both of us. Why refuse?"
Chen Tao looked at him.
He just looked and thought for a long time.
Finally, he made a decision.
"It's fun." He said to the First Lantern: "Because I just want to say no to those who are self-righteous."
He said to the First Lantern who was already shaking with anger at these two sentences: "This is why I refuse you."
Compared to hating the Green Lantern Corps, hating the whole world, and hating the entire timeline, it is better for you to hate me, Huo Rong...
Compared to knowing everything and trying your best to reverse the past, but being defeated by everyone in the end, being tortured by the tragedy of life and being miserable and emaciated, you...
It is better to be confused and know nothing.
This is better for you, me, and all the innocent people who may be affected by the catastrophe you have set off.