The next morning at the Green Lantern Corps Headquarters, the moment Hal stepped out of his bedroom, an attractive female Green Lantern greeted him.
If you ignored her purple skin and the six hands at her back, she could be considered quite a stunning lady. Hal blushed and turned away. The female Green Lantern laughed, then said to him:
"I never thought that the Ion Lantern would be such a shy boy...Well, no more joking around, the Corps Leader is looking for you. Go to his office after breakfast."
"Okay... Thank you."
After saying farewell to the female Green Lantern, Hal took the elevator to the dining area.
There, every kind of creature could be found—Star Spirits floating mid-air, spherical creatures bouncing around on the ground, and even a long-necked dinosaur sticking its head in through a window—Hal couldn't help expressing amazement as he walked and watched.
Wherever he went, Hal received continuous praises. Even Green Lanterns who recently returned from their sectors and hadn't participated in the recent events couldn't help but exclaim when they learned of Hal's deeds.
The events in Gotham, while not as grand as some interstellar wars, were filled with elements of strangeness and terror. Green Lanterns who had been there could deeply sense the chaos and insanity. Therefore, their descriptions were inevitably exaggerated and the tales grew with each retelling.
The Green Lanterns spared no words in praising Hal, which included the injured Deputy Carol.
His attacker was Constantine, a magician. Carol was defeated before he could even strike a blow. To cover up his failure, he greatly exaggerated the power of Constantine, claiming that Constantine had summoned five or six terrifying Hell demon kings, summoned magma and hail, cast hundreds of Arcane Orbs, and they had battled for hundreds of rounds before Carol was finally defeated.
Other Lanterns also had this mentality. After all, it was quite disgraceful to be defeated after attacking a city in force. As long as they portrayed their enemy as incredibly powerful, their own weaknesses wouldn't seem so apparent. Therefore, all the combat reports submitted indicated that Gotham City was not inhabited by ordinary Earthlings.
They were chaotic, insane, unpredictable, and each armed with dozens of large bombs. Not only were they skilled in all sorts of magical arts, but it seemed they also possessed clairvoyant abilities. They were not only unafraid of death but also highly intelligent.
Similarly, this directly led to an exaggeration of Hal's heroism, as if he were an incarnation of a god. As the tales grew, people started referring to Hal as "the greatest Green Lantern in history", saying his achievements in saving them were unprecedented and deserved to be recorded in the annals of history.
Amid all this praise, Hal became somewhat perplexed, as he was fully aware that the recent events were nowhere near as terrifying as everyone was making it out to be.
Perhaps the Green Lanterns' loss was a bit ungraceful, but the actual losses were not significant. The vast majority suffered only minor injuries, the only severely injured unfortunate was Carol who had encountered Constantine, while most of the others just exhausted the energy in their Green Lantern Rings and suffered considerable mental fatigue, but after a night's rest, they had all returned.
Despite this, Hal received unprecedented welcome and gratitude. Amid the cheers, he started to feel uneasy, not only because he was undeservingly receiving all this praise, but also because he felt the organization was too frivolous in their attitude toward this failure.
No strategic decisions were reexamined, no tactical gaps were filled, they didn't even hold a summary meeting—it was as if by portraying the enemy as a terrifying natural disaster and the saviors as unprecedented heroes, the matter could be put to rest.
Anyone with military acumen would find such an organizational approach amateurish.
In this mood, Hal arrived at Tylenol's office located in a corridor on the side of the central core. Hal's office was also here.
He knocked on the door, and Tylenol's voice came from inside, "Come in."
When Hal entered, he found Tylenol's face was rather stern. Before Hal could ask him why, Tylenol spoke, "I saw your request to leave the headquarters last night. What's going on?"
"Um...matters on Earth are not yet fully resolved, I need to return for the follow-up work. Also, the Earth sector needs someone to maintain the peace."
"No, Hal, I've received orders to temporarily abandon the Earth sector, to give up all law enforcement works relating to Earth and Gotham."
"Why?" Hal asked in surprise, his eyes wide.
Pinching his lips, Tylenol patted Hal's shoulder and said, "You've just started working and still don't fully understand the situation. Although I haven't been the Corps Leader of Green Lantern Corps for a long time, before this, I handled some personnel dispatch matters."
"The importance of law enforcement tasks varies from sector to sector. Our manpower is limited, and the energy of the Total Furnace is also limited. Therefore, we need to focus on maintaining the more crucial sectors..."
"But!" Hal raised his voice, "What constitutes an important sector? Isn't Earth important?"
With a sigh, Tylenol sat down behind his desk and gestured for Hal to do the same. But Hal just stood where he was. Tylenol said somewhat helplessly:
"I understand every Green Lantern feels that their home sector is the most important and wants to defend it. But everything we do, we do for the future of the Corps."
"To achieve sustainable development, our finite strength must be invested in the most critical areas. The so-called critical sectors are more prosperous places with many civilizations and they are closer to the headquarters..."
Tylenol showed a troubled expression and said, "The sector where Earth is located is remote, and there are fewer civilizations."
"Most importantly..." Tylenol lowered his head, his tone became more somber. He said, "This operation failed, we paid a huge price, emptied half of the energy from the main lantern furnace, over a dozen Green Lanterns were injured, Deputy Carol was severely injured..."
"Compared to the strategic location of the sector where Earth is located, such expenditure is almost unacceptable."
Hal stood silently in place looking at Tylenol. His throat moved slightly, his fingertips trembled a bit, but he still spoke:
"What about justice? Peace?"
Tylenol laid his hands on the table and said, "We must first ensure the healthy development of the Green Lantern Corps, to deliver peace to more civilizations, for this, inevitable sacrifices will be made."
"What about those civilizations that are sacrificed?" Hal asked immediately.
Tylenol sighed once more and said, "I understand that before, you were a terrestrial lifeform and haven't been in the cosmos for long, so you don't fully comprehend the universe. You see, of all the civilizations that come into existence within the universe, only around one percent of them are able to leave their planet and soar into the cosmos."
"And within that one percent of civilizations, fewer than one-thousandth of them are able to navigate the cosmos, joining the interstellar society, becoming a member of the universal civilization society."
"And the rest of them, no matter where they were born, no matter how splendid they once were, eventually, they perish within the cradle of civilization."
"The development of civilizations requires the right conditions. Only a very small number of star systems that have excellent conditions can give birth to a civilization that can join the interstellar society, and those star systems are precisely what we must protect."
"But apparently..." Tylenol shook his head and said:" Earth is not included."
"I understand you must feel disappointed, I once felt the same." Tylenol got up from the table and walked toward Hal. He said:" But one day, you will understand, all of this is for a greater cause of justice."
Looking at Tylenol's eyes, Hal was silent for a while, then slowly shook his head. His tone had calmed down, but it carried a striking volume, he said: "Justice delayed is not justice."
"On the journey towards greatness, all those civilizations left behind by you and all those groups used as sacrificial pawns, they're all thriving entities with life, just like my fellow beings on Earth."
"But if we don't do it this way, exhausting our power in hopeless places, it will only lead to the collapse of the corps, and without the Green Lantern Corps, there will only be more civilizations entrapped in war."
Looking into Tylenol's eyes, Hal knew he might not be able to persuade him. He said:" I'm sorry, but I can't agree with this reasoning."
He closed his eyes, breathed deeply, raised his right hand, and then, with the other hand, strenuously removed the Green Lantern ring from his finger.
"I relinquish my role as a Green Lantern. I will return to Earth, and as an ordinary human, I will fight for my civilization."
Tylenol's eyes widened slightly, he had never imagined that anyone could abandon the Green Lantern energy, such easily obtained and incredibly powerful energy was like a gift from heaven, no one ever willingly gave it up.
But, he saw another kind of power in Hal's eyes, and it made them as bright as the sun in the cosmos.
"I have always believed that my compatriots and I can create the greatest civilization in the universe."
"Perhaps, today I leave, but one day, when mankind soars into the farthest depths of the cosmos, we will meet again."
As Hal turned and walked away, Tylenol watched his fading figure. He saw shadows of many people in Hal's silhouette, they had all once been known as the greatest Green Lanterns throughout history.
Yet, Hal was unlike any of these figures, there was no thick green light symbolizing powerful energy on him, nor was there any prestige coming from powerful energy, just like any ordinary terrestrial creature, he could not fly, could not teleport, he could only step forward one foot at a time.
But it was the species that were unable to fly that yearned to soar the most. As an ordinary human being, Hal could have chosen to become a Green Lantern and soared freely in the universe, yet he chose to abandon it.
Tylenol thought, perhaps, he could actually become the greatest Green Lantern ever... the true Green Lantern.