Inside the secret experimental base of the Coast City government.
At the end of a narrow corridor, an unremarkable Black woman appeared. She was short, only 1.55 meters tall, but surprisingly robust. Coupled with her stern face, she exuded an invisible aura of strength.
The woman walked to the door of the isolation room and pushed it open.
"Hello, Dr. Hammond."
The person in the room turned around, revealing a peculiar face. His head was enormous, almost 1.5 times the size of a normal person's, which made him look incredibly comical when he looked up at people, like a clown making his debut, making one want to laugh.
The woman, however, did not laugh. There was no change in her eyes or eyebrows, a composure that earned her a slight favor from Hector Hammond.
"I've seen you before, in my father's office. You're Amanda Waller?"
"Yes, I was your father's assistant ten years ago. Let's not waste any more time, Dr. Hammond. You should know why you're here."
Hector chuckled, a frantic, uncontainable glint in his murky eyes.
"Where is it?"
"Please follow me."
The two passed through three sealed doors and arrived at a spacious laboratory. On a shelf in the center of the lab was a special bio-chamber, and "it" was inside.
Hector quickly stepped forward, pressing his head against the bio-chamber.
"Hello, little one, we finally meet."
Amanda spoke up, "Dr. Hammond, it is top secret and must not be leaked."
"I know the rules, you don't need to remind me."
Hector waved his hand impatiently, his gaze moving back and forth over "its" body. When he saw the indentation on its chest, he asked, "Who caused this wound?"
"It was like this when it was dug out. No one else has touched it."
"Dug out!"
Hector keenly caught the keyword.
"Yes, it was deliberately buried, and it had contact with other people before we arrived, Professor. Please hurry, we hope to get the most accurate data in the shortest possible time."
Hector raised his hand and pointed towards the door.
Amanda said nothing more, turning and leaving the laboratory. As for the situation inside, she wasn't worried. Hector's father was one of the main Person in charge of this institution, and Hector's father played a crucial role in Hector getting such a rare opportunity at the age of thirty.
Testing aliens was a very dangerous job, but Hector did it methodically. In fact, he had simulated similar scenarios countless times in his dreams. What to do, what not to do, procedures, progress—every step was firmly etched in his mind.
There are always some eccentrics in the world who dislike their own kind but have a fanatical interest in those ethereal alien creatures. Hector Hammond was one of them; he liked aliens, almost to the point of obsession.
He put on a special protective suit, opened the bio-chamber, and used tweezers and scissors to extract tissue cells from various parts of "its" body. When the tweezers touched the wound on its chest, a strange echo reverberated in his mind.
The darkest night, the brightest day;
Evil shall tremble at my sight;
Those who defy me, beware my might;
...Fear!
Devour!
Power!
Hector cried out, stumbling backward, stopping only when he hit a table and chairs.
"Who? Who's speaking?"
He looked around. The small, sealed room contained only him; there was no one else.
"Could it be..."
A hint of terror flashed in Hector's eyes, mixed with a thrill of ecstasy, as he thought of something. He swallowed, walked up to "it," cut open the wound on its chest, and used tweezers to extract a rice-grain-sized yellow crystal from the purplish-brown granulation tissue.
Hector stared blankly at the yellow crystal, his entire mind drawn into it.
The darkest night, the brightest day;
Evil shall tremble at my sight;
Those who defy me, beware my might;
...When the Young Master Gang was first established, Luke often took them on hunting games to improve their subordinates' combat effectiveness.
Two groups of people, one the prey, the other the hunters, would fight each other in a restricted area. The winners would receive generous rewards. Later, as the gang expanded, the hunting game gradually evolved into a killing game.
When Luke dealt with rival gangs, he would leave their leaders alive, throw them into abandoned villages without network access, and let his subordinates hunt them down. The first person to capture the prey would not only gain the right to execute them but also half of the prey's assets.
Half the assets, at least hundreds of thousands of dollars.
This was an amount enough to drive people crazy, and soon, the killing game became one of the Young Master Gang's hallmarks.
Humans are intelligent beings, possessing logic, emotion, and cognition, but the killing game stripped all of these away, retaining only the most primitive hunting instincts.
In a sense, it was an inhumane activity, bringing only bloodshed and fear. Fear spreads, and when news spread of gang bosses, whose names everyone knew, dying tragically in the killing game, the entire underworld of Coast City trembled.
A rabbit shot in the head feels no fear because death is too quick. But if it were surrounded by a pack of wolves and tormented, that constant fear of death would evolve into an inescapable nightmare that would haunt everyone's minds.
During that time, the sky over Coast City was always overcast until the Old Man intervened to stop it, and the killing game withdrew from the stage of history, becoming a reserved project for the Young Master Gang.
In fact, Hal Jordan's words were not wrong: the Young Master Gang was the gloom hanging over Coast City, and he wanted to eradicate this gloom. He failed, and failure comes with a price.
The game began, and Dio's perpetually icy face actually showed a rare look of excitement.
Luke said speechlessly, "Don't tell me you're going to participate too?"
"I haven't played this kind of game in three years."
"Three years! That's quite a long time. Go ahead then." He paused, then added, "Leave him a breath."
A hint of doubt flashed in Dio's eyes, but he didn't ask why. He put on his clothes and left the villa without looking back.
Luke walked behind Carol, who was preparing breakfast, wrapped his arms around her waist, and whispered in her ear,
"We found that person."
The girl said in surprise, "That fast?"
Luke mumbled in response, "You know that person, Hal Jordan."
Crack!
The plate dropped to the floor. A stunned Carol turned around and said incredulously, "How could it be him? Are you sure?"
Luke nodded.
"The ring is in my hand."
Carol fell silent, her head bowed, unsure what to say.
Luke stroked her hair and whispered reassuringly, "I wasn't going to let you get involved, but after thinking it over, I felt it wasn't right. After all, he's a friend you grew up with."
The girl hesitated, "Could it be..."
Luke raised a finger and pressed it against her lips.
"You'll know when the time comes."
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