Dane and the others did not leave Coast City after meeting Hal.
Following the trajectory calculations provided by Cortana, they found the crash site of Abin Sur's spaceship.
But now, only the scattered wreckage of the spaceship and a charred crater remained there.
"Nothing of value was found, and the alien life's biomass was completely incinerated by the Fire."
Superman took just one look and saw everything clearly inside.
He had already turned off the watch's curse function, and his ears picked up Police sirens not far away.
"Someone noticed the situation here, and they're coming."
"Since there's nothing here, let's go."
Dane shook his head and led the group away.
A few minutes later, a line of Police cars stopped there, and a group of heavily armed SWAT officers exited the vehicles.
From the last Police car, another person, completely unrelated to the Police, emerged.
His skin was as bad as if he had stayed up too late, his hairline was very high, and his eyes were gloomy.
But his expression was filled with excitement.
"Where is it? Where is it?"
This person's name was Hector Hammond, a scholar specializing in alien biology.
That being said, he had never had any alien creatures to experiment on before.
Who knows what he studied back then? But today, it seemed his luck had turned.
The people present were actually Checkmate personnel, merely disguised as Police.
Hector Hammond had been under their observation for a long time, and this obvious extraterrestrial incident was the perfect opportunity to test his mettle.
"Dr. Hammond, this way, please."
The scene was quickly cordoned off, and Hector eagerly walked in.
But when he saw the scene, he was stunned; it was as if everything had been destroyed to cover up a body. What could he possibly study?
"When we arrived, this place was already damaged. After inspection by professionals, the explosion was triggered from inside the spaceship."
"That is to say, the Master of this ship had already prepared to eliminate all evidence."
Hector felt somewhat disheartened, "Then... in that case..."
"Dr. Hector, although the alien life's body has been burned, some residue remains. Look..."
Hearing this, Hector could only reluctantly perk up, searching through a pile of wreckage for anything valuable.
No one noticed that at this moment, a yellow substance the size of a small finger, as if alive, quietly crawled onto Hector's body.
After a long time, Hector had to give up on this futile effort.
He said dejectedly, "Nothing. It exploded too cleanly; I couldn't find anything useful."
"But the wreckage of this spaceship is still useful, isn't it?"
A staff member tentatively asked, "Its material science should be different from ours on Earth."
Hector looked over unhappily:
"I am a biologist, not a physicist or a materials scientist. You're asking the wrong person."
"Oh, I see..." The person nodded, then simply left Hector behind without hesitation.
The U.S.'s attitude of using people when needed and discarding them when not was fully demonstrated.
Hector was very angry, but he could only be angry for a moment. Afterwards, he could only walk home by himself.
But after returning home, he felt that something was not quite right with him.
However, he couldn't pinpoint exactly what was wrong.
He could only attribute it to staying up too late and being too tired recently, so he collapsed into bed and fell asleep.
But he didn't sleep soundly that night. Hector had nightmares all night.
And throughout the night, he tossed and turned, drenched in sweat.
The next morning, Hector woke up and was startled by his reflection in the mirror while washing up.
He pulled down his lower eyelid, revealing the White of his eye, which was yellow.
"This is..."
Soon, the yellow in his eyes disappeared, but Hector could feel it.
Something was inside him, but strangely, he wasn't afraid of this change.
"It doesn't seem to be a problem, does it?" he reassured himself.
Immediately after, he went to teach his students on time.
He loved his course, but when he spoke passionately, a student's insolent remark angered him.
"Coward!"
"What did you just say?"
Hector looked at the student, his eyes terrifyingly sinister.
Just then, a flash of yellow light passed through his eyes.
Under his will, the speaking student suddenly flew up, then crashed heavily to the ground.
All the students were stunned, witnessing this incredible scene.
Hector paused for a moment at the sight, then hurriedly fled the classroom.
He only realized afterwards that the student hadn't actually spoken.
No student with a normal IQ, no matter how much they looked down on the Professor, would be disrespectful to the lecturing Professor in class.
What he heard was the student's inner thoughts!
Hector was in a panic; he didn't know who to talk to about such things.
Immediately after, his father, Senator Hammond, sought him out.
He hoped Hector could help him gain control of the alien wreckage collected by the Checkmate department.
It was then that he realized Checkmate sought him out not because of his talent, but through his father's connections as a Senator.
This made him very frustrated, and at that moment, he unintentionally heard his father's inner thoughts.
He would never succeed; he was a failure!
It turned out that Senator Hammond had always looked down on him, believing him to be a failure who couldn't succeed without his father.
This caused Hector's emotions to become unstable once again.
When he was alone in his room, Hector could only comfort himself.
"It's alright, Hector, you just need an opportunity."
That evening, Ferris Aircraft Manufacturing Company held a celebration banquet to mark the successful signing of the procurement order between Ferris and the Air Force department.
Hal Jordan also received an invitation.
He looked puzzled; he remembered messing things up, so how did the contract still get signed?
Hal didn't really like these high-society parties, but for Carol, he was willing to go.
That evening, he put on his only formal suit and headed to the banquet venue.
Hector Hammond also received an invitation through his father's connections.
He and Hal were old friends for many years, but Hector had always secretly loved Carol, and Carol loved Hal.
So, they hadn't been in much contact recently.
"Hector?" he said in surprise.
Hector glanced at him: "Tonight isn't going to be easy."
He already knew that Hal and Carol had broken up, so he was a bit more composed when facing him.
"Indeed." Hal shrugged.
"How have you been?"
"Same as always."
"Me too."
After a brief chat, Hal was immediately called to the stage by Mr. Ferris.
He heard this was Carol's arrangement, which gave Hal a headache, but he still went up, gritting his teeth.
Hector took the opportunity to try and chat up Carol; he clearly hadn't given up on her yet.
But at that moment, Senator Hammond walked over again.
He fully displayed the two-faced nature of a politician; although he praised Hector verbally.
But Hector could hear his inner thoughts.
His father was criticizing him from multiple angles: his fashion sense, his conversation topics, his achievements, and so on, practically tearing him apart.
He couldn't endure it any longer and eventually had to leave in a hurry.
But this also pushed his accumulated negative emotions to a limit; he desperately needed to vent his anger.
Just then, Senator Hammond was boarding a helicopter, preparing to fly away from the party.
Hector's mind became heated, and with a thought, the water pipe by the pool suddenly burst.
The faucet, with the immense force of the water flow, flew up and struck the tail wing of the helicopter.
The helicopter pilot struggled to maintain control, and though the helicopter still wobbled, it finally stabilized.
But seeing this, Hector was unwilling to give up and continued to attack the helicopter with his still-unskilled telekinesis.
Below the helicopter were the guests, fleeing in a panic.
Seeing this, Hal unhesitatingly pressed the signal device Dane had given him.
"What is it?"
"I need the power of the ring!"
"Have you decided?"
"I have decided!"
"Good, put on the ring and recite after me."
Hal did as he was told, placing the lantern ring on his finger.
He followed Dane's words and recited:
"In brightest day, in blackest night."
"No evil shall escape my sight."
"Let those who worship evil's might,"
"Beware my power, green lantern's light!"
As the green lantern oath was recited, the lantern ring instantly responded.
The light of will shone, and Hal once again donned his battle suit, soaring into the sky enveloped in a green light!
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