RNP Chapter 643 The Light of the Bat Illuminates the Present from the Future!
Chapter 643 The Light of the Bat Illuminates the Present from the Future!
Chapter 643 The Light of the Bat: From the Future... Illuminating the Present!
"So I think we can't just stand by and watch."
Earth 1.
The endless meetings of the Third Army members finally reached the point where they had to make a decision.
For a very simple reason:
The first Lantern Man's powers have been greatly restored.
Furthermore, the Shadow Calamity is preparing to intervene in events occurring upstream in the Time Stream.
"Okay, let's have an open and honest talk."
The members of the Third Army stood still, continuing to play the role of henchmen devoid of self-awareness and emotion.
Next door to where they stood, the shadowy figure clad in black, and the first Lantern Knight, whose entire body was bathed in white light, with strands of rainbow-colored veins shimmering within, sat facing each other.
"Who exactly are you? How did you manage to do all this? And..."
"What exactly are you going to do?"
The Third Legion members nearby had no expression on their faces, but in their shared mind-link channel, they were practically arguing.
"What's going on? I never saw this when I came here..."
"This is a change caused by the future. When will a new person emerge who can share the results of that future with everyone...?"
"Please be quiet, let me think this through..."
"Don't think about it. I got back even later than you, and you never make the right decision when you're deep in thought..."
"Shut up, I am you, aren't you just insulting yourself?"
"Enough, everyone, let's be rational."
The newly returned member of the Third Legion managed to occupy the leading position amidst the commotion:
"You should know that since I, there has never been a new 'us'... even if this stop is temporary. And this also means that at our current point in time, things will develop in a way that resembles the future where we ultimately triumph."
He emphasized, "Until the new us returns, whatever the current history unfolds, it will be a favorable outcome for us. And every decision we make, if no new future comes along to stop us after the vote, proves that the decision was correct."
All the members of the Third Army Corps understood what the other side meant.
Simply put, the "Third Legion members" who returned from the future have become the error correction mechanism for the current group.
They could easily raise their hands to vote on a result, and then see if their future selves would come back to stop it.
If no one stops them, it means the outcome is beneficial to their ultimate goal, and no matter how outrageous the outcome sounds, they must carry it out firmly; but if someone comes back to stop them, then the outcome, no matter how reasonable it sounds, must be terminated.
Therefore, the newly returned member of the Third Legion attempted to establish a parliamentary-like decision-making system based on an error-correction mechanism to improve the overall operational capabilities of the Third Legion group, rather than having everyone cawing like crows when no new version of themselves returned from the future, resulting in a situation where the group's operational capabilities were practically zero.
The members of the Third Legion accepted the decision almost simultaneously. Although their personalities might have changed due to their experience of time travel, they knew that they were essentially one person.
The latest Third Legion's viewpoint aligned with the opinions of all of them. Even if a few members of the Third Legion disagreed, they quickly reversed their views under the restraint of the group, creating a herd effect and giving rise to the illusion that "yes, that's what I think too," thus being incited and persuaded.
This is the drawback of group mentality: even the smartest person, when swept up in a group, is easily manipulated and controlled, becoming a mob.
They lack judgment and are easily misled. When they have a clear, recognized, and well-defined goal, such as helping the Shadow Calamity invade the cemetery or fighting the Black Death Emperor to snatch the first Lantern from the coffin, they can unleash incredibly powerful strength.
But once this clear goal disappears, they get caught up in endless discussions and arguments, and their efficiency suddenly becomes incredibly low. For example, Batman Dragon and The Batman Who Laughs have been bickering and fighting for so long, but apart from acting as cameras on the sidelines, they haven't done anything at all.
However, in an inefficient group, over time, a decisive individual will eventually emerge, and with the help of this individual, the inefficient group will finally achieve a preliminary decision-making mechanism.
While the members of the Third Legion were unifying their thinking and clarifying the rules, the conversation between the First Lantern Knight and the Shadow Calamity continued next door.
"Since being defeated in the main universe, I have been sleeping in the graveyard of the Black Death Emperor. You found me so accurately and precisely, and were able to rescue me by joining forces with your Third Legion... I once created the Third Legion. Your Third Legion is completely different from the ones I created. They are much more powerful, and each of them is close to my former glory."
This is a very high evaluation. During the heyday of Genie I, namely the "Genie I's Wrath" event, Genie I almost single-handedly suppressed the combined forces of the Seven Lanterns. Manipulating timelines and altering reality was like child's play for him. After Sinestro actively embraced Parallax and became Parallax Demon, even though he took out his heart, the opponent still did not fail.
If it weren't for Hal in the main universe piloting the Black Death Emperor like a Gundam...
Thinking of this, the first Lantern Knight took a deep breath.
Who would have thought of that?
The greatest Green Lantern? ×
The greatest Black Lantern hero! √
The Black Death Emperor is all about whoever can bring him death; with a single scythe, he cleaved the weakened First Lantern into a dead man.
This loss is ridiculous.
Even so, Shadow Calamity and his Third Legion members still managed to forcibly pull the First Lantern out of the Black Death Emperor's death domain. Although the Black Death Emperor did not use his full strength, although the Black Death Emperor was distracted, and although there were many external factors, they still managed to put up a real fight against the Black Death Emperor for a short time.
The Black Death Emperor in the Realm of Death and the Black Death Emperor summoned to the material universe are completely different beings. In the Realm of Death, no one can be a match for the Black Death Emperor, let alone snatch him out.
Having faced the Black Death Emperor Gundam piloted by Hal, the first Lantern Knight knew just how terrifying it was, which further illustrated just how dangerous the black-clad hooded man and his so-called "Third Legion" truly were.
Previously, the first Lantern Knight was extremely weak after emerging from the Death Realm and didn't dare to ask these living devils. Now that he has recovered some of his strength, he finally dares to try and figure out who he is facing.
Of course, the first Lantern Man could choose not to figure it out, but being so confused made him feel a chill down his spine, as he didn't even know how he died.
Shadow Calamity knew what the first Lantern was thinking, because he was originally the first Lantern from the future who traveled back to the present through time travel, and no one knew him better than him.
The initial Lantern's apprehension, uncertainty, and fear were as clear to him as the lines on his palm, and he knew how to mitigate these unnecessary suspicions.
"This is unbelievable, he wants to reveal his identity directly to the first Genie."
"Wait, didn't you reveal your identity to the first Lantern Knight during your reincarnation?"
"Of course not. I appeared as a collaborator, and we cooperated very well."
"No, I've reincarnated more times than you. That's what I thought at first too, but I later realized that letting my past self (Shadow Calamity) hide my identity from my past self (First Lantern) would cause my past self (First Lantern) to always be wary of me (Shadow Calamity), which is why we failed."
I originally came back thinking about how to get my past self (Shadow Calamity) to reveal his identity to my original self (First Lantern Knight), but I didn't expect him to have done it already. I think it's great.
"That's not important."
The newly returned member of the Third Legion forcefully interrupted the rest of the Third Legion members, who were about to start arguing about "whether or not to reveal their identities," and then he said:
"Stop arguing! We need to vote immediately on whether to allow the original me (Shadow Calamity) to reveal my identity to the original me (First Lantern)?"
Most people chose to agree.
"The minority must submit to the majority," said the newest member of the Third Legion. "We have made the decision. If this decision is wrong, then our future selves should come back to stop it."
Nothing happened, and not a single future member of the Third Legion returned to stop it.
"Decision approved," said the newest member of the Third Legion.
They made a quick decision, while on the other side, Shadow Calamity also took off his hood in front of the first Lanternman.
"Damn it, you...you are..."
The first Lantern was speechless with astonishment. Then he saw a face exactly like his own, and an emotional spectrum of energy that was nearly identical to his own. All of this was telling him a fact, a fact he didn't really want to believe.
"That's right."
Shadow Calamity said this.
He put the hood back on his head.
"I originally intended to change the future with you as collaborators... but you've become strong enough." He paused, then said, "stronger than I imagined or planned."
He said, "You've recovered very well, or rather, I've recovered very well this time. I think that given your strength, we must have an even higher level of trust, otherwise, when it comes to actually taking action, it could lead to unexpected bad results."
"But...but I don't quite understand, a time traveler shouldn't..."
"Shouldn't we reveal our identity to our past selves? Because that would create the grandfather paradox."
Shadow Calamity said, "Come on, when Barry Allen, the Flash, manipulated timelines, he saw his past self countless times, and what happened to him?"
On the other side of the wall, the members of the Third Army listened silently.
This statement is correct, but not entirely correct.
The grandfather paradox persists, because for the members of the Third Legion, the shadow scourge...
It's just a failed past. For Shadow Calamity, all of this is merely his first "reality" of trying to change history after his defeat. But for the members of the Third Legion...
But it was a past that had already failed many times.
The first Lantern Knight and Shadow Calamity chattered for a while.
But soon, they made a decision that caused quite a stir among all the other members of the Third Army.
"As long as we activate these machines we've created... through the energy of the emotional spectrum, we'll be able to absorb the emotions of all living beings on Earth 1..."
"...Hal is an obstacle on this Earth..."
"It doesn't matter, he's just a Green Lantern from a parallel universe, we can totally..."
The members of the Third Army Corps immediately erupted into another uproar.
"I object! Why should we absorb Earth-1's emotional energy when we've already regained most of our power? While this might make us stronger, it will immediately incur Batman Dragon's immense hostility!"
One of the Third Army members cursed, "Fools! Getting involved with a vengeful superhero fueled by a raging fire for those powers will only make us a sitting duck in the early stages of the war. Our goal is to restore our planet, not to fight Batman Dragon."
Of course, the Third Army did not refute this:
"...As long as we prevent Batman Dragon from finding out about this, we can..."
Do you think it's possible?
The Third Legion member who had objected fell silent; he knew they were all one person, and there was no point in deceiving himself.
They knew what was going on deep down.
"But I still think it's..."
"Stop arguing, let's start the vote. Can we maintain order during the vote?"
The newest member of the Third Legion interrupted the discussion once again, and the order he had previously established came into play at this moment.
The members of the Third Army Corps immediately began voting.
"Do you agree? Or are you secretly trying to stop it?"
Instead of expressing their individual opinions, all legion members made decisions, which were then aggregated and ultimately became the collective will of the entire group.
They reached a conclusion.
Stop the destruction of Earth 1!
A certain plan took effect, a certain change spread from the past to the present, and finally, at the crucial moment...
It provides the most critical impact.
Earth 1, that universe, that weakest parallel universe.
They have the "worst Batman in history," an ordinary Batman who can't use detective skills and accidentally falls from a building, almost killing himself.
They possess the "weakest Superman in history," a weakling who was nearly sucked to death by a parasite and fought the U.S. Army to a standstill.
The entire universe is weak. Apart from their shared rich emotions, this universe is unremarkable and has nothing great about it.
Even these superheroes are quite inadequate as "immune cells" in the multiverse...
Seriously, when have you ever seen the heroes of Earth 1 during a multiverse event?
They are nothing but dust in a grand context... To the future, what they destroyed is now the already established "past".
In a war of diverse convergence, the life or death of such a small, isolated universe may be like a fish stranded on the shore, unnoticed by anyone.
But my friend, you know, the universe cares.
All the people in this universe, those countless beings like dust...
They care.
I care.
(Note: Chapter 592 mentioned that the first Lantern Knight had a plan to absorb the emotions of all living beings on Earth 1.)
(End of this chapter)