Chapter 412 Everything Starts from Winter (Part 1) (Patreon)

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Wearing a pilot jacket, a thick scarf, ear warmers, gloves, and boots, Hal walked on the streets of Gotham. He looked at the leafless trees on both sides of the road and let out a sigh.

To be honest, he felt a bit guilty now. Hal was a good person. Although his early life experiences were not smooth, his dream of becoming a test pilot was changed to ground logistics because of his family's opposition. However, he never gave up and was eventually chosen by the Green Lantern ring as a representative of strong will.

After becoming Green Lantern, he tried his best to punish evil and promote good and made every effort to maintain peace. However, shortly after arriving in Gotham, he caused the largest traffic jam in Gotham's history.

The chaos he caused by landing on a traffic light pole was much greater than it seemed. There were hundreds of car accidents at the central roundabout, and because there were too many cars to tow away, the towing company didn't finish their work until nightfall. That same night, the largest blizzard in Gotham's history hit.

With everything underground now covered in ice and the temperature dropping rapidly, the snow lasted for several days and nights before finally stopping last night. This snow disaster made Gotham's traffic situation extremely bad, and the wreckage at the central roundabout has not been cleaned up yet. The entire city's transportation system was almost shut down.

Hal originally wanted to reveal his identity as Green Lantern and use his superpowers to maintain traffic, but looking at the traffic police everywhere carrying rocket launchers and machine guns, he felt that his deterrent power was not enough.

He couldn't figure out this strange city, couldn't understand everything here, and felt that he couldn't fit in. He had planned to leave, but the feeling of guilt had been bothering him, making him hesitate for a long time without leaving.

Until last night, he suddenly received a letter from Schiller. Schiller claimed that they had achieved great success in the battle against the Joker, so he invited several people who participated in the battle to his house as guests.

Thinking of that battle, Hal still felt like he was dreaming. He never thought he would face such a terrifying monster, but after defeating it, he did feel a sense of achievement.

Since it was Schiller's celebration, Hal felt that he could go, after all, he had contributed his efforts.

Hal put his hands in the pockets of his pilot jacket and kicked small stones on the road while walking forward. At this moment, a string of "ding ling ling" sounds came from behind him. With a "whoosh," a newsboy on a bicycle swept past him.

Hal widened his eyes, and the newsboy turned back, smiling and making a face at him. Just as Hal raised his fist to express his anger, a large group of newsboys on bicycles rushed past him.

The snow and dust they stirred up choked Hal, and he waved his hand in front of his face. After walking a few steps forward, he looked up and saw a small mailbox with a wooden sign hanging on it that read "Rodriguez Residence."

Hal walked over and shook the bell on the top. Soon, a well-dressed butler in a suit, white shirt, white gloves, and a bow tie came out. Hal felt a bit awkward and had never enjoyed such aristocratic service before...

Merkel smiled and nodded, opening the gate to the estate for him. As Hal walked into the living room, he saw three people already waiting for him. In addition to Schiller, the other two were Victor and Gordon.

Victor was holding a glass of water and explaining simple physics knowledge to Dick sitting next to him. Schiller was holding Aisha, patting her back to make her release the cane in her mouth.

Harvey saw Aisha's teeth, which were different from ordinary people at first sight. He had indeed been tracking Aisha before, but to avoid being discovered, he kept his distance outside Wayne Manor, and Aisha didn't open her mouth often, so Hal had never seen the shape of her teeth.

These shark-like teeth, even on a little girl, were somewhat terrifying, not to mention that Aisha's teeth were like a wood chipper. With one bite, the cane was broken into two pieces, making a few crisp sounds, and the originally smooth and beautiful solid wood pole turned into wood chips...

"Hey, Aisha, don't do that!" Dick jumped off the sofa to stop her, and Aisha spat out the wood chips in her mouth. Schiller saw Hal come in, stood up, walked up to him and shook his hand, then said, "Hello, how have you been recently?"

"Um... she's doing fine." Hal's attention was focused on Aisha, so his response was a bit perfunctory. Schiller looked at his expression and followed his gaze, turning to look at Aisha, who was tossing and turning on the sofa. He said, "She's a lively little girl, isn't she?"

"Well, that depends on how you define the word 'lively'," Hal replied, somewhat embarrassed.

Schiller smiled and looked at Aisha, saying, "Lively is the opposite of her father. I can't believe Bruce has such a lively and cute daughter."

Hal pursed his lips and said, "We all know that she's not his..."

Just as he said these words, he felt a chill inexplicably run down his back. Hal turned nervously, but saw nothing.

Soon, candles were lit and the lights in the mansion came on. The silver and glass vessels glowed with a halo of light, and there was a clear clinking sound as several glasses were clinked together. The various-colored liquids in the glasses swirled around like churning waves.

"We haven't gathered like this in a while," Gordon said, speaking first. He shifted slightly to make way for the butler pouring drinks, then continued, "Unfortunately, there are several people who couldn't make it for various reasons."

"It's alright, we have a new friend," Schiller said, raising his own glass and gesturing towards Hal. Hal also raised his glass in acknowledgement and took a sip of his drink before introducing himself. "I didn't introduce myself earlier, but you probably already know. I'm Hal, Hal Jordan."

"A famous name, the Jordan from the Bulls is really popular lately," Victor chimed in.

Hal laughed and shook his head, saying, "Just because he's so famous, people keep asking me if we're related. I've never even been to Chicago."

Hal continued, "I used to be a test pilot, but later became a ground crewman. Now I work at an Air Force base in Coast City."

Then, he extended his hand and revealed his green lantern ring, saying, "As you saw before, I'm a Green Lantern of the Green Lantern Corps, also known as the Emerald Knight."

"I've been wanting to ask, what exactly is the Green Lantern Corps?" Gordon asked, with some confusion.

"You can think of it as an organization that maintains peace in space. They divide space into various sectors and send out Green Lanterns to guard these sectors. I'm a Green Lantern of the Earth sector and mainly responsible for protecting Earth's safety."

Hal briefly introduced the history and code of conduct of the Green Lantern Corps to the group. Gordon's furrowed brow gradually relaxed a bit as he listened. "You should know how much trouble you caused in Gotham's central roundabout area. Those gang bosses are still asking me about what the Green Lantern is."

Hal looked a little guilty and turned down the corners of his mouth. He asked, "What did you tell them?"

"Originally, I wanted to tell them that a superhuman being who glows fell on the red and green traffic light pole, causing the accident. But..." Gordon looked at Schiller, who put down his utensils, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and said, "I advised him not to do that. If it were in another city, that explanation might be regarded as a fantastical tale and seen as a ridiculous excuse concocted by the police to shift responsibility."

"But this is Gotham, where people are willing to believe anything. They're all worked up, and if Gordon said that, they'll dig three feet down to find you," Schiller shook his head and looked at Hal, saying, "Believe me, even if you have superpowers, once you get caught up in Gotham's quagmire, you may not even have a chance to escape."

Upon hearing this, Hal felt a chill in the air around him and shivered, picked up his drink and took a sip, feeling slightly warmed by the spicy liquid. He looked at Schiller and raised his glass gratefully, saying, "Thank you, Professor, for understanding. I didn't mean to. I really didn't know the traffic situation in this city..."

"That's okay, I'm also an outsider," Schiller also picked up his glass and took a sip of his drink. He smiled and said, "Although many people didn't realize it, I'm also not used to the traffic here."

"You're only not used to this one thing," Gordon also laughed.

"Speaking of which, what are you going to do with this little girl?" Hal looked at Aisha sitting next to Schiller. The butler had prepared a children's meal full of broccoli and carrots for her, which Aisha accepted without hesitation. However, judging from her expression, she probably preferred raw carrots.

"What do you mean?" Schiller looked at Hal and said, "Bruce Wayne has officially adopted her. Her full name is now Elizabeth Martha Wayne."

"But..." Hal showed a very troubled expression and said, "We all know how she came to be, that monster..."

The first to shake his head was Victor. He looked at Hal and said, "But now, she is no longer that monster. If her Soul is still the same, or if she can still transform into that form, then I do agree that some monitoring is necessary to prevent harm to ordinary people."

"But now that Aisha has become an existence like humans both in Soul and body, she should enjoy the same rights as humans."

"At the same time..." Victor looked at Aisha and said, "It's obvious that she has intelligence and can be taught, no different from human children. If she really causes trouble in society in the future, it would be due to a failure of education."

Schiller was somewhat surprised by Victor's stance and said, "I didn't expect you to be a supporter of postnatal education theory."

"I've said before, my wife and I have taught children before, and in the process, I have come to understand the importance of postnatal education for humans."

Gordon put down his glass, touched his temple and said, "Although I'm also worried that she may cause trouble in the future, but is there really a lack of trouble in Gotham?"

"Fangs, incredible strength, and extreme speed, it sounds pretty intimidating, but in Gotham, there are more terrifying things than that."

Gordon picked up a piece of steak with his fork and put it in his mouth, saying, "Do you remember the riot that happened at the cathedral last time? The people there went crazy for no reason. Later, we had a hard time getting them back to their senses."

"I don't know about that," Victor turned his head and asked Gordon, "Is that the accident that caused serious damage to the Gotham Cathedral? What happened then?"

Gordon sighed and looked at Schiller, who was calmly eating his food, and said, "It all started with something in the Gotham Cathedral's underground area, called the 'Wine Lake'."

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Next Chapter>>Chapter 413: Everything Begins with Winter (Part 3)