Six hundred miles from the Earth's surface, in the exosphere.
This is also the final boundary between Earth's atmosphere and the boundless universe.
Below the camera lens.
The azure planet, which occupies two-thirds of the entire horizon, is slowly rotating.
The line between dawn and dusk is like a sharp Arclight of light, cutting the clouds in the Northern Hemisphere into dazzling white and another layer of deep black.
Space.
Vacuum, silent, windless.
All that remained was a suffocating vastness and a frigid chill below zero.
at this time.
In the upper right corner of the field of vision, the previously smooth, azure space suddenly and without warning dented into a large area!
"..."
In the silent vacuum, a striking emerald-colored spot of light suddenly appeared.
It crashed through the honeycomb-like subspace barrier with a savage flight, carrying terrifying kinetic energy that was dozens of times greater than the warp energy.
It forcefully entered the induction field of Earth's orbit.
"...!!"
The camera suddenly switched to a macro close-up of another frame.
In the frenzied reverse push.
Sinestro's green and black bodysuit was constantly emitting high-energy green vapor particles.
After traversing countless micro-wormholes and subspace turbulence.
Even the energy fabric of the Green Lantern uniform inevitably suffered scratches and damage.
Fortunately, the Lantern Ring provided almost full energy support.
Sinestro's uniform, through constant repairs and damage, finally broke through the wormhole's limitations and arrived on Earth.
at the same time.
The Green Ring on his middle finger was in a state of familiar, dangerous, overloaded vibration.
High-purity willpower flowed, forming dazzling arcs of electricity around the edge of the ring.
The flickering green light even created visible ripples in the surrounding vacuum.
As for why it's familiar...
It's because his ring and John's ring created a resonance effect.
Therefore... the other party must also know that I'm back.
With that in mind, Sinestro suspended his body in orbit hundreds of kilometers above the North American Continent.
And relying on the radar concealment mechanism of Green Will, it erased its "traces" to avoid being discovered.
However, his dark red, narrow face showed no signs of fatigue from the long journey.
There is only a morbid coldness and hardness.
But for some reason, this coldness... also revealed a rare hint of helplessness.
But just as he was about to suppress his aura and turn his gaze to the thick atmosphere below—
"Buzz!"
The Lantern Ring on his middle finger emitted another piercing buzzing sound...
But remember, sound cannot travel in a vacuum.
This buzzing sound, however, penetrated through the Green Lantern Ring and directly entered Sinestro's mind via the flow of will.
In Oa, this is also called --
[Stream of consciousness protocol overreach]
Immediately afterwards, the camera panned down from an extremely low angle, shooting upwards at Sinestro's face in an extremely subdued manner.
His previously calm yellow eyes suddenly narrowed, and the dark red skin on his neck instantly tensed...
The veins bulged out like earthworms.
[Supreme Command]
This group of self-proclaimed supreme beings, who have eked out a living in the Emerald Tower for billions of years, are the Blue Decays.
The immense collective will was merged into one, transforming into a locating beacon traversing the universe, striking directly into Sinestro's ring.
Soon, a row of Oa text composed of a green screen was projected onto Sinestro's retina.
The thorns glowed eerily in the dark vacuum.
The photo of Sinestro's slightly twitching face made him look like a zombie soaking in green water.
[Abnormal Pulse tracking confirmed]
According to feedback data from the Seventh Sector, the Zod Fleet's initial reconnaissance and probe mission has come to an end.
According to calculations by the Oa mastermind, the defense threshold of the planet's homeland is: 0.
"..."
Upon seeing this line of text, Sinestro's lips twitched slightly.
"Defense threshold of 0? Are you kidding me...?"
He crossed his arms and snorted coldly.
Based on his individual combat strength, he could barely reach the planetary level...
But the Kryptonian who stayed on Earth, playing house with those natives, could easily beat him up.
Moreover, according to his own calculations, the other party has lived on Earth for at least nearly 20 years.
What does this mean?
Back then, those Kryptonian who colonized the entire universe in deep space...
They became extremely troublesome after being exposed to the yellow Starlight of a planet for less than one planetary orbital period.
They mutated.
Each individual member of any Krypton species possesses city-destroying combat power.
Is that an exaggeration?
That's an exaggeration.
So... can Zod and his group really defeat that "native" Kryptonian?
Maybe... but it's difficult.
It's important to know that Kryptonian absorb yellow stellar Spectrum with an exponential increase...
Twenty years of accumulation cannot be resolved by a group of strong individuals fighting together.
Therefore, he chose to remain on the sidelines for the time being... and act accordingly when the time was right.
[ Sinestro, immediately calibrate your descent course]
The Krypton exiled mothership ' Black Zero ' will arrive after three Earth rotation cycles.
[The Legion can allow the Zod to destroy the surface of this Living Planet, and can tolerate the legitimate demise of some carbon-based life forms.]
[But that specimen, a fusion of will and primal fear, must fall intact into Oa's hands.]
[Recover it at all costs.]
silence
A silence that lasted for more than ten seconds.
Sinestro floated expressionlessly in the vacuum of the exosphere.
I watched as the string of green commands gradually faded from view.
The camera circled around Sinestro, beginning an extremely slow 360-degree panning shot.
He compressed the dark, vast space behind him and the "fragile" blue planet beneath his feet into one.
It gave a huge, low-angle close-up.
"Hehe, the sample..."
Sinestro slowly raised his head.
A chilling yellow hue crept into those long, narrow, hawk-like eyes.
"Excessive self-confidence... is sometimes a form of ignorance."
He then raised his right hand, which was adorned with the Lantern Ring, and stared indifferently into the ring, a symbol of pure justice and order, with his two yellow eyes.
But at this very moment.
That green hue, however, was utterly repulsive to him.
"So be it... When I take control of fear, perhaps all of this will be preordained."
at the same time.
6:30 a. m., Kansas.
The rising sun peeked over the horizon at the edge of the plain, bathing the slightly withered wheat field in a languid golden hue.
The morning mist has dissipated.
The wind blew through the barn's peeling, faded mahogany door, making a slight creaking sound.
On the muddy ground in front of the barn, two deep tractor tire tracks stretched into the shadows.
In the soft sunlight, Old Joe, sleeves rolled up, knelt on the muddy ground, revealing his rough arms.
He held a badly worn old brass sleeve in his hand, comparing its dimensions to the drive shaft of an old tractor.
There's nothing we can do; the machine is just too old.
John said yesterday that the gearbox was full of black, smelly sludge... We can't start operating it unless it's cleaned.
"Cough cough..."
However, the old injury on his lower back still made Old Joe cough a few times in the cool morning breeze.
"Tap, tap."
Just then, very light footsteps came from behind Old Joe.
But Old Joe didn't turn around; he just vigorously rubbed the rust off the nut with his dirty thumb.
"Son... you got up quite early today?"
"I just happened to want to go for a walk."
John stepped forward and silently squatted down beside the old man.
A few drops of seawater from an ocean Stormfront still clung to his coarse work trousers.
But under the warm, dry sun of Kansas, all the moisture is silently evaporating and dissipating.
"Alright, Dad."
John responded.
He then stretched out his hands and quickly caught the drive shaft that was about to slip off the base.
Taking advantage of John's influence, Old Joe installed the new brass fitting into the bearing groove.
Then I picked up the box wrench and wrench and clamped the bolt shut.
"Oh, right... Dad."
John looked at the tractor's worn green exterior and said hesitantly:
"I might have to go on a long trip in the next few days."
"A long trip?"
Old Joe's hands stopped moving.
A morning breeze blew through the gaps in the barn's wood, causing the old lantern hanging there to sway slightly and casting flickering shadows on the two men.
How long will you be gone?
The old man's voice was a little hoarse.
John looked at his father's calloused and cracked hands and remained silent for a moment.
[ Insight ]
His gaze, tinged with a deep blue, pierced through the barn roof and into the golden dawn.
Then it landed directly in the seemingly calm, but actually turbulent, deep space above its head.
"About... five days?"