On Oa, the Guardians of the Universe once again assembled. Through the Green Lantern Central Power Battery, they could clearly sense the light of will from individual Lanterns rapidly extinguishing.
At this moment, they understood that this operation had failed, and that the Green Lanterns who had been sent out might all perish.
However, they did not mobilize more Green Lanterns to provide support.
To put it bluntly, the Green Lantern Corps, in their eyes, was merely a consumable. As long as there were intelligent life forms in the universe, the Corps would be continuously replenished.
Even the green lantern rings, which were comparable to divine artifacts, could be easily manufactured in large quantities if they wished.
What truly concerned them was that their authority as Guardians of the Universe was once again being challenged.
"Of three hundred green lantern rings, two hundred and ninety-eight have completely lost contact, presumably utterly destroyed. The strength of those Kryptonians has exceeded our estimates."
"From the results, it seems they already knew about kryptonite, their fatal weakness, and have found a way to overcome it."
"What should we do next? Allow them to expand unchecked in Sector 2184?"
"Although the universe's order of justice cannot be challenged, the current situation is not suitable for continued military suppression. Perhaps we can, like Okarro, exclude New Krypton from our protected sectors."
The Okarro the Guardians spoke of was located in the Vega system. On this planet, there was only one life form, whose name was Larfleeze, and he was also the Orange Lantern Lord, representing avarice.
To monopolize the Orange Lantern energy, he killed all other life on the planet and turned them into Lantern slaves for his own use.
Initially, the Guardians once fought a great battle with Larfleeze, bringing their Manhunters, but suffered a crushing defeat.
Ultimately, the Guardians compromised, deciding to exclude Okarro from the universe sectors they protected, handing it entirely over to Larfleeze's rule.
They even promised to ensure that no other cosmic forces would trouble Larfleeze, and their only demand was that he not leave Okarro.
And such things had happened more than once. At the beginning of the Green Lantern's creation, a Green Lantern even tried to implement the Guardians' order of justice on Apokolips.
As soon as he showed his face, Darkseid casually struck him down, leaving him half-dead, and he barely made it back to Oa.
After his exaggerated report, the Guardians immediately began conscripting throughout the universe, finally taking 3600 Green Lanterns to liberate Apokolips.
The result, as one might expect, was a field of Green Lantern corpses, followed by another humiliating pact with the dark tyrant, ensuring that the Green Lantern Corps would never again interfere with Darkseid's rule over Apokolips.
Facing the same situation again, even with their emotions stripped away, the Guardians felt incredibly stifled.
Then, one of the Guardians suddenly spoke in a deep voice:
"Darkseid was once defeated in Sector 2814 a long time ago. Can we perhaps find a way to stir up conflict between him and New Krypton, ideally letting them fight to a mutual destruction? At that time, we could even gather all our forces and eliminate both of these forces that disrupt the universe's order of justice in one fell swoop."
"This plan can be attempted. We recently received news that a monster ran rampant on Apokolips, causing widespread slaughter and destruction, giving the dark tyrant quite a bit of trouble, and that monster originated from the former Krypton."
Subsequently, the Guardians began discussing how to ignite the conflict between Darkseid and New Krypton… On New Krypton, after a period of painful catharsis, Martian Manhunter finally calmed down.
He never expected that the fatal weakness that indirectly led to the demise of his people was actually a mental suggestion set by the Guardians of the Universe.
So he bowed deeply to Zod with genuine sincerity, full of gratitude, saying, "Mr. Zod, thank you for telling me this truth."
Although he didn't know how Zod knew these ancient secrets, Zod telling him and helping him eliminate his fatal weakness of pyrophobia was an immense kindness!
At the same time, a hint of resentment towards the Guardians of the Universe also arose in his heart.
Regarding their division of the 'Burners' into two races, them and the White Martians, Jonn felt nothing amiss.
Ultimately, what the Guardians did could be considered protecting cosmic peace, and it could be understood.
However, they should not have burdened the Martians with the curse of pyrophobia for generations, which indirectly caused him to lose his family and other kin.
Zod also saw the emotions in his heart, and merely sighed, saying, "Alas! It's nothing. This matter should have been told to you a long time ago, but there was never a suitable opportunity, which is why it has been delayed until now. It's good that you don't mind!"
"No, I only have gratitude for Mr. Zod. When Mr. Zod sets foot on Oa in the future, I hope to accompany him and seek an explanation from them."
"You are most welcome!"
At this moment, Zod suddenly thought of something and felt he should inform him.
So he said, "By the way, Jonn, there's something I might need to discuss with you. It concerns the mysterious altar within your race's sacred land."
"Please speak, Mr. Zod."
Then Zod told him about the special effects of the tree of life and the true purpose of the altar.
"So it actually has such power; no wonder I could feel that strange psychic energy it emitted even on Earth."
"If Malefic had received the blessing of the tree of life at birth, perhaps he wouldn't have turned out that way."
Martian Manhunter was first astonished to hear that the tree of life could bestow psychic abilities upon those who touched it, but then he also remembered his own younger brother.
A large part of the reason he became twisted and extreme was that he never awakened psychic abilities as a child, leading to isolation and ridicule from other members of his race.
Then he shook his head, casting these thoughts from his mind, and said very straightforwardly:
"Mr. Zod, if the sacred land is useful to Krypton, please use it as you wish. It no longer holds much significance for me!"
Having received Martian Manhunter's approval, the other Kryptonians were also filled with excitement.
Psychic abilities, while not significantly improving their combat capabilities in the short term, were extremely practical.
As everyone felt excited, Fiora suddenly asked, "General, what should we do next? Will those Green Lanterns come again? What preparations do we need to make?"
"No need to worry. Based on my understanding of those fellows, while they won't give up, they probably won't launch another large-scale invasion for a while."
"Now, the only thing you need to do is to quickly establish the prototype of New Krypton and continuously improve your own strength."
"I can tell you clearly that I could have single-handedly annihilated the previous Green Lantern Corps, but I didn't. That's because I hope you all can grow and become true companions on my path forward in the future."
Hearing Zod's words, all the Kryptonians also recalled the immense power Zod had displayed with a mere gesture earlier.
Then, thinking of Zod's words about being companions on his future path, everyone was immediately filled with boundless motivation.
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