Hal returned to his apartment. Sitting on the sofa, he felt something was missing. After thinking about it, he realized the expensive bottle of red wine he brought back from the Mars spaceship was gone.
But he didn't think much of it, knowing full well that he wasn't very good with alcohol—whiskey would leave him dizzy after just a sip, and with red wine, he could manage half a glass before it affected him too. When he drank too much, he wouldn't remember anything, so it must have been misplaced after drinking too much yesterday.
Hal recalled there wasn't much left in the bottle, and he didn't intend to indulge in alcohol, so he didn't care about it. He sat down and turned on the TV, watching programs while pondering what Bruce had said to him.
He knew that resurrection wouldn't be simple. Such a defiance of nature would certainly come with a price, but he didn't expect the resurrection to not be completely successful. He hadn't truly come back to life.
Regarding death, Hal's attitude was fairly calm. If he were someone extremely afraid of dying, he wouldn't have been a test pilot. The job had great benefits but was equally dangerous. He was lucky to have survived the last accident; if not for his luck, he might not have had the chance to acquire that mysterious ring or become a superpower user.
Since he's already gained another chance at life, returning it to the God of Death wouldn't be a loss. At least he saved Victor from Savage Wolf; dying wouldn't be in vain.
But Hal was still curious about his current state: If he wasn't fully resurrected, then why was he conscious and able to move?
Hal speculated it might be because his soul was controlling a corpse, not fully merging with it, which might explain the situation. Could there be a solution at Green Lantern Headquarters?
Although Bruce told him to give it some time and he should be able to solve it, Hal wasn't someone who relied on others' hopes. He decided to head to Green Lantern Headquarters to see if other lamp heroes had a solution.
Hal intended to fly directly over but realized he hadn't properly washed after drinking yesterday. So he headed directly to the bathroom to run a bath. The steam from the shower misted the mirror. After showering, Hal soaked in the bathtub.
But as soon as he lifted his arm, he noticed a small bruise on his lower forearm. To be precise, it was a dark red blood clot. He gently touched it but felt no pain, although the muscle in that area was oddly concave.
Hal began checking other parts of his body and found more on his back and calves. He couldn't recall getting hurt. Where did these marks come from?
Suddenly Hal's hair stood on end because he realized: If his current self is a corpse, then could these be livor mortis?
Hal sighed deeply, lost interest in the bath, quickly dried off, dressed, and got ready to head to Green Lantern Headquarters for a solution.
"Hello, is this Victor Stone?" Carol looked out the window with her phone in hand, then said, "We met at the Justice League's Christmas party. I'm Hal Jordan's girlfriend, Carol Ferris. Hal is dealing with some issues; he's not in great shape. I'd like to meet up and talk, if that's okay… Great, I'll send you the address, see you in an hour."
An hour later, Carol parked her car in a parking space and walked into the cafe. Victor, wearing a hood, concealed his semi-mechanized features. Carol approached him and shook his hand, saying, "Hello, Mr. Stone."
"Call me Victor," Victor said, "You mentioned Hal's having issues? What's wrong with him?"
Victor was visibly concerned. He knew during the previous battle against Savage Wolf, if Hal hadn't interrupted several times, he might have already died, and the Mother Box would've fallen into Savage Wolf's hands, threatening the entire Earth. Victor was very grateful to Hal, so upon hearing about his problems, he hurried over.
"Here's the situation: Hal has been wanting to fly again and has been training continuously. During this process, he noticed issues with his body — his strength and stamina aren't what they used to be; additionally, he's experiencing mental flashbacks. After Bruce checked him, he concluded that Hal hadn't fully resurrected."
"He didn't want to put pressure on you, so he's not planning to inform the Justice League members. However, I believe that since you executed the revival procedure, you might have insights into what issue arose. I just wanted to ask if you know any clues."
Victor was taken aback and said, "Not fully resurrected? How's that possible?"
Carol intertwined her hands on the table, slightly gripping, then said, "It's not that I doubt your abilities, but resurrection is a miracle of God; no one can guarantee it won't have issues. Besides, you know Bruce's capabilities, he wouldn't say it lightly."
Victor fell into contemplation and after a while said, "To be honest, this power isn't controlled by me; it's autonomously executed by the Mother Box. There shouldn't be any issue as I'm indeed a successful case."
Carol's eyes slightly widened as she looked at him, saying, "You?"
"Yes. The reason the Mother Box integrated into my body is because my father used it to resurrect me. But saying this, the two of us are different. The Mother Box merged with my body, ensuring my resurrection succeeded; however, it didn't merge with Hal's body, which may be why it wasn't fully successful."
Victor frowned deeply and then said, "But whether this is the reason, I can't be certain; I'm not an expert in this area. If you want to know the specifics, I'm afraid I'll have to ask my father. He's the first person to use the Mother Box to resurrect a human. He knows a lot more about the Mother Box than I do."
"Then I'll count on you," Carol said. "I absolutely don't mean to blame you. I just think that since there's a problem, we should do everything we can to solve it. At least Hal's situation hasn't reached the worst point yet. If we keep delaying, it might not end well."
"Ultimately, it's all Savage Wolf's fault," Victor said. "If that guy called Darkseid dares send anyone here again, I'll definitely give them a hard time."
After leaving the café, Carol picked up her phone to call Hal, only to find there was no signal. She thought for a moment and figured that Hal might have left Earth. So she sat in the car, carefully composed a message after much consideration, and sent it to Hal.
At that moment, Hal was at Green Lantern Headquarters. Earlier, during novice training, that Green Lantern with the little mustache came over, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "You missed our victory feast."
"Victory feast? Celebrating what?"
"We have resealed Parallax," he said. "This is great news; the cosmos will no longer be invaded by fear energy. You are our hero."
Only then did Hal remember that Parallax had been driven from Earth, and several Green Lanterns had chased it down. It seems they had indeed won a battle. But he wasn't concerned about that at all—Parallax seemed like a rookie in front of Savage Wolf.
But that was just Hal's personal feeling. His willpower was so strong that he was almost completely unaffected by fear energy. You should know that the fear energy spread by Parallax had incapacitated half of the Justice League, and Savage Wolf was also affected. If it were anyone else, they might not have been able to drive Parallax from Earth so easily.
"Sir, I actually returned this time for another matter," Hal said. "During the previous battle, I got hurt—in fact, I died once..."
"No rush, let's talk over here." The man led Hal to the hall. At this point, the communication signal was restored, and Hal also received Carol's message.
He glanced at the content of Carol's message and sighed. He knew that Carol had gone to find Victor.
Between him and Carol, he tended to be more considerate of others' emotions, while Carol preferred to address the issue head-on and find a solution. However, Hal didn't expect to keep it from Victor forever; Bruce might still have to find Victor in the end, so asking in advance might not be a bad idea.
Seeing what Carol mentioned about the differences in his and Victor's revival process, Hal's brow furrowed even more. If that were the case, it made some sense: Victor had directly fused with the Mother Box, becoming a half-mechanized being, to successfully resurrect; if it were only energy, it might not guarantee full revival.
Just then, Hal felt a bit dizzy again and supported himself against the wall. The man in front turned back to look at him, assessed him, and then said, "You don't look too well. Come on, let's get you checked out."
The two of them went to a place like a research center. There were all sorts of strange machines that Hal didn't recognize, but they looked very high-tech and were clearly specialized for Green Lanterns—many machines were shrouded in a layer of green light.
Hal became like a doll to be manipulated by others. He did whatever his superior told him to: standing on one machine for a while, inputting energy into another. After a long examination, he heard the man say, "To be honest, something does seem off. There's a problem with the operation of your Green Lantern energy, which might be triggered by an existing issue in your body."
Hal thought for a moment and said, "Do you have any solutions here?"
"Do you remember what I said to you during your novice training?"
Hal recalled. Back then, as a newcomer, he knew nothing about using Green Lantern energy, and it was this officer named Sinestro who became his novice tutor. Under his guidance, Hal had become a qualified Green Lantern.
Sinestro had taught him many combat techniques, so Hal wasn't sure which one he meant. Sinestro came over and said, "Green Lantern energy is an idealistic energy supported by willpower. In other words, belief and imagination are the best foundations for harnessing this ability. First, you must believe—the things you create are real, so that Green Lantern energy can transform into material; second, you must have a rich enough imagination to wield the power with precision."
Hal seemed to understand a bit; he said, "So, I need to get my spirits up. As long as I feel okay, things will be much better?"
"Theoretically, yes. But you know, this doesn't address the underlying issue. I can only tell you that you have some problems, but exactly what they are, we can't determine because we don't really understand the human body. You can use belief to alleviate symptoms, but to be completely healed, you might have to return to your home planet."
Hal nodded and said, "You've been a great help, thank you, sir."