Bab 333: Encounter
As soon as the green light appeared, the darkness shattered like fragile glass, and the twisted shadows vanished. The screen view spun and steadied, showing Green Lantern and Deadpool back inside the spaceship, surrounded by cold metal walls and dim, flickering lights.
Deadpool shook off the disorientation first, brushing imaginary dust from his shoulder as he laughed. "Ha! Some wannabe demon thought he could mess with the bravest, boldest, greatest Green Lantern in history?" he said, practically cheering for his teammate. "What a joke! There's nothing that can faze the mighty Green Lantern!"
For a moment, he was lost in his own chatter, throwing compliments at Green Lantern like confetti, almost as if he was cheering him on for a victory lap. Then he paused, leaned closer to the screen, and muttered to Charlie in a mock whisper, "But let me tell you a secret, player—it's actually more fun not being Green Lantern. I mean, sure, the Green Lantern looks cool and all, but it's not like he's winning any popularity awards without a box office hit."
Charlie knew Deadpool was mocking the Green Lantern movie for its lack of success, so he ignored it and focused on the mission at hand. He switched to Green Lantern's perspective, guiding him to interact with the strange statue still hovering nearby. Green Lantern raised his right fist, and a sphere of green light surrounded the object, lifting it gently into the air. The statue seemed to pulse faintly, reacting to the ring's energy. The light from the ring began scanning the statue from top to bottom, and soon, the statue's eerie glow faded, as if its energy was weakening.
Charlie took a closer look, realizing that this small statue had likely been the cause of the crew's downfall. It was clear that they had traveled to a far-off planet just to retrieve this artifact. The fact that they clung to it, even as they faced danger and madness, suggested it must be valuable—or at least highly dangerous.
The strange infection reminded Charlie of some rare artifacts he'd heard about on Earth—objects so infected with dark energy that they could alter a person's mind just by being nearby. Although he knew bringing something like this back to Earth was impossible, he considered the possibility of studying it. Understanding this statue might give him valuable clues on how to deal with similar threats in the future.
Seeing Charlie's hesitation, Friday, his AI companion, chimed in. "Sir, if you believe the statue is valuable, why not store it safely? With time, you could study it in one of our research labs. It might even help us understand more about these sources of infection."
Charlie thought about it and nodded. "Not a bad idea. But this thing might give off some kind of dangerous radiation. Judging from the way it affected the crew, this statue could be serious trouble."
Friday was quick to respond. "We could store it within the subspace in the Green Lantern's ring. That way, there'd be no risk of radiation leaking out, and no one could even detect it."
Charlie was surprised. "Wait, the ring can do that?"
Friday smiled. "Of course, sir. Didn't you read the hero's manual? How else did you think Green Lantern charges his ring?"
Friday brought up one of Green Lantern's abilities on the screen, showing Charlie the details. He realized that Green Lantern's ring had a subspace storage ability. If the ring was like a smartphone, then the lantern was like its charger. Carrying around a big lantern wasn't always practical, so the ring had a tiny pocket of subspace, just big enough for Green Lantern to store his lantern. Although it wasn't meant for carrying large items, the small statue would fit inside perfectly.
Charlie remembered that in the game, each Green Lantern still had to recharge their rings at Oa, the Green Lantern Corps' home planet, every so often. The ring could only hold so much energy, so the lantern allowed it to recharge on the go. Green Lantern had a "return" feature like his other characters, meaning he could always return to Oa for a recharge if needed.
In the game, pressing the "return" button triggered a cutscene where Green Lantern would leave Earth, soar through space, and land on Oa. The Green Lantern Corps' headquarters was enormous, with a power supply room, a training ground, and countless NPCs (non-playable characters) representing other Green Lanterns. The NPCs mostly just flew around in the background, busy with their own tasks. Only a few famous characters from the comics could talk to him, though their dialogue was limited. For now, Oa served mainly as a place to recharge Green Lantern's ring.
Charlie wasn't too concerned about the risks of taking the statue. The beauty of playing a game character was that he could explore fearlessly. He could roam the universe, complete missions, and, if anything went wrong, he'd simply respawn and try again. Unlike the investigators in ancient stories, who went insane or died from facing eldritch horrors, Charlie's character was backed by a game save, letting him face these horrors without consequence.
With the crew gone, the spaceship continued on its course, drifting toward a massive star gate that floated ahead like a shimmering doorway. Just as the last crew member had succumbed to the curse, the ship approached the star gate, and with a rumble of energy, the vessel surged forward, passing through the portal to enter a new star field.
"Life detected nearby," Friday reported as Green Lantern's ring scanned the area, identifying a glowing red planet just a short distance away. Since there were no other planets around, Charlie guessed this must be Krafal, his next destination.
The spaceship, now drifting off course, headed into the depths of space. With no one left to steer, it was slowly veering away from the star gate. But now that Charlie had spotted his target, he no longer needed the ship. Switching control to Green Lantern, he guided him to leave the ship, a stream of green light trailing behind him as he flew toward Krafal like a bright, fast comet.
Green Lantern quickly broke through the planet's atmosphere. Charlie had expected some resistance—security, radars, maybe even defenses that might try to stop intruders. But as Green Lantern descended, he didn't encounter any obstacles at all.
Charlie remembered the story he'd heard from the crew, about how technology was restricted in the star realm. That would explain why there were no radars or detection systems here. It was as if the entire planet had no idea an outsider was even approaching. The lack of security was almost surreal; this place had no border defenses whatsoever.
Once he broke through the clouds, the ring's scans revealed a large, sprawling city nearby, situated on the edge of a high cliff. Green Lantern soared closer, and as he did, the city's strange architecture came into view.
The buildings were unlike anything he'd ever seen. They were mostly spherical, large and small orbs stacked at different heights, arranged with bright colors that created a patchwork of shadows below. It almost looked like a city covered by giant, floating bubbles, with the streets hidden beneath a web of colorful, overlapping spheres.
At first, Charlie thought the city looked strange, but the more he looked, the more he found it interesting. Even Earth had a variety of architectural styles, so it made sense that alien civilizations would have their own unique designs. What was strange to him might be perfectly normal to the people of Krafal.
Green Lantern was about to search for a discreet place to land when Charlie realized it wasn't necessary. Just as the planet lacked border security, it seemed the city had no guards or watchful eyes either. Green Lantern floated down in plain view, and no one paid him any mind. The people here simply went about their business, oblivious to his arrival.
He finally landed in a quiet corner of the city, his green glow fading as he took a closer look at his surroundings. Just as he was about to explore further, he heard a loud noise in the distance. The sound echoed through the streets, loud and chaotic, like a fight was breaking out nearby.
Green Lantern turned in the direction of the noise, wondering if this was the start of a new challenge—or maybe just the beginning of a strange, alien encounter.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone