The days of being a spiritual mentor in Meiman.

Chapter 4424 Dark Prelude (Nine)
After some questioning and investigation, an officer approached Barry, saluted him, and said, "I'm sorry, sir, I have some bad news."

“What?” Barry asked.

“These two cunning Martians may have damaged your parents’ graves. When we went there to investigate, we found that the coffins had been opened and the graves were empty.”

"What?!?!" Barry nearly jumped up. "How could this happen?!" he exclaimed.

“We suspect that they did this to find an excuse for their infiltration. To fake a resurrection, they had to fake the scene of the resurrection. That’s why they dug up the grave, removed your parents’ original remains, and pretended that they crawled out of the grave. This would be more convincing.”

"My God!" Barry exclaimed in disbelief, "Where did they put my parents' bodies?!"

“We’re still investigating,” the officer said. “This could be the first live Martian we’ve captured. The higher-ups want to hand them over to the Federation for expert research. But the president…”

“We’ll take responsibility for explaining,” Hal said, “but you’d better be really professional. The president might be very angry if you can’t give us an explanation.”

“Don’t worry,” the officer said. “We’ve been investigating spies for so long without any results. Now that we’ve finally caught one alive, we’d like to make a name for ourselves.”

After the two left the police station, Barry sighed and said, "I have to go to the cemetery, at least to restore my parents' graves first."

“I’ll go with you; the green light energy will come in handy,” Hal nodded and said.

The two went to the cemetery where Barry's parents were buried and found that the grave had indeed been dug up. Hal walked around the area a few times and then said, "It looks pretty real, like it really crawled out of the grave. This is unbelievable."

He was actually referring to the fact that they both knew there were no Martians. So these two might really have risen from the grave, but Barry didn't believe they were the original people, so he could only treat them as monsters for now.

"Do you think I'm a monster?" Hal asked.

Do you want to hear the truth?

"Of course, I'm mentally prepared."

Barry said, unusually seriously, "'Resurrection' is Pandora's box. Humanity absolutely does not have the ability to open it now. Anyone who tries to do so, or has already done so, will surely be punished."

“Then you’re right,” Hal sighed. “I’m getting my comeuppance now, half-dead, half-alive, in agonizing pain. But it was a temporary measure; if I hadn’t come back to life, the outcome of the war would have been uncertain. But it was ultimately a mistake; perhaps I should have ended it?”

“But the problem is, you can’t end it. You don’t think the problem will end as soon as you die, do you?” Barry shook his head. “It’s definitely not that simple. You can’t die until you figure out how you were resurrected and why the resurrection wasn’t completely successful. Otherwise…”

"But you just said that resurrection is a realm beyond human reach. Why are you researching it now?"

Barry closed his eyes briefly, then said, "I don't know if I've told you before, but the Speed ​​Force can travel through time, and the power of time is the power of cause and effect. The connections between events on each timeline are a manifestation of a predetermined cosmic rule."

"If someone who shouldn't be alive lives, the entire future will be altered. Even if he dies later, the future won't revert to its original course; it will become a different future altogether. There's no question of correcting a mistake."

"So even if I know they aren't my parents, and I know they shouldn't be alive, I can't kill them, because that won't make the future the same. You can't compare the future of killing them after they're resurrected, or letting them live on after they're resurrected. Maybe dying would be worse, so you still can't die."

Hal was a little confused, but he roughly understood what Barry meant. Basically, if he had died at Steppenwolf's hands that day, it would have been the worst possible outcome. If he had survived, it would have been a better one.

If he were to commit suicide again now, intending to correct his mistakes, he might be unable to do certain things that are needed for him in the future, leading to another bad ending. However, if he continues to live, the outcome might be better.

In short, the future changed from the moment he was resurrected. So perhaps it would be better for him to live than to die, so it's better for him not to die.

Barry wasn't being hypocritical. Although he was terrified and angry, he didn't actually do anything to the two men. He initially just wanted to get rid of them; it was the other party who cried wolf and called the police, leading to the current situation. They only had themselves to blame.

Back at base, Hal comforted Barry for quite a while. Just then, Arthur returned, and Hal asked, "How's the situation in Atlantis?"

"It's alright. We lost some men in the last battle, but we managed to get our hands on some Parademon corpses. The scientists are working hard to study them, and maybe we can find something useful."

Arthur sat down on the sofa. Seeing Barry, he asked with some confusion, "What's wrong? You look a little unhappy."

Hal, who was just looking for someone to criticize, immediately recounted what had just happened to Arthur. Arthur was shocked and said, "Resurrected out of thin air? That's really strange. Do they have your parents' memories?"

“It seems so,” Barry said somewhat dejectedly, “even my parents’ habitual little gestures are the same.”

“No,” Arthur said, “these things are easy to imitate, even the feeling of being unaware can be acted out. But there is a way to make them completely exposed.”

"what?"

“Mind search,” Arthur said. “Ron is a very skilled mind reader. He can read not only superficial thoughts and deep memories, but also things that are deliberately sealed away. If you want to know the origins of these two people, you can’t go wrong by asking him to conduct the search.”

Hal and Barry exchanged a glance; they both thought the plan was feasible. The fake parents couldn't possibly be completely unaware. Even if they weren't consciously aware, they might have been subconsciously influenced, and these things could be investigated.

Arthur immediately took out his phone to call Ron, but found there was no signal. He said, "Ron should be on Mars, let's go find him."

The three of them arrived at the Mars spaceship together, but Ron wasn't on board. Arthur had no choice but to call Bruce, and upon learning that Ron had gone to the east side of the city, Arthur frowned.

They had all heard that Rong En's home was in the east of the city. Rong En avoided the topic at all costs. They rarely mentioned it either, afraid of stirring up painful memories for him. Why would Rong En choose to go there?

Sensing something was amiss, the three became more vigilant and hurried towards the east side of Mars City. They searched for a long time, with Barry using his Speed ​​Force to run through the entire eastern part of the city, and finally found Ron's house.

When they pushed the door open, they saw Ron sitting alone on the sofa. Arthur called out cautiously, "Ron?"

Ron seemed to have just woken up, turning to look at them. But Arthur saw a hint of panic on his face, as if he had been caught doing something wrong.

"What's wrong, Ron?" Arthur didn't go in, but just stood outside the door and said, "Have you run into any difficulties? If there's anything wrong, you can tell us, and we can figure something out together."

His stopping seemed to offer Rong En a great deal of comfort. Rong En took a deep breath, wiped his face, and said, "It's nothing, I just..."

Hal seemed to sense something; he glanced upstairs but said nothing. Ron, of course, noticed his movement as well. He sat there hesitating for a long time before saying, "Actually, I might really be in some trouble. It's like this..."

Rong En explained to them why he had appeared in the eastern part of Mars City, a place he had originally avoided at all costs.

This morning, he suddenly sensed a faint mental fluctuation connecting to his mental link. This is a unique connection method among Martians; they typically maintain a network with their loved ones, communicating anytime, anywhere. Connecting with strangers requires their consent.

But this faint mental fluctuation was directly connected, and the frequency was very familiar to Rong En. It was his daughter's brainwave, and the source was in the east of the city.

Rong En couldn't suppress his curiosity, and even though he knew it might be a trap, he went anyway. Then, he met his wife and daughter.

“I still feel like I’m dreaming,” Ron said. “I can’t believe it’s real. I really saw them again and hugged them again.”

"What about them..."

Rong En fell silent. Then, a hint of sadness appeared on his face: "I suppressed their mental energy, which put them into a coma. They're upstairs now."

Arthur was somewhat shocked. He said, "Why did you..."

“Anyone can see this is not normal,” Ron said. “I witnessed their deaths with my own eyes, and there was absolutely no chance of them surviving. Their bodies were burned to ashes in the flames. What’s back now is probably an illusion created by some unknown person.”

He paused for a moment, then continued, "If it were in the past, when I was still living alone on Earth, perhaps I would have been willing to stay here and have a beautiful dream. Before waking up, I would never have taken the initiative to expose them. But not now."

“From the moment I decided to join the Justice League, I had a new responsibility to shoulder. Just like when I swore an oath to become a hunter on Mars. I cannot indulge in any unhealthy emotions, because that could endanger the entire world. So I can only… I can only control them first…”

Clearly, this caused Ron immense pain, yet everyone present couldn't help but feel admiration. Not everyone can remain mindful of their responsibilities in such a situation. Ron's experience was the most tragic among them: witnessing his beloved family members burned to death, listening to their screams through the mental link, yet powerless to do anything, ultimately losing even his home and being forced to wander an alien planet.

In this situation, it would be difficult to maintain even a shred of rationality when facing one's returning family, let alone the fact that Rong En regained his senses so quickly and acted without any hesitation.

Ron is a Martian hunter, essentially a police officer on Mars, and a hero at that, renowned throughout the entire planet. Such a law enforcement officer is selfless, sacrificing his own family for the greater good. Years of professional habits and dedication have instilled in him a constant awareness of his responsibilities, even now.

All I can say is that, regardless of who was behind all this, their scheme had run into Rong En, and they really kicked a hornet's nest.