American Comics: Today's Big News

Chapter 57 Relics in a Dream

The trees on both sides rushed past, and the undulating hills made "Catwoman" Selena in his arms bounce up and down.

This time, Connors didn't choose to take the highway to the Metropolitan Museum of Art; instead, he opted for a straight route.

Thick smoke rising from the horse's back obscured the view outside, and alongside the black smoke was a lightly armored vehicle.

But the off-road version of the Batmobile has huge rear wheels.

He raced horses/carts with Mr. Wayne, and incidentally, without any third party interfering, he experienced a thrilling ride with "Catwoman" Selena.

The reward for watching the drama last night was very mediocre; in Connors's opinion, it was practically worthless.

[Today's Gossip: The Monster in the Nursery Rhyme]

[Reward for watching the drama: A relic from a dream]

[Dream Relics: While remaining conscious, it is possible to bring objects from dreams into reality]

The reward seems good, but it's just a gimmick because Connors has excellent sleep quality and hardly dreams.

Leaving aside the details, Connors was very satisfied with both the black smoke and Catwoman's performances. However, upon arriving in Metropolis, Batman immediately jumped out of the car:

"Three hundred million."

Even as a wealthy man and a man of almost every skill, Mr. Wayne had to admit that he had misjudged the situation last night.

The warhorse, billowing black smoke, was so fast that even his custom-made Batmobile, known for its speed, couldn't keep up with it, as evidenced by Connors's upright posture rather than slouching.

However, he was unaware that the speed at which he was traversing mountains and valleys was far from the limit of the black smoke, and Connors was deliberately slowing down while brandishing his spear on horseback.

"Not for sale. Stop eyeing my horse." Connors refused without hesitation.

Lord Wayne moved his lips, wanting to try to raise the price further, but a violent shock suddenly erupted in the distant city.

The already battered Metropolis could not withstand any further destruction. Connors and Batman exchanged a glance; one was thinking about the trouble that had just begun upon their arrival, while the other was anxious to get to the scene and prevent any further damage.

Batman drove off first towards the direction of the impact, while Connors drew his gun first before following.

There were hardly any people in sight along the way, and as the horse's hooves rose and fell, the tall buildings on both sides gradually changed their style.

When Connors arrived, "Superman" Clark, "The Flash" Barry, "Batman" Wayne, and a handsome young man with brown hair wearing a strange black and green suit were standing there.

The young man had a symbol on his chest that resembled an oil lamp, and he also wore a ring with the same symbol on his finger.

"Hal Jordan?" Connors dismounted, and "Catwoman" Selena also leaped down, while the black smoke disappeared.

The overly obvious logo made Connors recognize "Green Lantern" from a distance, but since the title of Green Lantern has been held by many people in the comics, he was not sure.

"You know me?" Green Lantern's response confirmed Connors's guess: he was Hal Jordan.

"The biggest green light ever, of course I know you," Connors said with a smile. "Connors Patterson, you can call me Connors."

Everyone seems to recognize this guy – Batman stands to the side, bending down to help “The Flash” Barry, who has fallen to the ground.

"What happened?" Batman asked Barry, the only person he knew.

"Ask him, if he has such great strength, why didn't he come to Metropolis yesterday?" Barry's voice was nasal. "I only found out from the news today that more than two hundred people died yesterday. I've been trying my best to save people, so why are so many still dying?"

No wonder "The Flash" Barry didn't come to fight the Kryptonians right away yesterday; it turns out he had already done it once before Zatanna rescued them—maybe more than once.

Connors nodded silently, refraining from making a witty remark at this moment.

"Friend, my protection extends beyond Earth. There are other places in the universe that need help. I'm sorry for what happened yesterday; it was my dereliction of duty," Hal said in a low voice.

"Barry, if it weren't for you yesterday, the number of casualties would probably have been several times higher. You've saved countless families, so there's no need to blame yourself like this." Batman's tone was unusually gentle at this moment.

After listening to the conversation between "The Flash" Barry and "Green Lantern" Hal, and looking at the shattered glass of the buildings around him caused by the impact, Connors already understood the gist of it.

Like "Superman" Clark, Barry is also a kind-hearted big boy who takes responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of people.

When he learned that "Green Lantern" Hal possessed immense power, he couldn't help but vent his emotions on Hal.

This triggered the impact just now.

As for whether Hal has just returned from space, we'll have to ask him to find out.

"No planet is as teeming with monsters as Earth. It seems my decision to venture into the depths of space was somewhat reckless. I should have focused on Earth instead," Hal said, looking at the surrounding buildings.

He doesn't blame "The Flash" Barry; the other man's only goal was to save more lives.

"Instead of talking about this now, let's look around first," Connors interrupted their conversation.

"Athena's Vision" had alerted Connors to something amiss on the way here, and now that he had spoken up to remind them, the others also frowned and looked around.

"Let me scan it," Hal said, perhaps out of guilt for arriving a day late.

As the green light ring glowed, Hal closed his eyes, and everyone else turned their attention to this guy whom no one recognized except Connors.

Cold sweat visibly beaded on Hal's face, and with a scream, Hal collapsed to his knees. "Superman" Clark quickly helped him up.

"What did you see?"

"The Flash" Barry also stepped forward to help Hal up. He also felt somewhat guilty for having vented his self-blame on Hal for not being strong enough to save more people earlier.

"Dude, are you okay?"

Hal, panting heavily, nodded to "The Flash" Barry to indicate that he was alright.

"My electromagnetic scan seems to be malfunctioning - I saw explosions, destruction, and apocalypse, which shouldn't have appeared in the scan results."

"It felt like I was in close proximity to a nuclear explosion without any protection."

The military was utterly thrashed yesterday, but nothing like dropping a nuclear bomb on Metropolis has happened yet. Connors looked at "Green Lantern" Hal with some confusion.

"Something seems to have changed in this city. Everyone, split up and investigate." Bruce Wayne's face, hidden behind a mask, revealed no emotion.

If you improve your relationship with Hal Jordan, you can enter his memories and witness the drama. What kind of reward would you get for a battle of cosmic scale?

With this in mind, Connors resuming his Black Smoke Warhorse and pulling "Catwoman" Selena onto it:

"Hal, let's go together."

"Including me, the four of us are enough to handle anything that happens." Barry wanted to take this opportunity to apologize to Hal properly.

One can fly, one can run fast, and two can ride horses.

They sped around half the city before finally stopping on a street corner.

"Something's wrong with this city," Hal said.

On a vintage car parked by the roadside, a man in an old-fashioned suit is picking up a woman in a classic dress.

"The Flash" Barry looked at them and nodded:

"Something's really wrong. Dude, I'm so sorry about what happened earlier. Let me introduce myself, my name is Barry."

His title is The Flash, the fastest man on Earth.

His tone was quite sincere.

"Hal Jordan, a member of the Green Lantern Corps, you can just call me Green Lantern." Hal didn't seem to care about what had just happened.

Connors, who remained silent, sat atop his tall horse, lost in thought as he watched an ice cream truck approach in the distance.

The driver kept his eyes on them the whole time, even as the car passed by and drove away, his head was always turned toward them.

"I haven't seen an ice cream truck like that since I grew up," Hal said in bewilderment.

"Could it be that we've been transported to the past?" Barry chimed in.

Connors slapped his forehead, as if he knew what was going to happen next.

The black smoke billowed and scurried along, finally stopping in front of a music store amidst the puzzled looks of Hal and Barry.

There was a car parked there, shaped like a flute, and just as Connors arrived, the glass door of the music store was smashed, and a man with orange hair and a pink suit ran out, carrying a violin.

Connors was just there to watch the show, so naturally he wouldn't intervene. However, the righteous "Green Lantern," Hal, flew into the air and lifted the guy, car and all, up from the vehicle as he was about to escape.

"Don't run so fast."

The guy in the car who stole the violin glanced at Hal and paused for a moment:

"You can't fool me even if you disguise yourself, Green Guardian!"