After repeating this process a few times, there was no more of this peculiar food to be found around. Once Lafritz calmed down, he realized he urgently needed to drink some water.
He felt so numb that he couldn't even feel his tongue.
"Hiss.....hiss.....water..."
He darted between the piles of garbage, eager to get back to his burrow. If he didn't want to drink the polluted water from the lake, he needed to find his treasures.
Like various drinks he had snatched from Earth, and some beverages from other planets.
Some were scavenged, others were stolen.
But now they were all his.
Drinking water and food were stored safely somewhere in the burrow. He quickly returned and opened a safe.
Not knowing what kind of water it was, he just grabbed a green beverage and started drinking, finally feeling like his tongue had appeared in his mouth again.
But at the same time, a burning pain and a raspy throat assaulted him.
No way, he needed to drink more water.
Just as he kept drinking and began to relax, a black shadow suddenly leaped out of a nearby garbage heap, and he couldn't even dodge.
The last sound he heard was.
DUANG!!!
Looking at Lafritz lying on the ground, with half a bottle of alien drink spilling everywhere, Su Ming flexed his shoulder.
A classic bait-and-switch, with an upgraded mousetrap, and Lafritz fell for it.
While Lafritz was wandering outside following the trails of spicy strips, Su Ming snuck into his burrow.
Though the environment here was really bad, and the smell was dreadful, Su Ming endured it for the sake of the world.
He knew that ambushing in a place completely familiar to the opponent, and attacking them while they were disoriented, was truly difficult if he wanted to knock out a Lantern Demon without killing them.
The Orange Lantern and Su Ming had no personal grudges, and there was no harm to the cosmos, and Lafritz, as the leader of the Lantern Group, was very valuable.
If he could avoid killing, he would.
Thanks to the pile of rings on his fingers, Su Ming's speed and strength increased significantly, making him more adept with the frying pan.
But even with all his might, all Lafritz did was hit the ground and pass out, and he would wake up soon enough.
But it was enough, Su Ming bent down and pulled the orange ring off Lafritz's finger.
To be honest, if it were any other color of Lantern Ring, taking it and putting it on like this would cause some issues.
But not with the orange ring. Whoever snatched it owned it, the greedy desires perfectly aligning with the Orange Lantern's requirements, and stealing was one of its expressions.
However, Lafritz didn't seem to have washed his claws for a long time, and the ring was filthy with a strange stench.
Su Ming wrinkled his nose but put it on anyway, then went through the procedure.
"Su Ming from Earth of Sector 2814, your heart's insatiable desires make you belong to the Orange Lantern Corps!"
"Mine, all mine! What's mine is mine! Not yours!"
Yes, these are the Orange Lantern Corps' oaths, simple as that.
Back when facing the Dawn Deceit Lantern, Su Ming attracted the Yellow Lantern Ring, and he knew these rings could touch people's souls, so his real name was probably already in the Book of OA?
But it doesn't matter, all seven-colored rings are on his hand now, and this powerful spectral energy is unprecedented.
In the past DC Universe, this was called the full spectrum; some said it was the 'Life Equation.'
When the Seven Lantern Rings converge, they can transform into a White Lantern; this has precedent, as Kael Renner did it.
Once, Karon, one of the Guardians, also gathered the Seven Lantern Rings, but he was blown up by Hal in the Green Lantern War and did not summon the Power of White Lantern.
It's said that becoming a White Lantern by relying on the Seven Lanterns requires the possessor to 'deeply comprehend' the essence of the seven emotions.
This saying even lacks a quantifiable standard, who knows how deep 'deeply comprehend' must be?
Anyway, Su Ming has now gathered the rainbow crayons, he hasn't turned into a White Lantern, who knows what's missing? Or maybe he misunderstands some of the seven emotions.
But it's okay, this was expected; acquiring the rings with offbeat methods will always have problems, Su Ming never counted on the Seven Lanterns transforming into a White Lantern, he wants the coexistence of the Seven Lanterns and the White Lantern...
Kael, that guy, traded seven rings for one, no matter how you see it, that's a loss. If there's a way to wear them all at once, why trade?
According to Su Ming's intelligence, now the Spirit of Existence resides on Earth, or is itself the aggregation of human consciousness.
And now's the time when it's weak... requiring a bit of incentive from its nemesis, the Black Lantern Energy.
So unlike the White Lantern Hero, Su Ming now looks like he's wearing camouflage, color blocks piled together, and the Lantern Group emblem on his chest, too complex, looks like a ball of yarn.
But beneath the Lantern Group uniform, there's a layer of inner armor formed by Strangulation, and outside the uniform, there's Deathstroke's original Holy Statue Armor, this strange scene is not visible from the outside.
As long as it doesn't hinder movement, the more armor, the better; in ancient Europe, heavy cavalry or heavy infantry would wear chain armor under plate armor.
Now he needs to go to the Light Storage outside the Origin Wall to have a talk with Black Hand and get his Black Lantern Ring.
Previously, Black Hand triggered the Blackest Night, the darkest night in DC World's history, where all the deceased heroes revived to attack the living.
Of course, Black Hand was ultimately defeated by several other Lantern Groups, but as a follower of the Black Death Emperor, he is fundamentally undying.
Later he was resurrected in the Black Death Emperor's Netherworld, the 'Death Territory', and came out again to cause trouble. The Lantern Groups devised a once-and-for-all solution, which was to throw him outside the Origin Wall, letting him be imprisoned in the timeless chaos.
So if Su Ming were to go kill him now, sending him back to the Netherworld, the mafia would probably thank Deathstroke.
Therefore, maybe there's no need to snatch it; just a conversation might get the Black Lantern Ring.
By wearing the Black Lantern Ring and spreading some Black Lantern Energy on Earth, the White Lantern would inevitably have a stress response. At that time, Su Ming would use X Metal to fully contact existing humans on Earth to acquire the White Lantern Ring.
When the Black Lantern, White Lantern, and X Metal are all in hand, it would be equivalent to gaining the usage rights to the concepts of 'Death', 'Life', and 'Creation'.
This is the Light of Creation Su Ming desires...
Su Ming was planning to leave when he suddenly found a few bottles of cola in Lafritz's safe.
"It's been a while since I had some fizzy happiness water... Many thanks for the treat, glug glug glug....."
He politely thanked the unconscious Kobold, took off his helmet, and twisted open a bottle to have a taste.
The taste was quite odd. Su Ming frowned as he looked at the production date, which turned out to be from 1982?
Too strong and not to his liking, maybe take it back for Barry and the others to try. After all, these now all belong to Su Ming, so he can take whatever he wants.
He put his helmet back on, extended his fist toward the safe, and a green shield enveloped the safe like a flask. Su Ming then flew up, towing it along.
Fly for a while with Green Lantern Energy, then switch to Yellow Lantern, and then other colors.
So in the deep cosmic space, his flying light kept changing, like a signal lamp.
The speed of flying with the Lantern Ring is comparable to a cape, so he quickly returned to the Moon, put down the safe, and then flew along the old route, reaching the distant rift of the Origin Wall.
He extinguished the light and had his cloak carry him quietly closer, without bothering to greet the Lantern Group's soldiers, he directly found Hal.
Talking about flying a fighter jet in space?
Using the Lantern Ring like that, how much combat power can you exert? Although one's identity becomes very recognizable.
Among thousands of various Lantern Heroes, just one green F16 flying around.....
Su Ming flew over directly and knocked on the cockpit glass.
"Knock knock knock..."
He could see Hal in the cockpit jerk back suddenly, as if startled.
No way, who told Su Ming to have the orange side of his armor facing the cockpit? With the green light shining, Hal thought it was the Yellow Lantern.
But he quickly calmed down, irritably retracted his manifestation, and communicated with Deathstroke.
He remembered, this was the Otherworld's Deathstroke, who last time handed him over to Sinestro, where he suffered mental abuse on Kovad Star. Hal thought about it and almost wanted to die.
"What brings you here? I'm very busy now." Hal pointed at the battlefield in front, where Giants were beating up the Lantern Heroes and occasionally someone would get killed.
"Things are not great on Earth, we've been invaded by several alien gods, and a fragment of the Origin Wall has fallen to Earth."
Anyway, just say how severe it is, now Earth communications are completely cut off, who can Hal contact to verify?
"I know about the Totality, but alien invasion? What's going on?" Hal's eyes beneath the green visor flashed with seriousness. He's been fighting these Origin Giants in space for God knows how long.
Su Ming roughly explained, and Hal was conflicted too, he wanted to return to Earth, but he was indispensable here.
The reason is all the Lantern Groups here rely on Hal's goodwill to stay united; if he leaves, it would be seen as desertion.
Seeing him so distressed, Su Ming immediately threw out a prepared lie.
"Batman already has a plan, he sent me to fetch some things from outside the Origin Wall. We can handle these invaders and save our world."
Hal frowned: "What's outside the Origin Wall? It's nothing but chaos and Light Storage, are you sure you can come back once you go?"
"Of course, I'm confident, but it must be quick!" Su Ming acted anxiously to urge him.
"I don't know what Batman wants you to get, but those things must be very dangerous, be careful, since it's his plan, I won't ask much."
Hal seemed to think for a while, pinching his chin, but in fact, once he heard it was Batman's plan, he subconsciously stopped thinking.
He asked what Batman's plan was, and Deathstroke replied he didn't know.
That's right, classic Batman style, teammates never know what he's up to.
So Hal cheerfully cleared the way for Su Ming, but he couldn't ensure the safety of the passage, Deathstroke would have to rush out on his own.
Rushing out through a group of Giants dozens of kilometers high, no problem, didn't he just come back like that last time?
These Giant statues actually pose limited threats to small creatures, just flying circles around them can make it hard for them to turn around.
"Your battle is quite tough, have you tried attacking from below?"
Before leaving, Su Ming glanced at the battlefield and offered Hal a piece of tactical advice.
The main attack of these Giants was to shoot beams from their eyes, chasing and sweeping at the Lantern Heroes.
He wondered if when being pursued by the beams, would flying through the legs of a Giant cause it to cut itself in two?
Using the enemy's powerful attack against themselves, isn't this the correct tactic?
As for this kind of positional defense battle... just lining up for a firing squad might be more satisfying.
Anyway, the Tactical Master's advice is here, whether to listen is Hal's own business. Su Ming zipped through the legs of a sequence of Giants and disappeared in an instant.