At Death's Door

Suddenly, a gale surged into the sky and spun wildly, sweeping up the white fog throughout the street and forming a tornado.

"Go to hell...!"

Blood stained Clyde Mardon's lips as he screamed in terror. He had just been blasted more than a hundred meters away and crashed to the ground, badly injuring his internal organs. He was terrified. When the lightning had touched him, he had nearly died. He did not know how it worked, but he knew that Lin Li stood over him as if towering above his head, able to kill him casually. That filled him with panic.

What Lin Li had done had shocked him too deeply. He was terrified. Lin Li seemed even more like a god than he did—a cold, merciless god of thunder standing between heaven and earth, lightning swirling around him as a single pointed finger destroyed him. That image had frightened him, leaving a shadow and profound fear in his heart. Lin Li had shocked every trace of courage out of him with one blast of lightning. It was an overwhelming disparity in intelligence. There was no way to fight. All he wanted now was to run.

Thus, he controlled all the airflow and mist on the street, forming a tornado that charged straight at Lin Li, then turned and fled.

The street became clear—and chaotic.

The tornado's eye swept toward Lin Li, carrying countless shards of glass, yellowed leaves, dirt, and garbage, all mixed into its violent winds.

Electricity churned in Lin Li's right hand. His left hand slid from his right shoulder to his palm, and a bolt of electricity as thick as an arm appeared in his left hand with a piercing crackle, spinning opposite to the tornado and forming a sharp lightning spear.

The lightning spear gleamed silver. The instant it appeared, the air itself seemed to distort.

Lin Li thrust his right hand forward, sending the spinning lightning spear into the tornado's eye.

The opposing rotational forces canceled each other out, and the lightning spear plunged into the eye.

The lightning spear met no resistance. The tornado, which had swept up countless glass shards, leaves, dirt, garbage bins, and even bent the nearby trees, had none of the power he had imagined.

The lightning spear reached the tornado's eye and shot straight through it. The nearly twenty-meter-long tornado was pierced and dispersed in an instant.

Only shards of glass, leaves, and garbage flew everywhere before falling to the ground.

The lightning spear did not vanish after piercing the tornado. Instead, it shot straight toward the fleeing Clyde Mardon.

Only after the lightning spear severed Clyde Mardon's left arm did it sink into the ground and disappear.

The scent of charred flesh rose from his left arm to his nose. As he ran, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

The lightning spear's high-speed rotation had generated an instant burst of heat. When it severed Clyde Mardon's arm, it cauterized the wound immediately. Not a single drop of blood fell.

Clyde Mardon suddenly collapsed to the ground, his mind somewhat muddled. Only when a surge of excruciating pain erupted from his left arm did he stare in disbelief at the severed limb, the pain violently shooting through his brain.

"No..."

He wailed and begged in terror. Pain flooded his mind, and he felt horror. He was afraid. His life was in the hands of the man before him.

"No... don't do this. Let me go, please, let me go!"

Clyde Mardon wept and wailed as he crawled backward across the ground. Fear covered his face. He had been scared out of his wits, terrified beyond measure. He did not want to die. He did not want to die. He begged and pleaded.

That man was like a demon, wreathed in lightning, his face vicious and his eyes glowing silver—a terrifying demon from hell.

Lin Li remained unmoved. Silver veins ran across his face, and his silver eyes looked down at Clyde Mardon without emotion.

Anyone who hurts Barry, anyone who destroys my hope, must be destroyed. For my return home, for my lover—you! All! Deserve! To! Die!

Lin Li extended his right hand again. Lightning gathered densely in his palm as he prepared to form another lightning spear and kill Clyde Mardon outright.

Clyde Mardon was already 160 meters away from him. At that distance, an electric beam would not be enough. Otherwise, he could have killed him with the simplest electric beam. But forming a lightning spear took only a second, so it was no issue.

Suddenly.

The Speed Force in Lin Li's mind began to stir.

This mass of Speed Force had only stirred once before: on the day he awakened, when Barry's life had been in danger.

Now, it churned frantically, filling Lin Li with an ominous feeling.

"Lin Li, Barry has lost too much blood..."

Cisco shouted at Lin Li in shock.

Lin Li immediately dispersed the forming lightning spear. Barry's safety mattered more than anything. Not even a second could be wasted.

He withdrew from that terrifying combat state, retaining only Super-Speed Thinking as he hurried back to Barry's side.

Barry had already gone into shock, twitching unconsciously.

The broken bones in his chest shifted with his involuntary spasms, nearly piercing his internal organs.

The Speed Force in Lin Li's mind continued to churn frantically—and vanish.

Lin Li's heart sank.

According to reality, the Speed Force had been created by Barry. From the moment Barry had been struck by lightning, the Speed Force had come into existence. Only while Barry lived and ran could the Speed Force become more active and continue to be created.

Now, the Speed Force in Lin Li's mind was constantly draining away. This truly showed that Barry's life was hanging by a thread, and the Speed Force was about to disappear as well.

Barry could not die!

Lin Li controlled a small amount of electricity in his hand. He needed to use it to stimulate Barry's cells to divide and restore more of his blood-producing function.

When Lin Li's hand approached Barry's ribs, the Speed Force eagerly flowed out through his fingers.

He entered a state of extreme speed, and everything around him seemed to stop.

This was the Speed Force state, the mode activated by the Speed Force. Super-Speed Thinking made the world appear as though everything had stopped.

It was incomparably powerful, far stronger than Lin Li's Super-Speed Thinking—so powerful that it made the entire world seem frozen.

Lin Li did not study it further. He could feel that the Speed Force would lose its effect soon, so he had to make use of the time it gave him.

Lin Li directly took the broken ribs and reconnected them. The Speed Force seemed to possess a will of its own as it seeped inside, activating the osteoblasts and accelerating the calcification of the new bone matrix.

After reconnecting all the ribs, Lin Li covered Barry's chest with his hand. The Speed Force seeped in again. This time, it activated the hematopoietic stem cells in Barry's body, causing his cells to divide and produce blood to sustain Barry's life.

This was a method that excessively drained the body. It was hard to say how many years of his life Barry might lose, but it was still better than dying now.

In the brief span of two or three seconds, it felt like more than ten minutes had passed.

The Speed Force in Lin Li's mind rapidly dissipated like dying embers, leaving behind only a faint spark that was about to go out.