Finding Mardon

Caitlin said, "I've recalibrated STAR Labs' satellite. It'll alert us to any abnormal weather patterns."

"Good!"

Same as the original—a smart move. Lin Li praised it.

Then came several minutes of silence.

"..."

Lin Li broke the silence: "What should we do next?"

"Wait!"

Caitlin said seriously.

"What?"

Cisco asked, puzzled.

Caitlin answered with a helpless expression: "We can only wait for the metahuman to use his powers. That's the only way to track where he is."

"Oh no, I don't want to sit around waiting for Weather Wizard. I'm going to fix the Lightning Suit. That damn Weather Wizard wrecked it."

After grumbling a couple of lines, Cisco left the main control room to head to the medical bay and retrieve the Lightning Suit for repairs.

"Even though I'd like to finish my work too, it's tough without a target. Call me if there's news. I'll grab some Energy Bars and head to the underground training room."

With that, Lin Li also left the main control room.

That left Caitlin and Dr. Wells staring at each other.

Dr. Wells smiled and said, "Caitlin, you go ahead and get busy. I'll keep an eye on things."

So Caitlin went straight to the medical bay to check on Barry.

The Energy Bars were energy bars Cisco made—liquid, about twenty centimeters long, finger-sized, packed with highly conductive nutrients. But the taste was terrible. Every time Lin Li sucked on one, it felt like he was slurping snot, pretty disgusting.

Lin Li's fighting hadn't drained much stamina or electricity; most of it went into using his body to tank damage and protect Cisco and Barry. He'd only fired off six current beams and one lightning spear, plus the energy spent absorbing hits. After eating two or three Energy Bars, he was back to full.

Arriving at the underground training room, he first cleaned up the iron sand that had spilled from the sandbags. That day, he'd demonstrated the current beam in front of Wells, then spent two days studying the Cross-Dimensional Energy Source Detector without coming down to the training room. It wasn't too dirty. After clearing the iron sand and taking down three punctured sandbags, Lin Li sat cross-legged in the open space.

He closed his eyes and sensed that pinpoint of Speed Force starlight. Ever since Barry stabilized, that bit of Speed Force had settled too.

The Speed Force mode he'd once entered fascinated him—the whole world frozen, like everything was fake, all NPCs, and only he was real. That dreamlike "truth" was intoxicating.

It was a power you couldn't give up once you'd touched it. No wonder, in the original TV series, ZOOM and Plunder couldn't let go of the Speed Force—it was just too addictive. A power worth sacrificing your life for, let alone that fake Dr. Wells. How could anyone abandon it?

Lin Li had experienced the Speed Force mode for two or three seconds, but unfortunately, the Speed Force wasn't his. It was more like a loan. The Speed Force in his head wasn't on the same dimension as him; it was always tied to Barry. No matter how he tried to control it, the Speed Force was like a phantom—reach out, and his hand passed through it. Different dimensions.

He wanted to master the Speed Force, to obtain it, to run with it. But it was all futile. The Speed Force didn't give a damn about him.

Lin Li clenched his fists, gritted his teeth, fury burning inside.

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

He wouldn't accept it. He couldn't accept it. The Speed Force was such a broken ability—why was he stuck with lightning control? Both struck by the same bolt of lightning, so why? Why!

If he had the Speed Force, he could travel through timelines, go back to when he first arrived, run back into that vortex, and maybe even return home.

But now he had to wait half a year for Barry. It was torture.

After fuming for a while, Lin Li had no solution. The Speed Force simply wasn't his to command.

His clenched fists slowly relaxed. Settling his mood, he opened his eyes, arcs of electricity flickering within them. He activated Super-Speed Thinking, picked up his tablet, and continued studying all the physics knowledge about black holes and wormholes.

There was more than one way to solve a problem. He couldn't rely entirely on Barry. He had to work hard himself, approach it from every angle, and try everything.

He studied until 7 p.m., but STAR Labs' satellite hadn't detected any abnormal weather, and Joe had no news either.

At 8 p.m., Joe pulled up in his police car to find Lin Li.

"Lin Li, let's go. Mardon has three hideouts. He might be at one of them."

Lin Li briefed Wells and the others, then got into Joe's car.

"Joe, you're way too slow. It's been a whole day, and you're just now finding Mardon's possible hideouts?"

"You should be grateful I managed to dig up a few of his old addresses from a stack of death records about to be shredded."

"Fine."

Joe drove the police car. Their first stop was a messy apartment building with a lot of black residents. In room 3308, they found moldy, stinking leftovers from two or three days ago. That was good news—it proved Mardon had been there a few days ago, but now he was gone. Judging by the state of things, he wasn't coming back. If he were, he'd have returned by now. Besides, Mardon had lost an arm and needed a place to rest.

Joe made a note of the location, told the patrol officers to keep an eye on it, and then headed to the next spot with Lin Li.

The next place was a haunted suburban villa. Aside from the dark, gloomy rooms and the eerie moan of the wind, there was no sign of anyone—not even footprints. Based on Joe's guess, no one had set foot in that villa for at least half a year.

Joe crossed the villa off his notepad, marking it as a location not worth monitoring.

A bit tired, Joe held up his notepad and said, "The last spot is a farm on the west side of town."

Lin Li's eyes lit up. Wasn't this the farm where Mardon holed up in the TV series?

He cursed himself for not asking Joe which three locations earlier. He should've come here first. Instead, they'd taken a long detour and wasted the whole night.

Now, who knew if Mardon would still be there.

When they pulled up to the farm, Lin Li immediately released his Magnetic Field Sense. He detected a human life sign, but unfortunately, when he and Joe went to check, it was just a farmhand living there—a scrawny middle-aged man in his forties.

Joe took out Mardon's portrait and asked, "Do you know this man?"

The farm worker's eyes darted away as he mumbled, "No."

Joe and Lin Li grew suspicious and exchanged a glance.

The farm worker suddenly shoved Joe and bolted.

Lin Li took two steps and kicked him to the ground.

Joe drew his gun and aimed it at him. "Don't move. Stay down. Where's Mardon?"