Awakening

The farm worker was so terrified that he lay flat on the ground and hurriedly shouted, "Don't shoot! I don't know where Mardon is! I only robbed a convenience store with him once a few years ago. I haven't done anything bad since then..."

Joe grabbed the farm worker by the back of the neck like he was lifting a chick and yanked him to his feet.

His right-hand gun was aimed at the man's head, making him tremble violently.

Joe pulled out handcuffs with his left hand and cuffed the farm worker.

"Anyone who hangs around Mardon is no good. Once we get back to the station, you're finished if you don't tell me where Mardon is."

Joe said sternly.

The farm worker was so frightened he was nearly crying, constantly begging, "Officer, I really don't know where he is. I only robbed that convenience store with him a few years ago, and we haven't been in contact since. I haven't robbed anyone since then. Please let me go..."

Joe ignored him and shoved him straight into the police car.

While Joe was putting the farm worker into the police car, Lin Li took a quick look around the nearby farm warehouse—the same warehouse where Mardon had originally created the tornado.

He made a round of the place but found nothing.

Joe called out to him, "Lin Li, let's go. I'll take this guy back to the station and question him. Maybe we'll get something out of him."

Lin Li thought for a moment, then said to Joe, "Joe, you can't arrest this farm worker yet."

Joe challenged him, "Why not? I'm a cop. It's perfectly normal for me to arrest a robber. You shouldn't interfere with police work."

Lin Li said wisely, "Joe, I'm not interfering with your work. Just think about it carefully. When someone breaks an arm, they look for a doctor. But if that person is someone who can't come out into the open..."

Joe immediately understood, his eyes lighting up as he finished the thought, "Then he'll look for a friend to help him."

Naturally, he would need to find someone who was hard to track down, and this farm fit the bill perfectly.

Joe continued, "When I get back, I'll look into Mardon's connections. This guy is timid and cowardly. I doubt he's done anything truly heinous. If we leave him here, Mardon might come to him for help. Then we can track Mardon down and catch him."

Lin Li nodded and signaled to Joe with his eyes. "Joe, you need to keep him under control and make him tell us willingly."

Joe understood what he meant: threaten him verbally, offer him a carrot and a stick. They would overlook the convenience store robbery, but he had to tell them when Mardon appeared, or he would go to prison.

Joe was very skilled at this sort of thing. Before long, the farm worker was tearfully thanking him with endless gratitude.

They had spent the entire night running around without any results, only setting out bait now, and there was no telling whether any fish would bite.

Joe returned to the police station to investigate Mardon. He also checked the farm worker's records and found that he had indeed committed no crimes in recent years, which put him at ease. Nearly nine months had passed, and Joe only remembered that Mardon had a brother. He had not paid much attention to anything else, so he needed to go through the files. Back then, Barry had found the clue in just a few moves and located Mardon's hideout that very night, without looking into Mardon's other connections. As a result, Joe did not remember Mardon's accomplices very clearly. It was also during that case that his partner had died and Mardon's plane had exploded.

It was already past midnight when Lin Li returned to STAR Labs. As usual, he used his senses to check for anything unusual. Finding nothing, he showered, brushed his teeth, and went to sleep.

He got up at six in the morning, brushed his teeth and washed his face, then went to the surgical ward to check on Barry. Because of Barry's condition, someone needed to stay overnight at STAR Labs in case anything happened. Caitlin had taken the shift last night. She was not far from Barry, slumped over the desk with a trail of drool flowing from her mouth.

Caitlin looked adorable like that, but unfortunately, the one seeing her was Lin Li. He was in no mood to appreciate beauty. He took a coat and draped it over Caitlin, then left without another glance.

As for Barry, there was no need to examine him too closely. He was doing well, his wounds had healed, and the stitches could practically be removed already. Caitlin would probably remove them once she woke up.

He took his tablet and headed straight for the underground training room.

He needed to constantly absorb knowledge and learn everything—both science and things beyond science.

He carried his tablet everywhere now. Whenever he had free time, he would take it out and memorize all kinds of knowledge.

There was far too much he needed to learn: classical mechanics and theoretical mechanics, which studied the fundamental laws of mechanical motion; electromagnetism and electrodynamics, which studied electromagnetic phenomena, the laws of electromagnetic motion in matter, electromagnetic radiation, and more; thermodynamics and statistical physics, which studied the statistical laws of thermal motion in matter and their macroscopic manifestations; relativity and spacetime physics, which studied the effects of high-speed motion, the relevant laws of dynamics, and the laws of spacetime relativity; quantum mechanics, which studied microscopic phenomena of matter in motion and their fundamental laws. In addition, there were particle physics, nuclear physics, atomic and molecular physics, solid-state physics, condensed matter physics, laser physics, plasma physics, geophysics, astrophysics, acoustics, electromagnetism, optics, radio physics, thermal physics, quantum field theory, low-temperature physics, semiconductor physics, magnetism, liquid crystals, medical physics, nonlinear physics, computational physics, theoretical mechanics, electrodynamics, thermodynamics and statistical physics, quantum mechanics, and countless other subjects. If not for Super-Speed Thinking, this would have been a hopeless undertaking. Even with Super-Speed Thinking, the vast ocean of knowledge still made him feel small. The more he learned, the smaller he felt; the more he learned, the more hopeless it seemed. But he could only keep going. Effort brought hope. Without effort, there was only despair.

At around eleven in the morning, Cisco brought good news: Barry had woken up.

Before Lin Li even reached the surgical ward, he heard Barry's voice. "Who drew all over me? It looks terrible!"

Caitlin glared at Barry and said, "I told you, if anything gets damaged, don't come looking for me. I was generous enough to patch you up. You should be grateful."

"You should be thankful Caitlin and I weren't the ones stitching your wound, or the flesh would never have joined properly."

Lin Li entered the surgical ward and greeted Barry.

"Hey, brother. You doing okay? You almost died."

Barry immediately hugged Lin Li and said emotionally, "Lin Li, thank you."

When he woke up, Cisco had told him what happened. If Lin Li had not stood in front of him and blocked all the damage, he could not possibly still be here now. He was deeply grateful to Lin Li, his friend.

Lin Li smiled and teased, "You look much manlier now. Just showing your chest is enough to scare little punks to death."

Dr. Wells smiled and reminded him, "Barry, be more careful from now on. Lin Li won't always be able to get there in time."