Various Plans

Joe suppressed Barry's restless urge and said solemnly, "Barry, leave this investigation to me for now. You meet him often at STAR Labs, so don't act rashly."

The Time Vault.

Wells touched his protruding belly. Eastern cuisine was truly magical, making him unable to stop eating once he started. Even after two hours, he still felt bloated and full.

He had eaten too much earlier and felt a bit stuffed. He let out a satisfied burp, his eyes fixed on the recorded video.

The footage showed Joe and Barry, their conversation clear and audible.

"My gut feeling tells me we need to look into Harrison Wells."

Wells stared at Joe and murmured to himself, "Detective West, you truly are an excellent police officer."

Wells looked at the screen, observing Joe's thoughtful expression for a moment before dismissing it.

"Gideon, show me the future."

"Certainly, Doctor."

A news report from 2025 detailing The Flash's disappearance appeared as a holographic projection.

The future was accurate.

"Bring up my logs, Gideon, and input new content."

The light screen changed, displaying rows of log entries. Gideon generated a new log as Wells spoke, adding to it.

Wells paced as he spoke.

"Everything is back on track. The chaos caused by the traveler, Lin Li, has been corrected. Giving him a consultant position at STAR Labs and having him specialize in capturing meta-humans hasn't altered the future in any way. Historically, he seems insignificant."

"Lin Li's identity is uncertain. According to him, he's an ordinary person from another world who lived a normal life, but was unfortunately sucked into this world by a vortex. His desire to return, his frantic pursuit of knowledge, and his various emotional expressions all seem genuine. However, to me, his credibility is... zero."

"Lin Li is an unstable factor. His strong will, sharp mind, and keen intuition mean he'll eventually realize I was the one who attacked him that night. He must die, and the faster Barry runs, the faster he dies."

"For now, the priority is to stabilize him. I suspect he has control over the Speed Force. Certain characteristics of the Speed Force can be traced in him, though it's not confirmed if he controls the Speed Force. His lightning abilities, his apparent ability to manipulate electronics to generate magnetic fields, and thus control magnetic fields, his displayed bio-field, and his control over Barry's bio-magnetic field all indicate he can control bio-magnetic fields."

"Molecular-level cellular reassembly and Velocity Shock will render everything he masters useless. It doesn't matter even if he masters my 'Wells' bio-magnetic field."

At this point, Wells sneered and continued.

"Only a speedster can contend with a speedster."

"Barry's adoptive father, Joe West, has started to suspect me. Although this suspicion lacks evidence and is based on flimsy reasoning and gut feeling."

"I need to dispel this suspicion. The relationship between Barry and me cannot be too distant. A solid piece of evidence can dispel West's doubts."

"End of entry."

"Save."

Wells snapped his right fingers.

"Gideon, activate the monitoring of the underground training room."

"Certainly, Doctor."

Eight screens lit up, displaying various camera angles, forming a circle.

Three newly replaced punching bags, walls of steel riddled with craters, suspended in the air between one to 1.7 meters off the ground, over eighty fist-sized iron blocks hanging from steel ropes, several modified baseball pitching machines, and a very large refrigerator by the entrance.

These items constituted Lin Li's underground training room.

On all eight screens, Lin Li was shown sitting cross-legged, eyes closed as if meditating.

"Meditation? Cultivation?"

"Amazing Eastern boy, amazing Eastern country. Since ancient times, Eastern wisdom has been as vast as the sea, unfathomable. However, with the gap in intelligence and technology spanning centuries, and the greatness of the Speed Force, it's something you cannot overcome."

Wells wore an expression of pity, like looking at an ignorant ancient ape.

He turned and sat back in his wheelchair.

"Gideon, good night."

"Good night, Doctor."

Wells controlled his wheelchair, exited the Time Vault, and left STAR Labs.

In the underground training room, thirty minutes later, Lin Li slowly opened his eyes. It wasn't meditation or cultivation; he was purely using his magnetic field sense to 'watch' Wells. Only after confirming Wells had left did Lin Li dare to move, thirty minutes later.

He knew STAR Labs and the entire Central City were covered in Wells's surveillance, so all his actions had to appear reasonable and justifiable to him.

He activated his Super-Speed Thinking and carefully considered the future direction he needed to take.

One, Barry is crucial to him. Barry's speed needs to be improved as quickly as possible.

Two, Wells's 25th-century technology cannot be ignored. At the very least, he needs to return. To pass through that vortex, he will definitely need to deal with wormhole distortions, dimensional energy fluctuations, and pinpointing the coordinates of the real world. Otherwise, he might be thrown into some unknown world, even further away from the real world.

Three, he needs to understand Wells's bio-magnetic field, cellular arrangement, and molecular-level changes, at least for future reference as an enemy. Wells is a suspicious person and will absolutely not trust him, so controlling his life becomes paramount.

Four, subsequent plot developments. Abilities like Blackout's that can absorb the Speed Force are worth studying. In the original TV series, Wells also drew a tube of blood for research, but it seemed he didn't find anything. It wasn't mentioned later, so it's unclear what happened. He needs to intercept the tachyon prototype and prevent Wells from obtaining it. This will further slow down Wells's speed recovery and prevent him from posing a threat. If all goes as expected, he should be able to return to the real world by the latter half of the first season.

Lin Li carefully thought about his future path and realized there wasn't much he could do. At most, he could assist Barry in fighting super-powered criminals, protect Barry's safety, and urge Barry to run faster.

At this stage, he could only learn, desperately study all sorts of knowledge, and prepare to extract knowledge from Wells.

With his thoughts organized, Lin Li took out over a dozen tubs of ice cream from the refrigerator. He ate the ice cream while looking at his tablet.

After midnight, he cleaned up the empty ice cream boxes. The refrigerator's ice cream was almost finished, but there was no need to worry. Tomorrow, the supermarket would be restocked, and he would scan it with his magnetic field sense again before sleeping. He noticed Cisco was still in the lab and wondered what he was up to.

Lin Li didn't pay it any mind. Cisco's passion was researching and inventing all sorts of things, and naming various strange items and people. Perhaps he was more energetic at night.

Lin Li thought so, lay down on his bed, and went to sleep. Before sleeping, he remembered what he should make for dinner tomorrow – a meal that would fill him up even if they came to eat, and leave them with nothing but helplessness.