Suspicion

Lin Li rubbed the USB Dr. Wells had given him between the fingers of his right hand as he headed toward the underground training room, with Barry following behind him.

When they reached the underground training room, Lin Li took more than a dozen tubs of ice cream from the refrigerator under Barry's puzzled gaze. He plugged the USB into a tablet and transferred the files over—sixteen gigabytes of plain text.

Barry watched Lin Li shovel down ice cream and hesitantly asked, "Lin Li, can I trust you?"

Because of the Speed Force in Lin Li's mind, Barry had always felt a sense of closeness toward him. Especially during yesterday's battle, Lin Li had provided significant help, giving Barry a great deal of trust in him.

Lin Li did not answer immediately. He paused with his spoon in the ice cream and thought about what troubles Barry would have at this point in the TV series.

According to the show, Barry should have been riding high and brimming with confidence after defeating Weather Wizard.

At the very least, he should not have been looking so worried while asking Lin Li something like, "Can I trust you?"

If this was about his messy situation with Iris, Lin Li had no interest in listening to Barry complain about his love life.

Lin Li continued eating his ice cream and said, "You can. The fact that you asked me that shows you do trust me. It's just that there may be something troubling you, something you want to talk about or want my help with. But if it's something you need to keep secret, or something about your feelings, then I suggest you keep it to yourself."

I don't want to deal with your damn relationship problems.

Barry nodded to himself. "I trust you, Lin Li."

The moment he finished speaking, Lin Li felt the surroundings blur.

Yellow arcs of electricity curled around them.

Pedestrians, vehicles, and buildings turned into points of light, then stretched into lines that streaked backward beyond his field of vision.

Barry was carrying him along in a Speed Force run.

Not long after.

The world lurched again, and they came to a halt from their extreme speed.

Barry brought Lin Li into a house.

It was Joe's house. Joe sat on the sofa studying a case, with a cup of black coffee he had made to keep himself awake sitting on the table.

Barry's high-speed arrival sent his files flying, scattering them everywhere.

Lin Li patted the sparks smoking against the black T-shirt on his chest, then pressed them out with one hand.

He said bluntly, "Barry, I really don't like you doing this. I still had seventeen tubs of ice cream left. I'd only just started on the first one. What the hell are you doing?"

Joe said, "Barry, what are you doing? We can't let someone close to Wells know about our investigation."

"Calm down, Joe. Lin Li can help us. I trust Lin Li."

Barry explained.

"Lin Li, Joe and I suspect that my mother's death had something to do with Dr. Wells. I need your help. Watch him at STAR Labs and see whether he does anything strange."

Lin Li's heart tightened. They suspected him this soon?

The plot was moving far too quickly.

Lin Li felt as if things had already reached episode twenty. Joe and Barry suspecting Wells this early was not a good thing. Barry's speed had not increased enough yet; he was nowhere near the required level. Lin Li himself had only just managed to pry a little knowledge out of Wells. It was far from enough. This sudden development would disrupt all of Lin Li's plans.

"What evidence do you have?"

Lin Li asked calmly. He needed to stabilize them in Wells's place. Discovering Wells's purpose too early would do them no good. It would only force him into desperation. Most likely, he would take their families hostage and threaten Barry into running faster so he could gain enough speed to return to the future.

Lin Li already understood that Joe had no other options. He could only hope Lin Li truly deserved Barry's trust, so he told him every detail related to their suspicions.

"Based only on your experience, Joe, and the fact that STAR Labs was founded by Dr. Wells fourteen years ago? Wells shows concern for Barry's safety, and you suspect Dr. Wells has a problem?"

Fortunately, they had not yet reached the point of going to Star City to dig up a body or returning to Barry's old house to obtain blood samples. So this was only around the level of episodes three or four. Lin Li relaxed. Suspicions at this level would be easy to dispel. There was no decisive evidence. In the original story, Joe's suspicions had been dismissed because of Wells's dead wife.

Therefore, Lin Li drew on the original story and guided their attention toward Wells's dead wife. That would reduce their suspicions considerably. Besides, Joe and Barry were both emotionally driven people, easily swayed by feelings.

Or rather, in the first season of The Flash, everyone besides Wells was extremely susceptible to being swayed by emotion.

Lin Li said, "Maybe you should look into Dr. Wells's wife. I believe that, in his state at that time, he could not have had anything to do with Barry's mother."

It was still too early. Exposing Wells's true face prematurely would only make him resort to anything and everything. The ones who would be hurt would only be the friends around you, Barry. If you had a speed of Mach 2, all of this would be easily resolved.

Mach 2—twice the speed of sound, 680 meters per second—would be enough for Barry to collide with hydrogen protons inside the Particle Accelerator, create a wormhole, and travel through time. At that point, whether for Wells, Barry, or Lin Li, they would all be qualified to choose a very good outcome.

None of it was for now.

Hearing Lin Li's words, Joe and Barry exchanged a glance.

Barry asked, "Lin Li, what do you know?"

There was no way to explain this. Was he supposed to tell Barry that he actually knew everything?

Lin Li said helplessly, "Your respect and admiration for Dr. Wells made me curious about what kind of person he was. I looked into some of his past, but aside from that, I don't know anything."

In the end, Barry and Joe discussed Wells for a while. Lin Li also offered some guiding suggestions, but nothing led to a good result. A case from fourteen years ago was not so easy to investigate, especially after Lin Li had led some of their thinking astray. Eventually, Joe decided to look into Wells's past. As for whether Joe and Barry would temporarily abandon their investigation because of Wells's wife, that remained unknown.

After talking it over, they found no results or clues, so they went their separate ways.

That night, Lin Li made hot pot. Watching the three of them clumsily use chopsticks, occasionally dropping slices of lamb onto the table, he made them pick the food back up and eat it in the name of not wasting food. Their miserable expressions as they struggled with the chopsticks made them all burst out laughing.

Lin Li's relationship with the people at STAR Labs grew even closer.

Over the next several days, Lin Li used wormhole research materials as an excuse to ask Wells questions and monitored him as Barry had requested. Of course, Lin Li knew it was all useless. Such petty tricks would not work on Wells.

Most of them analyzed and investigated matters at Joe's house. Sometimes Lin Li also went to the police station, to Barry's lab, to discuss things with Joe. Of course, it was not because Lin Li was genuinely eager to expose Wells's true identity. It was because Wells would monitor everything in Barry's lab.

As long as Wells noticed all this, Lin Li could rest easy and simply wait for Wells to shut down Joe's investigation.

Wells would be even less willing to let Joe continue digging. Barry's speed had only just begun to rise, and the returns had only just begun. How could he tolerate Joe's actions? If Joe truly uncovered something, fourteen years of effort would be wasted.

After some time, there was no progress at all.

Joe said, "I'll ask Wells out and test him."

Inside the Time Vault.

Wells looked amusedly at Joe's image on the screen.