Burst Apart!

"Wells, let me in..." Outside S.T.A.R. Labs, Farooq had just absorbed a massive amount of electricity and was trying to force his way inside.

Farooq's actions had not only disrupted S.T.A.R. Labs' power supply, but affected all of Central City as well.

"I have to get my speed back as soon as possible. Those doors won't be able to stop him." Watching Farooq through the surveillance feeds, Barry was suddenly overwhelmed by a sense of helplessness.

This was no longer about whether his future self could continue being The Flash. Several lives were in immediate danger...

"Metahumans don't simply lose their powers, so your speed should still be there. It's just been affected somehow. You can still recover it." Zhang Tianran appeared before Barry, holding a disc-shaped device in his hand.

"Dr. Zhang, is that true? What do I need to do?" The moment Barry saw Zhang Tianran, he felt as if he'd grasped a lifeline.

Zhang Tianran didn't answer. Instead, he turned his gaze toward Cisco, who had just arrived.

Cisco nodded at Zhang Tianran, then went over to the S.T.A.R. Labs control console and tried to activate several security doors to hold the enemy back.

But it was obvious that S.T.A.R. Labs, having lost most of its power, couldn't stop an enraged Metahuman.

"Barry, it's too dangerous. According to the calculations, if we want to reactivate your body, we'll need at least..." This wasn't Caitlin's field of research, and for a moment, she couldn't provide an exact figure.

But clearly, Barry didn't care.

"I know it's dangerous. I could die, but if we don't try, all of us could die here... I'm willing to take that risk!" Barry Allen didn't hesitate in the slightest.

Whether it was the crisis before them or the temptation of running at super speed, Barry wouldn't give up, no matter how great the risk was.

"Cisco, forget about that. We don't have enough power right now. S.T.A.R. Labs' defenses are too weak—they can't stop this guy!" Zhang Tianran took the remaining parts from Cisco and finished assembling the device in his hands.

"Barry, this is a tester I just finished. It was originally meant to test how to restore your abilities, but now, it can at least provide you with some weak protection."

As Zhang Tianran spoke, he pressed the disc-shaped instrument directly against Barry's chest. Though it had no fastening mechanism, it stayed firmly in place.

"Get ready to recover your speed..." Zhang Tianran glanced over his instrument before speaking calmly.

By then, Farooq, having absorbed a massive amount of electricity, had already stormed into S.T.A.R. Labs. Though the facility was quite large, the situation had become extremely dangerous.

Seeing this, the group immediately set off to restore Barry's speed.

"Dr. Zhang, where are you going?" Caitlin was greatly startled when she saw Zhang Tianran heading in the opposite direction.

"I'm going to buy some time. Hurry up." Zhang Tianran answered.

Caitlin's first instinct upon hearing that was to pull him back. But before she could speak, Zhang Tianran had already vanished through a door.

"Be careful..." After hesitating for a long time, Caitlin ultimately turned around to help Barry, leaving behind only that blessing.

Zhang Tianran didn't hear Caitlin's words. Once he reached a place where no one could see him, he used the Speed Force and arrived beside Wells.

At that moment, Wells was releasing Steel Man. It seemed the two of them had already reached an agreement.

Steel Man, whose mind wasn't particularly sharp, hadn't noticed that Wells wasn't sitting in his wheelchair.

"Have things been arranged on Barry's end?" Wells watched Steel Man leave, then turned to Zhang Tianran.

"Is it necessary to send that guy to his death?" Zhang Tianran looked at Steel Man's departing back, feeling somewhat softhearted. The moment Wells stood before Steel Man, regardless of whether Steel Man survived his confrontation with Farooq, his fate had already been sealed: death.

"Barry needs someone to make a sacrifice to remind him. Besides, we need someone to buy us time right now."

Zhang Tianran didn't argue after hearing that. Though it made him uncomfortable, he had no intention of interfering.

"I'll leave this matter to you. I don't plan to get involved too much. If anything goes wrong, handle it yourself." Zhang Tianran spoke coldly, then disappeared.

A trace of displeasure flashed across Wells' face, but it quickly vanished. He sat back down in his wheelchair and slowly moved forward.

"Hey, Farooq. I'll give you one chance: leave this place." Zhang Tianran appeared behind Farooq, holding a gun in each hand.

This country was already flooded with guns. Zhang Tianran had no intention of showing too much that was unusual about himself, but it was still necessary to have an easily obtained gun permit and ordinary firearms.

"You're... Wells' adopted son. What, do you think guns can do anything to me?" Farooq seemed to have been completely addled by the electricity, utterly ignoring Zhang Tianran's armed threat.

Without much hesitation, Zhang Tianran immediately opened fire. In just a few seconds, he emptied both magazines.

Unfortunately, Farooq was completely unharmed.

Not a single one of Zhang Tianran's bullets hit him, producing a real-life demonstration of shooting outlines around a person.

Actually, that was perfectly normal for a novice. Zhang Tianran was twenty or thirty meters away from his enemy. Unless someone was highly skilled with firearms, most people wouldn't be able to hit anything from that distance.

Handguns were very accurate, low-damage weapons in games. But in real life, their accuracy was extremely poor.

Looking at Farooq more than twenty meters away, Zhang Tianran immediately tossed away the guns and turned to run...

Farooq seemed to have been startled by the string of gunshots. It wasn't until Zhang Tianran began fleeing that he realized he hadn't been hit.

"Fuck!" Cursing in lingering fear, Farooq immediately hurled a barrage of lightning after him.

Naturally, the lightning failed to hit.

Zhang Tianran had been firing from around a corner. The moment he ran out of bullets, he took off. Farooq's lightning was powerful, but it couldn't turn corners.

The same was true of Zhang Tianran's bullets. Other than at the very beginning, he hadn't even seen the enemy at all. He'd merely been firing to scare him.

Before long, the two magazines Zhang Tianran had brought with him were empty, yet Farooq still hadn't caught up...

After waiting a little while, the power at S.T.A.R. Labs suddenly returned, making Zhang Tianran abandon the idea of using the Speed Force to go check on things.

After passing through the Particle Accelerator, Zhang Tianran took a long detour back to the control room. Through the surveillance feeds, he saw a major drama unfolding in S.T.A.R. Labs' basement.

Wells was the star of the show. After putting on a performance full of genuine emotion, he deeply moved Barry, successfully reactivating the Speed Force within him and causing Farooq, who had absorbed the lightning, to burst apart.

Because of this incident, The Flash became even faster.