Time Is Like a River

Zhang Tianran did not pretend to be unconscious for long. After Caitlin performed a series of first-aid measures, she actually picked up a syringe and moved to draw his blood.

To avoid having his blood drawn for testing, Zhang Tianran could only slowly open his eyes.

"Dr. Zhang, you're awake." Barry, who had been watching Zhang Tianran closely from the side, immediately rushed over.

"Mm. How long was I asleep?" Zhang Tianran looked calm, even having the leisure to ask about the time.

"Not long, less than an hour. Dr. Zhang, what exactly did you do? How could you possibly survive an explosion of that scale..." Caitlin asked in confusion.

Zhang Tianran did not answer Caitlin. Instead, he looked at Barry and spoke with utmost sincerity. "Sorry, Barry. I studied your power without your permission."

Hearing Zhang Tianran's words, Barry froze for a moment, then came back to his senses, disbelief written across his face.

"Dr. Zhang, you mean..."

Zhang Tianran said nothing. He merely raised his right hand... A dazzling white bolt of lightning coiled around it. Barry knew very well that this was absolutely not ordinary lightning.

"Dr. Zhang, you became a Metahuman? Because of the Particle Accelerator? No, you weren't in Central City when the Particle Accelerator exploded." Caitlin had not caught on yet, because what Barry displayed was not lightning, but speed.

"Caitlin, Dr. Zhang has become a Speedster like me." Barry looked at Zhang Tianran with a complicated expression.

Although he had known that he might not be the only person in the world with such speed, seeing one standing before him still made Barry recall that night from many years ago.

"Developing supernatural abilities on your own... How is that possible? The difficulty is no less than setting off the Particle Accelerator all over again." Caitlin could hardly believe it.

"Nothing is impossible. I had been preparing for this for a long time. I just didn't expect a small accident, but it still counted as a success," Zhang Tianran said casually.

Zhang Tianran did not intend to hide the fact that he had become a Speedster for too long. There was no need, and sometimes it was far better to reveal something like this himself than to have it discovered.

Speedsters might be fast, but they were not impossible to detect. Unless Zhang Tianran planned never to use his powers, the day of exposure would eventually come.

"Dr. Zhang..." Barry's expression suddenly turned exceptionally serious. After hesitating for a moment, he finally asked, "I want to know whether anyone besides you has become a Speedster like me. It's very important."

Barry was not especially resistant to the emergence of a new Speedster.

Otherwise, Zhang Tianran would not have obtained the Speed Force so easily. Although he had injected the so-called Ultimate Speed Serum, Zhang Tianran's speed—no, the speed of all Speedsters—actually came from the Speed Force.

At his words, Zhang Tianran frowned. This question was far more troublesome than Barry being unhappy about him becoming a Speedster.

"Barry, I don't want to deceive you." Zhang Tianran fell silent for a moment before continuing. "I know why you're asking me this. I can't give you an exact answer, but I have a story I want to tell you."

"You know who the Reverse-Flash is, don't you?!" At that moment, Barry's intelligence suddenly kicked in.

"Eobard Thawne, a scientist from the twenty-fifth century. He is the Reverse-Flash you mentioned, and he will later become one of your greatest enemies." Zhang Tianran did not hide it, but neither did he reveal everything.

The truest lie was a truth that had not been told in full.

"A man from the future? Why? Why did he kill my mother..." Barry Allen's expression became exceptionally twisted. No one could restrain their anger at a time like this.

"The reason? It's absurd. He did it simply to vent his resentment. That guy was your admirer at first," Zhang Tianran said with a bitter smile.

"But no one knows what happened. In the end, he came to hate you more and more."

"What..." Barry suddenly froze. Recalling Hartley's attack on STAR Labs a few days ago, a terrifying thought rose in his mind.

"Because... my future self revealed his identity." Barry murmured to himself, suddenly looking lost.

Ever since deciding to become the Flash, Barry had prepared himself for the dangers he might face. But the possibility of endangering the people around him was something he had never imagined.

"More or less. Barry, do you remember the direction of my research when I came to STAR Labs? My original field of study was time and space. Traveling through time is actually possible." Zhang Tianran sighed and continued.

"You mean there's still a way to undo all this?" A glimmer of hope suddenly appeared in Barry's eyes.

At that moment, he desperately wished Zhang Tianran would give him an affirmative answer. But clearly, that was impossible.

"No. I hope you never change the timeline in the future. Time is like a river, and we are an anchor point in the present. That is reality."

"If you change the past, then the anchor point of the present will change as well. The entire world will become something completely different, and only you will know what the original world was like."

"And according to my deductions..."

At this point, Zhang Tianran hesitated. But in the end, he still said, "According to my deductions, your mother's death was very likely inevitable."

"What!" Hearing this, Barry abruptly raised his head. His eyes filled with lightning, as if he were about to rush over the next instant.

But Zhang Tianran was completely fearless. He continued calmly, "It's only a guess, but it's highly likely. If your mother had not died, then your father would not have gone to prison, and you might not have become the Flash."

"I actually don't know much about the Reverse-Flash, but he is definitely a meticulous man. If he dared to travel through the timeline and kill someone in the past without worrying about affecting the future, then the only possibility is that the person he killed was destined to die."

"Killing someone destined to die while also inflicting severe psychological trauma on his enemy—he could be called clever to the extreme."

"But unfortunately, that guy never expected that even the most foolproof plan would still be a massive alteration from the perspective of the timeline."

"So... the Reverse-Flash should be trapped in this era. What he wants is to return to the future."

At that moment, Barry's heart was filled with rage. He wanted to vent it but did not know how. He wanted to refute Zhang Tianran's words, but he did not know how to do that either.

As for Caitlin, she had already been so stunned by the sheer amount of information that she was nearly dumbfounded.

For a time, the entire medical room fell into deathly silence. A few minutes later, Barry said nothing. He turned into a bolt of lightning and vanished.