Chapter 293: The Omen of the Storm

While the police were conducting an on-site investigation at the bank, Ma Ma Zhaodi had already found a hotel.

"It's best to find a long-term rental," he thought to himself. "But there isn't enough time today; I'll set out tomorrow. For now, let's just check the news—see if there's any news related to Drake."

After having multiple part-time job experiences, he had gradually developed a standard method for gathering intelligence. At any time, newspapers were always one of his reliable choices for understanding major news events, and when he had some knowledge of certain plotlines, these major events could often play an important role in anchoring the current timeline of the world.

However, when Ma Ma Zhaodi turned on the TV news, he saw the headline clearly stating: "Dr. Wells announces that the first particle collision experiment of the particle accelerator will start on time tonight."

"Damn it, why is it this timing!"

Ma Ma Zhaodi's eyes widened; Central City was the Flash's territory, and having watched the first few episodes of The Flash, he naturally knew what the particle accelerator meant—this meant that tonight was the exact moment the Flash would officially be born.

At the same time, it was also the moment the particle accelerator would explode.

"Where on earth did that couple, the Drakes, go?"

He wasn't worried about anything else, but if that couple had really settled down in this world's Central City and planned to attend the particle accelerator experiment tour tonight, then they might get killed by the particle accelerator's explosion.

"What if I go directly to stop the accelerator from exploding?"

【Please note: The birth of "The Flash" is a core necessary event for this universe. If you attempt to sabotage the particle accelerator explosion, it will disrupt the entire timeline—your illegal entry status will be immediately detected by this universe, and you will be forcibly deported, unable to return.】

"Fine, fine."

Facing the system's warning, Ma Ma Zhaodi sighed: "Alright, anyway, there's an old schemer monitoring the whole process; I probably don't have the ability to stop this anyway—I'd better spend some effort finding out exactly where those two ran off to."

He looked carefully at the other news again, but the remaining reports were probably not important events; he had no impression of them at all.

Since there was no news about the Drake couple on the news, the only option was to use other means, such as screening through the city's population database.

"After they arrived in this world, they shouldn't have legal identities either; that means there's a high probability they've become homeless people, or illegal workers, or simply got discovered by the police," Ma Ma Zhaodi analyzed silently in his mind; these were all his future screening directions.

He turned on his computer again and quickly searched for the agency within this world that records citizen identities—he was about to launch long-term activities in this world, so the sooner he forged an identity, the better.

Fortunately, Advanced Computer Proficiency was universal across both worlds, which made things much more convenient for him.

"Let me see if the identity files in this world are easy to forge."

Ma Ma Zhaodi was full of confidence; he felt that Advanced Computer Proficiency was sufficient to hack into the databases of various agencies, and forging an identity for himself wouldn't be a difficult task.

But after several minutes, he realized he was wrong.

"Damn, why are they still paper-based?"

Desperate, Ma Ma Zhaodi slammed the computer shut; he had checked all related information and discovered that whether it was the Central City Police Department or government agency databases, they were currently using paper documents for management, and the computer management system wouldn't be implemented for several more months.

"Then what can I do? I can only wait for the digital archives to be implemented, or just sneak in directly."

He didn't want to waste any more time, so he walked straight out of the hotel and onto the street.

"There's actually nothing to do right now," he thought to himself. "The Reverse Flash is watching the particle accelerator side; I'd better not appear in his line of sight—could it be that I should go find a long-term housing now?"

Just as he was thinking this, two people suddenly walked past on the roadside; one was tall, older, with dark skin; the other was a white man holding a cup of coffee in his hand.

"Hmm?" Ma Ma Zhaodi immediately sensed something unusual; the black man's appearance looked slightly familiar. "I say, Joe," the person holding the coffee asked. "Do we really have to go as just the two of us? We should at least pull some people from the precinct."

"We can't do that," the black detective shook his head. "We aren't even sure if what Barry said is correct; we have to investigate ourselves first, and only after finding clues can we ask colleagues for help."

"Sigh, then at least we should drive a car, right?"

"Of course, we've got a long run ahead of us tonight."

Listening to their conversation, Ma Ma Zhaodi secretly followed behind the two—he remembered these two people, and he also remembered what they were going to do tonight.

He thought that if everything went smoothly, he would have his own safe house and a long-term emergency shelter.

Squeak—

As the car engine started, the coffee-cup-holding detective in the driver's seat casually asked Joe beside him: "So, where are we going?"

"The farm."

"No problem." The coffee-cup-holding detective floored the accelerator: "But how does he know it's a farm?"

"Remember the manure in the tire tracks?" Joe replied. "Barry tested it; it's cow manure."

"Alright, I guess we're going to be busy for the next few days. You know how many farms there are in Central City, right?"

"We don't need to search them all, and the Easton brothers might have fled overnight anyway." Joe shook his head. "Tetracycline, heard of it? Barry said there's that stuff in the cow manure."

"What the hell is that?"

"I asked the same thing back then—he said it's an antibiotic used in feed to prevent cows from getting sick."

The coffee-cup-holding detective suddenly understood.

"So we're looking for farms that are still using feed containing tetracycline?"

"Exactly, our targets have been reduced to four farms." Joe patted his shoulder. "Barry said we'll definitely find a bullet-riddled, flat-tired Mustang in one of those farms. Don't worry too much, old buddy; I guarantee you'll still make it home for dinner."

"Alright, let's go."

When Joe went to work overtime with his partner, Barry Allen had already arrived at the venue for tonight's press conference at S. T. A. R. Labs.

He didn't come alone.

"How was the trip, Barry?"

The young woman, with her arm linked through Barry's, walked and chatted happily with him; her dark golden, silky long hair was draped generously over her shoulders, occasionally brushing against Barry's cheek, making him slightly blush.

With fair skin and beautiful blue eyes, every frown and smile of hers could stir the heart of a bookworm like Barry.

"Didn't you go to Star City? Did you find anything magical there, or did you just want to annoy my dad on a whim?"

(End of Chapter)