Chapter 297: Guess What Gourd It Is

When Ma Ma Zhaodi arrived at the hospital on his bicycle, the hospital's power supply had not yet been restored.

He casually stuffed the folding bicycle back into his cloak, then blended into the crowd to slip inside—the hospital was pitch black at that moment; darkness bred unease, unease bred chaos, and amidst the throng of heads, no one noticed this Asian man.

He followed the flow of people through the hospital, searching for Joe and Iris; they would surely be waiting outside the wards of Officer Ciel, who had been shot in the abdomen, and Barry Allen. Finding those two would lead him to the pair.

"Let me confirm Ciel's condition so I don't waste effort only to find the person couldn't be saved."

Ma Ma Zhaodi muttered to himself as he squeezed deeper into the hospital. He wasn't too worried about Barry's safety because of Harrison Wells' existence; that professor would absolutely not let Barry die in this accident.

But then again, for the sake of caution and also to observe the situation in this universe, he still planned to check on both sides.

However, the hospital was exceptionally chaotic tonight, and this wasn't just because of the massive blackout—if it were merely a few missing lights, the nurses and other security guards in the hospital lobby would have been enough to maintain order through manpower; the problem now was that the power outage was only one of the collateral damages caused by the particle accelerator explosion.

And the direct damage caused by the explosion was a massive number of casualties.

"Make way! Make way! Clear the path for the injured!"

In the pitch-black lobby, nurses shone flashlights, shouting anxiously at the crowd. At this moment, roughly ten-plus minutes had passed since the explosion; light and heavy casualties injured by the blast had gradually been brought to the hospital, and with the entry of accompanying family members and police, a huge influx of people flooded the entire hospital at once, with every floor packed to capacity.

"Either Central City has only this one hospital, or the number of casualties tonight far exceeds people's imagination."

Watching the injured being pushed one by one into operating rooms, Ma Ma Zhaodi couldn't help but sigh; if the Horn of Plenty were still usable, he could at least lend some help.

"Considering this hospital is the one closest to the particle accelerator, perhaps the situation tonight isn't as bad as imagined?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi pondered as he slowly walked upstairs; in his view, the medical pressure on this hospital wasn't particularly heavy, falling within a normal range. During the War of the Laughing Mystery, that place basically had this quantity of casualties needing treatment every single day; the current overcrowding was just the norm there at that time.

"It's just that in previous years the Flash hadn't been born, leading to Central City's intensity not being high enough," he thought to himself: "Once superpowered beings ramp up the intensity for everyone, the hospital's medical level will probably skyrocket."

While pondering, he found Joe at the door of a ward—the difficulty wasn't great; just find the ward with the most police at the entrance.

"Joe, don't worry too much."

A detective patted Joe's shoulder, comforting him: "You brought Ciel in as fast as possible; the doctors also said that bullet didn't hit his organs, and the bleeding was stopped in time—he will be fine."

"I know, I know," Joe gazed at the operating room door and sighed deeply: "Being a cop is like this; you always run into things like this. It's just that after Ciel recovers from this injury, he won't have much time left; he'll have to retire—I feel a bit regretful that I couldn't finish his last case before retirement with him from start to finish."

"Speaking of which, you went to find the Ma Dong brothers, right?" another detective said bitterly: "You should have brought more people. Don't worry; we will definitely make those two scumbags pay the price!"

"Sigh, that was Barry's analysis result; I couldn't confirm they were there either. Tonight was originally just to try our luck."

Joe shook his head: "As for the Ma Dong brothers—it's unnecessary to deal with them anymore. They tried to escape using an agricultural plane, but the plane was caught in the explosion; the plane was destroyed and the people died. They are both finished."

Hearing that the Ma Dong brothers were left with no bones, the other officers were rendered speechless—no wonder Joe said just now that Ciel's case couldn't be finished from start to finish; with the criminals dying violently, this case was destined to be closed directly.

"Uh, Joe, speaking of Barry, we have something to tell you."

Seeing his colleague stammering and looking troubled, a bad omen rose in Joe's heart.

"What happened to Barry?" "Barry..."

The colleague opened his mouth but still didn't speak; he silently stepped aside, revealing the blonde woman weeping silently nearby.

"Daughter? Why are you here?"

"Dad, Barry was struck by lightning and is now unconscious..."

Iris's voice was low; she answered sadly: "I came to the hospital to find him."

Iris?!

Ma Ma Zhaodi, who had been silently idling nearby, immediately widened his eyes: "Wait, buddy? Which timeline is this? Don't I know what the TV version of Iris West looks like? That skin tone matches her dad; running into a power-outage hospital means you can only see white teeth; look down, and a few donuts appear around her neck. I was almost killed by the frenzied praise of her rainbow-flattery lines and the tea-flavored hypocrisy of her straddling two boats. The most memorable thing about her in the whole series is that."

"You're telling me this fair-skinned, beautiful, long-legged blonde girl is Iris West?! How did Joe West give birth to a white daughter? Adoption?"

However, no matter how he looked, the person before him was indeed Joe's daughter.

"Dad, Barry he..."

"Barry will be fine, Iris."

Joe hugged his grieving daughter tightly; his eyes were also full of tears. Barry Allen was the son he had raised from childhood, not by blood but better than blood; hearing that his son had suddenly met with disaster, his heart was bleeding.

But as the sole backbone of this single-parent family, he could not shed tears at this moment; he had to hold it together.

Joe West was, throughout his life, a resolute father and police officer; he rarely cried, and every time he wept it was for his family, and every time he was strong was also for them.

"Come, I'll accompany you to wait for Barry to wake up."

"Okay."

Ma Ma Zhaodi couldn't help but sigh; he knew Barry would be fine, but Joe was a good man; although he had saved Ciel, seeing his current state still made people feel somewhat uncomfortable.

Thinking of this, he opened the System Shangcheng—he had mentioned wanting to buy a healing-type ability earlier; although he couldn't intervene in Barry Allen's injury, many severely injured patients had come to the hospital tonight, and with his help, at least fewer people would die.

After all, every single person here has family.

Ma Ma Zhaodi scrolled through the System Shangcheng list; a moment later his eyes lit up because he saw a healing item that suited his fancy perfectly.

A green gourd.

PS: Today is 5.12; may the deceased rest in peace.

PS2: Yesterday was Mother's Day; I forgot to say Happy Mother's Day to Mom; remember to make up for it today.

(End of this chapter)