Chapter 317: The Lightning About to Break Its Cocoon

At dusk, Ma Ma Zhaodi rode his food cart out the door.

He did not continue to track Barry Allen, who was darting all over the world; locating a speedster was foolish in itself. If the other day he felt like running around the Earth once, it might just be to confirm with his own eyes that the Earth is round.

So Ma Ma Zhaodi did not mind others; he simply timed it perfectly, preparing to go to Clyde's farm and give him a surprise.

Whoosh—

Just as he stepped onto the street, a blurry streak of light suddenly shot out. Amidst sparks and lightning, the sunny, cheerful boy Barry Allen ran back to Central City. Maintaining his usual relaxed and efficient style, he gave Ma Ma Zhaodi a unique first meeting scene.

"Hot, hot, hot—"

He took off his shirt right there on the street; sparks were flying wildly all over the garment. Just looking at it, Ma Ma Zhaodi could guess how hot it was.

Clearly, Barry's speed was increasing every second, bringing with it even greater air friction. When he ran at super speed, the air and his clothes rubbed against each other at high velocity, the temperature rising continuously until it ignited.

Watching Barry take off his shirt and fumble around on the street in a sexy little tank top, Ma Ma Zhaodi instinctively scanned the surroundings—sure enough, many female passersby cast strange glances, their eyes sticking to him as if rooted.

"It's on fire, Barry, and you're not even wearing a jacket."

Ma Ma Zhaodi couldn't help but murmur softly; he never realized Barry also had a heart for showing off.

However, he did not know that Barry had actually left the house wearing a jacket; it had just burned up once already on the way to Star City.

"Uh, um, hello."

Ignoring the stares of the people around him, Barry came straight up to the food cart and greeted him awkwardly: "I'd like to buy some food, is that okay?"

It was obvious the kid was truly hungry.

"You're very lucky, young man."

Ma Ma Zhaodi smiled and pulled out a large bag of pastries: "You count as my lucky customer for today. See what you'd like to buy—I can give you a liqueur-filled chocolate for free."

"Oh, oh, thank you."

Although it was a bit strange that a burger food cart sold liqueur-filled chocolates, Barry said thanks while looking down to choose—then he realized this food cart didn't sell burgers at all, but pastries.

"Huh? Aren't these the cookies Cisco and Caitlin like best—" He looked up in surprise, glancing at Ma Ma Zhaodi's face: "Right, they told me about a Chinese person running a food cart selling handmade Chinese pastries. It must be you."

"Oh, you're their friend." Ma Ma Zhaodi smiled: "Then you can buy some for them too. Since the stall isn't open long today, there are some left in this cart; I can give them all to you."

"Thanks—I've secretly tasted over ten of Cisco's pastries. Everything you make is delicious."

"You're too polite."

Ma Ma Zhaodi handed the pastry bag to Barry: "One dollar fifty each, thirty pieces total one hundred fifty. Do you have it? If not, you can pay next time."

"I have it, I have it."

Barry paid the money, took the bag and a small, round golden pill from Ma Ma Zhaodi's hand, and asked with some curiosity: "Is this your liqueur-filled chocolate? It looks quite unique."

"Yes, it uses special ingredients." Ma Ma Zhaodi smiled: "So it's very effective at replenishing stamina. You can call it an 'Immortal Pill'."

Barry's eyes lit up; he had run one hundred twenty miles back and forth from Central City to Star City, running himself to exhaustion, which was why he wanted to find a food cart to replenish his stamina.

"Thank you," he said. "Next time we meet again, I'll definitely buy more pastries." "Silly child, today is a special case. Next time we meet, there won't be any pastries left."

"Huh?"

"That's all for you." Ma Ma Zhaodi smiled kindly: "Go on, go on, get back to your real business."

Dazed, Barry ran back to S. T. A. R. Labs with the pastries, still not quite understanding what Ma Ma Zhaodi meant by that remark.

"Cisco, Caitlin." He walked into the S. T. A. R. Labs lobby and called out to them: "I've finally figured it out."

"You finally figured it out?"

Cisco sighed with relief, but at the same time, a hint of disappointment flashed through his heart.

Not everyone wants to be a hero; that's reasonable. Dr. Wells has always taught them this—to be realists, to learn to make rational trade-offs.

"I've figured it out. We have to stop that guy."

"Huh?"

Cisco and Caitlin looked at Barry in astonishment. At this moment, the young man's eyes were exceptionally determined: "No matter how high the risk of confronting Clyde, at least Central City is under threat right now. I was born here and raised here. My heart tells me I cannot let a guy like Clyde wantonly destroy my city—our city."

"I will use the power granted by that lightning to stop Clyde, but today's events have made one thing clear to me—if I rely solely on myself, this idea will absolutely fail. So, Cisco, Caitlin, help me."

When Barry spoke these words, his sincerity was almost visible to the naked eye. Cisco and Caitlin looked at Barry; after only a few seconds of silence, they made their decision.

"You want to stop him?" Cisco replied: "Fine, let's do this together—but why are you only wearing that tank top?"

"Uh."

When Cisco mentioned this, Barry's face immediately turned red at a speed visible to the naked eye, and his ears began to heat up. He hurriedly explained: "Uh, it wasn't intentional. It's just that my speed keeps increasing, so the clothes caught fire—"

"Ah, I get it."

Cisco understood: "For this situation, I happen to have something that can help."

Caitlin nodded. From the moment Barry entered, she hadn't spoken, nor dared to look directly at his face, only unable to resist stealing glances at his muscles.

Strange, why didn't I notice his lines when I was treating him?

"Barry, you might not know, but Caitlin does. I've been researching and refining the design of this thing."

While introducing it, Cisco brought out a mannequin stand.

It was a set of red tight-fitting leather armor. The tone was slightly dark, the overall lines were very smooth, and the material itself looked extremely special.

Seeing it, Caitlin immediately understood: "Oh, it's that firefighter suit you've been designing."

"Exactly." Cisco introduced it proudly: "Reinforced with three layers of high-polymer material, fireproof, wear-resistant. Designed using some aerodynamics, with built-in sensors capable of transmitting your vital signs in real time."

"It was originally new equipment I designed for Central City firefighters. I was thinking of using it to win back some goodwill, so people wouldn't feel such strong aversion toward S. T. A. R. Labs and Dr. Wells."

(End of Chapter)