Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 319 Lightning About to Emerge from its Cocoon

As dusk fell, Ma Zhaodi rode his small food cart out the door.

He stopped paying attention to Barry Allen, who was roaming the world. It was foolish to try to pinpoint a speedster; if the guy ever felt like running around the world, he might just want to see for himself that the Earth is round.

So Ma Zhaodi ignored everyone else; he simply timed his trip perfectly, preparing to surprise Clyde at his farm.

Swah——

Just as he stepped onto the street, a blurry figure suddenly darted out, sparks flying and lightning flashing as the sunny and cheerful young man, Barry Allen, ran back to the city center. Maintaining his usual relaxed and efficient style, he gave Ma Zhaodi a unique first encounter.

"Hot, hot, hot—"

He took off his shirt in the street, and sparks were flying all over it. Just by looking at it, Ma Zhaodi could tell how hot it was.

Clearly, Barry's speed was increasing every second, which resulted in stronger air friction. As he ran at supersonic speeds, the air and his clothes rubbed against each other at high speeds, causing the temperature to rise so much that it spontaneously combusted.

Seeing Barry take off his shirt and fumble around in the street in a sexy tank top, Ma Zhaodi subconsciously glanced around—sure enough, many female passersby cast strange looks at him, their eyes glued to him as if they were rooted to the spot.

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

Ma Zhaodi couldn't help but mutter to himself, "I never knew Barry had such a desire to show off."

However, he didn't know that Barry had actually gone out wearing a coat, but it had already been burned once on his way to Star City.

Uh, hello.

Ignoring the stares of those around him, Barry walked straight to the food cart and greeted it somewhat awkwardly, "I'd like to buy something to eat, is that alright?"

It's clear the child is really hungry.

"You're very lucky, young man."

Ma Zhaodi smiled and took out a large bag of snacks: "You are my lucky customer today. See what you want to buy—I can give you a free chocolate with a liqueur filling."

"Oh, thank you."

Although it was a bit strange that a hamburger truck would sell liqueur-filled chocolates, Barry thanked them and started picking them out—only to realize that the truck wasn't selling hamburgers, but rather desserts.

“Huh? These are the cookies that Cisco and Caitlin love the most—” He looked up in surprise and looked at Ma Zhaodi’s face: “By the way, they both told me about a Chinese man who drives a food truck and sells Chinese handmade pastries. They must be talking about you.”

“Oh, you’re their friend.” Ma Zhaodi smiled. “Then you can buy some for them. It just so happens that the stall hasn’t been open for long today, and there’s some left over from this cart. You can have it all.”

"Thank you—I've secretly tried over a dozen of Cisco's pastries, and everything you make is delicious."

"You're welcome."

Ma Zhaodi handed the bag of snacks to Barry: "One dollar and fifty cents, thirty dollars total, one hundred and fifty. Do you have it with you? If not, you can give it to me next time."

"Take it, take it."

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

“Yes, it uses rather special ingredients.” Ma Zhaodi smiled. “That’s why it’s so effective at replenishing energy; you could call it an ‘elixir of life.’”

Barry's eyes lit up. He was exhausted from driving 120 miles round trip from Central City to Star City, so he wanted to find a food truck to replenish his energy.

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

"what?"

"That's all for you." Ma Zhaodi smiled kindly. "Go on, get back to work."

Barry, still a little dazed, ran back to the Star Labs with the snacks in his hand, still not quite understanding what Ma Zhaodi meant by that.

“Sisco, Caitlin,” he greeted them as he entered the lobby of Star Labs. “I’ve figured it out.”

"You've finally figured it out?"

Cisco breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time, a slight sense of disappointment flashed through his mind.

It's reasonable that not everyone wants to be a hero; Dr. Wells always taught them to be realists and to learn to make rational choices.

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

"what?"

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

“I want to use the power that lightning gave me to stop Clyde, but today’s events have taught me one thing—this idea will never succeed if I do it alone; so, Cisco, Caitlin, please help me.”

When Barry said those words, his sincerity was almost palpable, and Cisco and Caitlin, after looking into Barry's eyes and remaining silent for only a few seconds, made their own decisions.

“You want to stop him?” Cisco replied. “Okay, let’s do it together—but why are you only wearing this vest?”

"Uh"

When Cisco brought it up, Barry's face immediately turned bright red, and his ears began to burn. He hurriedly explained, "Uh, I didn't mean to, I was just going faster and faster, so my clothes caught fire—"

"Ah, I see."

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

Caitlin nodded. From the moment Barry walked in, she hadn't said a word and hadn't dared to look directly at his face, only glancing at his muscles.

It's strange, how come I didn't notice his facial features when I was treating him?

“Barry, you may not know, but Caitlin does. I’ve been working on and perfecting the design of this thing.”

As Cisco explained, he took out a mannequin clothes hanger.

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

When Caitlin saw it, she immediately realized: "Oh, it's that fire suit you've been designing."

“That’s right.” Cisco proudly introduced, “It’s reinforced with three layers of high-polymer material, fireproof, wear-resistant, and designed with some aerodynamics in mind. It also has built-in sensors that can transmit your vital signs in real time.”

"It was originally a new piece of equipment I designed for the firefighters in Central City. I was hoping to use it to salvage some of their image and lessen the negative feelings people had towards Star Labs and Dr. Wells."

(End of this chapter)