Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 409 Blatant Reverse Flash
When Ma Zhaodi brought Xiao Na back to the Starry Sky Laboratory the next morning, no one looked happy.

"Hey Cisco, what's wrong?"

Ma Zhaodi was somewhat puzzled. He was in a good mood because he had only spent yesterday to identify a superpowered ally who would never betray him again, and had also sent the scumbag Corey back to prison. He considered himself to be very efficient.

Of course, withdrawing such a large sum of money from the bank, using it to make a bed, and taking a bunch of statements and testimonies from the police station to retrieve the car that the three-wheeled vehicle had been transformed into were all a bit tedious—but then again, people always have endless patience when they're up to no good, and the thought of what Corey was about to encounter in prison gave him renewed motivation.

If you're going to scam someone, it's not shameful to be prepared.

But now it seems that only he is happy, while the others in the lab do not seem to be very happy.

“Three things happened last night.” Cisco sighed and held up three fingers. “First, the Doctor was attacked at home. His ceiling glass and chandelier were somehow smashed and fell down, almost injuring him.”

Ma Zhaodi's expression changed: "Is he alright?"

"He's alright."

"That's fine."

"That's not all, there's a second thing: Mercury Laboratory has been burgled."

That's a pretty down-to-earth way of putting it.

"But what does the theft at the Mercury Laboratory have to do with us?"

"Their prototype of the faster-than-light particle machine was stolen—two super-powered criminals broke in and took the prototype."

"Okay, this is somewhat relevant to us."

"One of the super-powered criminals is a speedster."

Ma Zhaodi's expression changed again.

“There’s a third thing.” Cisco’s face was extremely grim. “The other superhuman is ‘Steel Beam,’ a superhuman criminal we keep in our lab. He was taken directly from the superhuman prison by that speedster and used to break down the security door of the faster-than-light particle lab with brute force—that guy’s brute force and physical structure are not human at all.”

"No, why was he rescued so easily?" Ma Zhaodi couldn't help but ask, "How did that speedster get in and out of his cell?"

"Old Ma, you need to know that every superhuman has different abilities, so our superpower prison designs are all different."

Cisco replied, "The room with the steel beams was specifically designed to limit his brute strength and superhuman abilities, but it couldn't limit the speed of a speedster—this is the first time I've ever seen such a bizarre scene. The guy's whole body was shaking like a 360p video, and then he walked straight into the cell with this super blurry image quality."

“This is definitely some kind of special application of the Speed ​​Force.” Barry, frowning, casually interjected, “It’s just that I haven’t used it yet.”

"In short, Steel Beam's body was found at the scene," Caitlin added. "I guess the speedster thought he was useless after getting the model."

"It could also be to silence him. In any case, Steel Beam is dead—even though he bullied Barry at school, even though he was a bullying idiot, even though he kidnapped Iris and said he wanted to be her boyfriend, I still don't think he deserved to die."

As Ma Zhaodi listened to the constant stream of new information from the three men, he felt utterly overwhelmed. "Solve one, and two more pop up. After rescuing Black Vision, there's Hide-and-Seek. After rescuing Hide-and-Seek, Steel Beam is gone."

He didn't have time to rescue the steel beam or smuggle it back, because no one could have predicted that Reverse Flash would suddenly appear openly at this moment, appearing in Barry's field of vision and using the steel beam to steal the faster-than-light particle accelerator.

Ma Zhaodi frowned in thought. He recalled Gangliang's original fate—in the timeline without him, Gibran would have gone directly to the Star Lab to kill Wells, and then Dr. Wells would have released Gangliang to deal with Gibran, who would eventually electrocute him with high voltage.

"This is a chain reaction I caused."

He sighed helplessly. Although he had always adhered to the principle of saving as many people as possible, the current density of incidents was really too high.

He patted Caitlin, Cisco, and Barry on the shoulder reassuringly: "Don't be too sad. None of us could have imagined something like this would happen. How is the Doctor now?"

"I'm not seriously injured."

Wells' wheelchair slid out of the adjacent laboratory: "As you can see, I wasn't directly below when the glass fell, so the biggest loss was at most a chandelier and a piece of glass ceiling, which would only cost a little money—probably less than the psychological trauma Cisco and the others suffered."

“We locked them up, and we should have made sure their lives were safe.” Cisco took a deep breath. “We failed to do that—I’m going to have to renovate the rest of the cells.”

"By the way, do you know that many people are aware that Star Labs holds criminals with superpowers?" Shauna tried to join the conversation, "That might help narrow down the possibilities."

“I’m afraid everyone knows that we are a special cooperation agency with the police,” Wells replied. “Since the explosion, the lab has been trying to salvage its reputation through various means. The cooperation between the police and us is basically transparent. The Central City Police Department even helped us to make special registration for the superpowered prison under the lab.”

"This is a bit tricky."

"Barry, are you okay?"

Ma Zhaodi noticed that Barry was staring intently at the theft footage on the screen, and the yellow figure covered in red lightning was Reverse Flash.

"Do you think this person might be the murderer of your mother?"

Barry's thoughts were exposed in a single sentence, and he looked up in astonishment at Ma Zhaodi.

“What’s so surprising? You’ve talked about your childhood, and there was a man in yellow back then who also seemed to be a speedster—but if you want to catch him now, you’ll at least have to regain your speed first.”

“Barry’s shock intensity was already sufficient.” Caitlin immediately raised her hand: “But he still hasn’t recovered. We suspect it’s a psychological issue; he needs time to reawaken his abilities.”

Upon hearing this, Barry couldn't help but clench his fists.

“In any case, things should be done one step at a time. The Ruswells will be back in Central City—Barry—at noon and then go back to training,” Dr. Wells instructed. “The problem now is Snart and his ally. As for who attacked me and where the person who stole the prototype from Mercury Labs went, we’ll have to wait for the police investigation results.”

"Now I just hope there won't be any more superpowered criminals."

(End of this chapter)