"Hello. Is this Mr. Barry Allen?" A voice came from the phone. Barry, who answered the call, widened his eyes and said, "You know my name?"
"Yes. We also know you're The Flash."
"What?! You? Who are you???"
"A.R.G.U.S.," the other party said, "We are an organization that specifically monitors superpower users. Please stop making wild guesses. We must emphasize to you that you live in a society of ordinary people, and you need to be responsible for this society and for the safety of ordinary people. We need to ensure that you will not endanger this society."
"Of course I won't!" Barry sounded very angry, "You're invading my privacy!"
"When you use your powers, you're also partially endangering the lives and safety of ordinary people."
"What?!" Barry felt it was absurd.
"Alright, if you can answer the following question, I'll admit we're wrong." The voice on the phone said, "What is your ability?"
Barry didn't speak, and the voice on the phone asked and answered itself: "I know you run very fast, even faster than time, so almost no one has seen your true face. Do you know the principle of your ability?"
"I..." Barry actually had a lot to say because he had done a lot of research on his abilities, but because of this research, he didn't dare say anything recklessly. From a scientific standpoint, such an ability is indeed inexplicable. Just the fact of exceeding the speed of light is enough to cause many paradoxes, which could completely overturn the existing scientific system. But with his ability, he is not sufficient to construct a new theoretical system, so he really has no way to explain it.
"You don't know, do you? Of course, things that you don't know the principles of can still be used. But if something goes wrong, can you guarantee it won't cause any harm?"
"I... I can." Barry took a deep breath and said, "I've saved a lot of people."
"Of course, I see that. You're a good person and have done a lot of good things with your ability. But that doesn't mean you don't need our help."
"I just don't need it!" Barry said, "And who calls surveillance 'help'?"
"Then what's with the pile of surveillance equipment in your base?"
"You even know about that?"
"Of course. A.R.G.U.S. is a subsidiary of the National Security Agency of the United States, surveillance is our specialty. Don't challenge our livelihood with your hobbies."
Barry became tense immediately and said, "I'm not breaking any laws, I'm just..."
"I didn't say you're breaking any laws. I completely understand that someone as good as you, urgently wants to use your superpowers to do something beneficial for society. Doing good is not easy, having superpowers is not enough, so you will use your knowledge and wisdom to assist you. This society is better because of people like you, and I'm not calling to criticize you."
Barry once again started mumbling, he never expected the other party to praise him like this. After a long pause, he finally just said, "I'm just... I didn't do anything..."
"The real reason I called you this time is for another matter. You must have heard of Superman, right?"
Barry didn't answer, he just nodded to the phone, then felt a bit foolish doing such a thing. But unexpectedly, the other person seemed to see this and said, "He made a big mess in Metropolis. Now, on the eve of the election, he brought the voting and auditing congressmen to Metropolis, which will lead to procedural injustice. We need manpower to bring Capitol Hill back. Are you willing to join?"
Barry opened his mouth. He actually wanted to agree, but after thinking it over, he said, "I'm willing to solve problems, but this matter is too significant, I really don't want to deal with the government. So you might have to give me some time to consider it."
"No problem. Of course, in return, we'll help cover up your unauthorized surveillance. In the future, if you have any trouble, we'll do our best to help you. Don't worry too much, Mr. Allen."
"Alright, thank you." Barry hung up the phone.
He sat on the bed, feeling somewhat uneasy. One moment he stood up, the next he lay down. Restless for a long time, he finally went to the underground base, sat in front of the computer, and started searching.
Actually, he almost wanted to agree just then because he also felt that this matter was very absurd. Why suddenly move the government offices to another city, isn't that purely creating chaos?
However, Barry has a good impression of Superman. He had heard of Superman's heroic deeds and really liked that speech he gave on TV. More importantly, he hoped that one day he could also stand confidently and eloquently in front of the public. In this regard, Superman is his idol.
He didn't think Superman was someone who deliberately caused trouble, much less do something so sensational for no reason. There must be some unknown reason behind it.
Barry turned on the computer and began a wide-area search. He's not someone who would only use Wikipedia, in fact, his computer skills are quite good. Except for some extremely confidential departments, he can come and go freely in other ordinary government departments' electronic systems.
To investigate the relocation of Capitol Hill, one must look into Superman's recent activities. By investigating Superman's recent activities, one will surely uncover the relationship between Superman and Lois, given how sensational it was earlier. Once Lois is found, it will inevitably lead to the report regarding the number of homeless people in Los Angeles.
Very soon, Barry's focus shifted from Superman to Los Angeles. Some time had already passed since Capitol Hill and that secret research base were moved together to the center of Metropolis. Fresh news reports had emerged, and Barry saw arguments linking "the sharp decline in the number of homeless people in Los Angeles and a large number of unidentified bodies in the secret research base."
Barry was utterly flabbergasted.
Though Central City isn't a small town, it shares a common trait with Smallville, where Superman grew up, as both belong to Central State. The economy is not very developed and relatively closed off.
Although such a state has various shortcomings, because most of its industries are physical, there are fewer outsiders, thus less homelessness than in big cities. Even if there are some, they are mostly drug-infected.
Central City excels in security, ranking highly within the Federation and even being a strong contender for first place. Many outside visitors claim it doesn't feel like an American city, being unexpectedly quiet and peaceful.
Growing up here, Barry had visited major cities several times, mostly to tourist sites. Though he saw people sitting on the streets, he thought they were just resting from their shopping.
But merely seeing the homeless illustrations in the news gave Barry a severe discomfort. It turns out those people he saw had no homes to return to.
Even more outrageous is that after being in such straits, they were seized for human experiments. The more Barry watched, the more disgusted he felt, to the point of dry heaving in front of his computer.
Yet, his willpower and sense of responsibility overcame the instinctive reaction. He decided to look further into what this so-called secret research base was about. Once he investigated, he truly vomited.
Barry clung to the trash can, throwing up his lunch sandwich. Then he rushed to the bathroom toilet to vomit again, and upon standing, he was weak as a noodle. Leaning on the sink, he took a while to recover before washing his face.
The reason was, he wasn't limited to seeing just what the media reported. Most of the government's electronic defense systems were virtually ineffective for him, allowing him to see some internal documents. The keywords related to medical research, human experiments, organ transplants revealed too much.
Sitting back before the computer screen, Barry felt dizzy. He was truly overwhelmed, unable to accept that these things were true. He urgently needed someone to tell him it was all fake, fabricated.
Despite his physical discomfort, Barry ran to Metropolis at full speed, searching everywhere for Superman—he didn't find Superman, but found plenty of homeless people.
He didn't even head to tent areas; just on a normal street, he saw two cardboard houses, four patches of vomit, a team of corpse collectors, and an addict collapsed by the roadside.
Barry dared not run further. He vaguely felt that if he continued, he'd stumble into a terrible world. Since he couldn't find Superman, he turned to the other protagonist of this story, Lois Lane.
The hospital where Lois Lane was staying was guarded by police and swarmed with reporters, deterring ordinary people from coming here. But this couldn't stop The Flash. Without anyone noticing, he dashed right into Lois's ward.
Lois was drinking coffee, and when she turned around, she saw a pale-faced young man standing before her.
Barry thought Lois was going to scream, and he quickly extended his hand, saying, "I'm not a bad guy, I have no ill intentions. I'm just..."
At this point, Barry stopped. He didn't know what he was doing, barging into someone's hospital room so rashly. The person was still sick, wasn't this going to scare her half to death?
"You look very unwell," Lois said, "Would you like some coffee?"
Barry was stunned; he didn't understand why Lois was so friendly. But Lois simply stood there, drank her coffee, and said, "I'm a journalist. Perhaps not very famous, but still professional. If I can't quickly discern whether someone standing before me is good or bad, or if they're useful to me, I can't do this job."
Barry breathed a sigh of relief, thankful Lois was willing to trust him. But then his social anxiety kicked in, and he fiddled with the corner of his clothes, unable to utter a single word, feeling like a mental patient.
Yet Lois was patient. She poured Barry a hot coffee, letting him sit by the hospital bed and speak slowly. Barry truly couldn't find the words, so he took out his phone and showed Lois the information he had just seen.
Lois leaned over for a glance and immediately understood somewhat. She said, "You want to know if this is true, right?"
Barry nodded vigorously, looking at her with expectant eyes.
Lois gently shook her head and said, "It's not entirely true."
Barry was just about to breathe a sigh of relief when he heard her say, "To be precise, these things are not very comprehensive. If you can handle it, I can show you what I've filmed."
Most of what Barry found in the official system were medical images, academic photographs that were straightforward, aiming to accurately convey information. What Lois photographed was different; she was a journalist. Journalist photos needed to render the atmosphere as much as possible. Those photos, if hung in Mephisto's bedroom, would startle anyone awake in the morning.
Ten minutes later, Barry had vomited until he couldn't stand.