A young woman in her early twenties approached, wearing a green trench coat and sporting deep blue wavy hair.
Yuri felt the woman looked somewhat familiar, but he couldn’t recall where he had seen her before.
“Sorry about that, kid.
Wally didn’t hurt you, did he?”
*Kid…
man, it’s been a long damn time since anyone called me that.*
Yuri stared at the woman apologizing on someone else’s behalf.
He swallowed the apology he was about to offer and stood there momentarily at a loss for words.
Though called a kid, his current body was indeed only sixteen years old.
Due to malnutrition, he was even shorter than the average sixteen-year-old.
“Uh, miss, actually…”
“Actually, I didn’t hit the kid, Linda.
You don’t need to be so nervous.” Wally—the young man Yuri had almost bumped into—wrapped an arm around the woman’s waist.
“Sorry about that, kid.
Hope I didn’t startle you.”
Then Wally gave Yuri a friendly smile.
Called kid again…
Yuri’s eyelid twitched.
Forcing a polite smile, he said, “Sir, ma’am, I’m fine.
I’m neither hurt nor startled.
So, have a nice meal.”
Yuri didn’t pay much mind to the brief interlude.
Looking around the restaurant, he saw an open seat and walked straight over to sit down.
Less than two minutes later.
“Hey, fancy meeting you again.”
Yuri recognized the voice—it was Wally.
Turning his head, he saw Linda was there too.
“There aren’t any other open seats in the place, so…” Wally scratched his head awkwardly, trailing off.
“It’s fine.
I’m not eating here anyway.
Take a seat.”
With his permission, Wally and Linda sat down opposite Yuri with relief.
“Thanks.
By the way, my name is Linda Park.
What’s yours?” Linda asked Yuri warmly.
*Park…* Yuri’s heart stirred.
“Do you know someone named Peter Parker?”
“I don’t.
Is something up with Peter Parker?”
“Nothing. Find the original chapter at g.com.
I’m Yuri.
Yuri Alperona Sotos.”
“Wally West,” Wally added, introducing himself from the side.
“You don’t like being called ‘kid,’ do you, Yuri?” Linda stated with certainty.
Yuri blinked in surprise.
“When Wally and I called you ‘kid’ earlier, your expression turned pretty sour.”
“Really?
How did you spot that?” Wally asked in surprise.
“I didn’t notice at all.”
“That’s why your uncle always says you’re not ready yet,” Linda smiled faintly.
The two began chatting as if nobody else were around.
Yuri felt a bit exhausted.
Whether in his past life or this one, he was never good at dealing with people—especially overly familiar, warmhearted types.
But one thing did pique his curiosity.
Yuri didn’t consider himself a master of micro-expression control, but he had never liked showing his emotions too openly.
Usually, nobody paid attention to a stranger’s micro-expressions.
Wally, for instance, hadn’t picked up on Yuri’s subtle change in expression at all.
Yet Linda had noticed it.
That level of observation was far from ordinary.
Who was this woman?
“Miss Park, are you a detective?” Yuri suddenly asked.
Linda and Wally froze simultaneously.
Then Wally looked at Yuri with a look of utter disbelief.
“You don’t know who Linda Park is?”
“Why would I know?”
“How could you not know?”
Linda smacked Wally on the head.
“Enough, Wally.
I’m not that famous, and I rarely work these days.”
After scolding Wally, Linda turned back to Yuri and handed him a business card.
“I’m a reporter.”
“To add to that, she’s also the most popular news anchor in Central City,” Wally chimed in.
Hearing that, Yuri instantly remembered why Linda looked familiar.
“I remember now.
You did a story on Pied Piper, saying he’s a good guy now.
I read it in the paper.”
“That’s right,” Linda nodded with a smile.
*A reporter…* If Yuri remembered correctly, in American blockbusters, people in this profession were usually either heroes themselves or related to one.
Did something happen?” Yuri asked casually.
Linda’s lips curled into a gentle smile, and she held Wally’s hand.
“No way, you’re really gonna spill our business to a kid you don’t even know?” Wally had a hunch about what Linda was about to say.
“I just don’t see why it has to be a secret.
We’re getting married!
Next month!
But you’re still keeping it from our friends—from Iris, from Barry, from Jay, from Jesse…
Why?” Linda put her hands on her hips, annoyed.
*Looks like a couple about to walk down the aisle,* Yuri thought to himself.
He glanced at Wally.
The guy was lucky—Linda was gorgeous, and she clearly adored him.
However, what Linda said next gave Yuri a less-than-stellar impression of Wally.
Getting married while keeping it secret from close friends and family—what was up with that?
*Did you two elope to tie the knot in secret?
Romeo and Juliet?*
Just as Yuri was conjuring up a five-million-word tragic romance novel in his head, an electronic chime sounded.
“Order A1552, please come to the front counter to pick up your food.”
Yuri stood up and bade farewell to the couple.
“Nice to meet you, Mr.
West and Miss Park.
Oh, or Mrs.
West next time we meet.
I wish you a wonderful wedding.”
Before leaving the table, Yuri looked at Wally.
“Mr.
West, I didn’t mean to pry into your private life, but if you truly love Miss Park, you should openly share your happiness with your family.
They’ll give you their sincere blessings.”
With that, Yuri walked straight over to the counter, picked up his lunch, and left the burger joint.
Checking the time, it was 12:37 PM, nearly seven and a half hours before his 8:00 PM meetup.
“Off to the library.”
Yuri spent twenty minutes driving to the Central City Library, then checked out ten books, including *Advanced Mathematics*, *Classical Electromagnetism*, *On the Origin of Species*, *High-Energy Physics*…
He checked them out, transformed into Grey Matter, plowed through a book every minute, returned them all once finished, and then checked out ten more…
A Galvan’s brain was extraordinarily advanced; photographic memory was just baseline capability.
As he read, he could fully comprehend the complete meaning of every book.
In less than three hours, the depth of Yuri’s acquired knowledge was already enough to qualify him as a professor at any university in the world.
By the time Yuri needed to head out, he had read every single science-related book in the Central City Library.
It sounded ridiculous, but in truth, it wasn’t particularly useful.
After all, humanity’s overall level of technology was far too low.
While there was plenty of cutting-edge black tech, all of it was classified top-secret material held by major factions that Yuri had no way of accessing.
Returning all the borrowed books to the library, Yuri fired up the Rustbucket and drove toward Jem’s meeting location.