Starting from scratch, Batman crushed my dream of getting rich

Chapter 414 There is no more vicious punishment than sending him home.

Although he was being scolded, Hartley wasn't in a bad mood. In fact, his feelings were quite complicated, which could be described as a pie chart.

Five parts surprise, three parts doubt, one part helplessness, and one part numbness and indifference.

His parents' voices reached his ears clearly and accurately, sounding vivid and real; the throbbing wound deep in his cochlea was now completely numb; and the hearing aid that he loathed but had to forcefully insert into his ear, implanted in flesh and blood and connected to the nerves, seemed to have vanished as well. The foreign body sensation he had grown accustomed to for nine months had finally disappeared, leaving only a faint phantom pain to remind him that the painful experience he had gone through was not a dream.

"My hearing...has been restored?"

He muttered to himself, and couldn't help but wave his hands around his ears a few times. The delicate sound of the wind immediately entered his ears, a natural sound sensation that even the best hearing aids could not match.

His surprise stemmed from the inexplicable restoration of his hearing, while his doubts also arose from this inexplicable restoration, because, to his knowledge, there was currently no medical means in the world that could restore his damaged ears.

After all, after discovering that he had lost his hearing, he frantically searched for relevant research and cases at the forefront of global medical technology. It was only three months later that he fully accepted the reality that there was no cure and placed his hopes on his own knowledge and abilities.

Indeed, in the DC universe, gifted individuals always manage to achieve extraordinary feats.

At this moment, his helplessness and numb indifference were directed at his parents, who still refused to accept him. This was not because he supported the LGBT people who had been marching wildly in the streets a few days ago; in fact, he knew that those people were just trying to use their rainbow-colored identity to fight for privileges rather than equality, and some of them were just ordinary people who called themselves LGBT.

It's all just business.

But for him, "not liking women" is an established fact, and there's nothing he can do about it.

What can I do if I was born this way?
This is the only way I can survive.

He was too lazy to argue or make a scene, so he simply stayed away from the noisy parade and lived a quiet life while perfecting his sonic gloves.

He was waiting for the day he could take revenge on Wells, not only because of the explosion, but also because Wells had betrayed him.

With that thought in mind, Hartley didn't say another word to his parents. He turned his head and looked at Cisco.

"Wells picked a new pet, didn't he?" He sneered. "But not the three of you. A lackey is still a lackey—I bet the Flash is his favorite."

At this point, Cisco immediately led him a few steps away to prevent the officers in the distance from hearing what Hartley was saying—the cooperation between the lab and the police was common knowledge, but the cooperation between the lab and the Flash was secret, in order to prevent anyone from using the people in Star Labs to blackmail Barry.

“You’d better watch your mouth,” Cisco warned him in a low voice. “Otherwise, I’ll have to shut you up.”

He turned to Ma Zhaodi and asked, "Where's Snart? Where's the painting?"

"They're all gone." Ma Zhaodi shrugged. "Shauna couldn't kill him alone, and 'The Piper' just went down. What else can we do?"

"And who is the piper?"

"Hartley, if you can use your voice as a weapon, isn't this name quite fitting?"

Cisco sighed. "You're right, but I haven't been able to come up with a new nickname in a long time. I really feel like you guys are deliberately taking away my fun."

“I like that nickname,” Hartley interjected. “I can accept it.”

Cisco rolled his eyes.

"Let's go, it's time to get back to the lab."

At Star Labs, Hartley met Caitlin.

"Long time no see," he greeted politely. "Although there are fewer people, at least they're all familiar faces—by the way, where did the rest of the people go?"

Caitlin ignored his trash talk.

At that moment, Wells, who was in a wheelchair, gently slid out from the side.

"Long time no see, Hartley." Upon seeing that familiar old face, Hartley instinctively clenched his fist.

"How did you know the Flash was working with us?"

“Just write an algorithm to predict the Flash’s trajectory based on his speed and time—he always comes back here after solving a crime.”

It sounded casual and wasn't meant to be boastful, but Cisco and Caitlin couldn't help but glance at it, knowing the technical difficulty hidden in those few words.

"Let's skip the boring reminiscing and get straight to the point," Hartley continued. "Your betrayal of me, and the fact that you kept it from these few die-hard idiots who still follow you—how about I just tell them for you?"

"Is this your revenge against me?"

“No, I would love for you to be dead, Wells,” Hartley replied. “But then I thought about it, and it would be too easy for you to die like that. People would think you died like a dignified professor, and no one would see that you were a hypocrite.”

Harrison stared into Hartley's eyes, as if he could see through them and see the burning flames of anger within them.

“I was too confident, to the point of being arrogant,” he replied. “The explosion was not my intention.”

"Then you should have listened to my warning and stopped the experiment!"

"Wait, he warned you?!" Caitlin's eyes widened. "Before the experiment started, he said there was a possibility of an explosion?"

“Oh, that’s not all.” Hartley laughed. “Do you know what my response was after I warned you?”

“Hartley, you have been relieved of your duties at Star Labs.”

With an icy expression, Hartley repeated Wells's words slowly and deliberately: "If you dare to utter even one unsubstantiated accusation to anyone, I guarantee you'll only get a job teaching high school physics in the physics world."

Everyone stared at Wells in disbelief, but Wells remained silent until finally letting out a long sigh.

"Yes, I ignored Hartley's warnings and stubbornly activated the accelerator."

“And I have no doubt you would do the same to the Flash.” Hartley sneered. “Betrayal can happen once, and it can happen again.”

"I need to... take a short break."

Caitlin was the first to run out of the lab.

"Hey, Caitlin!"

Cisco glanced at Wells, then ultimately decided to chase after him.

"Let's go, I'll take you home."

Ma Zhaodi also said.

"what?"

Hartley, who was still immersed in the thrill of revenge, paused for a moment and asked, "Why are you taking me home?"

“Isn’t that obvious?” Ma Zhaodi said, “I’ve already checked. You’ve been smashing up your own building these past few days. Your parents have chosen not to prosecute, so your only crime is assaulting the doctor.”

"But judging from the doctor's expression, it's obvious he doesn't intend to sue you, so of course we'll send you home."

"what?!"

The thought of going home and facing his parents again, only to have their antics cause chaos once more, made Hartley feel dizzy.

(End of this chapter)