"I don't care if no one like me, I wasn't created in this world to entertain everyone."
- Houtarou Oreki (Hyouka)
...
"I know there may be doubts about the reliability of the recording, so I kindly request the Wayne Group to help verify it. I believe that with the Wayne Group's technology, they can determine if this recording is a real voice. Is that alright, Commissioner Gordon?"
With Gordon's approval, Vicki walked down to the front row and handed the recorder to Alfred Pennyworth, who was seated in the middle.
And Dick Grayson.
The moment she saw Dick, Vicki froze for a moment. She remembered that Dick wasn't here before, so she asked Alfred about this.
Alfred calmly told her that Master Richard had gone to the bathroom.
Maybe because he was used to the food in Wayne Manor, he accidentally ate here and was not used to his stomach...
Now that Dick had returned from the bathroom, there seemed to be nothing wrong, but Vicki didn't seem to have seen Dick walk in.
Since she thought he was still in the bathroom. She didn't realize he had already returned to his seat.
"Then I will accept it on behalf of the Wayne Group, Miss Vale. I believe if Master Bruce were here, he would gladly take on this task."
Dick took the tape recorder and assured Vicki that the Wayne Group would finish it as soon as possible.
At this point, tonight's incident came to an end.
The identity of the person who entrusted Penguin to launder fifty million in illegal money is still unknown.
However, the police will soon start a full investigation into Ethan International Shipping Company, which will allow them to trace the transactions through hidden account records.
It is a pity that there isn't any direct evidence that leads to Penguin.
While the recording mentions 'Penguin', but it is not a real name, making it nearly impossible to trace it back to him.
That's the frightening thing about the Penguin.
Everyone in Gotham knows he is Gotham's criminal underworld kingpin, and many crimes can be traced back to him.
However, no matter how much they investigate, they can only find leads for his subordinates and never find any criminal evidence against Penguin himself.
Even Batman rarely catches the Penguin off guard. He usually just gives him a good beating, but he can't send him to prison.
However, all of that was the work of the GCPD and the court.
Vicki has already done her part, and the rest is no longer her concern. Even if she wanted to interfere, she couldn't.
Meanwhile, on the rooftop of the hotel.
A white figure with a trace of gray crawled out of the ventilation shaft at the edge of the rooftop.
It was Dean, suited up as the Phantom Thief.
After stopping Robin with tear gas, Dean ran up to the 20th floor and used the elevator card he took from Joey to activate the exclusive elevator to the 25th floor's Presidential Suite.
From there, he escaped through the ventilation duct.
It was the same ventilation duct where he overheard Ignatius's secret conversation with Joey.
In order to ensure the safety and privacy of this Presidential Suite, the entire power system including the exclusive elevator was shut down, and no surveillance equipment was installed.
It was the perfect escape route for Dean.
Brushing off himself, Dean took out the Grappling Gun and shot the rope.
One end was set on the roof, and the other end hung down to the ground where no one was around, and then he slid down with the rope.
Since Dean had left his cloak in the hotel during his magic performance for Robin, and he didn't bring any extra cloak with him.
He couldn't use the glide to fly and use to land the old-fashioned way.
As Dean slid down the rope, a few hundred meters away on a high building opposite Gotham International Grand Hotel...
There are three people hiding here, two of them are snipers who have set up their guns, and the last one is Ignatius Ogilvy, the most trusted subordinate of Penguin's henchmen.
"Aren't you going to take the shot, Ignatius? Phantom Thief is about to enter the blind spot,"
One of the snipers impatiently asked while watching through the scope as Phantom Thief kept dropping.
"Don't rush. I already talked with the boss in advance. Phantom Thief will fall into our hands, but we need to wait a bit longer. It's not the right time to kill him yet."
Beside them, Ignatius gently lit up a cigarette and replied calmly to his companion as if he didn't care about Phantom Thief.
"What did the boss say exactly? What if Phantom Thief escapes? Who will take the blame? I don't want to be the boss's scapegoat!"
The sniper expressed dissatisfaction with Ignatius's calm attitude, turning his head to glare at him.
Ignatius's eyes glinted, and he approached the sniper with a smile.
"If you're so prepared to take down Phantom Thief, then go ahead and shoot. But you must ensure a killing shot. If you're not confident about that, don't do it, understand?"
"No problem,"
The sniper had confidence in his marksmanship. He adjusted his sniper rifle and looked through the scope to aim at Phantom Thief above.
At this very moment, a sharp pain suddenly struck his throat.
Splurt!
A large amount of blood gushed out instantly.
The sniper covered his bleeding throat and looked at Ignatius in disbelief.
"You... you..."
Ignatius looked down at him with a mocking gaze, slowly raising his right hand wearing a black glove, holding a blood-stained playing card.
"I told you to wait first. It was my first time killing someone with a playing card, and I wasn't fully prepared yet. Luckily, it works on the first try. Otherwise, I would have been quite angry."
"Ugh... ugh—"
The sniper's eyes grew big with anger. He desperately reached out his hand, trying to grab Ignatius, but was easily kicked down by him.
Ignatius cut his carotid artery with a playing card, and the blood gushed out unstoppably.
The sniper soon gasped his last breath and died with his eyes wide open.
"What now, boss? Should we stay here for a while or go back directly?"
Ignatius suddenly killed the sniper, and the other sniper next to him did not only not panic but also calmly put away the sniper rifle and asked Ignatius.
It seemed he wasn't concerned about his companion getting killed by his own people or worried that Ignatius would attack him.
It can be seen from calling Ignatius "boss" this is a loyal subordinate trained by Ignatius himself.
"Why stay here? To enjoy the cold wind?"
Ignatius sneered and also put away the dead sniper's rifle.
After putting away the guns, the two of them moved out a huge box from the corner and put all the corpses, sniper rifles, and blood-stained playing cards inside.
Then, they changed into moving company uniforms and carried the box away.
"Boss, you killed this idiot. How do we explain this to the Penguin?"
Ignatius' subordinate asked.
Hearing that, Ignatius raised an eyebrow and replied sternly, "What did you say? I didn't kill anyone. He was killed by Phantom Thief!"
"Phantom Thief... That's why you used the playing card. I understand now, boss. It was Phantom Thief who killed our companion!"
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