"The one you love and the one who loves you are never, ever the same person."
- Chuck Palahniuk
...
"Commissioner Gordon, GCPD officers, and Batgirl, I will bring you even more exciting performances in the future. Please look forward to it, HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Just a few seconds after Phantom Thief disappeared from the pole, a cheerful laugh echoed from the sky.
All attention shifted towards the voice of Phantom Thief as he glided through the air with his glider, making his way towards the Jungle Exhibition Hall.
"He's heading back to the Jungle Exhibition Hall?"
Seeing this scene, Batgirl and Jim frowned.
The information they got from the first line of the notice letter was that the Phantom Thief would show up in the Jungle Exhibition Hall at midnight on March 10.
Then he would use this as a starting point to steal the Dragon's Egg Ruby Necklace from the museum's Cultural Exhibition Hall.
But when midnight came, it was true that the Phantom Thief had appeared, but his location was on the large square of the Natural History Museum, which meant that he did not intend to use the Jungle Exhibition Hall as the starting point for his crime.
So, they confidently rushed out from the Jungle Exhibition Hall.
Now, The Phantom Thief flew back to the Jungle Exhibition Hall, leaving everyone confused.
If his target was the necklace, why didn't he go directly to the Cultural Exhibition Hall instead of the Jungle Exhibition Hall?
Is the way the notice was understood correct?
Tatata!
In the sky above Phantom Thief, two police helicopters approached and hovered just above him.
The gun on the bottom of the helicopter was already aimed at him.
"Sir, Phantom Thief is about to reach the rooftop of the Jungle Exhibition Hall. Our weapons are ready. Should we open fire?"
The pilot contacted Jim through the communicator. He was confident that he could turn the Phantom Thief into dust in an instant.
Hearing the question from his subordinates, Jim showed a hesitant expression on his face.
In all honesty, he believed that the Phantom Thief must be brought to justice, but he didn't think he deserved to die.
Even according to Gotham law, if the criminal still resists and refuses to cooperate, the police will not be held accountable if they kill him on the spot.
If it were the Joker, Two-Face, or any other criminal from Arkham Asylum, Jim would not hesitate to give the order to open fire.
But Phantom Thief was different.
During his first crime, Jim may have had no objection when he committed the crime for the first time, and now Gordon really doesn't want him to die like this.
It seems that there is nothing to hesitate about in this situation.
If you don't want to kill, then don't.
Any ordinary person would think that way.
But Jim's way of thinking was different.
Thinking of its deeper importance, Phantom Thief's existence could lead to a wave of dangerous imitators.
This is an extremely dangerous situation, and there has been a similar situation in Gotham.
If they could quickly capture the Phantom Thief, Jim could temporarily set aside his personal feelings and prevent any potential threat.
And that's what was causing his dilemma.
"Hey, Jim, don't forget you have an agreement with him."
At this moment, Batgirl suddenly came to Jim and reminded her with a serious face.
Jim was taken aback to hear those words, but then he remembered that Batman had told him he hoped he could keep the GCPD police from killing criminals too easily in front of Batman and his sidekicks unless they had to do it.
"For now, hold your fire and continue monitoring Phantom Thief. Wait for further instructions!"
After being reminded by Batgirl, Jim immediately made a decision.
"That doesn't make sense! The weather conditions should make it difficult to control a glider. Why is Phantom Thief flying so smoothly, and his speed is a bit too fast?"
At this time, someone in the square suddenly shouted.
When everyone heard it, yes, with such heavy rain and such strong wind, and there was airflow rolled up by helicopter in the sky, a regular glider would have been blown away long ago.
It seemed impossible for Phantom Thief to fly so steadily with such incredible speed.
Some people wanted to see what Phantom Thief had done, but the weather was too dark, and the rain made it impossible to see Phantom Thief in the air.
"Helicopter One, Helicopter Two, report on Phantom Thief Kid's status!"
Without hesitation, Gordon took the walkie-talkie and contacted the pilots of the two helicopters.
The pilots responded, "It's a jet-propelled rotor! We found that Phantom Thief installed a jet-propelled rotor on the tail of his glider. We don't know how he did it, but it's definitely a powerful device!"
After hearing the pilot's report, Jim's eyebrows twitched.
Why does Phantom Thief always use such strange and weird gadgets?
At this point, he was just like Batman.
It could be that Phantom Thief and Batman graduated from the same school.
"You follow me back to the Cultural Exhibition Hall, and everyone else, go to the Jungle Exhibition Hall to chase Phantom Thief!"
There was no time to think about these things.
Jim called for all the police officers present and instructed most of them to the Jungle Exhibition Hall to chase Phantom Thief.
Batgirl followed this group.
As for himself, he led a small team back to the Cultural Exhibition Hall.
If the main force lost track of Phantom Thief, they could serve as the last line of defense to protect the Dragon's Egg Ruby necklace.
"Phantom Thief is going to steal that necklace, huh? Do you think he will be able to do it in the end?"
"Leaving that aside for now, what should we do? Should we go home or wait for the final result?"
The GCPD officers flooded towards the Jungle Exhibition Hall and the Cultural Exhibition Hall, and the audience who were originally in the square was a little at a loss at this time.
"It's quite late now, and I have to work tomorrow. I need to go home. Whatever the result, I'll just read the headlines in tomorrow's newspaper."
"If you want to go home, go ahead. Seeing one of Phantom Thief's magic performances was enough for me. But I'll wait here for news of the necklace being stolen."
"Although, how can the stealing of the necklace be considered good news?"
"I don't care about that. It's none of my business if a rich person loses something. Phantom Thief's success is what I'm waiting for, so I can see his even more amazing performance."
The audience was divided into two parts.
The majority chose to go home, while another group chose to stay and wait for Phantom Thief to successfully steal the necklace.
As for the small group of people, they made a completely different choice.
They actually followed and rushed towards the exhibition hall!
It was strange because they weren't all heading to the Jungle Exhibition Hall or the Cultural Exhibition Hall.
Many of them went to other halls, in pairs or small groups, and it's unclear what their plans were.
Maybe they wanted to experience the feeling of walking through a museum at night.
At this moment, a man wearing a black hoodie and a hat on his head walked into the Library Exhibition Hall located on the west side of the Cultural Exhibition Hall.
"As I suspected, I knew you wouldn't take straight to the point."
Just as he stepped through the entrance, a voice sounded from behind him.
"Phantom Thief!"
...
A/N: Give me power stones guys.
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