"Do not use the innocent for your own amusement"
- Suehiro Tetchou (Bungo Stray Dogs)
...
Dick looked around the crowd carefully, but he didn't know that the most dangerous person was often the one closest to him.
"Hey, Richard and Dean!"
A clear female voice sounded from the side.
Barbara came over and greeted the two.
"Dick mentioned before that he had a friend in GCPD who had a lot of influence. I should have known it was you, Ms. Gordon."
Dean said it with a polite smile.
"You arrived one minute and twenty-three seconds later than expected, Barbara."
Dick looked at his watch and said it with a serious expression.
"Look at you with your behavior, this is why you'll never be as popular as Dean."
Barbara snorted softly and then explained.
"I had a reason for being late. I saw my dad talking to a group of people just now. They seemed to be discussing security adjustments once the official exhibition started."
"Oh wow, are you sure I can hear this information?"
Dean jokingly exaggerated.
"Both of you are the daughter of a police commissioner and the heir to Wayne Enterprises. It's normal for you to know some secrets. Should I stay away from it for a bit?"
Dick couldn't help but roll his eyes, "Your lame joke isn't even funny, let alone cool."
"Let's not forget our identities today. We are detectives, and the only goal is to investigate the Phantom Thief."
"You're really into this game."
Dean joked.
"There's something I'm really curious about, Ms. Gordon. Why would you want to play this cop-catching-thief game with this guy?"
Dean turned to Barbara and pointed at Dick.
"Just call me Barbara. Dean, you don't have to be so formal all the time."
Barbara corrected her name and then answered, "This guy said he wanted to be a cop, which reminds me of myself back then. If it weren't for my father's overprotection,I might have been a policewoman by now… Or maybe blown up to death in some corner, who knows?"
"Now that he has the idea of being a cop and plans to follow this dream, why shouldn't I help him, even if it's just a game?"
Okay, they've come up with an excuse that Dean, as an ordinary person, can barely believe, making him think that they're really just doing all this for Dick's dream of being a cop.
Dean actually knew that Dick and Barbara wanted to use his magic abilities to see if they could stop the Phantom Thief in this area.
But at the same time, they also had to make sure that Dean wouldn't suspect their secret identities and come up with different excuses to cover up any suspicious situations.
Even Dean started to wonder how Dick and Barbara would disappear when Robin and Batgirl appeared.
It can be said that both sides were struggling in the same way.
"...Actually, there's another reason I came here today."
Barbara suddenly turned to Dean and said solemnly, "It's to see you!"
The sincerity of her apology was clear in the way her eyes filled with guilt.
"When we met at the library before, I forced you to eat cheese beef rolls to prevent the dining area from changing the recipe. I've always wanted to apologize to you for that."
Dean knew that Barbara was talking about something else, but he couldn't show that he understood.
So he decided to play dumb.
"Ah? Oh! I remember now that there was indeed something like that. If you hadn't mentioned it, I would've almost forgotten it. Hey! It's not a big deal, and the cheese beef rolls weren't that bad."
Dean played along.
"Cough, cough! Barbara, let's talk about the real issue first. What's this about the security adjustments?"
Dick coughed loudly next to them, which made them stop the awkward atmosphere between them.
"I'm not sure about the specifics, but I happened to overhear a couple of things when I passed by them."
Barbara's expression turned serious as she said, "What is certain is that the 'Hope Diamond' won't be displayed in any public exhibition hall. Instead, it will be exhibited in a separate hall."
"They said this separate hall was specially built by Henry Orpheus for 'Hope Diamond' and equipped with the most advanced civilian security system."
"Where is this exhibition hall?"
Dick hurriedly asked.
"They were heading in that direction when I met them, if I remember correctly,"
Barbara said while pointing the way.
"Besides the separate hall for the 'Hope Diamond,' the entire exhibition hall has undergone different upgrades and renovations."
Barbara explained as they walked.
"For example, the ordinary glass windows have all been replaced with high-strength, fire-resistant, and blast-resistant tempered glass that can withstand high temperatures. They are much stronger than the normally used bulletproof glass. In addition, almost every high-value collection has been equipped with highly sensitive gravity sensors. Once a few grams of weight change are detected, it triggers an alarm, and all the doors of the exhibition halls instantly close. These doors are made to be as strong as those in bomb bunkers."
"To avoid power outages caused by power supply damage, every spot with a backup power source has extra power supplies. And even for areas without extra power sources, they've prepared two separate power supply lines that don't interfere with each other. Even if one line is cut off, it won't result in a power outage."
Dean couldn't help but think that if regular public exhibition halls had this level of protection, then the separate exhibition hall for 'Hope Diamond' must be even more terrifying.
'This is definitely a serious problem.'
Dean thought to himself.
Before long, the three of them arrived at an exhibition hall that was clearly separated from the others.
More than ten police officers surrounded the hall and stopped anyone from getting near the entrance.
Seeing this setup, they knew they had come to the right place.
The exhibition hall was quite small, about less than ten square meters, as it only needed to hold the exhibit called the 'Hope Diamond'.
Looking at it this way, the space seemed a bit too big.
"Barbara?"
As usual, Harvey, who was guarding the entrance quickly noticed Barbara and the other two on the opposite side of the corridor.
"And Dick and... the kid from the Thurston family?"
Harvey walked over and said to the three of them, "Hey! Kids, this area is not open to the public yet. You should go somewhere else to visit."
"Uncle Harvey, are my dad and the Smithsonian Museum representatives who are responsible for handing over the 'Hope Diamond' still inside?"
Barbara glanced at the door of the separate exhibition hall and asked.
Upon hearing Barbara's words, Harvey suddenly had a bad feeling.
"What are you planning to do this time, Barbara?"
Harvey warned, "Don't forget, Jim said that the Natural History Museum incident was the first and last time he agreed to let you participate in the GCPD's work against Phantom Thief."
"Moreover, you brought two underage kids this time. If you don't want to see your dad go mad, you better go back home."
"By the way, have any of you figured out the latest Phantom Thief's notice letter?"
Barbara smiled slyly and asked in return.
The reason she and Dick had deciphered the riddle of the notice letter but didn't tell the police was precisely for this moment.
...
A/N: If we reach 900 power stones today, I will release an additional chapter tomorrow.
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