"So, this is my life. And I want you to know that I am both happy and sad and I'm still trying to figure out how that could be."
-Charlie (Perks of Being a Wallflower)
...
"Phantom Thief! This exhibition hall has only one exit behind me, and you have nowhere to run!"
Robin clenched his hands and stared at the Phantom Thief with a fierce expression that showed he was ready to fight.
At this time, Robin was full of fighting spirit, as if the gust of wind of victory was blowing from behind him.
'In the past, I've always had to chase after Phantom Thief, but this time, I finally have the upper hand.'
Robin excitedly thought to himself.
'I'm definitely going to give him a good beating!'
"Robin, you have discovered the reason why I can pass the identity inspection and learned the truth about the feathers appearing out of thin air. But there is still one mystery you haven't solved."
Facing Robin's strong fighting spirit, the Phantom Thief seemed unaware and calmly pointed out that he still had a secret to reveal.
The Phantom Thief turned around and looked at the display stand with the 'Hope Diamond'.
Inside the outer glass case lay a softly glowing blue-transparent box, but the diamond that should have been inside the box had already vanished without a trace.
Looking at the empty display stand, Phantom Thief said slowly, "The display stand for the 'Hope Diamond' is equipped with a gravity sensor. Any slight movement will trigger the alarm. As long as the alarm goes off..."
"Save your breath, tell me something I don't know."
Robin interrupted the Phantom Thief's explanation.
"And why should I have to solve your mystery? I'm not a Riddler!"
Being interrupted, Phantom Thief didn't seem bothered and continued in a calm tone, "You and I both know that the real 'Hope Diamond' is still on this display stand."
"Aren't you curious about how I managed to make the 'Hope Diamond' disappear without triggering the gravity sensor device or touching the glass case?"
"Hmph! What's so difficult about that?"
Robin said it in a disdainful tone.
"Don't think that just because you disguised yourself to be Dean before, I can't imagine how you did it. Let me tell you, if the real Dean was here, he would have seen through your little tricks immediately!"
"Oh? You're so confident about him? If Dean Thurston is really as great as you say, then why did he stay away from the stage?"
The Phantom Thief said it with a disdainful tone.
"I advise you to be careful with your words and not underestimate my friend."
Robin narrowed his eyes and said coldly, "With your little tricks, I can figure it out even without Dean here. Let me explain it to you."
"There is indeed a gravity sensor on the display stand, but the range it detects is only a small circle surrounding the diamond box inside the glass case. As long as you don't touch this small circle or the diamond box, the alarm won't be triggered. In the same way, moving the top glass case won't set off the alarm.
"So, the method is simple. You don't need to cover the box with a tool that can change the angle of light reflection. You just need to glue the tool inside the glass case and suspend it above the diamond box without touching the display stand. This will change the reflection of light, creating the illusion that the diamond inside the box has disappeared."
After finishing, Robin looked at Phantom Thief with a disdainful gaze and said, "This technique is similar to your disguise, it's something I thought of when I saw the leftover feathers on the ceiling."
"Robin, guess why I have been standing here chatting with you for so long."
At that moment, the Phantom Thief suddenly asked mysteriously with a playful smile.
"Huh?"
Robin was startled by the question.
'What does it mean to keep chatting with me here?'
'Isn't it you who wanted me to fully solve your techniques?'
"I guess you must have thought that you set a trap for me to fall into."
Phantom Thief smirked mysteriously at Robin and said, "I'll tell you a secret, I actually knew you would be sneaking me into the exhibition hall."
Hearing this, Robin immediately felt uneasy.
Snap!
The Phantom Thief extended his right hand and snapped his fingers in front of Robin.
Seeing his action, Robin's pupils shrank. He remembered that whenever the Phantom Thief snapped his fingers, something bad was about to happen.
As a result, he instinctively ran toward the Phantom Thief.
But then...
Nothing happened.
At that moment, Phantom Thief had just lifted the glass case covering the display stand with both hands. Inside the glass case was another slightly smaller glass-like structure.
After he revealed the two glass covers, the diamond inside the box appeared.
To be precise, it was the 'Stone of Misfortune' similar in appearance to the 'Hope Diamond'.
"Huh?"
Realizing that nothing had changed after he snapped his fingers, Robin was stunned.
Click!
Just then, a pair of oddly shaped handcuffs locked onto the Phantom Thief's right wrist.
"You almost fooled me, Phantom Thief!"
Robin grinned and fastened the other end of the handcuffs to his own wrist.
"These handcuffs take even Batman three minutes to unlock. Now let's see where you can run!"
The Phantom Thief sighed and raised his unshackled left hand to look at his watch.
"Well, I miscalculated the time. I was ten seconds early, but I'm sure it's time now."
The Phantom Thief muttered to himself, then suddenly stepped back from Robin, raising his hands and making a funny face at him.
"You're still twenty years too young to catch me, little Robin~"
"What?"
Seeing that the Phantom Thief had actually managed to escape from the handcuffs, Robin was shocked.
He quickly looked down at the handcuffs and realized that there was another handcuff next to them.
Without a doubt, the handcuffs that he put on earlier were just fake arms that Phantom Thief intentionally let him handcuff.
"Phantom Thief!"
Robin shouted in anger.
Boom!
Just as Robin was about to jump on Phantom Thief, everything suddenly went dark in the exhibition hall.
The lights were out in the exhibition hall.
Not only that, but even the security systems in the hall temporarily stopped working due to the sudden power outage.
While there were backup power sources, it would take some time to switch over.
Robin never expected that Phantom Thief had tampered with the power source, and he had been hiding all this time to perform this plan.
Why didn't he cut the power earlier? Could it be that the Phantom Thief had already planned for Robin to see through his disguise?
No, now is not the time to think about that!
'Phantom Thief's target must be the diamond. When he stepped back from the display stand earlier, he was farther away than me...'
Robin's thoughts raced like lightning. Without time to activate his night vision, he quickly moved to the 'Hope Diamond' display stand, which was just two steps away.
Fortunately, the diamond was still inside.
Puff!
Suddenly, a strange sound came from Robin's hand. It seemed to be coming from the handcuffs.
"Oh no!"
Robin instantly thought of the Phantom Thief's fake hand from earlier.
The sudden power outage caught him off guard, and he didn't even have time to activate the night vision on his mask, let alone unlock the handcuffs with a key.
At this moment, the fake hand on Robin's handcuffs was releasing a highly irritating gas, which made it difficult for Robin to move.
'Tear gas!'
...
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