"It does not matter how slowly you go, as long as you do not stop."
- Confucius
...
"Let me calculate the time, and he should be here by now."
The Phantom Thief pulled out a pocket watch and checked the time.
"I was right, wasn't I?"
Suddenly, Phantom Thief turned his head and looked towards a certain spot in the deep forest with a smirk.
Clearly, he wasn't talking to Black Mask.
"How did you find me?"
A hoarse and cold voice came from the direction that the Phantom Thief was looking.
Then a tall figure slowly emerged from the shadows.
With a muscular and powerful body, a sleek black suit, and a noticeable bat symbol on his chest, it was clear who the person was.
The Batman.
"Do you want to hear the truth or a lie?"
The Phantom Thief responded with a smile.
Batman didn't say a word; he just looked at the Phantom Thief calmly.
For some reason, even though the half-covered bat-shaped helmet had lenses blocking Batman's eyes, the Phantom Thief couldn't help but feel uneasy under Batman's gaze.
Still, the Phantom Thief had no intention of answering Batman's question. He maintained his smile and stared back at Batman without any change in expression.
He wasn't a teacher in school, so why should he answer every question others ask?
Moreover, this was a secret that couldn't be revealed.
It was extremely difficult to notice Batman's movement just by relying on his vision, especially in the dark forest.
If Phantom Thief focused his attention on observing his surroundings, there might have been a chance he could notice Batman.
However, Black Mask had already somewhat diverted his attention, so it was highly unlikely that he would notice when and from which direction Batman had come.
Then how did the Phantom Thief know this?
The mystery was hidden in the virtual live streaming room. Phantom Thief had discovered a new function of the live streaming room.
Not long ago, the virtual live streaming room had been closed once when the original viewers, including all the media workers in Gotham City, were kicked out of the room.
In fact, Phantom Thief didn't close the live streaming room. Instead, he set the viewer's perspective to only himself, and as for the host position...
Of course, he had set it up for Batman!
Through the virtual live-streaming room, Phantom Thief could spy on Batman's every move at what time he appeared in what place, and based on Batman's current position and actions, he could predict where he might appear next.
In fact, there was no need for predictions.
Batman was originally watching the "Bruce Wayne" live stream with Black Mask.
Even though the Black Mask made it here, there was no reason Batman couldn't keep up with his high-tech vehicles.
It could be because the forest is too big or because the exact spot hasn't been found yet.
During the confrontation between the Phantom Thief and the Black Mask, there were explosions and gunshots.
Batman would definitely come to the loud explosion unless he's deaf.
The Phantom Thief only needs to estimate the distance between Batman's location and here to roughly determine when Batman will arrive.
Let's say the virtual livestream room is used in a clever way.
In that case, it can not only provide an additional audience but also give the Phantom Thief an invisible and omnipotent perspective that no one involved could detect!
The only flaw is that the conditions for the host are more strict than the conditions for the audience.
After all, the audience is a group of five thousand people, and as long as these people have common characteristics, they can be brought into the livestream room.
However, the virtual livestream room only allowed for one individual host at a time. Therefore, he must know the identity of the individual in order to set them up as the host.
The Phantom Thief knows that Batman is Bruce Wayne, so he can set Batman as the host and observe Batman's movements from the audience's perspective.
If it had been a masked vigilante without a known identity, it wouldn't have worked.
However, the Phantom Thief's Mystic Eyes can somewhat make up for this flaw.
"I don't know what technology you used to broadcast that livestream throughout Gotham, but you deliberately led most of the members of the False Face Society and the Blackgate Prison escapees here... including me."
Seeing that the Phantom Thief remained silent, Batman didn't press further and asked another question.
"Why did you do this?"
"Why do you even ask? The person who should know the reasons best is you, Batman."
The Phantom Thief replied with a wry smile and shook his head.
"I am a magician. I don't want to see riots all over Gotham. It would endanger the lives of my audience and disrupt my future performances. It's a major concern that cannot be ignored."
"Of course, I also want this riot to be settled faster, and I will do what I can, such as luring the leading instigators to a place where the riot and fight won't escalate."
"It's late at night, and Gotham is in such a terrible state right now. Robinson Park is open, and these vast forests with countless natural trees are the best place to deal with the Black Mask and the battlefield where Batman's abilities can be fully utilized."
Swoosh!
While the Phantom Thief was speaking, Batman suddenly swung his right hand violently, and a batarang flew towards the Phantom Thief like a shooting star.
However, the target was not the Phantom Thief himself.
The batarang flew dangerously close to the side of the Phantom Thief's face, and its sharp blade almost grazed his hair.
"Ah!"
A scream of pain echoed.
It turned out that the Black Mask took advantage of the conversation between the Phantom Thief and Batman to quickly sneak up behind the Phantom Thief while planning to launch a surprise attack.
The gun's bullets had run out earlier, so the Black Mask decided to use the gun itself as a weapon and viciously hit the Phantom Thief's head.
However, a batarang crushed the Black Mask's plan.
The batarang hit not the gun but the Black Mask's hand holding the gun. It left a deep wound on his hand and even severed the tendons.
Thud!
The next moment, the Black Mask lost consciousness without warning while falling to the ground.
Of course, it wasn't due to the pain but because the batarang was filled with a tranquilizer. The amount was not lethal, but enough to immediately paralyze a person without killing them.
Once hit by the batarang, a regular person would immediately collapse.
The Phantom Thief was not concerned about what was happening behind him and didn't have any desire to turn around.
It was as if he had predicted that the Black Mask would try such a move and was certain that Batman would step in.
"Hmm... from the moment we started talking until now, not a single person with a peculiar mask has appeared..."
At this point, Phantom Thief suddenly recalled something and looked at Batman while slowly speaking, "I think that you've cleaned up the hundreds of members of the False Face Society, haven't you?"
...
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