With the activation of the device, the vaporized Reverse Man-Bat Inhibitor quickly spread throughout Gotham.
As many as hundreds of thousands of infected people with the Man-Bat virus slowly returned to their human forms.
These people all fell into a deep coma without exception.
This might seem very dangerous since most Man-Bats were flying in the sky, and suddenly turning back into humans could easily kill them by falling.
However, the Reverse Man-Bat Inhibitor didn't work instantly.
It took ten to several tens of seconds for Man-Bats to transform back into humans.
During this process, they wouldn't immediately lose their ability to fly and could safely land on the ground.
Furthermore, in order to cover the entire Gotham, the device would have diluted the Reverse Man-Bat Inhibitor to give the Man-Bats more time to land.
Of course, there would definitely be unlucky people who suffered injuries or casualties during the process of falling from high altitudes.
Although it would take a lot of people and time to send all the unconscious people on the streets, rooftops, and power poles to the hospital, it would still take a long time for Gotham to fully recover.
However, these were just small problems.
If the virus had infected all the people in Gotham, the city would have turned into a city of Man-Bats; these deaths and problems would not have been important.
There was no longer any sign of the dark cloud of Man-Bats hanging over Gotham all night.
The one who had dispelled it wasn't the Batman people had imagined, but rather the unexpected Phantom Thief.
He had truly followed his promise and "stolen" the virus that threatened people's lives!
The Phantom Thief's virtual live stream room also closed after the successful activation of the device.
The last image people saw in the live stream room was the Phantom Thief bowing as always.
No one knew when the Phantom Thief had left Wayne Tower, and no one knew the identity of the mysterious girl by his side.
On the other side, on an open piece of land several kilometers from Wayne Tower, Batman carefully controlled the Batwing to land smoothly.
Throughout the entire landing process, there was not even a slight tremor.
This was because the top of the Batwing was now filled with people who had reverted to Man-Bats.
When countless Man-Bats surrounded the Batwing, many of them didn't have time to leave and turned back into humans directly on top of the Batwing.
To prevent these people from being thrown off and falling to their deaths due to the plane's vibrations, Batman had to pilot the Batwing gently.
After transferring all the people hanging on the Batwing to the ground, Batman flew the Batwing back to the Batcave.
Batgirl and Robin were already waiting there.
"Have you seen the news from sixteen minutes ago, Batman? The Phantom Thief is now Gotham's great hero, and many citizens are calling on the city government to pardon him for his theft."
When Batman returned, Robin held up his phone and spoke to him.
"I need the results of your investigation into the Penguin's Gang. What is the connection between Penguin and the Man-Bat virus leak?"
Batman ignored Robin's words and asked about their progress with the investigation.
"The situation is a bit...complicated."
Batgirl replied, who was standing nearby.
Upon hearing this, Batman narrowed his eyes.
"The Penguin has disappeared."
Robin said with a serious expression as he approached.
"While the Man-Bat virus was spreading and countless Man-Bats were pursuing Penguin's gang. They got into a car accident while trying to escape to the Iceberg Lounge. All of Penguin's henchmen died, and his whereabouts are unknown, whether he's alive or dead."
However, when Batgirl and I went to investigate the accident scene, the Man-Bats had completely destroyed it. There were no intact bodies left behind..."
"Maybe Penguin managed to escape, or maybe he became food for those Man-Bats."
Robin's tone was heavy, and Batgirl's face was grim. It was hard to imagine what kind of gruesome scene they had seen.
"There were many people who saw Penguin during his escape, and some surveillance cameras captured relevant footage, which confirms this."
The more Batman listened, the tighter his brows furrowed.
At first, Penguin brought many henchmen to fight with the False Face Society led by Black Mask.
If he planned the Man-Bat virus leak, Penguin must know how to control the Man-Bats or have a cure for the Man-Bat virus.
After all, the Penguin couldn't have wanted a city overrun by uncontrollable Man-Bats.
What he needed was a Gotham that would bring him power and wealth.
Moreover, the Penguin had been attacked by the Man-Bats he supposedly released as part of his scheme, which resulted in the deaths of his own subordinates.
Batman didn't think the Penguin would do something so strange.
Unless... the so-called chase was also part of Penguin's plan!
He might have had a way to control the Man-Bats all along, but he staged this drama to clear his suspicion and make people believe he was also a victim.
It sounded ridiculous, but in Batman's view, this is something Penguin could do.
The only question was why he would do this.
There were other possibilities as well.
Maybe someone in the Penguin Gang may have plotted everything behind Penguin's back, or... the Penguin Gang member who threatened Kirk Langstrom has another hidden identity!
He might not be a member of the Penguin's gang, but he wants to blame the Penguin Gang.
"Penguin is currently missing, but what about his henchmen?"
Batman suddenly asked.
If the Penguin's gang's boss had suddenly gone missing and been thought to be dead, the gang could not have stayed the same.
"Ignatius Ogilvy is currently in charge of the Iceberg Lounge. He used to be the Penguin's secretary, sort of the second-in-command of the Penguin's gang."
Batgirl responded.
"Since the Penguin's disappearance, Ignatius has been stabilizing the gang's affairs."
'Ignatius?'
Batman suddenly remembered the man who had tried to kick him when he last went to see the Penguin.
If he recalled correctly, that man was Ignatius.
'How much time had passed?'
Batman had assumed he was still lying in the hospital, but now he had come out and taken over for the Penguin?
Batman's intuition told him that this Ignatius had to be involved somehow.
Whoever is behind the spread of the Man-Bat virus must be hiding within the Penguin's gang.
"I'm going to meet this Ignatius now."
Batman said.
After that, Batman was about to turn and leave the Batcave, just less than five minutes after he came back.
"Wait, Master Bruce!"
Suddenly, Alfred appeared out of nowhere, stopped Batman, and held a box in his hand.
"You've been fighting all night and just went through a difficult battle. You should rest before continuing."
"No, Alfred, I'm not tired enough to need rest yet."
Batman walked towards the Batwing parked nearby without even looking back.
"Don't forget, Francine Langstrom hasn't been rescued yet. She's still kidnapped, and we don't even know if she's alive. She needs help, and it's extremely urgent!"
"Until we rescue Francine and catch the mastermind behind this, I don't have time to rest."
At this point, Batman paused suddenly, looked at Robin and Batgirl, and said, "You don't have time to rest either!"
"We never planned on resting."
Robin and Batgirl said it at the same time.
"According to the information provided by Kirk, Francine was kidnapped in a place without light, and even the photos they used to threaten him were taken with a flashlight. It looks like some kind of warehouse."
"That place can receive cellphone signals because the kidnapper made Francine and Kirk talk on the phone."
They had returned to the Batcave earlier to investigate how many suitable locations there were in Gotham.
It was hard to decide where to start checking after looking through the surveillance footage for any suspicious people or vehicles seen in the city's many warehouses.
The task of going through them one by one would be long and exhausting, but it was something they had to do.
"In fact, if you hadn't come back, we would have left the Batcave already."
Robin told Batman.
"I knew you'd say that, so I wasn't expecting you to rest properly, but at least... you should eat something."
Seeing their attitudes, Alfred sighed in resignation and then raised the box he was holding.
"It's bacon and cheese pizza. You can't help save others on an empty stomach."
...
Wayne Tower on a rooftop.
Due to the Gotham riot and the events with the Man-Bat last night, the buildings and facilities nearby have been reduced to ruins, and the surveillance cameras that could reach this area have all been damaged.
Normally, no one would want to wander around here, but now there are two people.
One of them was a petite young girl dressed in black.
She held a full-face mask in her hand, which looked like it was just taken off not long ago.
The other is a young man in a white suit with a high-top hat.
Their eyes locked as they stood there facing each other.
Cassandra widened her eyes as she studied the figure of the Phantom Thief in front of her.
The more she looked, the more she felt that this person gave her the same feeling as Dean.
To be precise, it wasn't just a resemblance; it was exactly the same.
The details that the Phantom Thief's body gives Cassandra are completely the same as those of Dean's body.
Even though she had known this fact for a while, Cassandra couldn't help but be amazed every time she saw it.
This phenomenon was extremely rare.
If Dean and Phantom Thief were truly different people, she even suspects that only Phantom Thief and Dean in the world share the same body language.
After all, this situation was just too bizarre.
Cassandra had even doubted whether she had possibly been mistaken from the beginning.
When she first saw Phantom Thief from the distant audience standing at the Gotham City Stadium, the distance was too far, and the image on the screen was a bit distorted.
That's why she confused the Phantom Thief's body language with Dean's.
Maybe the two people were just somewhat similar.
But now, facing the Phantom Thief in person, Cassandra could confirm that she didn't make a mistake.
This confirmation made Cassandra think of the question she had always had.
Is Dean really not the Phantom Thief?
With this thought in mind, Cassandra slowly raised something from behind and placed it in front of the Phantom Thief.
It was a piece of paper with a straight sentence written on it.
"You... You must be Dean Thurston, right?"
The handwriting on the paper was a bit messy, each letter was crooked and uneven, as if it had been written by a child just starting to learn how to write.
The good news was that, although the writing was messy, it was still easy to read.
The Phantom Thief immediately understood what Cassandra meant. But instead of speaking, he answered through actions.
He reached out and grabbed his collar, then pulled it down forcefully, causing his white suit, cape, and top hat on his head to be pulled off as well.
With a swish, Phantom Thief completely took off his thief suit, revealing a very ordinary casual outfit.
The true face of the Phantom Thief, which countless people in Gotham had dreamt of seeing, was now openly shown in front of Cassandra.
In that moment, Cassandra's pupils shrank upon seeing this person's face.
The Phantom Thief was Dean Thurston, whom she had known long ago.
On the other side, Dean remained calm.
He knew that this day would come sooner or later when Dean used his abilities with the Mystic Eyes on Cassandra.
Although he hadn't expected it to happen in such a situation, it wasn't necessarily a bad time.
At this moment, he chose to reveal his true identity early. This decision wasn't entirely his choice, but because he had to.
Dean was well aware of Cassandra's ability.
Whatever answer he gave when she asked if he was Dean, Cassandra would only see it as an acknowledgment.
This was very different from being asked if he was the Phantom Thief.
It would be pointless even if he tried to deceive himself by saying he was just a traveler and not the real Dean Thurston.
Because he was Dean, it wasn't just pretending; Dean's life was his life, and he couldn't deceive even himself.
If he couldn't even deceive his own thoughts, then it would be even more impossible to deceive Cassandra's eyes.
...
A/N: I don't know how everyone sees the issue of Cassandra recognizing the MC, but the fact is that she will definitely be able to recognize him. Although I previously wrote that I had been able to deceive her for a while, I only delayed the moment rather than completely fooling her. With Cassandra's ability, as long as she sees the MC, she will definitely recognize his identity unless the MC has a split personality or forcefully modifies Cassandra's consciousness to hide it.
...
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