DC: Phantom Thief Kid

Chapter 27: Secrecy

"We're all stories in the end, we just have to make it a good one."

- The Doctor (Doctor Who)

...

Listening to the support requests coming from different patrol teams, Jim's face turned dark.

The total number of 'Phantom Thiefs' discovered had exceeded twenty, scattered throughout the entire eighteenth floor in different corners.

Which ones were dummies, which one was the real Phantom Thief, or if any of them are real, is still unknown.

How did Phantom Thief manage to release so many dummies in so many places?

'Could it be that in the less than thirty minutes I was checking the surveillance footage, Phantom Thief not only tampered with the power supply but also spread many dummies? How is that possible? How could so many dummies have remained hidden until now without anyone noticing?'

On stage, Robin's expression was also gloomy.

Phantom Thief was always one step ahead of them, so they always fell into his traps.

Ever since becoming Robin, he has faced many criminals in Gotham, including the Riddler, Two-Face, Penguin, and even the Joker, but a situation like this is rare.

Although Robin and the others had been playing right into Phantom Thief's hands, they had not guessed everything wrong.

For example, they once thought that Phantom Thief was disguised among the bidders...

At this moment, Dean was indeed disguised as someone, calmly hidden among the crowd.

In fact, his situation was quite tough.

The police had set up a perimeter around the auction bidders, which they were all still inside.

If Jim suddenly realized that Phantom Thief must be hiding among the crowd and that everyone outside was a dummy.

Then he would order to tighten the perimeter and then start verifying the identity of each person, and the situation would turn against Dean in an instant.

But this would mean giving up on chasing the 'Phantom Thief' outside, whose identities were unknown, whether they were real or dummies.

Because GCPD's police resources were limited, they couldn't guarantee that no one would escape from the perimeter and, at the same time, give the police the opportunity to catch the dummy.

The problem was, who could be sure of Phantom Thief's real body?

Who would dare gamble on that?

Robin said he would.

"Ignore those running dummies; they're all smoke bombs set up by Phantom Thief!"

Robin came to Jim and said it with a serious face.

"No matter what puzzling things he has done, don't forget his ultimate goal - 'Pink Fantasy'!"

When hearing this, Jim immediately understood and quickly ordered someone to bring the auction host, Manager Joey Cicero.

Joey was in the middle of the crowd and was quickly brought in front of Jim.

'What's going on? Why are these cops bothering me instead of going after Phantom Thief? Could it be... they found out about the fake pink diamond?'

Thinking of this, Joey felt uneasy as he avoided Jim's sharp gaze.

Jim grew suspicious at Joey's unusual behavior and grabbed his face, and pulled it hard.