Chapter 30: Phantom Thief Escape
"We accept the love we think we deserve."
- Mr. Anderson (The Perks of Being a Wallflower)
...
"Ah—"
As Robin turned the corner, he suddenly bumped into something soft.
Immediately, a woman's shout echoed through the corridor.
Robin looked closely and saw Vicki sitting on the floor, rubbing her head in confusion.
"You... are you Robin?"
Seeing Robin in front of her, Vicki's face lit up with joy. She didn't rush to get up but instead pointed behind her.
"Phantom Thief just ran past, and I was about to catch up and stop him, but I didn't expect you to be right behind me and accidentally bump into me."
Robin followed Vicki's finger and indeed saw Phantom Thief's figure in the corridor, who had already run far away.
"When he ran past, he also threw this thing to me. It looks like a recorder, but I'm not sure what it was."
Vicki raised her hand to show Robin a small, slim, black box, not much bigger than a regular lighter.
Robin glanced at Phantom Thief, then at Vicki.
"I'm sorry, Miss Vale."
Without hesitation, he reached out and pinched Vicki's face to confirm if she might be the Phantom Thief in disguise.
And he still managed to apologize in advance.
"Oh! What are you doing?"
Caught off guard by Robin grabbing her face, Vicki screamed.
It was her real face.
Vicki is not Phantom Thief.
But... why was Vicki Vale here at this moment?
And what did the recorder Phantom Thief give her represent?
He was currently being chased, so why did he make this move? And what was on the recorder?
Even before the auction began, when Robin, as Dick, met Vicki at the restaurant, it seemed like she had been looking for William.
However, William was the Phantom Thief's later disguise.
Was there some connection between these two things?
Confirming Vicki's identity didn't solve the problem. Instead, it raised more questions in Robin's mind.
He just didn't have time to think about all these questions now.
"I can't let Phantom Thief get away!"
Robin temporarily pushed aside his doubts and chased after Phantom Thief.
Vicki watched the two figures disappear into the distance, her expression turning serious. She stood up and started her own tasks.
However, she didn't follow Phantom Thief and Robin but instead turned the corner and headed down the hallway where they came from.
Phantom Thief was walking down the corridor that led to the entrance of the auction house.
Thump, thump, thump!
Hearing the footsteps behind him, Phantom Thief turned to glance and sighed, "Here you come again! Why are you so persistent, like a clingy dog, Are you a dog?"
"If you really want an answer, then yes!"
Robin said it firmly.
"Is that so?"
Phantom Thief looked ahead and noticed that the stairs were just fifteen meters away on his right. He quickly made up his mind.
"It seems like you're not going to let go of me unless we settle this here!"
He stopped and turned to face Robin, his voice cold.
He suddenly held a uniquely designed silver-white pistol in his hand, something Robin had never seen him use before.
'He wants to kill me? Have I been wrong about Phantom Thief all this time?'
Robin focused and observed Phantom Thief's movements.
Unlike Batman's armor, Robin's suit also used good bullet-resistant materials, but for the sake of agility, it didn't have the same heavy Kevlar-titanium alloy armor as the Batsuit.
It had more lightweight parts, such as arm guards and knee pads, which made its overall bullet-resistant effectiveness less than perfect.
If Robin wore something similar to the Batsuit, he wouldn't be able to maintain the same agility due to his physical differences from Batman.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out, and Phantom Thief had actually fired at Robin.
However, it wasn't a bullet that came out of the gun, but a playing card. The speed of the playing card was slower than a bullet.
Robin, who had been prepared for a long time, as if following some kind of natural instinct.
"Hmm?"
Robin didn't quite understand what kind of gun it was, but his body subconsciously moved aside, letting the playing card fly past him.
"A playing Card Gun?"
Robin realized this as he dodged the card, finding the situation rather funny.
Phantom Thief's weapons looked strange, and they were even weirder to use.
Who would come up with a gun that shoots playing cards as bullets?
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
At this moment, a can object suddenly rolled in front of Robin and then released a hissing sound, and a gray mist quickly spread, enveloping Robin inside.
The mist wasn't thick, so Robin's vision wasn't greatly affected.
'Did Phantom Thief forget that I'm wearing a gas mask?'
Robin raised an eyebrow, not paying much attention to the gray mist, and continued to move towards Phantom Thief on the opposite side.
Then, he saw Phantom Thief reveal a mysterious smile.
Swoosh!
The hand that was not holding the gun of Phantom suddenly moved, and the playing card that flew past Robin actually flew back, piercing through the gap between the gas mask and Robin's cheek while also cutting a part of the mask's strap.
"What the-!"
In that instant, Robin noticed that the playing card was wrapped with an incredibly good invisible thread!
Without giving Robin a chance to react, Phantom Thief pulled the thread backward.
With a click, Robin's gas mask was pulled off, and the gray mist was slightly inhaled by Robin.
"Cough, cough! This is... tear gas?"
Robin immediately held his breath and crouched down, using one hand to cover his mouth and nose while the other hand tried to pick up the fallen gas mask.
Snap!
Another playing card shot out and knocked the gas mask even farther away.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
At the same time, three tear gas cans rolled in, filling the corridor with gray mist.
"Goodbye, Wonder Boy. If you hurry back to the auction venue now, you might catch another exciting show."
Phantom Thief smiled faintly and saw that he stretched his hand and threw his cape upward to cover his whole body.
As the white cape fell to the ground due to gravity, Phantom Thief's figure had already disappeared.
...
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