Chapter 153: New Cloth

"You can't change the people around you, but you can change the people around you."

- Joshua Fields Millburn

...

'I'm pretty sure Phantom Thief didn't touch that cloth just now...'

Robin stared intensely at the new cloth covering the Bat Signal, as well as Phantom Thief, who was three steps away from it.

He seemed completely absorbed in the Phantom Thief's words earlier, but he had been watching his every move. He kept him in his line of sight, not even when he glanced at the audience.

The Phantom Thief had tried to distract him like this many times before, and if Robin hadn't stayed alert, he wouldn't have survived as a hero in Gotham until now.

It was because the topic Phantom Thief brought up happened to be slightly related to a question Robin had been thinking about lately.

Robin would ignore anything the Phantom Thief said.

But no matter what, Robin was absolutely sure that the Phantom Thief couldn't have touched the old cloth.

The only time the Phantom Thief touched the white cloth was before he started talking.

At that time, the white cloth covering the Bat-Signal still had clearly visible rips or holes.

If Phantom Thief had the time to change the torn cloth to a new one, it would only have been possible after that.

Robin had been watching Phantom Thief the whole time and was very sure that he wouldn't have had the time to change the white cloth.

Unless Phantom Thief's speed was fast enough to instantly move near the Bat Signal, change the cloth, and then disappear so quickly that Robin wouldn't notice, it was clearly impossible.

If he truly had that kind of super speed, Phantom Thief didn't need to say all of those words just now.

Robin knew that the Phantom Thief had some hidden motive when he suddenly started talking to him out of nowhere, but it didn't feel like a distraction.

The Phantom Thief's talk would only draw people's attention to him.

Unless that was his intention.

'At this point, I paid most of my attention to the Phantom Thief, which made me forget for a moment about the Bat-Signal. But how did the Phantom Thief switch the two pieces of clothing without touching them? Is that even possible?'

A look of disbelief flashed in Robin's eyes as he continued to stare at the Phantom Thief.

He knew it was impossible unless he had magic or superpowers.

Otherwise, no one in the world could exchange one thing for another without touching it.

But the Phantom Thief had managed to do this impossible thing.

'Is it possible he actually knows real magic?'

Robin thought to himself, but he was more likely to believe that the Phantom Thief couldn't use magic. But no matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't figure out what the Phantom Thief had done just now.

There's no way the white cloth was alive and switched itself, right?

It had to be something that the Phantom Thief did, but what he did and when he did it was all a mystery.

What was the purpose of his words just now?

'Hmph, Robin, you definitely can't figure out how I changed the white cloth because I didn't change it at all!'

At the same time, the Phantom Thief had a smirk on his face.

'Do you think I gave that long speech to cover up something else?'

'You're wrong. My purpose was to make you think that!'

Why did the torn white cloth suddenly look new?

Did Phantom Thief actually swap it out with another in some unimaginable way?

Of course not. He's not a wizard or something; how could he possibly perform such a trick?

The answer is simple—maybe even shameful—but it was effective.

He used a fabric-repair item that he bought in the system, and that was made to repair holes and spots on the fabric. The solution has no color or smell, works quickly, and is also quite cheap.

The Phantom Thief had just recently secretly applied repair items to the holes in the white cloth when he touched it for the first and only time in front of Robin.

Then, to keep Robin from noticing that the cloth was repairing itself, Phantom Thief quickly moved to another position and started talking about the difference between him and himself.

He was also right about some of the things he said.

It was inevitable that superheroes would violate the law, and this was both understandable and necessary in some situations.

There was no reason to be too harsh on them.

But the problem is, how does one define superheroes and supervillains?

Both are breaking the law, both haven't caused harm to innocent people, and both have had positive impacts on society in some way.

So, why is the Phantom Thief considered a supervillain while Batman and Robin are considered superheroes?

It can be argued that stealing is naturally wrong while stopping criminals is really good too, and this is a completely moral and correct judgment.

But from a logical point of view, Batman might actually do much more damage to society than the Phantom Thief.

For ordinary people, it's natural to think that morality is the standard that defines heroes and villains, and everything else is just irrelevant.

But for intelligent people, especially those who have been exposed to Batman's principles, morality is at once the most beautiful and the most unreliable thing in the world.

In Batman's view, he thinks that judging someone based on their morals is a shallow way to understand them, especially in Gotham.

Therefore, when the Phantom Thief asked Robin this question, it was able to take some of his attention away from him.

Phantom Thief also drew Robin's attention to himself on purpose, making Robin think he had some plan in mind.

In reality, the Phantom Thief didn't do anything. He was just waiting for the repair liquid to take effect.

"Isn't it amazing? I didn't do anything, but the hole in the cloth suddenly repaired itself."

The Phantom Thief pretended to be surprised as he spoke to Robin.

"I was just worried that the cloth had torn and it would be difficult to continue the magic, but now all the problems have been solved."

"Now, let me continue the unfinished magic trick..."

As he said this, the Phantom Thief was about to lift the white cloth.

"What did you do?"

At this moment, Robin asked him while quickly rushing in front of the Bat-Signal.

"Phantom Thief, I don't have time to play around with you anymore. Even if you replace the white cloth with a new one, in the end, the trick you use to make the Bat-Signal disappear will be the same old way!"

Before he finished speaking, Robin swiftly lifted the white cloth on the Bat-Signal.

...

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