Chapter 70: Promoted

"Knowing what it feels to be in pain is exactly why we try to be kind to others"

- Jiraiya Sensei (Naruto)

...

The day after the Phantom Thief stole the Dragon's Egg Ruby Necklace.

The news spread throughout Gotham early in the morning.

Unlike before, Phantom Thief is now a celebrity in Gotham, and his notice letter has gotten a lot of attention from the media.

There are dozens of big and small newspapers that have sent their reporters and photographers to take different close-up shots of Phantom Thief and used them in their front-page headlines.

Luckily, Phantom Thief first showed up in the big square of the Natural History Museum, which gave photographers a lot of opportunities to take nice shots.

Every media outlet has its desired front-page news and has also come up with attention-grabbing headlines in different styles.

"Shocking! Batgirl was publicly played by Phantom Thief!"

"Dragon's Egg Ruby Necklace Was Stolen Right After Its Public Exhibition, and the Chandler Family Suffers Heavy Losses!"

"Winning again and again! Who can stop the Phantom Thief?"

"Magic or Sorcery? The Miraculous Performance of Making Rainwater Flow Back!"

Under the storm of a row of new Phantom Thief news, the news that "escape convict 'Firefly' Garfield Lynn was defeated by Batgirl and Robin and returned to prison" seemed small.

However, even if it's a small issue, there will always be someone paying attention to it.

BANG!

In the Iceberg Lounge, Penguin slammed a newspaper on the table with a frown on his face.

"This useless Firefly! He swore he could take down Phantom Thief alone, but he ended up being played like a child!"

Ignatius and several other Penguin's henchmen stood silently in a row below, keeping their heads down and saying nothing.

"It's not just Firefly who's useless! Robin and Batgirl are all useless too! When they dealt with us, one person could take down dozens of our men. But they let Phantom Thief escape several times?"

"And Nygma, he's also useless! He can't even solve Phantom Thief's notice letter, and he still has the nerve to call himself Riddler?"

"Useless, useless, all of them are useless!"

Penguin cursed angrily, even Riddler, who was in Arkham Asylum, couldn't avoid it.

At this moment, he turned his head to look at his henchmen below and shouted, "What are you all doing standing there in silence? Speak up!"

The henchmen looked at each other in confusion, and then they all turned to face Ignatius and signaled for him to speak.

It seems like among them, only Ignatius's words are effective.

With no other choice, Ignatius had no choice but to stand up and say, "Please, boss, calm down. Even though the plan to kill Phantom Thief failed this time, we still gained something."

"I don't see what I 'gained.'"

Penguin said it coldly.

Ignatius's face showed a hint of hesitation, but then he seemed to make a decision and spoke seriously, "This incident made us realize a fact, that we were completely wrong about Phantom Thief. We underestimated him too much!"

"Phantom Thief is a very talented thief. I believe that Catwoman is the only one who can outsmart him, and even she might not be able to beat him. If we don't face this seriously, we will only be humiliated by him again and again!"

Hearing this, Penguin's face changed. Although Ignatius' words were more sensitive, how could someone as cunning as Penguin not understand the meaning behind his words?

Ignatius was telling Penguin that he had made a big mistake by underestimating Phantom Thief!

The others unconsciously distanced themselves from Ignatius. They were used to Penguin blaming others.

How could anyone blame him?

Even if Penguin really had a problem with himself, he had to find it himself.

Usually, that would be fine, but now the Penguin was already angry.

Ignatius seemed to be looking for trouble when he was saying this.

Just when everyone thought Ignatius was going to make the boss angry, Penguin suddenly changed his expression.

He looked at Ignatius seriously and asked, "The assassination trap failed this time, and Phantom Thief has become our mortal enemy. Do you have any good plans?"

After thinking for a while, Ignatius said, "We have already challenged Phantom Thief once with bait, and he accepted the challenge. If we use bait again, the whole gang in Gotham will think we can't handle the situation. So we need to come up with a different plan..."

He whispered a few words to the Penguin, who suddenly brightened up, and all his anger vanished.

"The plan you mentioned is very good, and I knew promoting you was one of the best decisions I ever made."

Penguin happily patted Ignatius' shoulder and praised, "Not at all, it's all because the boss taught me well."

"You are too valuable to be tied to the casino. I thought about it all night yesterday, and it's better to keep you by my side."

At that moment, the Penguin unexpectedly said, "Your position as an advisor is a bit low. Ignatius, from now on, you'll be my secretary."

Ignatius was taken aback.

Did the old Penguin want to take back control over the Iceberg Casino?

'Why?'

'Did he figure out my intentions?'

With countless thoughts in his mind, Ignatius' face remained calm and unchanged.

When the Penguin wanted to give him the position of secretary, Ignatius agreed, saying, "It's an honor for me to be able to work by your side, boss."

"Oh, by the way, did you know that Lark and William were stabbed to death in prison yesterday?"

Penguin asked as if he suddenly remembered something, his expression calm and casual, as if casually mentioning something during a conversation.

However, Ignatius's heart was racing.

"I know. According to the GCPD, there was a fight between the prisoners, which led to their deaths."

"Do you believe that?"

Penguin asked with a mysterious smile.

"Just last night, the two prisoners with the weapon mysteriously died from food poisoning, and the prison guards on patrol also mysteriously disappeared. Even the surveillance cameras in the prisons were purposely damaged, and those who did it were the only ones with access to the crime scene, which was very easy."

"How could a prisoner have weapons? It's possible that someone bribed the guard to let them in to kill Lark and William. Then, after both of them were killed, they also killed both the guard and the prisoner and even damaged the surveillance cameras... They did a clean job. This person must be an expert."

Penguin looked at Ignatius with a meaningful look and said, "I heard you killed someone in the casino yesterday."

Ignatius' heartbeat accelerated instantly.

Penguin slowly opened a drawer and took out a photograph.

As he handed it over, he said, "Before the prisoner killed Lark and William, someone saw a person bribing the guards around the prison. It seems this person looks a lot like the person you killed in the casino..."

...

A/N: Lark and William were in different prisons or jails, one for men and one for ladies Ignatius' subordinate used the same method to kill them.

A/N 2: As i promised before, since we reached 600 power stones, I will release a additional chapter today and please give me more stones so i can release more chapters someday.

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