Chapter 150: Involved

"Sadness is caused by intelligence, the more you understand certain things, the more you wish you didn't understand them"

- Charles Bukowski

...

"Others?"

Jim looked at Bruce in confusion.

There were only the Phantom Thief and their group of about a dozen people on the lawn, and a perimeter of cameras was surrounding the Phantom Thief.

Where did these "others" come from?

"Commissioner Gordon, since I dared to publicly challenge Phantom Thief, how could I possibly not have a backup plan?"

Bruce confidently smiled.

Seeing his confidence, Jim couldn't help but become curious. So Bruce still had a trick up his sleeve against the Phantom Thief.

Then why didn't Bruce do anything three days ago when the Phantom Thief came for a rehearsal?

Did he intentionally not use anything to save for today?

Over the past three days, Jim has been inspecting Gotham City Stadium every day, but he hasn't noticed any hidden moves by Bruce.

Bruce continued, "Have you ever wondered why I specifically used the Bat-Signal as the container for the Ocean Gem?"

The question surprised Jim.

When it came to the Bat Signal, there was probably no one in Gotham more familiar with it than him.

After all, the one who frequently turned on the signal wasn't Batman but Jim whenever they encountered difficult criminals or unsolvable cases.

Batman would then arrive on the scene as quickly as possible.

And to this day, Batman has never missed a meeting.

Even after he joined the Justice League and sometimes had to leave Gotham, he would always leave behind Robin or Batgirl to take his place.

No one understood the importance of the Bat-Signal better than Jim.

It was never just a simple signal.

It represented Batman!

'The backup plan that Bruce mentioned and the reason for using the Bat Signal... could it be...'

Thinking about this, Jim's eyes lit up. The Phantom Thief's tricks almost drove him insane, and he almost forgot how often he had used the backup plan.

Bruce then took out a remote control from his pocket and pressed a button.

Boom!

The Bat-Signal at the center of the lawn instantly lit up.

A beam of light shot into the sky, piercing through the layer of white fog above the stadium and revealing a massive bat symbol.

Even though the fog was only about fifty meters high, it could no longer be seen all over the city like it could before.

Maybe it could only be seen from a few thousand meters around Gotham City Stadium.

Jim and Bruce didn't think that anyone would ignore the Bat-Signal.

"Wow, so this Bat-Signal is real. I thought it was just a fake."

The Phantom Thief looked up at the bat symbol in the sky, pretending to be amazed. His tone revealed relaxation and confidence, as if he didn't care about the person who might appear with the Bat-Signal.

No one knew that this was just an outside appearance, but deep inside, Phantom Thief was extremely serious at the moment.

'Bruce Wayne doesn't seem to have any plans to leave. If Batman can't come, what's the point of him turning on the Bat-Signal? It can't be to signal Robin, right? Is he trying to confuse me?'

The Phantom Thief stared at Bruce while thinking to himself.

'No, I can disguise myself as another person, and others can do the same. The disguises produced by Wayne Enterprises' technology are probably even more advanced than mine. The Bruce Wayne I see in front of me may not necessarily be the real Bruce...'

The Phantom Thief thought like this and immediately became extremely alert.

At this moment,a series of surprises left the people in the audience bewildered.

They hadn't recovered from the shock of the previous scene when the next scene brought an even more explosive scene.

"Oh my god! The GCPD is being unreasonable! They actually shot at the Phantom Thief! Well, to say they 'shot' might be a bit much, but Phantom Thief had just started speaking, and they just started shooting. That's so sneaky!"

"Oh God! What did I just see? The Phantom Thief actually dodged the darts fired by a dozen people at the same time! And he did it so easily! Am I really not dreaming?"

"Damn it! Why did those ten or so police officers from GCPD suddenly collapse? They started the attack, didn't they? Phantom Thief is so far away from them; how did he make them fall? Does he have some kind of electric eye or something?"

"What the hell! So that Bat-Signal isn't just a decoration; it actually lights up? And it actually lit up!"

As the events happened, the emotions of the audience always changed.

They experienced concern for Phantom Thief in one moment, shock at his performance in the next, and then astonishment at the Bat-Signal lighting up.

"Today's events are so different from three days ago. Will the Phantom Thief use the same trick again? I can't help but feel more and more excited."

"Yeah, who knows? Phantom Thief, please perform your magic soon. I can't wait to see him make the Bat-Signal disappear again!"

"After watching Phantom Thief's performances so many times, I don't know why, but sometimes it seems like he enjoys stopping suddenly at critical moments and only starting the spectacular show when I'm anxious. I wonder if all magicians have this kind of sense of taste."

At this moment, the Phantom Thief seemed to sense the anticipation in the audience and spoke softly.

"I guess many of you can't wait anymore. I had a little conflict with the GCPD officers earlier, which delayed us a bit. Now, let's savor that moment when we witness the miracle again."

He turned his back to the Bat-Signal, slowly raised his right hand, and snapped his fingers lightly.

Snap!

Thud!

Then, right after the snap, there was suddenly a muffled sound in the sky. The audience turned their heads in the direction of the sound with anticipation.

"According to the rehearsal process last time, a white cloth should fall..."

Sure enough, a white cloth floated down from the thick white fog in the sky. The way the cloth was falling, it wouldn't be long before it covered the Bat-Signal.

Just as the white cloth was about to drop within a few inches of the Bat-Signal, something unexpected happened.

Whoosh!

Several small black objects suddenly flew out and cut several long slits in the white cloth.

In the darkness, these small black objects weren't very easy to see, but with the white cloth as a background, they became very noticeable.

The Phantom Thief clearly recognized these black objects; they were not anything strange.

They were Birdarangs.

The white cloth was torn into several long slits by the Birdarangs.

This meant that even if it covered the Bat-Signal, it would be difficult to completely cover the whole Bat-Signal, especially since the Bat-Signal was still lit and many parts would be exposed through the slits.

Interestingly, only the Birdarang were seen flying in; there was no sight of the person who threw them.

'Who's here? Robin, or...'

The Phantom Thief's heart tightened. He first looked at Jim, and Bruce was still standing in place.

But he couldn't guarantee that Bruce here was definitely the real Bruce.

"The angle at which the Birdarang flew just now was slanting downward, which means the throwing direction is..."

The Phantom Thief turned his head in a certain direction and squinted slightly.

Then a voice came from the sky.

"Do you think you can use the same trick a second time? Phantom Thief!"

...

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