Chapter 7: Store

"Hmm... this thing looks pretty nice."

In a quiet and deserted alley, Dean took out the Tears of an Angel and pretended to admire the ruby under the moonlight.

The tear-shaped ruby reflected a faint halo under the moonlight, creating a beautiful sight.

For Dean, this gesture didn't have any valuable meaning, It just made the ruby look better from an artistic point of view.

At least, that's how he felt psychologically.

After appreciating it for a while, Dean started to feel a bit tired of enjoying it and decided to put the ruby back.

"I should return it sometime."

It wouldn't do Dean any good to keep this thing, and while it was quite valuable, Dean wasn't too short on money.

Even if Dean really wanted to sell this thing, he didn't have a reliable channel to sell it.

Should he go to Gotham's black market? Forget it, they would only give him a bit of its real value.

Penguin might offer slightly better, estimating he could offer fifteen percent, but that would be the best he could get.

But in the end, Dean didn't need that money.

Returning the ruby would actually benefit Dean even more.

Just imagine a thief who is greedy for wealth versus a strange thief who ignores wealth.

Which one would be more mysterious? And, Which one would make people think this person might be crazy?

Creating a topic, causing a buzz, and possibly gaining more amazement points.

Dean didn't consider himself a generous person, but he could tell between the pros and cons.

Unless he really stole a super artifact, like the Mother Box, then it would be worth keeping.

At that moment, Dean's ears were suddenly filled with the sound of a prompt from the system.

[Congratulations, host, on completing a custom task - Steal the 'Tears of an Angel' ruby.]

[Mission Difficulty: Easy (Easy, Normal, Difficult, Extreme, Desperate, Impossible)]

[Treasure Value: Low (Low, Average, Normal, Excellent, Outstanding, Rare, Legendary, Incalculable)]

[Special Note: A treasure with at least one extraordinary characteristic can be evaluated as a Normal quality.]

[Elegance Level: C (D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS)]

[Overall Evaluation: C- (Average, slightly better than an ordinary person)]

[Rewards: 514 Amazement points (Midway Earned) + 600 Amazement points (Task Completion) totaling 1114 Amazement points.]

After listening to the system's prompt, Dean's eyes revealed a mix of surprise and joy.

It was a surprise that he didn't pop up this so-called custom task in the museum last time.

Does this mean that the system has activated a new function of giving missions?

Dean immediately summoned the system to check.

However, when he opened the system interface, he didn't find any task page, yet his total amazement points had indeed increased to 1114.

Rubbing his chin, Dean fell in thought.

It seemed like this system didn't have official "official" missions, and all actions must depend on the host's own choice.

Moreover, in addition to the amazement points collected by oneself in the mission, the completion of the mission itself will also be rewarded by the system.

Overall, Dean was satisfied with this. He didn't want to just mechanically complete missions assigned by the system.

"Now that I have over a thousand amazement points, let's see what I can exchange for."

Dean entered the exchange mall with anticipation.

An overload of items filled Dean's vision, causing his pupils to dilate in excitement.

[Multiverse Reality Modifier - Can freely set or modify anything within the multiverse - 1,000,000,000,000 amazement points.]

[Five-Five Divine Armor - Perfectly deflects attacks from enemies of any level within the multiverse - 800,000,000,000 amazement points.]

[Kronos Time Bomb - Can destroy the entire timeline of the multiverse- 1,000,000,000,000 amazement points]

Dean fell silent for a long time, then changed the shop's sorting order from low to high prices, and then...

[Cool Beach Swim Trunks - 2 amazement points.]

[High-Frequency Electric Toothbrush - 10 amazement points.]

[Abandoned Manuscript of an Unknown Author - 5 amazement points.]

Different regular items or junk, none costing more than thirty points.

Dean silently scrolled through the interface and selected items in the price range of 500 to 1000 points.

Finally, the items returned to normal.

"Hmm?"

Suddenly, Dean discovered an interesting item.

[Low-level Resistance Talent Card - After use, you can permanently gain a low-level talent resistance skin - 1,000 amazement points]

[Resistance Skin (Low-level): Can reduce 10% of damage caused by special attributes such as burn, freeze, corrosion, and toxins and accelerate the healing of such injuries.]

After some thought, Dean immediately made the decision to exchange for this talent card.

With his current strength and wealth, strengthening his defensive abilities was the best choice.

After completing the exchange, Dean left the system feeling satisfied.

...

Sometime later, Gotham Art Museum.

Due to the stealing of the Tears of an Angel ruby, and the central exhibition hall being covered in petals and cards, the museum had to close early.

The museum, including visitors, security guards, and other staff, had to go through GCPD's careful interrogation before leaving, but the ruby was not found in the end.

Even Commissioner Gordon conducted an inside investigation among the officers, but the result remained the same.

Nobody knew how Phantom Thief Kid suddenly appeared, nor how he suddenly disappeared.

Not even the museum's surveillance cameras failed to capture a single image of Phantom Thief Kid.

It would be fine if Phantom Thief Kid was dressed in a low-key way, which was very good for hiding.

However, from head to toe, he was entirely dressed in white, which should have made him eye-catching at night.

Yet, he didn't leave any clues for the police.

It was incredible, almost like a fantasy.

In front of the museum's lawn, Commissioner Gordon sat on the flower bed and lit a cigarette, and smoked.

"I thought you switched to smoking a pipe?"

At this time, Harvey, who was also smoking a cigarette, came over.

"Harvey, don't bring that up. We're still good partners."

Gordon raised his eyebrows and said in a bad mood.

"Tell me, did you find anything?"

"Guess what? There is a new discovery."

Harvey replied without beating around the bush, giving Gordon a complete report of the information they received.

"Twelve minutes ago, someone found a patrolling security guard in one of the museum's bathrooms, or more precisely, the guard intentionally made himself be found because his hands and feet were tied and locked in the cubicle."

"While we were conducting a thorough search of the museum, someone heard the guard struggling and rescued him."

"The guard said he was suddenly knocked out while patrolling, and the attacker hit him from behind with a heavy object. So, he didn't know the attacker's identity, and he didn't wake up until 15 minutes ago."

As Gordon listened, his eyes narrowed slightly, "You think the person who knocked out the patrolling guard is Phantom Thief Kid."

It sounded like a question, but the tone was sure because Gordon also held the same thought.

"The weirdest things don't start until now."

Harvey continued, "According to what the security guard said, he was knocked out two hours ago, but within those two hours of his unconsciousness, more than one patrolling officer saw him, and there is even surveillance footage of the guard patrolling in the surveillance!"

Upon hearing this, Gordon's expression changed instantly.

...

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