Chapter 24. Opening a Treasure Chest

Except for a few reputation points for Ryan...

There was nothing more to gain from the two NYPD officers.

Emerging from the alleyway, Ryan immediately switched to Ah Xing's card and thanks to the superior strength of the powerful Mighty Steel Leg; he easily left the scene of the incident.

Only a rumour of a magical old woman who could parkour around in the neighbourhood remained.

[Reputation point from New York Citizen +0.03]

　　...

The reason Ryan left the scene in such a hurry was naturally not just to escape the NYPD. To put it mildly, since drawing the Phantom Thief Kid card, the NYPD was no longer much of a problem in his eyes, especially since the success of his past few theft schemes had given him a wealth of experience in escaping in front of the NYPD.

This was evident in the way Ryan approached the two police officers earlier, without being defensive, and even offered to cooperate.

Therefore, the key to Ryan's desire to leave lies in the system.

Tony and Jarvis ended up giving him enough reputation points to redeem the [Black Iron Treasure Chest], which was 1000 points.

Having completed, no, rather exceeded the purpose of the trip, Ryan naturally had no reason to linger any longer.

On the contrary, at the moment, he was so eager to return that he wanted to fly home immediately and open the treasure chest to prove his worth.

　　...

"So, according to you, Mr Stark, everything you did was just to catch the Phantom Thief who stole your car?"

The NYPD, considering Tony Stark's status and influence, the police department didn't give him a hard time.

"That's right." Bowing his head and taking a sip of coffee, Tony raised his eyebrows and said, "The coffee's good. Where did you buy it?"

"It's just ordinary instant coffee." Across the room, the NYPD officer in charge of the interrogation replied with an expressionless face.

To be honest, even the NYPD was in a bit of a dilemma when it came to the situation that was unfolding before them.

After all, who would have thought that a simple chase would end up with the arrest of the famous Tony Stark?

"Chief, there's a call from the military. They're asking us about Tony Stark."

"Got it, tell them we're just asking a few simple questions," Commissioner Stacy frowned tightly and repeatedly deliberated before saying, "As soon as we're sure Tony Stark has nothing to do with it, we'll release... no, send him back."

"Chief, there's a call from a Congressman. It's also about ..."

"Tell the Congressman that we aren't making things difficult for Mr Stark. It's just a normal questioning procedure ..."

"Chief..."

"Who's calling again this time ...?" Subconsciously, Commissioner Stacy turned his head and found out that it wasn't about a phone call this time. After an awkward pause, he added, "Hey, did you get the results?"

Sidney nodded and turned to look at Tony, who was sitting in the interrogation room, enjoying his coffee." By comparing the handwriting of the letter left by the Phantom Thief before, we're certain that the letter Mr Stark gave us is really from Phantom Thief Kid."

"Phantom Thief Kid? That guy again!"

[Reputation points from George Stacy +4]

Sidney's report didn't ease Commissioner Stacy's mind much, but rather his brow furrowed more and more. Not only because of another offence by Phantom Thief Kid but also because of the headache of having Tony in the interrogation room.

"Chief, Mr Stark's lawyer, is here."

As luck would have it, with a reminder from his subordinate, Commissioner Stacy then saw Pepper and the huge team of lawyers behind her, many of whom were the reasons he had headaches before.

"Tony, are you okay? They didn't do anything to you, did they?"

Faced with an aggressive team of lawyers and the results of Sidney's report, Commissioner Stacy was deterred from keeping Tony in custody any longer.

"I'm fine." As he walked out of the interview room, Tony took a long breath, moved his back, which was sore from sitting for so long, then turned to one of the lawyers and said, "By the way, don't forget to buy some coffee for me from the NYPD on your way out, they have good coffee here."

"Tony!"

Seeing Tony's still cynical expression, Pepper couldn't help but frown and say, "Do you know how dangerous that was? Speeding, running a red light, driving in the wrong direction ..."

If it weren't because of his status as CEO of Stark Industries, any one of those would be enough to spend more than a night in jail.

"I know, but I wasn't doing it because I was bored. And I'm fine, right? "

"You are fine because Stark Industries has a strong team of lawyers."

"Don't I pay them to help me with things like this? "

Pepper sighed in frustration at Tony's lack of concern and then turned to the lawyers to explain the next steps.

Seeing Pepper leave, Tony collected the look of disinterest on his face and took out his phone, which he had reclaimed from the police.

"Jarvis, from now on, record any information related to Phantom Thief Kid for me."

"Understood, Sir."

　　...

Back at home, Ryan didn't just open the treasure chest without thinking.

On the contrary, he suppressed his stirring emotions. First, he took a bath, changed to clean clothes, adjusted his mood, and calmed his emotions. Only then did he redeem the [Black Iron Treasure chest] from the system.

Theoretically, opening the treasure chest in any instance wouldn't actually affect the outcome, and the [Black Iron Treasure Chest] would definitely produce a D-level card. Just like the previous time, Ryan also drew cards with good effects like [D-level Card -- Fifth Brother Ah Xing] when he opened the box outside the factory.

The reason why he took the trouble to do all that was actually Ryan's lack of confidence in his own worth. Of course, it's justifiable. Do you think that a person who could draw a card with such magical effects as foot odour like [Hiroshi Nohara] would have good luck?

Anyway, no matter what, after all the fuss, it was finally time for the all-important opening of the treasure chest.

Looking at the black and shiny metallic treasure chest in the system panel, Ryan held his breath and clicked on it.

"Open!"

With Ryan's command, the treasure chest opened, and a white light flashed.

...

-:Binge:-

1100 Power stone mark for one more bonus chapter tmrw :)