Chapter 23: Investigation

"Worrying does not take away tomorrow's troubles. It takes away today's peace."

- Randy Armstrong

...

Dean's eyes darted around as he quickly figured out where Dick had gone.

Then, he stood up from his seat.

"Where are you going?"

Lark beside him asked curiously as Dean got up without any reason.

"Oh, I just need to... go to the bathroom, you know, I ate a bit too much earlier."

Dean said with a sheepish smile.

"That's why you're always so fat, can't even walk properly."

Lark said, looking disdainful. He then slightly turned his legs to the right of his seat to make way for "William" to walk through the hall.

Luckily, the two of them were seated in the far corner, and after passing by Lark, Dean made his way to the corner of the stairs.

After leaving the auction venue through a side door, Dean quietly left the scene.

Just after Dean left the side door of the auction venue, another person in the venue also left...

On the other side, the kitchen on the first floor of the Gotham International Hotel.

While everyone was busy working, the kitchen door suddenly slammed.

The sudden noise startled everyone, and they all turned their heads to look at the door.

They saw a young boy wearing a tight red top and tight green pants, with a mask covering his face, entering the kitchen.

He was carrying a young man who was only wearing a thin shirt and shorts on his shoulder and was currently sound asleep.

When the kitchen staff saw the young man on the teenager's shoulder, the expressions on their faces were even more surprising.

"Isn't that Tom? And the person carrying him, isn't that Robin?"

"I remember Tom was supposed to be sent to the 18th floor to serve the dishes on the tray. How did he end up being carried here by Robin while he's asleep?"

"Wait!"

At this moment, a staff member who was cutting salmon suddenly spoke up, "Do you remember what GCPD said about how Phantom Thief can disguise himself as someone else? The person in front of us might not be Tom, It could be Robin caught Phantom Thief disguised as Tom!"

"That makes sense, but how can we be sure it's the Phantom Thief disguised as Tom? Maybe Robin is the one pretending to be the Phantom Thief!"

Robin didn't explain much, he just placed the sleeping Tom on the ground and said casually, "I found him on the hotel rooftop, and Phantom Thief knocked him out."

After speaking, Robin turned and left the kitchen.

Soon after, in the surveillance room on the 20th floor of a hotel.

GCPD Commissioner Jim Gordon and several elite intelligence unit members were here, staring intently at the dozens of monitors on the wall.

"It's been over an hour since the auction started, and we haven't noticed anything unusual. Is Phantom Thief really going to show up?"

One of the officers blinked his tired eyes and picked up a cup of coffee from the table to take a sip.

"Don't let your guard down. It was not midnight yet as Phantom noticed he would come. Anything could happen during this time."

Gordon spoke with a serious expression, warning his subordinates.

"You're right. In fact, Phantom Thief has already infiltrated the hotel."

Just then, a voice suddenly came from behind Gordon.

"Who's there?"

The police officers in the surveillance room instantly turned around, aiming their guns at the person who spoke.

"Robin?"

Gordon looked surprised as he stared at the person.

He was just about to relax, but then he remembered that Phantom Thief was a master of disguise.

He then stared at Robin with a cautious look in his eyes.

"How can you prove you're not Phantom Thief?"

Gordon asked firmly.

Robin remained silent for a moment, then pulled out a golden badge from somewhere engraved with the word "Justice."

"Do you remember this? A few years ago, when Batman first took me to meet you at Bat Signal, you personally gave me this souvenir. You said it was a symbol of our partnership."

Seeing the badge, Gordon's expression softened, and he almost believed Robin completely.

However, he still had a last bit of doubt.

"Maybe you stole that from that kid. Not many people know about the badge, but there are a few in Gotham who can find out. You have to tell me something only the two of us know, at least one thing."

Gordon said it firmly.

"Alright, let me think about what to say..."

Robin shook his head helplessly and then rubbed his chin.

"How about the smoking pipe? Commissioner Gordon, you used to smoke regular cigarettes like everyone else, but because of Batman always appeared behind you and startled you, causing you to drop your cigarette to the ground. So, you switched to using a smoking pipe and held it in your hand to smoke."

"Oh, I see! That's why the Commissioner suddenly started smoking pipes instead of regular cigarettes. At first, I thought he was getting into a retro style, but I never thought the real reason was this."

A police officer next to them had a sudden realization and said to his colleague.

Gordon glanced at him coldly without saying a word, then turned back to Robin.

"You have successfully proven your identity, Robin, so what do you mean by saying that the Phantom Thief has already infiltrated?"

"I found an unconscious person named Tom on the rooftop of the hotel. He works in the kitchen on the first floor, but the people in the kitchen were working with 'Tom' before I discovered him sleeping."

Robin skipped over the fact that the Phantom Thief had sent him a personal challenge and only explained how he found Tom.

"Obviously, Phantom Thief disguised himself as Tom to get inside the hotel. I'm here to investigate 'Tom's' actions through the surveillance footage."

"Quick! Pull up the surveillance and rewind the time!"

Gordon immediately gave orders to his subordinates.

The situation was critical, and the other police officers immediately started operating the surveillance system.

The surveillance footage began to rewind until about two hours ago when a person who looked just like Tom came out of the first-floor kitchen, pushing a cart filled with food supplies, and entered the elevator.

Robin focused his gaze, watching every move of 'Tom' in the footage.

Then, something strange happened. In the surveillance recording, 'Tom' was pushing the cart and secretly looking around. His head movements were very fast, almost hidden unless you weren't paying close attention.

Gordon and the others were facing dozens of surveillance screens at the same time, so it was understandable that they didn't notice it.

They continued to watch the surveillance footage.

After 'Tom' started working as a waiter in the 18th-floor restaurant, his actions became even more weird.

...

(Author's Note: I had mentioned that the auction would start at 7 pm, but later, I felt that 7 pm was a bit too early, so I changed the earlier timing to 9 pm. I wanted to let the long-time readers know about this change.)

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