"Thank you, Curator Zack. If it weren't for you, I might have come back empty-handed this time."
Jim Gordon, no, Kaitou Kid, said teasingly as he looked at the sleeping Curator Zack.
That's right. Earlier in the exhibition hall, not only was the tear of the goddess in the display case a fake, but the second tear of the goddess Kaitou Kid showed to Jim and Curator Zack was also fake.
He had spent a great deal of effort crafting that replica long ago, even before sending the Notice to the museum.
It wasn't foresight.
In fact, his original theft plan already required the use of a replica, but after Curator Zack hid the real tear of the goddess, Kaitou Kid had no choice but to alter his plan.
There was no other way. Plans always lag behind reality, and adaptability is a necessary quality for a phantom thief.
By the time Kaitou Kid realized the gem had been swapped, there was less than an hour before the eclipse began, making it nearly impossible to locate the real tear of the goddess within such a tight timeframe.
So he could only find a way to trick Curator Zack into personally leading him to the gem.
And in the end, Kaitou Kid succeeded.
The real tear of the goddess was now in his hands.
"Heh~ Item acquired. Mission accomplished."
After putting away the gem, Kaitou Kid grabbed his collar and tugged it downward. His clothes instantly transformed into a standard police uniform, identical to those worn by the guards frantically searching the museum.
Putting on his hat, he calmly walked away, blending seamlessly into the search party without drawing any attention.
Then, when no one was looking, he quietly slipped out of the museum.
"Officer, we've searched the entire museum and frisked all the tourists, but we haven't found Kaitou Kid or the tear of the goddess."
After an unknown amount of time, having found no trace of Kaitou Kid, the guards could only abandon the search and report back to Jim.
"All the surveillance footage has also been reviewed, but there's too little footage of Kaitou Kid. We can't determine which direction he escaped in."
At this point, the guard cautiously glanced at Jim.
"There's one more thing. In the surveillance footage, we saw Curator Zack at the entrance to the archives, and next to him was someone…"
"Who?"
Jim frowned, pressing for an answer.
"You."
In Gotham's central district, an ancient clock tower stood tall.
It was one of Gotham City's oldest landmarks.
However, most people knew little about the clock tower, only that it was property of Wayne Enterprises.
Very few knew that behind the massive clock face at the top of the tower lay a hidden room.
At that very moment, inside the clock tower's secret room, a red-haired woman in a wheelchair stared intently at computer screens that covered an entire wall.
The screens displayed nothing but surveillance footage from the Gotham Museum of Art.
"Interesting. At the same time, my dad appeared in two different locations."
Barbara stared at the image of "Jim Gordon" entering the archives with Curator Zack, a glint of light flashing across her glasses.
Although she was no longer Batgirl after being paralyzed, she hadn't given up her heroic path.
Now, her codename was Oracle, specializing in hacking and intelligence coordination.
"It seems Kaitou Kid has abilities related to disguise or transformation."
Oracle had watched the entire process of Kaitou Kid stealing the tear of the goddess through the surveillance feeds.
Although he deliberately avoided cameras, he inevitably left behind some footage.
Oracle tried to extract any image that might reveal Kaitou Kid's face.
But in the end, she found nothing.
Kaitou Kid had not allowed a single surveillance camera to capture his face.
"For now, this is the closest footage we have to Kaitou Kid's true identity."
Using the archives footage as a starting point, Oracle began calculating Kaitou Kid's possible escape routes.
"Two people entered the archives, but three people came out. Kaitou Kid must have used the chaos of the search party as cover to escape."
"The museum has three exits, and quite a few guards had the opportunity to slip away… It looks like I'll have to start searching outside the museum."
Oracle quickly tapped a few keys on the keyboard, and the footage on the screen switched from indoor to outdoor surveillance.
"Over a dozen guards slipped out of the museum during the search. Most of them went out to smoke, and a few were just slacking off."
"Hm?"
Suddenly, Oracle's gaze locked onto one of the video feeds.
A young guard was jogging out of the museum. He wasn't heading out to smoke, nor was he chatting with the slackers. Instead, he ran straight toward an empty area.
As he ran, he kept glancing left and right, as if on alert.
Even more noticeable was the way his left hand kept covering his jacket pocket. It was unclear what he was hiding.
"This person is suspicious… no, too suspicious. So suspicious you can tell at a glance that something's wrong."
Oracle frowned slightly. Judging by Kaitou Kid's performance inside the museum, he wouldn't normally behave like this under surveillance.
The next second, Oracle's eyes widened.
The young guard stopped mid-run and, without warning, turned his head toward the camera, openly revealing his face and even ..smiling at the lens.
For some reason, Oracle had the distinct feeling that he was smiling directly at her.
It was as if he had known all along that someone was watching through the surveillance feed.
After that moment, Oracle could no longer find the young guard anywhere in the footage.
Buzz buzz!
Just then, Oracle's communicator suddenly rang.
"Hey, Oracle, what were you trying to contact me about earlier?"
A young, cheerful voice came through the communicator.
"Robin, you've already destroyed Penguin's armory? That was fast."
"Actually, I think I could be even faster. There are just a few points that still need improvement."
Robin spoke with a grin in his voice.
"I contacted you earlier because I have a case to tell you about…"
...
Ding!
When Daren returned home, the system's notification sound rang in his ear.
Congratulations to the host for completing the objective 'Steal the tear of the goddess.'
Completion Difficulty: Easy (Easy, Medium, Hard, Extremely Hard, Desperate, Hell, Impossible Mission)
Item Quality: Mortal (Mortal, Common, Treasure, Rare, Legendary, Divine Artifact, Inestimable)
Style Index: So Flashy! (So Flashy!, Explosive!!, Sensational!!!, Show Time!!!!, Cool and Awesome!!!!!, Utterly Insane!!!!!!, Smoking Hot!!!!!!!)
Overall Rating: E"
Obtained random reward: Golden Finger.
Golden Finger: Greatly enhances the flexibility and stability of the user's fingers.
Comment: It will be more convenient to do things in the future.