Kaitou Kid!
It could only be him.
Jim Gordon's face instantly darkened.
Just moments ago, Kaitou Kid had brazenly walked into Gotham City Police Department headquarters, delivered something to the commissioner's office, and then calmly walked out again.
Not a single person in the entire police department noticed.
Even Jim Gordon himself had failed to realize that Montoya had been impersonated.
Until now, Kaitou Kid had always appeared as a man. Gordon had never expected him to be able to disguise himself as a woman, or rather, to transform into one.
Although Gordon had long suspected that Kaitou Kid might possess superpowers similar to shapeshifting, that had only been conjecture. Every disguise Kaitou Kid had used so far had been male, something that could be achieved without shapeshifting abilities.
Because of that, Gordon had never considered the possibility of Kaitou Kid turning into a woman.
Thinking back, Montoya's tone earlier had indeed been slightly different from her usual manner. If he had paid closer attention at the time, he might have caught Kaitou Kid on the spot.
But no matter how much Gordon regretted it now, it was too late.
Kaitou Kid had already vanished without a trace.
Helpless, Jim Gordon returned to his office.
Fortunately, the tear of the goddess had been recovered, which could at least be considered a blessing in disguise.
Kaitou Kid had deliberately come to the police station to deliver the gem, so it was unlikely to be fake.
"But why?"
Jim Gordon was completely baffled by Kaitou Kid's decision to return the stolen item.
Did he really intend to turn over a new leaf?
With lingering doubt, Gordon took the tear of the goddess out of the box to examine it. Unfortunately, he was no expert in gemstone appraisal and couldn't tell whether it was genuine or not.
"Hm? What's this?"
Just then, he noticed a white card tucked at the bottom of the box.
The moment he saw the familiar-looking card, Gordon's heart skipped a beat.
He picked it up, flipped it over, and his expression changed drastically.
♦~When Sköll and the Norse wolf cross paths for the thirteenth time,
The fragile mistletoe is stained with blood,
I will tread the swaying path to heaven,
Ascend to Valhalla's eternal feast,
And take the cursed May Stone.
— Respectfully, Kaitou Kid~♦
Jim Gordon's premonition was correct. This was indeed Kaitou Kid's Notice.
He hadn't brought the tear of the goddess here to turn over a new leaf, but to announce his next crime.
The police station itself held no particularly valuable treasures, so Kaitou Kid clearly had another target in mind.
And yet, he had personally delivered the Notice to Jim Gordon.
"This is a provocation. He's challenging the GCPD!"
Gordon's hand clenched tightly around the Notice, his expression even grimmer than when he had realized Kaitou Kid was disguised as Montoya.
He had served as a police officer in Gotham for over twenty years, and this was the first time a criminal had deliberately come to police headquarters to issue a challenge.
Even deranged supervillains like the Joker, Two-Face, or Black Mask wouldn't do something like this.
Because by the time they sent a Notice, they would have already blown up the police station.
In short, Gordon felt nothing but naked contempt in those words. It was as if Kaitou Kid were saying to him: I'm telling you my next target in advance. If you want to catch me, go ahead and try, but it's impossible for you police to succeed.
"Fine. I'll show you, Kaitou Kid. You're underestimating the Gotham police."
Gordon lowered his gaze to the Notice in his hand.
The immediate priority was to identify Kaitou Kid's next target.
He fixed his gaze on the end of the Notice.
"The cursed May Stone… this refers to…"
...
"Have you finished checking?"
Under the night sky, Tim, dressed in his Robin uniform, sat on the rooftop of a tall building with a hamburger in hand. He stuffed it into his mouth while listening to Oracle's question through his earpiece.
"At least everything within Gotham has been checked," Tim replied, sounding deflated.
"From your tone, the results aren't very good?"
"I think you can burn that suspect list now."
"Well, that does sound terrible."
Clearly, a simple and crude exhaustive search wasn't going to turn up Kaitou Kid.
"In the end, we know far too little about Kaitou Kid. He can change his appearance, or at least he's extremely skilled at disguise. He could be anyone, and he can switch identities at any time. Continuing this kind of aimless investigation is guaranteed to lead nowhere."
Tim shook his head helplessly.
"Oracle, are you really sure Kaitou Kid hasn't sold the tear of the goddess?"
"I borrowed the Batcomputer in the Batcave. I can assure you there hasn't been any financial transaction matching the value of the tear of the goddess in recent months, not just in Gotham, but worldwide."
In the clock tower's secret room, Oracle spoke with a serious expression.
"Unless the deal was done entirely in undocumented cash, through barter, or using an anonymous transfer method that exceeds the Batcomputer's decryption capabilities, the tear of the goddess is still in Kaitou Kid's possession."
Like her father, Jim Gordon, Oracle was also actively tracking the whereabouts of the tear of the goddess.
After using the Batcave's technology, she was even more certain than the GCPD that Kaitou Kid had no intention of selling the stolen gem.
"Interesting. Penguin also said Kaitou Kid never approached him looking for a buyer. If it's not for money, then Kaitou Kid's motive for stealing the tear of the goddess becomes very intriguing."
Tim's expression grew interested.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Oracle let out a surprised sound.
"What's wrong?"
"Robin, you won't believe this. I just found the whereabouts of the tear of the goddess."
"What? Then stop teasing me and tell me. Who bought it?"
Tim asked quickly.
"No one bought it. About fifty minutes ago, Kaitou Kid delivered the tear of the goddess to the GCPD and issued his next crime Notice. By the way, he also sent this Notice to several newspaper agencies, so news of it has already spread."
"Wait, what did you just say? Who delivered the tear of the goddess to where?"
"You heard me correctly. Kaitou Kid personally brought the gem to the Gotham City Police Department."
Oracle repeated herself.
"That… that's impossible! Why would he do that?"
Tim said in disbelief.
"Just now, I was thinking the exact same thing as you."
"Then what about Kaitou Kid's second Notice?"
"I've uploaded it to your phone."
Hearing this, Tim immediately pulled out his phone to check.
"The difficulty of this Notice is significantly higher than the last one, but there's no need to rush to fully decipher it yet. First, we need to figure out what Kaitou Kid plans to do next."
"Ascend to Valhalla's eternal feast, and take the cursed May Stone."
"May Stone refers to the most precious emerald among green gemstones, right? I remember some of Gotham's more well-known emeralds include…"