”FUCK!”

”Why did the power go out again!”

Aaron’s roar echoed throughout the entire hall collection. This time, the protection of the power distribution room was the police’s top priority in order to ensure that Phantom Kid wouldn’t have a chance to make a move on the electricity system.

But now that the power was out, this only proves one thing:

”Barbara was right, Kid actually snuck in here early in the morning and blended in with us, he had quite enough time to do everything for his set up, all he had to do was arrange a dummy outside to attract the crowd.”

”But who exactly did he pretend to be? It’s clear that all the squads are configured in numbers of three or more, and, even for toilet breaks, they have to move in unity. So, which part of the process went wrong?”

Gordon could never figure out where Phantom Kid’s breakthrough was.

Suddenly, a familiar figure flashed through his mind.

There was only one person who suddenly showed up alone, who could win the trust of all the GCPD personnel, and who had set everything up without knowing it!

”Does that mean it’s… but how is that possible?”

”If the person is Kid in disguise… then [his] disguise is terrifying!”

”Can the helicopter squad hear you, what’s the situation outside the pavilion, did they spot Phantom Kid escaping?”

In any case, the most important thing was to first confirm if Kid was still here.

”Sir, we haven’t found any sign of Kid, he should still be inside!”

Hearing this, Gordon was a bit relieved. The helicopter pilot was basically either flying in the sky or landing to do maintenance on the helicopter alone, or refuel it, so there was no need to worry about Kid imitating their voices, as there was no chance of them making contact.

Since it was confirmed that Kid was still inside, it meant that he hadn’t stolen the jewel yet, or he hadn’t found a suitable way to get out yet and had to buy some time by cutting the lights out.

”Team-F, what’s your status there, can you restore the power supply? Please answer once you copy.”

”Copy, sir! The power distribution box has been destroyed by the explosion and it will take at least half an hour to repair the lines.”

”What about the backup power supply?”

”Copy, this place … is not equipped with a backup power supply.”

Well, it was certain that lighting would not be restored any time soon, but Gordon was not completely without a plan to deal with the current situation.

”S-team, it’s time for you to make the move!”

The so-called S-team was made up of dozens of elite police officers selected by Gordon, each equipped with night-vision goggles, specifically to deal with the current situation.

And the man leading the team was none other than Gordon himself!

The dozens of elite policemen wearing night-vision goggles were divided into two teams, searching the upper and lower floors respectively.

As for the remaining hundreds of policemen and thousands of spectators, some chose to stay where they were, while others chose to turn on their mobile phone torches and follow them to find Kid.

Meanwhile, on the ground floor of the collection hall, in the enclosed corridor that connects the left and right collection rooms, a pretty young girl with a beautiful figure appeared.

Despite the fact that she was wearing a pair of high heels, she walked with muffled steps, as if she was trying to avoid everyone’s attention.

”There’s definitely something wrong here!”

Barbara stared at the corridor, full of contradiction.

With all that intense training he had gone through before, night vision was indeed one of his abilities. So even in the dark, he could see objects within a certain range.

Yes, Barbara was the subject of Mathison’s disguise this time, midday, while resting on the beach.

The familiar figure he had seen was none other than Barbara.

Barbara did not go straight to Gordon but chose to familiarise herself with the surrounding roads first, as Mathison did, in a true detective fashion.

The thief needs to plan an escape route, while the detective has to deduce the thief’s escape route and then design a pursuit route; often, the nature of this conflict works like this …

The first thing that Mathison was reluctant to do was to disguise himself as a woman, but he was too familiar with Barbara to have any trouble fooling Gordon. As for the ordinary policemen, it was a piece of cake for him to fool them.

In addition, everyone had the impression that Phantom Kid was a male, so it was even less likely that Barbara would be suspected at all once seen Mathison in disguise!

Besides, this place was not a good place to sneak into, and there was really no better choice than Barbara.

So, when Barbara wasn’t looking, Mathison quietly glued a transmitter on her clothes; that’s right, the one that Phantom Kid’s worst enemy likes to use, Conan Edogawa. The ‘Small Tech Prop Manufacturing Book’ that he got from the system’s novice gift package at the beginning contains all the tech manufacturing methods from the universe of Detective Conan

Such pieces of equipment allowed an underage schoolboy to kick a football ball, that was more powerful than a bomb, to a range farther than the one of a sniper rifle, and then ride a skateboard that is faster than a sports car, that could additionally be charged during the day and used at night…

Mathison knows the method of making all these tools, although it was quite a shame that some of them cannot be recovered to be reused because of the lack of raw materials.

Anyways, after installing the transmitter on Barbara, Mathison waited for the right moment, and, finally, he stunned Barbara and hid her in the cabin of the yacht under the Gotham River Bridge.

In order to perfect his disguise, he had to take Barbara’s clothes off… How could that be possible!

Although Mathison never hid his attraction to beautiful women, Barbara was his childhood friend, and so, he would never think of doing anything to her while she is in a coma!

He simply pulled off Barbara’s coat and put his own clothes over her body to protect her from catching any cold.

Going back to our scene at the hall, Mathison, who is wearing Barbara’s face above his own, withdrew his gaze at the corridor.

He had now almost figured out the secret of the place.

There were not just fourteen collecting rooms in Daggett’s collection, but there existed a fifteenth!

A secret room!

”If I’m not mistaken, the mechanism should be here.”

Every skilled magician is a master of mechanisms, setting up secret doors is something they only play with, and this place was certainly no match for Mathison.

He stepped on his heels and walked to the middle of the corridor, the point where the collection rooms at the left and right are joined on the first floor. According to the plan, they were directly in front of a rotunda in the centre of the building.

Then, with his back turned to the direction of the hall, facing the curved wall, Mathison reached out and tapped on the right side at an arm’s length.

”Rumble~Rumble~”

Sure enough, after knocking, the wall in front of him quaked, and the secret room where Daggett’s real collection was stored opened.

However, when the secret door was completely opened, Mathison was shocked! A human figure had appeared within his eyesight!