Chapter 102: Exposing

"When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do? Just keep swimming."

-Dory (Finding Dory)

...

In the exhibition hall, Jim led a team of GCPD officers to guard the doors.

Harvey and his subordinates kept a close eye on the doors from the outside. This made it impossible for anyone to sneak out of the hall.

A number of people lined up at the doors and went through complete inspections by Jim and his squad before being allowed to leave.

Moreover, the exhibition hall is now only allowed to go out but not to enter.

Anyone who wants to go in after going out the door will be considered a criminal suspect and arrested on the spot.

"So, have you figured out how Phantom Thief managed to steal the diamond and escape from this closed exhibition hall?"

Dick nudged Dean with his elbow and asked.

Both of them were inside the hall and had to go through the GCPD's inspection as well.

They were towards the back of the line and would have to wait a while before it was their turn.

Henry was right behind them, but four or five people separated him from them.

"Hmm..."

Hearing Dick's question, Dean pondered for a moment and said, "I don't believe the Phantom Thief can teleport instantly. The one who flew past the window just now was definitely not the real Phantom Thief. He's surely still hiding inside the hall."

"Although Ms. Kim from the Smithsonian Museum insisted that the 'Hope Diamond' outside was real, it's not difficult today to create a diamond with the exact same appearance using advanced technology."

Dick nodded in agreement.

"I think so too. The Phantom Thief probably wanted everyone to think he escaped with the diamond, leading the police to chase after a dummy so that he could blend in with the crowd and leave the exhibition hall. I just don't know how he would have passed the inspection."

"It's actually quite simple."

Dean held up a finger and shook it, "Professional magicians are experts at hiding things on their bodies. Even if Phantom Thief had the 'Hope Diamond', I don't think a group of cops who don't know much about magic could find it."

"Are you saying that if you hid something on your body, the police wouldn't be able to find it either?"

Dick asked suspiciously.

Dean smirked and replied, "Guess so."

"I'm amazed by you magicians. If you all started stealing, you'd probably all be very good at it."

Dick joked and then asked, "Do you think it's possible... that the Phantom Thief didn't steal the diamond and the 'Hope Diamond' is actually still on display? After all, the gravity sensors weren't triggered."

Hearing this, Dean was taken aback for a moment, then his expression became serious as he replied, "I did consider that possibility."

"But I don't think it's very likely because we could see the box inside the glass case that held the diamond."

"This creates the illusion that the diamond is still inside the case while it's actually been stolen. All you need to do is cover the entire glass case with a special case that reflects the angle of light reflection, making the diamond inside disappear. However, in that case, the box inside the glass case should also disappear at the same time, or at least the form should be messed up. It wouldn't remain exactly the same as before."

"What we saw was that the glass case and the box inside are exactly the same as before, only the diamond is missing."

Dick turned to look at the display, and as Dean said, the transparent box under the glass case looked exactly the same as before.

Dean continued explaining.

"The only way to create the illusion we're seeing now is by the Phantom Thief lifting the glass case and placing it directly over the transparent box. That's the only way to make the diamond disappear while leaving the box and the glass cover intact."

Dick frowned and asked, "But that doesn't make sense. The transparent box containing the diamond has a gravity sensor device, so tampering with the glass cover would trigger an alarm."

"That's why I don't think it's possible. At least I can't figure out how he did this. Besides, if the Phantom Thief truly had a way to ignore the gravity sensor, he could've just taken the diamond directly. Why bother creating this illusion?"

Dean shook his head and said, "Exactly."

Dick rubbed his chin in agreement.

Not long after, it was Dean and Dick's turn for inspection.

Jim and his team carefully patted them down and searched through everything.

Except for finding two handkerchiefs, a rose, four marker pens, several rectangular cardboard boards, twenty old coins, three paper cups, and seven decks of playing cards on Dean, they didn't find anything suspicious.

As a magician, it's reasonable for Dean to have these props on him.

Although Jim had to pull him aside for questioning, he still passed the inspection.

On the other hand, all they found on Dick were his wallet, phone, and earphones, making his inspection much quicker.

"I can't believe you hid so many things on you."

After waiting for a while, Dick entirely looked at Dean and admired him for a while.

"That's the result of my being cooperative during the inspection. Trust me, they wouldn't have found anything if I didn't want them to."

Dean gave a proud little snort.

"I don't think that's anything to be proud of at all."

Dick couldn't help but roll his eyes in response.

After leaving the exhibition hall, the two of them went straight downstairs and left the Orpheus Jewelry Exhibition Center.

"I'm sorry, I didn't help much today. I couldn't figure out Phantom Thief's methods."

Dean said apologetically.

"Don't worry about it, it's not a big deal. Besides, no one else can figure it out either."

Dick replied calmly.

"The events for today are over. Do you need me to show you the way back home?"

"What nonsense are you talking about? Do you think I don't know the way to my own home?"

Dean's lips twitched.

"Alright, just go already."

After saying goodbye, Dick and Dean took their separate ways back home.

When they reached a long distance, Dick took out his headphones and put them on. Then he took out his phone and tapped on it, as if he were selecting a song...

As time passed, all the hundreds of people in the exhibition hall were inspected and had left the exhibition.

There were no suspicious people found inside.

With no other choice, Jim had no choice but to leave the exhibition hall with his team and head towards Gotham City Stadium.

One of his subordinates had just reported that they were about to catch up to Phantom Thief.

Whether this Phantom Thief is real or fake will be known soon enough.

...

After some time...

In the Orpheus Jewelry Exhibition Center, the east exhibition hall is where the 'Hope Diamond' was stolen.

A shadowy figure sneaked in quietly, and who could it be but Dean?

At this moment, the exhibition hall had already closed, the lights in the hall were turned off, and it was dark.

Dean had night vision glasses on his face, which let him see and move around in the dark.

Dean walked up quietly to where the 'Hope Diamond' was on display and was about to lift the glass cover.

Click!

Suddenly, a switch sound echoed, and then the lights in the entire exhibition hall turned on.

"Sure enough, it's you, Phantom Thief."

A voice immediately followed.

Looking in the direction of the voice, Robin appeared in the exhibition hall and stared at Dean with a cold gaze.

"Still in disguise? It's time to take off that mask!"

...

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