Chapter 159: Chapter 159: Exposed
"Not everything you lose is a loss."
- Unknown
...
Wayne Botanical Garden
A strange object about as thick as a straw came out of the ground in a large garden of plants near Gotham City Stadium in Gotham.
At the top of this object was a ninety-degree bent lens, which turned a few times before hiding underground.
Immediately after, a mechanical rumble came from underground.
Buzz! Buzz!
A large drill came up from the ground and made a big hole in the ground quickly.
A figure covered in mud showed up from the ground not far behind.
"Whew—"
Dean inhaled deeply before casually brushing off the mud from his body and flicking some of the mud away.
This was inevitable when working underground.
He had just crawled up from the underground tunnel he had prepared below Gotham City Stadium.
Dean covered the tunnel's entrances with two meters of dirt so that no one else could find it. This made everything look normal from the outside.
But there were also some issues about this.
Every time he entered or exited the tunnel, he had to dig through these two meters of dirt again, which kept him covered in mud.
He had to make sure there was no one on the outside before he started digging.
Usually, the gardens had already closed at this time, but there was always a chance of running into security guards or other people, so it was important to check ahead in advance.
That's just how things worked.
There are no perfect plans.
While digging a tunnel had advantages in terms of secrecy, it also brought about these kinds of problems.
"Based on how much time has passed, they should have found the tunnel under the stadium by now. I need to leave quickly."
After climbing up from underground, Dean checked the scene to ensure he hadn't left any clues and then swiftly left the garden.
At this point, it was unnecessary to use more valuable resources to cover up the tunnel hole with soil since it was only a matter of time before it would be found.
The most important thing was to escape as quickly as possible.
At this point, Gotham City Stadium is in the middle of the grassy field inside the stadium.
A group of people with different tools started digging at the spot pointed out by Batman.
They dug down about two meters, and a huge hole appeared in front of everyone.
At the bottom of the hole, a pitch-black spotlight was lying quietly inside.
It was the Bat-Signal, which was a surprise.
There was an endless and deep tunnel behind the Bat-Signal, which served as the Phantom Thief's most likely escape route.
"Batman was right; the Phantom Thief really brought the Bat-Signal underground."
When everyone saw this scene, they couldn't help but look at Batman and Robin with shocked expressions.
Jim and "Bruce" were the ones with the calmest expressions.
They had been in touch with Batman for too long, and over the years, he had rarely been wrong.
But when they saw the Bat-Signal, they couldn't hide the look of disbelief in their eyes. It wasn't because Batman was right, but because of the Phantom Thief.
They couldn't figure out how the Phantom Thief had managed to move the Bat-Signal underground. After all, there was a layer of soil two meters thick on top of it.
Could the Phantom Thief dig tunnels through the ground?
This was something that not only puzzled them, but even Batman found it somewhat incredible.
Phantom Thief had dug a tunnel five meters below the ground that was just big enough for an adult to crawl through.
He made a space about three meters high in the underground area under the grassy field's center, which was just big enough for the Bat-Signal to fit in.
The Bat-Signal happened to be directly above this hole and had fallen into the pit without any issues due to gravity.
Honestly, this method itself wasn't particularly mysterious or hard to imagine.
There were similar methods used in movies, like digging a large hole underground and covering it with something that looked like it belonged there, such as a wooden or metal board, and then, when the mechanism was triggered, the board would automatically open, causing the object above to naturally fall into the hole.
Even when Phantom Thief was rehearsing before, someone considered that the Bat-Signal might be buried underground.
However, Phantom Thief's tunnel had not yet reached the stadium, so repeated checks showed that everything looked good below the grassy field.
The two-meter-thick layer of soil on the surface made it difficult to find the traces of a tunnel using normal methods, even if Phantom Thief had already dug his tunnel by that point.
There will be no one who will just dig two meters deep in the lawn to see if there is a tunnel below.
So the question is, how did Phantom Thief get the Bat-Signal to fall through the two-meter-thick layer of soil and into the deeper hole?
No one could have planned this, not even Batman.
At least, it was absolutely impossible to use any normal methods.
Does the Phantom Thief really have magical powers? Or did he use a kind of teleportation technology?
'If that's the case, why did he dig this tunnel?'
Batman asked himself as he stared at the seemingly endless underground path in the hole.
'He could have just used teleportation to move the Bat-Signal. So why didn't he just do that? If his ability to teleport is limited, he could have chosen to teleport the gemstone inside the Bat-Signal. There was no reason to go through the extra trouble of taking the Bat-Signal away. Is it just to make a magic show more exciting?'
"What if Phantom Thief didn't have the direct ability to teleport the Bat-Signal? How did he make the Bat-Signal pass through the two-meter-thick soil?"
As he pondered, Batman turned to look at the front of the Bat-Signal, the cut part of the Bat-Signal.
He reached his hand inside, and some strange powder stuck to his fingers.
These mini trackers were hidden inside the Bat-Signal and on the gemstone.
These trackers were so small that they were almost the same size as dust, and once they were scattered, they were almost impossible to see.
Batman thought that the Phantom Thief should have picked up some of these trackers on his hand or sleeve when he reached in.
Unfortunately, it didn't work out. All the trackers were still in their original places, and the ones attached to the gemstone had all been removed.
However, this was expected.
What Batman was most concerned about right now wasn't the trackers, but the cut on the Bat-Signal.
"The cut is unusually smooth. The Phantom Thief completed the cut in a very short time. This level cannot be reached by any cutting tools, not even those made specifically for promethium alloy by Wayne Enterprises. This means he has some kind of cutting-edge tool that surpasses modern Earth technology—alien technology? Future technology? Or some unknown technology..."
'"If the Phantom Thief can directly teleport the gemstone out of the Bat-Signal, why did he use a tool to cut it? Taking away the Bat-Signal can be explained as a staged effect, but when he took out the gemstone underground, there was no audience. There is no need for that...'
Batman furrowed his brow. The more he thought about it, the more strange it all seemed.
The Phantom Thief's actions seemed confusing and strange.
...
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