Chapter 19: Hide and Seek

”Boom!”

Just a moment after the barrier was lifted, a loud bang came from the air.

The figure of Phantom Kid exploded without warning, followed by a thick cloud of smoke that enveloped it, making it impossible to see what was going on inside.

”What’s going on, is Kid dead?”

”Impossible, it looks like Kid detonated himself.”

”Kid wouldn’t kill himself!”

The sudden shock caused the crowd to almost riot, but they soon started cheering.

For, a second explosion sounded, this time one of the windows of the collection was shattered, accompanied by the announcement that Phantom Kid had got in.

”Ladies and gentlemen, please follow me into the venue for the performance and then let’s play a little game together – the lucky winner who can find me first will be granted an unforgettable gift.”

”No, block the door, don’t let the crowd break in!”

Gordon yelled, and the GCPD officers hurried to carry out the instructions. Many having forgotten Gordon’s earlier order, unknowingly straying away from their initial posts.

The collection hall structure was simple, but the overall specifications were large. The corridors were very long and there were a number of small aisles. The various teams appeared to be in their respective positions, but in fact, they were separated from each other, especially as Kid would occasionally imitate Gordon’s voice and give various orders, completely messing up the police layout.

”It’s not good, Jim, Barbara’s gone!”

Gordon looked around and, sure enough, Barbara had vanished from the rooftop. By then, he immediately concluded that she went looking for Kid!

As soon as he headed to search for his daughter, the walkie-talkie in his hand lit up.

”Report sir, this is Team A. A large number of civilians have gone around the sides of the building, smashed all the windows, then invaded the hall, we can’t stop them from storming in anymore!”

The leader of Group A tried desperately to hold off the rioting tide of people at the main entrance, but could only stop a small portion of the crowd. He couldn’t help but report the bad news to Gordon.

He was hopeless, the frightening excitement on the faces of everyone in front of him intimidated the police barrier.

How could there be so many mad fans when this was only the second time that Phantom Kid had ever committed a crime?

In fact, Mathison hadn’t had many fans who were truly fanatical about him yet, and the reason for this was entirely the work of Red Magic.

The nature of this magic itself can provoke human emotions very easily, plus one of the two magic charms that Mathison had refined yesterday was to make his voice more persuasive and confusing.

So, after only a few speeches, Mathison had managed to stir up the nerves of excitement in the masses.

But it wasn’t really about being able to control emotions, it was a kind of guiding them, much like the job of most show hosts, only this one was supernaturally empowered by his Red Magic.

”Forget it, there is no use in blocking it now that it’s done. Lead the team outside now, block all the exits, and open immediate fire as soon as you see Phantom Kid!”

However, that wasn’t the only thing that went wrong.

”Team B spotted a figure that looked like Kid, whereas, in fact, it was not, until they got closer that they confirmed it was a dummy!”

”Report! Team C has also spotted a dummy of Kid, and there are two of them!”

”Report! Group D…”

The various groups found a lot of Phantom Kid dummies that didn’t move but were filled with gas, meaning that the other dummies, which were originally hidden under the carpet, could appear at any moment and attract most of the attention.

Especially after the crowd had rushed inside, countless people would assume the dummies were Kid as soon as they saw them and jump at them crazily.

The real Kid, Mathison, on the other hand, had quietly arrived at the sightseeing hall, by now dressed in a police uniform. 

”Look, there’s Phantom Kid! Arrest him now!”

Along the way, whenever he met up with the GCPD police, Mathison would make the first move, pointing at the dummy in the distance and shouting.

At the sight of the iconic white cloak and high-brimmed hat, all the officers rushed forward, completely ignoring the fact that Mathison was a “suspicious person acting alone”.

He hadn’t just infiltrated the collection a few hours earlier to set up the dummy. He hid in the pattern of the floor instantly inflatable dummies, which were so small before they were activated. They were almost impossible to spot.

At this point, Daggett’s private collection was in a state of chaos, and the word “private” was no longer relevant. One would really wonder what Daggett would do once he knows about this situation.

”Wee-woo~” “Wee-woo~”

Suddenly, a sharp, rapid alarm sounded.

”It’s the infrared alarm system that’s been triggered!”

”It’s downstairs, let’s get down there!”

”Phantom Kid, you’re done!”

Hearing the alarm, the police officers, who were being played into a headache by the countless dummies around, burst into joy and rushed downstairs.

Not only the police, but the civilians who heard the alarm also rushed there.

After all, Kid had said that whoever found him first, would get the gift of a lifetime…

Mathison smirked and pressed the button in his pocket once again and then quietly made his way up to the first floor.

”Wee-woo~” “Wee-woo~”

Another alarm emerged, no, not a single one, but a whole fourteen! The second wave of alarms kept ringing, nonstop, for the next minutes.

”This… alarm was triggered in every collection room?”

The police officers looked at each other, with not a single clue what was going on. Did Kid clone himself to be able to enter all the collection rooms at the same time?

”Damn it, Daggett never told us which collection room the Cat’s Eye Emerald was placed in, otherwise we could have just held one place now!”

Inside the sightseeing hall, Gordon’s face was ugly as hell, he slammed his fist heavily into the wall.

For the second time in his life, an unspeakable sense of frustration had arisen.

In a state of full tranquillity, Mathison moved as fast as lightning, running quickly up to the first floor just as the police were largely concerned with the ground floor.

In turn, he investigated all the collection rooms and the end result was all that Mathison had expected.

”Sure enough, the Cat’s Eye Emerald is not in any of the fourteen collection rooms at all!”

After running through all the collection rooms, Mathison found no trace of the Cat’s Eye Emerald.

”When I stepped in before, it was not convenient to enter the collection rooms to check inside, so I was just speculating, but now my guess was proven correct!”

With a playful smile, Mathison estimated the time of all the policemen which had split into fourteen teams and entered the collection room one by one.

At that moment, once again, he descended unnoticed into the first floor’s lobby and pressed the last button in his pocket.

In an instant, the collection hall lost its light and was covered with darkness…