Phantom Kid in the World of American Comics

Chapter 12: Bruce’s Curiosity

”Marvie, is he the rumoured Phantom Kid who played Gordon like a child and now came to offer me Adam’s Star?”

In the luxurious room, a short fat middle-aged man in a suit and black bowler hat was sitting on a sofa with an umbrella pinned in his hand, and like Phantom Kid, he was wearing a monocle, only without that magical backlighting.

In total, There were only three people in this room. The Penguin was confident that no one would ever be able to break through here, maybe there existed one eight years ago, but never now.

Even if there was, he’d better run away quickly. No amount of bodyguards will be able to protect him in this place.

As for Marvie’s real position, she was actually the Penguin’s secretary. Mathison was genuinely surprised when he knew this.

”The infamous Penguin, I should say I am honoured to meet you.”

Mathison’s face beamed the same smile he always wore.

”I don’t like to be called that.”

The Penguin’s face became cold.

”Then… forgive me, Mr. Cobblepot, for my overfamiliarity”

Mathison shrugged, unconcerned by the penguin’s warning.

”Marvie, I asked you a question, why are you still frozen there up to now!”

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The Penguin turned his attention to the last person in the room.

”Boss, he brought Adam’s Star with him.”

Marvie walked over to Penguin and told him everything that had just happened, and as soon as he heard of it, his face became instantly gloomy.

”Marvie!”

It was a low roar full of anger, and Marvie, who knew her boss’s temperament well, cowered in fear.

”How many times have I told you that we are businessmen and that we never break the rules of our own territory!”

”No businessman would turn down his own customers!”

The umbrella in the Penguin’s hand hit the floor with a heavy “thud”.

”Robbing a customer of the goods he wants to trade? Do you have any idea how your actions could stain the reputation of the Iceberg? The biggest black market in Gotham that I’ve managed to build could be ruined!”

”Marvie, you’ve been by my side for two years now, you should know what kind of punishment will follow.”

At those words, Marvie’s face was pale and her eyes were filled with horror.

As Mathison watched, Marvie’s end was probably going to be miserable, but he wouldn’t speak up for someone who tried to shoot him.

What he hadn’t expected was that the Penguins actually valued their “reputation”, which was ironic when you consider that even heroin sellers take the purity of their goods very seriously. All of them are “professional businessmen” who demand quality, compared to some legitimate businesses.

At first, Mathison thought the Penguin would turn on him, because a mere Adam’s Star was not enough to make Cobblepot go desperate for it, in addition, there were many other goods traded here worth far more than the gem.

Of course, he survived up to now due to his strength, if by now, he was killed by a shot from Marvie, the penguin would have merely given an order to get rid of his corpse.

With this thought in mind, Mathison sat down graciously opposite the Penguin and placed Adam’s Star on the middle of the table.

”Ah, Phantom Kid, I apologize for what just happened and also appreciate the fact that you chose our place to trade… So, what would you like to trade Adam’s Star for, money? Gold? Or anything else?”

The penguin immediately reverted his face to the one of a businessman, with a big smile on it. Though in this case, it was as ugly as it could be.

”I am in desperate need of a sum of money, the amount does not matter, and I trust that you, Mr. Cobblepot, won’t make me a wild offer.”

Although the market valuation of Adam’s Star was up to $170 million, black market transactions are not based on the normal price. Usually, the amount would be reduced by 20 to 30 percent.

It is possible that an auction would fetch a high price, but the starting price would be much lower than the normal price, and the bids would vary from territory to territory.

It didn’t matter how much, more or less, the cash he is getting. After all, his parents had left him a lot of money, but he wanted to establish an exclusive base for Phantom Kid, and if he used his own family money he would be easily traced, so he had to use these unrecorded funds.

”Then, based on the market valuation, 170 million dollars, as an apology for Marvie’s rudeness earlier.”

The Penguin lit a cigar and took a puff.

”Oh? Wouldn’t you be losing a lot of money out of thin air then, Mr. Cobblepot?”

Mathison couldn’t believe such a good thing could happen.

”Don’t overthink it, I’m not in the business to lose money,” said the Penguin, a veteran of the business who could not see the suspicions of Phantom Kid, “Someone in New York just happened to want the jewel at a high price, and guess how much he offered? A whole $200 million!”

”A little operation could have raised the price even higher, and if it weren’t for this buyer, I honestly wouldn’t have any interest in the gem itself.”

”But if you want to ask who this buyer is, then I have no comment.”

Mathison couldn’t confirm whether the Penguin was telling the truth or not and had to choose to believe it.

With the agreed price, the transaction was carried out straight away. 170 million dollars was transferred to a virtual account that Mathison had, opened in advance so that even if the transaction records were traced, no one would know whom it belonged to.

Once everything was done, Mathison got up and left the place, disguised as a middle-aged male in front of the Penguin, and then walked straight outside to the auction house.

Penguin recognized that Phantom Kid could change his appearance at will and that it would be impossible to track him in the middle of a crowd.

”Phantom Kid? … What an interesting guy. Seems that Gotham will be lively again in the future, hehehehe~”

Looking at Mathison on his way out, Penguin laughed meaningfully.

Meanwhile, in the Batcave underneath Wayne Manor…

”Master Wayne, there’s good news for you.”

Alfred came to Bruce’s side with a newspaper in his hand.

Almost every day this week, Bruce had gone to the Batcave, using his Batcomputer to search for any signs of Phantom Kid.

For a month, Bruce has extracted and seen all the surveillance records of the area around the Gotham Exhibition Hall, yet no clues about Phantom Kid were found.

It was as if Phantom Kid had appeared out of thin air, with no absolute records of his whereabouts.

He could not even find any suspicious person who might be Phantom Kid.

This raised Bruce’s curiosity; it had been a long time since he had been this interested in something.

The newspaper that Alfred had just handed over to him had increased Bruce’s interest even more.

The headline of the paper read, “A second teaser letter from Phantom Kid appears… Is this coded teaser letter really from Kid?”

”The fickle brothers are going to the end.

       By this time, the Twelve Trials had reached their second,

When Selene cannot look far enough to see Helios,

I shall listen to the call of the waves and come to snatch the cat’s eye.

See you soon, Phantom Kid!”

Looking at this mysterious teaser letter, Bruce showed a smile of triumph!

Seeing this, Alfred smiled with relief…