Anime, but the Phantom Thieves of Heart

"Although you probably know our code names, this is 'Rdier', and I am 'Doctor', the leader of the Phantom Thieves."

Looking at Lan Ke and Shirou Emiya taking off their masks, Lucy, who was still waiting, was stunned for a moment, then blurted out.

"There were only two people in the Phantom Thieves before?"

For a moment, the room fell into a dead silence...

Chapter 60 The Coming 'Earthquake'

Lucy's instinctive complaint caused the scene to fall into dead silence.

In the end, Lan Ke couldn't help but speak first.

"Is this what you want to say most?"

Seeing Lan Ke's helpless face after taking off the mask, Lucy couldn't help but curl up the corners of her mouth slightly, like a child who had successfully played a prank.

"Don't worry, Leader~ I recognized you."

Having said that, Lucy showed a somewhat emotional expression.

"It seems my intuition is pretty accurate. I've been suspicious of your identity since I ran into you, Doctor... no, I should say Leader, a few times during my morning run, but no matter how hard I investigate, I can't find any clues. It turns out the problem lies in your 'perception world'."

Thinking of her previous experience of investigating Lan Ke, Lucy seemed very helpless.

"After all, stealing hearts through the 'cognitive world' is impossible to find flaws through normal means..."

Lucy might have just been expressing her feelings, but Lan Ke was stunned.

Has the other party investigated you before?

Thinking of the dense surveillance cameras that the other party had set up near his home, Lan Ke couldn't help but recall the past.

“There shouldn’t be any cameras near my house, right?”

Lan Ke instinctively called them "my family", and Lucy smiled.

"Of course, although I didn't know you could find the camera, Leader, that place is the 'home of the Joestar family heir' after all. Professional security personnel could appear nearby at any time. To prevent them from discovering me, I installed it far away."

"Miss Lucy, you are really cautious~"

Faced with Lan Ke's sigh, Lucy was quite helpless.

"The only thing that has kept me alive until now, despite being hunted by Arasaka, is caution."

As Lucy spoke, Lan Ke suddenly remembered something.

"By the way, those two stupid thieves I caught earlier were also here for you?"

"That's right, but they're not from Arasaka, they're from Hakuba Pharmaceuticals. I was hired to steal their drug data, but I discovered something fishy about the company. Then, Hakuba Pharmaceuticals' network security personnel started tracking me down and even sent someone to look for me..."

Speaking of this, Lucy felt helpless.

Working in this line of work, she was naturally prepared to confront her opponents, but this was the first time she had encountered an overreaction like that of Baijiu Pharmaceuticals.

But Lan Ke frowned slightly.

Baijiu Pharmaceutical?

Lan Ke always felt that it sounded familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had heard it.

But there is no way around it. No one knows how many worlds this world is made up of. If he had a general direction, he could try to look for it in his memory, but right now... it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Forget it.

Shirou Emiya seemed quite calm about this.

"It looks like there's something wrong with 'Shirahito Pharmaceuticals' as well. Let's go check it out after we're done with 'Arasaka'."

"That's right. Let's deal with Arasaka first. Lucy, you should also rest well and recharge your batteries. After all, there's a big battle tomorrow."

Perhaps because all the serious business had been discussed, Lucy felt her body becoming increasingly exhausted, and even her eyes could hardly be opened. She did not say anything more, but nodded.

Seeing this, Lan Ke and Emiya Shirou simply turned around and prepared to leave.

But at this moment, Lan Ke seemed to remember something.

"By the way, have you decided on your 'code name'?"

Lucy, whose double eyelids were already drooping, blurted out almost instinctively after hearing Lan Ke's words.

"V..."

After she finished speaking, she tilted her head and fell asleep completely.

Instead, Lan Ke and Shirou Emiya were startled and rushed forward, but when they saw each other's slightly trembling eyelashes, they breathed a sigh of relief, and Shirou Emiya couldn't help but complain.

"Was I like that then?"

"They should be about the same, right?"

Lan Ke obviously also remembered the day of his "awakening", so he did not notice the change in the expression of Shirou Weigong behind him.

"Sleeping like this will probably make you catch a cold, or even cause a backache, right? Leader, could you please take Miss Lucy... no, should I say V back to her room to sleep? After all, this is a great opportunity to improve your favorability!"

"You're not a GAL, where did it come from...huh?"

Lan Ke instinctively tried to say something, but found that Shirou Emiya had taken out his mobile phone at some point. While Lan Ke was speechless, he activated the "Alternative Dimension Navigation" and gave him a thumbs up.

It was as if he was cheering for Lan Ke.

Lan Ke was quite helpless about this.

He could probably guess what Shirou Emiya was thinking. He simply hoped that Lan Ke would focus his attention on 'Lucy' so that his sister would be safe.

But he still couldn't help but complain.

"Shirou, this guy is too naive, isn't he? If I were a guy who couldn't help but take action when I saw a woman, Illya would never be able to escape my clutches, right? Instead of letting me indulge my desires, why not help me restrain myself as a friend?"

While complaining, Lan Ke glanced at Lucy who was taking a nap on the sofa, and finally let out a helpless sigh.

The 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts' held a brief introductory meeting, and the participants went home satisfied after the meeting. However, on the other side, the 'police' began to work late into the night again.

The first step is naturally to send the coins that Shirou Emiya "scattered" for testing to confirm whether they are "genuine".

The second step is to analyze based on the existing intelligence.

"While we don't know why the Phantom Thieves of Hearts opened that 'security door,' we do know that they dispatched a third member for this purpose."

As he spoke, Ginzo Nakamori pasted a hand-painted picture on the whiteboard.

Why hand painting?

Of course, it's not that Arasaka is unwilling to help, but because Lucy's confrontation with the unknown opponent directly destroyed a lot of electronic equipment, including surveillance cameras, so this "hand-painted picture" was drawn based on the oral description of the security personnel who witnessed the final "speeding".

The portrait shows a person wearing a one-piece tights with shorts, a coat, and a hat, with the hood of the coat buttoned up. The entire mouth is covered by the collar of the tights, and the only eyes that may reveal biological characteristics are those wearing special glasses.

In terms of clothing style, it is quite different from 'Docter' and 'Rider', but the same thing is that they cover up any clues that may be exposed.

"According to witnesses, they also concealed their identities. However, we do know that the third member of the Phantom Thieves of Hearts is female and extremely skilled in operating electronic devices. According to Arasaka, their security door is completely controlled by a central computer. Under normal circumstances, only Arasaka Saburo and Arasaka Yorinobu can open it. It's impossible for ordinary people to crack it, and it's also impossible."

At this moment, an older policeman raised his right hand.

“So what should the people working on the inside do?”

"They have signed extremely strict protocols and have dedicated rest areas inside."

It was obvious that Ginzo Nakamori did not like to explain. After all, even if he paid enough money, this behavior was tantamount to captivity. However, both parties were willing, so even if he was unhappy, Ginzo Nakamori could not say much.

After all, there is nothing wrong with working overtime. The problem is that people are required to work overtime without being paid overtime. As long as the overtime pay is high enough, there will be many people rushing to work overtime.

Everyone present had similar expressions, and it was obvious that no one liked the style of Arasaka.

Fortunately, someone broke the awkward atmosphere.

"Inspector Nakamori, do you have any clues about the signature 'Katana Band'?"

Looking at Josuke Higashikata who raised his hand to ask a question, Ginzo Nakamori nodded with satisfaction.

There are certain things they cannot influence, and the most important thing right now is to 'solve the case'.

"Not yet. While there are indeed bands with this name, according to our investigation, they have long since disbanded, and their members are under surveillance, and no one has mysteriously disappeared. However, we cannot rule out the possibility that the 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts' have die-hard fans of these bands, which is why they used this pseudonym in this 'preview letter'."

As he spoke, Ginzo Nakamori looked at Toshio Utsumi.

"Next, we will investigate from two perspectives: 'musicians' and 'Arasaka's business rivals'..."

At this time, Nakamori Ginzo was arranging tasks in an orderly manner in the conference room, while the man in the 'Warning Director's' office on the top floor was also working late into the night.

However, unlike the 'Heart Phantom Thieves Countermeasures Headquarters' downstairs, the other party was not pulled here by Zero Hour because of an incident.

In fact, he has been working overtime in his office recently.

As the influence of the 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts' grows, the White Horse Warning Director has realized that suppressing the discussion about them is no longer possible.

The big bomb buried because of Ze Yuezhi is becoming more and more dangerous.

Although the possibility of the 'Phantom Thieves of Hearts' ignoring this cannot be ruled out, after all, they have been focusing on stealing hearts from 'individuals' so far and have no intention of holding a press conference.

However, Chief Inspector Hakuba, who was already unhappy with these people, did not miss this opportunity and directly used the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts" as a token to negotiate with the party behind them.

His meaning was very simple. The police are almost unable to control the situation. The Phantom Thieves of Hearts may expose problems with these people at any time. Do you plan to explode with them, or push these people out in advance?

The reactions of the parties behind these people can be said to be almost the same.

He first denied it, then tested the White Horse Police Chief. After realizing the other party's determination, he expressed regret and directly withdrew from the party he belonged to.

Since it is impossible to save it, it is better to be proactive. This way, not only can you gain the "friendship" mentioned by the White Horse Police Chief, but you can also earn a reputation for "killing relatives for the sake of justice". It's a win-win situation.

But even if preparations and plans have been made, as long as the problem is not resolved one day, the White Horse Police Chief will feel like a thorn in his back.

Now that the 'plan implementation date' is approaching, he naturally stays in the office, ready to deal with any unexpected situations that may arise at any time.

But I didn't expect to encounter the actions of the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts" before the "plan" began.

"Is the Arasaka Group the target this time?"

The man who was tapping the table with his fingers opened his eyes, which were always squinting, making him look less gentle and more sharp.

Suddenly, his fingers stopped tapping on the table and he made a decision.

"We suppressed the intelligence before to prevent it from having too much of an impact. Now that it's no longer relevant, why not use the Phantom Thieves of Hearts to reduce the pressure and impact of our operations here..."

As the other party muttered to himself, an earthquake that was enough to affect half of Japan's political arena quietly began.

Chapter 61: I really want to get the 'Detective' on board~

"Ha~"

Lan Ke couldn't help yawning early in the morning.

Kudo Shinichi, who appeared behind Lan Ke at some point, originally wanted to pat Lan Ke on the shoulder to give him a "surprise", but remembering the experience not long ago where he almost got hurt, he very "from the heart" took the initiative to speak from a distance of several meters from Lan Ke.

"Hey~ Narukami~ Why do you look like you're still half asleep today? Are you nervous before the exam?"

Lan Ke didn't react to this, but Mao Lilan, who was following beside him, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

After all, she had already prepared to forcibly pull Kudo Shinichi back if he took the initiative to tease Lan Ke.

Perhaps it's just as Sonoko said, Kudo Shinichi's personality is very similar to that of a cat at times, full of curiosity and action, but when facing "prey", he is like a real predator.

"Nervous? What's there to be nervous about? I'm not planning on applying to the University of Tokyo. With my current grades, as long as things are normal, I can basically pick any ordinary university, right?"

Lan Ke seemed very calm in the face of Kudo Shinichi's teasing.

After all, he had no intention of becoming a doctor in this life, so he naturally had no reason to be obsessed with his grades. As long as they were enough, it would be fine. Fortunately, his grades were already pretty good, so after a month of 'rehabilitation', he basically didn't need to worry about his grades.

However, since the other party teased him, Lan Ke would not let him go.

"Kudo, you're almost there, right? Judging from your appearance, you probably didn't sleep well last night, right?"

"How is that possible?! I saw the 'news' this morning. Didn't you see it, Narukami?"

Lan Ke naturally knew what the other party was talking about. It was nothing more than the news about the "Phantom Thieves of Hearts", but he couldn't say it out loud.

"How would I know? I trained too late last night and slept in until the very end today. If someone hadn't woken me up, I might have been late..."

Lan Ke was not talking nonsense. He did go to bed late yesterday. After all, he had done "training" before going to bed, although this so-called "training" was not kendo, and someone did call him to get up in the morning.

It's just that the way he got up was a bit 'scary'.

At first, the Velvet's own assistant provided a wake-up service, and then as soon as he opened his eyes, he saw the sneaky Jolyne climbing the stairs.

Lan Ke was instantly awakened by the shock.

Although he was indeed looking forward to being woken up by a girl early in the morning in Galgame, the problem was that Jolyne was calling him to get up so openly that Jotaro couldn't have been unaware of it.