Become a Phantom Thief from the Comic World

However, Vicky's next words instantly shocked the jaws of everyone present.

"These were found in Cicero's manager's office, hidden in a secret compartment. Every gem in this bag is fake!"

This statement is quite shocking, but if you think about it carefully, there still seems to be some problems.

"Cicero has so many fake gems hidden away. Does he plan to auction them off in large quantities? Isn't he afraid that the secret will be exposed one day? And wasn't the 'Pink Dream' put up for auction by Gray Letard? Why did Cicero Will there be a lot of fake gems hidden there?”

There is a more important question - why did Kaitou Kidd steal a fake diamond?

"Robin, do you think Kaito Kidd's motive is..."

Gordon turned to look at Robin, wanting to ask the latter's opinion, but the question he blurted out came to an abrupt end.

"I knew it……"

Looking at the empty space around him, Gordon couldn't help but smile bitterly and shook his head.

Vicki looked at everyone with firm eyes. She didn't know if she would be retaliated against after saying this, but if she didn't, she would be sorry for her work over the years.

"The purpose of these fake gemstones was not to be realized through auctions from the beginning!"

"But to launder money!"

"Cicero, Graytard, and Lark are all just pawns responsible for using the 'Pink Dream' to launder money. The person behind everything is Oswald Cobblepot!"

"Penguin!"

Chapter 32 Recording

"About two days ago, someone sent me a tip, which showed that Ethan International Shipping Company had recently been transferred a high-value asset from an unknown source, amounting to more than 50 million U.S. dollars, but it was not found in the public accounts. Any relevant records.”

After revealing the true identity of the mastermind straight to the point, Vicky sorted out the context of the entire incident from the beginning.

"The person who sent the tip claimed that the $50 million was black money. The real source was the leader of a criminal organization in Gotham. For unknown reasons, the organization wanted to launder the money as quickly as possible."

"Everyone in Gotham knows there's only one place to launder bad money here, and that's the Iceberg Club."

"As we all know, Penguin never refuses business that comes to him, so he planned to launder this black money at this auction. The method was to auction a low-cost counterfeit diamond at a high price, and he decided to use Ethan international shipping companies to accomplish this task.”

"Because this company, which appears to have clean accounts on the surface, is actually just Penguin's white glove company!"

At this time, Vicky turned to look at Greytard Ethan, who was handcuffed.

"The general manager of Ethan International Shipping Company, Ashletard Ethan, is just a puppet of Penguin, who specializes in money laundering criminal activities for him!"

"'Pink Dream' was ostensibly brought to the auction by Gray Letard, but in fact his identity is only the agent responsible for auctioning diamonds, not the owner of 'Pink Dream'!"

"Once 'Pink Fantasy' is sold for a sky-high price of nearly fifty million US dollars, then the Penguin consignor will receive the laundered money."

Then, Vicky turned to look at Lark.

"In order to ensure that 'Pink Fantasy' would get the desired bid, Penguin also asked one of his closest men, Lark Finn, the manager of Iceberg Casino, to participate in the auction as a bidder."

In this way, everyone's division of labor is very clear.

The client hoped that Penguin could help him launder money, so he transferred 50 million illegal assets to Penguin's white glove Gray Letard, and then Gray Letard auctioned off fake diamonds on behalf of the client, while Lark was responsible for selling the fake diamonds. The diamonds are auctioned normally, so that the consignor's original illegal assets of 50 million will become legal auction proceeds.

Cicero's role was to ensure that the fake diamond would be successfully auctioned.

If there is an unfortunate rich man who happens to be interested in this 'pink dream' and intends to bid for it at a higher price than Luck, then Luck will naturally not bid with him and let the lucky man take the price of the diamond. , Penguin got fifty million for free.

As for how to launder the 50 million illegal assets remitted to Ethan International Shipping Company, this is too simple for Penguin's power. He has countless ways to make the money legal.

In the whole process, the penguin did not appear in any link, but at the same time, there were penguins everywhere.

"It turns out that the pink diamond is actually a tool used to assist money laundering. Seeing how many artificial gemstones there are in Cicero's office, what kind of huge illegal transaction does it contain..."

After listening to Vicky's narration, every bidder present suddenly realized what was going on. They couldn't help but take a breath of cold air and were filled with fear.

"I really thought about buying that pink diamond before because it was in such good condition. What if I actually spent more than 50 million to buy a fake diamond... I don't dare to think about it, I don't even think about it. Dare to think!”

"Humph!"

At this time, a cold snort sounded from the side, and I saw an expression of indignation on the face of Gray Letard Ethan, staring at Vicky fiercely.

"Vicky Weir! What you said sounds reasonable, but do you have any evidence? I swear to God that there is no so-called illegal remittance in Ethan International Shipping Company. Our company's accounts have always been open and transparent, and we are welcome at any time. investigation!"

"You actually slander me as a white glove laundering money for criminals? I have nothing to do with Penguin at all. Do you know this is slander? It's an insult to my character!"

"And why do you say that 'Pink Dream' is fake just because a hotel manager collected a bag of beautiful glass balls? The current situation is that Kaitou Kidd stole 'Pink Dream', and I lost the biggest money in the world." Pink Diamond, I am obviously the victim, why am I the one who is handcuffed by the police and charged? GCPD, are taxpayers’ money entrusted to you to be used to wrongly accuse good people?”

"Vicky Weir, and Jim Gordon, please wait to receive my lawyer's letter!"

Graytard was obviously well-trained and experienced, and he insisted that Vicky was slandering him, and it was impossible to convict him without direct evidence.

Such a tough attitude made everyone in the audience murmur again. What Graytard said was correct, and Vicky did not provide any actual and effective evidence.

Ethan International Shipping Company has never had any negative news, so why did it suddenly become the white glove of the Penguin?

I'm not sure Grayletard was really wronged...

"I can't tell you, you damn fat guy, are pretty smart. You stopped that bitch right away."

Beside him, Lark whispered to Greytard, with a sneer on his face.

"Talk less at this time."

Graytard whispered in response.

"Do you think I have no evidence? Greytard, look at what this is!"

However, Vicky's attitude was not soft either. She put down the bag of fake gems, took out a black object from her arms and held it up high.

It was a small, slender box, which was the recorder that had just been thrown to her by Kaitou Kidd.

"what?"

Greylatard couldn't see the big screen from his perspective, and he wasn't close to Vicky, so he couldn't quite see what it was.

But it didn't matter if he couldn't see it, because he heard it clearly.

"Today's auction has been completely disrupted. It is almost impossible for Mr. Penguin's transaction to proceed normally... It is Okierwei, Penguin sent him to discuss this business with me..."

A recording was played, in which Cicero confessed that he had indeed had a deal with Penguin, and that he had been coerced.

"How dare you betray us!"

Greylatard and Luck instantly turned their heads and looked at Cicero at the same time, with fierce eyes and ferocious faces. Luck, in particular, looked like he wanted to kill Cicero.

Cicero, who had already lost his soul, had not said a word since he was dragged in by Robin. His face was expressionless, his eyes were empty, and he was completely unaware of the glares of the two Greylatards.

At this moment, another recording was played, this time it was a woman's voice.

"It's been a long time since that fake stone came out...Don't forget that I've been working under the boss much longer than you...No one can hear me as long as I don't want to."

Lark's face suddenly stiffened when he heard the sound.

Graytard looked at Cicero, then at Lark, and fell into silence.

Chapter 33 Who is the Yellow Bird?

"I know that some people will doubt the authenticity of the recording, so I kindly ask the Wayne Group to help verify it. I believe that with the technology of the Wayne Group, we will be able to find out whether this recording is my real voice. Is that okay, Director Gordon? "

After getting Gordon's approval, Vicky walked to the first row nearest the audience and handed the tape recorder to Alfred Pennyworth in the middle.

and Dick Grayson.

The moment she saw Dick, Vicky was stunned for a moment. She remembered that Dick wasn't here before, so she asked Alfred specifically about this.

Ah Fu told her with a normal face that Master Richard had gone to the bathroom. Maybe he was used to the food in Wayne Manor and accidentally got a bad stomach here...

Now that Dick has returned from using the toilet, there seems to be nothing wrong, but Vicki seems to have never seen Dick walk in. She thought Dick was still in the toilet, but she did not expect that he had returned to his seat.

"Then I will accept it on behalf of Wayne Group, Miss Weir. I believe that if Bruce were here, he would be happy to accept this commission."

Dick took the tape recorder and said that Wayne Group would complete the matter as soon as possible.

At this point, tonight's incident comes to an end.

It is not yet clear who the person who entrusted Penguin to launder 50 million in illegal assets is currently unknown. However, the police will soon launch a comprehensive investigation into Ethan International Shipping Company. At that time, they can be traced back through the transaction records on the hidden accounts.

Unfortunately, there is no direct evidence pointing to Penguin. Although the recording mentions Penguin's testimony, "Penguin" is not a real name after all. It is almost impossible to use this as a breakthrough to trace the clues to Penguin.

This is the scary thing about Penguin. Everyone knows that he is the underground king of Gotham, and countless criminal activities are related to him. However, no matter how you investigate, the clues will be lost when you find the men around him. No evidence of the Penguin's own crimes could be found.

Even Batman rarely catches Penguin's flaws. He can often only beat him to vent his anger, but cannot send Penguin to prison.

However, the above are all the work of the GCPD and the courts. Vicky Weir has already done her part, and the rest has nothing to do with her, and she can't control it even if she wants to.

On the other side, on the rooftop of the hotel.

A white figure with a hint of gray crawled out of the vent at the edge of the rooftop. It was Dean wearing a Phantom Thief uniform.

After using tear gas to intercept Robin, he ran to the 20th floor in one breath, used the elevator card passed down from Cicero to activate the exclusive elevator to the presidential suite on the 25th floor, and left the hotel through the ventilation duct.

It was the same ventilation duct where he had overheard Ogilvie's secret conversation with Cicero.

In order to ensure safety and privacy, the entire power system of this presidential suite, including the exclusive elevator, is independent, and no monitoring equipment is installed. This is Dean's best escape route.

After dusting himself off, Dean took out his grapple gun and fired the rope. One end was fixed on the rooftop, the other end hung down to the unoccupied ground, and then he used the rope to slide down.

Because Dean's cloak was left behind in the hotel when he performed the magic trick of turning Robin into a living person, and he didn't bring an extra cloak with him in advance, he couldn't fly away with a triangle hang glider and had to use earthen methods to land.

Just when Dean slipped on the rope, he was on a tall building hundreds of meters away opposite the Gotham International Hotel.

There are three people hiding here, two of them are snipers who have already set up their guns, and the last one is Ignatius O'Kilwe, the Penguin's most important staff officer at present.

"Why don't you take action yet, Ogilvy? Kaitou Kidd is about to enter a sniper blind spot."

A sniper looked at the declining Phantom Thief Kid in the scope and asked eagerly.

"Don't worry, I have asked the boss in advance. Kaitou Kidd will die in our hands, but we need to wait. Now is not the time to kill him."

Next to him, O'Kilwe, who looked leisurely, lit up a cigarette, smoked it happily, and answered his companion in a perfunctory tone.

"What did the boss say? Who will be responsible if Kaito Kidd escapes? I don't want to be the boss's punching bag!"

The sniper was obviously very dissatisfied with Okierwe's perfunctory behavior. He turned his head and stared at the latter and asked.

A flash of light flashed across O'Kilwe's eyes, he came to the sniper, and said with a smile: "If you want to kill Kaitou Kidd as soon as possible, then shoot, but you must ensure that you kill him in one shot. If you don't have this certainty, you can't kill him with one shot. Don't do anything, understand?"

"no problem."

The sniper was very confident in his shooting skills. He turned back to look at the scope and adjusted it to be above Kaitou Kidd.

At this moment, a stinging pain suddenly came from his throat.

Pfft!

A large amount of blood spurted out instantly.

The sniper covered his bleeding throat and looked at Ogilvy in disbelief.

"you you……"

O'Kilwe looked down at him with playful eyes, and slowly raised his right hand wearing a black glove, which was holding a blood-stained playing card.

"I just told you to wait. It's my first time to kill someone with playing cards. I'm not quite ready yet. Fortunately, I succeeded the first time, otherwise I would have been very distressed."

"Uh...uh——"

The sniper's eyes were splitting, and he stretched out his hand desperately, trying to catch O'Kilwe, but was easily kicked down by the latter.

O'Kilwe cut his carotid artery with a playing card, and blood poured out uncontrollably. The sniper soon took his last breath and died with his eyes open.

"What should we do now, boss? Stay here for a while or go back directly?"

The sniper was suddenly killed by O'Kilwe. The other sniper next to him not only did not panic, but calmly put away the sniper rifle and asked O'Kilwe.

It was as if he didn't care at all that his companions were killed by his own people, nor was he worried that Okierwe would attack him.

This is evident from his title of "boss" to Okiervi, a loyal subordinate whom Okiervi trained himself.

"What are you doing here? Is the cold wind blowing?"

O'Kilwe sneered and put away the dead sniper's gun.

After putting away the guns, the two men took out a huge box from the corner and put the corpse, sniper rifle and blood-stained playing cards in it.

Then put on the moving company's work clothes and carry the boxes away.

"Boss, if you kill this idiot, how are we going to explain to that old penguin?"

O'Kilwe's younger brother asked.