Phantom Kid in the American Comic World
12. Bruce's curiosity

"Marvie, is he the rumored Phantom Kid who played Gordon like a child and is now coming to offer me the Star of Adam?"

In the luxurious room, a short fat middle-aged man in a suit and a black bowler hat was sitting on the sofa with an umbrella pinned in his hand, and like the Phantom Kid, he was wearing lensed glasses, he was wearing, it's just without that magic backlight.

In total, there were only three people in this room. Penguin is sure that no one will be able to break through here, there was probably eight years ago, but never now.

Even if there was, he better escape quickly. There were no number of bodyguards that could protect him in this place.

As for Marvie's actual position, she was actually the secretary of the Penguin. Mathison was really surprised when she found out about this.

"Famous penguin, I must say that I am honored to meet you."

Mathison's face exuded the same smile she always wore.

"I don't like being called that."

The Penguin's face turned cold.

”Then..pardon me, Mr. Cobblepot, for being too familiar with me”

Mathison shrugged, unconcerned by the penguin's warning.

"Marvie, I'm asking you, why are you still freezing there until now!"

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

"Boss, he brought the Star of Adam with him."

Marvie walked over to Penguin and told him everything that had just happened, and as soon as she heard it, her face was instantly grim.

“Marvi!”

It was a low roar full of anger, and Marvie, who knew his boss' temper well, cowered in fear.

"How many times have I said that we are entrepreneurs and we never break the rules of our own territory!"

"No entrepreneur will turn down his own customers!"

The umbrella in Penguin's hand hit the floor with a heavy "noise.

”Bragging a customer of an item he wants to trade? Do you know how your actions can tarnish the reputation of the Ice Mountain? The biggest black market in Gotham that I managed to build could be destroyed!”

"Marvie, you've been by my side for two years now, you should know what punishment will follow."

Hearing those words, Marvie's face was pale and her eyes were filled with fear.

As Mathison watches, Marvie's end may be sad, but she won't speak for someone who tried to shoot her.

What he didn't expect was that Penguin really appreciated their "reputation", which is ironic when you consider that even heroin dealers pay close attention to the purity of their goods. Everything is “professional entrepreneurs” demanding quality, compared to some legitimate business.

At first, Mathison thought the Penguin would attack her, because a mere Adam's Star was not enough to make Cobblepot desperate, besides, for it, there were many other items traded here that were of much higher value than gems.

Of course, he survived until now because of his strength, if now, he was killed by a shot from Marvie, the penguin would just give the order to get rid of his corpse.

With this in mind, Mathison sat gracefully across the Penguin and placed the Star of Adam in the center of the table.

”Ah, Phantom Kid, I'm sorry for what just happened and also appreciate the fact that you chose our place to trade... So, what are you trading Adam's Star for, money? The gold? Or something else?"

The penguin immediately returned his face to the face of a businessman, with a wide smile on it. Although in this case, it was as bad as possible.

"I desperately need some money, the amount doesn't matter, and I believe that you, Mr. Cobblepot, won't give me a wild offer."

Although Adam's Star's market valuation reached $170 million, black market transactions are not based on normal prices. Usually, the amount will be reduced by 20 to 30 percent.

No matter how much, more or less, cash he got. After all, her parents had left a lot of money for her, but she wanted to establish an exclusive base for the Phantom Kid, and if she used her own family's money, she would be easy to trace, he said, 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.”

Penguins light up cigars and suck on them.

"Oh? Aren't you going to lose a lot of money just like that, Mr Cobblepot?”

Mathison didn't believe such a good thing could happen.

”Do not think too much, I do not do business to lose,” said Penguin, a business veteran who could not see the suspicion of Phantom Kid, “Someone in New York happened to want the gem.High price, the, guess how much he offered? Overall $200 million!”

"Slight operations could raise prices higher, and if it wasn't for these buyers, I honestly wouldn't be interested in the gems themselves."

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

Mathison can't be sure if the Penguin is telling the truth or not and must choose to believe it.

At the agreed price, a direct transaction is made. 170 million dollars is transferred to the virtual account that Mathison has, opened first so that even if the transaction record is tracked, no one will know whose property it belongs to.

After everything was done, Mathison got up and left the place, disguised as a middle-aged man in front of the Penguin, and then directly walked out towards the auction house.

Penguin realizes that the Phantom Kid can change his appearance at will and is unlikely to track him down in the crowd.

"The ghost boy? ... What an interesting guy. Looks like Gotham will live again in the future, hehehehe~”

Seeing Mathison on her way out, Penguin laughed meaningfully.

Meanwhile, in the Batcave under Wayne Manor…

"Mr Wayne, there's good news for you."

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

Almost every day of the week, Bruce goes to the Batcave, using his Batcomputer to look for signs of the Phantom Kid.

For a month, Bruce has been extracting and viewing all surveillance records of the area around the Gotham Exhibition Hall, but no clues about the Phantom Kid have been found.

It was as if the Phantom Kid had simply appeared, with no definite record of his whereabouts.

He couldn't even find a suspicious person who might be the Phantom Kid.

This aroused Bruce's curiosity; it had been a long time since he had been interested in something.

The newspaper Alfred had just given him further increased Bruce's interest.

The newspaper's title reads, “The second teaser letter from Phantom Kid appears... Is this coded teaser letter really from Kid?”

“The fickle brothers will be until the end.

       At this moment, the Twelve Trials had reached the second one,

When Selene couldn't see far enough to see Helios,

I will listen to the call of the waves and come to snatch the cat's eye.

See you later, Phantom Kid!”

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

Seeing this, Alfred smiled with relief…