Bab 52: Chapter 52: The Double Deception
"We have no choice but to accept the one and only life we're given, no matter how cruel and heartless it might be."
– Yuri Nakamura (Angel Beats!)
...
At the door of the bedroom, Dean stood thoughtfully in front of the closed door.
The radar of the small surveillance system jammer showed that there was a surveillance camera hidden in his bedroom.
Why would it be in the bedroom?
Although the bedroom is the most private place for anyone, Dean doesn't spend much time there except for sleeping.
He usually stays in places like the study room, practice room, basement, living room, and even the kitchen.
After all, the Sutton Manor has plenty of rooms, so Dean doesn't need to use his bedroom for multiple purposes like ordinary homes do.
He wants to use every square inch of space in this Manor.
Hmm... always hanging around with Dick, a super-rich kid, made me almost forget that I'm also considered a "rich person" in the eyes of ordinary people.
Since Batgirl had installed a camera in his room, it meant she still didn't fully trust him and had some doubts.
But why choose to monitor the bedroom? Wouldn't the study or basement be more perfect surveillance spots?
For a moment, Dean felt deeply puzzled.
For now, he didn't plan on opening the door and entering the bedroom because he wasn't sure if Batgirl was watching the surveillance footage at the moment.
He also had to think about how to deal with the camera.
It's not a good idea to break it directly, at least not now.
Although Dean was currently alone, he couldn't risk exposing his identity as the Phantom Thief.
"Let's check the basement first. With Batgirl's abilities, it should be easy to find that secret room."
Caution was key.
Even though he could roughly confirm that there was only one camera in the house, Dean still kept the jammer device in his hand.
Just in case, it wouldn't be fun if there were hidden cameras in some corners outside the fifteen-meter radius.
Arriving at the basement, Dean easily finds the hidden switch on the wall and presses it.
The secret room opens.
"Impressive! She managed to clean up all the footprints on the floor. The dust on the ground looks as if no one has ever entered here."
As Dean enters the secret room, a light shines in front of his eyes as he sees the thick layer of dust covering every inch of the floor.
When Batgirl entered, she couldn't have avoided leaving footprints in the dust. She must have done some specialized cleaning afterwards.
However, what she doesn't know is that this pile of dust in the secret room has a special source.
It is not a natural collection of dust because Dean opens this secret room almost every day, so it is basically impossible for it to gather dust.
So, where did this dust come from?
It was quite simple; Dean had bought it through the system store!
With just a few points, he could buy dust to cover the entire secret room, creating the illusion that no one had entered for a long time.
And the dust created by the system also has a unique function, it was Dean can easily tell where the dust has been stepped on.
He believes that there are not many people in this world who can think that this ordinary dust actually hides secrets.
It's not just the dust; even these old so-called "antiques" in this secret room are actually fake items he bought in the system.
The prices are very cheap, with a total of no more than fifty amazement points.
Only the photograph was real.
When Dean earned his first bunch of amazement points, he started setting up these items.
Dean knew that whether it was Robin or Batgirl, they were all good people.
Good people care about others.
If they see the antique of the Sutton family in the secret room and think about Dean's tragic experience of losing his parents at a young age, they will naturally feel sympathy.
At the same time, the dust on the floor also proves that Dean hasn't been in the secret room for a long time.
This means that the Phantom Thief has nothing to do with this secret room.
They might even feel guilty for suspecting Dean.
As for the possibility of someone doubting Dean's identity, who is not a superhero but a supervillain lacking empathy...
Dean thinks that if such a situation really happens, his concern wouldn't be about how to hide his identity, but how to ensure that his house doesn't suddenly explode.
In the secret room, Dean walked casually towards a corner where a portrait of the Sutton family hung.
Dean squatted down and looked at the bottom right corner of the frame where it was attached to the wall, about five centimeters from the bottom to the top.
A thin black hair strand was placed between the frame and the wall.
Seeing that the hair that had been put up earlier was still there, Dean smiled.
"Sure enough, just as I thought, Batgirl didn't see through the real behind the illusion. I thought she would erase her doubts when she saw the secret room, but she ended up installing surveillance in the house. She's really something."
Dean reached out, lifted the frame back, and tilted it thirty degrees to the left.
With a soft click, the portrait remained fixed to the wall at that angle.
The secret room itself doesn't seem to have changed.
But on the other side, the wall in the basement that leads to the secret room slowly opens up on the inside, showing the door to a second secret room.
This second secret room is the operation base of the Phantom Thief!
"With less than a week left until March 10th, I haven't had time to explore the place because of Dick and Barbara. I've been too busy. After reading, I can't afford to take it easy anymore."
After bringing all of Phantom Thief's usual equipment, Dean closes both secret rooms and leaves the house quietly.
"It's 8:30 in the evening now, and there's still surveillance in the bedroom. If I go to sleep too early or too late every day, it will look suspicious. I'm running out of time, I need to act quickly."
With this in mind, Dean rushes to the Natural History Museum as fast as possible.
Nearly three hours later.
In an old-fashioned place in the old town area of Gotham, on the second-floor bedroom.
Barbara is always looking at her computer screen as she sits in her chair.
She wasn't watching a movie or playing a game.
She's watching a bedroom.
That's right, Barbara is watching the live surveillance feed from Dean's bedroom.
And she has been watching for more than an hour and a half.
'Barbara, what are you doing? How long will you continue with this meaningless task?'
As she continues to watch, Barbara can't bear it anymore and keeps questioning herself in her mind.
'Why did I install surveillance in Dean's house? He clearly has no reason to be the Phantom Thief, and I haven't found any evidence in his house.'
'Just because he happened to read a book about Roman religion, I suspect him of being a Phantom? Oh my God, I must have been infected by Batman.'
Just as Barbara is about to shut down her computer and go on a night patrol to calm down, Dean enters the bedroom.
"Wow!"
Barbara's eyes lit up, unable to contain her excitement.
...
A/N: Guys, we didn't get to 400 power stones, so I will give you all a last chance that if we reach 500 power stones WITHIN the day, I will release an additional chapter.
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