《Phantom Kid in the World of American Comics》Chapter 10: The Iceberg Restaurant
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”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 the notice letter, Gordon read it word by word.
”Err… if I’m right, you’re writing a poem?”
Aaron asked with an odd look on his face, what is the deal with this letter.
”It’s a new notice letter from Phantom Kid!”
Gordon was deep in thought. It was clear from the content of the last notice letter that Phantom Kid was a man who liked to bite more than he could chew, only this one was more enigmatic than the first one, which was written in a direct manner.
It’s understandable, after all, no one would take him seriously if his first notice letter was so fancy.
”Who are the fickle brothers? What do the Twelve Trials refer to? What does he mean by Selene and Helios?? Is this from Greek mythology… could ‘waves’ be a reference to the waves of the sea?”
For a moment, Gordon felt dizziness in his head, remembering a certain criminal from the past who also enjoyed playing these puzzle games. Unfortunately, the person who had managed to solve the puzzle every time was now gone, which meant he was left to solve them on his own.
The only certain thing was that in the last sentence, the ‘cat’s eyes’ referred to the target of Phantom Kid – the Cat’s Eye Emerald of recent fame.
”Aaron, call Mr. John Daggett, now, and ask him if he’s received a similar notice letter!”
Thinking of this emerald, Gordon immediately shouted at Aaron.
”I don’t think that’s necessary now.”
At that moment, another voice broke into the conversation. It was Blake, pushing his way through the door and saying in a deep voice, “Mr. Daggett has just called the police, claiming that he has received a notice letter from Phantom Kid!”
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At these words, Gordon and Aaron looked at each other silently for a long time.
Walking down Gotham Avenue, wearing his PM2.5 mask, Mathison manifested a refreshing smile. He had spent all day thinking up this notice letter, and, although it wasn’t that difficult to solve, it was the first time to write a coded letter. He felt an inexplicable sense of achievement.
He couldn’t wait to see Gordon’s detectives torturing their brains to decipher the code. Although it was a bit risky to sneak in the GCPD, sending out the notice letter had been efficient to spook the police. In addition to that, he is sure that Gordon is investigating everyone in the station at the moment.
Sniggeringly, Mathison walked to a brightly lit spot, not many of which were found in Gotham at night.
If there was a family in Gotham that could rival the Wayne’s in power and wealth, it was the Cobblepots.
Under the leadership of Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot, the Cobblepots developed the illegal black industry and formed the largest gang in Gotham, with a striking amount of power and wealth.
At the height of its power, it could even compete with New York’s Fisk, but unfortunately, during the eight years since the Dent Act, the Cobblepot black industry has shrunk many times over, leaving only a part of it hidden behind the glitz and glamour.
But the Penguin’s power is still not to be underestimated. If at least four out of every ten crimes in the US are Fisk-related, at least two of the remaining ones are related to Cobblepot.
In today’s Gotham, Cobblepot is the only one who still has the audacity to run an underground operation, and their most typical venue is the Iceberg Restaurant.
When Mathison pushed open the door of the prestigious restaurant, he was greeted by two young waitresses in tuxedos.
”Hello, sir, do you have a reservation and how many people are there?”
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Mathison didn’t say a word.
He walked straight to the cabinet next to the front counter of the restaurant, took out a black umbrella from underneath the cabinet then placed it upside down on the front counter.
The waitresses were unsure and could only look at each other.
The receptionist’s expression, on the other hand, has changed, “You guys go down and entertain the other guests, I’ll take care of this one personally.”
”Interesting, it seems that the staff at the Iceberg aren’t all right under the Penguin, at least on the surface this is indeed a normal restaurant.”
The receptionist led Mathison towards the private dining area inside the restaurant, and along the way, Mathison noticed that both the lobby and the various private dining rooms were filled with people eating in the place, and it didn’t look like there was any criminal activity going on.
But this was all just a facade, the real face of the Iceberg was actually Gotham’s largest black market exchange, only a few people knew the real way to get into it, and those who did were not normal people.
After a while, Mathison was led into one of the last booths.
”This doesn’t seem to be where I’m going.”
Mathison asked with playful eyes.
”Gentleman, before we send you ‘there’ again, we need to ask you to put this on.”
The receptionist smiled slightly and took out an eye patch, her tone was quite polite and courteous, not at all like the attitude of someone in the black industry, come to think of it, those in their line of work might offend any big shot if they are not careful, the kind of arrogant watchdogs in the movies are almost non-existent.
At the same time, two powerful men in suits suddenly burst through the door and stood behind Mathison, one on the left and the other one on the right.
”Your boss is really cautious, or shall I say timid?”
”It’s just a pity that this caution is a little too much, too much so that it seems to give an impression of cowardice…”
Mathison was calm and even in the mood for a bit of teasing.
”Sir, please watch your words.” The smile on the receptionist’s face gradually disappeared.
”The location of the exchange cannot be revealed, a rule you should not fail to understand.”
”That also depends on what goods I have to sell… Wait, it seems to have run to you…”
Only to see Mathison’s left hand suddenly probing towards the receptionist’s waist, and quickly drawing back before she could look back, a gem suddenly appeared in his hand.
The moment she saw this object, the receptionist’s face changed dramatically, only to see her staring at Mathison with a shocked expression, saying in disbelief, “This is the… Adam’s Star? You’re the Phantom Kid!”
”I can’t imagine that the recently famous Phantom Kid would originally look so mediocre.” The receptionist wondered.
”Huh~”
A soft laugh was heard, and as soon as Mathison casually took off his jacket, his whole clothes magically changed into another outfit: the outfit of Phantom Kid.
The two strong men behind him instantly took an offensive posture, ready to attack, because of Mathison’s surprising action.
”It was indeed rude not to use my real costume before, but I didn’t expect the Iceberg Restaurant to be built in such a prominent location on Gotham Avenue, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have been able to come here if I used my original appearance.”
The white cloak danced without wind, the backlight of his monocle flickered as Mathison ignored the threat behind him and gave a gentlemanly bow.
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