CHAPTER 205: CHAPTER 202: SETTING UP THE STAGE (4K)_2

For this venue, Perfikot had already conducted a thorough survey; the hotel’s lighting used candles and oil lamps, which were the most common lighting equipment of this era since electric lights had not yet appeared in this world.

So, there was no scene of a phantom thief extinguishing all the lights and then stealing the treasure under the cover of darkness.

Furthermore, Perfikot had installed a lantern on every Steam Knight for illumination, ensuring that even if all the lights in the venue were extinguished, the Steam Knights themselves could become a light source for illumination.

Not to mention the Flying Stone itself can emit light, making it the most conspicuous presence in a completely dark environment.

Additionally, Perfikot specifically checked the building structure of the venue. This is the ground floor, with no basement underneath, so there’s no possibility of blowing open the floor to drop the exhibition stand to the next level and taking the treasure from an unexpected angle.

As for the roof, it was even less possible. Perfikot had Claudia specifically check, and the roof of this hall was built with cement prefabricated slabs, not the common wooden structures, so there was no worry about its sturdiness.

Also, security guards were stationed in the rooms upstairs and on the roof to ensure everything was foolproof.

Although the venue had multiple large doors for entry and exit, during tomorrow’s exhibition, all the doors would be closed except for two, with one serving as the entrance and the other as the exit. All guests could only visit along a designated route and admire Perfikot’s masterpiece from a sufficient distance away from the Flying Stone.

Perfikot was not inclined to believe that with such tight security measures, the thief could still steal her Flying Stone.

And even if the thief somehow managed to bypass this tight security to reach the Flying Stone, the Flying Stone itself would be the final security measure.

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Inside the venue, a guard stood with a serious and stern expression in one corner of the venue, indistinguishable from the other guards around.

However, his gaze stayed consistently on Perfikot and the Governor, sneaking glances at the surroundings, continuously simulating and constructing the entire venue’s layout and security situation in his mind.

Without a doubt, this was the thief. After seeing Perfikot’s challenge letter published in the newspaper, he, undeterred by last night’s setback, disguised himself and snuck into the venue once again.

He was clearly aware of being marked with a scent, but understanding that the scent marking was related to his blood, he took some measures before coming.

Though he couldn’t completely mask the scent, it was difficult to detect as long as nobody got too close.

Moreover, since he was impersonating a guard, he didn’t need to disguise much. The poor hygiene of this era was enough to give the guard a noticeably strong odor.

Even though the entire unit was required to bathe and change into clean uniforms beforehand, some long-worn undergarments still retained a strong smell.

Adding in some deliberate disguise and minor tricks, the thief believed that as long as he was careful, it was unlikely he’d be discovered.

Additionally, he wasn’t there to steal the Flying Stone directly but just to scout the scene.

As a self-proclaimed phantom thief, he indeed had an extremely inflated sense of confidence, just as Perfikot had expected.

He was confident that his thieving skills were unparalleled and believed that there was nothing in this world he couldn’t steal.

Thus, his theft goals had transcended material wealth, aiming to steal items with special significance, preferably causing a sensation to establish his phantom thief reputation.

Although he had committed some heists so far, for various reasons, his reputation wasn’t particularly prominent.

This was the most embarrassing part for this self-proclaimed Robin Hood-style phantom thief; he had spent most of his time honing his skills, becoming an Extraordinary, but had no time to build his own fame.

So now, although he was somewhat known within the circle, he was far from the level of renown he envisioned, where people would live in fear once targeted by him.

But this did not affect his confidence; he always believed himself the strongest, convinced there was nothing he couldn’t steal in this world.

This confidence, however, was slightly overblown, giving him a sense of invincibility.

And then he crashed last night, almost losing himself in the process.

This dealt a significant blow and warning to the self-proclaimed phantom thief, making him realize the enormous difference in combat power compared to combat-oriented Extraordinaries.

Furthermore, as a phantom thief, stealing a treasure hastily and unpreparedly was essentially asking for trouble.

If the pursuer last night had been a Knight instead of an Assassin, he believed he could have escaped easily, without having to abandon the stolen item and escape through the sewer to evade pursuit.

But a crash is a crash; losing means accepting defeat and enduring the consequences, which was the first lesson he learned from his mentor.

Though he acknowledged this failure, he was deeply dissatisfied as it was his first and most complete failure in his phantom thief career.

Therefore, upon seeing the newspaper in the morning featuring Perfikot’s challenge against him, he set off to the venue without hesitation to conduct reconnaissance, preparing for a grand entrance the next night to make a name for himself as a phantom thief, recovering the face he lost the previous night.

Of course, the most important part was to teach this presumptuous Countess a profound lesson, making her realize that the New Continent was not a place for her reckless behavior.

Only in this way could he pay tribute to his friends who were captured and killed during the Bloody Week.

Thinking of this, he couldn’t help but have a hint of hatred in his gaze towards Perfikot.

However, even the slightest change in his gaze was enough for Claudia, following Perfikot, to notice, and her gaze instantly swept over.

This startled the phantom thief, causing him to flinch and quickly avert his gaze, calming himself and avoiding looking in that direction again.

Since his reaction was timely, Claudia didn’t notice anything amiss, and after glancing in this direction a few times, she shifted her gaze away.

Watching Claudia turn her gaze away, the phantom thief quietly let out a sigh of relief and continued his observation.

He didn’t leave immediately; on one hand, there wasn’t a suitable excuse or opportunity, and on the other hand, leaving so quickly would expose his whereabouts.

Just like last night, if he hadn’t been so eager to escape, he might not have lost so embarrassingly.

He could only say that he still lacked experience in handling such grand situations.

At last, the time came for a shift change with the guards he was among, and the phantom thief left with the others, finding an excuse of taking a bathroom break to leave their sight.

But instead of going to the men’s restroom, he slipped into the women’s restroom when nobody was paying attention.

There, in a stall, he took off his uniform, changed into a noble lady’s attire, disguised himself as a tall, fashionably dressed noble lady, and donned a wide-brimmed hat to cover his face before walking out of the women’s restroom.

Even though Perfikot booked this hotel under the Governor’s name, the hotel still had other guests, so a fashionably dressed noble lady did not attract much attention and returned smoothly to a room in the hotel that the phantom thief had already booked.