novelODS Chapter 1772 - 1770: The Fish Is Hooked (Microwave Cooking Seems to Work Too)
Chapter 1772 - 1770: The Fish Is Hooked (Microwave Cooking Seems to Work Too)
"YEAH! Big victory!"
Watching from afar as the entire rooftop of the Tokyo National Museum was lifted like the lid of a gigantic toy box, Fran excitedly raised her hands and cheered.
This was why she followed Riko to become a phantom thief; it was just too exhilarating!
Fran is a lively and outgoing child, naturally enjoying the spotlight. But the problem is, while her ability is quite rare, it is difficult to showcase in any remarkable way. It’s not as spectacular as Misaka Mikoto’s or as effortless as Kuroko Shirai’s.
It’s fair to say that if Fran hadn’t learned some protective techniques or possessed self-defense weapons, she wouldn’t fare much better than Saten Ruiko against thugs.
Her ability falls into the category that’s impressive in a professional domain but makes no waves in front of the public. It’s akin to the discovery of gravitational waves; the global physics community was thrilled, but for ordinary people, it meant nothing more than whether Wang Feng made it to the headlines.
This naturally didn’t sit well with Fran. Her ability wasn’t anything spectacular. Perhaps that’s why she fell in love with explosions — in Academy City, spontaneous explosions were not allowed, so sneaking out with Riko to conduct them was the only way Fran could indulge her hobby.
Moreover, even though Fran was practically unknown, every time she read reports about "Lupin IV," seeing experts analyze her explosion art would thrill Fran to no end.
Of course, Fran wasn’t foolish enough to show up in public. Academy City’s students needed to be injected with tracking nanomachines when venturing outside. Fran would sneak out, and if caught, she’d be in real trouble.
Fran’s ability was particularly useful in this regard.
This explosion, for instance, involved detonating the connections first, followed by other locations, utilizing the blast wave to lift the dome. The required amount of explosives wasn’t small. Adding in the illumination shells and fireworks, at least a container was necessary. After every Lupin IV operation, experts would retrieve surveillance footage and search for trucks, but they’d find nothing, leaving them puzzled.
In reality, Fran’s ability transported all these explosives directly, eliminating the need for truck transport.
So when experts focused on investigating vehicles from surveillance cameras, they never imagined the girl sauntering across the screen was a walking armory herself.
Thus, every time Fran watched the news, seeing experts rack their brains over these issues, she’d roll around on her bed with her toy, overwhelmed with happiness.
After all, she hadn’t killed anyone; she was just blowing things up. Just as Riko wouldn’t kill during a theft, Riko also ensured no one was affected by the explosions. This was her "aesthetic."
"Whoa!!"
With the sound of explosions, the dome flipped over, and the police were knocked to the ground, while Riko giggled, leaping gracefully into the air, floating like a balloon aided by the blast’s air currents. The cloak behind Riko unfurled like wings, carrying her into the sky!
As the police snapped back to reality, they were dumbfounded by the scene before them. After some time, the lead inspector regained his composure.
"Quick, chase after her!!"
"Bang, bang, bang!!"
Simultaneously, fireworks erupted in the sky, displaying the name "Lupin IV" in vibrant colors. Naturally, these fireworks drew the attention of the citizens, who came out of their houses, pointing at the fireworks and the silhouette flying freely in the sky, shouting loudly.
At that moment, power was restored.
"Inspector, inspector, there’s a problem!!"
As the frustrated inspector simmered below, a panicked officer ran over, holding a phone.
"Just now, there was a livestream on the oil tank! The whole theft was broadcasted online!"
"What?!!!"
Upon hearing this, the inspector staggered, then quickly stabilized himself, grabbing the officer’s phone, and examining the screen. Sure enough, it showed the phantom thief flying through the night sky with the artifact, and below, scrolling live comments appeared.
"Is it really Phantom Thief Lupin? She succeeded again?"
"She can fly? What is this? Superpower?"
"It’s probably an obscuration technique. Didn’t a phantom thief in a manga use a glider? It should be something similar."
"But if it’s being livestreamed, it means the police failed again, right? Those officers are useless!"
"No, it’s because the phantom thief is impressive. Such an amazing phantom thief, I wonder what she really looks like, she must be beautiful..."
"So what if she’s beautiful? She’s a thief. Aren’t you afraid she’ll steal from you?"
"Haha, I don’t have artifacts at home, and besides, if she wants, she can steal my heart..."
Seeing these comments, the inspector was both furious and anxious. He could imagine himself doomed. The embarrassment this time wasn’t just known to everyone in Tokyo; it was seen by all of Japan... No, the entire world!
This truly was under the scrutiny of the public!!
"Chase, pursue her! Helicopter, dispatch the helicopter, she can’t escape!!"
In his anger, the inspector threw the phone to the ground violently, issuing the command.
"Hahaha..."
Flying through the air, Riko wore a triumphant smile. Her body control skills had reached quite a level. Not only could she transform her body, but she could also turn into other creatures. Earlier, she had easily bypassed the museum’s defenses by transforming into a cat, seizing the artifact when Fran cut the power to an entire Tokyo district.
And now, she had transformed her internal structure to mimic the hollow bones and wings of a bird, allowing her to fly freely.
Those foolish police officers, there’s no way they’ll catch me, I’ve been prepared...
Just as Riko reveled in her triumph, she suddenly caught a glimpse of a flash out of the corner of her eye.
It was just a moment, but that flash made Riko immediately tense up.
It was... Reiji’s sniper shot!
"Bang!!"
The gunshot rang out, and then in the air, a burst of fiery sparks suddenly appeared.
"Whew..."
Riko also breathed a sigh of relief and then, not flaunting anymore, quickly flapped her wings and continued moving forward. Meanwhile, Fang Zheng’s voice emerged in her ear.
"I’ll hold off Reiji, you go distract Arya, Frenda will coordinate with you."
"Understood, Mr. Fang Zheng!"
Upon hearing this, Riko hurriedly changed directions and flew to the other side as planned beforehand. Meanwhile, Fang Zheng just quietly watched her leave, then raised the silver short gun in his hand high, aimed at the night sky, and pulled the trigger again.
"Bang!!"
"---------!!"
Almost invisible to the naked eye, in that pitch-black night sky, the bullet shot from Fang Zheng’s gun flew fast in a bizarre geometric pattern, swirling, spiraling, twisting, seeming to possess a life of its own, like a fleet, zipping bee shooting through the night sky, then after turning 180 degrees and another 90-degree right angle, it shot straight forward, colliding into another bullet.
Watching this scene, Reiji showed a faint expression of amazement, raising her sniper rifle and scanning her surroundings.
For Reiji, this was simply unbelievable. This bullet, according to its trajectory, came from the top right side above her head, but there was only the sky there, nothing else, no way a bullet could have come from there...
"Hmm, still quite useful."
Fang Zheng exhaled, this was a skill he had owned a long time ago in Alucard’s world. Back then, Fang Zheng had used the Primordial Fire to burn one of the werewolves in the final group and acquired the ability to freely manipulate magic bullets from her. But because this ability was largely useless to Fang Zheng, he hadn’t really used it much.
But in this world, the power of the Magic Shooter seems to be somewhat useful.
Meanwhile, a car was speeding along the street.
"Hurry up, Kinjii!!"
Sitting in the passenger seat, looking at the moving black dot in the distant sky, Arya was anxiously urging her partner beside her. Even when they dispersed earlier, Arya had a bad premonition. Although she hadn’t solved the mystery of the notification letter, Arya just had a feeling that things wouldn’t be that simple. So she remained cautious and, instead of leaving with the others, stayed in the vicinity with her partner Toyama Kinjii.
And it paid off, as she had actually caught sight of them.
This time I’ll definitely catch you, Lupin IV!!
At the same time, in the night sky, four helicopters were also flying in, three of them bearing the logo of the Metropolitan Police Department while the last one had... the logo of Tokyo TV Station.
Reporters always run fast.
"Viewers, I am reporting live from the scene!"
Sitting in the helicopter, the reporter looked outward while not forgetting to report to the camera.
"We can see that Lupin IV is ahead, somehow appearing to be flying... but we also see now that the Metropolitan Police Department helicopters have surrounded her, and Lupin IV is cornered, with no possible escape..."
However, before the reporter could finish speaking, a "BIU" sound was heard, and then several fireworks shot up into the sky and exploded immediately. For a moment, the bursting fireworks and magnificent flashes made the reporter involuntarily squint.
"W-what is this?"
"Keep going, don’t be afraid!!"
Mere fireworks certainly couldn’t stop the police. The Metropolitan Police Department’s helicopters pursued steadfastly, while Riko still flew forward, her altitude dropping lower and lower. Behind her, seemingly guiding everyone’s focus, a series of fireworks shot up and exploded in a splendid display.
"Lupin IV, you have nowhere to run, surrender immediately!!"
"Viewers, it seems that Lupin IV now..."
"Bang!"
Just as the three helicopters were about to catch up with Riko, suddenly a firework shot up from under Riko and exploded almost beside her.
Not only that, much to everyone’s surprise, at that moment, they saw the original flying Lupin IV also burst like fireworks, becoming part of the splendid display.
".........."
Everyone was stunned.
"V-viewers, I don’t know if you saw, but Lupin IV seems... seems to have turned into fireworks? I’m not sure if I’m saying this correctly, but... but..."
The reporter stammered, unsure how to describe it.
"This is unbelievable!"
At that moment, the fireworks in the sky gradually fell, and under everyone’s gaze, gradually extinguished.