Phantom Kid in the World of American Comics

Chapter 11: Marvie Brandon

Chapter 11: Marvie Brandon

”Uh~ hahahahaha!”

Suddenly, the receptionist burst out laughing so wildly that those who didn’t know her would think she wasn’t one of Penguin’s crew but just some fangirl.

”Phantom Kid, a gem as valuable as Adam’s Star… how dare you just show it to someone… especially in the Iceberg restaurant?”

”If only you hadn’t taken the gem out and instead obediently put on your blindfold and entered the Exchange room. Everyone in there is so professional, even the boss wouldn’t have just grabbed the goods that others are trying to sell… but, no, you’re foolish enough to let us see it now.”

The female receptionist’s expression instantly became extremely wrapped with greed.

Mathison couldn’t help but sigh, it was a shame to see such a pretty face distorted.

”If I can offer Adam’s Star to the boss, I can…”, at the thought, she reached out and ordered the two burly men.

”Deal with him! Snatch the Adam’s Star!”

The two burly thugs were well prepared, and as soon as the receptionist’s words left her mouth, the two lunged at Mathison, yet were easily dodged by him.

”Trust me, you have made a foolish decision.”

Agility is a must for a thief, he could even dodge a pistol bullet, let alone the fists of two punks with no training in combat.

Even without the powers of the system, the transmigration itself has given him an extraordinarily strong motor nerve, which makes any physical training he performs twice as effective.

After dodging the attacks of the two strong men, Mathison crouched down and threw a heavy sweeping kick.

”Pump!”

One of the strong men fell down, and then Mathison rolled to his left, distancing himself from the other one, with an extra poker card already in his hand.

”The ace of spades, did you know that this card, apart from being the best, also represents-“

”Death.”

The receptionist swore that the hand holding the card had not moved at all in her sight, but the card had suddenly disappeared, in the true sense of the word.

Then, there was a slight “poof” and she realised that the card had been stuck in the neck of the other buff man.

No! Both of them had a card stuck in their necks, only that the one who had just been kicked down and hadn’t gotten up yet was worse off because he couldn’t stand up straight and had to remain in a half-crouch position.

Because the two cards had cut perfectly into the carotid arteries of the two men, normally, by now, blood would have been spurting everywhere, but what was actually happening was that it was flowing very slowly.

”I advise you to stay still, otherwise you will die of excessive bleeding in a very short time, the kind of bleeding that cannot be saved.”

”This restaurant is beautifully decorated and I don’t believe any of us would like to see it become covered in blood.”

Mathison stood up and said in a gentlemanly tone.

He wasn’t in his civic form, and he doesn’t mind killing someone, nevertheless, he certainly isn’t the kind who would kill someone even if he could. After all, he was a thief, not a robber.

What’s more, in a dangerous world such as American comics, being too nice would definitely get him killed.

At the same time, he didn’t want to just give the gems he’d worked so hard to get his hands on.

”Well, I underestimated you, Phantom Kid.”

The receptionist pulled a pistol from her belt, “Hand over Adam’s Star and I can guarantee that the boss won’t take revenge against you for what happened today.”

”Oh, you’ve had quite a change of attitude, how about we make a bet?”

”A bet?” The receptionist gasped.

”For a dollar, I bet your gun… has no bullets in it.”

Mathison looked confident as if he was certain of what he was saying.

How could the receptionist possibly believe such an absurd statement? 

Her finger pulled the trigger straight away.

At that moment, an unprecedented silence fell over the compartment, because no bullet really flew off it!

Mathison slowly extended his right hand, and in it was a magazine.

”It was that time!” Suddenly, the receptionist remembered that the Phantom Kid had previously probed his hand towards her waist, and it turned out that he had stolen her own magazine at that time, without alerting her.

Such a terrifying hand speed…

The receptionist was soaked in cold sweat, her grip on the gun unconsciously loosened, and the pistol fell to the floor.

”Well, can you take me to the Exchange now? And, don’t even bother, just take me to your boss, the Penguin.”

”I’m here to do business, I don’t want to ruin the peace.”

Mathison approached the receptionist, reached out and lifted her chin, with his face close to her ear, and whispered softly.

The young receptionist nodded shakingly, she had thought that a newcomer to Gotham like Phantom Kid would not dare to cause trouble on the Penguin’s territory, but she was proven wrong.

Then, the doctor from Penguin’s crew was called over to save the two big thugs, and then, with her leading the way, Mathison made his way from the third box to the left of the current box. It had identical tables and chairs set up.

The receptionist walked over to a wall and knocked lightly a few times and a secret door opened.

To be precise, it was a lift and the Iceberg Exchange was located underground in the Iceberg Restaurant.

It was not known how many meters deep underground but Mathison’s rough estimate was probably over fifty meters.

The structure of the exchange is actually very similar to the restaurant above, once inside it is an auction house that can hold hundreds of people. Most of the items traded here are large quantities of illegally smuggled goods, including marijuana, ketamine, opium, bobbleheads… and even a small amount of human organs.

And only the really high-quality black deals are carried out in a separate private room area at the back of the auction house, where the deals are just as diverse, there is only what you can’t think of, not what you can’t buy.

Slaves, arms, intelligence, treasures, technology… anything can be sold if you can find a buyer!

”The boss will usually only be in the private room and wait until he sees something he likes before making an offer. Here, we don’t sell any goods, we leave it up to the guests to trade themselves.”

”And, of course, we don’t offer any protection. If you are robbed or scammed, we don’t care, you can settle your problem as you walk out of the Iceberg Restaurant.”

The receptionist led Mathison to the Penguin’s exclusive private room while introducing him professionally, her mental strength is so strong that she was acting as if the recent fight had never happened.

”Up ahead is the private room where the boss is.” 

She pointed to a dark doorway in front of her.

”Who the hell are you?”

Mathison asked suddenly.

”What do you mean?”

”Interesting, such a low-grade receptionist shouldn’t be acting the way you do, even if you are one of the Penguin’s subordinates.”

”I’m curious about your real identity.”

Mathison’s gaze flickered as he noticed the woman in front of him stiffened for a split second, something he wouldn’t have been able to spot, if not for his own excellent eyesight.

”… I’m not a receptionist, I’m just here to fill in for the day, and as for who I really am, you’ll find out when you meet the boss.”

”Sure enough, so, pretty lady, can you tell me your name at least?”

”Marvie Brandon.”

Marvie said coldly.