Harrison still had no idea what Zhang Yang had stolen—by the time he figured it out, the helicopter had already vanished into the night.
The Red Coral Palace's alarm system had a single circuit. If any of the display cases were tampered with, the alarm would be triggered.
Finally, on the third floor reception room, Colt saw the display case smashed by a chair and cried out.
"Oh my god!"
"He stole the Nine-Dragon Cup—that's the Kangxi Emperor's Nine-Dragon Cup from the Qing Dynasty in Huaxia!"
"Shit!"
Harrison frowned. He wasn't exactly an expert on antiques or cultural relics.
He'd never even heard of Kangxi's Nine-Dragon Cup.
Even so, the cup's fame in the world of collectors wasn't far behind that of the Twelve Bronze Zodiac Heads. It was also considered priceless.
[Holy crap, Kangxi's Nine-Dragon Cup? These old bastards in Britain really do have some good stuff!]
[So it was the Nine-Dragon Cup! I thought that after Kangxi's burial, it turned into nine silver dragons and flew off into the sky!]
[Oh… No! What a shame!]
[I knew it had to be something amazing—Kaitō Kid wouldn't bother otherwise!]
[Every item he's taken has been priceless. Calling him a "super thief" isn't exaggeration at all!]
The livestream chat exploded in awe.
Colt was devastated. He'd been avoiding public appearances lately for fear of being targeted by Kaitō Kid.
A lot of private collectors in Britain had started laying low, doing everything they could to avoid drawing Kaitō Kid's attention.
But in the end, Colt was the one who got picked.
"Director Harrison, you must catch Kaitō Kid and recover the stolen Nine-Dragon Cup!"
Harrison didn't hesitate and immediately nodded.
"Absolutely, Mr. Colt."
"I'm very sorry we failed to catch him this time."
Colt took a deep breath, filled with regret.
"Maybe I shouldn't have let the Japanese agents on the island."
"If they hadn't been here drawing attention, maybe Kaitō Kid wouldn't have gotten in."
It was just a convenient excuse.
Harrison knew full well—even without Itō Itsuki, Kaitō Kid would've found another way into the palace.
[Once again, the Japanese agents take the fall—I can't stop laughing!]
[Where the hell is Kameda? The Nine-Dragon Cup is gone, Kaitō Kid flew off in a helicopter, and he's nowhere in sight!]
[Shit! Those guys from Japan are just a bunch of idiots!]
[Gotta agree there. Total clowns.]
Zhang Yang landed the helicopter on an empty patch of coastline. It belonged to the Enforcement Bureau, and flying it around too much would draw too much attention.
"Better to keep things low-key."
He walked to the roadside, opened a car door, and got in.
He hadn't even made it home yet when the system alert popped up.
Ding!
Congratulations! Mission complete: successfully stole Kangxi's Nine-Dragon Cup!
You've received a mission reward: Know-It-All Assistant 3-Day Timed Access Card. You can use the Know-It-All Assistant for free during this time!
The Know-It-All Assistant gathered intel at lightning speed—but the price was steep.
Even just researching Colt and the Nine-Dragon Cup had cost nearly 4,000 points.
Once home, Zhang Yang sat on the couch and placed the Nine-Dragon Cup on the table.
The legendary nine silver dragons hadn't soared into the heavens—nope, they were sitting right here.
He snapped a photo and posted it to Kaitō Kid's social feed.
"Kangxi's Nine-Dragon Cup—its nine mystical silver dragons haven't vanished after all."
The comment section went wild. Most of the viewers had just watched the entire heist live.
[Big bro, please accept my kneecaps!]
[Harrison had all that military-grade recon tech, and in the end, it was all useless—hahaha...]
[Bro, where did you buy those fireworks? They looked amazing. I want some for New Year's!]
[Shit! Kaitō Kid is just way too arrogant!]
[Oh my god! He's so damn charming—I'm totally in love!]
At that moment, Harrison was still on the island, packing up the equipment.
Even the damaged gear couldn't be left behind.
It was all cutting-edge military reconnaissance tech that hadn't even been officially deployed yet, so everything had to be recovered and kept strictly confidential.
By now, the Japanese agents had all regrouped in front of the palace—but Kameda and Itō Itsuki were nowhere to be found!
"Fuck! Where the hell did that idiot Kameda go?"
Even now, Harrison still didn't know Kameda had passed out in a flowerbed, and that the one he met later was actually Zhang Yang in disguise.
Just as they were finishing packing up, Harrison received a call from the British Royal Family.
"Harrison, you're a complete disappointment!"
"You not only failed to capture Kaitō Kid—you let him fly off with an Enforcement Bureau helicopter!"
"You might as well go home and raise pigs tomorrow!"
Harrison's face darkened. Was he really getting sent home to raise pigs this time?
"I'm sorry! Just give me one more chance!"
"This time it was those Japanese fools who diverted us. That's how Kaitō Kid got the opening!"
He wasn't ready to retire. Besides, in all his years with MI5's investigation division, he'd taken down more than a few internationally wanted criminals. If he really ended up raising pigs back home...
That pigpen probably wouldn't last a day before getting blown to bits by TNT.
"Harrison, we've given you chance after chance."
"This time, we even authorized you to use military recon tech that isn't even in service yet. And what do we get in return?"
"You let Kaitō Kid fly off in our helicopter... and set off celebratory fireworks!"
Face. It was all about face.
Harrison represented Britain's face.
And he kept getting slapped—hard.
At that moment, Harrison's expression couldn't have looked worse.
"I'm sorry, sir. I swear I'll catch him next time."
After so many years at MI5, even if Harrison didn't have major accomplishments, he'd at least put in the work.
And if they kicked him out now and replaced him—only for the next person to still fail to catch Zhang Yang—it'd be even more embarrassing.
So after the British royals delivered their scolding, they didn't actually make Harrison go raise pigs.
"Director Harrison, everything's been packed up!"
All the reconnaissance drones, detection devices, and locator beacons had been recovered.
Harrison cast a cold glare at the Japanese agents.
"Pack up. We're leaving."
As Harrison and his team pulled out, the Japanese agents were left completely stunned.
Their commander was missing!
"What do we do now?"
"Where's Director Kameda?"
"Should we contact Director Kawasaki?"
When Kawasaki heard they couldn't locate Kameda, he immediately felt something was off.
"Bakayaro! You lose your commanding officer and your first thought is to retreat?"
Kawasaki was furious.
"Find Kameda. None of you are allowed to return until you do!"
He had been watching the livestream too—and had already seen Zhang Yang's latest post.
There was no doubt this operation had failed yet again, and he knew Harrison would definitely blame everything on Itō Itsuki.
"Bakayaro... Kaitō Kid!"
Kawasaki was so angry he could've shattered his own teeth.
And soon after, he received a call from the British Royal Family.
Effective immediately, the Japanese embassy—and all Japanese agents—were banned from carrying out any operations in Britain.
Kawasaki tried everything he could to reason with them, but the British royals were firm.
No exceptions. No more missions. Japanese agents were completely barred from any future enforcement actions.