Liu A'dou, male, height one meter seventy-eight, weight sixty-five kilograms, transmigrator, currently working as a TV station cameraman. He lives alone in Chinatown, Gotham City. Thanks to physical training, he's built much stronger than the original Kuroba Kaito and is also four centimeters taller.
He's transmigrated twice. In the first world, he was just an ordinary college freshman, not even twenty years old. In the second, he was reborn as Kuroba Kaito and had to start from zero all over again, leveling up until he turned seventeen. But when he turned seventeen, time in that world suddenly froze. By his own count, he'd already lived more than twenty years, having celebrated several Christmases, New Years, and Valentine's Days. Over time, his thieving skills had reached the peak. He finally succeeded in stealing the Moon Gem "Pandora," said to grant immortality. But just when he tried to escape, he transmigrated again.
After the second transmigration, Liu A'dou was convinced it was the Moon Gem that caused it. So, after arriving in this world and spending a year laying low, he decided to make a comeback as Kaitou Kid to search for the Moon Gem again, hoping it would let him return to his original world. As for the gem that triggered his second transmigration—it had vanished without a trace. Liu A'dou could only start his search from scratch.
Why did he wait a full year before acting? Because he needed time to prepare his gear. This world was a chaotic mess filled with superheroes like Batman, Superman, mutants, and even Captain America. Take Gotham City for example—Batman lived here, a guy who burned money chasing down criminals. If Liu A'dou slipped up even a little, Batman would have him locked up in no time.
So he needed gear—lots of it. Luckily, back in his first transmigration as Kaito, Liu A'dou hadn't been idle. Besides mastering his thieving skills, he had also become the apprentice of Professor Agasa and learned all kinds of futuristic tech. He trained in Jeet Kune Do until he could defeat Kyōgoku Makoto, even sparred with the FBI's Shuichi and came out on top in gunfighting. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to call Liu A'dou the most versatile thief in the detective world.
But that still wasn't enough to protect him while operating in Gotham. Because here, it wasn't just Batman—there were psychos like the Joker who killed without blinking. A single mistake, and he could fall into a nightmare with no escape.
So Liu A'dou spent a full year gathering the right equipment and training his youthful body to peak condition before pulling off his first job.
The Apollo gem was just a starting target. It obviously wasn't the gem he was looking for, so he planned to return it once the heat died down, keeping true to Kaitou Kid's style. But for now, he had to stay alert—he had already drawn the attention of Gotham's top dogs.
Liu A'dou knew what he was doing was basically dancing on a knife's edge in a city like Gotham. But that was fine—he had absolute confidence in his own ability. What he didn't know yet was that Batman had already started casting his net to catch Kaitou Kid.
"PM levels must be sky-high in Gotham. It's always smoggy." Even after a year, Liu A'dou hadn't gotten used to it. Then again, this was Gotham. Out of ten days, seven were overcast. The whole city was gloomy, especially on Narrows Island where the crime rate was off the charts. It looked like London during the Industrial Revolution.
Chinatown's air was decent by comparison. Liu A'dou had bought an old martial arts school on the top floor of a historic building. The place was huge. After some renovations, it became pretty livable. He split the old dojo into two sections—half for living, half for developing his equipment.
He didn't need to work during the day. Channel 3 was a tiny station and didn't have extra reporters to spare. They saved their best efforts for the evening when they might catch something worthwhile—maybe even Batman. Batman was the darling of Gotham's media. Anytime he showed up on the news, ratings soared. Even if there was no Batman, footage of accidents or crimes from big-name villains made great content. That was the kind of thing Channel 3 relied on to grab attention.
In his bedroom closet, behind a fake wall, there was a sliding panel that led to a hidden room. Compared to Batman's Batcave, this space was pitiful—no Batmobile, no Batplane, not even a supercomputer.
A workbench for metalwork, a laptop, a desktop computer, and all kinds of messy gear. Luckily, Liu A'dou had trained hard under Professor Agasa and learned plenty of useful stuff. When it came to making gadgets, he was more than skilled, otherwise he'd have no idea how to compete with Gotham's big players.
In one corner of the desk, the Apollo gem lay quietly, gathering dust. If anyone saw it like that, they'd tear Liu A'dou apart—this thing was worth eighty million dollars, eighty million.
On the other side of the hidden room was a huge makeup mirror, with several realistic mannequin heads lined up in front of it, used for disguises.
In the center of the room stood that custom Kaitou outfit, hanging on a black mannequin. It wasn't exactly fashionable, but still way better than Spider-Man's habit of dumping his suit in the corner of his closet.
No windows, just two ventilation fans installed in the ceiling. The light was dim, but Liu A'dou, who was used to the dark, could see perfectly well. On the far wall, he had collected loads of info on various gems. These would all be his targets, though for now he would focus on the ones in Gotham.
"Black Swan's Tear… again, Wayne Enterprises." Liu A'dou scanned the files and realized more than half of the gems belonged to the Wayne family. He always knew they were rich, but not this rich.
Looks like he and Batman were destined to clash—after all, Liu A'dou was planning to steal from the Waynes.
Today, he needed to pack the gem into a small box and send it back, of course with a little flair. Hanging beside the vanity were clothes for all kinds of people—young, old, male, female. Today, Liu A'dou was going to dress up as a young woman to send off the package. He also needed to stop by a lingerie shop to buy some underwear for disguise purposes. This wasn't some perverted hobby—it was work.
Mask hidden, and his outfit covered by a trench coat made for cross-dressing, Liu A'dou headed out. Once he reached a quiet place, he took off the trench coat, swapped his sneakers for heels, put on a wig and a mask. A tall, stunning woman with brown hair appeared, looking every bit like a real foreigner. Foreign women were generally taller, so it was easier for him to blend in naturally. He always changed after leaving home to avoid suspicion—there were no cameras in Gotham's alleys, making them safe.
He hid his men's clothes, slung a small handbag over his shoulder, and elegantly stepped out of the alley, merging into the busy street.
First stop, the courier service. The recipient: the museum curator. No one suspected a beautiful woman sending a package. The staff didn't question it either—some were even charmed by her sweet voice and nearly asked for her number. Liu A'dou's voice-acting skills were clearly maxed out.
After leaving the post office, she went straight to the shopping district. She had a lot to buy—for makeup and disguise. But buying so many women's clothes, it was hard to believe Liu A'dou was doing it purely for work, and not because of some strange kink.
The dazzling array of women's clothing made Liu A'dou dizzy. He knew how to pick styles and match them well. A perfect disguise had to be flawless, inside and out.
When playing a naive schoolgirl, he'd pair it with warm-colored underwear like white. For the mature "queen" type, purple with lace patterns. For a gentle big-sister type, pink or sky blue...
He could talk about women's lingerie all day. After transmigrating, he had grown up sneaking peeks under the skirts of his childhood friend, so he had plenty of knowledge. Picking stuff was easy—just match his own size. He had often dressed as different kinds of women before.
Again, this wasn't some perverted behavior—it was for the job.
"Sorry."
As Liu A'dou was carefully picking clothes, someone bumped into him from behind. The space between the racks wasn't enough for two tall women to shop side by side.
The apology came from behind, and Liu A'dou casually replied, "No problem." But when he turned his head, he saw someone familiar.
Iselin.
She had run out of clean underwear and came out shopping, only to bump into Liu A'dou in the same store.