Dimensional Codex System: I'm really not a cultist!

Chapter 2187: Chapter 2185: Wear Your Hat Properly (Nucleic Acid Test Again Today)

“I say… Could it be that Officer Nakamori is really going to resign…”

On the road to the theater, Phantom Thief Kid couldn’t help but ask Fang Zheng.

“He should have left long ago.”

Fang Zheng sneered at Kidd’s inquiry.

“And now, leaving is actually good for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hehehe.”

Upon hearing Kidd’s question, Fang Zheng glanced at him.

“A brat is a brat. Do you know why despite being fooled by you so many times, the Metropolitan Police Department still turns a blind eye and never cares?”

“Uh… I don’t know.”

“It’s simple, they’re offloading responsibilities.”

“Offloading?”

“Exactly.”

Fang Zheng nodded and continued to look ahead.

“Although Kidd has been committing crimes, most are all bark and no bite. But that’s just appearance. What if, just what if Kidd manages to pull off a big crime? Who would the Metropolitan Police Department blame? Of course, Officer Nakamori! Do you think the Metropolitan Police are fools? They’re not, they’re all waiting to settle accounts later. If the case becomes a huge issue, they can completely pin it on Officer Nakamori. Look, Officer Nakamori has been chasing Phantom Thief Kid for eighteen years, and fails every time. If another issue arises, it’s not like he can even resign; he would face negligence charges for sure. As I said…”

With that, Fang Zheng coldly glanced at Phantom Thief Kid.

“Failing to capture Phantom Thief Kid is incompetence, but knowing you can’t catch him and still wasting massive police resources is negligence! The Metropolitan Police Department has never set up a special division to catch Kidd. Officer Nakamori only ever deals with Kidd’s cases, so what kind of policeman is that? Since he likes Phantom Thief Kid so much, he might as well take off the uniform and learn from Kogoro Mouri to become a detective!”

“Um…”

At this point, Phantom Thief Kid really had nothing to say.

“Officer Nakamori brought himself to this point purely through his own mistakes. If he had been dealing with other cases, it would be different. But he ignores all other cases to focus solely on Phantom Thief Kid. Such a person is unfit to be a cop! The Metropolitan Police Department didn’t give him the uniform to catch Kidd! In the end, whether he resigns or becomes the scapegoat, he deserves it.”

Fang Zheng snorted coldly, having no empathy for Officer Nakamori, whose fate was already sealed.

Upon hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Phantom Thief Kid chuckled awkwardly, though he knew that Fang Zheng had no idea about his relationship with Officer Nakamori. But of course, Kidd himself knew that Nakamori was his childhood friend’s father… so if he actually resigned because of Kidd, wouldn’t his childhood friend hate him even more?

What should I do…

Though he sighed internally, Kidd maintained his expression, knowing he was sitting beside a micro-expression expert. If he showed too much emotion, he might inadvertently reveal something… Nevertheless, Fang Zheng didn’t seem to pay him any mind, continuing to drive to the Cosmic Theater and taking Phantom Thief Kid backstage.

There, he indeed saw Kogoro Mouri, Conan, Ran, Sonoko, and the Boy Detectives…

Seeing “Shinichi Kudou” appearing, Conan couldn’t help but immediately claim the person as Phantom Thief Kid, but of course Conan didn’t realize contrary to what’s expected, Kidd looks very similar to him, so even when Kogoro Mouri tried pulling his face, it didn’t have any effect. Kidd seemed to have reverted to his playful self, greeting everyone cheerfully.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

By now Conan had approached Fang Zheng, questioning with dissatisfaction.

“Why is Phantom Thief Kid here?”

“You could guess, why ask me?”

Fang Zheng rolled his eyes.

“Why don’t you arrest him?”

“Prove he’s Phantom Thief Kid and I’ll arrest him right now.”

“…”

Conan fell silent at Fang Zheng’s response.

This is the problem, they all know the person in front of them is Phantom Thief Kid but have no evidence. Without proof, even if Fang Zheng arrests him now, they can’t prove his identity in court. If Kidd’s defender were Naruhodo, it might backfire and send Fang Zheng to jail…

“Can’t you think of something?”

Watching Kidd disguised as “Shinichi Kudou” joking with Ran riled Conan up, and unlike the original story, Ran knew this “Shinichi” was fake, often looking to Conan for help. But Conan was just an elementary student, what could he do?

“Leave it to me.”

Hearing Conan’s words, Fang Zheng nodded, then reached out to push Conan’s head.

“Wear your hat.”

“???”

Conan touched his head, puzzled.

A hat? He’s not wearing one?

Meanwhile, on the other side, Kidd employed his ancestral flirting techniques, chatting merrily with Ran. Though Ran knows this “Shinichi” is fake, seeing the face identical to Shinichi’s, hearing his voice talking to her, made her heart skip a beat.

“By the way, shall we head to the roof? There’s a display stage there.”

“Hmm…”

Faced with this “Shinichi’s” invitation, Ran was unsure. Just then, Fang Zheng stepped forward and grabbed “Shinichi’s” hand.

“Kudou-kun, we’re here to investigate. Don’t delay things.”

“What’s the harm? Ran and I are childhood friends, chatting isn’t a problem, right?”

At this, Kidd proudly winked at Conan, nearly tempting him to shoot with a tranquilizer gun.

However, in response to “Shinichi’s” words, Fang Zheng chuckled softly.

“Just childhood friends, please don’t get so close to Ran.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s simple.”

Faced with “Shinichi’s” inquiry, Fang Zheng extended his hand, grabbed Ran’s hand and gently pulled her into his arms!

Seeing this, everyone present was shocked!

“That’s what I mean. Do you understand, Shinichi Kudou?”

Embracing Ran, Fang Zheng smiled at “Shinichi Kudou”.

“Childhood friends are only childhood friends… but I’m different.”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng leaned towards Ran’s ear.

“I do like Miss Ran. Miss Ran, forget this deduction freak, want to date me?”

“—???”

Seeing this dramatic scene like a bossy CEO stealing a bride plot, everyone present was stunned, instinctively turning to “Shinichi Kudou” to see his response.

At that moment, “Shinichi Kudou” was drenched in cold sweat, having flirted instinctively, but actually confessing—especially when she’s not his actual childhood sweetheart, how could he say that aloud, even if he’s pretending to be Shinichi Kudou now…

Hey, what should we do now!!

At this moment, Phantom Thief Kid could only look speechlessly at Conan, waiting for him to come up with a solution.

Conan was also feeling conflicted. Of course, he didn’t want Phantom Thief Kid to confess to Ran on his behalf. If there’s a confession to be made, it should be from himself! But if he didn’t confess, everyone would think he’s a coward. Letting Phantom Thief Kid confess to Ran for him? Wait, even if he looks like me, he’s not me!

At this point, Conan was feeling utterly confused and lost.

“W—wait a minute, Mr. Fang Zheng.”

Ran also came to her senses at this point and hurriedly broke away from Fang Zheng’s embrace.

“This… it’s just too sudden, and…”

“I know, I guess I was a bit too hasty.”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng picked up Ran’s hand, kissed it gently on her fingers, and gave her a small smile.

“But I won’t give up. Please give me a chance, Miss Ran. I promise to make you happier than this detective could… I hope you’ll consider it.”

After saying this, Fang Zheng turned and left, leaving a blushing Ran standing there.

“Seriously, what are you up to?”

Now Sonoko jumped out, yelling at “Shinichi Kudou” with dissatisfaction. As the leader of the “Shin-Ran faction,” she’s always been supporting the Shin-Ran stock, but now it looked like it was about to crash? Is this a joke?

Sonoko wasn’t upset with Fang Zheng. Even she felt her heart race at Fang Zheng’s daring confession in front of everyone. However, she was upset that “Shinichi Kudou” was completely at a loss in the face of Fang Zheng’s challenge, with no reaction at all, like a shriveled turtle!

If things keep going this way, as an original holder of Shin-Ran stock, she’s about to abandon it and switch to buying Fang-Ran stock!

“Honestly.”

“Spineless.”

Not only Sonoko expressed grievances; even Ayumi and the other onlooking kids voiced their opinions—after all, in the eyes of those unaware, this “Shinichi Kudou” had no reaction to Fang Zheng’s bold move, which was just cowardly.

Poor Sister Little Lan likes him so much!

At this moment, Conan wished he could find a rope and hang himself…

“Sorry, I need to step outside for a moment…”

“Shinichi Kudou” felt embarrassed and quickly ran off after giving Conan a glance. Conan then walked to Ran and asked in a low voice.

“Are you okay, Sister Little Lan?”

“Um, I’m fine, just a bit startled, it… it’s nothing…”

Facing Conan’s concern, Ran hurriedly waved her hand with a smile, yet her face was still flushed red…

Seeing this, Conan’s heart skipped a beat.

For some reason, he had a bad feeling…

At this point, “Shinichi Kudou” caught up with Fang Zheng.

“Wait, Mr. Fang Zheng, what do you mean by this?”

“Hehe, want to know what I mean?”

Fang Zheng glanced around and then opened the door to a nearby warehouse, gesturing for Phantom Thief Kid to come over.

“Come on in, I’ll show you something good.”

“???”

Although puzzled by Fang Zheng’s actions, Phantom Thief Kid still walked in. However, the moment he stepped into the room, a glistening set of handcuffs clicked onto his wrist.

“Wait, Mr. Fang Zheng, what are you doing? Are you trying to catch me? You don’t have any evidence that I’m Phantom Thief Kid.”

“That’s right, police need evidence to make arrests, but I’m not the police.”

“………..”

Hearing Fang Zheng’s reply, Phantom Thief Kid broke out in a cold sweat.

“W-what exactly are you planning to do?”

“Simple, punishment.”

As he spoke, Fang Zheng continued to move without pause, locking the warehouse door while grabbing a nearby rope to tie up and suspend Phantom Thief Kid from the ceiling.

“I think you need a lesson. Didn’t I tell you not to disguise yourself as Shinichi Kudou? Are you ignoring my words?”

“Look, I already said I wouldn’t tell the media…”

“Haha, you’re still making excuses. Didn’t your dad ever give you a good beating when you were young?”

“Actually, my dad has been missing for a long time…”

“I knew it. Alright, today I’ll make up for that lesson!”

“……Wait, why are you taking off my pants? Are you taking off my belt?”

“Today, I’m treating you to a Chinese specialty, stir-fry with belts!”

“Huh?”

“Whack!”

“Waaah!!”

“Scream all you want, even if you shout until you’re hoarse, no one will come to save you!”

“Whack!”

“S-stop, even my dad never hit me!”

“That’s why you need to be taught a lesson!”

“Whack!!”

“Oww, stop it, my butt is swollen!”

“If I don’t hit harder, how will you learn your lesson? Tell me, dare you do it again?!”

“Whack!”

“I dare not, I dare not, I won’t do it again…”

“There’s going to be a next time?!”

“Whack!!”

“No more, I won’t dare anymore, aaaaahhhh…”

Accompanied by the crisp sound of smacking, Phantom Thief Kid’s screams echoed throughout the small warehouse…