Whether Conan, or rather Shinichi Kudou, would die was not within Fang Zheng’s considerations. He simply cuffed the Phantom Thief Kid, dragged him out of the Detective Agency, and pushed him into the car.
"Wait, wait, uncle!"
Who are you calling uncle?
"Big brother!"
"Hmm, what is it?"
Only then did Fang Zheng glance at the Phantom Thief Kid beside him, and the latter let out an awkward laugh and hastily put his hands together to plead.
"Well, I’m really not Phantom Thief Kid..."
"Oh."
"I’m really not, although I disguised myself as Shinichi Kudou, but in fact, I’m just an ordinary high school student."
As he said this, Kidd flashed a proud smile, looking at Fang Zheng.
"Or do you have evidence proving I’m Kidd?"
"No."
Fang Zheng appeared calm. In actuality, he had no evidence, because no one has ever known what the Phantom Thief Kid looks like. Therefore, unless he’s caught red-handed at the crime scene, trying to capture the Phantom Thief Kid is virtually impossible. That is also why the police have been chasing after the Phantom Thief Kid for so long without any results.
However...
"What does that have to do with me catching you?"
"....."
Hearing Fang Zheng’s reply, Kidd was dumbfounded.
"Big brother, aren’t you a cop? You need to present evidence!"
"I’m a special advisor to the Metropolitan Police Department, but I’m not a policeman."
Fang Zheng squinted at Kidd with a chuckle.
"Just think, if I knocked you out, cuffed you, and left you at the entrance of the police department with a note saying ’he is the Phantom Thief Kid,’ what would happen to you?"
"........"
Hearing this, cold sweat instantly poured down the Phantom Thief Kid’s face.
He wasn’t worried that the police would arrest him just because of such a note. As Kidd said, police need evidence to arrest someone. Even if Fang Zheng sent him to the police, as long as he pretended to be clueless and claimed it was just a joke between classmates, the police wouldn’t hold him, just make a record and then let him go.
But the problem is... the police investigate.
Even if they can’t find anything on the surface, they would suspect, hey, why was a high school student sent over as the Phantom Thief Kid? Does he have any connection to Kidd? Otherwise, why would such a thing happen?
With such suspicion, the police might start secretly tailing him. Naturally, if he isn’t the Phantom Thief Kid, then there’s no need to worry, just live life routinely.
But the problem is, he is the Phantom Thief Kid.
Being under 24/7 surveillance by the police, wouldn’t that be deadly?!
And he can’t even protest because the police would undoubtedly shadow him secretly. Even if he discovers it, he couldn’t speak up, not even pretend to notice. Otherwise, the police might say, wow, you, an "ordinary high school student," can even spot our secret tailing. You must be quite skilled... this suspicion is quite serious...
What’s even worse is, every time the Phantom Thief Kid commits a crime, the police will definitely monitor his home! At that time, if he doesn’t show up simultaneously with the Phantom Thief Kid, then he’s basically confirmed as Kidd by the police.
The Phantom Thief Kid has no doubt that the police would absolutely do such a thing. After all, they’ve had no leads on Kidd all along, so they can only choose the days he makes a move and face him head-on. If they find any clue now, they would pursue it relentlessly.
At that time, he’d be finished.
That’s the difference between police and criminals. No matter how dashing or legendary Kidd is, in the end, he’s just a thief, a criminal. He can succeed once or twice, a hundred times or two hundred times, but as long as he fails once, that’s the end for him.
On the other hand, the police can fail a hundred or two hundred times in succession, but as long as they succeed once, the other party is doomed.
That’s why police naturally restrain criminals, like cats catching mice.
The same goes for the Scout. Before this, no one knew if the Scout was male or female, old or young, just that they were an assassin who enjoyed sniping people’s right eye. But now that Fang Zheng caught them once, those issues are no longer problems. Now all the world’s criminal investigation organizations know Scout’s fingerprints, identity, nationality, name, blood type, and various traits.
In the future, if Scout commits another crime, they won’t need to fish for clues in an ocean, but simply use these traits for comparison and arrest.
The same applies to the Phantom Thief Kid.
Not even mentioning exposing his identity, just being locked on to and suspected is enough for Kidd to never have peace.
So, for Kidd, the move Fang Zheng made isn’t fatal, but it’s mentally devastating!
"Big Brother Fang Zheng... um, I haven’t offended you, right..."
At this point, Phantom Thief Kid was completely subdued. Obviously, he understood that if he didn’t want to live a life being tailed by the police starting tomorrow, he needed to back down now.
"Do you want me to steal something? Why not tell me, if it doesn’t go against my principles, maybe I can help."
"I’m not interested."
Fang Zheng waved his hand, but since the other party was so sensible, he decided to speak directly.
"I have only one request for you."
"Go ahead, go ahead..."
"You must not appear as Shinichi Kudou anymore."
"....Eh?"
Hearing this request, Phantom Thief Kid was a bit surprised.
"Why?"
"Because Shinichi Kudou is currently involved in some trouble. You don’t need to know what kind of trouble, but it’s lethal. Wandering around in his identity will only bring more trouble, got it?"
At this, Fang Zheng cast a cold glance at Kid.
In the Conan anime, this is actually one of the most unexplainable logical contradictions. In the show, it’s not just once or twice that Phantom Thief Kid appears as Shinichi Kudou. Most readers think it’s a way to prevent Ran from suspecting Conan, but is that really the problem?
Of course not.
Ran isn’t the problem, the problem is the Black Organization, okay?
Moreover, those few times Phantom Thief Kid dressed up as Shinichi Kudou and appeared openly in public—if just one person in the Black Organization wasn’t blind, they’d see the information and suspect, "Hey? Isn’t this guy supposed to be dead on the organization’s list? How is he alive again?" They’d suspect, investigate, and find out that no funeral had been held by the Kudou Family for Shinichi Kudou, nor was there a report of a body being found or buried.
That’s suspicious.
Then if someone gossiping around reports to Gin, "Hey, Gin, that report stated Kudou Shinichi was killed, but I saw him alive and well three days ago."
Oh ho, it’s all over.
So this isn’t about disguising as Shinichi Kudou, but whether Shinichi Kudou is still alive. Even if it’s later known that it was Phantom Thief Kid in disguise, so what? Phantom Thief Kid is known not to be brain-dead, he wouldn’t disguise himself as a dead man, right?
If everyone knows someone is dead, then disguising as that person is courting death, isn’t it?
So why would Phantom Thief Kid choose to disguise himself as the supposedly dead Shinichi Kudou?
Because there is only one truth, and that is Shinichi Kudou isn’t dead!
See, problem solved.
"Alright, I understand. I will no longer appear as Shinichi Kudou."
Hearing the seriousness in Fang Zheng’s tone, Phantom Thief Kid hurriedly nodded. He wasn’t a fool. In fact, when Phantom Thief Kid discovered that the high school detective had inexplicably turned into a child, he felt there was definitely a problem. But if it’s life-threatening trouble... hmm, better not get involved.
And regardless of whether others know, Phantom Thief Kid himself knows he looks very much like Shinichi Kudou. According to Fang Zheng’s explanation, if someone mistook him for Shinichi Kudou and targeted him, Phantom Thief Kid would die in vain.
Moreover, judging from Fang Zheng’s tone, the people targeting Shinichi Kudou clearly aren’t good folk, probably won’t adhere to principles like the police, and might as well suddenly pop out and spray bullets at the disguised Shinichi Kudou. Even if they accidentally kill, they probably wouldn’t care.
Hmm? Thinking about it this way, I suddenly feel very disadvantaged.
Aren’t I enemies with Shinichi Kudou? Sacrificing my own life to cover for an enemy doesn’t seem right at all!
"Bro, you won’t catch me anymore, will you?"
"This time I’ll let you go, counting on your good sense for not making a move. Next time, if I catch you red-handed, you’d better be prepared to die."
Fang Zheng opened Phantom Thief Kid’s handcuffs and glanced at him. In the movie version, the other Egg of Memories is stolen by Phantom Thief Kid from Chairman Suzuki and kept on him as Officer Shiratori. But now, this egg was kept by Fang Zheng the whole way. In fact, Fang Zheng was waiting for the fake Officer Shiratori, Phantom Thief Kid, to make a move. If he dared to make a move on him, Fang Zheng would immediately catch him with evidence.
But Phantom Thief Kid was quite smart, being honest from start to finish, never giving Fang Zheng the opportunity to catch him.
"Alright, get lost."
After unlocking the handcuffs, Fang Zheng kicked Phantom Thief Kid out of the car, and the latter could only smile wryly, then turned around and disappeared into the park on the roadside, resuming his original form.
"With this, one issue is resolved."
It wasn’t until then that Little Ai, hidden in the back seat, got up and looked towards Fang Zheng in the front.
"What about Edogawa? How do you plan to explain it to him?"
"Tomorrow’s troubles are for tomorrow."
Fang Zheng yawned and stretched.
"Let’s go home and sleep first. Whether Conan can get out of bed tomorrow might be the real question."

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