In the end, Inspector Nakamori still did not resign.
It wasn't because he had caught Phantom Thief Kid, but because... Phantom Thief Kid had not shown up at all that night.
That's right. They had wasted an entire night for nothing, only for Phantom Thief Kid to vanish without a trace.
Nakamori and the others were utterly baffled. They could not understand why the thief, who had always appeared punctually, had vanished this time. Had he also picked up the bad habit of standing people up?
Only Fang Zheng knew that Phantom Thief Kid had not failed to come. Even if he had come, he could not have made an appearance. After all, Fang Zheng's serving of Whiplash Fried Meat had beaten him so badly that he could barely take care of himself. He would be bedridden for at least three to five days. Unless Phantom Thief Kid planned to hobble out before everyone, he was better off not appearing at all. He only needed to say that Inspector Nakamori and Kogoro Mouri had interpreted the code incorrectly.
Come to think of it, perhaps that was why Phantom Thief Kid always sent those bizarrely chuunibyou calling cards? If he clearly stated the time and place but failed to show up, that would be standing people up. But if he wrote it in code and did not appear, he could turn around and blame everyone else for being too stupid to decipher it correctly...
After all, he wrote the code. He could say whatever he wanted about it.
Thus, when Fang Zheng boarded the plane and reached his seat, he happened to hear Conan excitedly explaining the true meaning of Kid's calling card to Haibara. Conan claimed that he had already seen through Phantom Thief Kid's trick. In truth, Phantom Thief