London, January 5, 1889. It has been about a month since the crisis that engulfed London due to The Ripper. The case was resolved by the British police and The Ripper was hanged in December 1888. However, this world seems never free from crisis. KKK (Ku Klux Kan) or a white group who hates black people which was successfully suppressed in mid 1872, re-emerged its seeds everywhere. Black people often find dirt in front of the house when opening the door, glass bottles that float out of nowhere, and so on. This KKK seed seems to no longer only terrorize black people. They have several times dared to attack the police officers and people from the American Ministry of State.
Clashes between the new KKK and the American police became more and more frequent. The KKK prevailed until early 1886, but by the end of 1887 they were pressed and finally surrendered. They migrated and spread to various countries in the world. It was heard from several British informants that they had also migrated to a corner of the City of London. We hope they are aware of their actions and do not cause a riot in London. -Raditya, Class I Inspector.
That's a brief report on security news that can disturb the peace of this city. I am Raditya, a Class I Inspector of Central London Police. After writing the report, I got up from the chair and stretched for a while. I stared at the window that looked out over the gray London skyline from the steam and factory fumes. On the street across from the 1st floor of the office, the crowd seemed very crowded, it seemed that they had very busy life activities compared to my leisurely task of only writing daily reports. My assumption turned out to be wrong, my leisure time was only 3 minutes. At minute 4 someone sent a telegram to the police headquarters.
The person who sent the telegram was from the Village Branch Police named Cyrus. Cyrus finally came to base 10 minutes later. He was a dark-skinned man who was thin and tall until the tips of his hair almost touched the ceiling. He admitted that he encountered a case that was quite unique. The white man named Triton had been killed and his body burned and tied to the street opposite the London Eye with the corner of his lips emitting an odorless white powder which after various forensic analysis teams, the white powder was not poison of any kind. Even more strangely, Cyrus who found the body was first accused of being the perpetrator because for some reason his fingerprints were on the inside of the rope that bound the victim. This long report that I will write contains a unique case experienced by Cyrus.
"I was on a regular patrol when I heard an explosion and the fire went out very quickly. When I saw the location of the explosion, there were already victims in this condition," explained Cyrus.
"Gee, I'll admit it's quite unique and might be a fantastically complicated thing," I said in response to his explanation.
"We'll see where it happened," said Cyrus, followed by Cyrus leaving the room with Raditya behind him. They walked for about half an hour to arrive at the scene. The police line that was installed seemed to drive away the crowd of curious citizens. They observe the location carefully, occasionally squatting and using a magnifying glass. Finally R exclaimed as he picked up a solid yellow flake "What is this?" Cyrus shrugged not knowing. Cyrus took a little white powder from the victim's mouth and asked him to leave but Raditya stopped him.
"Where are the fingerprints that made you accused of being the perpetrator?" asked Raditya. Cyrus pointed to the rope and explained that his fingerprints were on the part of the rope that was in direct contact with the victim's skin so there could be no fingerprints on that part unless the Perpetrator tied it up. Raditya nodded in understanding. "It's really unfortunate for you, son… It's clear that it's a trap, there must be a way to steal/plagiarize other people's fingerprints," Raditya thought but he kept quiet and they left the scene. They didn't notice that a dark, tarpaulin horse-drawn carriage had stopped 500 meters from them, longer than the one that had stopped looking for passengers. Cyrus asked what next and what else to do.
Raditya asked "Do you know what yellow flakes I found?"
"No," Cyrus replied curtly.
"I know a man named Gaea who is an expert in the field of earth and various rocks, I think we should meet him," said Raditya.
"Ooh you mean the clever Professor from Oxford? I think he can give you a clue."
At the end of Cyrus' speech, they immediately called the train and headed for Oxford University. They asked a student and finally managed to meet Professor Gaea in the Oxford laboratory.
"Good evening, Professor, do you remember me? Also introduce this, Cyrus, my partner," Raditya exclaimed.
"Eh, night too!" replied the slightly surprised Gaea while raising her focus from the various beakers and measuring flasks filled with purple liquid and emitting sandalwood cloud smoke.
Raditya then explained the purpose of their sudden, slightly disturbing arrival to Professor Gaea. That they were investigating a unique case and found yellow flakes and white powder that was not poison, and they didn't know what it was.
"Hmm I think I've seen what this is, but my quick and simple speculation can't be said to be accurate without an in-depth further analysis of the molecular structure."
"How long will it take Professor for his analysis?" Cyrus asked.
"Yeah, about 6-8 hours Cy, you'd better come back here tomorrow morning."
They both agreed to the Professor's words by saying "Okay". Then they said goodbye by not forgetting to thank and apologize for their impromptu visit which might be a little disturbing. After leaving Oxford they headed for an old-fashioned British restaurant. They simply enjoyed their dinner and discussed with each other while expressing conclusions based on facts that were processed by their respective minds and thoughts. After dinner, they returned to their respective homes, not forgetting to close and lock the police station. That night's investigation ended quite peacefully (with no quarrels or assaults).
The next day they gathered at the official office where Raditya was assigned to guard before heading back to Oxford according to their promise last night with Professor Gaea. From the air and the uncomfortable feeling that was bothering them, it seemed like a sign that today's investigation would not be as peaceful as the first day.
"Hello, Professor! How did the analysis go?"
"Eh Raditya, this is pure gold and I saw in the London Industrial Database the purchase code is SA4879, maybe you can go to Old Man Hermes to find out who the buyer of the gold is," Gaea replied while naming the biggest ruler of the entire precious stones and minerals trading circle in London.
"Well thanks for the info, we'll go straight to Uncle Hermes after this."
The Hermes Residence is about 3 km from Oxford. Walking for that distance is not a wise choice for anyone who is saving energy for investigations, perhaps anticipating the unexpected. They called a carriage and immediately boarded it. Less than 1km from Hermes House they have to walk. For some reason no carriage except for Hermes's was allowed to be in a beautiful area with many towering trees dominated by the green color of the leaves that cooled the view. Exactly 5 minutes after their arrival there was another carriage that dropped off a short, skinny man with a long purple coat and a hat tucked under his forehead.
They glanced at the man who said "Guten Morgen, gentlemen," he said in a very thick American accent. Cyrus returned the greeting with a nod of his head and a smile. The man moved a little fast and unexpectedly was beside them.
"The price of gold is going up lately huh? Sounds good to investors' ears," he said cheerfully.
"That's right, sir. The conflict with the Ripper followed by the seeds of the KKK made the British industrial and mining sectors unstable. Pure gold is currently the rarest mineral after copper," Cyrus said.
"Judging by the sorry, scar on hand, you seem to be a craftsman. Are you interested in gold transactions, sir?" asked Raditya.
"Wow, your eyes are so sharp! I'm a blacksmith from New Jersey, I heard the price of gold in England is going down. Well if I can get a few kg for a cheap price and combine it with some of my forgings then it would be profitable wouldn't it, sir?"
As they walked to the Hermes House they chatted about many things, from government, world wars, football, horse racing, to the simple topic of old-fashioned restaurants in South London. In the midst of their conversation, the Mantle Man swiftly took out a knife and slashed it to the right and left sides of his body which meant that Raditya and Cyrus' stomachs would be slashed if they did not reflex backwards somersaults. After landing from a somersault, the Man in the Mantle was at his wits end, he threw his knife at the 2 poor London cops.
"Arrgh!!" Raditya shouted who parried the knife but instead his palm was pierced and the blood was flowing quite profusely.
"Cyrus!! Right now I can't help you, if I take this knife off I will bleed to death. Squash that person!"
"Hmm! It must not be an easy thing," Cyrus replied as he quickly pulled out his gun and shot down the flying knife so that there were no holes in his body.
"Pretty good, sir," said the Man in the Mantle, performing a feint maneuver followed by a fairly hard blow to Cyrus' jaw.
Cyrus who staggered from the punch in the jaw managed to land a curved kick towards the neck. The two of them fell to the ground on the damp brown ground. Cyrus stood up and pointed a gun, but suddenly a wild horse rushed up and sniggered at them, Cyrus jumped to the ground to avoid the impact. The Mantle Man was so fast that almost the light could not match him took the gold shard from Cyrus' pocket and mounted the wild horse and then in an instant it disappeared from view leaving deep footprints on the damp ground where the two policemen stood and severe wounds on the bodies of the 2 policemen.
"Ouch, why didn't I realize that the train had been watching us since yesterday's investigation at the scene," complained Raditya while being carried by Cyrus to the nearest clinic from where they are now, which is owned by dr. Apollo. After 10 minutes of traveling they arrived at the door of dr. Apollo due to lack of blood. All nurses as well as dr. Apollo himself immediately took care of him and provided first aid. It took about 2 hours for them to wake up with pain that is evenly distributed throughout the body. The first thing Cyrus did was thank her while explaining the conditions of their attack. When it was a little better, Raditya asked dr. Apollo about the strange white powder found at the murder scene.
"I don't know what it is, nor have I seen it."
"Can you help us identify him, Doc? Sorry it might be a bit of a hassle."
"How to?"
"I don't know for sure, maybe we can try some simple chemical analysis, regarding the particle structure or something," Raditya said cheerfully and laughed a little when he said the last part.
"Wow, you're smart too, sir! Can try that. Come back here tomorrow and we will both see the truth of that thing."
They said goodbye and thanked the clinic for its treatment. Their condition is very tired physically and psychologically, they hope to have a good nap at home. Only curiosity, humanity, and justice were the motivations at that time to persist in this tedious investigation. On the way to the police station they met a white man who was neither too tall nor short. He was well-dressed like a respectable white British gentleman. The man introduced himself as Edward, the owner of a local radio broadcast who wanted to interview them regarding the latest developments in the investigation of the mysterious case.
"Sorry sir! This is not information that can be shared publicly!"
"Come on Inspector Class II Cyrus, people are worried about this shadow case whether they will still be able to see the sun tomorrow with their bodies unburned by that strange white powder."
"Sorry sir! How did you know about the powder?" Raditya asked a little firmly while being suspicious of that person.
"Oh take it easy, Class I Inspector Raditya… it's easy to spread news like that in London, among the coachmen even since the day it happened," he said with a sly smile.
"Well, what can I do, to be honest, we haven't revealed the culprit yet and it looks like this case is dangerous."
"Dangerous?" Edward asked, frowning and raising one eyebrow.
"The point is we were attacked in the middle of the investigation," Cyrus said, starting to get a little annoyed, but kept telling the story of the attack near the Hermes House.
Edward nodded and thanked them for their answer by not forgetting to tell him to be careful he went somewhere. The next day the news of ATTACKING 2 MALANG POLICES IN THE MIDDLE OF INVESTIGATIONS OF Odd CASES was heard first on the radio broadcast. Finally the whole city, maybe even Her Masjesty heard it too. Cyrus was constantly complaining and swearing at the person who interviewed them yesterday. Raditya understood Cyrus' anxiety, which meant that their assailant would likely also hear the news and the investigation would become even more dangerous. Things got even worse when Class I Special Inspector Daedalus (Head of Branch Headquarters) intervened and was about to catch the assailants, they both felt confused, headache, and useless.
Around noon, the attacker was finally identified, named Ricekts, who claimed to be under orders but did not want to reveal who ordered him. With some desperation and lethargic steps they went to dr. Apollo kept his promise and hoped that the analysis of the mysterious white powder would shed some light on the truth about this case. The friendly doctor informed them that the powder was a combination of Sodium hydroxide. Based on a general fact that everyone knows, the two compounds cause quite a large explosion and fire when they meet water. During the trip back to headquarters, Raditya thought of possible conclusions.
"So that means the perpetrator managed to detonate the sodium near the victim?" asked Cyruss in response to Raditya's conclusion.
"Yep, more or less."
"Then the perpetrators are not affected?"
"Right, after all what kind of idiot would sacrifice himself for just a trivial murder?"
"Wow, trivial you say? So… could the victim be trapped and the Sodium in her body?"
"Almost right, try again."
"Could it be… the victim swallowed it?!" Cyrus asked in a high tone of surprise and disbelief.
"Although it's a terrible fact, it is most likely the truth."
"Maybe it's true, but I hope that's not the case."
"Now it means that all we have to do is look for the culprit who is probably the buyer of the gold coded SA4879."
"How to find it?" Cyrus asked just as they arrived in front of the headquarters.
"I don't know, I want to go for a walk, refresh my mind." said Raditya who immediately left before Cyrus said a word.
Cyrus entered the base alone. He lay down on the sofa dreaming. I don't know what happened, he suddenly saw the document for the entry of KKK seeds into the UK which Raditya had placed neatly on his desk. While reading the document, Cyrus smiled as he recalled his days as a young soldier where he joined the British International Regiment which was assigned to help suppress the KKK in America under the auspices of the United Nations Flag. Cyrus recalled that he had participated in paralyzing by slamming KKK branch officials before handcuffing him. Cyrus daydreams again until radio news comes on a gossip channel that broadcasts that Rickets (the perpetrators of their assault) has been released on bail enough to cover 4 months of retirement. Cyrus thought languidly "Haah, he must be protected by the higher-ups." Then suddenly a brilliant conclusion came to his mind.
With full confidence he thought about it more deeply. Then with a confident smile she went to the radio broadcast center to meet Edward and ask permission to broadcast live on the topic of solving the murder mystery. In the broadcast he asked all citizens who want to know the truth to immediately head across the London Eye and Cyrus promised to reveal the results of his analysis there. Cyrus and Edward boarded a horse-drawn carriage to the London Eye. Arriving at the London Eye, many citizens and journalists wanted to get the truth.
Cyrus and Edward who just got off the train immediately became the center of attention and surrounded by residents. Edward went to join the crowd on the pretext of covering and left Cyrus alone in the center of the crowd. Cyrus began the conversation that seemed to be going on for a long time.
"Amidst this thick fog that shrouds London, let me say the conclusion of our investigation. First! I'm not the culprit! People, especially those experienced in the military world can easily steal people's fingerprints just by touching their hands using forensic charcoal powder. When I was a young soldier I remember being in the British International Regiment which was in charge of forming the KKK, and I vividly remember having touched skin while fighting one of their leaders. That person was wearing gloves while fighting and had thrown black powder which I believe used to be temporary blinding, but not anymore. I'm sure it's forensic charcoal. And there was only one person I fought with as leader of the KKK, and I'm sure it was you, Sir Edward! Cyrus exclaimed in a stern tone.
"Hahahahahahahahaha, with such ridiculous arguments you accuse me? If it's true that I fought with you, would that prove I killed him?!" Edward's laughter was followed by a sly smile, feeling he had won.
"Don't forget your fingerprinted Sodium hydroxide and SA4879, sir! You broke down the victim's apartment door in the middle of the night, tied him up, and then forced him to drink hot water that had Sodium wrapped in plastic in it. When hot water is mixed with the warm temperature of the human esophagus, it will be enough to melt certain types of plastic. That's when right in his throat the sodium exploded and killed the poor man by setting him on fire."
"Huh?! Then? Anyone can do that. How can you accuse me of doing it?!" he exclaimed, surprised to realize Raditya's arrival while explaining the things that had cornered him.
"There's one more thing, sir. The victim when he was about to be killed gave a strong enough resistance to break your gold ring," said Raditya flatly while pointing at Edward's gold ring which was slightly missing at the top.
"Tch! You know-it-all city investigators! This ring broke when I fell off the train in New York 2 days ago," said Edward, showing the elbow of his arm with a short, deep scar.
"You lie, sir! All the roads in New York are so hard that if you fall off a train you will only get a scratch. There's no way a stab wound to appear like your elbow," said Cyrus, interrupting their conversation.
"Eh! Where did you come from…," Edward said with a surprised face and unfinished words due to being cut off by Raditya who interrupted.
"SA4879, sir! Your gold purchase code! Uncle Hermes and Oxford were great! I thought that when I was appointed to special investigators, I would make them part of the informant and forensic analyst unit," said Raditya, showing the official sign of the purchase of a gold ring from London's largest transaction lord, Sir Hermes.
"Hahahaha interesting! I thought you guys who were just rats had cornered me so far! Then reveal one more fact, Detective! Then if it is true, I will kill this person in one hit without torturing him," he said, squeezing the arm of a nearby resident and holding a gun to his temple. "Why did I do all that?" he asked angrily with a sly grin.
"Tch, damn it!! I don't carry a gun."
"Cyrus, calm down. Right now we have to think clearly and calmly. There is a way, when I give the signal, you immediately lunge at him, prioritizing that his consciousness is temporarily lost."
Raditya's words were followed by Actions that confused everyone present at the London Eye. The man shot the hostage's thigh until it was scratched. The hostage winced as he fell to his knees with the ends of his thighs covered in blood. Raditya then shouted so loudly that maybe Her Majesty in the palace heard him "NOW, CYRUS!!!"
Cyrus immediately tackled Edward and then hit the Nerve Cervical Spinalis nerve in his neck until the man passed out. The crowd cheered loudly, partly because they were grateful that the perpetrator of the sadistic murder had been caught and others were happy to see the spectacle of an exciting free fight. After doing the thing that made him gasp for air because he was too excited, Cyrus asked "Then what next? I don't have handcuffs with me right now."
"Relax, sir. I brought him," said Rickets who suddenly appeared and handcuffed Edward. They were surprised to see Rickets dressed as street punks with silver badges. Rickets then raised a finger and waved it in front of them while grinning mischievously.
"Before asking further I will answer all your curiosity. I'm actually an FBI agent tasked with pursuing and crushing the remaining executives / you might call him the KKK branch leader. I'm sorry to attack you. I pretended to cooperate with Edward so he wouldn't suspect that I was hunting him. The motive for the murder, which was the theft of large sums of money by Edward and his men at the World Bank, two days later, the KKK was suppressed by the American Police. Edward managed to smuggle the money around the world as a new KKK start-up fund. The action was almost going too smoothly when The Victim, poor white Triton caught him. Edward hunts Triton all the way to London and kills him and then casts suspicion on Cyrus so that people can see that this is a classic black conflict killing whites. I'm sure Sir Raditya, who yesterday looked for the report on "World Riots after the Collapse of the KKK" at London Police Headquarters after leaving Sir Hermes' residence, also knows about it.
"Yapp, that's true, it seems you are also very good at stalking people, hahaha."
"Sorry about that, job demands. Can I request a case report? To make it easier for me when I return to America."
"That's fine, but help us clean up the branch headquarters as punishment for attacking 2 policemen during our investigation," Cyrus said, followed by the three of them laughing happily and relieved.
The next day was a happy day. Cyrus was promoted to Class I Inspector and Raditya was promoted to Class III Special Inspector after a small interview by Daedalus in which Raditya explained that the reason for shooting the hostages was to temporarily disable the hostages so that the perpetrators could not take further action. Raditya wrote the entire murder case under the title L-5189 which means that it happened in London and the investigation began on January 5, 1889 and a copy of the report was given to Rickets who returned to America in the afternoon bringing Edward to be reunited with his KKK friends before being tried by the United Nations International Court. Cyrus also returned to his home branch headquarters on duty to continue the day with a proud new rank.
In the late afternoon, Daedalus invites Raditya to climb onto the roof of the headquarters to watch the sunset on the Winter Solstice of the Sun. They saw the sun starting to set and coloring the sky with beautiful greens, golds, and violets.
"What a beautiful sunset," said Daedalus.
"That's right, sir. But as beautiful as any twilight is before entering the dark and cold night, "said Raditya, whose last night he regretted his words. That night just before the headquarters closed and the night service was over they and all the branch offices received a special call from the British Police Headquarters asking all the police in the country to gather immediately to prepare for a new horrific case of a scale of magnitude that almost brought Britain to war with parts of Europe.