It was a normal Sunday for Detective Hopps. The detective was taking a sip of his coffee while reading the daily newspaper. Then, suddenly, he heard his phone ringing in the kitchen. He was surprised, as he had not received a call from anyone for a while, especially since the death of his wife. He picked up the phone, and then he heard a familiar voice. He could hardly remember it, though he was sure it belonged to someone from the past, probably from the days before his retirement. The man on the phone started off by introducing himself. Apparently, he was Sir Edward Rodriguez, who was also known as the former assistant of Hopps. He asked for a favor; there had been a mysterious murder that recently occurred, and he said that Hopps was the only one who could solve the case.
It was true that Hopps was once a famous detective; however, he was no longer dealing with these cases. After his wife's death, his only purpose was to live a peaceful life, as his wife had wanted him to do in her last words. It was traumatizing for him to have his wife die in his own hands. So he wanted to honor her request and live a peaceful life. As a result, he refused Mr. Rodriguez's offer with a firm no. Rodriguez did not push too hard and respected his choice, but he wanted Hopps to call him back if he ever changed his mind.
Later that night, Hopps saw his wife in his dream. She was trying to say something to him, and the words became clear. She wanted him to get involved in the case. He thought it was an important message from his wife. He woke up in an instant and immediately called Mr. Rodriguez to say he had changed his mind.
They went to the office, and Rodriguez mentioned the details about the murder. The victim was an important businessman, and apparently he had many bodyguards and surveillance cameras around his house. The strange thing was that no one had been caught. It seemed like a simple case of suicide; however, there was evidence of a fight between the murderer and the victim. The first thing Hopps noticed was that the victim only hired bodyguards. He was a rich man. Why wouldn't he hire more workers to make his life easier? There could have been a possibility that he was trying to protect himself from someone. However, this wasn't strong evidence, as there could be other possible reasons behind it.
After discussing the details, they checked the camera records. The next step was to interrogate the bodyguards to compare their statements with the records to determine if they were telling the truth.
The bodyguards all said the same thing: the victim was sitting in the living room, then he got up to go to his bedroom. However, he did not leave his room for a long time, so they became worried. When they entered his room, they encountered the dead body. This matched the records, so the bodyguards were not responsible for the murder.
Two days later, Rodriguez and Hopps went to the crime scene. They talked with the crime scene investigation team to learn about the evidence. There were just a few pieces of evidence. It was a professional murder; the murderer was almost like a shadow, leaving no traces. Even the evidence was placed for the investigation team to notice, suggesting the possibility of a trap. The first piece of evidence was a triangular-shaped symbol drawn in blood. The shape consisted of triangles within triangles. It was hard to draw any conclusions from it. The second piece of evidence was a handwritten letter written in an ancient language that seemed to be a variant of French. As a language expert, Hopps had no trouble translating the words. The writing said: "LIVE, BETRAY, DRAW." It was complicated and meaningless.
When he finally arrived home, he began researching. From the word "draw," he concluded that what they were looking for was a painting. Drawings would usually be found in museums or art galleries. Then he remembered the triangular shape. The writing was a variant of French, so the painting could be in France. After connecting the pieces, he realized he was searching for a painting in a triangular-shaped museum located in France. There was a popular museum called the "Louvre Museum" in France. This museum had all the things he was looking for. He immediately booked a flight to France for the following week.
One week later, he packed his things and left the USA. He arrived in Paris and then went to the hotel. He rested there for a little while but was still thinking about the other two words: "LIVE" and "BETRAY." He was unable to find anything about these words, which left him with question marks in his mind. They were probably related to the backstory of the painting he was searching for, but there were many paintings about betrayal. Also, there were more than 480,000 works in the Louvre. After spending two days, he finally found the painting. The same letters were written on it. It was a painting called "Raft of Medusa." The painting depicted a disaster that occurred to a ship set to colonize Senegal. Senegal could be the next destination he would consider based on what he had found. He was relieved but also scared about what would happen next.
When he returned to the hotel, the receptionist gave him a package sent from Senegal. The sender was anonymous, but the location supported his claims. However, he was also sure that someone was following him.
He opened the package to find a plane ticket along with an address. He searched for that address, and it belonged to an old lady who lived on Goree Island, Senegal.
Goree Island was once used for slave trading, which made sense with the painting. He was tired of this tempo, so he decided to sleep and put the questions out of his mind for a while. He woke up at a very late hour. He looked at his phone and saw 20 missed calls from Rodriguez. He called him back; Rodriguez answered and told him to turn on the TV. On the TV, it was reported that two murders had occurred in Paris, both close to his location. The scariest part was that they were almost identical to the murder that happened in the USA. Hopps informed Rodriguez about everything that had happened. Rodriguez then said that several bodyguards would be sent to protect Hopps from behind.
The flight was booked for midnight that day. It was 6 a.m. when he arrived on the island. First, he met the bodyguards who were protecting him, and then they went to separate places to ensure Hopps's safety. Hopps went to the address given to him. The house was in the middle of the forest. He knocked on the door, and an old lady opened it with a questioning look. She invited him in. She asked about the reason for his visit. He explained everything in detail and asked her if she knew anything about it. She did know something and began telling a story: "After the end of the colonization era, the USA started a project aimed at modernizing the native people of Senegal. The project was simply a trip to popular destinations in America. It seemed okay and amusing, but nothing went as planned after the trip. Every day, a person from that tribe died. The deaths were all the same. A delegation of the elderly and the strongest people in the tribe went into the deep forest to find the murderer, but the only thing they found was a paper. It stated that if they did not sacrifice a person once a month, the murderer would kill everyone in the tribe. The delegation discussed it and decided to obey the murderer's orders. Every month, they sacrificed the weakest person in the tribe. But after some time, people grew tired of it and started a riot, declaring that they would not sacrifice anyone from that point forward. When the sacrificial day came, the murderer did what he threatened. He tried to kill everyone. The old lady said she and her sister thought they had managed to escape, but then they saw the murderer chasing them. The murderer was someone from their tribe. She was shocked, as she thought that this person was dead. She had seen his dead body. Her sister had to sacrifice herself to save the lady. When she returned to the village, she realized she was the only one left alive."
Hopps was shocked, yet he could not notice any details about it. The only strange thing was the murderer's identity. He noted everything and was ready to leave. Before he left, the old lady gave him a number and an address for a Japanese man. She said this man was looking for the same thing as Hopps. The old lady then invited Hopps to stay at her house for the night. He agreed.
When he woke up, he was staring at the terrifying dead body of the old lady. He reported the murder to the police and left. The next destination for Hopps was Japan. After the death of the lady, he was more determined than ever to find the murderer. He arrived in Japan and, without losing any time, prepared to go to the address of the man. He went to the address, and the owner of the house let him inside. First, he introduced himself; his name was Yushiro Tokito. He was a mystery hunter, which was why he was pursuing this case. They discussed what had happened to them, and everything was identical.
In the middle of their conversation, Rodriguez called Hopps. Rodriguez said that a similar murder had occurred in Japan and that he had been given permission to investigate it. He said goodbye to Yushiro and left his house to go to the crime scene. He began investigating there and found a computer. His basic knowledge was enough to crack it open. There were several files inside, but one of them had an interesting name: Project0. It appeared to contain camera records. He started watching the camera records and was astounded to see the footage of his wife's death. There were also the records of the murder that happened in New York, and the murderer was a familiar person: Yushiro Tokito. He discovered that Yushiro had formerly lived there. Without telling the police anything, he left with the computer.
He went to Yushiro's house in a pure rage. He loudly knocked on the door, shouting for him to open it. Yushiro opened the door and attempted to greet him, but Hopps just slapped him in the face. Then Hopps kept asking him non-stop why he killed his wife. He beat Yushiro up. Yushiro could not resist Hopps's punches because he was smaller. Hopps handed over the records and Yushiro to the police. What he did was not cold-blooded or ethical; he acted purely on his feelings. When the police examined the records, they were shocked to see both Yushiro's and Hopps's footage of killing someone. Hopps was astonished when the police came to arrest him. They told him about what he had done, but Hopps denied everything. He insisted it was a deepfake video, but nobody believed him. As a result, he was sent back to the USA.
He was arrested and sent to the same place as Yushiro. Now that he understood there was a puppet master pulling the strings, he wanted to discuss it with Yushiro.
First, he apologized, and then they began talking about the previous topic. Yushiro said he was close to solving the mystery when all these events unfolded. He explained that all of this was related to an amusement park on the West Coast of the USA. The mystery could only be solved if they went there. Yushiro also mentioned that the murderer was among those who were dead. This revelation made everything come together, but it still did not make sense. They had to go to that amusement park. To do that, they needed to escape from prison. They devised a plan. Hopps used his title to get out of prison, and the bodyguards who had been protecting him helped them escape.
After escaping from prison, they went straight to the amusement park. All that remained was the hall of mirrors. They entered, and as they looked into the mirrors, a familiar voice began speaking. It was Hopps's voice. Suddenly, a copy of Hopps appeared. At first, he congratulated them on finding the location. Then he began to explain why they started such a project. The main reason was the destruction of nature. They believed that humans did not deserve to live in this world because they were destroying it day by day. They thought they were more powerful than humans and considered themselves celestial beings. They intended to save the world and live there alone. Hopps shouted that this was not the right approach. But the copies insisted that there was nothing they could do about it.
In the blink of an eye, they were surrounded by dozens of copies of themselves. Bullets and punches flew around. They had a fierce fight, but Hopps and Yushiro managed to escape. They were setting the place ablaze; however, one of Hopps's copies managed to escape as well. He shouted at Hopps and grabbed him by the leg, trying to ensure his demise, but he failed. The one who died was the copy. He burned to ashes alongside the building. It was true that they made it out of there, but both knew that nobody would believe their story. So Hopps had to make a tough choice. Yushiro had kids and a wife. He had once lived a happy life. He declared that he would take all the blame upon himself, as he had nothing to lose. If he lived, it would be pointless; he would not even work as a detective because of his leg. Yushiro burst into tears and thanked him profusely. He said he would visit Hopps in prison with his family every weekend. Hopps smiled and said he would not have to do that. He prepared a fake letter and sent it to the office. Then he visited his wife's grave one last time to tell her that he would not be joining her. These were his last words.
Yusuf Güreler
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