Chapter 58: Principles and Justice
"When I count to 3, I'll snap my fingers. You'll forget what you just saw, and you'll forget the invisibility card. The Invisible Man murder case is closed. You shot the criminal."
Jake held the detective's shoulder with his left hand, his eyes fixed on her dazed expression.
"1!"
"2!"
"3!"
"Snap—" He snapped his fingers, his index finger and thumb interlaced. Amanda jolted and then woke up.
She looked around; there was no one there, only a pool of blood on the floor. "Finally, the case is solved. I can ask Captain Martinez for credit now." She breathed a sigh of relief and walked out of the room.
Not long after she left, the door suddenly opened again and closed, but she didn't see anyone.
Amanda took an Uber back to the precinct. While in the car, she always felt like someone was sitting next to her, but she was too embarrassed to say anything when she saw the driver's strange expression.
"Reporting to Captain Martinez, mission successfully completed." Amanda walked to the captain's office, knocked on the door, and went in to report to Captain Carlos Martinez, who was handling paperwork.
"It's nothing," Martinez said without looking up, still flipping through the files. "I've already prepared to escalate such a bizarre case to the FBI. Even if you didn't complete it... wait! You said you... completed the mission?!"
"Yes," Amanda nodded. "I successfully neutralized him, but there was an unexpected situation during the process, and the body was destroyed."
"How did you..." Martinez knew the capabilities of this young detective very well. She was a rookie, enthusiastic, but inexperienced, and prone to acting on emotion. If her father hadn't been his former partner, he would have reassigned her long ago. Now she was coming to tell him the case was closed?
Of course, he didn't believe it.
But before he could finish speaking, he suddenly felt a bit dazed. After a while, he scratched his head, looked at Amanda who was still standing there, and laughed, which was unusual for him. "Rivera, well done! I'll tell your dad about this!"
"Thank you, Captain!" Amanda thanked him warmly.
All of this was, of course, related to Jake. He, the true invisible man, had created the initial stages of the Invisible Man case, and it was time for him to end it.
Arriving at the records room, he quickly found the coded file folder Amanda had mentioned, took it out, and held it against his body. Within 20 seconds, the invisibility serum's penetration made the folder invisible as well.
Leaving the precinct, he went to a deserted alley, drank the antidote, and reappeared.
Looking at the small file folder in his hand, he opened it and found the small card Jake had indeed discarded. He hadn't expected his momentary carelessness to cause so much trouble.
He then set the file folder and card on fire with a lighter, burning them to ashes.
The Invisible Man case was thus closed.
This world wasn't ready to accept more advanced technology and more bizarre things.
Jake didn't want to derail the world because of himself. The world should have its own way of evolving. The black technology from the movie worlds wouldn't help it progress; instead, it would become an obstacle. Therefore, he would try his best not to bring anything from the movie worlds out and affect this world.
For example, without the invisibility card, the investigation of the case would have been much simpler for the two officers at the precinct. However, it was precisely because of the card brought by Jake that they were led astray.
Through this incident, Jake finally understood that a person must have their own principles and sense of justice to live meaningfully.
Wandering endlessly in the movie worlds without his own principles and sense of justice, he would soon become a far more terrifying monster than Emily.
The thought of Emily killing out of jealousy was even more terrifying than a hitman who murders thousands simply for money.
The hitman's reason for killing is payment, while she killed only for her own pleasure.
Some might say, "Why bother with the meaning of killing when it's all the same?" Jake, however, cared about the meaning. If a person's purpose in killing is not justified, what difference is there between them and a demon?
Perhaps in the future he will scheme and acquire something from a movie world, and might even clash with the protagonist, but he has only one requirement for himself: not to kill indiscriminately, and not to use any means necessary to achieve his goals.
He will try his best not to derail any world.
From the very beginning, from the moment he gained the ability to travel through movie worlds, he only wanted to enjoy them. Not for exploitation, not for anything special, just to experience the stories.
Turning tragedies into comedies, and participating in the comedies—that was his ultimate goal!
After this incident, Jake completely lost interest in running the shop and sold it off.
He also became much more low-key.
1994, New York City.
The sky was clear, and cars sped along the roads, emitting exhaust fumes.
Pedestrians hurried by; this was a fast-paced international metropolis, already resembling what it would be 20 years later.
They might have forgotten, or perhaps they simply didn't know, that a few months ago, a young man had killed a group of corrupt DEA agents, and then this man had vanished without a trace.
When Jake reappeared, he was still in the same place he had left before. An elderly woman passing by was startled, repeatedly making the sign of the cross on her chest.
This was the world of "Léon: The Professional," and Jake had returned to visit Léon and Mathilda.
Following his memory, Jake headed towards the apartment building where he had lived for a week.
However, right at the apartment entrance, he saw Mathilda. The girl was still wearing similar clothes to when Jake had left, her hair short, and the choker around her neck; she still looked rebellious.
She was standing with a somewhat shady-looking teenager, and the two seemed to be having a pleasant conversation.
His initial joy at seeing Mathilda was quickly overshadowed by concern. He walked over, grabbed Mathilda's hand, and pulled her away from the kid.
"I saved your life, not for this!"
Startled by someone grabbing her, especially with the person speaking firmly in her ear, Mathilda exclaimed, "Damn it, who are you?!" But when she turned to look at Jake, she froze.
"Hey! Who the hell are you?!" The shady-looking teenager, seeing his seemingly interested girl being forcibly pulled away, pressed close, glaring menacingly at Jake.
"Get lost!" Jake hissed, then grabbed Mathilda with his left hand and swiftly extended his right, striking the kid in the chest, solar plexus, and abdomen with precise blows. He then pushed the teenager back, sending him stumbling to the ground.
Jake's movements were too fast; his training in gun-kata had long since overcome his weaknesses in close combat.
Feeling the pain, the teenager tried to speak but could only groan, finally running away in a disheveled state, clutching his stomach and chest.
"Jake...?" Mathilda ignored the teenager she had been chatting with when Jake chased him away, and looked up at him, slightly shocked.
Jake placed his hands on Mathilda's shoulders and said very seriously, "Listen, Mathilda, you're not allowed to hang out with this kind of punk anymore, and you need to watch your language, understand?"
"I don't understand," she said, her eyes filling with tears.
He used his thumbs to wipe away the tears that had already overflowed from the little girl's eyes. "You understand now, so you're not allowed to do that anymore!"
"What about Léon? Why aren't you with him?" he asked again.
"He's out working all day," Mathilda said, lowering her head. "He's rarely home. I know he doesn't know how to deal with me. He hardly ever talks to me. I've been waiting for you to come..."
"Then you should stay in the apartment, or go to school," Jake sighed. Sure enough, because of his appearance, the plot had changed. Even if he forced the two of them together, it would be difficult for them to develop any deeper bond.
"I was just feeling a bit down and wanted to come downstairs to talk to someone, and maybe bum a cigarette," she said, her voice trailing off until she finally apologized, "I'm sorry, Jake."
"Alright, you can work on those issues later," Jake said, crouching down to look at Mathilda and pulling her into his arms. "Hello, Mathilda, it's nice to see you again."
"It's so nice to see you, Jake," Mathilda said, tears welling in her eyes.
The two returned to the apartment, the same place Léon had stayed before, but Mathilda's previous place had been renovated and rented out.
Back in the apartment, Mathilda expertly turned on the TV, then took two lollipops, giving one to Jake and putting the other in her own mouth.
"You should eat less candy, or your teeth will hurt," Jake said, but he didn't refuse the lollipop.
Mathilda didn't respond, but was concerned about something else: "Did you come here to take me away?"