Chapter 81: Immortality Doesn't Mean Eternal Youth
A wealthy district being robbed for a million years by one person, with over a dozen people shot dead, is no small incident.
The New Greenwich authorities must be frantically searching for Jake.
However, all of this was irrelevant to Jake, because he had returned to the real world.
Not a movie world, but the actual real world.
After his last visit, Jake hadn't been back for a long time. The dust accumulated on the floor scattered as soon as his feet touched the ground.
The neighbors probably thought his house had become abandoned.
Thinking about it carefully, there were indeed no close connections in the real world, and he had no family in this world either, but this was, after all, his original home.
Moreover, Jake had always had an idea: if he invested in producing a movie, would that movie be added to his dimension-travel options?
He could create a very weak antagonist in that world, place countless treasures with them, and then simply go and take all the loot, right?
Investing in making a movie in the real world was an intriguing concept, but he would also need to invest considerable time in its development.
He didn't have time to put this idea into practice yet. He still remembered that in another movie world, there was a girl waiting for him to return and rescue her.
The Hunger Games were held annually, and he could only use this year to improve his overall capabilities.
He immediately returned to the Princess Diaries world, brought the three android maids back to the real world, and had them clean up. While they were working, Jake checked his forearm. Sure enough, the fluorescent green countdown had disappeared.
Even pressing the time capsule to his wrist had no effect.
"It should have increased my lifespan, right?" He turned around with slight uncertainty and returned to the In Time universe. The Timekeepers were taking a statement from Philippe in the office Jake had left. Jake's sudden reappearance startled them.
However, Jake paid no attention to these wary officers at all.
He rolled up his sleeve and looked. Sure enough, it still displayed 9,999 years.
"This means that time trading only works in this specific world, not others." Frustrated, he pulled down his sleeve. He'd even been planning to extract time from immortal vampires he might encounter in the future.
Fortunately, he still had 9,999 years remaining, regardless of which world he was in.
The Timekeeper, gun in hand, nervously watched Jake, finger on the trigger, ready to fire the moment Jake made a move.
Suddenly, Jake vanished, leaving only the Timekeeper, still frozen with his weapon raised. The intruder had disappeared too quickly—he hadn't even had time to react.
However, to capture him the next time he reappeared, the Timekeepers began patrolling the fortieth floor of the Philippe Weis Bank twenty-four hours a day.
Given their virtually endless lifespans, this task would likely continue indefinitely.
Meanwhile, having received a definitive answer, Jake quickly returned to the real world, and with the three androids who had finished cleaning, he once again traveled to the sprawling estate of the Princess Diaries universe.
For the next three months, Jake did not dimension-hop again.
Since gaining the ability to travel between movie worlds, he found that his adventures were like fast food—rushed, with no time to appreciate the unique experiences. He was either racing through the plot or, more often than not, just jumping in and taking what he needed without a second thought.
Therefore, he needed an extended period of rest to clear his mind.
During this time, Jake trained and worked out every day. He also assigned Dr. Simms research tasks, developing highly nutritious supplements. The formulas developed by this top biology PhD were essentially miniaturized versions of performance-enhancing drugs.
Matilda was also forced by Jake to remove her combat suit and train alongside him.
Just look at Iron Man in the movies—with his armor, he could fight Thor, but without it, he couldn't even beat an average person. Tony couldn't wear his armor constantly, and Jake certainly couldn't wear his combat suit all the time either.
He believed that in future worlds with higher power levels, the value of this suit would diminish even further.
He trained intensively every day, dripping with sweat, and went on dates with Mia on weekends, always with Matilda as a third wheel.
And to make matters worse, the guys at university knew about Mia's royal status, and some even tried to court her!
To these self-proclaimed romantics, Jake gave them a proper beatdown with his fists: don't try to apply your liberal dating culture to my girlfriend, or you won't see tomorrow!
As they spent more time together, Mia, this perceptive girl, seemed to slowly realize that Jake and Matilda were hiding something from her, but she didn't have much energy to investigate yet, because she still had several years of college courses to complete, and she trusted Jake completely.
Three months later,
In the morning, Matilda had to go to school—it was Wednesday.
Jake looked in the mirror and asked Matilda, "Do I look a bit older?"
"You've been staring at the mirror too much lately," Matilda said, sitting at the breakfast table. She thanked the android maid who brought her food, then took a sip of her orange juice. "And how old are you anyway? This just proves you're maturing."
"That's not good news," Jake said, examining the mirror again. With his constant exercise, his muscles had begun to develop definition, but time didn't seem to have frozen him at twenty-five despite his trip to the In Time universe.
Three months wasn't enough to definitively tell if someone had aged, but subtle changes could be observed.
Jake was slowly developing toward greater maturity.
"Does leaving the In Time world mean their rules no longer apply to me? Or is it that I'm not from that world, so I don't have their genetic modifications, and while they don't age past twenty-five, I still do?"
Did this mean he gained immortality, but not eternal youth?
"As expected, these rigidly defined sci-fi worlds are unreliable," Jake muttered, stroking his stubble. His beard had grown particularly thick in the past three months. If he didn't groom it for three or four weeks, he'd look like a man in his thirties.
This was a side effect of Dr. Simms's formula, activating his hormones.
Immortality wouldn't mean eternal youth, though. Was he supposed to be dragging around a deteriorating body nine thousand years from now, shuffling unsteadily, with snow-white hair and missing teeth? The thought was terrifying. What use was that kind of immortality?
"I still need to keep searching for true eternal youth,"
He sighed, casually taking a sip of his breakfast coffee. Grabbing his jacket hanging on the chair, Jake was dragged along by Matilda. He still had to take the girl to school—he felt like a stay-at-home dad now.
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