American Detective: Starting as a Rookie Cop in an American TV Show

Chapter 1472 Relaxation (Two chapters combined, sorry for the lateness, the anti-fraud game is so much fun)
"I wasn't the first person to make use of that old library."

"I wasn't the first person to actually discover the 'machine's' anomaly."

"I wasn't the one who actually installed the backdoor and made the machine output those 'irrelevant numbers'."

Finch wiped his glasses for the second time and began to recount the past in a calm tone, “It was a snowy winter day when I followed Nathan and entered that abandoned old library for the first time.”

“I remember when you first took Jack and me there, you said that you bought it because you felt the library was too tragic and had become a symbol of the decline of Western civilization or something,” Rither said in a low voice.

"Yes, that's right. I had Nathan buy a total of 15 similar libraries for me, but I don't remember doing so at the time."

Although everyone knew there was no boasting in those words, everyone present, including Aubrey, who had always represented the wealthy class before Finch appeared, exchanged a knowing glance.

Unaware of this, Finch continued, "That day we had another argument, and Nathan pointed to the blackboard covered with photos in a proud yet sad tone and said, 'I saved five people and lost the remaining seven.'"

I will never forget his expression at that time. Jack, you are a very good psychologist. You guessed a lot of things right, but there is one thing you got wrong.

I'm not a 'saint,' Nathan is.'

Finch took a deep breath, his voice trembling with a slight sob as he exhaled, “He said, ‘I can’t stop thinking about those people, those so-called irrelevant numbers.’”

For a moment, only Finch's deep voice could be heard in the room, and everyone held their breath.

“We had a huge argument about this because rescuing unrelated numbers meant an infinitely increased risk of the ‘machine’ being exposed, and the federal government wouldn’t stand idly by.”

In fact, my subsequent investigation confirmed this: after the 'machine' was handed over, many of the engineers involved in the transfer and reassembly disappeared one after another.

But Nathan didn't believe it. He wanted to expose the existence of the 'machine' project to the media because, in his view, relevant numbers were just as important as irrelevant numbers, and when it came to saving innocent lives, there was no such thing as the minority obeying the majority.

Even if the authorities eventually shut down the 'machine,' that will be the people's choice.

Finch's entire body seemed to turn ashen, and his voice was somewhat hoarse. "He finally convinced me, and also convinced Alicia (the NSA official who was liaised with him in Chapter 1451 who was shot in the head by Root), to prepare to hold a press conference together."

"You all know what happened next. The next day, Nathan died, and I ended up like this."

Hearing this, everyone exchanged bewildered glances. Finally, Jubal covered his forehead and sighed, "Going straight to the media? Didn't you even consider talking to a member of Congress first? Even if not a senator, shouldn't you at least talk to a few representatives first?"

Seeing Finch's slightly bewildered expression, Jack knew the crux of the problem.

Finch and his friend Nathan were indeed a perfect combination, one in charge of internal technology and the other in charge of external public relations.

Their personalities are also completely complementary in some ways: Finch has an extreme distrust of the federal government, while Nathan is very good at dealing with federal departments and selling their products.

The problem is that both of these guys are typical idealists, or rather, idealized in certain ways, leading to a black-and-white view of some of their beliefs.

Jack grabbed a handful of sunflower seeds from the coffee table next to him and scattered them on the conference table, gathering them into an equilateral triangle. Then he drew two lines in the middle, turning the triangle into a smaller triangle and two trapezoids of different sizes.

"Imagine this is the structure of a government department. The top triangle represents the decision-makers, the middle part represents middle managers, and the bottom part represents the implementers. Is that how you see it, Finch?"

Finch blinked a few times behind his thick glasses and asked hesitantly, "Is there a problem? If you want to say that this is just an ideal model and the actual situation is much more complicated, I can understand."

Jack sighed and spread out all the sunflower seeds, arranging them into small piles of a few at a time. In the end, although it still formed a rough triangle, it was almost impossible to distinguish, and many sunflower seeds were even scattered around the model.

He then brought out more sunflower seeds and arranged them all in similar blurry triangles, almost filling half the table, which was dazzling to look at.

"This is the actual ideal form."

Jack pointed to the largest pile of sunflower seeds in the very center and said, "Let's say this is the NSA, next to it is the CIA, and these are other departments related to the 'machine' project."

He took the top few seeds from the ones representing the NSA, and then took one from the top of each of the seeds representing the CIA and other federal agencies, and showed them all to Finch in his palm.

"In your mind, you believe you have signed a secret contract with federal agencies, but in reality, these are the only ones you have any real dealings with."

Jack slammed the few sunflower seeds down in front of Finch. "Look closely, that's all."

"There is no such thing as prioritizing the big picture, nor is there any such thing as sacrificing a small number for the benefit of the majority. I will not comment on the pointless infighting between you and Nathan. It is your own choice to shoulder the so-called moral cross on your own."

But when you finally decided to make all of this public, you chose the worst and most disastrous approach.

To Finch's astonishment, Jack picked up the half-empty water glass in front of him and poured it directly onto the conference table.

Water flowed freely across the table, washing the pile of sunflower seeds into scattered pieces.

"Find a few opposition members of parliament, stir things up in parliament, and demand a special hearing. At the same time, prepare some backup documents and materials, which will be automatically made public online if you lose contact."

"This is unbelievable! You really don't believe those two journalists who exposed Watergate dared to publish those reports in the newspapers without any backing, do you?"

Jack really didn't know how to comment on Finch and his friend Nathan's incredibly naive and childish actions, which were like jumping directly from one extreme to another.

You're about to flip the table, don't you think about whether the other person will flip the table first?
Isn't the best way to deal with a small group of people to unite the other group first? You're treating the entire federal government as a whole and just charging in headfirst, right?

This is similar to how Jack has always scoffed at Marvel's mutant series; he thinks most of the persecution and discrimination he's faced are self-inflicted. At this point, everyone basically understands the whole story. Of course, there are many details Finch hasn't elaborated on, but Jack roughly knows some of them through his memories from his past life.

For example, NSA official Alicia Cowen must have revealed Nathan's decision to her superiors; otherwise, the car bombing, which was disguised as a terrorist attack but was actually a targeted killing, would not have been planned so hastily.

Eliminating all those actually carrying out the project and removing Nathan should have been a unanimous decision by all stakeholders. CIA Deputy Director Denton Weeks, who was shot twice by Root, may not have been the one who ultimately gave the order, but he was at least one of the decision-makers.

However, the fact that Weeks didn't know where the server containing the "machine" main program was shipped suggests that there must have been a top leader for this project.

There is some kind of cooperative relationship between him/her and the old man behind "Desima Technology", Mr. Greer, who was shot dead by Jack early on (Chapter 1339).

Jack now deeply regrets not having watched "Person of Interest" properly from beginning to end back then, but given his memory at the time, he probably wouldn't remember it even if he had.

Because all the details related to the main plot of the entire series are hidden in the independent plot of each episode, many of which are just flashback shots of a few seconds or a minute or two.

That's part of the charm of these kinds of films and TV shows. Often, when the plot takes an abrupt turn, you're left bewildered until you watch it again, or even two or three times, before you suddenly realize that the devil is in the details.

Finch wasn't the "saintly" Jack thought he was. In fact, he strongly opposed his friend Nathan's actions, and the series of strict measures he took against the "machine" were largely for the purpose of protecting Nathan and himself.

However, an explosion took Nathan's life and Finch's soul. He stuffed his friend's ideals into his broken body and staggered down a path of self-destruction.

Accompanying him was Risser, who was also heartbroken from losing his lover; Risser viewed the "machine" as an electronic god, believing that it could ultimately correct the root of the inherent "error codes" in human society.

The outcome was predictable; the tragedy seemed to have been predetermined.

Of course, this is the ending without Jack appearing. At least he has saved Reese's soul, and with Jessica by his side, this former CIA agent is no longer lonely and lost.

As for Finch, he doesn't need any salvation. Jack can heal his body, but he can't heal his broken soul. But there is someone who can, and that person has always been there.

As the secret meeting ended, everyone left the base building with different expressions, each needing time to process what they had heard that day.

After all, some things have exceeded people's understanding, such as man-made electronic ghosts, which sound too much like science fiction.

Although everyone has experienced some major events with Jack, it still feels somewhat unreal for the members of the Wanted Criminals Team, especially Jubal, Aubrey, and Alice.

It's like an ordinary person walking down the street, and suddenly someone hands him a pair of gloves studded with five gemstones, telling him that if he puts them on and snaps his fingers, half of all life in the world will disappear.

Compared to the fact that the "machine" is an electronic life form with a soul, the fact that everyone in this country is under surveillance seems to be a trivial matter.

This is thanks to Finch, who, under Jack's guidance, explained the principle clearly enough. Everyone knows that the NSA has been doing similar things, and now it's just a matter of having conclusive evidence.

The oppressive feeling brought about by the terrifying depiction of "Big Brother watching you," which only exists in science fiction, is indeed suffocating. However, when everyone learns that "Big Brother" is actually just a silicon-based life form artificially imprisoned in a "black box," the reality becomes even more unsettling.

It's hard not to feel a strange sensation, which can't be called sympathy, but it's definitely not hate either.

"Go out for a walk?" Jack approached Root, who was still sitting in his seat, lost in thought.

"No, thank you. To be honest, I don't really like that outfit." Gen looked at the restraint suit that was haphazardly tossed on the coat rack.

“I think you may need some time to think it over. You will be restricted from leaving this building until you make certain decisions, but if you are willing to promise not to leave my sight, it is not impossible to go out for some fresh air.”

Jack made a very gentlemanly gesture, "Come on, I'll take you somewhere. I know you hate Finch right now, but after you go there, I hope you can understand his helplessness to some extent, and at least you won't have the idea of ​​killing him anymore."

After a moment of contemplation, Gen suddenly looked up, a faint, ambiguous smile curving his previously drooping lips. "Alright, shall we go to that old library?"
-
The afternoon sun was quite scorching. As usual, the Audi R8 attracted many envious and jealous glances when it was parked on the side of the road. When Jack and Root got out of the car, even more people on the side of the road looked at them.

Although Root is actually several years older than Jack, she has a baby face with full cheeks, which is extremely rare among European and American women.

Although this world seems to have an extra layer of beauty filter compared to Jack's previous world, with handsome men and beautiful women everywhere, apart from the girls around Jack, Gen is still the only woman he knows who can still show a girlish feeling after the age of 30.

Looking at the Washington Monument Arch, which is modeled after the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, even someone who isn't a native New Yorker could immediately recognize their location—Washington Square Park in New York.

“I remember you said before that it was an abandoned old library.” Gen turned to look at the beautiful Bost Library located at the south end of the square.

Jack smiled back, "I haven't agreed to take you to Finch's lair, at least not for now."

He walked to a beverage stall next to the park, glanced at the handwritten sign, and said in Mandarin to the stall owner—a young Asian man with glasses who looked honest and simple, and still had a bit of a student-like air—"Two cups of herbal tea, please."

"It's free, fellow villager. It's just herbal tea. You can pour it yourself." The stall owner, who was busy with his work, replied without looking up when he heard this standard Mandarin.

Jack didn't stand on ceremony. He reached for two disposable paper cups, filled two cups in a stainless steel bucket labeled "herbal tea," handed one to Root, and kept the other for himself, before heading towards Greenwich Village on the west side of the square.

A moment later, the beverage stall owner looked up, slightly bewildered, and scratched his head in confusion as he watched the two figures walk away.

"This tastes weird, but it makes you want to keep drinking it." She didn't even ask Jack where he was going to take her, and even took his arm as if they were really just out for a walk.

“Next, we’re going to visit a stranger. My name is Detective Danny Regan, and you are Detective Kate Beckett. Remember these two names, and don’t give yourself away. I know you’re good at this kind of thing.”

Jack walked to the door of an apartment building, gave his instructions, and before Root could ask any further questions, he pressed the doorbell in front of the white door.

(End of this chapter)