Soul Patch

Chapter 235 Mission Objective: Wenjie

The moon is bright, the stars are sparse, and the breeze blows on your face.

Xiao Yi and Awei repeatedly confirmed the system's preset scenario: a mental hospital in the northern suburbs of M City one month later. This was consistent with the information calculated by headquarters.

They walked towards the building in front of them, bathed in moonlight.

Awei put on the special night vision goggles, pressed the metal bracelet on his wrist, and the bracelet lit up instantly. He quickly brought up the virtual map.

In this way, by using specially designed night vision goggles, one can see a 3D map of the area, with the three-dimensional outlines of buildings displayed in the goggles, and the approximate location of heat sources within 100 meters can be estimated through sensing.

"That building in front of us is the Five States Mental Hospital," Awei said slowly, looking at the marker on the map. He glanced at Xiao Yi and asked, "Want me to share the map with you?"

Xiao Yi didn't answer him. Instead, she suddenly stopped and looked at Awei in astonishment, asking, "Did you receive a task assigned by the system?"

Ah Wei shook his head, suddenly realizing something, grabbed Xiao Yi's arm, and asked in surprise, "What did you say? You received a system mission?"

Xiao Yi was also shocked, seemingly still reeling from this sudden change, and simply nodded blankly and mechanically.

In the darkness, Xiao Yi blinked slowly, her delicate, narrow eyes quickly becoming misty, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

Ah Wei's heart sank as he thought to himself: This has never happened before, and now the system has assigned him a task to infiltrate it.

Does that mean the system has already detected an intrusion by a cheat program during this online task?

He suppressed his doubts and asked calmly, "So what is your mission?"

At this question, Xiao Yi's eyes reddened slightly, glistening with tears and revealing despair.

She stared intently at Awei, her slender arm slowly freeing itself from his grasp. She raised her arm and pointed at him.

Awei didn't understand what it meant. He looked at Xiaoyi's desperate eyes and then looked down at the hand pointing at him.

Startled, he asked, "It's me? Your mission is me?"

Tears streamed down Xiao Yi's face. She nodded painfully and choked out, "Remove the cheat programs that have infiltrated the system."

Ah Wei hurriedly pressed the forced exit button on the metal bracelet: "Let's exit the system immediately, it should still be in time!"

In the 12-and-a-half-story headquarters, Elder Luo and Awen stared at the light screen for quite a while.

The supercomputer picked up Xiao Yi's task almost at the same time the system was issuing the task to the patch carrier.

Just as Awen was about to speak, he suddenly saw another mission pop up on the screen and his mouth dropped open in astonishment.

“Lo, Old Luo…” Awen stammered.

Old Luo stood with his hands behind his back, stroking the walnut bracelet on his wrist. The bracelet was an antique that his granddaughter had found. Knowing that he liked such things, she specially brought it back as a gift for him.

At this moment, he narrowed his eyes at the task issued by the system on the light screen, his eyes focusing on the light screen revealing a fierce light, like an enraged beast.

The air pressure suddenly dropped, and the light screen in mid-air began to flicker slightly. The culture medium in the three petri dishes in the central area seemed to be swept by a cold wind, and the surface of the liquid rippled. The three people lying inside frowned in unison.

Old Luo casually grabbed a chair and hurled it at the light screen in the air.

Bang!

The chair passed through the light curtain and crashed to the ground.

The three people in the petri dish were startled, and their bodies began to tremble slightly... Seeing this, Awen hurriedly ran to Old Master Luo's side and asked anxiously, "Old Master Luo, what should we do? Should I go and protect your granddaughter?"

Old Luo stared at the large characters prominently displayed on the screen, his expression showing struggle and pain. He waved his hand and said, "I'll go myself!"

Awen was left standing there, stunned.

He watched as Elder Luo dragged his lonely figure toward the shuttle pod, then glanced up at the mission notification on the screen: Patch Carrier Number 132 Andy:

[Online Task: Helping a Target Individual Correct Their Life Trajectory]

[Target Individual: Patch Carrier No. 101, Wenjie]

Soon more messages popped up on the screen, but strangely, the messages were all marked with ****.

Several messages, replaced by *****, flashed by quickly, and Awen was momentarily stunned: "Old Luo, Old Luo, another mission has been issued, but it's encrypted information, and the computer couldn't decipher it."

There seem to be three... or maybe four.

Upon hearing Awen's words, Elder Luo suddenly stopped in his tracks. He slowly turned around, looked at Awen, and asked, "Is the system program malfunctioning?"

“Yes, very likely! Li Shiman being killed in the real world completely defies conventional logic.” Awen pointed to the computer and said:

"If we compare correcting one's life trajectory to installing an operating system on a computer, then after a computer has been installed with an operating system, it can be formatted and partitioned to install a dual system, with the two systems coexisting and switching between each other; or it can be formatted entirely and replaced with another system."

However, you cannot install another system on top of the existing system, as it is incompatible.

In the case of Li Shiman's murder, the murderer's life trajectory was successfully corrected, so logically there was no reason for Li Shiman to be killed. At this point, Li Shiman died, which violated the system's long-standing cause-and-effect cycle and life trajectory deduction rules.

This is actually the foundation of any system; if this principle is broken, the system will descend into chaos.

Awen was about to say something when he suddenly noticed the metal bracelet making a buzzing sound. He hurriedly ran towards the shuttle pod: "Old Luo, Awei wants to forcibly exit the system scene."

"If he doesn't back down, he'll have no choice but to fight against Xiao Yi!"

"and many more!"

As Awen passed by Elder Luo, Elder Luo grabbed him and, after a moment of deep thought, said:

"Even if you fail to complete the system task, there will be no punishment, and it has always been like this. So Xiao Yi doesn't need to pay attention to the online system task."

"Is this...is this appropriate?" Awen stared blankly at Old Luo and asked hesitantly.

"There's nothing inappropriate about it. You sent me to hack into the system. My daughter and son-in-law were killed by the system. Don't even think about touching a hair on my granddaughter's head!" Old Luo said through gritted teeth.

"Okay! Elder Luo, you must be extremely careful!" Awen glanced at the screen and said worriedly.

"Don't worry, I've hacked into the system countless times, and besides, my basic abilities are the highest among all one hundred patch carriers." Old Luo smiled faintly at him.

The two entered the shuttle cabin. Old Luo lay down, and the glass dome slowly descended. A sense of spinning and weightlessness washed over him, and soon Old Luo closed his glasses tightly.

……

Outside the Wuzhou Mental Hospital, Awei pressed the wristband but there was no response. He and Xiaoyi stared at each other.

It's clear that both of them are hesitant and conflicted.

Just then, Elder Luo successfully infiltrated and appeared before them.

The two turned to look at him and asked at the same time, "Elder Luo, what should we do?" "The system is just one step away from collapsing. The system is already in chaos. Once we kill the target this time and the correction mission fails, the system will be doomed."

When he said these words, Elder Luo's expression was calm, completely different from before he entered the system.

Xiao Yi and Awei seemed to have found their pillar of support, and their expressions relaxed. Xiao Yi glanced at Elder Luo and asked, "Elder Luo, the two of us can handle Wenjie. Why did you come too?"

Old Luo's eyes flickered slightly as he looked at Xiao Yi and Awei, and he laughed heartily, "If I hadn't come, you and Awei would probably have started fighting!"

Xiao Yi and Awei joined the alliance later, and they didn't know anything about his granddaughter, so there was no need to tell them too much.

Everyone has secrets: his granddaughter Andy is his secret, the softest part of his heart.

He is also the only bloodline of the Luo family.

After hearing what Elder Luo said, Xiao Yi lowered her head somewhat embarrassed and whispered, "I've never encountered this situation before, and I completely panicked."

Ah Wei's gaze lingered on Old Luo's face for a moment before turning to Xiao Yi.

For some reason, Elder Luo made things sound so simple, as if the system could be easily destroyed, but he clearly sensed the unfriendly side of the system.

Take Xiao Yi's mission for example: previous system missions were all about correcting the life trajectory of a single target.

There has never been a task like "remove intruding system cheats" before, which clearly means the system is targeting them.

At this point, instead of giving up the invasion, they intensified their efforts, which made him vaguely feel that something was amiss.

However, this anti-system alliance was founded by Old Man Luo himself. His reason for founding it was simple: his daughter and son-in-law were killed in the system mission, so he vowed to destroy the system with his own hands.

From this perspective, Elder Luo certainly didn't want anything to happen to them.

Thinking of this, Awei felt slightly relieved.

Awen had sent a message to the metal bracelet long before their intrusion; it contained a system scenario and a general plot that the computer had deduced from the transmitted data.

Ah Wei looked at the message that had been sent and said: "The murderer is a patient named Jia Nan in this mental hospital. He has a blood feud with Wen Jie for killing his brother and is determined to kill Wen Jie to the death..."

Old Luo waved his hand, indicating that he didn't need to say anything more, as he had already read all the information that could be predicted several times over.

So why bring Andy into this whole affair?
Is this a task randomly assigned by the system, or is it related to this event that led to being involved in this task?
Old Luo was unwilling to believe that this was the system targeting his alliance. Previously, the system had also assigned tasks related to the life experiences of the patch carrier, because the system was bound to the patch carrier and would be influenced by the patch carrier's subconscious.

"Old Luo, we need to kill Wenjie before Jia Nan makes a move, right?" Xiao Yi pondered for a moment and then asked.

“对，文杰被贾楠谋杀的时间是：2019年8月8日下午15:50。”洛老看了一下时间道：“现在是8月7日，我们的时间很充裕。”

Ah Wei peered through his night-vision goggles at the mental hospital, looking at the heat sources inside, and said, "We do have plenty of time, provided we find Wenjie first."

Upon hearing this, the three exchanged glances.

Old Luo said, "Just now, Wenjie was outside the Alliance headquarters, trying to find the mechanism of the secret door. I wonder if he was assigned a task by the system? If he wasn't assigned a task, he will stay in his original life trajectory. If he was assigned a task, he will be randomly placed in any location by the system."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Yi quickly replied, "If I open my system interface, I can see that at least three patch carriers have entered the system task scene. Below that are some ***, which are hidden information."

What exactly is this hidden information?

It seems that this networked system mission is quite unusual, mysterious, and fraught with danger.

……

As Wenjie rode his electric bike down the mountain, the image of that old man reaching out to him for money kept flashing before his eyes.

Something just doesn't feel right!
Where is it?

He recalled the scene: the old man stretched out his hand and demanded money from him.

The old man's hands didn't have the rough, cracked palms of an old man who does farm work; instead, they had a kind of otherworldly air about them, and you could vaguely feel a sharp aura emanating from them.

His gaze shifted slightly and landed on a string of walnut beads on the old man's wrist, polished to a shine like jade.

Wenjie knows nothing about antiques, but there's a decorative item in his living room with a string of walnut beads hanging on it. He feels that the one in his house isn't as good in quality or texture as the one his grandfather has.

My mother told me that this thing was quite valuable; it was a gift from an old customer to my father.

Then the old man's antique bracelet must be more valuable than the one in his house.

Why would such a wealthy old man be pushing an electric scooter to sell things in the middle of the night?
How much can an electric car sell for?

He had encountered too many things tonight, and it was highly likely that one of the three people from his university dormitory had drugged him, which made him suspicious of everything.

Realizing that the old man was suspicious, Wenjie turned the car around and drove back.

Just then, I saw this so-called old farmer get into an Audi with the woman from the Immortal Pavilion who was trying to assassinate him.

Perhaps they are heading to the lair of that mysterious organization.

Wenjie didn't alert the car. He quietly noted down the license plate number and then called Xiao Liu, the company's network administrator.

After giving him the address, he waited for Xiao Liu to come pick him up.

Before hanging up, I specifically told Xiao Liu to bring his computer over.

Twenty minutes later, Xiao Liu arrived and was shocked to see Wenjie's disheveled appearance.

Wenjie ignored him and pointed in the direction the Audi had just driven off, saying, "Drive!"

"Mr. Wen, where are we...?"

"If he has the license plate number, is it possible for him to track the car's whereabouts?"

"Huh?" Xiao Liu looked at Wenjie in surprise: "Mr. Wen, what are you doing?"

"Stop beating around the bush, just tell me if you can find it or not!" Wenjie asked urgently.

"...Yes, it's possible!" Xiao Liu scratched his head and hesitated, "But it might not be legal, Mr. Wen...you won't tell the company's legal department, will you?"

When Wenjie heard Xiao Liu hesitate, he felt that it might be hopeless, and he quickly searched his mind for other people who could hack into the traffic network.

As a result, Xiao Liu spoke with great difficulty breathing, which was not difficult for him.

"Of course... Come on, pull the car over and help me check this license plate number!"

Wenjie repeated the license plate number to Xiao Liu, watching Xiao Liu's fingers fly across the computer screen.

The computer screen kept flashing, displaying program code and strings of numbers... things that Wenjie couldn't understand kept scrolling, making Wenjie's eyes almost go blind.

(End of this chapter)