Soul Patch

Chapter 290 There's no such thing as love at first sight.

Yang Shanshan's words surprised Wenjie.

"So what mission were we on at that time?"

Yang Shanshan gave him a disdainful look and said, "You really have amnesia? You don't remember anything from before? Then why do you remember me?"

Yes, I did forget.

Many things have become fragments of memory, until I entered the system scene and looked at the SOHO Modern City in Beijing in 2009, and suddenly remembered that I had been here before.

I have lived and worked here.

101 is my code name, my code name in 8341.

I've forgotten all of that, but you're the only one I remember.

Those are memories etched into my bones, traces that have seeped into my blood... It's as if you've become a part of my life.

I try to stop thinking about you, but you sneak into my dreams unexpectedly... Wenjie twitched the corner of his mouth, thinking to himself: You're so annoying, there's nowhere to escape.

Thinking of this, Wenjie lowered his head and said in a very innocent and helpless voice, "I don't know! Some things... are hard to explain."

When it comes to matters of the heart, it's really hard to explain.

Yang Shanshan's eyes lost their disdain and confusion. Her expression softened, and she spoke softly, "I understand. I rushed out almost instinctively."

Hearing this, Wenjie was moved, his eyes suddenly reddened, and he said in a trembling voice, "Was it the time you took a bullet for me?"

Yang Shanshan smiled casually, "Why bring that up again! Aren't we doing fine now?"

"After that, I woke up after lying in the hospital for three days and three nights. I couldn't remember anything after waking up."

Not knowing who they are, not knowing why they are there?

I guess I lived in Beijing for a while in 2009 under the hidden identity I had acquired back then, which was SWAT officer number 101.

These are all just his guesses, and they can only be guesses.

No one will tell him what happened back then. Why did he return to 2019?
He met Yang Shanshan in 2019.

Yang Shanshan was killed by Zhao Xiaolong.

He corrected the situation and started dating Yang Shanshan.

If the system is influenced by his subconscious, then if he could start over, he would still choose to return to 2019, have a chance encounter with Yang Shanshan, and slowly start dating her... Every time he glances to the side and sees Yang Shanshan by his side, that would be enough.

Wenjie calmed himself down, suppressing his emotions, and after carefully analyzing the information he had gathered, slowly said:
"That mission was also related to the V for Vendetta assassination, right? Because I acquired a hidden identity..."

At this point, his eyes narrowed sharply, and he stared intently at Yang Shanshan, asking urgently, "Who is their assassination target?"

"I don't know, I logged out of the system before the mission was completed." Yang Shanshan stuck out her tongue helplessly.

Yes, if the patch carrier fails during the mission, it will also be erased in reality.

Obliterate?

Obliterate!

The system's elimination of Yang Shanshan... was Zhao Xiaolong's murder?

Yes, it was a serial killer's random killings.

This also falls into the category of accidents: encountering a serial killer when you go out, experiencing a car accident, witnessing a bridge collapse, experiencing an earthquake, or having someone drop a bomb...

He seemed to sense the system's arrangement, so the thought of protecting Yang Shanshan arose subconsciously.

Through that mission, he saved Yang Shanshan.

Thinking back to the familiar feeling of seeing Yang Shanshan's murder for the first time, and the inexplicable flutter in his heart when he first met her... Wenjie's eyes burned with pain. It turns out there's no such thing as love at first sight; everything is a matter of cause and effect, a blessing and a curse.

I owed this girl my life before, and even though the system eliminated her in 2019, I still wanted to bring her back.

"It looks like the mission was a success, because the event from that year wasn't affected at all!" Wenjie reassured Yang Shanshan.

He raised his hand and gently patted Yang Shanshan's shoulder.

Yang Shanshan nestled obediently in his arms.

The two stood silently together, seemingly needing no words; it was enough that the other was simply there.

The teammates who searched along the east and west directions all returned. Apart from a rioter who detonated explosives at the subway entrance and a crazy foreign female rioter, no other abnormalities were found.

Wenjie looked down at Yang Shanshan in his arms: "Now that Li Shiman has been killed, the Soul Patch System has changed after she died... I mean, it has become different from before, increasingly illogical and inconsistent with the system's rules."

Yang Shanshan smoothed her long, flowing hair, looked up at Wenjie, and murmured:

“Li Shiman brought another fragment of the spirit stone back to China from the United States. It must be because after she was killed, the spirit stone could not function properly, and the balance of the soul patch system was broken.”

“Spirit stone fragments? You mean this system relies on spirit stones to operate?” Images flashed through Wenjie’s mind.

He frowned, trying hard to remember.

Yang Shanshan's words were like a ray of light, reawakening images buried deep in his memory;
Her words were like a thread, stringing together those fragmented, seemingly unrelated images into a complete scene:
I remember when he was very young, he went up a mountain with his friends. It was a hill that they often climbed.

He knew by heart where the trees grew, where the flowers bloomed, how many bends the stream meandered, and how many stone slabs lay along the riverbank.

He was so familiar with the mountain in front of his house that he could walk home even with his eyes closed.

Strangely enough, he got lost while playing hide-and-seek on that hill he had visited countless times that day.

One second ago, the group counted down to ten, then scattered and went to find a hiding place.

He hid under an old locust tree; the tree's thick trunk was just enough to shield him.

After a while, there was no sound.

He thought to himself with delight that his friends probably hadn't spotted him, and that he was sure to win this game of hide-and-seek.

After a while, there was still no movement.

Wait a minute, where did my friends go?
He was getting a little impatient and tiptoed out from behind the old locust tree.

He was dumbfounded; his companions had vanished without a trace.

"Xiao Ming? Xiao Ming, come out here! I see you!"

"Gousheng! Gousheng, stop hiding!"

"Han Meimei, Han Meimei, where have you been hiding?"

……

He called out to all his companions, and their responses echoed faintly in the mountains.

The woods were quiet, with the leaves rustling in the wind.

He wandered through the woods, accompanied only by the intermittent buzzing of cicadas in the trees.

After wandering around in the woods for a long time without finding my companions, the road ahead became increasingly unfamiliar.

He grew increasingly anxious, his steps quickening until finally he was running frantically through the jungle, shouting as he ran:

"Help! Is anyone there? Can someone help me get out of here?"

(End of this chapter)