Soul Patch

Chapter 2 Words on the Face

Wenjie stumbled home and turned on all the lights with a snap.

The warm, soft lighting illuminated the room, making him feel better.

He buried himself in the blanket, the soft blanket like a warm embrace. Wenjie snuggled closer to the blanket, just like when he was a child and was frightened, he would hide in his mother's arms.

A loud bang came from outside the bedroom. Wenjie guessed that the wind had blown in through the bay window on the balcony because he had forgotten to close it. He decided to let it be.

That night, no more strange words appeared before his eyes, but he tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

A butterfly-shaped rope knot kept tearing at his heart, making him feel as if he had fallen into an ice cave. He wrapped himself tightly in the blanket, but his whole body was still cold.

Because he hadn't slept well the night before, his head was still spinning even after the alarm rang several times the next morning, and he reluctantly got up.

When he arrived at the office, the words that had disappeared reappeared before his eyes.

[System Test Countdown: 36 hours]

[Confidentiality Principle: All information regarding the system must be kept strictly confidential. Failure to do so will result in system penalties.]

What?

Is that patch thing... true?

He glanced at the tightly closed door to Director Wang's office; Director Wang was always reading the newspaper at this time every day.

Carrying his breakfast, he took his teacup and headed towards the tea room.

The tea room was at the end of the office corridor. He turned into the tea room and bent down to get hot water.

While getting water, he looked up at the mirror in the tea room.

A haggard face was reflected in the silver mirror, with dark eyes, defined features, and stubble sprouting from his chin.

The mirror reflected a fairly handsome face with two lines of text displayed horizontally:

[System Test Countdown: 35 hours 56 minutes 32 seconds]

[Failure of the patch carrier to complete the test will result in the destruction of the patch carrier's life trajectory.]

destroy?

What does it mean to have one's life trajectory destroyed?

For some reason, he suddenly recalled the bloody scenes from last night...

A chill ran through my heart...

Ah! It's scalding hot! He threw down the cup and the breakfast in his hand.

With a crash, the cup fell to the ground and shattered, scattering the steamed buns from the plastic bag all over the floor.

"Xiao Jie!" A middle-aged man's voice sounded from behind.

It's Director Wang!

Wenjie turned to his superior and smiled, "Hello, Director Wang..."

Director Wang stood steadily behind him, holding a teacup, leaning back slightly to let his large belly stick out. He spoke with a strong voice, giving people a sense of authority without being angry.

He glanced at the broken glass shards and the round buns on the ground, and said slowly, "Young man, you should focus your energy on your work."

"Thank you... for your guidance, Director Wang..."

Having grown accustomed to flattery, Director Wang was clearly dissatisfied with Wenjie's dry "thank you." His face darkened, he waved his hand, and turned to leave.

"Go to bed early tonight, and think more about work when you have nothing to do!"

The sound drifted into Wenjie's ears, causing his gaze, which had been watching Director Wang leave, to fall on the mess at his feet.

He returned to his workstation looking dejected, and his colleague next to him leaned over and put his hand on the edge of his desk.

Wenjie glanced to the side and caught a glimpse of the blue watch face on his wrist.

The boy's name is Bai Yu. He was Bai Yu's roommate in college. The two of them were assigned to the General Administration for internships in the same batch.

Bai Yu's parents are both government officials, making him a second-generation official. He is also tall and handsome, and even under the uniform dress pants and shirts of his workplace, his dashing and debonair demeanor cannot be suppressed.

Bai Yu, with his captivating eyes, said mysteriously, "Have you seen the news? Something happened at the branch office."

Bai Yu looked around and saw that his colleagues were all busy and no one was paying attention to the two of them whispering in the corner.

He leaned close to Wenjie's ear and whispered, "That beautiful Yang Shanshan from the branch office... she was murdered last night!"

What... he was killed?

Wenjie looked at Bai Yu in astonishment.

Bai Yu's expression was solemn, with a hint of regret.

Wenjie's heart sank as he recalled the inexplicable sense of familiarity he had felt while looking at the photos last night.

Was Yang Shanshan the victim?

An image flashed before his eyes: a pair of high heels swaying back and forth with long legs in stockings...

I remember a few days ago, Bai Yu held up his phone, pointed at a picture of a beautiful woman on the screen, and exclaimed, "Pretty, isn't she? This is Yang Shanshan, a beauty from the Second Precinct. I'm thinking of pursuing her..."

"Hmph! That sounds nice, but he's just using dating as a pretext to pick up girls," Wenjie thought to himself.

He knew in his heart that he and Bai Yu were not the same kind of people. Bai Yu came from a good family, while his father had passed away when he was very young, and his mother had raised him alone, which made her sick.

He wanted to stay at his internship company so his mother could live a more comfortable life; he had no time to listen to Bai Yu's gossip.

So at the time, he just hummed and hawed in response, burying himself in his work.

A few days later, he had almost forgotten about the incident.

That day, he went to the branch office to deliver some documents.

Upon entering the business hall, he looked around the hundreds of square meters of public office space, nodded and smiled at his colleagues at the workstations near the door, and asked where to submit the research materials. He then pointed to the file bag in his hand.

There was a young man in his early twenties standing at the entrance. He had a clean-cut face and was dressed neatly in his uniform. He was probably an intern like me who hadn't been here long.

He glanced at the nameplate on the desk: Zhao Xiaolong.

Zhao Xiaolong glanced at Wenjie's uniform, then looked up with a bright smile and pointed inside: "Workstation 18 in Section C."

Wenjie thanked him and stepped inside. A voice came from behind him: "The person collecting the documents is called Yang Shanshan. You'll see her when you get there."

Yang Shanshan? That name sounds familiar.

As he walked into Zone C, some distance from workstation number 18, his gaze was drawn to a slender figure among the many staff members.

The girl was answering the phone, her fair arm resting lightly on the desk.

With his body slightly turned to the side, back straight, and long neck gracefully turned towards the telephone receiver.

Her long legs, encased in stockings, were crossed, and the black high heel on her raised foot wobbled precariously, held together only by a thin, rhinestone-studded strap.

The shoes swayed almost imperceptibly, the rhinestones on the straps sparkling brilliantly in the sunlight.

She held the phone in one hand, while the other hand moved gracefully and fluidly across the paper.

The morning mist had not yet dissipated, and the sunlight painted the fog with magnificent colors, adding a touch of beauty to the scene before him, which was otherwise a monotonous work setting.

He gave Yang Shanshan a deep look, whispered a few words to his colleague at the workstation next to him, put down the file bag, and prepared to leave.

After hesitating for a moment, I picked up the pen on the table and wrote my name and phone number on the file folder.

In the end, he didn't receive a call from Yang Shanshan; instead, he received news of her death!

……

Seeing Wenjie stunned, Bai Yu reached out and gave him a push: "What are you thinking about? I'm talking to you, didn't you hear me?"

"I heard you!" Wenjie replied sullenly.

He recalled how Bai Yu had rushed off work several times after that, only to look smug the next day. For some reason, he muttered, "Did you go on a date with her?"

Bai Yu's expression changed visibly. He lowered his voice and warned, "When is this? You can't just say things like that! I've never asked her out."

Wenjie looked up, stared at Bai Yu, and then softly hummed in acknowledgment that he had heard him.

(End of this chapter)