Soul Patch

Chapter 60 Clown Mask

The next day, Wenjie bought some steamed buns on the way to work, filled a glass of water at his workplace, and wolfed them down.

Good morning, Wenjie.

When Bai Yu arrived, Wen Jie stopped stuffing a steamed bun into his mouth and looked up at Bai Yu.

Thinking about last night's system test, his gaze towards Bai Yu became somewhat complicated...

"What, didn't you have breakfast?"

Bai Yu was a little confused by Wen Jie's gaze, and wondered to himself: Why is he looking at me like that so early in the morning?

"Hmm, it's nothing. Want a xiaolongbao?"

Wenjie sniffed, trying to relax, grabbed a small steamed bun, stuffed it into his mouth, and mumbled:

"Give me one, the same xiaolongbao from that shop, didn't you say that xiaolongbao is the most authentic!"

Bai Yu smiled faintly: "No, I've already eaten at home."

"Oh," Wenjie said, focusing on eating his steamed bun and telling himself not to think about useless things, as he had already solved the test questions.

The story that Bai Yu was murdered two weeks later has been corrected; don't think about things that won't happen.

Wenjie finished his steamed buns and glanced at the time; it was almost eight o'clock!

I was secretly hoping the system would trigger automatically.

He got up to go to the corridor to refill his cup with water, and while he was at it, he went to the smoking room to light a cigarette and slowly ponder the system reward.

"What, going for a smoke?" Bai Yu suddenly asked.

"Uh...no," Wenjie immediately denied, not wanting Bai Yu to come along.

Starting up the system is impossible if there are people around.

Who knows what kind of trouble the system will cause next?

"I...I'm just going to throw out the trash," Wenjie said, shaking the bag of steamed buns in his hand.

"Could I get you a glass of water?"

Bai Yu paused for a moment, looked down at the trash can next to Wen Jie's desk, and then glanced at Wen Jie again.

"Oh, then go ahead."

As Bai Yu spoke, he opened a drawer, took out cigarettes and a lighter, and stood up as well. "I'm going to have a smoke."

"..."

Wenjie was speechless; he couldn't stop Bai Yu from going to smoke.

While Wenjie was slightly stunned, Bai Yu had already stepped in front of him, and he followed behind Bai Yu with mixed feelings.

As he walked, he sized up Bai Yu's tall and handsome back. Bai Yu! What can I say about you!

Just as he was observing Bai Yu, the system interface opened automatically.

[Activate the Soul Patch System]

[System test failed; target individual murdered]

[Test countdown: 23 hours 59 minutes 34 seconds]

[Proceed to the test?]

It failed? How could that be??

Wenjie was walking down the office corridor with a cup in his hand when the words "test failed" were like a steel nail, pinning him to the spot and rendering him unable to move.

No, no, this line of thinking seems wrong.

Reaching July 18th repeatedly is merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

They prevented Bai Yu from being killed on July 18th; otherwise, he might be killed tomorrow, the day after, or on July 19th or August 1st...

As long as the reasons for his murder are not fundamentally resolved, he could be killed at any time in the future.

And there are less than 24 hours left for the test!

The key! Where is the key?

Before Wenjie could think any further, the screen automatically switched to the option to select a patch type.

[Brutal Patch]

——Enter the system——

Wenjie saw a familiar street before him, its lights twinkling and the night air soft and beautiful.

Who would have thought that a murder would happen here so soon!

Wenjie glanced at Zhang Xiaojun, who was lurking in the darkness in a corner of the mall, and walked straight into the ghost street store of Yansha Outlet.

From afar, he saw Bai Yu walking towards him with his arm around Qianqian.

"Wenjie? What are you doing here!" Bai Yu asked in surprise.

"Oh... Bai Yu, I have something to ask you!" Wen Jie said, pulling Bai Yu aside.

"Oh, I'm busy right now! Let's talk about it at work tomorrow!"

Bai Yu gave Wen Jie a displeased look and gestured with his chin toward Qianqian.

Wenjie ignored Bai Yu, forcibly pulled Bai Yu a few steps to the side, stopped, stared at Bai Yu seriously, and asked:

"Sissi, when did you meet her?"

"What are you doing? Wenjie, this is going too far!"

Bai Yu's anger from the previous incident involving Yang Shanshan was reignited.

"I'm doing this for your own good, so tell me right away!" Wenjie said, swallowing hard, his expression turning serious.

"You'd better tell me right now, or a man named Zhang Xiaojun, who is also Xixi's husband, will rush over and kill you in a few minutes!"

"What?" Bai Yu was stunned after hearing this.

His gaze shifted from astonishment to resentment. Enraged, Bai Yu glared with bloodshot eyes, shoved Wen Jie aside, and strode toward Xixi with a menacing look.

Wenjie ran up and grabbed him: "When you want to settle scores with Qianqian later, tell me when you met her first."

"Wenjie!" Bai Yu roared angrily at him:

"There are some things you shouldn't interfere in between your friends, like women! This is between Xixi and me, I'll handle it!"

Wenjie cursed inwardly: Deal with it my ass! You didn't see the state you were in yesterday hiding in the trash can in the underground parking lot!

So Wenjie simply stopped caring.

Bai Yu walked over to Qianqian and slapped her across the face, about to question her about deceiving him.

But then a man in black rushed in at the mall entrance, raised a sharp knife, and stabbed at them.

Bai Yu was shocked. Wen Jie had just mentioned that someone was trying to kill him at the door, but he thought it was just a bluff.

He didn't take it to heart at all, because he simply didn't believe that Wenjie could... could, this should be called predicting the future!

That's ridiculous! Predicting the future! This isn't a science fiction movie.

"Zhang Xiaojun!" Bai Yu shouted.

The man in black froze, then swung his arm and delivered another slash.

It really is named Zhang Xiaojun! Although Bai Yu didn't believe it a million times in his heart, the facts forced him to believe it!

"Wenjie...help!" Bai Yu ran towards Wenjie in a panic.

After Wenjie threw the fire hydrant at Zhang Xiaojun, the two took the opportunity to run away.

They ran all the way to the underground parking lot, where they hid behind a car and sat on the ground, panting heavily.

"Go and handle it yourself! I can't be bothered with it!" Wenjie said irritably.

"No, no, no... Wenjie is a good buddy, he's a true friend!" Bai Yu hurriedly tried to appease Wenjie.

"Um... I met Xixi two weeks ago at a drinking party organized by my classmates."

Two weeks ago, this area was way too big!

"Give me the specific time!" Wenjie said impatiently.

"Oh, let me think." Bai Yu said, taking out his phone to check the calendar:

"That... June 27th."

Huh? June 27th, isn't that today? Wenjie was taken aback.

[Enable Soul Patch]

Now that the target individual has specified a particular time point, we can... go back to that time point and correct the deviation in this life trajectory.

As Wenjie activated the soul patch, Bai Yu appeared before him, standing by the window smoking.

What...what does this mean?

He observed carefully again, and the familiar dizziness and weightlessness convinced him that he had exited the system.

Previously, the timeline was set in the past. After enabling the Soul Patch, the system will change the scene and return to the time when key events occurred in the target individual's life trajectory.

Why did activating the Soul Patch just log me out of the system?

Wenjie looked at Bai Yu blankly.

Bai Yu smiled at him and said, "Are you busy tonight? I'm taking you to meet someone! It'll definitely surprise you!"

Wenjie was momentarily stunned, then his eyes lit up:

Tonight's drinking party is a crucial event in Bai Yu's life!

Tonight is the time to correct Bai Yu's life trajectory!

Yes! That's exactly it! So the system just quit, preventing Bai Yu from meeting Qianqian in real life, which solved the problem at its root, right?

Thinking of this, Wenjie grinned.

"What are you grinning about? Guess who you're meeting tonight?" Bai Yu asked, nudging Wen Jie.

Wenjie pondered for a moment, wondering what Bai Yu had said when they ran to the underground parking garage.

A drinking party organized by a classmate!

He slapped his forehead: "Classmate. Classmate! Who is it?"

At the time, my attention wasn't on that; I was only focused on when Bai Yu met Qianqian. Judging from Bai Yu's expression now, they must be very familiar with each other!

"Haha, I knew you'd be curious. You'll find out tonight! Come with me after get off work tonight. No overtime, no other plans! You have to go!"

Bai Yu spoke in a semi-commanding tone.

"Um..." Wenjie smiled helplessly, as if he could choose not to go!

If he doesn't go, the system will kill him!

Seeing Wenjie's stammering, Bai Yu suddenly realized something, and his expression darkened as he said:

"Tonight is a bachelor party for us guys... You know what you should and shouldn't do, right?"

Looking at Bai Yu's unrestrained smile, Wenjie, even without having participated, could guess most of it: he just didn't allow girlfriends to be brought along, to avoid them getting in the way.

Didn't he intend to bring his girlfriend?

Strictly speaking, Yang Shanshan can't really be considered his girlfriend!

At most, it could be described as an ambiguous relationship!

Thinking of Yang Shanshan, I wonder how her best friend is doing.

The incident of a signboard falling and killing someone feels eerie. I need to find some time to inquire about the situation there and check on Yang Shanshan. Otherwise, I won't feel at ease.

……

Jia Nan returned to his bedroom from the study. The night was slightly cool, and he sneezed, instinctively pulling his pajamas tighter around himself.

The midnight wind rustled the gauze curtains, which fluttered like giant skirts, casting long shadows under the moonlight.

He was dressed in black silk pajamas, moving alone through the bedroom. His cotton socks slid silently across the wooden floor, like a black cat lurking in the night, waiting for the right moment to deliver a fatal blow to its opponent.

He went to the bathroom, threw the GPS tracker, which had been destroyed by dish soap, into the toilet, and watched as the water swirled and carried the fake ring down the drain.

Back in his bedroom, he lay down on his back and stared blankly at the ceiling.

Then he picked up his phone and clicked on his online store: Midnight Carnival.

I haven't logged in for half a day, and there are already many messages.

Curiosity killed the cat, and he came up again to ask:

"Can you get love here?"

Jia Nan didn't come online to reply to inquiries, but to find someone; she hadn't intended to pay attention to that long string of messages.

I looked at the chat list, clicked on an avatar at the bottom, and typed a "?".

It was a portrait of someone wearing a black top hat and a clown mask, the clown mask painted in bright colors, looking exaggerated and eerie.

Jia Nan stared at the clown image for a moment, but received no reply.

I clicked on it anyway, and curiosity killed the cat – that's how the chat window works.

I first checked out the profile of the person whose curiosity killed the cat. They always buy women's underwear, fashionable dresses, and bags through personal shoppers... all of which are high-quality replicas.

Jia Nan made a basic judgment about this woman: above-average appearance, 36C bust, wears size M in long skirts, which means she is 165cm-168cm tall and a vain working-class woman.

Such a person cannot afford his service fee.

"Love is like a devil, I've only heard of it, never seen it..." Jia Nan typed these words and smiled faintly.

"Sometimes, the human heart is more terrifying than the devil!"

Jia Nan glanced coldly at the other party's reply, noticing the clown avatar was still writhing. Wanting to end the consultation quickly, he said directly:

"50 can buy 50 worth of love, and 100 million can buy 100 million worth of love. How much do you think your love is worth?"

“Priceless. Your highest fee is 1 million, so let’s make it 1 million!”

Hmm? I was hoping they'd back down, but they actually quoted the maximum price.

What is Jia Nan afraid of? Business is business, he'll accept any comer!

"100 million, half paid in advance, bank transfer."

"I don't have money now, but I'll have money to pay you when I have love."

After all that, I have no money!

"Sorry, we do not offer credit!"

After typing this sentence, Jia Nan quickly closed the chat window with Curiosity Killed the Cat.

Open the clown's chat window and send Bai Yu's information: "Use someone else to do the dirty work. This time, be decisive. Don't always leave me to cover for you."

"Are you kidding me?! The police might be investigating you?" the Joker sent an angry emoji.

"That's why I'm asking you to use someone else to do the dirty work, to make things quick and efficient!"

Jia Nan activated the "read and then self-immolate" feature, watching each sentence disappear with a "whoosh" after the other party had viewed it. He smiled calmly.

That smile was ghostly in the darkness, exuding a terrifying aura.

(End of this chapter)