Patch Master

Opportunities are fleeting.

The next available flight is the only way to catch the tail end of the opportunity.

As the clouds thinned, Lin Yehuan could still make out from 10,000 meters above the ground that they had flown over the Lu family's house once again.

The system seemed to have no modeling of anything other than City A, or rather, it hadn't even fully modeled the entire City A. The same few scenes flashed past again and again; if it weren't for the changing light and shadow over time, Lin Yehuan would have seriously wondered if he was trapped in some kind of loop.

“Lu Xingzhi,” Lin Yehuan patted the arm of the person next to him, and stretched his neck, which had become stiff from the cold wind, “Look, we’re passing by your house again.”

The undulating, bluish-gray tiled roofs, arranged in neat rows under the sunlight, resemble a solidified, dark ocean shimmering with an eerie glow. Several ponds, scattered here and there, are fragmented by the branches and leaves of the trees, while the artificial hills, viewed from above, resemble ink spots carelessly spilled on rice paper.

This is suspicious. Lu Xingzhi thought, putting aside the fact that the layout of all the landscapes along the way was so similar to his own home, when did his eyesight become so good?

"What a small world." Lu Xingzhi asked the flight attendant for another blanket and covered Lin Yehuan, who was wrapped up like a dumpling, with another layer. "It's so small that my home is everywhere."

“Yes,” Lin Yehuan said, sticking out a finger to grip the blanket that was so thick it was about to burst open. “I hope that landing won’t make us feel like we’re coming home.”

"Turn left."

"Go straight for 200 meters."

"Turn right again."

Lin Yehuan was confused, so he turned on the navigation and helped him find the way.

Didn't you come here when you were a child?

Although they knew it was probably another system bug, for two elderly people in their twenties who had just been thawed from the freezer and were trembling, the torment of this winding and circuitous journey was no less than cramming a book in two days without highlighting the key points for a final exam. After all, it was 3:30 a.m. local time, and they had to keep their appointment in four hours. They were shivering from the cold on the plane, struggling with the blankets that were trying to escape, and had no chance to rest. If they couldn't find a place to rest, their two old bones would really fall apart.

“Yeah,” Lu Xingzhi looked at a “Honey Potato Cave” shop on his left and a “Falling from the Sky” shop on his right, scratching his head in confusion, “Chinatown wasn’t in this area when I was a kid.”

The two followed the navigation for another half hour before finally leaving the commercial street.

Standing at the street corner, a sense of familiarity welled up inside me.

Isn't this the damn English version of City A?!

[You have not yet completed the main quest and do not have permission to leave the area. However, due to quest requirements, the system has temporarily opened up a portion of the map, but the layout still mimics the original quest location.]

Lu Xingzhi was also stunned and somewhat at a loss. He happened to meet Lin Yehuan's look, which seemed to say, "This is outrageous! This is outrageous to the extreme!" The two exchanged a knowing smile.

[Note: The male lead must not discover this setting.]

Lin Yehuan pressed his lips down again.

Did you laugh when you wrote this rule?

Lin Yehuan took a deep breath, pondering where to begin his nonsense.

"I need to find a hotel." Lin Yehuan pretended not to have noticed anything, picked up his phone and continued searching. In reality, he had almost scoured the entire system store, trying to find a pill that could temporarily make Lu Xingzhi lose his sense of direction about the terrain for two days without affecting his intelligence.

“No need to look anymore,” Lu Xingzhi looked at her incredulously. “Don’t you think this place looks familiar?”

Lin Yehuan was startled, but then realized that the other person was talking about navigation. He blinked his innocent big eyes, praying that he would give up the idea soon.

"Just turn the corner after crossing the traffic light."

As Lu Xingzhi spoke, he walked forward, glancing back every few steps at Lin Yehuan, who was dawdling behind him, stumbling over his own feet.

It's strange, there's not a single person or car on the road at this time. Don't foreigners have a nightlife? It's like a university after curfew.

"Are you feeling unwell?" Lu Xingzhi took two steps back.

Lin Yehuan didn't answer, and took a dozen steps back. Then he suddenly sprang up, grabbed Lu Xingzhi, and rushed in the direction he had indicated.

“Look, the hotel,” Lu Xingzhi said, turning to the side and raising his hand to show her the large hotel sign.

You've misjudged.

"Um?"

"Really." Lin Yehuan pointed to each letter, one by one, "H, E, T, O, L."

“This isn’t a word at all.” Lu Xingzhi was certain that what he had just seen was “hotel,” and even suspected that she had used some kind of magic to switch the two letters.

"How is it not?" Lin Yehuan's mind raced. What kind of illusion was this damn system? It could only change the letters, and it even turned into a nonsensical word. How was she supposed to explain it back to her? "This is... Hertor."

"Hertor?"

"Yes, Hathor's brother."

"It is not mentioned in ancient Egyptian mythology."

Tsk, this is really difficult. Can we selectively deduct all his knowledge?

"That's because you haven't seen pirated versions."

According to unofficial historical records, Hertor was the protector of heroes and also symbolized the perfect lover. He believed that the heroes under his protection should give up love for status and power, but in order to stay with his wife forever, he voluntarily removed himself from the list of gods.

"Perhaps we can go in and take a look." Lu Xingzhi still hadn't given up on the idea of ​​going in.

Lin Yehuan's head was about to explode, but fortunately the cold air she had inhaled on the plane hadn't completely dissipated, allowing her to quickly calm down and continue making up stories.

“No,” Lin Yehuan grabbed the other’s clothes. “Hertor is a faithful lover. Only the most faithful, deeply affectionate, and devoted lovers in the world can enter. Otherwise, it would be extremely disrespectful.”

Lin Yehuan was so engrossed in his own literary pursuits that he completely ignored the fact that the people around him were frowning deeply.

Lu Xingzhi was lost in thought for a long time. When he turned around and looked at the streets, which were laid out much the same as those in City A, all the shop signs were different from those in City A. Only then did he finally accept that this place was just similar to City A. He then left under her guidance.

[The male protagonist's doubts are dispelled, and the mission is successful.]

Lin Yehuan breathed a sigh of relief and left somewhat reluctantly. According to the navigation, the nearest hotel was more than ten kilometers away, and there were no taxis or even shared bicycles on the road.

If we keep walking like this, we might as well just squat by the roadside and wait for dawn to take a taxi to our appointment.

As she watched her location grow further and further away from the hotel, Lin Yehuan couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness. This was the first time in her life she had experienced such a heart-wrenching farewell, not because of Hertor, but because of the bed.

Dear bed, our fate is not yet over...

Lu Xingzhi was also starting to feel the strain, so the two of them simply sat down by the roadside and waited for traffic to resume in the area.

At six o'clock, taxis appeared on the street on time, and the number of pedestrians gradually increased.

At first, Lin Yehuan thought everything was normal.

It wasn't until she flagged down a taxi that she realized something was wrong.

Not only is the layout familiar, but even everyone here is a replica of the people I saw in City A!

[This setting is due to a system error; please keep it a secret from the male lead.]

? ? ?

So what? Am I some kind of patch master?

Can you just dismiss it all with a simple mistake? Don't you have any humanity left? Oh no, sorry, haha, I almost forgot you're not human.

[The system is currently undergoing repairs; additional rewards will be given for completing the task.]

Having not slept all day, Lin Yehuan's vision was not very clear. He only thought that there were more Chinese people on this street.

If it weren't for the fact that the taxi driver happened to look exactly like Yu Heng.

"This is amazing..." Lin Yehuan gritted her teeth, and deliberately put on a mask and sunglasses a second before getting into the car. What if he not only looks like her but also inherited her memories? Of course, she had to be careful.

Fortunately, Lu Xingzhi didn't know Yu Heng. Although they looked alike and spoke in a similar tone, Yu Heng spoke with a distinctly foreign accent. He focused on driving the whole way and didn't communicate at all, so it wasn't enough to arouse suspicion.

But what's meant to happen will happen.

The meeting place was arranged in the research institute's office. Unsurprisingly, the decoration and layout of this area were almost identical to those of A. However, after learning from its mistakes, the system carefully exchanged the door signs of each department instead of simply changing a few letters to arouse suspicion.

As soon as he entered the building, Lin Yehuan saw several familiar faces.

But there's no need to be nervous, because they're not coming towards us; they're... hanging on the wall...

If Xie Zhi and Chen Mo knew that they were the founders of genetic engineering... they would probably be very happy...

Whether you're a scientist or an ordinary student, this is incredibly disrespectful!

Despite Lin Yehuan's burning anger, he managed to suppress it with the last bit of warmth from the air conditioning and tried to distract Lu Xingzhi during the few seconds he glanced at the wall as soon as he stepped in.

Especially when she discovered that the portraits of Lu Xingzhi and Lu Xingming were hanging in the middle of the corridor.

"Cough cough cough..." Before Lin Yehuan could even pretend to be sick, he was choked by the sudden fright. He took the opportunity to exaggerate his performance, trying his best to make it look more convincing. At the same time, he sent a message to his contact, hoping that someone would come out to greet him and draw attention away from him.

Lu Xingzhi had only met Xie Zhi and the other person once, so his impression of them wasn't particularly deep. He just felt that they looked familiar, but before he could take a closer look, he was drawn to Lin Yehuan's voice.

"Where do you feel unwell? Are you having an allergic reaction?"

"No, I..."

"I'm so hungry!" Lin Yehuan realized then what step they had been missing on their journey. They hadn't eaten since they landed last night.

I should have asked those people to bring another loaf of bread.

Lin Yehuan used the "point and it hurts" method to delay for three minutes, perfectly blocking Lu Xingzhi from seeing the portraits of Lu Buxiu and Lu Xingming in the middle of the corridor. Finally, two men in black wearing sunglasses appeared and handed her the hood she had been "dreaming of".

"It's a top-secret location, so wearing a hood is perfectly reasonable," Lin Yehuan thought. "But don't think I can't tell that these two are Su Huaisheng and Jiang Ju just because they're wearing sunglasses."

The system modification progress is still at 3%.

Useless stuff...

Having estimated that they had passed the two portraits, Lin Yehuan breathed a sigh of relief. The greatest danger had been eliminated, and there shouldn't be anyone Lu Xingzhi could recognize at a glance. He just needed to act swiftly and decisively, and then set the specific meeting time after the system was repaired.

Lin Yehuan estimated that after turning several corners, they finally stopped in a bright spot.

"Ladies first."

As soon as her standard British accent landed, her hood was the first thing to be removed.

What's going on? It's just taking off a hood, is that really necessary?

It's absolutely necessary.

Lin Yehuan was still a little uncomfortable when suddenly faced with bright light from the dark environment. He squinted his eyes to see the two familiar silhouettes in front of him.

Xu Pengpeng and Gu Ye stood upright in front of her, one with his hands on his hips and the other with his arms crossed.

…………

Lin Yehuan grabbed Lu Xingzhi's hood before the man in sunglasses could pull it off.

Oh no, how could I have forgotten about you two big shots?