diff --git a/cpp/0021-merge-two-sorted-lists.cpp b/cpp/0021-merge-two-sorted-lists.cpp
index febb22345..cae89422e 100644
--- a/cpp/0021-merge-two-sorted-lists.cpp
+++ b/cpp/0021-merge-two-sorted-lists.cpp
@@ -31,16 +31,8 @@ class Solution {
             return list1;
         }
         
-        ListNode* head = NULL;
-        if (list1->val <= list2->val) {
-            head = list1;
-            list1 = list1->next;
-        } else {
-            head = list2;
-            list2 = list2->next;
-        }
-        ListNode* curr = head;
-        
+        ListNode* dummy = new ListNode();
+        ListNode *curr = dummy;
         while (list1 != NULL && list2 != NULL) {
             if (list1->val <= list2->val) {
                 curr->next = list1;
@@ -58,6 +50,6 @@ class Solution {
             curr->next = list1;
         }
         
-        return head;
+        return dummy->next;
     }
 };
diff --git a/python/0128-longest-consecutive-sequence.py b/python/0128-longest-consecutive-sequence.py
index 4a2168ba4..11c63a8e8 100644
--- a/python/0128-longest-consecutive-sequence.py
+++ b/python/0128-longest-consecutive-sequence.py
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ def longestConsecutive(self, nums: List[int]) -> int:
         numSet = set(nums)
         longest = 0
 
-        for n in nums:
+        for n in numSet:
             # check if its the start of a sequence
             if (n - 1) not in numSet:
                 length = 1