My Strange Tale Love Strategy Simulator

[The Strange Tale Romance Simulator is loading...]

Current progress: 99%

Tuesday, June 19, 2026.

The midday sun shone through the glass windows of the school campus, illuminating the back seats of the classroom.

A handsome high school boy stared blankly at the white ceiling, motionless.

His name is Zhang Ying, he is 18 years old (actual age) and 19 years old (traditional age).

As a student in Class 3 of the senior year at Dacang City Key High School in Pingjiang Province, China, he lived an ordinary high school life in China until he turned 18.

At least his life was relatively ordinary yesterday.

Just after midnight yesterday, a distorted screen, like an old-fashioned television screen, appeared before my eyes, visible only to me.

His ordinary life was thus disrupted.

Do you believe in ghost stories?

[The wandering spirits in schools, the extra floors in guesthouses, the disappearing patients in hospitals, and countless other chilling stories will get your heart racing.]

Isn't this feeling of excitement what love is all about?

Go conquer the ghost stories, young one! Embark on the path to becoming the king of ghost story conquerors!

"How did these three words, 'ghost story,' 'romance,' and 'strategy guide,' come together? The progress bar has been rising since early yesterday morning, and it's almost at 100% now. I hope I'm not hallucinating because I've been under too much stress lately."

Just as Zhang Ying was recalling the moment he first saw this panel, a loud slap rang in his ear, making him jump!

Snapped!

"Who dares to attack me?!" Zhang Ying immediately snapped out of his daze and looked around. He saw a young Taoist priest with a floral T-shirt under his school uniform and his hair tied in a topknot standing next to him.

"I see your complexion is pale and your head is covered in black light. You must have been having a lot of trouble lately! Let me tell you something!" The young Taoist priest pinched a seal with his fingers and immediately showed a look of sudden realization!

"You are destined for a calamity. Contact me on Thursday (v50), and I'll guarantee your safety!"

This young Taoist priest was his best friend and frenemy, named Wang Fangshe.

"Get lost! I'm almost broke from eating, and you still want to pay me?" Zhang Ying impatiently pushed Wang Fangshe away.

This guy went up the mountain at age 6 and came down at age 12. He also has a proper Taoist priest certificate, so the school made an exception and allowed him to keep his hair.

"To be honest," Wang Fangsheng's playful expression suddenly turned serious, "Old Zhang, you'd better be careful lately. Something's definitely not right with you."

Keep those talismans I wrote for you with you at all times. I don't want to see you drained dry by those filthy things.

"Go to hell with you!"

During the conversation with Wang Fangshe, the simulator's progress bar rose to 100%.

Zhang Ying ignored Wang Fangshe, who was standing to the side. A constant, noisy electrical sound, audible only to him, emanated from the simulator, which resembled an old-fashioned television screen.

The panel got closer and closer to him, and a line of text appeared on the panel screen.

[The Strange Tale Romance Simulator has been loaded]

[Initial Mission: Escape the First Encounter]

[Completion Reward: Sanity +2]

[Punishment for failure: To disappear from this world without a trace]

"Disappear from this world silently? Isn't that the same as being dead?!" Zhang Ying's eyes twitched.

It seems this thing really wasn't my hallucination. I don't know if it's my cheat code or my death warrant.

The initial mission didn't even give him a hint about the first encounter, so how is he supposed to escape?

Zhang Ying's consciousness was injected into the panel, and a white arrow mouse appeared on the panel, moving according to his thoughts.

Click anywhere to enter the emulator.

Following the prompts, Zhang Ying used his mind to control the mouse and click. Ripples appeared on the panel, and then the screen changed to show several lines of his personal information.

Name: Zhang Ying

Age: 18

Race: Human

Physical fitness: 1.2

[Practice Method: None]

【Possessed by a Mysterious Force: None】

[Sanity Value: 10]

Next to your personal information are four clickable fields:

[Dating Strategy Simulator]

[Encounter Handbook]

[Dating Handbook]

Lover's Handbook

To conduct the experiment, he moved the mouse over the dating simulation simulator, and a line of description popped up.

[Consume two sanity points to conduct a romance simulation in a situation where encountering a ghost story in the Encounter Handbook is a certain death sentence]

[Note: The host will recover two points of sanity each day. If sanity drops below 5 points, it will severely damage the host's mental state. Please use the simulation with caution.]

"Simulate a situation where certain death is inevitable?" Zhang Ying keenly caught the key words in the introduction. "In other words, I can find a way to escape a situation where certain death is inevitable through simulation? I just don't know what this 'youthful encounter' is."

He moved the mouse down and aimed it at the "Youth Encounters Handbook".

When the host encounters a romanceable ghost story, the ghost will be recorded in the Encounter Handbook. The Encounter Handbook will issue quests based on the currently available romanceable ghost story; completing these quests will yield generous rewards.

"I'm really going to have to deal with ghost stories!" Zhang Ying was immediately unsettled. Ghost stories on the internet are basically synonymous with horror and gloom.

A guide to ghost stories? That's simply impossible for me!

Move the mouse down.

[The host can observe the current affection level of the romanceable ghost stories in the Romance Handbook. When the affection level of a ghost story reaches the maximum, the ghost story will be added as one of the lovers.]

"Even with my heavy tastes, I just can't bring myself to take ghost stories back to my harem..." Zhang Ying's heart pounded.

The mouse was moved down again.

[The ghost stories of those who become lovers will be included in the Lover's Handbook, which the host can use to view detailed information about. When the host is in danger, the handbook can be used to bring the lover's ghost story to their side.]

After reading the entire introduction, Zhang Ying took a deep breath.

He had never felt so much pressure; this thing was a hot potato. Anyone else would have run far, far away from something like ghost stories.

But this simulator makes him conquer ghost stories and fall in love with them. Does he have a death wish?

But now, he has no choice but to follow the simulator. He doesn't want to disappear from this world without knowing why; after all, he hasn't lived enough yet.

Bang~ Bang~ Bang~

The school bell rang, and the sun was setting outside the window.

For some reason, every school has recently canceled evening self-study sessions. After school ends at 5 p.m., the school must be cleaned up by 6 p.m.

This was undoubtedly great news for the students who had been complaining. As soon as school was over, they rushed out of the classroom in a swarm.

On his way home, Zhang Ying carried his schoolbag on one shoulder and aimlessly wandered through the winding alleys.

His family lives in the suburbs, some distance from the school.

Looking at the panel that lit up at his whim, Zhang Ying became increasingly puzzled.

"I haven't time-traveled, nor have I been reborn. I haven't encountered any strange events in the 18 years I've lived, so why would something like a cheat code suddenly appear?"

Just as he was racking his brains trying to figure it out, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him, and he remembered something very important!

"Oh no! I've been so focused on this simulator that I forgot I still have the test papers Zhou Bapi handed out in my school drawer. If she finds out I didn't do the test tomorrow, she'll skin me alive!"

Thinking of this, Zhang Ying felt a chill run down his spine and hurriedly rushed back, wanting to get the test paper from school before it got dark.

"Old Zhang, are you home yet?"

A message popped up on Zhang Ying's phone. He took his phone out of his pocket, and the time displayed on the screen was 6:19 PM.

Upon seeing the message from Wang Fangshe, Zhang Ying sent a facepalm and crying soybean emoji.

"Not yet, I forgot to bring Zhou Bapi's exam paper with me, I just got to school now."

"Oh? Security definitely won't let you in. You'd better pray for the future..."

Zhang Ying turned off his phone, stood by the wall behind the school, and gave a contemptuous laugh.

"Who's going through the front door? I don't want to be skinned alive tomorrow!"

Behind the school, there is a crack in the wall that a senior student from two years ago specially made so that he could go out to go online. Although the senior student was warned and punished by the school, the hole is still there.

The school simply covered the hole with two wooden planks, and few people knew that the hole existed.

Unfortunately, that senior was Zhang Ying's cousin, and he specifically marked the location of the hole for him after graduation.

Zhang Ying rummaged through the clutter and trash cans by the wall, and a partially covered wooden plank appeared before him.

On the other side of the hole was another trash can. Zhang Ying moved the wooden plank, endured the stench, and crawled inside. After putting the plank and trash can back in their original positions, he carefully avoided the surveillance cameras and walked into the teaching building.

As dusk settled, the teaching building fell silent. The classroom lights were off, and not a single teacher or student moved about. The vast building was now utterly deserted.

"While it's true that the Education Bureau is reducing the burden on students, there's no need to clear out all the teachers and students before 6 p.m. This empty school building looks like it's been abandoned, which is kind of creepy."

A cold wind, seemingly coming from nowhere, lashed against the back of Zhang Ying's neck, causing his skin to tremble slightly and him to curl up into a ball.

"Isn't it already June? Why is it still so cold?"

Zhang Ying shrank his neck and walked up the stairs to the sixth floor of the teaching building.

Their classroom for Class 3 of Senior Three is not on the same floor as the classrooms of other Senior Three classes, but is connected to various other departments, such as multimedia rooms, laboratories, and open class lecture halls.

Thanks to this, they can play a little longer before and after computer class than other classes.

But now, in the entire corridor, only their classroom still has a hint of human presence when viewed from the outside; the other classrooms are eerily silent.

Zhang Ying swallowed hard, thinking that he should grab the test paper and run as soon as possible.

He took a deep breath, rushed into the classroom, rummaged through the drawer to find the test paper left by Zhou Bapi, stuffed it haphazardly into his schoolbag, and then ran out of the classroom.

He took a deep breath and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"What's wrong? What's there to be afraid of..."

Perhaps it was the word "strange tale" that kept appearing on the panel in front of him that reminded him of some eerie things, and made him much less timid.

He took a deep breath, gave himself a strong pep talk, and then exhaled.

Zhang Ying pretended to walk towards the stairs.

And just then...

Dengdengdeng-

A melodious sound of a music box turning rang in my ears.