My Strange Tale Love Strategy Simulator

After the figure in front finished uttering three sentences of expulsion, the surrounding scenery instantly changed.

A straight corridor covered the wall in front of Zhang Ying.

Then the corridor continued to extend, expanding to both sides and stretching forward and backward until it completely enveloped his surroundings.

Zhang Ying recognized the corridor.

This is the long corridor they passed through when they first entered the world of film.

Light and shadow flickered in the long corridor. The exit not far ahead shone with a blinding white light, much brighter than when they first passed by.

Zhang Ying's body had just recovered from its stiffness, but the feeling of being frozen still lingered in his muscles, as if an invisible film was stuck to his skin, making every movement slightly sluggish.

Shen Yugang, who was standing next to him, was also moving his body, swinging his arms, twisting his neck, and hissing as he inhaled.

Before the two had fully recovered, the white light ahead became even brighter than before, as if someone had lit a flashbang at the exit.

Zhang Ying's eyes were filled with a blinding white light; he couldn't see anything, not even the black and white outlines.

The beam of light shot straight toward the two of them.

The speed of light was too fast, so fast that Zhang Ying didn't have time to raise his hand to shield his eyes, and so fast that Shen Yugang didn't have time to close his eyes.

The next second, white light engulfed them.

The light gradually dimmed on my eyelids.

When Zhang Ying opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was a sky that was gradually brightening.

A pale dawn was breaking on the horizon, the light soft and not glaring, but even at this level of brightness, Zhang Ying's eyes still felt slightly uncomfortable.

Before them stood a wave-shaped stadium that had not yet opened.

The stadium's exterior walls are silver-gray, and its curved design makes it look like a stranded spaceship. The doors are tightly shut, and the plaza in front of it is deserted, with only a few early-rising sparrows hopping around on the ground.

The two stood at the doorway, their feet on the cement ground, with a wide road behind them and a row of shops that had not yet opened across the road.

Zhang Ying took a deep breath.

There was no chilling coldness in the air, no putrid smell, only the crispness and moisture unique to the early morning.

They came out.

Zhang Ying took out his phone and turned on the screen. The signal bars in the upper right corner were full, and the time showed 6:17 AM. He glanced at the date.

Thursday, August 26th.

They experienced those things in the movie world, but less than half a day had passed in reality.

……

Two hours later, Zhang Ying and Shen Yugang appeared at a breakfast shop in Tiannan Province.

The shop is small and simply decorated, but business is booming; most of the seven or eight tables are occupied.

Zhang Ying sat against the wall, wearing sunglasses. The lenses of the sunglasses were so large that they almost covered half of his face, making it impossible to see the condition of his eyes. In front of him was a bowl of coconut rice and two fried pancakes.

He ate very slowly, while Shen Yugang sat opposite him, slurping up large mouthfuls of Gangmen rice noodles.

Both of them looked extremely hungry.

After finishing the last bite of the fried dough, Zhang Ying wiped his hands with a tissue and picked up his phone.

My phone received a message from my mom. The message was sent at 6 a.m.

"Where did you go if you're not in the room?"

Zhang Ying stared at the screen for two seconds, then started typing.

"Last night I had the idea to go out for a walk, so I bought a plane ticket. I got up early this morning and boarded a plane to Tiannan with my friend. We've already landed."

After sending the message, there was no response for a long time. Zhang Ying thought his mother wouldn't reply and was about to put his phone down when the screen lit up again.

"You're just like your dad, you act on your ideas immediately. Really, you should at least have talked to your mom before you left."

Zhang Ying's lips twitched slightly.

"I was just afraid you wouldn't agree."

"Hey, be careful over there. Do you have any money left? Do you want me to send you some?"

"No need, my friend will cover all the expenses for this trip."

The other side remained silent for a few more seconds.

"You silly child..."

Immediately afterwards, a transfer notification popped up.

500 yuan.

"Don't always let your friends treat you. Have fun."

Zhang Ying stared at the 500 yuan, his finger pausing briefly above the screen.

"Um."

He turned off his phone and looked up at Shen Yugang across from him.

Shen Yugang was wiping his mouth with a tissue; the red marks on his face had faded to just a few faint traces. He looked to be in good spirits; his eyes were bright, and his lips had regained their color.

"Aren't you going to reply to your family's message?" Zhang Ying put his phone on the table. "Aren't you afraid they'll worry?"

Shen Yugang crumpled the tissue into a ball and threw it on the table, then shrugged.

"My parents live in Tiannan, so this trip is a good opportunity to see them." He said, his expression becoming somewhat subtle. "But I'll have to explain to my uncle how I ended up in Tiannan just from going out to buy some goods. My uncle will just kick me out of the barbecue stall."

He smiled and shook his head.

"I'd better not tell him for now."

Zhang Ying smiled and took a sip of the coconut water on the table.

"After seeing another side of this world," Zhang Ying put down his cup, "you're still thinking about your barbecue stall job?"

Shen Yugang grinned, revealing a set of fairly even teeth.

"There's nothing we can do, life goes on."

He leaned back in his chair, reached out and touched his neck, then looked at the back of his hand, as if to confirm that the pustules had really subsided.

"Speaking of which, Brother Ying," Shen Yugang's tone became more serious, "what the hell were those things I saw yesterday?"

The breakfast shop was getting busier and busier. Two office workers sat down at the next table, each with a bowl of noodles, chatting about yesterday's work as they ate. The proprietress behind the counter was urging the kitchen staff to hurry up, her voice quite loud.

Zhang Ying was silent for a few seconds, then pushed up his sunglasses.

"Do you know anything about the supernatural?" he asked.

Shen Yugang shook his head.

Zhang Ying briefly shared the information he had learned from the Investigation Bureau with Shen Yugang.

Shen Yugang listened, stunned. His expression changed repeatedly as he listened.

Confusion, surprise, disbelief, and skepticism all coalesced into a complex expression.

"You mean," Shen Yugang swallowed, his eyes lighting up, "that I might awaken superpowers?"

Zhang Ying's tone became serious.

"uncertain."

He raised his right hand, revealing his right forearm. Due to exhaustion, the skin on two fingers on his right hand had not yet grown back. The wooden-textured hand gleamed unnaturally under the breakfast shop's lights, and the skin at the knuckles was wrinkled, as if covered by an ill-fitting glove.

"Can you still see my grotesque hand now?"

Shen Yugang glanced down at it and then nodded.

"I can see it."

Zhang Ying lowered his hand.

“I suspect,” he paused, “that you can see the Ghost Hand not because you’ve awakened some kind of ability, but because you’ve been affected by some kind of Ghost’s power.”

Shen Yugang's expression froze for a moment.

"After you came into contact with that strange bus, your body underwent some kind of change. This change may have temporarily given you the ability to 'see,' but it may also bring other... side effects."

Shen Yugang swallowed and nodded.

"When we get back," Zhang Ying picked up the coconut water and took another sip, "I'll have the Investigation Bureau check on your condition."

Shen Yugang hummed in response and said nothing more.

……

Although the two traveled from Dacang City in Pingjiang Province to Tiannan Province because of that strange bus and experienced such bizarre events, they were not afraid or panicked.

As if they had reached some kind of tacit understanding, neither of them mentioned anything like "should we go back quickly?"

Instead, they decided to spend a few days traveling in Tiannan Province as a way to relax after escaping danger.

In the afternoon, after sending a message to his uncle asking for leave, Shen Yugang went to see his parents.

Zhang Ying then prepared to go to the hospital to have his eyes checked.

His eyes, hidden beneath those sunglasses, were almost half-blind. Although he could still make out the lines and outlines of things, they stung terribly in bright light, as if someone were stabbing his eyeballs with needles.

Left with no other choice, he could only go out wearing sunglasses, and dared not even take them off indoors.

If life has to be like this from now on, then I'll be miserable.

The hospitals in Tiannan Province are no different from hospitals elsewhere: white walls, the smell of disinfectant, long queues, and perpetually crowded registration halls.

Zhang Ying stood at the hospital entrance, looking at the glass door through his sunglasses. After hesitating for a moment, he went inside anyway.

He was on his way to the hospital registration hall, crossing the pedestrian passageway connecting the main entrance and the outpatient building.

He keenly sensed that someone was following him.

There is only one person who is following you.

The person had been following him for a while. Zhang Ying sensed it when they came out of the breakfast shop, but at the time he thought it was just a passerby and didn't pay attention.

He has now walked two streets and changed directions three times, and the person is still behind him.

Zhang Ying didn't look back, quicken his pace, or change direction. He continued walking forward calmly, his steps steady and his breathing even.

His sanity level recovered to 8 points after a brief break in the movie world.

8 points.

This value cannot withstand any further depletion. If he misjudges and the person is just a passerby who happens to be going the same way, then his rash action would be a waste of his already limited rationality.

If his judgment is correct and that person is indeed following him, then he cannot act rashly when his rationality is only at 8 points.

He decided to keep going, wanting to see what the people following him were up to.

The hospital corridor was long, with white walls on both sides and the stark white light from fluorescent tubes overhead. Zhang Ying walked in the middle of the corridor, his attention constantly focused on what was behind him.

The person behind me walked at a moderate pace, maintaining a distance of about ten meters.