My Strange Tale Love Strategy Simulator

Zhang Ying briefly recounted the events of the past few days to Xie Lichun.

How did I get transported to the film studio in Tiannan Province by that strange bus, and then enter that Western movie world in the film studio?

He spoke very briefly.

Xie Lichun sat on the sofa with her hands crossed on her knees, and did not interrupt him from beginning to end.

After Zhang Ying finished speaking, he adjusted his sunglasses and pointed to his eyes, saying, "My eyes were injured in the movie world, and I don't know if they can recover."

"So, does your investigation bureau even know what that bus and the movie studio are?"

After hearing about Zhang Ying's experiences over the past few days, Xie Lichun fell silent.

Her expression shifted from focused listening to contemplation, then to a solemn seriousness. Her fingers tapped lightly on her knees, her gaze fixed on the now-cold cup of tea on the coffee table, remaining motionless for several seconds.

Then, she slammed her hand on the table and stood up.

"Come on, let's go check on your friend first. If things are really as I suspect, we'll probably be busy for a while."

Zhang Ying stood up, and the two of them walked out of the office one after the other.

……

Zhang Ying and Xie Lichun took the elevator to the 21st floor.

As the elevator doors opened, the familiar cacophony of phone calls and keyboard clicks filled the hallway.

The two walked past the information department's office and arrived at the area where the interrogation room was located.

At this moment, Pang Zhidong, Cao Quan, and Zhao Husheng from the Anomaly Handling Department were standing in front of a one-way mirror on the other side of the interrogation room, looking into the interrogation room.

Zhang Ying walked to the one-way mirror, turned to Xie Lichun with some confusion, and asked, "Why do I need to be examined in the interrogation room?"

Xie Lichun said calmly, "Funding is limited. Besides, our branch office isn't a hospital, and we don't have specialized medical examination equipment. If we want to check your friend's condition, we can only do so here."

She paused, then looked at Shen Yugang in the interrogation room.

"Furthermore, his current condition is still unclear. The interrogation room has a protective barrier, so if something goes wrong, it won't spread outside."

Zhang Ying didn't say anything more, turned his head, and looked into the interrogation room through the one-way mirror.

Shen Yugang sat in one of the chairs, looking somewhat nervous. His back was very straight, and his hands were on the table, each holding something.

That was a balance scale.

The balance scales are in a classic style, with a dark gold color throughout. The base is square, with a slender pillar in the middle. A balance bar is placed horizontally at the top of the pillar, and a round tray is suspended at each end of the balance bar.

At this moment, the balance of the scales is in a very strange state.

The scales in Shen Yugang's hands swung up and down as if they were powered by an electric motor.

The balance bar tilted left and right, and the two trays bounced up and down with large amplitude and high frequency, just like a seesaw being played on.

Shen Yugang stared blankly at the balance scale in his hand, wondering why it was moving on its own.

The female employee sitting opposite him, wearing a 6 o'clock mask, seemed somewhat flustered.

She glanced at the scales in Shen Yugang's hand, then turned to look at the one-way mirror, her eyes filled with helplessness.

Seeing this, Xie Lichun frowned and said in a low voice.

"It seems things are worse than I thought."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Ying turned his head and looked at Pang Zhidong and Cao Quan, who were also observing from the side.

"What is this balance scale? Why do you all seem surprised by the result it presented?"

Pang Zhidong opened his mouth, about to speak, but was silenced by Cao Quan's voice.

Cao Quan swallowed hard and said, "This scale is a strange object."

"But this thing doesn't have any powerful abilities, and it can't harm anyone in the slightest. Its only function is—"

"Weighing the dead and the living."

Zhang Ying's brow twitched slightly.

"The principle of the balance scale is very simple. If a living person picks up the scale, the right side of the scale will sink, and the pointer will point to the 'life' side. If a dead person, or more precisely, a corpse, holds the scale, the left side of the scale will sink, and the pointer will point to the 'death' side."

He pointed to the scales that were swinging wildly in Shen Yugang's hand in the interrogation room.

"If the right side of the scale is down, the person who picks it up is alive; if the left side is down, the person who picks it up is dead."

"Although this scale's ability is somewhat useless, its predictions have never been wrong."

Zhang Ying shifted his gaze from Cao Quan to the constantly swaying scales in Shen Yugang's hand in the interrogation room.

The balance bar swayed left and right, showing no sign of stopping or stabilizing. It just kept swinging, as if making an impossible choice between the two ends of a scale.

Zhang Ying's voice sounded slightly puzzled: "So, my buddy is now a living dead?"

"No," Pang Zhidong said immediately when he realized he was about to lose the conversation, "worse than the living dead."

He held up one finger, pointing in the direction of Shen Yugang in the interrogation room.

"Your friend is neither alive nor dead."

He paused for a moment, seemingly considering his words.

"It's more like a half-finished monster."

"Huh?" Zhang Ying frowned.

"A half-finished monster, what do you mean by that?"

Pang Zhidong explained, "To put it another way, your friend's current state is like that of a monster with a physical body, basic bodily functions, and the ability to see monsters, but without the ability to see them. He symbolizes the disappearance of the living part of the soul, leaving only a wandering spirit that is born after death. If your friend were to die right now, without a doubt, he would immediately become an unconscious wandering spirit."

Xie Lichun rubbed his forehead and said, "That's why I said things are more complicated than I thought. You told me that you and your friend got on a strange bus, right?"

Zhang Ying nodded.

"That bus is referred to as the 'Strange Bus' in our investigation bureau's records; it's a rather special kind of calamity-level monster. It doesn't actively harm people; it only randomly picks up and drops off the dead and monsters from the forbidden zone for the living. Nobody knows where the Strange Bus's destination is, or why it picks up and drops off the dead and monsters."

"The reason you were able to get on the bus is most likely because you are a Ghost Rider. The reason your friend was able to get on the bus is because he is a half-Ghost."

"Wait a minute," Zhang Ying keenly grasped a key phrase, "What is this 'forbidden zone for the living'?"

A sense of foreboding gripped his heart.