My Strange Tale Love Strategy Simulator

"No way, Brother Ying, are you cheating?" Shen Yugang's voice was filled with obvious shock. "You didn't leak any information, how did you know where my soul was?"

Zhang Ying didn't answer, but instead asked, "Old Shen, you're the bus on Sanjiang Lake, right?"

Shen Yugang nodded.

"When you arrived at Sanjianghu, you passed by the Lakeview Residential Area, right?"

Shen Yugang nodded again.

"Now can you tell me why you went to Lakeview Residential Area? And which part of Lakeview Residential Area did you go to?"

Shen Yugang remained silent for a moment, and after a long while, he slowly spoke.

"The reason I took a walk to Sanjianghu was not only to relax, but also because I had a crush on a female customer who frequented my uncle's shop."

"That night, the female customer came again, and I thought I'd go up and add her contact information." Shen Yugang's voice was a little muffled, as if he was reluctant to recall this incident.

"Turns out that the female customer had a boyfriend. I was so worried, I ate all the skewers she ordered from the kitchen. Then my uncle kicked me out to go buy more stock."

Zhang Ying's lips twitched, but he didn't interrupt, waiting for him to continue.

"I thought I would never have the chance to meet that female customer again in my life. But when I was taking a walk to clear my head, I saw that female customer waving at me from ahead."

Shen Yugang raised his head, his expression somewhat blank.

"I thought I was hallucinating, but then the female customer ran away right in front of me. I wanted to go up and ask her what was going on, but as I chased her, I ended up in the Lakeview Residential Area, and then inexplicably I ended up at the bus station."

He shrugged.

That's how it is.

Zhang Ying listened to Shen Yugang's description and a slight twitch appeared on his lips.

He finally understood the cause, process, and outcome of the matter. It turned out that Old Shen was heartbroken and had been deceived by Gui.

Seeing that Zhang Ying remained silent, Shen Yugang's expression changed from bewilderment to anxiety. He took a step forward and raised his voice by half an octave.

"Brother Ying, let's not talk about that now. Where exactly is my soul trapped?"

Zhang Ying glanced at him. "They're trapped in the Lakeview Residential Complex. If nothing unexpected happens, they should be in apartment 301, unit 2, building 1, phase 2 of the Lakeview Residential Complex."

Shen Yugang's eyes widened immediately.

"Wow, Brother Ying, you even managed to reveal such a detailed address? You really opened it?"

Zhang Ying didn't respond to that. "Let's not talk about this anymore. Let's go back once we've figured things out. I'll find a chance to go over there in the next few days. If your soul is really there, I'll see if I can bring it back for you."

A smile immediately spread across Shen Yugang's face, all his previous anxiety and confusion vanishing. He clenched his fists and waved them in front of him, his voice filled with the relief of surviving a close call.

"Brother Ying is awesome! Brother Ying is amazing!"

Zhang Ying looked at Shen Yugang cheering in front of him and sighed helplessly.

He secretly made plans in his mind.

The reason Shen Yugang lost his soul was most likely because he was attacked by the "Calling Ghost." That ghost lured Shen Yugang to the building where Xu Miaofeng lived and imprisoned his soul in a room in Xu Miaofeng's house that was nailed shut with wooden planks.

Based on the information he had, it was actually quite simple to deduce this.

First, there's the trick of calling someone. Why would someone call Zhou Ping, Teacher Zhou, all the way to Xu Miaofeng's house? There are so many other potential food targets, why choose Xu Miaofeng? Besides using her as food, there must be other motives.

Secondly, there's Xu Miaofeng's room, which was boarded up. Xiao Hei once said that the room was filled with all sorts of deathly thoughts. Why would those deathly thoughts gather in such a small room?

It's possible that they were trapped rather than gathered together.

In connection with the motives of the Screaming Ghost, it is highly likely that the Screaming Ghost was collecting human souls and trapping them in that house nailed shut with wooden planks, turning those souls that had left the human body into dead thoughts.

Although the purpose of the summoning ghost is unknown, there is a very high probability that Shen Yugang's soul was trapped in that room by the summoning ghost. And Teacher Zhou, who is still unconscious, is also very likely that his soul was trapped in that room.

As for why Shen Yugang retained his consciousness, he could only attribute it to the ghost bus.

It is very likely that when Shen Yugang was attacked by the ghostly summoner, he also encountered the ghostly bus, which caused him to fall into a state where his soul was taken away but he was still conscious.

Speculation is just speculation. To find out the truth, we have to go and see for ourselves in that house in the Lakeview Community.

Now that he has Li Ziqing, a scourge-level figure, by his side, even if he can't find Shen Yugang's soul, at least he can still run away.

……

Back home, the living room light was still on. Zhang's mother's bedroom door was closed, with a faint light shining through the crack.

Zhang Ying changed into slippers, walked into the living room, and sat on the sofa. He leaned back on the sofa, closed his eyes, and thought for a while.

He decided to wait a day or two until he recovered and completed Li Ziqing's daily tasks before making any plans to take action.

After all, this matter is of great importance, so we need to be well prepared before proceeding.

He opened his eyes and glanced at Shen Yugang. Shen Yugang was staring at his phone screen, but his gaze was unfocused. His fingers were tapping unconsciously on his knee, the rhythm rapid, as if he were preoccupied.

"Don't overthink it," Zhang Ying said.

Shen Yugang hummed in response, without turning around.

Zhang Ying took out his phone from his pocket and glanced at the time. It was past ten o'clock at night. He put the phone on the coffee table, stood up, and walked towards his room. When he reached the door, he stopped but didn't turn around.

Go to bed early.

"Understood, Brother Ying." Shen Yugang's voice came from behind.

Zhang Ying pushed open the door to the room, went in, and closed the door behind him.

While Zhang Ying was resting, the Investigation Bureau was already in a frenzy.

In the entire office building, except for the 12th, 21st, and 32nd floors, all the lights on the other floors were off.

The IT staff were busy at their workstations, but this time they weren't working as platform customer service representatives; they were working as members of the investigation bureau.

The keyboard clattered and the landline rang incessantly. Someone said into the phone, "Please send the data over," someone else was quickly jotting something down in a notebook, and someone else was frowning as they stared at the spreadsheet on the computer screen.

The desktop was piled high with printed documents and photos.

The lights in the conference room on the 32nd floor were a stark white, reflecting a cold light onto the long table.

Xie Lichun sat at the head of the long table, with several documents spread out in front of him, a landline phone and a cup of tea that had gone cold beside him.

Xie Lichun slammed her hand on the table and stood up. Her face was full of frustration, and her voice was loud enough to be heard throughout the entire floor.

"Where's the bureau chief I told you to find?"

Sitting to the side, Zhao Husheng spoke in a weak voice, like a child who had done something wrong.

"I can't find him. The director is usually elusive; the last time I saw him was when he got drunk and caused trouble, and I had to bail him out of the station. Getting in touch with him is harder than climbing to heaven."

Xie Lichun slammed his fist on the table, causing the teacup to bounce and spill a few drops of tea.

"Such a big matter, and the bureau chief is nowhere to be seen! How can he be a bureau chief?"

Zhao Husheng shrank back and didn't reply.

Xie Lichun took a few breaths, her chest heaving. She turned to look at a young employee wearing glasses beside her. The employee was holding a fax, his fingers crumpling the edges of the paper.

"What did headquarters say? How many reinforcements have they sent?"

The young employee's body trembled uncontrollably, his lips quivered, and he opened his mouth as if to speak, but the words stuck in his throat, as if he didn't know how to say them.

Xie Lichun glared at him.

The young employee then spoke hesitantly.

"Not a single reinforcement. There's been unrest in the forbidden zone for living people in Western Xinjiang, and almost all the combat forces from headquarters and other branches have gone there to reinforce them. So, naturally, we're left with nothing..."

His voice grew softer and softer until the last few words were almost inaudible.

Xie Lichun's eyebrows furrowed, and his lips pressed into a thin line.

"Why is there unrest in the restricted area at this time? Does that mean we have to handle it ourselves?"

She raised her head, her gaze sweeping over everyone present.

"If two living forbidden zones were to actually form on our side, our manpower wouldn't even be enough to fill a gap in those zones."

Everyone lowered their heads, not daring to look at Xie Lichun's face.

Xie Lichun slumped back into her chair, her body sinking into the backrest. Her shoulders slumped, and she pressed her fingers to her temples, rubbing them forcefully a few times.

There was no anger on her face, only exhaustion and an inexplicable sense of powerlessness.

She whispered something, as if talking to herself.

"Why is the world getting more and more chaotic?"