My Strange Tale Love Strategy Simulator

You chose option two: Kiss her.

A surge of emotion welling up within you makes you realize this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! This is your destined soulmate, and your powerful obsession has clouded your judgment.

Just as the girl was about to leave the vocal studio, you reached out and grabbed her wrist.

The girl looked at you in surprise, and you reached out to pull her into your arms. Feeling her body tremble slightly, you closed your eyes and pressed your lips to her cheek.

"Ugh~"

Looking at the screen, Zhang Ying felt nauseous.

But what appeared next made his eyes widen in surprise!

You... are dead.

Game over

"How did I die?" Zhang Ying looked at the blacked-out panel screen and the blood-red words that appeared on it with a puzzled expression.

The simulation results then popped up.

Your forceful kiss enraged the dancer, who considered you a shameless scoundrel and dismembered you in an extremely cruel manner...

[Ending 1: The Fate of a Bastard]

"..." Zhang Ying fell silent, took a deep breath, and calmed his agitated emotions. "It's alright. At least the simulation results made me realize that this plot is not the kind that takes an unexpected turn."

After a short while, he invested two more points of sanity to conduct a second simulation.

[Rationality - 2]

Current sanity: 8

In the instant he regained his senses, Zhang Ying suddenly felt a slight dizziness in his head, and a distinct sense of pressure made him feel quite tired.

No, don't go!

When the story reaches another crucial moment, options will appear on the panel.

Option 1: Run away from her.

Option 2: Kiss her.

Option 3: Praise her.

"Since the game isn't the type with unexpected twists, option three is practically the correct answer. After all, praising is the most normal of the three options."

Zhang Ying moved the mouse and clicked on option three.

The stirrings within you make you realize you've fallen for the girl before you.

To keep the girl in front of you, you blurted out instinctively:

Your hair is so beautiful.

Just as you expected, the girl stopped and turned around after your praise.

You... are dead.

Game over

"Huh? This can kill me?! I just praised you, and you want to kill me for that?! How sensitive are you, a mere music box?!" Zhang Ying complained.

The simulation results popped up.

Your praise successfully enraged the dancer. She felt you were deceiving her, broke your limbs, and turned you into a puppet that spins endlessly on a music box.

[Ending 2: Misleading Praise]

"Okay, okay, is this how you play?"

Now that there's only one option left, Zhang Ying got carried away and poured all his remaining rationality back into the simulator!

[Rationality - 2]

[Remaining Sanity: 6]

This time, Zhang Ying only felt dizzy and his brain felt blocked, but his consciousness was unusually clear.

He always felt that there was an unusual whisper in his ear, but he couldn't understand what it was saying.

No! Don't go!

Upon reaching the plot point, facing the three options in front of him, Zhang Ying gritted his teeth and clicked on option one.

"Let's see if option one is the correct answer, or if there's simply no correct answer in this simulation!"

The stirrings within you make you realize that the girl before you is your soulmate!

But you dare not face her. An unprecedented feeling of attraction makes you feel somewhat inferior, and the complex emotions within you finally erupt!

You strode past the girl who was about to leave the vocal studio, and under her shocked gaze, you ran away without looking back.

Unexpectedly, when the girl saw your flushed cheeks and slightly parted lips as you ran away, a strange emotion welled up within her.

The dancer's affection for you has increased.

You... are alive.

【Win!】

Zhang Ying stared at the dialog box on the panel, gritted his teeth, and then slammed his fist on the table!

"That's not how you play Galaga!"

God knows that the dancer actually likes this type of guy. How could he possibly deduce that this type of guy is so outrageous?

Zhang Ying sighed and rubbed his aching head.

At least we now know that in a situation where the dancer is doomed, all we have to do is run away.

But isn't that obvious? If he doesn't run away, he's just waiting to be killed by the dancer!

He increasingly felt that the simulator was just playing a joke on him.

[Ending 3: Running away is not a mistake]

[This simulation has ended. There are currently no certain deaths, so the simulation cannot continue.]

[Friendly reminder: In the dating simulation game, a deeper understanding of ghost stories might change the choices you make.]

"Shall we improve our understanding of ghost stories? Let's talk about it tomorrow."

Zhang Ying desperately needs rest right now; the side effect of his reduced sanity is really making him feel unwell.

He fell asleep almost the moment his head hit the pillow and his eyes closed.

In the middle of the night, Zhang Ying groggily opened his eyes.

My brain was throbbing as if it were about to split open, my vision was blurry, and my throat was parched.

He had intended to get up, have a drink of water, and then go back to sleep. He had just struggled to sit up when he noticed light coming through the crack under the door.

"What time is it? Is Mom still awake?"

Zhang Ying reached out and groped around the bedside. After touching the cold screen of the phone, he gripped it tightly in his hand.

He pressed the power button, and the bright light from the phone screen stung his eyes. He squinted, his gaze gradually focusing.

The current time is 2:50 AM.

He frowned. His mother had to go to work at the flower shop early every morning and went to bed very early every night.

Did she get up in the middle of the night?

Thinking it over, he prepared to call out to see if his mother had turned on the light outside.

Just as he was about to turn on the light, a sticky, treading sound of slippers came from outside the door.

Tap, tap, tap.

It sounded as if someone was wearing slippers and stepping on oil, and each time they lifted their foot, it made a sound as the viscous substance was being pulled apart.

The words Zhang Ying was about to say were immediately swallowed back down.

The footsteps didn't seem to be coming from the floor outside the door; they sounded more like they were coming from upstairs.

But the footsteps were unusually clear, and more importantly, the residents of the building above theirs had moved out a year ago!

Zhang Ying instantly regained consciousness, and a fine layer of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.

He focused his attention on the sound of footsteps.

Tap, tap, tap.

The footsteps moved from left to right, and Zhang Ying was soaked in sweat.

This time, he heard it clearly.

The footsteps didn't come from upstairs.

The sound of footsteps was not diminished by the passage through the concrete floor, meaning that the person making the footsteps was walking upside down on the ceiling outside his door!

Tap, tap, tap.

"Why are these monsters coming one after another, giving us absolutely no chance to breathe?"

Having witnessed the ghost story of the dancer, Zhang Ying now firmly believes in such eerie events. The strange footsteps outside the door naturally led him to associate them with the supernatural.

Tap, tap, tap.

The footsteps moved from right to left, lingering and never fading away.

Zhang Ying's breathing became more and more rapid, and he kept praying that the footsteps would go away quickly!

The footsteps, as if they had heard Zhang Ying's plea, clattered and gradually moved away towards the living room.

Snapped!

The sound of lights being turned off came from outside the door, and the light that had been filtering through the crack in the door disappeared, leaving the outside world pitch black again.

The footsteps disappeared.

Zhang Ying swallowed hard; he dared not go outside. Even though his throat was parched, he didn't dare get out of bed.

Lying in bed, I silently pulled the blanket tighter, wishing for daylight to arrive quickly.

The next morning, Zhang Ying struggled to get out of bed, his injured limbs almost immobile. The intense pain made even the slightest movement extremely difficult!

Yesterday's experience really gave him a fright. He pushed open the door and saw that there was no one or any trace outside, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

His mother had already gone to work. He gulped down a big mouthful of water in the kitchen, and his parched throat finally felt much better.

He brought up the simulator panel, wanting to see if the footsteps were indeed a ghost story.

[Friendly reminder: Low sanity makes you more susceptible to attracting and seeing the darker side of the world; maintaining a good sanity level is essential.]

【personal information】

[Dating Strategy Simulator]

[Encounter Handbook]

[Dating Handbook]

Lover's Handbook

No new ghost stories were recorded in the encounter manual.

But the helpful message on the loading screen seemed to have answered his question.

"That was close! I hope the owner of those footsteps meant no harm."

His mother got him a day off; he doesn't need to go to school for the next two days. As long as he stays rational, he should be able to put the sound of footsteps aside.

Zhang Ying stretched lazily and focused all his energy on researching the ghost stories.

He used his mobile browser to search for things that had happened at his school.

I didn't know until I searched, and I actually found some things!

Shocking! A rising star from Okura Junior High School commits suicide by jumping from a building; the reason is regrettable.

Many of the posts he found were 404 errors, but this one was barely readable; it was posted three years ago.

He opened the post and looked around, but his brows furrowed even more.

The title identifies Li Ziqing as the rising star of Okura City.

She was Zhang Ying's student two years ahead of him, and one year ahead of his cousin.

Li Ziqing was an excellent student and beautiful. Her long, black hair and gentle personality made her the object of affection for many boys in the school.

This school beauty is also exceptionally talented in dance!

Her superb ballet skills have attracted the attention of many prestigious schools. Once she graduates, she will undoubtedly become a rising star in the entire city of Okura!

Logically speaking, a girl with such a bright future should have become an outstanding individual. Yet, at the prime of her life, she stood on the school rooftop and jumped, ending her own life…

According to the post, Li Ziqing's suicide was the result of combined family and academic pressure.

A promising young star lost his life just like that, which forces us to reflect...

[Green Grassland, I'm the Wildest: It's truly a pity that the golden phoenix, just about to fly away from Okura City, has left this world.]

[Sunny Day: The more outstanding one is, the greater the pressure they bear, but the school is undeniably culpable for Li Ziqing's death! I don't believe this terrible outcome caused by pressure could have occurred in a day. The school's performance in protecting students' mental well-being is extremely disappointing.]

[424333: The child's pressure was mounting, suffocating him. Parents' excessive expectations and demands completely broke the child's back. Hopefully, Li Ziqing's death will serve as a warning to other parents.]

This post is very popular, and the comments below are all expressing anger at the actions of the school and parents and regret for this rising star.

That's enough for now, Zhang Ying closed the post.

There is a very high probability that this Li Ziqing is the precursor to the ghost stories in the school, but this has plunged Zhang Ying into even deeper doubts.

Why did Li Ziqing suddenly jump off a building and commit suicide? Was it really due to family pressure and the pressure of being a senior in high school, as reported in the news?

Just as the friendly reminder says.

Ghost tales are products of the tragic spirits of the dead, fueled by hatred and anger.

How could a spirit born of pressure possess such intense resentment and anger? Even if it becomes a monster, why would it remain in the world?