My Strange Tale Love Strategy Simulator

Night fell, blanketing the sky, and the city lit up with neon lights. The amusement park was illuminated with a rainbow of lights. The golden canopy of the carousel resembled a giant revolving lantern in the night, while the outline of the Ferris wheel was drawn out by colorful lights as it slowly turned along the horizon.

Zhang Ying sat alone on a plastic chair by the food stall, stuffing the last bite of takoyaki into his mouth. The takoyaki batter was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, and the sauce was salty with a hint of sweetness. As he chewed, his eyes narrowed into slits, and he looked blissfully happy.

Li Ziqing withdrew from his body and sat opposite him. She raised her hand and rubbed her cheek with her fingertips, savoring the taste from just now.

"Being able to eat is a truly blissful thing."

Zhang Ying bent over, placed his hands on his knees, and let out a long breath. The feeling of being on top of her was really uncomfortable; his consciousness was compressed into a small corner, and his limbs were like a borrowed car that had been returned with each seat adjusted to an unsuitable position.

Zhang Ying stretched, his spine cracking twice, and straightened up. Looking at Li Ziqing across from him, who had a satisfied expression, the corners of his mouth unconsciously curved into a smile.

"If you like, we can continue later."

The satisfaction on Li Ziqing's face faded slightly, replaced by a hint of worry. Her brows furrowed slightly, and she tapped her fingers lightly on the edge of the table. "Won't this affect your health?"

"Hmm...it definitely has an effect. But I'll be fine after a rest; my recovery ability is very fast." Zhang Ying counted on his fingers, then looked up at her. "If you want, how about once every three days?"

Li Ziqing nodded vigorously. Her straw hat almost slipped off, but she caught it. Holding the brim, her voice was a beat softer than before, but every word was spoken with force. "Thank you, Zhang Ying."

Zhang Ying scratched his cheek, rubbing his fingers along his cheekbone a couple of times. "Hearing my name from Senior Li's mouth feels a little awkward. How about you call me 'Junior' like I do?"

"Junior Zhang..." Li Ziqing lowered her head and mumbled the three words. She smiled and looked up, her eyes curving into two crescent moons. "Okay. Please take care of me from now on, Junior Zhang."

It was getting late. Zhang Ying glanced at the time; it was exactly eight o'clock.

His plan was completed perfectly; every item was checked off, and every project's progress bar was pushed forward. Unfortunately, the strategy training bar only increased by half before stopping, and it didn't budge no matter what he did afterward.

He turned off the panel without giving it much thought. Some things can't be rushed.

The two walked out of the amusement park side by side. To the ticket inspector, only Zhang Ying appeared to emerge from the turnstile. A night breeze swept through the empty entrance plaza, the music of the carousel fading into the distance behind them. The ticket inspector leaned against his workstation, raised his phone, and typed in the work group chat.

"Hey, that weirdo who bought two tickets to go to the amusement park with his fantasy girlfriend is gone."

Group messages popped up one after another. "Really? What do you think he'll do when he gets back? He's not going straight to a hotel to check into his fantasy girlfriend, is he?"

"Hahaha" *12

The ticket inspector grinned, raised his phone to take a picture of Zhang Ying's back, and prepared to send it to the group chat. The moment the camera framed Zhang Ying, his brow furrowed.

In the corner of the phone screen, on the street, stands a woman holding a black umbrella.

The umbrella was pulled low, obscuring her entire face. Strangely, using perspective, the lamppost appeared to be at her waist, and the trash can on the street only reached her calves.

Judging from this proportion, this woman is almost three meters tall!

hum-

The buzzing of mosquitoes filled the ticket inspector's ears. Then, with a bang, the phone exploded in front of him. The tempered glass screen protector shattered into a spiderweb pattern, shards of glass flying everywhere, one of which grazed his cheek, leaving a gash below his right eyebrow!

The shards avoided his eyes and his carotid artery, as if the angle had been precisely calculated.

Blood seeped from the wound and streamed down his cheek. The ticket inspector slid down to the floor, leaning against the wall behind him. His broken phone rolled from between his fingers, the screen still lit up, the WeChat group chat window still popping up.

He looked up and saw that the street was deserted except for Zhang Ying. The woman with the black umbrella was gone. The streetlights stood empty, not even a fallen leaf in sight.

Zhang Ying stood on the street, completely unaware of what was happening behind him.

The night wind blew up his collar. He had one hand in his pocket and the other was raised to look at the ride-hailing app on his phone, waiting for a taxi to turn at the next intersection.

"Senior Li," he turned to Li Ziqing beside him and said, "If there's one place you've always wanted to go, where would you go?"

Li Ziqing looked up and pondered for a moment. The neon light flickered in her clear pupils, then she gently shook her head.

"I don't know. Ever since I was trapped in the school, I've never come out. The seal on my body prevents me from leaving the school even for a moment." Her tone was flat, as if she were stating something that had little to do with her. "I've never thought about where I want to go. My mind has always been filled with hatred and resentment; I've never thought about anything else."

She moved closer to Zhang Ying and wrapped her arm around his. Her arm was cool; she could feel the thin layer of coldness even through his sleeve.

But the gesture of linking arms was done very naturally, as if it had been rehearsed many times in the mind, but never actually done.

"If you hadn't brought me out here, I might never have known how wonderful the outside world is." She looked up at him, her eyes under the brim of her hat reflecting the colorful lights of the Ferris wheel in the distance, each one like a shattered star.

"Thank you, junior Zhang."

She tiptoed and brought her lips close to his cheek. It was so light, like a petal being blown onto his face by the wind.

A cool, soft touch that lasted only a second spread across Zhang Ying's face.

Zhang Ying froze on the spot.

He felt a small patch of skin on his cheek rapidly warming up, colliding with the lingering coolness, causing his heart to pound wildly.

"Goodbye, junior." Li Ziqing released his arm, took two steps back, and waved to him. The smile on her lips hadn't faded, and her eyes were sparkling.

"Um... Goodbye, senior." Zhang Ying covered the spot where she had just been kissed with one hand, her fingers pressed against her cheek, her expression still blank.

Li Ziqing's figure grew fainter and fainter, becoming transparent from the edges. First, her skirt melted into the light of the street lamp, then her shoulders, then her straw hat, and finally the two scattered stars in her eyes.

She has completely disappeared.

Zhang Ying stood on the street, his hand still covering his cheek, for a long time. A taxi stopped in front of him, and the driver leaned out and honked the horn twice.

He didn't hear it; he was still thinking about how the petal had felt on his face.