My Strange Tale Love Strategy Simulator

Zhang Ying squatted at the bathroom door and pushed the rickety door aside.

A woman was squatting in the corner of the bathroom, her back pressed firmly against the tiled wall, her arms holding two children, one in each arm.

All three had their eyes closed, their faces were pale, and their breathing was shallow and rapid, but their chests were still rising and falling.

Zhang Ying crouched down and breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that the three were not in mortal danger.

Li Ziqing silently approached Zhang Ying's side. She glanced down at the three pale faces in the corner and asked in a low voice, "What do we do now? Call the police or an ambulance?"

Zhang Ying shook his head: "I can't call the police. I don't expect the police to believe this weird story, and I can't explain to them why I would break through a solid wood door with my bare hands. If I'm listed as a dangerous person, I'll be in big trouble."

He glanced at the mother and her two children, still unconscious in the corner: "We can call an ambulance, but not now."

He closed each bathroom window tightly and drew the curtains. After doing this, he turned and walked into the kitchen, his gaze sweeping around before settling on the bottom cabinet door.

Opening the cabinet door, you'll find a household gas cylinder inside, with the rubber hose still properly connected to the stove.

He removed the gas cylinder from the cabinet, held it by one side with one hand, and steadily lifted it into the bathroom.

He squatted down, placed his fingers on the valve, and slightly turned it open a crack. The gas cylinder was on the ground.

Gas hissed out from the valve gap. He waited a few seconds, then immediately turned off the valve and carried the gas cylinder back to the kitchen, reinstalling it as it was.

After doing all this, he went to the living room, turned off the TV, the ceiling light, and the wall lights that were still on in the hallway.

The whole room went dark again.

When he returned to the bathroom, he reopened the doors and windows he had just closed, letting in the fresh air from the hallway.

Zhang Ying gently shook the woman who had fallen to the ground, and soon her eyes trembled slightly as she regained consciousness.

When the woman opened her eyes, the fear she felt before losing consciousness still lingered in her pupils.

Her first reaction upon seeing Zhang Ying wasn't confusion; she suddenly shrank back, pulling the two children even tighter into her arms, her back slamming against the corner of the wall, and the back of her head hitting the tiles with a dull thud.

She kicked her legs back desperately, as if trying to embed herself into the wall, her cries broken and broken: "Don't come any closer! Don't come any closer! Something's fishy, ​​something's fishy! Please, don't touch my child—"

Zhang Ying took half a step back, spread his hands out in front of him with his palms facing outward, bent his knees, and pressed his 1.8-meter-tall frame down to eye level with her.

He said calmly, "Don't be afraid, I'm not a bad person."

The woman's tear-blurred eyes lingered on his face for a fleeting moment before timidly looking away. Her lips trembled as she managed to utter a coherent sentence: "Who...who are you? How did you get in?"

Zhang Ying lowered his voice even further.

"My name is Zhang Ying. I live on the fifth floor and am a senior high school student. I went out for a walk after dinner and smelled a strong gas odor when I got to your door. I saw that your light was still on. I knocked on the door but no one answered. I was afraid something had happened inside, so I forced the door open in a panic."

He pointed to the bathroom door behind him, which had a large hole in it: "Sorry, in a moment of panic, I tore down your door."

The woman took a deep breath. The pungent smell of gas in the air, mixed with the fresh air rushing in from outside, filled her newly awakened sense of smell.

Her shoulders slowly relaxed, and the tense, almost spasmodic muscles in her back slid inch by inch off the tiles.

She buried her face in the top of the little boy's head beside her, her lips moved a few times, and she muttered to herself, "So... it was just a hallucination..."

Zhang Ying stood up and did not approach any further.

He retreated to the bathroom doorway, leaned against the door frame, took out his phone, and pressed the emergency number.

The ambulance arrived quickly.

Alternating red and blue lights flashed in from outside the windows, illuminating the walls of the entire building in alternating light and shadow.

The stretcher was carried up to the fourth floor, and the medical staff gently took the two children from the woman's arms and secured them one by one to the stretcher bed.

As the woman was being helped out of the bathroom, she kept looking back into the room, repeatedly muttering, "Something's fishy, ​​something's fishy."

When the doctor put an oxygen mask on her, her fingers were still unconsciously clutching the collar of her shirt.

A nurse glanced at the smashed bathroom door, then at Zhang Ying's physique—so big that his short-sleeved shirt looked like a bodysuit—and unconsciously swallowed.

A group of neighbors, drawn by the ambulance lights, gathered downstairs and stood whispering by the flowerbed.

Zhang Ying stood beside the ambulance, listening to the intermittent chatter drifting from the crowd.

"What happened?"

"It seems there was a gas leak in apartment 403 of building 6. The young man in apartment 501 managed to tear the door open and save the mother and her two children."

"Oh my goodness, this is terrible! If it hadn't been discovered in time, the whole family in apartment 403 would have been doomed."

"That's right! It's all thanks to this young man."

……

Zhang Ying went back upstairs before the crowd dispersed.

I pushed open the door, kicked off my wood-shaving shoes in the entryway, and without even turning on the lights, I walked to the sofa and sat down in the dark.

Li Ziqing followed him in and sat quietly on the armrest of the sofa.

Zhang Ying leaned back on the sofa, staring at the ceiling. After a long silence, he raised his right hand and pinched his brow.

The easy days had barely lasted a few days before trouble struck again.

Heaven knows how many more ghosts were behind that one ghost that had been brought back to life.

Now, with wolves in front and tigers behind, it's a bit risky for him and Li Ziqing to protect those around them on their own.

He lowered his hands and placed them on his knees, then sighed.

I just hope there won't be any more trouble.

The next day at noon, when Zhang's mother opened the door with her suitcase, Zhang Ying was sitting on the sofa looking at the latest news.

Hearing the sound of the key turning, he put down his phone, stood up, and walked to the entrance.

The door opened, but before Zhang's mother could even drag her suitcase across the threshold, she froze at the doorway.

She looked up at the young man who was a head taller than her, her gaze traveling from his shoulders to his chest, then down to his arms, finally settling on the bunch of keys still in the lock in her hand. She remained silent for three seconds.

"Are you my son?"

Zhang Ying reached out and took her suitcase, stepping aside to make way: "Mom, I just did some exercise."

Zhang's mother changed into slippers and walked into the living room. She circled around him halfway, pinched his arm, then circled back to face him, stood on tiptoe, and compared the height difference between him and herself.

The expression on her face changed from shock to disbelief, and from disbelief to reluctant acceptance.

During the meal, Zhang's mother suddenly put down her chopsticks, as if she had remembered something important.

"When I came in from the entrance of the community, the security guard at the gate chatted with me for a few minutes. He said that an ambulance came to our building last night because there was a gas leak in an apartment on the fourth floor, and you were the one who discovered it. You even broke down the door and rescued the mother and her two children from the bathroom."

She looked up, her eyes filled with unconcealed worry: "Tell Mom the truth, are you hurt?"

Zhang Ying placed his chopsticks on the rim of his bowl and rubbed his nose with his finger. "With my build, what kind of injury could I possibly get? Don't worry, Mom."

Zhang's mother sighed as she looked at Zhang Ying and pushed the dishes in front of him. "You're in your final year of high school and you're still eating so little every day. How can your brain work? Eat more. The computer I bought for you is on its way. Your dad will be back from his vacation in a couple of days, and the three of us will go on a trip to help you relax. After you finish your college entrance exam, Mom will buy you a new cell phone."

Zhang Ying picked up his chopsticks again and stuffed a big mouthful into his mouth.

He didn't say anything more, his face full of smiles.

In the afternoon, the doorbell rang.

Zhang Ying peeked out through the peephole and saw a middle-aged man in a gray jacket standing outside, carrying a bulging canvas bag.

He opened the door, and the man was also stunned for a moment when he saw him. His gaze moved up several inches from his chest before finding his face.

"Hello, I am a resident of 403, the family you helped yesterday. My surname is Liu."

After saying this, the man paused, placed the canvas bag he was carrying at his feet, and then took an envelope from the inside pocket of his jacket. The envelope was unsealed, revealing two stacks of crisp hundred-yuan bills inside.

"I wasn't home last night; I stayed at the hospital with my wife and kids until the early hours of the morning. I only got home this morning to tidy up. I heard you saved our family. I can't say I can repay this kindness with money, but this is all I can offer right now. Please accept this as my thanks on behalf of my wife and two children."

He stuffed the envelope into Zhang Ying's hand. Zhang Ying looked down at the envelope in his hand, then looked up at the face in front of him that still bore the marks of staying up all night, and opened his mouth.

"No need for that, I just did what I was supposed to do." He pushed the envelope out half an inch. The man's hand immediately pressed down, firmly pressing the hand that had pushed him back onto the envelope.

Please accept this!

Looking at his bloodshot eyes, Zhang Ying didn't push the envelope away anymore and accepted it.

"If you need any help with anything related to the kids, just come upstairs and knock on my door anytime." The man nodded, placed the two gift boxes from the canvas bag on the shoe cabinet by the door, and turned to go downstairs.

Zhang Ying closed the door, took the envelope, and walked to the kitchen doorway.

Zhang's mother was washing pots and pans by the sink when he reached out and placed the envelope on the counter next to her.

"Mom, the man from apartment 403 just brought this over. He said it was a small token of his appreciation. Please accept it; consider it as our food allowance for this month."

Zhang's mother didn't stop brushing her hands, nor did she turn her head. "Keep it if someone gives it to you. You're in your final year of high school, so learn to manage your money and don't spend it recklessly."

Around six or seven in the evening, the sky was just beginning to darken.

Zhang Ying was sitting at his desk flipping through English test papers when his phone suddenly vibrated on the table and the screen lit up.

The caller ID showed it was Teacher Zhou.

He answered the phone, but it wasn't Zhou Ping's voice that came through; it was a young man's voice.

"Excuse me, are you Mr. Zhang Ying? We would like to inquire about the condition of patient Zhou Ping before the accident. If it is convenient, please come to the Second Central Hospital of Okura City as soon as possible."