Entdecke bezaubernde Imagination-Kurzgeschichten.

To protect his first love, Dean Parker stood there and watched as the kidnappers dragged me—six months pregnant—into their van. They chopped off my hands and feet, gouged out my eyes, and cut my baby out of my body before dumping me in the middle of nowhere to die. As the last of my blood slowly drained away, I suddenly heard the electronic warning sound from Dean’s System. System: [Warning, Host! The Female Protagonist of this world is in critical condition and nearing death!] [Because the Host has repeatedly transferred disasters originally meant for the Supporting Character onto the Female Protagonist, a System paradox has now been triggered. If the Female Protagonist dies, the entire world setting will collapse. Everything will be swallowed into a space-time void and erased permanently!] [The Host must immediately leave the Supporting Character’s side, rescue the Female Protagonist, and restore the original storyline!] Only then did I finally understand. Every tragedy I had suffered over the years had all been caused by the man I loved most. At that moment, my heart turned cold. I stopped pressing the emergency GPS beacon in my hand. If I were going to die, then everyone who had hurt me would be destroyed with me.

In dragon families, tail-wrapping was only reserved for one’s mate. I did not know that. All I knew was that when my heater broke in winter, my best friend had left her four-year-old nephew at my place, whose body temperature was absurdly high. That night, I shamelessly coaxed him. “Be good. Can you stretch out your little tail and let me warm my feet with it?” He paused for a moment, then obediently extended his small, golden dragon tail and wrapped it around my ankle. It was warm and glowing, like a tiny sun. I happily enjoyed it for three days. Until the livestream comments exploded. [Tail wrapping means claiming a mate! She let the Dragon Emperor’s youngest brother wrap her for three days! That’s basically marriage in dragon society!] [The Dragon Emperor himself is diving down from the heavens! His ETA is in 5 seconds!] The moment the ceiling exploded, the little kid transformed into a golden-scaled dragon, blocking the opening and roaring, “Bro! She’s finally warmed her feet, yet you just blew open the ceiling. Now, all the cold air is coming in!”

My boyfriend and I were thrown into another world together. He became the cruel and bloodthirsty tyrant from the history books. I became the wicked queen who brought the realm to ruin. The one who was hated by all and torn into shreds in the end. He and I played our parts so that we could change our ending. When I smiled, he granted a realm-wide pardon. On my birthday, he opened the granaries and fed the people. When I became pregnant, he spared the realm three years of taxes and levies. Everyone across the kingdom said no love was more enviable than the king's love for his queen. He held my hand back then and said gently, "There are three things I love most in this world. The sun, the moon, and you. The sun is morning, the moon is night, and you are every morning and every night." But after that miscarriage, everything changed. One by one, the promises he had made turned hollow. And finally, I found a way home. Then I caught him with his concubine in his bed. Since that was the case, I would go back home alone.

My mother spent three hundred million dollars to build a fake ancient city. She tricked my father into going inside by telling him it was a time‑travel experience. Inside, people sold him to an entertainment house. They broke his legs, and he lived as a slave for three years. Three years later, my mother removed her human‑skin mask. She looked down at him as he knelt on the ground and smiled. “Three years ago, you sued for divorce and had people online smear Sean as 'the other man'. You almost drove him to suicide from depression. How did it feel to live as a slave all these years? Did you learn your lesson?” My father pressed his forehead to the ground. His voice sounded flat. “Everything is up to you, madam.” My mother paused, then smiled with satisfaction. I cried and threw myself into my father’s arms. He held me tightly. His tears fell against my neck as he whispered, “I’m sorry, Jayden. Dad has to go. I’ll make sure everything is arranged for you before I leave.”

I was the real heiress who had just been found and brought home. After I returned to my family, my parents did not favor the fake heiress like the rumors claimed. Instead, they put me first in everything. I quickly integrated into this social circle, and even the fake heiress' childhood friend, Drake Weston, showed interest in me. On the day my father asked me to choose a marriage partner, I was walking toward Drake when pop-up messages suddenly appeared before my eyes. [Don't choose him. He's always loved the fake heiress. He's only getting close to you to seize the family assets in your hands. If you choose him, you're as good as dead. He'd risk his life for the fake heiress, and she's been trying to kill you all along.] I stopped and turned toward the Lockwood family's illegitimate son, Callum Lockwood. Another pop-up message appeared before my eyes. [Choose him. He's kind-hearted and family-oriented, and he's secretly in love with you. You won't go wrong choosing him.] In my previous life, I was misled by the pop-up messages and chose Callum, who seemed harmless. It turned out he was the one who loved the fake heiress. Less than a year after our marriage, they plotted together and killed me. Only after I died did I learn the fake heiress had manipulated all those pop-up messages. She even killed my parents and inherited all my family's assets. This time, I chose Drake without hesitation. The fake heiress and Callum completely lost their composure.

On the day my older brother, Noctis, and I get reborn to the timeframe of us becoming the demons' consorts, our wives, Nerissa Loden and Aurelia Ignis, rush over to save us. But we've unanimously decided to give up on getting rescued by Nerissa and Aurelia. Instead, we willingly devote ourselves to the demons. In our previous lifetime, after Noctis and I got saved by the goddesses, the demons kidnapped Nerissa's student, Halric Morledge, as our replacement. Poor Halric died a terrible death soon after. Thanks to that, Nerissa and Aurelia hated me and Noctis to the core. They spread rumors about us being the apocalyptic twins. As a result, our bodies and souls were annihilated. When we open our eyes again, we've returned to the day we get kidnapped by the demons. After exchanging glances with each other, we announce, "We're willing to become the consorts of Isolde Brimstone and Sylvara Eldritch. Please take us with you." Nerissa and Aurelia are able to whisk Halric to safety. They are relieved and happy, seeing as they finally get to protect the man they love the most. But later on, both of them end up losing their minds.

On the first day of school, my roommate, Kelly Anderson, claimed she was the Wolf Princess. She strutted in wearing what she proudly called wolf fur. One glance was all it took for me to see that it was fake. That was clearly fake. "Stella, what was that look? Get on your knees!" Kelly exclaimed. She even held up a toad, claiming it was a rare golden toad the clan leader had taken ages to obtain for her. I grabbed the toad and shoved it straight into her mouth. "You think you're all that? If you're the Wolf Princess, then who am I?"

As the male lead, Henry Johnston, forces himself on me, a row of comments suddenly appears before my eyes. "Henry is about to misunderstand and think Aria drugged him! The angst is about to begin!" "I'm thrilled just thinking about Henry regretting dearly after Aria dies!" "Keep up the act, Henry. After she dies, you'll be hugging her corpse and crying every day." That is when I realize that I am the tragic female lead in a story where I am destined to be tormented until I die. The readers treat my death as a highlight to push the plot forward. They are counting down to my death. As I look at Henry, who is panting on top of me, anger courses through me. I grab a table lamp and smash it into him, killing him on the spot. Who says that the one who dies in a toxic romance story must always be the female lead?

When I got pregnant, I was about to inform my parents about the good news. Suddenly, the baby in my belly cried for help. “Mom, please don’t! Grandpa and Grandma favor boys over girls. If they know that I’m a girl, they will definitely poison you to abort me!” I turned off my phone with doubts, and I was worried that the news of my pregnancy would be leaked. But a fire broke out at my house, and I missed 99 calls from my parents. I was grieved and heartbroken, and my husband went through the darkest time with me. When I was getting back on my feet, the baby’s voice echoed again. “Mom, you’re so pitiful. Dad is dating his mistress in the company, and all he feels for you is just guiltiness.” I instantly felt flustered. Without thinking more, I just rushed inside my husband’s company to catch the cheaters. Unexpectedly, I just blew up a company contract worth over a hundred million. My husband was very disappointed in me. He took a divorce paper and forced me to sign. I desperately tried to keep him, but I heard the baby’s voice again. “Dad hates women who wouldn’t let go. Mom, if you let go of him in time and leave with nothing, Dad will come and cry to beg you to go back some time later!” In the end, I chose to listen to my baby. But I was broke and homeless, and I just slept on the streets at night. My husband, Liam Grant, immediately married a girl who looked like me. At their wedding, he blamed me for leaving him so heartlessly. I cried and wanted to go back to Liam, but a truck that ran a red light ran over me and crushed me into nothing. In the end, I died with my eyes open. Before I died, I vaguely heard the baby’s prideful laugh. When I opened my eyes again, I went back to the day when I found out my pregnancy.

On Christmas Eve, my uncle, Adam Stewart, took a sip of the expensive wine I bought and pointed at me, laughing. "A child’s nature really shows early. When she was little, she wet the bed. Now that she's all grown up, she's working as a content creator in her parents' store. "She can't compare to my daughter, Erin Stewart, who has a secure job with guaranteed income. Because you're running a small business, your family will starve if you were to come across the smallest hurdle!" All the relatives at the dining table laughed. Erin pretended to play with her phone, but she was grinning. My parents just smiled politely, at a loss for what to do. I looked icily at Uncle Adam. There were still six hours before the ice apocalypse arrived and the global zombie crisis broke out. In my previous life, Uncle Adam, who always looked down on us, pushed my entire family into the zombie horde to seize my parents' supermarket. This time, I would not let him get away with it. I had just grabbed the plate, ready to smash it over Uncle Adam's head, when a crisp notification rang in my mind. "Ding! Rage Points System has been bound. The host can obtain resources by retaliating. The more shameless you are, the stronger you become!" Looking at Uncle Adam's smug face, I laughed. "Yeah, I don't know anything, but I just recalled something. Uncle Adam, you were arrested by the anti-prostitution squad when you went to Los Anglos on a business trip eight years ago, weren't you? Does Aunt Leanne know about this?"

After I get hospitalized from a stroke, I tell my son, Raymond Thornton, to come to the hospital and pay for my hospital bills. But my daughter-in-law, Vivian Mills, mumbles in displeasure, "It's just a stroke, isn't it? Why is she being so whiny? Also, she's called you so many times! Is she asking you for help or ordering you to do her bidding?" I pretend to not hear Vivian's words. After that, I waited the whole night for Raymond. The thing is, he never shows up despite the fact that he has agreed to come to the hospital. The next day, he finally calls me on the phone. "Mom, if I'm not mistaken, there should be some money left in your medical insurance, right? Why don't you use that money to pay the bills for the time being? I'll make sure to care for you more in the future!" While Raymond is still making empty promises over the phone, I hear another voice appear in my mind. "Ding! An empty promise has been detected! Fair Balance System is now activated!" "Once I'm back, I'll buy the best medication for you!" "Calculation in progress. The amount deducted for the best medication available is 6599 dollars!" The next moment I know, I receive a text, stating that the money is now in my bank account.

After failing my conquest mission, I trade my ability to feel in exchange for a ticket back to my home world. Two years later, the system summons me, citing an emergency. It tells me that my old conquest target, Caspian Stone, tried to destroy the entire world just to see me. I turn that request down immediately. Even if I've already lost my ability to feel, rationally speaking, I do not want to be with someone who has hurt me before. The poor system is so anxious that it keeps naming condition after condition. In the end, it agrees to let me stay with Caspian for only three months. In return for my cooperation, once I return from Caspian's world, not only must be the system restore my ability to feel, but it must also pay me a huge sum of money that comes from legal sources and has already gotten taxed. But when I return to Caspian's side as an emotionless robot, he goes deeper down the path of lunacy.

The day I give birth, I hear my newborn daughter, Kayla Green's voice. "Mommy, Daddy is going to see Ms. Knightley today." Christian Green is standing beside my hospital bed when his phone lights up. A new text message flashes across the screen. The sender's name is Summer Knightley. His thumb hovers over her name for several long seconds before he quietly turns the phone over, hiding the screen from view. "Mari, something urgent came up at the office. I have to go." "He's lying." Kayla's voice doesn't come from the tiny bundle in my arms, but it echoes directly inside my mind. "It's not work, Mommy. He's going to see Ms. Knightley. Her flight lands in two hours. Next month, he'll start transferring all of his assets. The apartment, the savings, the cars. He won't leave us a single thing. "A year from now, you and I will be discarded with nothing." I pick up my phone. "Alistair, I need you to investigate two people—Christian Green and Summer Knightley. I want everything on them."

"She's only eight years old, and she's already spreading rumors about her sister!" "She even stole our neighbor's emergency money!" "Worst of all, she conspired with human traffickers to sell her own brother!" In the underworld courtroom, Mom and Dad rushed to accuse me of my "crimes," talking over each other in a frenzy. They thought this was just a dream, and in the middle of it all, they did not forget to warn my sister and brother standing nearby. "You two better watch carefully. This is what happens to disobedient kids after they die!" I instantly understood. As the middle child, I had once again become the "example," the one sacrificed in their lesson. 'Mom... Dad... this isn't a dream. You locked me in the freezer, then took Grace and Tommy on vacation. I was locked in there for three days. I was so cold, my whole body frozen stiff...'

In the tenth year of my diagnosis with selective mutism, my mother decided it was time to bring home a little brother for me from an orphanage. Her eyes immediately landed on a boy in the back row, but the head of the orphanage opposed without hesitation. "Ms. Lane, this kid has been nothing but trouble since he was small. Just two days ago, he made an old man on crutches play goalie. If you take him home, your life will never be peaceful!" I looked on without the slightest interest. My mother, however, was exhilarated. Pointing at the boy, she declared excitedly, "Then, he's exactly the one I want!" And suddenly, lines of bullet comments scrolled before me. 'The mom cracks me up. Her eyes practically sparkled like spotlights.' 'Our brooding female lead grew up friendless. Her mom's been worrying about that for years. Now she's found this rascal, there's no way she's letting go.' 'Honestly, fate is wild. The mom instantly picks her future son-in-law. In their past lives, the female lead died trying to save him. Now that they've both been reborn, maybe they'll finally get a second chance together.'

I had been sexually assaulted. Just as I was about to wash away the filth clinging to my body, I saw a flood of scrolling comments: [What insane luck does the female lead have? She just goes to sleep and ends up having sex with a hot guy.] [I just saw the male lead’s eight-pack abs. Damn it, she’s got it so good. Let me take her place for a couple of episodes.] [Hehe, next the female lead is going to run away pregnant. A little baby is about to be born.] [Call the police. Go to someone you trust. Whatever you do, don’t wash away the evidence.] My gaze lingered on the last comment. After a long silence, I reached out and turned off the shower.

It was my third day working as an NPC cashier in a horror game when the supermarket got completely wrecked by players. They stormed in, smashing shelves, looting everything, setting fires, feeling real proud of themselves. "Told you the shopkeeper here was useless. Absolutely trash in all combat stats," one said. "Grab whatever you want. Once we're done, we'll just kill the owner," another chimed in. My mouth was gagged. I shook my head in terror. One of the players sneered. "Begging? That won't save you." No! That was not what I was trying to say! I was trying to tell them that today was the NPC internal shopping day. Three minutes from now, every single dungeon boss in the entire game would be rushing here to shop.

Before Grandpa passed, he left behind two things: a billion-dollar fortune and three matches. He said, "Each of you gets to pick one. Renee, you're the oldest, so you go first." I did not hesitate for even a second and chose the fortune. That left my adopted sister, Vera Gallagher, with nothing but three matches. What none of us could have known was that those three matches were no ordinary matches. Each one, when lit, could make any wish come true. Vera resented our parents for favoring me, so she immediately cursed them a terrible death. Sure enough, Dad suddenly suffered a heart attack and died on the spot, and Mom was hit by a speeding semi-truck on her way to the hospital. I grabbed a kitchen knife and went straight to Vera to settle the score. I growled, "Didn't I tell you that once you turned 18, I would split Grandpa's inheritance with you? Our parents opened their home to you and gave you everything I had growing up. All these years, you ate the same food and wore the same clothes as I did. How could you betray them?!" Vera's face was filled with greed. "Since they chose to adopt me, they should have thrown you away and given me all the good things instead! I don't want your handouts. Once you're all dead, the money will be mine anyway!" With that, Vera sneered and lit the second match. "I wish Renee would be trafficked to some remote backwoods town, forced to carry and deliver eight babies at once, and die from complications!" I was horrified. I emptied my savings and hired over 1000 bodyguards to protect me day and night, making sure there was not a single weak spot. However, one night, every single bodyguard suddenly passed out at the same time, and I was kidnapped and sold deep into the mountains. I was tortured, abused, and forced to endure things no person should ever have to survive. I did not know how much time had passed before I finally swallowed my last breath in agony and humiliation. When I opened my eyes again, I had been reborn on the very day the inheritance was divided.

"Sienna, he looks so pitiful." In my last life, I listened to my younger sister and chose the black fox who hadn't even taken human form as my fiancé. I poured everything I had into helping him take human form, but he carved out my inner core and presented it to my sister to curry her favor. When I lived again, at the mate-selection ceremony, my sister once more pointed pitifully at the black fox. In front of everyone, I chose the four-tailed white fox she wanted most. Then I "gifted" the black fox to her.

I had just been confirmed as a match and was preparing to donate a kidney to my husband's adoptive sister. That night, she left her iPad in the living room. The screen was still on, showing her chat with the doctor: [Doctor, please don't tell my sister-in-law. If she has a kidney removed, her hidden heart condition will flare up, and she won't live longer than three months.] The next day, I canceled the donation without a second thought. My husband flew into a rage. He called me cold-blooded and forced me to sign a divorce agreement that left me with nothing. The next day, I stood outside the hospital room and heard my sister-in-law laughing smugly. "She's so stupid. I faked one chat screenshot, and she actually believed she was sick. Now her penthouse is mine, and we can finally be together openly." My husband kissed her. "Good girl. Later, I'll find you a good kidney on the black market." Outside the door, I sneered. Of course, I knew the chat log was fake. I had come back from the future, after all. In two weeks, the zombie outbreak would begin. Those two so-called siblings who were actually lovers would not only steal my medicine, they would push me out to feed me to the zombies. This time, with only four days left before zombie hordes overran the city, I wanted to see how long a sick woman without a new kidney and a scumbag without supplies could last in that penthouse.