Imagination 短篇故事與小說

In my past life, Father abandons me and banishes me to the Forsaken Reaches. Meanwhile, Silas Mullen, my brother, is doted on greatly. He marries Ruby Snow, Princess of the Dragon Tribe, and becomes the hope of standing against the Demon Clan. I unexpectedly form a contract with a phoenix at the Forsaken Reaches and become a celebrated God of War across the Three Realms. Silas, on the other hand, grows complacent and becomes nothing more than a failure. He eventually ambushes me from behind and kills me with a dagger on the day of the Demon Clan's invasion. I open my eyes again, only to find that we have returned to the day of the pact ceremony. Silas flashes me a wicked smirk and says, "Your luck belongs to me now, Ryder." I suppress my laughter and slowly approach Ruby, who has elegant features and captivating eyes that seem to hold endless charm. I can't help but blush deeply as I look into her eyes. Then, I turn to Silas, who is still overjoyed, and say, "I rely on more than just luck, Silas."

My name is Mabel Lloyd, and I make a barely decent living repairing household appliances. Two weeks ago, on a night when the rain came down heavily, I found a soaking-wet stranger huddled outside my apartment building. He was ridiculously handsome, an incredible cook and had only one glaring flaw — he was painfully shy. Whenever anyone asked his name, he would blush so hard his ears turned bright red, then stand there in complete silence, unable to get a single word out. I could not bring myself to leave him out in the rain, so I rented him the spare storage room in my apartment. Everything was fine. Until today. I heard knocking at my door and, when I went over to check who it was, the building manager was standing there with three men in black suits. The one in front flashed a badge, his expression unreadable. "Routine inspection. Bureau of Supernatural Affairs. "We have reason to believe an unregistered fox shifter may be hiding on these premises." Before I could even process what he had said, a loud clang rang out from the kitchen as a frying pan hit the floor. The very next second, my painfully shy tenant cautiously peeked around the kitchen door. A pair of fluffy white fox ears twitched nervously on top of his head and, when he spoke, his voice shook so badly it sounded like a washing machine caught in the spin cycle. "Mabel... don't open the door. They're here to drag me home for an arranged marriage."

On our wedding night, my husband, Ralph Raymond, dropped dead in our bed and left me hundreds of millions. Naturally, everyone told me to remarry while I was still young. Even my best friend secretly set me up with a guy. Broad shoulders. Slim waist. Not as hot or rich as Ralph, but young, sweet, and always there. Then he proposed. And glowing messages blew up in front of my face. [Do NOT say yes! Lila set this whole thing up! She knows Ralph's ghost is still right beside you!] [The second you take that ring, everyone will call you a gold digger and a cheating liar!] [Ralph's love will turn into hate. When he comes back from the dead, you're the first person he'll strangle.] [And your fake bestie? She'll save the man you betrayed, steal his heart, take his fortune, and spend the next forty years living your life. Their epic love story will be the only thing anyone talks about.] I stared at the guy on one knee, holding out a diamond ring. A few seconds passed. I chose to trust the messages. Then I slapped him.

After an accident, I gain the ability to hear a notification chime whenever the man I love lies to me. On our eighth anniversary, I hide my positive pregnancy test and ask him playfully, "Tell me. Do you love me?" Elliot Cahill smiles at me tenderly. "I do. You're the only woman I love." I hear a chime in my head, and my smile instantly stiffens. Elliot's phone suddenly lights up. After glancing at the screen, he gives me an apologetic look. "Josie, I really want to stay and celebrate our anniversary with you, but something urgent just came up at work." I hear another chime. I hurry after him, the pregnancy test digging painfully into my palm. "Elliot, will you ever lie to me?" He pauses before chuckling and patting my head. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course, I won't. I'm coming back as soon as I'm done." Yet another chime sounds. The door closes behind him. With a trembling hand, I caress my stomach. "Your father is lying to us. We don't need him anymore, right?"

When I picked my son up from school, he told me he hadn’t been able to fall asleep during naptime. He said he’d seen someone who wasn’t dressed like the teachers walking around the classroom, staring at each child while they slept. I had access to the classroom cameras and checked them regularly throughout the day, so I figured it was just his imagination and didn’t think much of it. Then Vivian’s mom, whose daughter was in the same class, suddenly messaged me privately. “Vivian said she saw a teacher she didn’t recognize watching her sleep at noon. It scared her. But I checked the security footage, and no one entered the classroom during naptime.” “I noticed David opened his eyes at one point, so I wanted to ask if he mentioned seeing anything.” My heart skipped a beat. I immediately pulled up the classroom footage again. After watching it carefully and confirming I hadn’t missed anything, I was just about to reply to Vivian’s mom when the class group chat suddenly blew up. “My child said there was a teacher he didn’t know walking around the classroom while they were sleeping. How are you people running this place?” The teacher immediately responded, insisting nothing like that had happened, and posted the security footage in the group chat. But then the parents of five other children began chiming in one after another. “My kid said the same thing. He saw a teacher he didn’t recognize.” “Then... what exactly is going on?”

My best friend, Eleanor Clark, and I both get transported into an ancient world. After completing our system task to help the regent take the throne, the system whisks me back to the real world. Eleanor, however, chooses to stay behind with the regent. [Isabel, theoretically the system cannot interfere once a task is complete, but your friend Eleanor has gone missing. Can you go back one more time?] My chest tightens, and I agree to the system's request immediately. Disguised as a palace maid, I catch sight of Eleanor from afar, looking blissfully happy as she holds a child. Relieved, I decide not to disturb her and head back to the teleport point to report to the system. As I pass the old city gate, I spot a woman's corpse hanging high on the wall. Every inch of her skin has been flayed away, and her face has been completely disfigured. Even her blood has run dry. Driven by caution, I look closer. Her pelvis is dislocated. It is obvious that she was brutally tortured before she died. As I scan the contours of her face, I feel a sudden sense of familiarity. Dread creeps over me. My eyes drop to her right hand, where the pinky finger has been severed. My blood turns to ice. Her frame matches Eleanor's perfectly. If this corpse is… Then who is the empress sitting beside the emperor that day?

During the car crash, my brother didn’t hesitate to save our adopted sister, Chloe Fox, first. Meanwhile, I was crushed beneath the airbag, a searing pain shooting through my left leg. It was definitely broken. My brother’s voice was tense and frantic as he said to me, “Chloe can’t handle pain like you can. Just hold on for a minute!” Before I lost consciousness, I watched him carry Chloe away from the car, leaving me behind as the engine began to smoke. When I finally woke up, I realized I was kidnapped. A masked kidnapper pointed a camera straight at my face and said, “Alright, Mr. Fox. If you don’t want your sister to die, bring me thirty million dollars in cash yourself. She might’ve survived that car crash, but she might not be so lucky with us.” I forced my head up, my vision blurred with dried blood. Through the speaker, I heard Chloe sobbing. “Oh, thank goodness! Jean is still alive! The car blew up, and she still survived… She really is so lucky!” Just like that, the worry in my brother’s voice vanished. “Jean, how long are you going to keep playing these childish games? First a fake car crash, and now a staged kidnapping? You’re unbelievable. If you want to die so badly, go do it somewhere far away where I don’t have to look at you.” Just then, the video call cut off, and the kidnapper became enraged. “If we’re not getting paid, you’re useless to us. Beat her up!” At that exact moment, a robotic voice echoed in my head. [The “cannon fodder-real heiress” mission has been completed, and the “fake heiress’s rags-to-riches tale” progress is at 95 percent. You will exit the storyline upon death. Do you accept?] My sealed memory suddenly resurfaced. As it turned out, my suffering was all just part of a System mission to resurrect my deceased parents. Without a moment of hesitation, I chose yes. The very next second, the System blocked all my pain receptors. As the steel pipes came crashing down on my body, a faint smile formed at the corner of my lips. Whatever I couldn’t take with me, I didn’t want anymore.