With an ulterior motive, I went there and distributed some flyers for my laundry shop. Lured by the generous discounts, my target soon took the bait...
Howard's wife, Bianca, walked into my shop. She was a gentle, soft-spoken woman who radiated the same contented warmth as Christine. The moment I saw her, I knew she had a happy life.
I pushed down my churning emotions and deliberately befriended her. Through careful probing, I gathered some basic information about her. One day, while she was at work, I sneaked into her home.
I used her fingerprints to easily open the smart lock. What unfolded before me was a home decorated with loving attention—every small detail spoke of the owner's love and satisfaction with life.
That sweet wedding photo shattered something inside me. If not for that nightmarish incident, I'd have been the woman in that picture...
Just as I was drowning in memories, the sound of a key turning in the lock jerked me back to reality. I wanted to flee, but it was too late, so I had no choice but to keep playing the part...
9
"Huh, what are you doing home?" It was Howard who walked in.
"I forgot something, so I took time off to come get it," I answered.
"Oh, you're always so scatterbrained." He walked over and affectionately ruffled my hair.
A warmth I hadn't felt in ages poured through me from the top of my head. I quickly turned away to hide the tears threatening to spill. "Okay, I should get back to work now."
No one knew how desperately I craved his warmth, but I didn't dare stay. I was afraid of losing control.
"I'm heading to the office soon too. Let me give you a ride."
"No thanks, I'm in a hurry."
"Hold on, put this on." He caught up and wrapped a scarf around my neck, then leaned down and kissed me gently on the forehead. "It's windy out. Don't catch a cold."
Tears streaming, I bolted out the door...
His tenderness and warmth in that moment cut me to the bone!
10
"Bianca, you're nothing but a petty thief! You stole Howard's love, you stole the happiness that should have been mine..."
Back home, I rushed to the mirror and glared at the face before me with venomous jealousy and hatred...
A dark thought flashed through my mind: if I destroyed this face, would Howard still love her?
I grabbed a knife and pressed the blade against her cheek. One forceful slash and this perfect face would be ruined—and the woman who owned it would go straight to hell...
Why should I suffer in hell while she got to live in paradise?
Come on down—taste the flames for yourself!
In the end, I couldn't bring myself to do it. Just as the blade was about to pierce the skin, my reason won out...
I dropped the knife, trembling with terror at how close I'd come.
I'd almost become a monster!
11
"You know what? Something really weird happened to me recently!"
When Bianca came to pick up her clothes, she looked distinctly unsettled. "That day, I was clearly at work, but my husband said he saw me at home! He was worried I'd catch a cold and even put a scarf on me. And the creepiest part—that scarf actually went missing!"
"Is this it?" I produced a paper bag. The scarf was inside.
"Oh, how did this end up here?" she asked, surprised.
"You must have accidentally included it with the clothes you dropped off," I replied.
"If that's the case, then it's even stranger." She frowned. "That incident happened after I'd already brought the clothes here—which means the scarf was already here. So what scarf did my husband see me wearing at home?"
"Don't overthink it. Maybe your husband just remembered wrong." I patted her shoulder. "Men get absent-minded when they're busy."
She didn't argue further. She seemed to accept that explanation.
12
I walked Bianca to the door, smiling as I said goodbye.
She took a few steps, then suddenly turned back. "Actually, I've known who you are for a long time. Before marrying Howard, I quietly did a background check on him...
"Which means I also know your situation. Your marriage isn't happy—to say the least.
"You went out of your way to get close to me because you couldn't let go, didn't you?
"But what's done is done. Your chapter with Howard is closed. Hope, if you truly love him, then please don't disturb him anymore, okay?"
Her words landed like slaps across my face.
By the time I recovered, she was already walking away. I startled and chased after her. "Bianca!"
"Is there something else?" She turned back, indifferent.
"I... I wish you happiness," I said through gritted teeth. "I mean it."
She gave me a skeptical look, then curved her lips into a half-smile. "And I wish you better days ahead."
13
There were no better days ahead—only an ever-deepening abyss.
From the moment I married Ray, my life had been nothing but darkness.
That night, I was beaten again. Ray had snatched Bella's tuition money to go drinking and gambling. When I refused to let go, he thrashed me. Bella tried to intervene, crying, and got hit too.
Bella's head struck the corner of the table, and a huge bump immediately swelled up. I clutched my daughter, my heart aching so much I could barely breathe! "Ray, you're not even human! I can't live like this anymore—I want a divorce! Even if it kills me!"
Ray paused, then sneered. "Fine, divorce me. But I have one condition."
I hadn't expected him to agree. My heart leaped. "What condition? Tell me."
"Give me half a million, and I'll sign the papers right now."
"Half a million?" I was floored. Let alone half a million, I couldn't even scrape together fifty thousand. All the money I'd earned over the years had been drunk or gambled away by him.
"Ray, you're being unreasonable!"
"What's unreasonable about it?" He rolled his eyes. "There's my condition. Whether you divorce or not is up to you."
He grabbed Bella's tuition money and stormed out.
Leaving me there, desperate, unable even to cry.
Then suddenly, my eyes lit up...
14
Kelly was an accountant at a company, managing their finances. Using her identity, getting half a million shouldn't be hard!
So that day, I drugged Kelly when she came to pick up her clothes. While she was unconscious, I slipped away to her workplace...
I could have easily transferred five hundred thousand, but in the end, I didn't go through with it.
Because on Kelly's desk, I saw a family photo. If I'd stolen that money, she would have been destroyed. Losing half a million would mean a lengthy prison sentence. Her husband would lose a wife, her child would lose a mother...
In a word—her life would be ruined!
Building my own happiness on someone else's suffering—I simply couldn't do it.
So I changed my mind.
No, that's not right—I pulled back from the edge. At the critical moment, I held on to my conscience.
When Kelly came to, she thought she'd just dozed off. She'd never know what had happened during those lost hours.
And she'd never know how close she'd come to plunging into a terrifying abyss, never to see the light of day again...
One thought for heaven, one thought for hell!
15
Without half a million, I had no choice but to keep enduring. And the game of transformation became my only escape—a way to briefly free myself.
I drifted from one host body to another, stealing brief moments of warmth to fill my own hollow, lonely soul...
My name was "Hope," but my life was nothing but despair.
16
One day, Ray came home with an uncharacteristic smile. He said he'd won some money and wanted to treat Bella and me to a big meal.
I wanted nothing to do with that kind of money. But he was still Bella's father, and the longing in her little eyes made it impossible to refuse.
Throughout the meal, Ray was exceptionally attentive—pouring water and adding food to our plates, like a proper husband and father...
At his urging, I had a little red wine. Since I hadn't drunk in a long time, it hit me fast. When I woke up, I found myself lying in a strange bed, with a strange man beside me...
His name was Gavin. He was one of Ray's gambling buddies.
"Your husband lost all his money and used you to pay off his debt," Gavin told me shamelessly.
I was stunned.
I knew Ray was a bastard, but I hadn't realized just how monstrous.
He'd actually handed me—his own wife, the mother of his child—over to another man!
17
I don't even know how I made it back home.
It was late. Bella was still waiting up. I gave her a bottle of milk—laced with sleeping pills—and once she was asleep, I stepped outside.
"Ray, have you lost your mind? How could you trade me like merchandise to another man?" I confronted him furiously.
"Come on, I had no choice," he shrugged. "If I didn't pay up, they'd have chopped off my hand. Gavin's no joke—he'll do anything! We're married—one favor, that's all I'm asking..."
I glared at him, desperately searching for some flicker of remorse.
But there was nothing. Not a trace.
Only contempt, indifference, and disdain...
I was beyond angry. I was truly, completely unhinged.
I screamed and hurled everything I could find at him.
He flew into a rage too, spitting the most venomous insults at me. "Slut," "loose woman," "whore"... Every word was a dagger to my heart.
But the most shocking thing of all was what he let slip in his fury...
The man who'd dragged me into the bushes and raped me that night—had been him.
He'd done it to get me. He'd destroyed my reputation to keep Howard and me apart.
Afterward, he'd used that incident as a weapon to pin me to a pillar of shame—controlling me, beating me, keeping me under his heel as his slave...
18
The abyss has a bottom, but the human heart has no measure.
In that moment, no words could describe what I felt.
I grabbed a fruit knife from the table and lunged at him. But how could I possibly win that fight? He beat me down with a few punches and kicks...
When I regained consciousness, he was gone.
I sat amid the wreckage, breaking down in sobs...
Call the police? Clearly impractical. It had been so long; there was no evidence to be found. My word alone wouldn't be enough to convict him...
He knew I couldn't do anything to him—that's why he was so brazen, so utterly unrepentant...
Now I knew what a demon looked like!
19
Justice is a net that lets nothing slip through.
Not long after, Ray was arrested.
All evidence pointed to him having murdered his gambling buddy, Gavin.
As the police hauled him away, he screamed his innocence like a slaughtered pig.
No one believed him.
No one except me.
20
Yes, Ray was innocent.
The real killer was me.
That day, I put on his clothes, took on his identity, and lured Gavin out.
When Gavin wasn't looking, I knocked him out and then, with a prepared blade, performed a minor operation.
The operation wasn't fatal, but it would make him wish it were.
I'd done my research. This man was a loan shark who'd set traps that ruined countless lives.monster like that didn't deserve courtesy.
When Gavin came to, he immediately called the police.
The evidence was overwhelming, and Ray couldn't defend himself. He finally went where he belonged—though it took far too long.
After he was locked up, I finally got the freedom I'd dreamed of. To leave the shadows behind, I took Bella and left that city, wiping the slate clean and starting a new life...
My life finally had hope!
(End of Story 11)
*
"Two birds with one stone—brilliantly done!" Stan applauded. "Not that I approve of vigilante justice, but that man Ray was absolutely despicable! And Gavin too—both got what they deserved."
"Exactly, they had it coming." Cindy was always one to champion justice. "By the way, can you still transform? Ha, quick, show me!"
"Sorry, you won't be seeing that," Hope shook her head with a smile. "After Ray was arrested, my daughter and I moved away from that place of heartbreak. I still run a laundry shop, but I've lost the magic."
"Aw, what a shame!" Cindy said. "But regardless, you've finally escaped that demon. Here's hoping you and Bella find happiness from here on out..."
"Thank you. I'm sure we will."
"I'm like you—there's someone in my heart I can never have," a girl interjected softly. "But I was luckier—I married a good man. He loves me and never lets me suffer the slightest. Yet I still can't let go of that person...
"We all have regrets in this life. Have you ever wondered... is there another version of you out there, living the life you've always wanted?
"I can tell you from my own experience—there is.
"I've seen that 'me.' She really is living the life I've always dreamed of! In her world, family, love, and career—everything—exists exactly as I would have wished it...
"People like her are called 'doppelgängers'..."