It's Saturday morning, Xiao Liu wakes up at the sound of his alarm, but instead of switching it off immediately, he rises up in one swift motion and picks up his phone, as if he had been patiently waiting for the alarm to sound.
Unlocking his phone, Xiao Liu quickly opens the Webnovel app and clicks on the first novel that pops up in his library. It's his favorite novel, titled *The Weight Of Dawn.*
Xiao Liu has had a sleepless night because of this particular novel, waiting all night for 7 a.m. when the Author usually uploads new chapters, and upon opening it now, Xiao Liu is a bit disappointed.
"Damnit, why won't he drop the chapters at the usual time?"
Xiao Liu swore under his breath. Instead of the usual two new chapters that always popped up every time he opened the novel, a message from the Author popped up in its place.
"Dear great readers, I am deeply sorry for the delay in today's chapters. They'll be uploaded in a couple of hours. The Author is done cooking, so expect a mass release today. Cheers!!!"
That's the message from the Author of Xiao Liu's favorite novel.
"This bastard, he sure wants to rush the ending. Why is there a mass release again when he claimed the novel is ending this week?"
If it were any other time, Xiao Liu would've been over the moon at the sound of a mass release, but right now, he doesn't need it, because the damned Author is ending the novel this week. He'd prefer the usual two chapters a day to the damned mass release.
"If not for Xin Mao and Chang Fei, does he think I'd be reading a novel written by a trash Author like him?"
The Author of his favorite novel enjoys toying with the feelings of his readers, but Xiao Liu finds it hard to drop this particular novel—he just couldn't.
"Maybe I should just stockpile. I'll read only two today and two tomorrow."
After making up his mind, Xiao Liu got off his bed and quickly did his morning chores, starting from arranging his room, and before he knew it, two hours had already passed.
He rushed off to pick up his phone and found out the Author had released the chapters.
"Six chapters?"
Curious, he opened it immediately, but the Author's message was what popped up first.
"Hello great readers, the story ends today. The final chapter is the sixth one, so enjoy. Cheers!"
Mesmerized by the presence of six chapters at once, Xiao Liu completely disregarded the point that the Author said the story is ending today. He quickly got to reading, and before he knew it, he found himself in the fifth chapter, the second to the last chapter of the book.
"Finally, the real battle—dealing with the Demon Lord."
Xiao Liu said in excitement; he didn't even know when he got to the fifth chapter—he was too overwhelmed with joy.
But when he got to the last few lines in the chapter, Xiao Liu almost fell from the chair he was sitting on.
"No no no, this isn't making sense. No, it doesn't make any sense."
He muttered under his breath, trying to confirm what he had just read, to see if he hadn't read it wrong.
*And then they both died.*
"Nooooo! How can it be? How can the main character die and the villain live? How can he be killed by his own best friend? What type of stupid, dumb, and useless betrayal is this???"
Xiao Liu yelled at the top of his lungs.
"No, let me read this again and get it straight."
He tried to calm himself down as he read.
*The Demon Lord is beaten to the point of death that he couldn't move his limbs again, and Xin Mao slowly walks up to him, his eyes burning with malice as he counts all the sins the Demon Lord has committed. Then the Demon Lord starts laughing painfully as he says,*
"hahaha, you think I am the villain? Well, you're just a useless idiot and innocent boy. You know nothing—just wait and see."
*The Demon Lord said as he laughed in agony. Then Xin Mao sensed a strange power behind him, and when he turned back, he felt a dark crimson sword sliding into his belly, blood gushing out of it like tap water. He only felt the pain when he saw who had stabbed him.*
"Chang Fei? Why?"
*Xin Mao muttered, his eyes losing vitality slowly. And then the Demon Lord launched his final attack, which also killed Chang Fei in the process.*
"Nooo! The Author has gone crazy! How can this happen in the second to the last chapter?"
Xiao Liu felt like he was going crazy. He angrily smashed his phone, gritting his teeth as hard as he could.
"Can't believe I spent years reading this trash! I know the Author is crazy, but has he completely lost his mind?"
Xiao Liu just couldn't believe it. He felt like this was one of the Author's tricks.
"No no, I need to read the final chapter. I need to know what happened."
Realizing that there's still one more chapter he needs to read, Xiao Liu slowly walked up to his phone, which now had its screen scratched, and just as he was about to pick it up, something strange happened.
A light blue brilliance shone from the broken screen of his phone, then it enveloped the whole room, and before Xiao Liu knew it, he found himself standing in a completely dark room. He couldn't see anything, nor could he hear anything apart from the sound of his racing heartbeat.
'What's going on?'
He thought.
*Dear great readers, it seems you're not satisfied with the way our legendary Author ends his book, and due to your years of loyalty and dedication to this book, you have been given a chance to change the ending of this story.*
A dark ancient mechanical voice echoed through the dark room, almost bursting Xiao Liu's eardrums.
*You'll be given a role in this book, and your goal is to rewrite the ending of this story to what feels right to you. Making the main character live is what you think is right, so you must save him. You must save the main character. If you fail to do so, only death awaits you! Good luck and have a nice adventure!*
And then the voice disappeared in an instant, just as it had appeared. A couple of seconds later, the dark room was also gone, and Xiao Liu found himself...
"What the bloody hell???"
He found himself standing at the peak of a very tall mountain where he could see almost every human in the mortal realm, their dark tiny figures moving slowly below him.
Xiao Liu recognized the mountain too well.
It was the...
"…Dark Eye Mountain."
The mountain that serves as a border between the mortal realm and the demon realm in his favorite novel, *The Weight Of Dawn.*
"Wait wait, what the fucking hell happened? Was I transported into the novel? To change the ending of the story? To save Xin Mao? How on earth is this possible?"
Xiao Liu couldn't believe it, but there's no denying it—he had been transported into his favorite novel. Or else, why would he be standing at the peak of Dark Eye Mountain? And it's not a dream; he could feel it.
"Oh right, why am I standing at the peak of this damned mountain?"
Then he looked at himself—looked at his body and clothing—and realization hit him, almost making him fall off the mountain.
"Don't tell me... I... am the... the... Demon Lord? I was given the role of the Purple Twilight Demon Lord, Xiao Liu? How can this be?"
He almost spat out after the realization. He just couldn't believe it. Out of all the characters in the novel, why would he be given the role of Xiao Liu—the Demon Lord—the most evil of all villains? Why? Just why???
"Is it because we have the same name?"
He wondered. But how could he save the main character if he was the villain?
Absolutely puzzled...
But what Xiao Liu failed to realize is that the voice had said the word *readers,* which only means he's not the only one transported into the book—there are other people.
This is going to be tougher than he thought.