I’m Actually the Protagonist of the Previous Comic

[This author's rewriting again... Give me a week!]

The comic Mortal World is a thoroughly classic, action-packed shonen series. It has just begun its third season, and with it came a chorus of furious complaints at its latest climax.

The author was accused of caring only about the paycheck, adding characters recklessly whenever he ran out of ideas, and being a shameless hack who had completely wrecked the power scaling.

Readers wailed, "Give me back the passionate youth I spent reading this!"

Until one character appeared, and the story took a turn.

Every opportunity and every new twist came from one person.

The protagonist of the comic's first series, a dead legend, a ghost erased from history, the last inheritor of the spark of revolution:

Zhong Chongchen.

Zhong Chongchen had somehow been dragged into the conflict. He had just graduated from high school, worked at a restaurant for three months, and still owed his boss three hundred yuan. "?"

Who is this guy? There isn't room for so many people here!

And yet everyone in this world seemed to know him.

Then the shameless author showed up and told Zhong Chongchen that this was just a stopgap plot point he'd made up on the spot because he couldn't figure out where the story was going. Now he was going to give Zhong Chongchen power so he could survive the chaos.

But all he saw was the comic's villain kneeling before Zhong Chongchen, leading his underlings in a shouted cry: "Beneath Chong's rule, the mortal world knows no sorrow!"

When the author came to his senses, he realized that during the year he had cut off his internet to avoid the criticism, the comic had already reached the ending Zhong Chongchen had arranged.

And it had even won widespread acclaim!

--

After the original Mortal World comic ended, its prequel was released as a comic film to celebrate the finale.

The prequel's protagonist, Zhong Chongchen, was a monster, the world's first person with supernatural powers, and the only first-generation leader to die bearing the blame.

He was also the part that history books had always left blank.

Years later, he appeared in the world once again, but not to destroy those who had piled every piece of evidence against him, nor to exact revenge.

He simply appeared, then once again faded into a tiny footnote in history.

And brought new life.

Readers cried and wailed as the comic's popularity continued to soar. "Zhong Chongchen" became synonymous with a popular character, and Mortal World was hailed as a masterpiece that transformed the genre. The shameless author was suddenly celebrated as a brilliant, sought-after comic artist.

Having done what he came to do, Zhong Chongchen slipped away without claiming any credit. He declared:

Rather than becoming a popular character, he'd much rather be a comic artist who earns a hundred thousand a month.

Seriously, he should get half the comic's licensing fees!

-------- Upcoming Novel Preview --------

[Colossal structures + post-apocalypse + celestial rankings. I know it sounds weird, but it's so cool!]

The hottest young-adult comic of the moment, Under Eden, had taken the world by storm with its knack for killing off beloved characters and its distinctive ladder ranking system.

Yi Fu was a devoted reader of Under Eden.

Before bed, he made an impassioned post that sent the mysterious villain Charon trending for killing off so many people's favorite characters before even making an official appearance.

Then he woke up to find that he had transmigrated into Charon himself.

[Welcome to Under Eden]

[Here, power determines your rank, and popularity determines whether you live.]

Hold on. They were making survival depend on popularity, but casting him as the villain everyone hated? Why not just sentence him to death?

Luckily, Yi Fu laughed. He was a professional at manipulating public opinion!

--

The villains in Under Eden always met gruesome ends.

People loved peace, praised noble lives, sang of a bright future, and hated injustice and emptiness.

Charon was hungry, young, and ambitious.

He killed eight of the top ten on the original Celestial Ladder and stole their authorities, earning himself the scornful title "Fire Thief."

His name hung at the very top of the ladder, and he held onto first place. Anyone who tried to challenge him was killed.

Readers hated him and cursed him, yet could only watch helplessly as one character after another finished telling their story and turned toward the world with a smile that seemed to be soaked in sunlight.

Because that smile foretold Charon's arrival, and death.

But in the end, the young man fell before the comic's protagonist, looking calm and at ease:

[I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. From now on, the crown of righteousness is reserved for me.]

No one knew that the one at the top of the Celestial Ladder could make a single wish.

The first person to reach the top had said, "I want to be the world's master. I want everything in this world to exist only for me."

Charon had said, "Then I will be the end that brings your death."

The readers were bewildered. The readers fell silent. The readers deleted their negative reviews of Charon.

He really did have it rough.

And behind countless tears, Yi Fu wore a sinister smile.

Sorry, his first job was public relations!

[Reading Notice]

The quotation in brackets is from the Chinese translation of the New Testament's Second Letter to Timothy. The wording was based on Jiang Nan's Dragon Raja III: Dark Moon Tide.

Theme: Fortune always favors the brave.