Ring!
Ring!
Ring!
In a room illuminated by the moonlight sifting through the open glass window with the night breeze swaying the dark curtains, the sound of an alarm rang loudly.
"Ugh."
A soft grunt ensued in the small room as a hand rustled around the bedsheet, seemingly trying to find the source of the annoying noise.
[4:30 A.M.]
Seeing the time with her half-open groggy eyes, the girl mumbled, "Damn, I should've slept earlier."
As she came out of her grogginess, back to her senses, her petite body jolted in response. she hurriedly sat up on the bed, her mind becoming crystal clear in a matter of seconds.
"How could I forget!?"
"It's time, isn't it!?"
"Finally!!"
The girl exclaimed in excitement as her lips curled upward into an unmistakable smile.
Just as her right hand picked up her phone, she halted in her tracks as her left hand reached for her throat.
'I should drink some water first.'
She got up from her bed, heading to the kitchen after grasping her phone in one hand as she switched on the kitchen light, illuminating her form.
With messy disheveled black hair, dark circles under her eyes, and scrunched-up clothes on her body, she filled a glass of water, but her eyes were glued to her phone.
Without looking away from the phone, she gulped the entire glass of water in one go.
Thud
Placing the empty glass on the kitchen counter, she unlocked her phone with giddy excitement, her body unable to stand in one place.
With extreme familiarity, she opened an app with 'ON' on its icon, short for OnlineNovel, the biggest enterprise for webnovels and the like.
"Load faster, damn it!"
She cursed loudly at her wifi, the app, her phone, and everything else, as she couldn't hold on to her ever-growing curiosity anymore.
"Today is the day I will know..." She muttered with nervous anticipation, her voice trembling due to the sheer excitement coursing through her veins.
"IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!" She shouted in extreme happiness, uncaring of how it annoyed her neighbors.
[The Mary Sue's Secret Lover]
[Views: 149.7 Million]
[Rating: 4.78/5]
[Last Update: Chapter 2000: Epilogue: Revelation of the Secret (2 minutes ago)]
[Author's Announcement: I am elated and thankful for every reader who has loved my book and given me the constant motivation to keep writing. Unfortunately, every journey must come to an end, and with a bittersweet feeling, I announce the end of my book today. Fret not, For this is not my last work. Also, I am going to give a gift to my Most Loyal Reader, who has been a constant motivator since the start of the novel, 'artist_117'. Once again, Thank you everyone!! Goodbye!]
"Ah... The book ends with this..."
"If I tap it, it will end..."
"No, I can't..."
"...but I am 'artist_117'. How can I be disloyal and not read the final chapter?"
"She even prepared a gift for me..."
"Yes, let's look at the comments under her announcement."
With great reluctance, she went to the comments before posting her own.
@Rex.is.the.best: Ahhhh! It's ending!! (TT)
@GIVEMEACE: Finally, we'll know who she ends up with! [img=excruciating]
@Erfg0963: This shouldn't end so soon. [img=crying]
@Ilovemyu: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! WHY MUST IT END!? WE WANT MORE! TT
...
"Something's weird... The comments seem normal... Well, whatever."
@artist_117: I love your book!! Looking forward to the last chapter! Wish me luck! I don't want to cry! (TT) >β .β <
"...And post!"
[Your comment was posted successfully]
"Huh? Why is my name on the top and in golden letters?"
The girl stared suspiciously at her comment but facepalmed herself at her stupid antics.
"What am I doing? I woke up this early to be the first to read, but look at the thousands of comments..."
Just as she reached the chapter and pressed on it, a pop-up window surfaced on her phone.
[Chapter 2000: Epilogue: Revelation of the Secret]
[Chapter Locked]
[50 Crystals to unlock]
She immediately tapped on it with great familiarity without a shred of hesitation.
Usually, she would have noticed that the price of the chapter was more than double the normal price, but she didn't care.
After all, 1 USD equaled 200 Crystals, and she was an earning individual, so it didn't matter to her.
However, just as she bought the chapter and it was buffering, she suddenly felt her balance shift.
"Huh? What's going on?"
The voice had barely left her mouth when her entire body started shaking uncontrollably as she fell to the floor.
Clank
Tnng
Amongst sounds of clanking and clamoring, she noticed that her kitchen utensils had fallen from their hoisting places.
"An Earthquake?" She recognized it in a jiffy because they weren't rare to begin with.
Since the past decade, earthquakes have struck almost all the continents on Earth, but this was the first time she felt such intense tremors.
Still, her goal was simple.
She started crawling to get under the tabletop in her kitchen while still holding her phone in hand.
She barely crawled as the tremors were too strong for her body to not tremble in response.
'I will read the chapter under there...'
Her first wish was to read the chapter rather than guaranteeing her life.
That just went to show how much of a no-lifer she was.
Well, also the fact she wasn't a newbie when it came to earthquakes and didn't fear them.
"I hope they are safe," she muttered while crawling as the images of her mother, her younger brother, and his fiancΓ© appeared in her mind.
However, her entire thought process broke apart the moment she felt a shadow fall on her, and as she looked up,
"Shit!"
She cursed her luck as the roof fell over her, burying her underneath the rubble.
Her form turned into a gory mess as her consciousness started fading; her last thoughts way too frightening for any sane individual.
'I will find and make you go through the same pain!'
'Damn, I couldn't read the last chapter... but at least I bought it...'
'Ahhhhhβ¦'
'I just hope my family is fine and they can live without me...'
'Is... death? This... nothingness...?'
'Cold...'
'End... this...'
Her thoughts started getting slower and slower before they stopped completely as her phone fell out of her grasp and she died.
Suddenly, all the tremors stopped as if they were never there, to begin with.
A weird phenomenon to say the least.
Tak!
Her phone reached the floor as it landed without as much as a scratch on it, courtesy of aPhone 25.
Alas, if only human bodies were just as durable, she would have survived and read the chapter she so wished so much to.
Ting!
A prompt appeared on the screen with a loud sound across the silent dusty room.
[Do you wish to continue reading?]
...
Ting!
[You have not made any prompt for the past 30 minutes. If no prompt is made within the next 15 seconds, the device will lock its screen under the preset settings.]
...
After an unknown period of time the phone with its locked screen lit up with the sound of a notification and a message popped on its screen.
Ting!
[You finally purchased the last chapter!! I have been eagerly waiting for it!! Thanks a lot for your support!! I don't know what I would've done without your support!!]
Ting!
[PS: I wasn't lying when I mentioned a gift; I sent it to your address, dear Cordelia, I hope you will like it!]
As if it finished what it wanted, the phone's screen died once again.
However, with a sudden flash, Cordelia's phone exploded out of nowhere, causing the rubble and debris to spread, breaking through windows, and alerting the neighbors about her flat's and her possibly worse condition.