Twin World

In the brightly lit living room, Fang Can stared wide-eyed at everything before him.

Everything was so familiar. It was the very villa he had lived in for years, with none of the furnishings changed.

"I'm actually back again?"

Unable to believe it, Fang Can turned his gaze to the television in front of him. The lower-left corner of the news broadcast displayed the time.

[Apocalypse Era 136, December 1, 03:45]

"December 1st." Fang Can instinctively covered his face.

Because if there had been no mistake in the timing, then while he had spent seven days in the other world, this world had effectively been frozen in time.

"What's going on?" Fang Can turned his head, his gaze falling on the floor-to-ceiling window beside him.

In the reflection, a beautiful black-haired youth in black-and-red ancient attire stared back at him with wide eyes.

If his power had not remained and his clothes had not changed, he might have thought everything from the past seven days had been a dream.

"In other words, I really did transmigrate, then transmigrate back." With that thought, several questions flooded Fang Can's mind:

"Will there be another transmigration? If so, when? If I transmigrate back in a few days, how am I supposed to explain it to the Tiger Fiend Sect? Or does everything in that other world pause while I'm here?"

Fang Can's mind was a mess. This sudden transmigration had disrupted all his plans. He took several steps back and sat down on the sofa, glancing at the television news as he pondered.

On the news, a formally dressed host spoke solemnly to the camera:

"There are only a few weeks left until the seventh National Carnival. The public has shown great interest in the content of this year's carnival, and we look forward to..."

"I almost forgot about that." Fang Can lay on his side, propping up his head with one hand as he thought.

The so-called "Seventh Evil Elimination Project" had been proposed seven years ago.

In order to reduce the increasingly negative emotions of the populace, the upper-class Superpowered had conducted a survey among the citizens.

The survey asked whether a day-long ultimate carnival should be held in one city every year.

The carnival's content ranged from bloody trials for criminals to the **legalization of an entire city. The entire event would be livestreamed from start to finish, making it a prime example of Entertainment to Death.

As for why such an outrageous survey had passed in the first place, Fang Can could not understand it either. He could only chalk it up to the nation built by Superpowered having the power to act as they pleased.

In any case, the National Carnival had continued for seven years. Every city selected for it became a complete mess the next day and took years to recover.

That was because the participants were not just locals from the chosen city, but also lower-class people transported in from other cities.

For example, students in the bottom 1% of national exam scores, criminals from various prisons, Villains who had offended upper-class Superpowered, and thrill-seekers from across the country who had voluntarily signed up.

"I wonder which city got picked this year. So hard to guess." Fang Can tilted his head, somewhat looking forward to seeing which unlucky city it would be.

After all, he was half a thrill-seeker himself. He paid close attention to the annual event and had watched the prank rankings at least twice.

Just as he was guessing, the superpowered lords he had been thinking about had already had their attention drawn by an abnormal occurrence at an experimental base.

Inside Dragon Hidden Base, beneath the suburbs of A City, an eighteen-year-old youth walked into the modern experimental facility. He wore a tight golden uniform, a red cape draped behind his shoulders, and an enormous F emblazoned across his chest.

Before him stood researchers in cleanroom suits. Their hurried footsteps revealed the urgency in their hearts.

At the sight of the young man in the golden uniform, the researchers all stopped in their tracks, their faces tense.

They all recognized this superpowered youth, who often appeared on screen to give speeches.

His codename was F-Superman, his full name [Fuck you Superman]. His publicly displayed abilities included super strength, super defense, super speed, super vision...

Looking at them, the youth's expression remained cold as he said flatly, "Get someone qualified to talk to me. Don't waste my time. Report the situation, now."

At his urging, several researchers exchanged looks before an elderly man stepped out of the crowd.

After gathering his thoughts, the old man briefly said, "Sir, just now, all thirty-seven of our bases across the nation simultaneously detected a massive eruption of spacetime energy."

"What's the problem with that?"

F-Superman frowned. "Hasn't this spacetime energy erupted every few days in the past? Didn't you even speculate that whenever it erupted, the whole world stopped in time for a while?"

Facing the youth's questioning, the old man explained briefly, "This eruption is completely different from the previous ones. In the past, the Energy Tide spread evenly across the entire planet, even the universe."

"But this time, the Energy Tide has gathered together and scattered across the country, as though hundreds of nation-rank spacetime ability users activated their powers at the same moment."

"So?" The youth raised an eyebrow.

"I suspect people from another world have invaded," the old man said gravely, only to make the youth burst out laughing.

"Don't tell me you're still researching that Twin World theory."

"Something about the time of two worlds being like interlocking gears, with the teeth representing time and the current node being the point where they mesh, and one side pausing while the other flows. That nonsense is even more ridiculous than the multiverse theories in novels."

Completely ignoring the old man's ugly expression, the youth laughed for quite a while before waving a hand.

"Fine. You said there are hundreds of places across the country densely packed with spacetime Energy Tides, right? Are any of them out in the wasteland beyond the cities? I'll go take a look and see what's nearby."

"Yes, sir." The old man nodded dejectedly, then had one of the researchers report the location of an Energy Tide.

As soon as the location was given, a violent gust of wind swept through. All that remained where the youth had stood was a huge crater.

In its place, a two-meter-wide hole had been blasted through the ceiling, leading directly to the surface.

Looking at the sunlight streaming in through the hole, the old man sighed softly. There was nothing he could do about the temperaments of those high-and-mighty ability users.

New Nation was a country established by Superpowered after the Great Cataclysm. All power in its upper ranks was held by Superpowered.

Once someone revealed themselves to be Superpowered, they were classified into six ranks according to their abilities: township, county, prefecture, city, state, and nation.

Even the weakest Township Rank Ability User, someone who could only produce a tiny flame, completely crushed ordinary billionaires in terms of privilege.

In this country—or rather, in the entire world as it now was—Superpowered were a separate higher class beyond wealth, appearance, and technology.

And that F-Superman from earlier was a prestigious state-rank ability user. To ordinary people, even one glare from him was enough to wipe out their entire family.