Two worlds overlapping

A hospital, a sickbed.

Shen Heng slowly opened his eyes and gazed at the expanse of white ceiling above him.

"I'm not dead. Was I rescued?"

"What, were you hoping to die?"

A clear voice suddenly came from beside him.

Although the voice was clear, it was a little too loud.

No, not loud, but distinct, incredibly distinct, as though the person were speaking right into his ear!

Shen Heng braced both hands against the bed and pushed himself upright, then first gave the room a quick once-over.

It was a standard single hospital room: one bed, two bedside tables, a cabinet, and a bay window. Aside from those, there was nothing else.

The person who had just spoken was sitting on the bay window ledge. She was a woman who looked to be in her twenties, with attractive features and flaxen hair tied into a high ponytail behind her head.

Shen Heng glanced at her but did not immediately reply. Instead, he withdrew his gaze and looked at the other figure closer to him, sitting beside his bed-a serious-faced, middle-aged man who looked around thirty.

"Who are you?" Shen Heng looked at the two of them in some confusion.

"The people who saved you, of course!" the woman on the window ledge teased.

"That's enough, Han Ling. We didn't save him. He killed the Calamity Beast himself. We only brought him to the hospital!" the middle-aged man interrupted. His voice, too, reached Shen Heng's ears with exceptional clarity.

"That still counts as us saving him, doesn't it? Besides, Gu Nan helped restore his hand!" the woman called Han Ling said.

"But if Shen Heng hadn't killed that Calamity Beast, two or even more people would have died this time. That was a failure on our part!" the middle-aged man reprimanded her in a low voice.

At that, Han Ling ducked her head and did not dare say anything more.

Shen Heng listened to their conversation from the side. It took him quite a while to adjust a little to how things sounded now. Just as his brow was about to ease slightly, their conversation made it furrow again.

Calamity Beast? Restore?

Something seemed to occur to Shen Heng, and he hurriedly looked at his left hand.

The arm that the big black dog had mangled with its teeth had now returned to its original state, without the slightest sign of injury.

"I asked a member of our team to help heal the injuries to your hand and body. Your body has also been tempered by Origin Power, so your overall physical condition will be even better than before!" the middle-aged man explained beside him.

Shen Heng glanced at him and unconsciously clenched his right fist. He felt considerably stronger than before.

He turned toward the middle-aged man, his mouth slightly open, wanting to ask something but not knowing where to begin.

After some thought, he decided to start with those unfamiliar terms he had just heard.

"What is this Calamity Beast you were talking about?"

The middle-aged man's expression grew grave. "That's a long story. We have to start ten years ago. Ten years ago, for some unknown reason, our world and another world began to alternate and overlap."

"Another world? Alternate? Overlap?" Shen Heng frowned slightly.

"Yes. Perhaps it comes from a higher dimension, or perhaps from another parallel universe. In any case, it is indeed an entirely different world," the middle-aged man confirmed.

Shen Heng nodded, signaling for the middle-aged man to continue.

The middle-aged man continued, "As the two worlds alternated and overlapped, the world on the other side began to be projected into ours!"

"These projected regions aren't large. At present, the most common ones are only a few cubic meters in size, but they contain everything within that region-animals, plants, soil, even the air!"

"As they appear in our world, they're rather like mirages!"

Mirages... A faint picture seemed to have formed in Shen Heng's mind.

Sitting beside him, the middle-aged man continued:

"These projections last for varying lengths of time. Some can only last a few seconds, while others can last for hours!"

"But no matter how long they exist, they all have one thing in common."

"At the moment they disappear, if they aren't overlapping with matter in our world, they will truly descend into our world!"

"And Calamity Beasts are a kind of creature projected over during this process that ultimately remain here!"

"They have bizarre forms, immense strength, and an extreme thirst for blood. They constantly encroach upon and destroy humanity's living space."

At this point, the middle-aged man paused, fixing Shen Heng with a deep gaze.

"Because everywhere they pass is reduced to ruins, as though scoured by disaster, we collectively call them-Calamity Beasts!"

Calamity Beasts...? Shen Heng's eyes lost focus slightly, while the big black dog from last night involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

As though seeing what was on Shen Heng's mind, the middle-aged man said, "The creature you encountered yesterday was a kind of Calamity Beast. We call that kind of Calamity Beast... a Mutilated Hound!"

Mutilated Hound... Shen Heng murmured inwardly.

"As for the restoration we mentioned just now, that's a derivative application of an ability," the middle-aged man continued from beside him.

"Ability?" Shen Heng looked at the middle-aged man in some confusion.

"Yes, exactly! You can also think of it as what you young people call a superpower or a talent! There's no fundamental difference between the three. It's just a question of names!" The middle-aged man nodded.

"Is that also an effect of the two worlds alternating and overlapping?" Shen Heng asked.

"Yes!" The middle-aged man nodded. "As I just said, it isn't only Calamity Beasts that are projected over, but also plants, soil, and even air. Abilities come from the Origin Power that permeates the air of the other world."

"Origin Power..." Shen Heng chewed over this new term.

The middle-aged man continued explaining to Shen Heng. "Origin Power is a form of energy that can directly alter reality. When our human brains are stimulated by a sufficient amount of Origin Power, we awaken special abilities unique to each individual!"

At this point, the middle-aged man paused, looked at Shen Heng, and asked solemnly:

"So, what ability did you awaken?"