Chapter Fifteen: The Twin Worlds

In the bright 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, unchanged in its furnishings.

"Have I really come back?"

Disbelief filled him as his gaze shifted to the television. In the lower left corner of the screen, the current time was displayed.

[Apocalypse Year 136, December 1st, 03:45]

"December 7th," Fang Can instinctively covered his face with his hand.

If the time was correct, he had spent seven days in another world, while this world had essentially been frozen in time.

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

In the reflection, a handsome young man dressed in ancient black and red attire with jet-black hair stared back at him with wide eyes.

If it weren’t for the fact that his powers remained intact and his clothing unchanged, he might have thought the past seven days were nothing but a dream.

"So, I really traveled through worlds and then came back again," he thought, and a flurry of questions surged through his mind:

"Will there be another crossing? If so, when? How do I explain returning to the Tiger Sabre Sect after a few days? Or is everything in the other world frozen while I’m here?"

Fang Can’s mind was in turmoil. The sudden time travel had disrupted all his plans. He stepped back several paces and sat on the sofa, his eyes flicking to the news broadcast on the television.

The news anchor, dressed sharply in a suit, spoke earnestly into the camera:

"The seventh National Carnival is only weeks away. The public is highly attentive to the event’s content and eagerly anticipates..."

"I almost forgot about this," Fang Can thought, lying on his side with his palm supporting his head.

The so-called "Seventh Evil Purge Plan" was a proposal made seven years ago.

To alleviate the growing negative emotions among the populace, the ruling superhumans conducted a nationwide survey.

The subject of the survey was to hold an ultimate one-day carnival every year in a selected city.

As for the carnival’s content, it ranged from bloody trials for criminals to full legalization of all activities throughout the city, with live coverage of the entire event—an epitome of entertainment to death.

Why such an outrageous proposal was ever approved was beyond Fang Can’s understanding; he could only attribute it to the whimsical authority of a nation ruled by superhumans.

In any case, the National Carnival had been held for seven years. Each city chosen would descend into chaos the next day, with the stench lingering for years.

This was because participants weren’t only locals but also lower-class people transported from other cities.

For example, the bottom 1% of students nationwide, inmates from various prisons, troublemakers who had challenged the ruling superhumans, and thrill-seekers who had voluntarily signed up from across the country.

"I wonder which city was chosen this year? It’s so hard to guess," Fang Can mused, tilting his head. He was somewhat excited for the unfortunate city.

After all, he was half a thrill-seeker himself and paid close attention to the annual event, having watched the top-ranked highlights at least twice.

While he pondered, the superhuman officials he had been thinking about were already drawn by a sudden anomaly at an experimental base.

In the Dragon’s Hidden Base beneath the outskirts of City A, an eighteen-year-old youth clad in a golden tight uniform with a red cape draped over his shoulders and a large F emblazoned on his chest entered the modern laboratory.

Before him stood researchers wearing cleanroom suits, their hurried footsteps betraying the urgency in their hearts.

Upon seeing the youth in the golden uniform, the researchers halted abruptly, faces tense.

They all recognized this superhuman youth who frequently appeared on screens delivering speeches.

Codenamed F-Man—officially known as "Fuck You Superman"—his powers included super strength, super defense, super speed, super vision...

The youth regarded them coldly and said in a calm tone, "Have someone come talk to me quickly. Don’t waste my time. Report the situation now."

At his urging, several researchers exchanged glances before an elder stepped forward.

After gathering his words, the old man said briefly, "Commander, just now, all thirty-seven bases nationwide simultaneously detected a massive burst of spacetime energy."

"Is that a problem?" F-Man frowned. "Haven’t these bursts happened every few days before? You even speculated that each burst caused time to stop for a while worldwide."

Facing the youth’s question, the elder replied, "This burst is entirely different. In the past, the energy tides spread evenly across the planet and even the universe."

"But this time, the energy tides have concentrated and scattered across the country, as if hundreds of national-level spacetime manipulators activated their powers simultaneously."

"So?" the youth raised an eyebrow.

"I suspect people from the other world have attacked," the elder said seriously, prompting F-Man to laugh aloud.

"Don’t tell me you’re still researching the Twin Worlds theory."

"The theory that the two worlds’ times mesh like gears, with the teeth representing time and the current moment being the engagement point, and that one side pauses while the other flows—this nonsense is even more ridiculous than multiverse theories in novels."

Ignoring the elder’s displeased expression, the youth chuckled for a while, then waved his hand.

"Fine. You said there are hundreds of spacetime energy tides nationwide. Are any of these outside the cities, in the wastelands? I’ll go check what’s nearby."

"Yes, Commander," the elder nodded sadly and had a researcher report the location of an energy tide.

As the location was announced, a gust of wind swept past, leaving only a large crater where the youth had stood.

Above, a two-meter-wide hole had broken through to the surface.

Gazing at the sunlight streaming in, the elder sighed softly—there was nothing to be done about the arrogant personalities of these high-tier superhumans.

The New Nation—a country established by superhumans after a great catastrophe—had all authority concentrated in the hands of the superpowered elite.

Revealing one’s identity as a superhuman granted privileges ranked in six levels: township, county, prefecture, city, state, and nation.

Even the weakest township-level superhuman, capable of only a small flame, utterly surpassed ordinary billionaires in privilege.

In this country—or rather, the entire world now—superhumans constituted a distinct elite class beyond wealth, appearance, and technology.

And the aforementioned F-Man was a prestigious state-level superhuman, capable of wiping out entire families with a mere glare from ordinary people.