The moment the blade pressed against her throat, Aya smelled her own blood.
It wasn't a hallucination—the cold metal carried the iron-sweet scent of rust, dripping down her neck. She didn't move, just stared at the face before her: a boy of seventeen or eighteen, his features seven parts familiar to her, but his pupils were pure, unreflective black, like polished obsidian.
"Xiao Chen?" she asked, her voice tight.
The boy tilted his head. The blade pressed half a millimeter further. A drop of blood rolled down onto the back of his hand.
"I'm not Ye Chen," he said. "I'm a 'replica' created by Xinghuan. Number 07. My mission is to eliminate the 'memory contaminant'—that is, you."
Aya's mind screamed. She remembered the three hundred glass cylinders at the data transfer hub, her brother's consciousness fragmented into 273 pieces, and the cold hand she grabbed while plunging into the data whirlpool.
Now that hand was holding a knife, ready to kill her.
"What did they do to you?" she asked.
"They gave me existence," 07's voice was flat. "This body, these memories, the identity of 'Ye Chen.' In return, I carry out orders. Fair trade."
He flexed his wrist.
Aya didn't flinch.
She reached out and grasped the blade.
Metal sliced through her palm, blood running down the knife to 07's hand. His movement froze—the blade hovered over the skin, not piercing deeper.
"Why don't you resist?" 07 asked.
"Because I know you're not him," Aya said softly. "My brother's hands would tremble with a knife. The first time he helped me repair a prosthetic at twelve, a screwdriver stabbed his palm. He cried all night. He said, 'Sister, I'm in pain, but I'm more afraid you'll hurt.'"
Her blood coated 07's hand, warm.
"Your hands are steady. You're not afraid of pain, nor mine. So you just look like him—that's all."
07 was silent.
Seconds later, he released the knife.
It hit the ground with a crisp clink. He stepped back, staring at his bloodied hand as if it belonged to a stranger.
"The program… wasn't designed for this," he murmured. "Target didn't resist, didn't flee, didn't attack. Only… bleeding."
He lifted his head. For the first time, a flicker appeared in his black eyes.
"Why?"
"Because I trust him," Aya pressed against her bleeding neck, voice hoarse. "I trust my brother—even as fragments, he would never harm me. So you're not him—you're just a monster wearing his face."
She bent down, picked up the knife, and tossed it back to 07.
"Kill me if you want. But before I die, answer me one question."
07 caught the knife, not moving.
"What?"
"Where is Dr. Chen?"
"You won't find him," 07 said. "His consciousness has been uploaded to the sync core, merged with forty-seven other 'pioneers' into a collective intelligence. He is… everywhere."
Aya felt her stomach churn.
"So Xinghuan's top echelon… they all—"
"They're dead. Or rather, 'evolved.'" 07 sheathed his knife. "Their bodies discarded, consciousness immortalized in the core. They now call themselves 'Watchers,' weaving the two worlds into a web. And the remnants who refuse to evolve… are glitches to be eliminated."
Footsteps approached in the distance, more than one.
07 glanced at Aya.
"Cleanup squad, arriving in five minutes," he said. "This time it's the 'Hounds,' specialized in killing memory residues. You can't fight them."
"And you?" Aya asked. "Weren't you sent to kill me?"
07 hesitated.
"Program analysis: target exhibits abnormal emotional response, further observation required. Termination directive… temporarily suspended."
He turned toward the alley.
"Follow me. I know a safehouse."
Aya froze.
"Why should I trust you?"
07 didn't look back.
"You don't have to. Stay here, you die. Follow me, and at least you live a little longer."
Footsteps grew nearer.
Aya gritted her teeth and followed.
2
The safehouse was in the basement of an abandoned apartment building.
07 opened the rusty iron door. Inside, less than ten square meters, filled with old electronics and dust. In one corner, a somewhat clean mattress; a few screens on the walls still functioning.
"This was the first hideout I found after being activated," 07 said, closing the door and starting the air filter. "Xinghuan doesn't know about it. At least, not yet."
Aya leaned against the wall, catching her breath. The cut on her neck wasn't deep, but bleeding hadn't stopped. She pulled out a first aid kit and began tending to it.
07 watched silently.
"Why save me?" Aya asked, wiping the wound.
"Not save. Observe," 07 said. "Your behavior doesn't match any known type in the Xinghuan database. You're not afraid to die, yet desperately cling to life. You want to save your brother, but you know he's gone. That contradiction… is interesting."
"Interesting?" Aya laughed coldly. "My life is an experiment to you?"
"To everyone," 07 walked to a screen and pulled up data. "Aya, 24, sync adaptability 89%, Xinghuan's first-gen test subject. Seven years ago, volunteered for the 'Ferry Program' after Ye Chen was forcibly recruited. Three years ago, he escaped, you disappeared. File status: erased."
He stared at her.
"By Xinghuan standards, you should have died three years ago. Yet you survive, resist, seek someone who no longer exists. Why?"
Aya finished bandaging, stood.
"Because I promised him I would bring him home," she said. "Even if only fragments remain, I'll find them and tell him: sister is here."
"Pointless," 07 shook his head. "Fragments can't reassemble, consciousness can't restore. Everything you do… wastes time."
"And you?" Aya countered. "You were created, given orders, sent to terminate. When the mission ends, what happens to you? A used tool?"
07 remained silent.
"I don't know," he finally said. "Program doesn't account for that far ahead."
"So neither of us knows why we live." Aya sat on the mattress. "But we are alive. That's the difference—you live by code, I live by choice. Even if foolish, even if useless. Even if nothing changes in the end."
She looked at 07.
"At least, I chose it."
07 studied her for a long moment.
Then he moved to another screen, bringing up a complex interface showing surveillance across Neo Zang City.
"The fragments of Ye Chen you're chasing… waste of time," he said. "But if you're after Dr. Chen—or the Watchers' weak point—I might have a clue."
Aya stood.
"What clue?"
"Xinghuan has a physical base in the real world," 07 pulled up a blueprint. "Officially, it's a biotech company, but it's actually a consciousness-transfer hub. All chosen pioneers complete their last physical extraction there."
He zoomed in on the underground third floor.
"There's a backup server storing all original pioneer consciousness—including Dr. Chen's. Destroy it, and their minds lose their anchor, dissipating in the sync core."
"Why tell me this?"
"Because I want a choice too," 07 closed the screen. "Even if only once."
He looked at Aya, his black eyes bottomless in the dim light.
"But I have one condition."
"Speak."
"Take me with you," 07 said. "I want to see what those who 'choose their life' become."
Aya scrutinized the face identical to her brother's for a flaw.
She found none. Only a near-innocent confusion, like a newborn seeing the world.
"Fine," she said.
"But one thing."
"What?"
"If I find you lie—" Aya drew her electromagnetic pistol, chambered a round, "I'll kill you myself. With this gun, through your face that wears my brother's."
07 nodded.
"Reasonable."
He pulled a backpack from the corner, packing energy cells, data cables, and unidentifiable electronics.
"We need to find Lin Ye first," he said. "92% sync adaptability is the key to the backup server. Xinghuan uses his neural structure as a biological lock—only he can unlock it."
"Where is he?"
"Unknown. After the data hub explosion, he disappeared with your brother's fragments." 07 slung the backpack. "But I know how to track him."
He pressed a button, projecting a holographic map dotted with blinking lights.
"This is a 'cognitive residue detector,'" he said. "High adaptability individuals leave traces when active. Lin Ye's is distinct—92%, like a lighthouse in the dark."
One dot shone brighter than all the rest.
The old industrial district, an abandoned textile factory.
Aya frowned.
"That's Crow's base."
"Crow?" 07 tilted his head. "The rebel leader? Didn't he die?"
"Some who die are more useful than the living." Aya grabbed her backpack. "Let's go. If we reach before nightfall, we avoid the Hounds' patrol peak."
She paused at the door.
"Don't call me Aya."
"What then?"
"Sister." She turned back, a smile without warmth. "Since you borrowed my brother's face, at least play the role fully."
07 blinked. Then nodded.
"Understood, Sister."
明白,我会把"双界断点"第二章"残响"剩余部分完整翻译成英文,保持紧张节奏和角色感情.这里是完整英文版:
Dual Break: Chapter 2 – Reverberation (Complete)
3
The old textile factory loomed ahead, rusted beams like skeletal fingers scraping the sky. Broken windows reflected the fading light.
Aya and 07 moved silently along the perimeter, boots muffled against cracked concrete.
"Crow's Hounds patrol this sector in shifts," Aya whispered, scanning through the binoculars she pulled from her bag. "They're faster than Xinghuan's regular enforcers. One mistake, we're dead."
07 crouched beside her. "Probability of success?"
Aya smirked faintly. "Low. But better than standing here bleeding."
07 processed this. "Acceptable. I will follow your lead."
They slipped inside a side entrance, the metallic scent of decay and old machinery overwhelming. Empty looms creaked in the wind. The factory smelled of rust, oil, and something more elusive—fear that had been there for years.
A faint glow appeared down the hall. Aya signaled, and they crouched behind a stack of pallets.
Inside the light, a figure moved—tall, lean, with a hood concealing most of his face. The sync detector beeped softly in 07's hand.
"Lin Ye," Aya said, voice almost a whisper. "There he is. 92%… that's him."
07's black eyes followed the figure. "Confirmed. Biological lock detected."
The moment Aya stepped forward, Lin Ye froze. His eyes flicked to the shadows.
"Who's there?" His voice was calm, measured, but tension lined every syllable.
Aya held up both hands, showing she wasn't alone. "Relax. I'm not your enemy. I need you to unlock something—the backup server."
Lin Ye's brow furrowed. "Backup server? Do you know what you're asking? Xinghuan will kill you for even thinking about it."
"I know," Aya said. "But I don't care anymore. I'll die trying, or I'll live trying. Either way, I'm moving."
Lin Ye hesitated. Then, almost imperceptibly, he stepped aside.
"Fine. But we need to move fast. Hounds' evening sweep starts in thirty minutes. After that… survival is unlikely."
Aya nodded. 07 followed, silent as a shadow.
Inside the server chamber, cold air hummed from the arrays of suspended drives. Lin Ye approached the main console, fingers flying over the interface. The backup server glowed, a lattice of light pulsing beneath transparent panels.
"Locking mechanism is neural," Lin Ye murmured. "Only a sync over 90% can unlock it safely. You, Sister, and this… anomaly can't trigger any anti-tamper protocol."
07 remained still, his gaze scanning the room.
"Anomaly?" Aya asked.
Lin Ye didn't answer. Instead, he placed both hands on the console. The lights shifted. The lattice of the backup server shimmered and split, revealing cascading data streams.
Aya felt it: her brother's fragments, scattered throughout the streams, tiny sparks of consciousness trying to reconnect.
"Hold on," she whispered.
07 stepped closer. "Do not touch the data directly. It will fry your neural interface if protections engage."
Aya ignored him. She extended a hand, letting the fragments of her brother brush against her palm. Warm, familiar, and heartbreakingly incomplete.
"Brother…" she murmured.
The server shuddered. Lin Ye yelled. "The Hounds are here!"
The ground vibrated as heavy boots struck concrete. Outside, the shadows twisted, figures moving with lethal precision.
Aya grabbed 07's arm. "We need an exit, now!"
07 pulled a small device from his pack. "Deploying EMP pulse. May disable Hounds temporarily, not fully."
He pressed a button. A high-pitched hum filled the room. Lights flickered. Security drones fell from the ceiling. The Hounds hesitated, confused, their neural enhancements momentarily scrambled.
"Move!" Aya shouted.
Lin Ye helped her lift the console lattice. Data streams flickered faster, fragments of her brother aligning like stars forming a constellation.
Aya felt a pulse of connection, brief, brilliant, and gone.
"Almost there!" she cried.
The EMP faded. Hounds recovered, running into the room. Blades gleamed. Boots thundered.
07 stepped in front, black eyes hardening. He moved with precision, blocking attacks, disarming, never harming more than necessary to clear a path.
Aya grabbed the last fragment, pressing it into the palm of her hand. Sparks of consciousness streamed into her neural link. She felt a heartbeat—a tiny, fragile pulse of him alive somewhere.
"Go!" 07 shouted, and together they rushed through the side exit, just as the Hounds reached the doorway.
Outside, night had fallen. The factory's windows were dark, moonlight painting the ground silver. They ran through the alleyways, fragments of her brother's consciousness flickering like fireflies in Aya's mind.
They didn't stop until the city's neon lights appeared, reflections dancing on wet asphalt.
Aya sank against a wall, breath ragged, hands trembling. 07 crouched beside her.
"You succeeded," he said. "But only partially. You have one shot at reassembly. Every fragment you missed… may never be restored."
"I know," she said. "But it's enough. It's a start."
07 looked at her, silent. Then, almost imperceptibly, he nodded.
"You choose your life," he said softly. "Even if it's foolish. Even if it's doomed."
Aya closed her eyes. The fragments inside her mind whispered, fragile, persistent, like the echo of a song that refused to end.
Outside, the city breathed around them, alive and indifferent, while two shadows—one human, one artificial—stood together, staring into the neon night, preparing for the battles still to come.
End of Chapter 2 – Reverberation