Expectations for RH-0
Moonlight poured down like mercury onto the ground of the abandoned factory. Du Siling leaned against a rusty machine, carefully changing the magazine of his pistol. His movements were incredibly fluid, as if his fingers knew how to move on their own—no, not on their own, but as some kind of instinct fused with Han Beimo's muscle memory.
"Three o'clock, two people." Han Beimo's voice rang directly in his mind, without needing a communicator.
Without hesitation, Du Siling turned and fired, two bullets hitting the target in the shadows with pinpoint accuracy. Almost simultaneously, Han Beimo charged in from the other side, eliminating the remaining threat. The entire battle unfolded smoothly, like a meticulously choreographed dance.
This is the power of the "harmonic state"—a gift from the silver injection. Their thoughts and actions are perfectly synchronized, yet they maintain independent consciousness. But the price is becoming apparent.
After the battle, Du Siling felt a strong wave of dizziness. He leaned against the wall, panting, and when he looked up, he was horrified to find that his shadow was distorted and deformed in the moonlight—the outline was clearly Han Beimo's silhouette, which lasted for several seconds before returning to normal.
"It's happened again?" Han Beimo approached and handed him a bottle of water.
Du Siling nodded and took a large gulp: "Where's your shadow?"
"I saw your face in the mirror yesterday," Han Beimo said calmly, as if discussing the weather, "and it lasted for about five seconds."
This is the price of Omega's gift: the perception of reality begins to blur. Shadows, reflections, and even the occasional touch become confused. Most terrifyingly, this distortion is gradually lengthening—from the initial one or two seconds to about ten seconds now.
Back at the temporary safe haven—an abandoned subway maintenance station—Du Siling began treating the scrapes on Han Beimo's arm. As his fingers touched the wound, his vision suddenly distorted: he clearly "saw" his own hand transform into Han Beimo's, his long, slender fingers, the familiar scars at his knuckles...
"Du Siling?" Han Beimo's voice seemed to come from a very far place.
Du Siling shook his head violently, the hallucination vanishing. But his heart was still pounding: "Ten minutes. This time it lasted a full ten minutes."
Han Beimo's expression turned serious: "We need to find a way to control it. Otherwise, something bad will happen in battle sooner or later."
They tried everything: meditation, drugs, even deliberately keeping their distance. But the only thing that really worked was blood contact.
This discovery was purely accidental. After a battle, both men were injured, and the moment their blood mingled, the reality distortion immediately ceased. Through experimentation, they discovered that periodically exchanging small amounts of blood could stabilize the harmonic state for at least 24 hours.
But an accident occurred during the first official attempt.
Du Siling carefully made a shallow cut on his palm with the dagger, and blood welled up. Han Beimo did the same. As their palms touched and their blood mingled, a strange sense of calm flowed through their bodies. But then, Han Beimo suddenly grabbed Du Siling's wrist and bit down on his neck.
It wasn't an attack, but rather an instinctive, almost intimate act. Teeth pierced the skin, and blood seeped out. Du Siling stood frozen in place, neither resisting nor retreating—through the connection, he felt not malice, but a deep longing, as if it were an indispensable part of the harmonic state.
A few seconds later, Han Beimo came to his senses and staggered back in shock: "I...I'm sorry. I didn't know..."
Du Siling touched the wound on the side of her neck, which had healed quickly, leaving only two faint teeth marks: "It's okay. It feels...natural."
This event ushered in a new phase in their relationship. The blood-sharing ritual was both violent and intimate; after each session, the harmonic state would become unusually stable, and the distortion of reality would completely disappear. But neither of them dared to delve into the meaning behind it.
On the night of the full moon, Du Siling made a startling discovery while examining General Huo's dog tag. When moonlight shone at a specific angle, a new holographic projection appeared on the surface of the dog tag—General Huo's will.
"If you see this, it means I'm no longer here." The General Huo projected on screen looked much older than in reality. "It also means the twin system has finally reached harmonic equilibrium."
The will revealed a shocking plan: General Huo had long ago sown the seeds of revenge within the military's upper echelons. Those high-ranking officials who had supported Project Azalea, leading to the deaths of countless test subjects, had all been secretly injected with a special type of nanorobot. There was only one trigger—the mixed blood of twins.
"When your blood merges, the nanobots will activate," General Huo's image calmly explained. "It won't be fatal, but it will subject them to the same suffering as RH-0 carriers—memory confusion, identity crisis, and reality distortion."
Du Siling and Han Beimo stared at each other in shock. The plan was both cruel and ingenious, making the perpetrator experience the victim's pain.
"Do we have to do it?" Du Siling asked, though she knew the answer was already predetermined.
Han Beimo picked up the dog tag, his gaze complex. "General Huo has calculated everything. Look here—" He pointed to the small print at the bottom of the projection, "The nanobots are activated. The mixing of our blood is the trigger signal."
Sure enough, the dog tag began displaying a list, each name marked "activated." Du Siling recognized several high-ranking military officials, including several generals who had consistently supported Chen Yan.
"He used us." Du Siling felt a chill run down her spine. "From the moment he gave us the military license plates..."
"No." Han Beimo shook his head. "He gave us a choice. We can choose not to share blood and let the nanobots remain dormant forever."
But it was too late. The first unintentional blood mix had already triggered the program. Now the only option was to decide who would "experience" this punishment—military tags allowed them to edit the list, adding or removing targets.
This discovery plunges the two men into a profound moral dilemma. As a police officer, Du Siling believes in the law and due process; as a victim, Han Beimo yearns for some form of justice. The harmonic state causes these two perspectives to collide fiercely in their connection, yet miraculously achieve a balance.
Ultimately, they decided to target only the core personnel directly involved in Project Azalea, sparing those who had been misled or forced to comply. The peace this decision brought was unexpected—the harmonic state became more stable, and the reality distortion almost completely disappeared.
"Perhaps this is what Omega meant by 'happiness'," Du Siling mused. "It's not the pleasure of revenge, but the right to choose."
Han Beimo gently touched the azalea on his collar: "My mother once said that true power is not about being able to destroy something, but about being able to control oneself from destroying something."
The calm didn't last long. Zhao Jian's special forces found their new base. This time, the enemy brought a new weapon—a device that could emit special sound waves.
As soon as the battle began, Du Siling felt a splitting headache. The sound waves interfered with the harmonic state, making the connection intermittent. His coordination with Han Beimo was no longer perfect, and he was almost hit by a bullet.
"That device must be destroyed!" Han Beimo transmitted the message through the intermittent connection.
Du Siling struggled to aim at the sonic transmitter, but a headache blurred his vision. Just then, Zhao Jian appeared—no longer hiding in the rear directing the battle, he joined the fray directly.
The most unsettling thing happened: Zhao Jian began to mimic their movements. It wasn't a simple copy, but rather an almost premonition of their every tactical idea. When Du Siling and Han Beimo attempted a pincer attack, Zhao Jian was already prepared; when they changed tactics, he adjusted in sync.
"He can read us!" Du Siling realized in shock.
Through harmonic states, they shared this fear: Zhao Jian's Γ mark might have granted him the ability to interfere with or even read RH-0 connections. This "perfect version of Gamma" was more dangerous than imagined.
After a fierce battle, they barely escaped, but were all wounded. Du Siling's ribs were likely broken, and every breath brought excruciating pain. Han Beimo's injuries were more serious—a bullet grazed his temple, nearly killing him.
In the safe basement, Du Siling painstakingly treated Han Beimo's wound. Blood continued to seep from the wound on his temple, and his harmonic state was extremely unstable due to the injury. Reality distortion reappeared: Du Siling saw his hand constantly changing as he bandaged the wound, sometimes appearing as his own, sometimes as Han Beimo's.
"We must... share blood..." Han Beimo said weakly, "otherwise we'll all lose control..."
Du Siling didn't hesitate. He used the dagger to slice open Han Beimo's palm, then carefully made a cut on Han Beimo's uninjured hand. As their blood mingled again, that sense of calm returned. But this time, it was accompanied by a powerful visual impact—
He saw Zhao Jian's past: a child locked in a laboratory, subjected to all sorts of cruel tests; a teenager forced to fight his "twin"; a man brainwashed into an emotionless weapon...
"He...was also a victim," Du Siling said breathlessly.
Han Beimo also saw these images through the shared connection. The harmonic state reached a new height in the fusion of blood; they not only saw each other's memories but even briefly touched Zhao Jian's consciousness.
This discovery changed everything. Zhao Jian was not simply an enemy, but a victim of another experiment. His abilities were not innate, but the result of forced modification.
"We must find a way to save him," Du Siling said firmly.
Han Beimo frowned: "He almost killed us just now."
"Like you almost killed me?" Du Siling retorted softly, "Like I almost arrested you?"
Silence spread in the darkness. Through harmonic states, they understood each other without words—the cycle of revenge had to be broken, or they would be no different from those who had harmed them.
The next day, they devised a new plan: instead of evading Zhao Jian's pursuit, they would set a trap. Not to harm him, but to make contact and attempt to break the programs controlling him.
The trap was set in an abandoned chemical plant, where numerous metal structures could interfere with sonic weapons. Du Siling and Han Beimo meticulously planned every detail, rehearsing various possible scenarios using harmonic states.
When Zhao Jian's team arrived as scheduled, the battle unfolded according to plan. They deliberately exposed weaknesses, luring Zhao Jian deep into the factory's core area. There, numerous metal pipes and containers formed a natural Faraday cage, greatly weakening the effectiveness of the sonic weapons.
"Now!" Du Siling sent the signal through the connection.
He and Han Beimo acted simultaneously, not to attack Zhao Jian, but to destroy all of his communication devices. Then, they did something unexpected—they laid down their weapons and raised their hands.
"We don't want to fight," Du Siling said loudly, conveying his sincere intentions to Zhao Jian through harmonic states.
Zhao Jian froze, his dark pupils slightly contracting. A crack appeared in his absolute coldness. Through the gradually restored harmonic connection, Du Siling and Han Beimo sensed the turmoil within him—his suppressed humanity struggling against the program's control.
"We can help you," Han Beimo stepped forward, "just like someone helped us."
Zhao Jian's gun barrel dipped slightly. Just then, his Γ-brand suddenly emitted a blinding red light, and his expression instantly turned icy: "Target confirmed. Elimination procedure initiated."
But that moment of hesitation was enough. Du Siling and Han Beimo simultaneously activated their backup plan—not weapons, but a special function in General Huo's military tag: the Γ-branding interference program.
An invisible pulse flashed, and Zhao Jian collapsed to his knees in agony, the light of the Γ-mark flickering violently. When he looked up again, his eyes were no longer pure black, but deep brown, filled with human confusion and pain.
"What... happened..." His voice was hoarse, as if he hadn't spoken for years.
The harmonic state reached an unprecedented height at this moment. Du Siling and Han Beimo not only connected with each other, but also briefly came into contact with Zhao Jian's liberated consciousness. They saw his repressed true name—Zhao Mingxuan—and his stolen past.
"Welcome back, Zhao Mingxuan," Du Siling said softly.
Zhao Mingxuan—formerly Zhao Jian—trembled as he touched his face, as if truly feeling it for the first time. Tears streamed down his brown eyes, washing away years of pain and control.
Through triple connection, a new possibility emerges: harmonic states can not only exist between twins, but also extend to other RH-0 carriers. Perhaps this is the true gift of Ω—not separation, nor fusion, but a completely new way of coexisting.
But at this moment when hope shone through, Du Siling's vision suddenly distorted. He saw his shadow split into three—himself, Han Beimo, and Zhao Mingxuan. His perception of reality spiraled out of control again, but this time it wasn't fear, but a strange anticipation...
The harmonic state is evolving, and the line between cost and gift is becoming increasingly blurred.
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