同章对照

It was May 10th, 2020 for the first time, and Ryan hadn’t blown up something yet.

Frankly, this surprised him. Seventy-two hours were almost a hard cap for him for non-destructive behavior; he didn’t always cause it, he just had a knack for getting into exciting situations. Ryan wasn’t drawn to adventure. Adventure was drawn to him, and he couldn’t wait for a new adrenaline rush.

Driving at night up north, the courier and his Plymouth left the wealthy districts for more industrial ones. Hotels and casinos slowly vanished, replaced with railroad stations, grey buildings, taxi centrals, and other businesses. According to the map, they should reach the old harbor in no time.

“Existence is subjective.”

“Mmm?” Ryan asked, turning his head to the passenger to his right. He had to lower himself in the car, to avoid reaching the roof with his head.

“Your question, about whether I exist if you can roll back time,” Zanbato continued. The man had put crates full of chemicals at the car’s back, then insisted on chaperoning Quicksave during his first job for ‘the family.’ Both were supposed to protect a shipment from attack and beat up the Meta if they dared to interrupt it. “We can never know we exist, so there is no objective truth to existence.”

“You’re still thinking it over?” Ryan asked, a bit surprised. He said so much nonsense in such a short time, that people usually forgot what he said halfway through.

“Yes. It’s disturbing.”

“Eh, you get used to the uncertainty.” Better not tell him the truth.

The sound of cars gave way to that of waves crashing on the shore, and the faint rustle of the evening wind. The city’s old harbor seemed rather derelict, rusting buildings standing next to abandoned waterfront warehouses. The remains of a massive supertanker overlooked the sea, having crashed against a stony beach; the captain must have been drunk when it happened. If humans lived in the area, Ryan didn’t notice any.

They had entered the Poor Zone.

The quality of the air also drastically declined, to the point that Ryan felt like he was kissing a professional smoker; the stink even overwhelmed the smell of the sea. He blamed it on the proximity of a nuclear power plant, industrial facilities, and the famous Rust Town further north. “Somebody call Greenpeace,” Ryan complained. “They can’t all be dead.”

“Dynamis uses knockoff Genomes to keep the pollution in Rust Town,” Zanbato replied as they drove towards the stony beach. “But they don't do much to protect this area.”

“Is this what remains of Naples’ old port?” Ryan asked, curious. He had always been interested in pre-war facilities, especially since most cities had been transformed into nice, aesthetic craters.

“Yeah. Dynamis is building new docks in the south for freighters.” Zanbato pointed at a spot at the waterfront. “We can stop there.”

Ryan parked the car between two warehouses, then stepped down alongside his chaperone. A group waited for them near the remains of a pier, next to a huge pile of crates and a minivan.

The leader, and the youngest, was an African-Italian barely above eighteen, yet taller than Ryan himself. Physically fit, he kept his hair short and dressed fashionably; he had invested his drug money on a stylized sweater, boots, and refined pants. He really gave off a cultured middle-class vibe, even if he was busy smoking a joint as the duo showed up.

The rest… well, they were grunts with submachine guns, nothing special. Cannon fodder with a short life expectancy, and even shorter opportunities for career advancement, whom Ryan could identify on sight nowadays. The courier nicknamed them Grunt 1, Grunt 2, and Gruntie.

“Finally!” the leader complained upon seeing the two Genomes arrive, “What took you so long? You were supposed to arrive first! We’re in the open!”

“Sorry Luigi,” Zanbato replied, much calmer. “Traffic delayed us.”

“Hey, Luigi!” Ryan said with his best accent ever. “It’s-a-me, Mario!”

Luigi frowned, trying to make the connection, and failing. “I don’t get it.”

“I think it’s video game stuff,” Gruntie said, the other mooks shrugging their shoulders.

Ryan sighed. “It’s exhausting,” he complained, “to be an island of culture amidst a sea of ignorance.”

“Luigi, this is Quicksave, the new muscle I told you about,” Zanbato made the introductions. “Quicksave, this is Luigi, alias Crypto. He’s our supply guy.”

“You have a superpower too?” Ryan asked, faking astonishment. Could the only guy without a weapon be special?

“Yeah, I have a bullshit filter,” Luigi replied, tossing his joint into the sea to share with the fish. “Who’s your favorite Genome?”

“Well, I don’t—” A foreign force took over Ryan’s mind, twisting his tongue. “Mr. Wave is so cool.”

“Seriously?” Luigi asked, a little peeved. “You like that cringey weirdo?”

Ryan couldn’t stop himself. “Also, I’m pretty hetero, but if Leo Hargraves sneaked into my room at night, I would still let him—”

“Okay, okay, stop, I don’t want the details,” Luigi said, the effect lifted from Ryan’s mind. “See? Once you start talking, you can’t lie to me.”

“One day,” Ryan warned, wagging a finger at Luigi, “You’re going to ask me the wrong question, and you won’t like the answer.”

As in, he would have to reload and start over. Bragging about his time stop was one thing, but Ryan always kept quiet about his save point. Someday, someone smart might figure out a way around his ace in the hole, so Ryan always kept it hidden up his sleeve.

“Why did you bring this guy instead of Sphere?” Luigi complained to Zanbato. “Or Chitter?”

“They’re busy elsewhere,” the samurai replied. “And you have five bodyguards.”

“Bullets aren’t going to stop any of the Meta,” his fellow crook replied, turning to the grunts. “No offense guys.”

Zanbato cleared his throat. “We can always argue about security after the job.”

“The submarines should arrive soon,” Luigi replied. “I paid off the Private Security to look the other way, so no problem on that front.”

“What about Il Migliore?” Ryan asked, curious. “Can you even buy superheroes?”

Luigi chuckled. “Those over-marketed clowns? Don’t worry, they make a show of hitting our operations from time to time, but they’re too scared of us to try anything truly disruptive. They usually go after independents, not professionals.”

“They let us do our business, we let them do theirs,” Zanbato explained, removing the crates from Ryan’s car. “It’s like the Cold War. But we’re close to Rust Town and the Meta already hit delivery runs like this one, so prepare yourself.”

“Then time to fist,” Ryan said, opening the trunk of his car to get his pisto-gauntlets.

Pisto-gauntlets were metallic gloves, first developed by the infamous Genius Mechron to equip close-combat drones. Quicksave’s own weapons looked like gauntlets with a hydraulic piston-powered ram built upon them. The mechanism pushed the ram forward, knocking back the enemy upon smashing; the courier even improved upon the original design by adding an electrical shock effect to the mix, for double the pain.

“They are pisto-gauntlets, but they aren’t any pisto-gauntlets,” Ryan boasted at Luigi, as he put his gloves on and showed them off. “I call them The Fisty Brothers because they fist people to oblivion. Everyone is afraid of nuclear bombs, but these? These are the real A-bombs.”

Only Grunt 2 laughed, proving that he alone had a future. Luigi looked at Ryan’s gauntlets, then at Zanbato. “Zan, I don’t know on which planet your guy lives, but it’s clearly not ours.”

“They say madness is a pit,” Ryan replied cheerfully, hands on his waist. “They’re wrong. Madness is a rollercoaster.”

“I kinda like him,” Zanbato told Luigi, as the other grunts helped add their crates to the existing pile. “He’s funny.”

“You like weird people, period.” Luigi shrugged, raising his sweater’s sleeve to reveal a watch. “Anytime now…”

The waters near the pier grew agitated, the trio looking over the edge. Three strange, spherical bathyspheres emerged from the waves, each large enough to house many within their confines. The machines lacked any form of cables, unlike old bathysphere models, and instead seemed powered by small propellers. Their reinforced glass door opened, but Ryan couldn’t see any controls or buttons inside.

Ryan gasped, instantly recognizing the design. “That’s Len’s stuff!”

“Hey!” Luigi shouted as the courier summarily pushed him out of the way to observe the machines better.

It barely took a few glances for Ryan to confirm his hypothesis. He could recognize her work among thousands; the fondness for an outdated, steampunk technology made viable again; the ruggedness of the design, with beauty sacrificed on the altar of barbaric efficiency; the crimson paint, her favorite, dulled by the sea.

The sight of the bathysphere awakened old emotions in Ryan, long-buried beneath the apathy and boredom. Nostalgia, joy, longing… and even hope.

Finally, after years of fruitless search, Ryan was finally on the right track. His days of solitude would soon be over.

He knew this mission would further his main quest!

“Len…” Ryan struggled to avoid having a flashback, turning to Zanbato and pleading like a child. “Where did you find it?! Please, please, please!”

“I dunno,” Zanbato replied. “Vulcan’s division takes care of the tech, not ours. We just transport and manage the supplies.”

“I’m not even sure we even own these machines,” Luigi said, dusting his clothes and bringing out a phone. He started typing as the grunts threw the crates in the bathyspheres, perhaps sending a signal to someone else. “Just help us put the supplies inside and I’ll look into it afterward. It’s getting cold, and it ain’t safe here.”

Speaking of cold.

Now that Ryan thought of it, it seemed to be getting chillier by the second. Unnaturally so.

Zanbato noticed it too, and immediately braced himself for an attack. A swirling sword of solid crimson light appeared in his hands, the perfect replica of a katana. “They’re here,” he said, the grunts immediately raising their machine guns.

Ryan looked around and quickly noticed them coming from the north.

A distant figure froze the sea, creating a bridge of ice on which he skated. Ryan immediately recognized Ghoul, although instead of a hoodie, the geriatric disaster had covered his body in sheets of ice, forming a multi-layered armor. His body released a cloud of white mist, making it difficult to clearly distinguish his features.

Another figure flew behind Ghoul, although floating might have been a better term. The second Genome wore a black hazmat suit and gas mask, giving them a spooky vibe. Their gauntlets unleashed streams of compressed air, allowing them to propel themselves on the sea. In short, a living Chernobyl holiday ad.

“Ghoul and Sarin,” Zanbato recognized the two. “Maybe more.”

“I’ll take care of them,” Ryan said, eager to continue his main quest without interruptions. “You can continue with the menial manual labor, minions.”

“You want to take them on alone?” Zanbato asked, a bit concerned. “You’re sure? They’re killers.”

Aw, he cared! Ryan raised a thumb up and walked up north towards the stony beach and the supertanker. He almost slipped on the oiled stones, caught himself, and then glanced at the sea. The two Psychos clearly aimed for the pier and the bathyspheres, perhaps having been forewarned.

Then Ghoul noticed Ryan, who mimicked a home run with an invisible bat.

Like how a bull challenged a matador, the Psycho instantly veered off course, much to his companion’s surprise. He charged at Ryan with murder on his mind.

“You motherBLEEPer!” Ghoul screamed over the sea, the stone beach mimicking the arctic as he came closer. A dozen ice shards formed from the moisture around the Psycho, while he said so many insults that Ryan’s mind automatically censored him. “You BLEEP, I’m going to BLEEP your skull and BLEEP BLEEP BLEEP with my BLEEP!”

That wasn’t child friendly. That wasn’t child friendly at all.

“You grew back your teeth?” Ryan noticed. “You must have drunk a lot of milk.”

Ghoul responded by leaping on the beach, unleashing a dozen ice daggers at Ryan at the same time. Apparently, he no longer played baseball but throwing knives. The courier accepted the challenge.

Ryan stopped time, brought out the knives hidden under his trench coat, aimed, and threw them. When time resumed, Ghoul’s projectiles were deflected by Ryan’s own; most ice shards hit a warehouse behind, missing their targets, while a throwing knife found its way to the Psycho’s unprotected eye.

Nailed it! It took him so many restarts to master knife throwing, but it had been worth it!

“I’ll peel your skin, like an orange,” Ghoul hissed in pain as he removed the knife, his screams music to Ryan’s ears. The eye’s blood turned to strawberry-colored ice cream when it came out of the socket, making the courier hungry. “Then I’ll drink your blood, and the sweet Elixir it carries!”

The other Psycho chose that moment to land on the beach, hitting the ice floor with a loud thump and somehow avoiding slipping up. Ghoul’s white mist slowly widened the ice layer over the beach, which now spread to the sea and the walkway; Ryan suddenly wondered if he should add a scarf to his outfit.

“Ghoul, what the hell?” While her voice was somewhat muffled by the mask, miss nuclear disaster was clearly a girl. “You heard Adam. The shipment first.”

“That’s him!” Ghoul snarled, creating blades of ice over his forearms and pointing them at Ryan. “That’s the bastard who beat me up! I told you he was an Augusti!”

Slander? That was the thanks Ryan got for trying to alleviate that old fossil’s suffering? And they said euthanasia was progressive!

“I guess Adam can’t be mad at us for dusting one of ‘em then,” Sarin said, raising her gauntlets at Ryan as if he should be intimidated. She mustn’t have washed her hands. “If you knew what’s good for you, you should have stayed the fuck out of Rust Town, but I guess you pussies are pretty slow to learn.”

“Don’t worry,” the courier replied. “Whatever happens, Blower—”

“Blower?” the hazmat girl interrupted him, confused. “That’s not my na—”

“Your name is Blower now because you blow air.” Ryan then pointed a finger at one-eye, menacingly. “And now his name is Picard because I liked French frozen food.”

In retrospect, calling a girl Blower might have sounded a little dirty, because she became really upset.

Her gauntlets began to vibrate, unleashing a blast of compressed air at Quicksave. The ice below them began to crack from the shockwave, and Ryan realized he should have nicknamed her the Vibrator instead.

Stopping time for a few seconds, Ryan lazily waltzed out of the blast’s way, almost slipped on the ice, caught himself, cursed, and then let time resume. The compressed air blew up the walkway behind the beach, grinding stones to dust and redecorating the pavement in a straight line for at least ten meters.

Trying to make it a threesome, Ghoul skated after Quicksave speed rivaling that of a car, blades raised. Not swinging this way, Ryan dodged the attack by lowering his head. His time stop could last for up to ten seconds—and you could do a lot in ten seconds—but suffered from a cooldown duration afterward. It was equal to the amount of time Ryan spent freezing time.

Use the time stop for five seconds, can’t do it again five seconds afterward.

Not understanding the concept of personal space, Ghoul kept trying to nail Ryan with his blade and received a punch in the stomach for his trouble. Fisty activated on contact, the ram smashing through the Psycho’s ice armor and sending him flying backward to take a bath in the sea. The water froze right after he entered it.

Unfortunately, the contact with Ghoul’s white mist froze Fisty, jamming the pistons. Goddamnit, it always had performance issues when things heated up.

Not caring about her teammate, Sarin kept focusing on attacking Ryan, who chuckled at his own mental joke. The courier had to run away from the beach and on the walkway, as a shockwave collapsed the ice, even briefly stopping time to make it.

“You blow air very fast? That’s your power?” Ryan struggled not to laugh, but almost slipped on the frozen pavement, ruining the moment. Why didn’t he dedicate a loop to learn ice skating again? “My fan can do the same, and it cost me fifteen bucks!”

Seeing Ryan escape and still pinning for his undivided attention, Sarin pointed her hands at her feet and unleashed a new shockwave. A column of compressed air propelled her upward, allowing her to leap over the harbor. Ryan looked up and got a perfect view of her back, but much to his disappointment, she seemed to float inside her suit. Very strange.

“Why the obsession, Blower?” Ryan asked, trying to unjam Fisty so he could introduce her to that crazy girl’s face. Nothing dirty. “Have you fallen for me at first sight?”

“Unfortunately for you,” Sarin replied, vibrating her gauntlets from above to rain short blasts at the walkway, “I’m a necrophiliac.”

Oh, a fellow quipper! Ryan was so happy to have some back and forth interactions, even if he needed to focus on avoiding the blasts. So many people just tried to kill him without exchanging pleasantries, it was just rude.

Stopping time again, Ryan ran away and managed to reach the part of the walkway which hadn’t frozen over. Running on ice was a lot harder to do than it sounded, and more importantly, made him look like a klutz. When time resumed, Sarin’s volley had turned the frozen pavement into a cheese. On the horizon, the courier noticed Zanbato and Luigi finishing the supply run, seeing that he could handle the situation well. “I’m sure we’ll break the ice between us.”

“That’s just pitiful,” Sarin replied upon landing on the roof of a waterfront warehouse. The height gave her a better view of the walkway, and solid ground allowed her to focus entirely on Ryan. This time, having resolved her own performance issues, she switched from short bursts to sustained fire.

“Did my invitation leave you… stone cold?” Quicksave shouted innocently to Miss Chernobyl, running away while managing to unjam Fisty. The sustained blast collapsed the walkway behind him, stones falling on the beach. Frankly, it surprised Ryan that they hadn’t woken up the whole neighborhood.

“Don’t you ever shut up?!” Ghoul’s voice snarled, as the drenched Psycho leaped on the walkway for a second round. Even with his armor of ice on, he left saltwater behind with every step, and… was that a starfish stuck to his leg?

“Anyway, as I said before you interrupted me, whatever happens…”

Ryan turned to face his foes and extended his arms, doing his best to look fabulous.

“I won’t take you seriously.”

时间头一回走到了2020年5月10日，而瑞恩还没炸掉什么东西。

坦白说，这让他有点意外。七十二小时不搞破坏，对他而言几乎已经是极限了；倒也不是每次都由他来惹事，只是他特别擅长撞上刺激的场面。不是瑞恩追着冒险跑，而是冒险追着他跑。他已经迫不及待地想再来一次肾上腺素飙升了。

快递员开着他的普利茅斯，趁夜一路向北，离开富人区，驶入了工业气息更浓的城区。酒店和赌场渐渐不见了，取而代之的是火车站、灰色楼房、出租车调度中心和其他商铺。照地图来看，用不了多久就能到老港口。

“存在是主观的。”

“嗯？”瑞恩转头看向右侧的乘客。那人得缩着身子坐在车里，脑袋才不至于顶到车顶。

“你问过，要是你能让时间倒流，我究竟还存不存在。”斩马刀接着说。他把几箱化学品放进了车子后部，随后坚持要陪快存去做他为“家族”接下的第一份工作。他们两人要保护一批货物免遭袭击，要是超能帮敢来搅局，就把他们揍回去。“我们永远无法确定自己是否存在，所以存在这回事没有客观真相。”

“你还在琢磨这个？”瑞恩有点惊讶。他短短一会儿就能胡说八道一大通，通常说到一半，人们就已经把前头的话忘了。

“是啊。这问题让人不安。”

“唉，不确定也就慢慢习惯了。”还是别告诉他真相为好。

车流声渐渐退去，取而代之的是浪涛拍岸的声响，以及晚风轻轻的窸窣。城里的老港口显得相当破败，锈迹斑斑的建筑与废弃的滨海仓库比邻而立。一艘巨型超级油轮撞上了石滩，残骸面朝大海高高耸立；出事时，船长肯定喝醉了。就算这地方还有人住，瑞恩也一个没看见。

他们已经进入了贫民区。

空气质量也急剧下降，差到让瑞恩觉得自己像是在跟职业烟民接吻；那股臭味甚至盖过了海的气息。他把这归咎于附近的核电站、工业设施，以及更北边那座大名鼎鼎的锈镇。“谁给绿色和平组织打个电话。”瑞恩抱怨道，“他们总不至于全死光了吧。”

“迪纳米斯雇了些山寨基因者，把污染封在锈镇里。”他们朝石滩驶去，斩马刀说道，“但这片地方，他们就不怎么管了。”

“这是那不勒斯老港口剩下的部分？”瑞恩好奇地问。他一向对战前设施很感兴趣，毕竟大多数城市都已经变成了赏心悦目的大弹坑。

“对。迪纳米斯正在南边修新码头，给货轮用。”斩马刀指了指水边的一处地方，“我们可以停在那里。”

瑞恩把车停在两座仓库之间，和这位陪护一起下了车。一群人正等在残破的栈桥旁边，身边是一大堆货箱和一辆小型厢式车。

领头的也是其中最年轻的一个，是个十八岁刚出头的非裔意大利人，却比瑞恩还高。他体格健壮，留着短发，穿着时髦；贩毒挣来的钱，被他投资在了一件颇有设计感的毛衣、一双靴子和一条考究的长裤上。他看着还真像个有教养的中产阶级青年，尽管两人到场时，他正忙着抽大麻烟。

至于剩下的……嗯，都是拿着冲锋枪的喽啰，没什么特别。预期寿命很短，晋升前景比命还短的炮灰，如今瑞恩一眼就能认出来。快递员给他们分别起了绰号：喽啰一号、喽啰二号和小喽啰。

“可算来了！”看见两名基因者到场，领头的抱怨道，“怎么这么久？你们本来该先到的！我们就这么暴露在外头！”

“抱歉，路易吉。”斩马刀的语气平静得多，“路上堵车，耽搁了。”

“嘿，路易吉！”瑞恩使出了有生以来最传神的口音，“是——我——呀，马里奥！”

路易吉皱起眉，试图把这话和什么联系起来，却没能成功。“没听懂。”

“我猜是电子游戏里的东西。”小喽啰说道，另外两个喽啰耸了耸肩。

瑞恩叹了口气。“在无知的汪洋中，当一座文化的孤岛，”他抱怨道，“真累啊。”

“路易吉，这是快存，我跟你提过的新打手。”斩马刀替双方作了介绍，“快存，这是路易吉，代号克里普托。他负责我们的物资供应。”

“你也有超能力？”瑞恩故作惊讶。难道唯一一个没带武器的人，会有什么特殊之处？

“有啊，我能过滤屁话。”路易吉把大麻烟扔进海里，跟鱼儿们分享去了，“你最喜欢哪个基因者？”

“这个嘛，我倒没——”一股外来的力量接管了瑞恩的意识，操纵着他的舌头，“波动先生酷毙了。”

“真的假的？”路易吉有些不快，“你喜欢那个让人尴尬的怪胎？”

瑞恩根本停不下来。“还有，我基本上算个异性恋，不过要是利奥·哈格雷夫斯半夜偷偷溜进我房间，我还是会让他——”

“行了行了，打住，我不想听细节。”路易吉说，瑞恩脑中的那股影响随之消失，“看见了吧？只要你开口，就没法对我撒谎。”

“总有一天，”瑞恩冲路易吉晃着一根手指，警告道，“你会问我一个不该问的问题，而那个答案，你可不会喜欢。”

也就是说，真到了那一步，他就得读档重来。吹嘘自己能暂停时间是一回事，可存档点的事，瑞恩从来都守口如瓶。说不定哪天就有聪明人想出了绕过这张王牌的办法，所以他始终把底牌藏在袖子里。

“你干吗带这家伙来，不带球体？”路易吉向斩马刀抱怨，“或者吱喳？”

“他们在别处有事。”武士回答，“再说你有五个保镖。”

“子弹可拦不住超能帮里任何一个人。”他的犯罪同伙说着，转向那几个喽啰，“无意冒犯，伙计们。”

斩马刀清了清嗓子。“安保问题，等活儿干完了再争也不迟。”

“潜艇应该快到了。”路易吉回答，“私人安保队那边，我花钱打点过了，他们会睁一只眼闭一只眼，不用担心。”

“至优者呢？”瑞恩好奇地问，“连超级英雄也能收买？”

路易吉笑了。“那群营销过度的小丑？放心，他们时不时会打击一下我们的生意，做个样子，但他们太怕我们，不敢真闹出什么大动静。他们一般只找单干的下手，不碰专业人士。”

“他们不妨碍我们做生意，我们也不妨碍他们。”斩马刀一边从瑞恩车里搬出货箱，一边解释，“跟冷战差不多。不过这里离锈镇很近，超能帮也已经袭击过这样的运货队伍，做好准备。”

“那就到拳交时间了。”瑞恩说着打开后备厢，取出自己的活塞拳套。

活塞拳套是一种金属手套，最初由臭名昭著的天才梅克隆开发，用来武装近战无人机。快存的这副武器，看上去就是在拳套上加装了由液压活塞驱动的撞锤。机械结构会把撞锤向前推出，砸中敌人时将其击退；快递员甚至改良了原版设计，往里面加上电击效果，疼痛加倍。

“这是活塞拳套，但可不是一般的活塞拳套。”瑞恩一边戴上拳套展示，一边对路易吉吹嘘，“我管它们叫拳头兄弟，因为它们能把人拳交到灰飞烟灭。人人都怕原子弹，可这两只？这才是真正的‘肛门炸弹’。”

只有喽啰二号笑了，证明这些人里就他有前途。路易吉看看瑞恩的拳套，又看看斩马刀。“斩，我不知道你这位朋友住在哪颗星球上，反正肯定不是我们这颗。”

“人们说疯狂是一座深渊。”瑞恩双手叉腰，兴高采烈地答道，“他们错了。疯狂是过山车。”

“我还挺喜欢他的。”斩马刀对路易吉说。其他几个喽啰正帮忙把他们带来的箱子搬到那堆货物上。“这人挺逗。”

“反正你就是喜欢怪人。”路易吉耸耸肩，拉起毛衣袖口，露出手表，“随时都该到了……”

栈桥边的水面翻腾起来，三人一齐探头望去。三个古怪的球形深潜器从浪间浮现，每一个内部都足以容纳多人。这些机器不同于老式深潜球，没连着任何缆绳，而是似乎由小型螺旋桨驱动。它们的加固玻璃舱门打开了，瑞恩却看不到内部有任何操纵装置或按钮。

瑞恩倒吸了一口气，瞬间认出了这种设计。“这是蕾恩做的！”

“喂！”路易吉叫了起来，快递员已经一把将他推开，好把机器看得更清楚些。

只消扫上几眼，瑞恩就确认了自己的猜想。哪怕混在成千上万件作品里，他也能认出她的手笔：对过时的蒸汽朋克技术情有独钟，还能让它重新变得实用；设计粗犷，在野蛮效率的祭坛上献祭了美感；还有那层被海水磨得黯淡的深红漆——她最喜欢的颜色。

深潜球的模样唤醒了瑞恩心中埋藏已久的情感，那些情感早已被冷漠与无聊掩埋。怀念、喜悦、渴望……甚至还有希望。

终于，多年寻觅无果之后，瑞恩终于找对了方向。他孤身一人的日子很快就要结束了。

他就知道，这个任务能推进他的主线！

“蕾恩……”瑞恩竭力压住涌上来的旧日画面，转向斩马刀，像孩子一样恳求道，“你们在哪儿找到这东西的？！拜托，拜托，拜托！”

“我不知道。”斩马刀回答，“技术归伏尔甘的部门管，不归我们。我们只负责运输和管理物资。”

“我连这些机器究竟算不算我们的都不确定。”路易吉拍了拍衣服，掏出手机。喽啰们把箱子丢进深潜球时，他开始打字，也许是在给别的什么人发信号。“先帮我们把物资装进去，回头我再去打听。天越来越冷了，这地方也不安全。”

说到冷。

经这么一提醒，瑞恩才发现周围似乎一秒比一秒冷。冷得很不正常。

斩马刀也察觉到了，立刻摆好架势准备迎敌。一柄深红的光剑旋动着出现在他手中，光芒凝如实质，形制与武士刀分毫不差。“他们来了。”他说，几个喽啰立即举起冲锋枪。

瑞恩环顾四周，很快发现了从北边过来的敌人。

远处，一个人影冻住海面，造出一座冰桥，在上面滑行。瑞恩立刻认出了食尸鬼，只是这场老年灾难没再穿连帽衫，而是把一片片冰覆盖在身上，构成了多层铠甲。他全身散发出白雾，让人难以看清他的样貌。

另一个人影飞在食尸鬼身后，不过说是漂浮也许更准确。第二名基因者穿着黑色防化服，戴着防毒面具，透着一股阴森劲儿。对方的护手中喷出一股股压缩空气，借此在海面上推进。简而言之，一则活生生的切尔诺贝利度假广告。

“食尸鬼和沙林。”斩马刀认出了两人，“也许还有别的。”

“我来处理。”瑞恩急着继续主线，不想再受打扰，“你们接着干苦力活就好，小喽啰们。”

“你想一个人对付他们？”斩马刀有点担心，“你确定？他们可是杀人不眨眼的。”

哎哟，他还挺关心人！瑞恩竖起大拇指，朝北边的石滩和超级油轮走去。他差点在沾满油污的石头上滑倒，稳住身形后，望向大海。那两个疯魔显然是冲着栈桥和深潜球来的，也许事先就得到了消息。

随后，食尸鬼注意到了瑞恩，而瑞恩正挥舞一根不存在的球棒，模仿打出本垒打的动作。

像公牛扑向斗牛士一般，疯魔当即改变了方向，让同伴大吃一惊。他杀气腾腾地朝瑞恩冲了过来。

“你他娘的哔——！”食尸鬼隔着海面大吼。随着他逼近，石滩也变得仿佛北极一般。疯魔周围的水汽凝结成十几片冰刃，与此同时，他骂出了一连串脏话，多得让瑞恩的大脑自动给他消了音。“你个哔——，老子要哔——你的脑壳，再用我的哔——把你哔——哔——哔——！”

这不适合小孩子听。这可一点都不适合小孩子听。

“牙长回来了？”瑞恩注意到了，“你肯定喝了不少牛奶。”

食尸鬼的回答是跃上石滩，同时朝瑞恩射出十几把冰匕首。看来他不打棒球了，改玩飞刀。快递员接受了挑战。

瑞恩暂停时间，抽出藏在风衣下的飞刀，瞄准，掷出。时间恢复流动时，食尸鬼射出的冰刃被瑞恩的飞刀撞偏；大多数冰片都没能命中目标，击中了后方的一座仓库，而一把飞刀则扎进了疯魔那只毫无遮护的眼睛。

正中目标！他重来了那么多次才练成这手飞刀功夫，实在太值了！

“我要把你的皮剥下来，就像剥橘子一样。”食尸鬼拔出飞刀，疼得嘶声说道。他的惨叫在瑞恩耳中宛如音乐。流出眼眶的血变成了草莓色的冰激凌，看得快递员有点饿。“然后喝干你的血，还有血里那甜美的灵药！”

另一个疯魔选在这时落上石滩，砰的一声砸在冰面上，也不知怎么就没滑倒。食尸鬼周身的白雾让滩上的冰层慢慢扩张，如今已经蔓延到了海面和步道上；瑞恩忽然寻思，自己这身行头是不是该加条围巾。

“食尸鬼，你搞什么鬼？”尽管面罩把声音捂得有些发闷，这位核灾难小姐显然是个姑娘。“亚当的话你听见了。先处理货物。”

“就是他！”食尸鬼咆哮着，在前臂上凝出冰刃，指向瑞恩，“就是这王八蛋打的我！我早跟你说了，他是奥古斯蒂的人！”

诽谤？瑞恩想替这老化石减轻痛苦，换来的感谢就是这个？亏他们还说安乐死是进步之举！

“那干掉他们一个，亚当总不能怪我们吧。”沙林说着，对瑞恩举起护手，仿佛觉得这样就能吓住他。她准是没洗手。“你要是识相，就他妈该离锈镇远远的。不过看来，你们这些怂包就是不长记性。”

“别担心。”快递员回答，“不管出了什么事，吹箫妹——”

“吹箫妹？”防化服姑娘困惑地打断他，“我不叫这——”

“你现在就叫吹箫妹，因为你会吹气。”随后，瑞恩气势汹汹地伸出一根手指，指向那个独眼的。“至于他，现在叫皮卡尔，因为我以前很喜欢法国冷冻食品。”

事后想想，叫一个姑娘“吹箫妹”，听上去也许有点下流，因为她真给气坏了。

她的护手开始振动，朝快存轰出一股压缩空气。脚下的冰层在冲击波中开裂，瑞恩这才意识到，自己本该给她起名叫振动棒。

瑞恩把时间暂停了几秒，慢悠悠地迈开舞步，闪出气浪的路径，差点在冰上滑倒，稳住身子，骂了一句，这才让时间恢复流动。压缩空气炸毁了石滩后方的步道，把石块碾成粉末，沿一条至少十米长的直线，给路面重新装修了一番。

食尸鬼一心想凑个三人行，举着冰刃，以堪比汽车的速度滑向快存。瑞恩没这癖好，低头躲过了攻击。他的时间暂停最多能持续十秒——十秒足够干很多事了——但之后得等冷却。冷却时长与瑞恩暂停时间的时长相等。

暂停五秒，接下来的五秒里就没法再用。

食尸鬼不懂什么叫私人空间，还在一个劲儿地试图用冰刃捅中瑞恩，结果肚子上挨了一拳。拳拳一接触便启动了，撞锤击碎疯魔的冰甲，把他轰得倒飞出去，落进海里洗澡。海水在他入水后立即冻结。

可惜，接触食尸鬼周身的白雾，也让拳拳冻住了，活塞随之卡死。妈的，每回热火朝天的时候，它的表现就不行。

沙林根本不管队友，一门心思地继续攻击瑞恩，而他正被自己脑中的笑话逗得直乐。一道冲击波轰碎了冰层，逼得快递员逃离石滩，跑上步道，甚至还得短暂停一下时间，才能成功脱身。

“吹气吹得很快？这就是你的超能力？”瑞恩强忍着笑，却差点在结冰的路面上滑倒，毁了这番表演。他当初怎么就没专门花一轮循环学滑冰来着？“我的电风扇也行，才花了十五块！”

眼见瑞恩逃走，沙林仍一心想独占他的全部注意力，于是将双手对准脚下，再次释放出冲击波。一道压缩空气柱把她向上推去，让她跃过港区。瑞恩抬头望去，将她的背面看了个一清二楚，可令他大失所望的是，她似乎是飘浮在那身防化服里面的。古怪得很。

“干吗这么执着，吹箫妹？”瑞恩一边问，一边试着让拳拳恢复运转，好介绍她跟那疯姑娘的脸认识认识。没有下流意思。“对我一见钟情了？”

“可惜，对你来说不太走运。”沙林在上方振动护手，让一道道短促的气浪如雨般轰向步道，“我恋尸。”

哦，也是个会抖机灵的！瑞恩很高兴终于有人能跟自己有来有回，尽管他还得集中精神躲避攻击。太多人只顾着杀他，连句客套话都不说，实在没礼貌。

瑞恩再度暂停时间，拔腿跑开，总算到了步道上没结冰的那一段。在冰上奔跑远比说起来困难，更重要的是，会让他看上去笨手笨脚。时间恢复流动时，沙林的一轮齐射已经把结冰的路面打得像奶酪一样千疮百孔。快递员望见远处，斩马刀和路易吉见他能应付局面，正在把最后的物资搬完。“我相信，我们肯定能打破彼此之间的坚冰。”

“这笑话真是可悲。”沙林落在一座滨海仓库的屋顶上，回答道。占据高处，让她能更清楚地看见步道；有了稳固的落脚点，她便可以全神贯注地对付瑞恩。这次，她解决了自己的发挥问题，从短点射改成了持续开火。

“我的邀请，就只换来你的……冷若冰霜？”快存一脸无辜地朝切尔诺贝利小姐喊道，边跑边终于修好了卡住的拳拳。持续轰来的气流摧毁了他身后的步道，石块纷纷落上滩头。坦白说，他们居然还没把整个街区吵醒，着实让瑞恩有些惊讶。

“你这嘴就没个消停的时候吗？！”食尸鬼咆哮起来。浑身湿透的疯魔跳上步道，准备再战一轮。就算披着冰甲，他仍是每走一步，便在身后留下一摊海水，而且……他腿上是不是还扒着只海星？

“总之，就像刚才被你们打断之前我说的，不管出了什么事……”

瑞恩转身面对敌人，张开双臂，竭力摆出自己最潇洒的模样。

“我都不会拿你们当回事。”