同章对照

Bugs Bunny.

The rabbit was Ryan’s most beloved character in all of fiction, and he had watched all its cartoons during his endless wandering. The courier always laughed at hunters’ failure to catch the wily animal, their rage growing with each missed bullet.

So it must have been very frustrating for these two.

“Stop it!” By now, Ghoul fumed so much that it became difficult to see through the white mist surrounding him. The whole harbor was slowly freezing, while the Psycho threw car-sized blocks of ice at Ryan. “Stop dodging!”

Ryan lazily stopped time, moved out of a projectile's path, then cancelled his power. The Psycho was actually getting worse with his aiming the more angered he grew. Unfortunately, the white mist surrounding Mr. dem bones also made it impossible for Ryan to get in close without freezing in place.

He knew he should have invested in a thicker sweater.

“Ghoul, he’s a speedster!” Sarin snarled, still standing on a roof to keep the high ground. She was no more successful than her ally at hitting Ryan, who mocked her by activating his time-stop just when her blasts were within an inch of reaching him. At one point, the courier even took the time to blow her a kiss. “Just freeze him already!”

“I’m not a speedster, I’m Quicksave!” Ryan shouted, before revealing his greatest secret. “I’m immortal, but don’t tell anyone!”

“Soon you’re just going to be blood on the pavement!”

What pavement? By now the two Psychos had destroyed the entire waterfront, turning it into an icy wasteland of snow and craters. Ryan had to keep moving north to find ground to stand on, eventually luring the duo to an empty parking lot.

While Ghoul pursued him on foot, his female companion glided on top of a streetlight, somehow managing to avoid slipping up. There was something wrong with the way she moved, as if she had no weight at all. All Psychos were mutants, so she must have an abnormal physiology beneath the hazmat suit.

“I’m sorry but you make ice cream and blow off air,” Ryan pointed out. “Household products can do it. While I control the lynchpin of all reality. I try not to sound patronizing but…”

Ghoul unleashed a wide burst of white mist with a furious growl, freezing everything in its path.

Ryan simply activated his time-stop and dodged once again. Still, growing bored with the pursuit and now having an opening, he grabbed two of his throwing knives; launching one at Ghoul’s remaining eye, the other at Sarin.

When time resumed, Ghoul lost his remaining eye, and Sarin took a knife to the chest.

“You ain’t making it easy.”

Ryan stopped talking, however, when green gas came out of Sarin’s hazmat suit. The strange substance immediately rusted the streetlight below the Psycho, causing the electrical parts to short-circuit and the metal to slowly bend. Sarin put a hand on the opening, trying to keep the gas inside.

He knew she was full of hot air.

“I’ll kill you…” Ghoul whined, his face now looking like a strawberry sorbet with all the frozen blood flowing from his skull. It was vaguely horrifying, but Ryan had seen worse. “I’ll kill you…”

“Ghoul, I know the sight of my dashing costume and my long, bloody bat made you fall for me at first sight,” Ryan taunted him. “Trust me, I get that a lot. But I just don’t see you that way.”

“I swear to God, I swear it,” rasped the abominable ice cream, his hands on his face, “If you crack a joke again, I—”

“You will give me the cold shoulder?” Ryan chuckled, unable to resist.

Ghoul exploded in a snarl of fury, his body swallowed by white mist. The strange substance seemed to swirl around him, creating layers upon layers of stalagmites.

When it dissipated, Ghoul was gone, replaced with a four meters tall titan of ice and snow. This strange fusion between a snowman and a hedgehog had maces instead of hands, and a thick defense of ice spikes.

“Oh.”

Ryan barely had the time to leap to the side, as the enormous snowman attempted to squash him like a bug. The sheer strength of the elemental construct shattered the concrete and shook the ground. Sarin, meanwhile, was too busy trying to cover the hole in her suit to assist.

How did Ghoul manage to make that body work? Ice didn’t work that way, it couldn’t even bend! Ryan called cheating!

A rumbling noise echoed across the parking lot, growing louder with each new step. Something heavy was rushing towards the battlefield, to claim part of the glory.

“Quicksave!” Zanbato entered the parking lot, his hands manifesting a sword of crimson light. “The Security is coming!”

“I thought you guys paid them off?” Ryan asked, dodging another strike from Ghoul. He wondered how the Psycho could locate him without his eyes, guessing it probably had something to do with temperature.

“We paid them to ignore a delivery run, not the harbor’s destruction!” Zanbato glanced at the two Psychos present, and first cut the streetlight on which Sarin stood. Miss Chernobyl glided to the other end of the parking lot, confirming Ryan’s suspicions that she was made of gas.

Zanbato switched target from Sarin to her compatriot, who was closer; moving at great speeds in spite of the heaviness of his armor, he cut through the giant snowman’s leg like a turkey, slicing it clean in half. Yet the limb quickly reattached itself to the body, Zanbato having to step back to avoid being frozen by mist. The Augusti mafioso still tried to hack at the giant, proving himself so annoying that Ghoul abandoned his pursuit of Ryan to attack this new foe.

The sound of an aircraft echoed above them, Ryan raising his eyes to watch an attack helicopter fly above the parking lot. He recognized it as a customized Agusta A129 Mangusta, piloted by two security guards.

Ryan waved a pile of bank notes at them, as a sign of friendship.

They responded with a missile.

Ryan stopped time just long enough to move out of the bomb’s way, thankful that they didn’t use laser weapons; he was fast, but not as much as light. When time resumed, he quickly realized that the Private Security targeted everyone, the missile impacting in the middle of the battlefield.

Zanbato protected his face with his hand and avoided being knocked back, his armor deflecting debris; while Ghoul’s snowman form took the projectiles without showing any form of discomfort. Sarin, however, was pushed backward by the blast, quickly getting back on her feet with fury.

“Fuck off!” Hazmat girl moved a hand to cover the hole in her suit, and the other towards the skies. A second later, she fired a blast straight at the helicopter, destroying its tail and sending it on a crash course towards the ground.

Alright, it had gone on long enough. Playtime’s over.

As Sarin pointed her gauntlet at Ryan, the courier stopped time for the last time.

He glanced at the helicopter, to assess if he had to rescue the guards, only to notice a flying form next to the aircraft. A humanoid figure, nearly impossible to see in the darkness, and only visible due to the smoke blurring their features. Probably a Genome on Dynamis’ payroll, rescuing the guards.

Good. That meant Ryan could focus on the ground.

The time-manipulator moved behind Sarin, avoiding the clouds of toxic fumes hanging in the air from her wound, and moved her hand towards Ghoul.

Time resumed, and the giant snowman took a full, sustained blast of compressed air head-on. Physics being physics, the ice construct exploded in a rain of droplets and shards, a helpless Ghoul hitting the ground face-first. Zanbato quickly cut him in half execution-style, while the helicopter crashed on the frozen beach further west.

Suddenly realizing what happened, Sarin barely had the time to turn her head around and look over her shoulder.

“Blow this.”

And Ryan introduced her to Fisty, face first.

The pisto-gauntlet shattered her mask’s glass parts and tossed her backward. Ryan barely had the time to dodge by leaping to the side, as the holes in her mask unleashed a stream of gas; like a balloon, Miss hazmat flew towards the horizon at full speed, unable to control her trajectory. She continued for a while, before finally crashing into the distant supertanker’s wreck.

Ryan glanced at Fisty, making a face as the gas rusted the pistons into scrap within seconds. Yeah, sure, he could have ended it a lot sooner by gutting them in the stopped time…

But life wasn’t about winning. It was about having fun.

“Is she dead?” Zanbato asked, upon reaching Quicksave.

“I’m not sure,” Ryan shrugged, before realizing he couldn’t see his favorite undead among the snowman's remains. “Is Ghoul?”

“No, that’s his other power. He never dies, even when missing the right organs.”

“He’s immortal too?” Ryan gasped, shocked.

“He won’t enjoy it much. I cut him in more pieces than a birthday cake and tossed the head into the sea.” Zanbato glanced at the space where Sarin had blasted the Private Security’s helicopter. The machine had crashed into the Mediterranean Sea, the mysterious superhero gone. “Luigi’s team has already left, and we should make our escape before more Security guards arrive. Can you give me a lift?”

“Anytime,” Ryan replied, whistling. He could already hear his self-driven Plymouth Fury circle around the battlefield to reach them.

“Your car can move by itself?” Zanbato asked, impressed.

“If you really want to know,” Ryan confided, “I don't have a driver’s license.”

---

In the end, the duo left the harbor in ruins, and almost crossed paths with three Private Security armored minivans.

Before leaving the area, Ryan had given a last glance at the destroyed helicopter, the remains having sunk into the sea. He hoped the guards were okay; they were just doing their job—albeit a bit too zealously—and if they had died, he would consider creating a new loop to save their lives.

“You can leave me at this corner,” Zanbato pointed at a railroad station. “My girlfriend will pick me up.”

“You have a girlfriend?” Ryan asked. “That’s wonderful.”

“Yes, I already told…” Zanbato stopped himself, “I get it. I’ll introduce the two of you one day, I’m sure you will get along. Same sense of humor.”

“Without false modesty, I am inimitable.”

“That’s for sure!” Zanbato replied with a chuckle, climbing down of the car and stepping on the walkway, two drunk guys passing by them. “Look, about your girl… If it’s her tech for the submarines, then I’ll ask Vulcan for you. We’ll solve that mystery in no time.”

“I would appreciate it, Zan! Can I call you Zan? Or Zanny?”

“Jamie,” the samurai replied, shaking Ryan’s hand before leaving. “You can call me Jamie.”

Ryan watched him leave with a fine feeling of contentment. What a fine night.

Not only did Ryan find a lead towards Len—Len—he also made a new friend! A nice, friendly mobster fellow. Certainly, it locked him on to the Augusti Path, but so far so good. A few more missions and they would give him the critical information he needed to find his best friend.

But that would wait after a night of good, gentle sleep. He would have to repair his rusted Fisty tomorrow morning, and dodging attacks all night had exhausted him.

One hour’s drive later, Ryan finally reached the door of his hotel room, ready to collapse on the bed.

His hand touched the doorknob, feeling a little pressure fight against his push.

Click.

“Mmm?”

Before Ryan knew what hit him, the floor exploded in gas and fire.

---

It was May 8th 2020 for the fifth time, so Ryan stopped his Plymouth Fury in the middle of the road.

Of course, quite a few motorists honked him in response, threatening the Genome with bodily harm if he didn’t move. The courier ignored them, meditating on what just happened, before reaching a decision.

“I’m changing hotels,” Ryan promised, driving back to Renesco. “This city isn’t safe at all.”

He wondered if inns were insured against terrorist attacks.

兔八哥。

在所有虚构角色中，这只兔子是瑞恩的最爱。在漫无止境的漂泊中，他看遍了兔八哥的全部动画。每次看见猎人们抓不住这只狡猾的兔子，每打空一枪就更暴跳如雷，快递员总会笑出声来。

所以，眼前这两位一定憋屈得很。

“别躲了！”此时，食尸鬼已气得七窍生烟，周身的白雾浓得几乎看不穿。整个港口都在慢慢冻结，而这疯魔还在朝瑞恩投掷汽车大小的冰块。“不许再躲了！”

瑞恩懒洋洋地暂停时间，避开砸来的冰块，然后解除能力。这疯魔越生气，准头反倒越差。可惜，包围着骨头架子先生的白雾也让瑞恩无法近身，否则就会被冻在原地。

他就知道，该花钱买件厚点的毛衣。

“食尸鬼，他是个极速者！”沙林吼道，依旧站在屋顶上占据高处。她和同伴一样，根本打不中瑞恩。为了戏弄她，瑞恩总等到她的冲击波离自己只差一寸时才暂停时间。有一回，快递员甚至抽空给了她一个飞吻。“赶紧冻住他啊！”

“我不是极速者，我是快存！”瑞恩高声回应，随即透露了自己最大的秘密，“我是不死之身，不过别告诉别人！”

“你马上就只剩路面上一摊血了！”

哪还有路面？那两个疯魔已经毁掉了整片滨水地带，将这里变成一片冰雪覆盖、坑洞遍布的荒地。瑞恩不得不一路向北，寻找还能落脚的地方，最后把两人引进了一座空荡荡的停车场。

食尸鬼徒步追着他，那个女同伴则滑翔到一盏路灯顶上，不知怎么竟没滑下去。她移动的方式不太对劲，仿佛全无重量。疯魔全都是变异体，看来她那身防化服下面的身体构造也不正常。

“抱歉，不过你们一个做冰激凌，一个吹风，”瑞恩指出，“家用电器就能干这些。而我掌控的可是整个现实的命脉。我也不想显得高高在上，不过……”

食尸鬼愤怒地咆哮着，放出一大片白雾，所过之处一切冻结。

瑞恩只需发动时间暂停，就又一次躲了过去。不过，这么追来追去，他也腻了，眼下又正好有机可乘，便摸出两把飞刀，一把掷向食尸鬼仅剩的那只眼睛，另一把掷向沙林。

时间恢复流动时，食尸鬼失去了剩下那只眼睛，沙林胸口则挨了一刀。

“你们这样，我想不显得高高在上都难。”

然而，看见绿色气体从沙林的防化服里涌出，瑞恩停住了话头。那种奇怪的物质立刻锈蚀了她脚下的路灯，电气部件随之短路，金属灯杆也慢慢弯了下去。沙林一手捂住破口，试图把气体堵在里面。

他就知道她满肚子都是废气。

“我要杀了你……”食尸鬼哀叫着，颅骨里淌出的血全都冻住了，让他那张脸活像一份草莓雪酪。多少有点瘆人，不过瑞恩见过更糟的。“我要杀了你……”

“食尸鬼，我知道，我这身潇洒行头，还有那根又长又染着血的球棒，让你对我一见钟情了，”瑞恩挖苦道，“相信我，这种事我遇得多了。但我对你真没那种意思。”

“我对上帝发誓，我发誓，”这坨可憎的冰激凌双手捂脸，嘶哑地说，“你要是再讲一个笑话，我就——”

“你就要对我摆冷脸？”瑞恩实在忍不住，笑出了声。

食尸鬼爆发出一声狂怒的咆哮，身体被白雾吞没。那奇异的物质似乎在他周身旋转，凝出一层又一层石笋状的冰柱。

雾气散去时，食尸鬼已经不见了，取而代之的是一个四米高的冰雪巨人。这东西像是雪人和刺猬的奇怪结合体，双手成了钉头锤，周身厚厚的冰刺组成了防护。

“哦。”

瑞恩才刚来得及往旁边一跃，巨大的雪人便一击砸落，像是要把他当虫子拍扁。这具元素造物单凭蛮力便震碎了混凝土，让地面为之颤动。沙林却还忙着堵防化服上的洞，根本无暇助战。

食尸鬼到底是怎么让那副躯体动起来的？冰可不是这么回事，连弯都弯不了！瑞恩认定这就是作弊！

一阵隆隆声响彻停车场，随着一步步逼近，变得越来越响。有个沉重的家伙正朝战场奔来，也想分一份功劳。

“快存！”斩马刀冲进停车场，双手间凝出一把猩红光剑。“安保队就要来了！”

“你们不是已经花钱打点过了吗？”瑞恩又躲过食尸鬼一击，开口问道。他很好奇，这疯魔没了眼睛，是怎么找到自己的，估计多半跟温度有关。

“我们花钱让他们无视一趟送货，不是无视整个港口被拆了！”斩马刀扫了一眼在场的两个疯魔，先砍断了沙林脚下的路灯。切尔诺贝利小姐滑翔到了停车场的另一头，印证了瑞恩的猜测：她是气体构成的。

斩马刀将目标从沙林换成了离自己更近的食尸鬼。尽管铠甲沉重，他动作依旧极快，像切火鸡一样，将巨型雪人的一条腿干净利落地一刀两断。然而，那条腿很快又接回身上，斩马刀只得后退，免得被白雾冻住。这名奥古斯蒂黑手党成员依然试着挥剑劈砍巨人，烦得食尸鬼放弃追逐瑞恩，转而攻击这个新对手。

上方传来飞机的轰鸣，瑞恩抬眼一看，一架武装直升机正飞临停车场上空。他认出那是一架改装过的阿古斯塔A129“猫鼬”，由两名安保队员驾驶。

瑞恩朝他们挥了挥一沓钞票，以示友好。

他们回敬了一发导弹。

瑞恩暂停时间，只停了够自己躲开导弹的那么一会儿。他很庆幸对方没用激光武器：他是很快，但还没光那么快。时间恢复后，他立刻意识到，私人安保队要打的是所有人——那枚导弹正落在战场中央。

斩马刀抬手护住脸，稳住身形没被掀飞，铠甲替他挡开了碎片；食尸鬼的雪人之躯则硬挨飞来的碎块，丝毫不见难受。沙林却被冲击波掀得向后倒去，随即怒气冲冲地爬了起来。

“滚你妈的！”防化服女孩一只手捂住衣服上的洞，另一只手指向天空。一秒后，她径直朝直升机轰出一道冲击波，摧毁了机尾，让它朝地面坠去。

好了，闹得够久了。游戏时间结束。

沙林将拳套指向瑞恩时，快递员最后一次暂停了时间。

他瞥了眼直升机，想判断自己是否需要去救那两名安保队员，却发现飞机旁有一道飞在空中的身影。那身影呈人形，在夜色中几乎无法看见，只有烟雾映出的模糊轮廓，让他得以辨认。大概是个领迪纳米斯薪水的基因者，正在救那两名队员。

很好。这意味着瑞恩可以专心处理地面上的事。

时间操纵者绕到沙林身后，避开从她伤口泄出、悬在空中的团团毒雾，将她的手挪向食尸鬼。

时间恢复，巨型雪人被持续喷涌的压缩气流正面轰了个结实。物理定律终归是物理定律，冰制巨人当即爆散成一场水滴与冰屑的骤雨，毫无反抗之力的食尸鬼脸朝下摔在地上。斩马刀立刻如行刑一般，将他一刀劈成两半；与此同时，直升机坠毁在更西边封冻的海滩上。

沙林猛然反应过来发生了什么，却只来得及扭头朝肩后看了一眼。

“吹这个试试。”

接着，瑞恩让她用脸认识了拳拳。

活塞拳套打碎了她面罩上的玻璃，将她掀得向后飞去。面罩的破洞喷出一股气体，瑞恩急忙朝旁边一跃，险险避开。防化服小姐则像只气球，全速飞向远方，完全控制不住方向。她飞了好一阵，最后一头撞上远处超级油轮的残骸。

瑞恩瞥了一眼拳拳，看着气体在几秒内就将活塞锈成了废铁，不由得苦起了脸。是啊，当然，他本可以在时间暂停时给他们开膛破肚，早早结束战斗……

可人生不在于赢。在于玩得开心。

“她死了吗？”斩马刀来到快存身边，开口问道。

“不确定。”瑞恩耸耸肩，这才发现雪人的残骸里不见他最喜欢的活死人。“食尸鬼呢？”

“没有，那是他的另一种能力。他死不了，就算缺了要害器官也一样。”

“他也是不死之身？”瑞恩倒吸一口气，满脸震惊。

“他可没什么好高兴的。我把他切得比生日蛋糕还零碎，又把脑袋扔进海里了。”斩马刀望向刚才沙林轰中私人安保队直升机的那片空中。直升机已经坠入地中海，神秘的超级英雄也不见了。“路易吉那队人已经走了，咱们也该在更多安保队员赶来前撤了。能捎我一程吗？”

“随时效劳。”瑞恩说着，吹了声口哨。他已经能听见，自己的普利茅斯“狂怒”正在自动绕过战场，朝他们驶来。

“你的车会自己开？”斩马刀佩服地问。

“你要真想知道的话，”瑞恩向他交了底，“我没驾照。”

---

最后，两人将化为废墟的港口留在身后，路上还险些迎面遇上三辆私人安保队的装甲面包车。

离开这一带前，瑞恩最后看了一眼被毁的直升机，残骸已经沉入海中。他希望那两名安保队员没事。他们也只是在尽职工作——虽说热心得有些过了头——如果他们死了，他会考虑开启新一轮循环，救下他们的命。

“把我放在这个街角就行，”斩马刀指着一座火车站说，“我女朋友会来接我。”

“你有女朋友？”瑞恩问，“那太好了。”

“是啊，我已经告诉过……”斩马刀打住话头，“我懂了。哪天我介绍你们认识，你们肯定聊得来，幽默感都一样。”

“我就不故作谦虚了，本人是模仿不来的。”

“那倒是！”斩马刀笑着应道，钻出汽车，踏上人行道，两个醉汉正从他们身边经过。“对了，说到你的那位姑娘……潜艇要是用了她的技术，我就替你去问问伏尔甘。我们很快就能把这谜团解开。”

“那可真是帮大忙了，阿斩！我能叫你阿斩吗？或者斩斩？”

“杰米。”武士答道，临走前握了握瑞恩的手。“你可以叫我杰米。”

瑞恩心满意足地目送他离去。多美好的一个夜晚。

他不但找到了蕾恩的线索——蕾恩啊——还交了个新朋友！一个和气又友善的黑帮伙计。固然，他也就此锁定了奥古斯蒂路线，不过到目前为止一切顺利。再做几趟任务，他们就会给他找到挚友所需的关键信息。

不过，这些都得等他安安稳稳睡上一晚再说。明早还得修那只锈掉的拳拳，躲了一整晚的攻击，他早就累坏了。

开了一个小时车后，瑞恩终于来到酒店房间门口，只等一头倒在床上。

他的手搭上门把手，往前推时感觉到了一点阻力。

咔哒。

“嗯？”

瑞恩还没弄明白怎么回事，地板便在气浪与烈焰中轰然炸开。

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这已经是第五次过2020年5月8日了，于是瑞恩把他的普利茅斯“狂怒”停在了马路正中央。

当然，不少司机立刻按响喇叭，威胁这名基因者，说他再不挪车就要挨揍。快递员没理他们，只顾思索刚才发生的事，最终做出了决定。

“我要换家酒店。”瑞恩一边保证，一边驱车返回雷内斯科那里。“这城市一点都不安全。”

他不禁琢磨，旅馆买的保险包不包括恐怖袭击。