同章对照

What a bright day. As Ryan drove towards the ship graveyard and Shroud’s warehouse, he felt utterly happy with himself. The courier had the intuition that everything would turn out well for him this time around.

“I feel like you’re my lucky charm, my friend,” Ryan told Ghoul. “Like a rabbit’s foot, or a four-leaf clover. I should have kept you ages ago.”

The Psycho’s bodiless skull glared at him, hung on the rear mirror by a rope.

Surprisingly, it had cost Ryan less money to convince the Private Security to keep the Psycho for himself than imprisoning it. He guessed it cost more to feed a prisoner than to just ignore a vigilante.

Like all loops so far, Wyvern visited him, although she sounded a bit less enthusiastic this time, for some ghoulish reason. She had also insisted he deliver Ghoul for safekeeping, as a sign of trust—and for his own ‘safety.’ Vulcan followed with her own recruitment pitch, putting him firmly on the Augusti Path.

So far so good.

Ryan stopped in front of the warehouse, grabbed Ghoul with Fisty, and then stepped out of the car. “I will kill you,” Ghoul snarled. “I will kill you, I swea—”

He never finished his sentence, as Ryan started juggling the skull while whistling. He looked through the warehouse’s window, seeing neither the servers nor the friendly neighborhood assassin. If he didn’t have absolute trust in his power, the courier might have mistook the events of the previous loop for a feverish dream.

Instead of breaking in this time, Ryan knocked on the door, Ghoul’s nauseous skull under his arm.

“Hey, can you let me in, I have a car window problem?!” Ryan shouted. “Shroudy repair, Shroudy replace?”

He waited a full minute before the door finally opened, revealing a glass man and servers on the other side. “How did you know?” the Carnival member asked, glancing around as if expecting a hidden camera.

“Oh, I’m alone, my Carnival friend!” Ryan said, before showing him the skull. “Except Ghoul Wonder here, but it’s a package deal. Like Dresden and Bob, or Laurel and Hardy.”

“Get in.” Ryan walked inside, the Shroud closing the door behind them.

The Genome remained fully visible this time, perhaps believing the courier didn’t know about that trick. He sat in his chair, the screens of his many computers showing a map of New Rome with multiple locations marked. Most seemed to be Augusti fronts, like the Bakuto and Renesco’s place. A cup of camomile tea waited near the keyboard.

“Quicksave, how did you know?” Shroud asked him again, skipping the pleasantries and being all business.

“You don’t ask a magician to reveal his tricks,” Ryan replied, glancing at the cup. “Like this one: tea.”

He shook Ghoul’s head in front of the teacup until the skull let out a puff of white mist. The liquid turned cold, ice cubes appearing on the surface.

“Iced tea.”

“True genius,” Shroud replied with heavy sarcasm, although he didn’t touch the beverage.

“He also works with fridges, and it’s eco-friendly.”

“I will rape you, you maniac!” Ghoul snarled. “I will kill you, and then I will rape your corpse while it’s still warm!”

“You deserve the pain, asshole,” the glass manipulator replied, completely unsympathetic to the Psycho’s plight. “You killed at least seventeen people, according to my files.”

“Only seventeen?” The Psycho laughed, before bragging. “I killed hundreds! Hundreds!”

He sounded really proud of it too. You would think Ghoul would know better than brag about his body count while in his current position, but nope. Shroud observed the Psycho with cold disdain, before turning to Ryan. “What do you want me to do with him?”

“Why, interrogate him of course!” Ryan said, caressing the back of Ghoul’s skull. “Isn’t that right, Skellington? You’ll tell us everything about this big bunker your big bad boss wants so much?”

“A bunker?” Shroud asked, instantly interested.

“BLEEP you, Quicksave! BLEEP you!”

“Shut up slave,” Ryan replied, before slapping Ghoul.

“Y-you slapped me!” the talking skull complained. “You slapped—”

And Ryan slapped him again, the Psycho glaring at him with fury and humiliation. “Everything you can do to me, Adam can do worse.”

“Oh, really?” Accepting the challenge, Shroud separated a glass shard from his armor, shaping it into a thin needle. The object floated right in front of the Psycho’s skull, lining itself with his left eye. “If you don’t tell me everything, that needle will work its way into your eye, and then the brain. Slowly, painfully. Then I will work on the other.”

“I have survived decapitation, bitch,” Ghoul replied, unimpressed. He stared at the weapon as it came closer and closer, without faltering.

Ryan sighed, putting his hand on Shroud’s shoulder. “What?” the glass manipulator asked, stopping his needle as it reached the cornea, “You believe he doesn’t deserve it?”

“I know you want to play Jack Bauer, but that’s not how you torture a Psycho,” Ryan replied, searching inside his trench coat while putting the undead’s skull on a corner of the desk.

Ghoul’s eyes changed from confident to mesmerized, as the courier revealed a green potion, put inside a perfume-like receptacle. Dynamis’ logo was plastered on it, alongside the concoction’s name.

“The Hercules knockoff Elixir, made in Dynamis,” Ryan advertised the product, dangling it in front of Ghoul. The skull tried to take it with his teeth, but obviously, he couldn’t do it without legs. “You like it? I bought it this morning. It grants superhuman strength and stamina, and I heard it feels like drinking a liquid orgasm.”

“Give it to me!” Ghoul snarled, his junkie addiction taking over. “Give it to me dammit!”

“Uh uh, it’s contraindicated for quadriplegics,” Ryan taunted him. “I guess I will have to flush it down the toilet.”

“Y-you monster!” The Psycho sounded genuinely horrified. “You won’t dare, do you know how much they cost?”

“What do they cost?” The courier exploded into maniacal laughter, chilling Ghoul to the bone. It made him laugh even more, with Glass Man looking at the scene in disturbed silence. “Life isn’t about money! It’s about having fun!”

“You have to stop him!” Ghoul snarled at Shroud. “You, glass man! You have to stop him! He’s mad! Mad enough to do it!”

“I don’t think I can restrain him unless you give me information,” Shroud replied, removing his needle and switching to good cop mode. “I barely have any control as it is.”

Ryan opened the bottle, letting Ghoul smell its sweet perfume, before tilting it sideways. Some of the product fell on the ground, the undead letting out a snarl of horror.

“Stop, stop!” Ghoul quickly caved in. “There’s a place below the Junkyard! A place!”

“A place?” Shroud asked, unimpressed, while Ryan kept slowly spilling the product. “That’s not enough!”

“A bunker, below the trash tower!” Ghoul said, his desperate eyes on the Elixir. “It’s full of robots and laser turrets, they shoot at Genomes on sight! We came to New Rome for it!”

This time, Ryan stopped spilling the knockoff on the ground, having kept half of the bottle. Ghoul let out a breath of deep relief, which was odd since he had no lungs.

“What’s in the bunker?” Shroud asked, his tone dangerous.

“Adam won’t tell us,” Ghoul replied, sounding truthful. “He only told a few. He doesn’t want word to get out.”

“So, you throw yourself at a fortified place without knowing what’s inside?” Shroud deadpanned, although he sounded more and more interested as he listened. “Forgive me if I find that sketchy.”

“Adam knows best,” Ghoul replied. “He always does. And he’s obsessed with it. He says it’s, how does he say it… the future, yes! The future! The automated defenses sense Genomes and we lost a few people to them, so Adam decided to send normies in! Even dogs!”

“Another question then,” Ryan said. “How about the sweet supply of Elixir you Psychos are high on?”

“I don’t know, alright!” Ghoul snarled, Shroud listening like a hawk stalking a dove. “Psyshock handles it for Adam. They distribute knockoff Elixirs regularly, so long as we play by the rules. If we disobey or we look into it, we’re cut from the supply.”

“It would be impossible to generate a supply of genuine Elixirs, considering their rarity,” Shroud mused, his arms crossed. “Do they come from Dynamis? If they are knockoffs, I would assume so.”

“Are you deaf? I already told you, I don’t know! I don’t give a BLEEP where that sweet nectar comes from, so long as it flows!”

Ryan turned towards the glass man, very proud of himself. “See?”

“That’s worrying, I will grant you that,” Shroud admitted. “I will look into it. Can I keep Ghoul for further interrogation?”

“Sure, I have the rest of the body in cold storage in my trunk.” Ryan chuckled at his own joke, doubly so when Ghoul sent him a death glare. “Though I would like it if you kept me updated on your progress. I promised someone I would get the Meta out of Rust Town, and I will follow through.”

Shroud tilted his head to the side but didn’t ask for details. Ghoul, meanwhile, grew even more agitated. “Give it to me now! I told you everything!”

Ryan looked at this skull, and into his tiny, adorable eyes. “No arms, no Elixir.”

The undead let out a snarl of pain and anger, which warmed the courier’s heart with twisted schadenfreude. “Hopes are like breakfast eggs,” he told Shroud, as he put the knockoff on the other side of the desk, too far for Ghoul to reach. “You can’t start the day without crushing them.”

Instead of responding, the glass man detached a part of his glass armor, reshaping it into a jar to imprison Ghoul’s skull inside. “Why are you giving me this information? What do you want in return?”

Ryan put his hands behind his back and leaned towards Shroud, until their heads were within inches of one another. “Where is Len?”

The glass man didn’t answer the question immediately. His brain seemed to have frozen in place, failing to compute Ryan’s words. “That makes no sense,” Shroud finally spoke up, shaking his head. “That question, that whole situation, makes no sense.”

“What do you mean, Mr. Saint Gobain? I believe it should be clear enough.”

“It is clear, but you shouldn’t…” He seemed to reach a eureka moment. “Is your power truly stopping time?”

Ryan said nothing.

“I always wondered why you called yourself Quicksave,” Shroud said. “You seem extraordinarily lucky as if you always know how things would turn out. As if the world itself would bend to your whims. You’re clearly insane, yet somehow, you always get away with all the messes you leave in your wake. You knew where I was without me leaving any hints, that the Psycho’s intel would interest me, and that I had the information you needed. It can’t be a coincidence, therefore it isn’t.”

“Oh?” Ryan looked at Shroud with curiosity. “Please, do go on.”

“You’re not actually stopping time,” Shroud argued. “Instead, I think you peek into various alternate realities, then select one that favors you and overwrites the current one. Advanced reality manipulation. The transition just looks like a time-stop to outsiders.”

Ryan listened to his rambling with great patience. He had to admit, it was a plausible theory, especially as far as Violet Genomes went. Though Shroud made the error of believing Ryan had only one visible power, instead of one power having multiple applications. The courier decided to be careful in his next loops, to make sure the glass manipulator never guessed his ability’s true nature.

“So, am I right?” the vigilante asked.

“Who knows,” the courier replied with a shrug. “But if you’re right, certainly you should listen to my wise words. Also, bet on the T-Rex tonight, and 'the orange is in the hen house’.”

“The orange is in the hen house?” Shroud asked, confused.

“If you remember these words, then you’re safe.”

This confused the Genome greatly, much to Ryan’s amusement. While he mentally pondered on the matter, the glass Genome turned toward his keyboard and started typing. A map of the west and the Tyrrhenian Sea appeared on the screen, and Shroud put his finger on a spot, in a maritime area roughly equidistant from New Rome, Sardinia, and Sicily. “She’s there.”

“The Vavilov basin?” Ryan mused, his heart skipping a beat.

“The deepest part of the Tyrrhenian Basin,” the glass Genome confirmed. “The Underdiver, as she calls herself now, has an undersea base somewhere in the area, three kilometers deep below the surface.”

Ryan gasped, as he connected the dots. “An undersea communist utopia.”

“You think this is a new Kremlin?” Shroud turned his head, quite surprised.

“She’s Marxist-Leninist,” Ryan replied, completely giddy. Finally, he had reached his goal. “How do I get in?”

“I don’t know,” the glass man replied, disappointing the courier. “Even with diver equipment, the place is full of mutant fish and other hazards. I didn’t look too much into it, since besides supplying and repairing their shipping submarines, she isn’t involved in the Augusti organization.”

“Wow, you actually told me everything.”

Shroud froze. “Yes, and?”

And if Ryan had known it would be so easy, instead of having to attack a movie studio or follow a seminar, he would have done that ages ago! “I hope you aren’t planning anything harmful with that information,” the courier said, changing the subject, “Because if you intend to do anything to her, then we’ll have a problem.”

“My only targets are the Augusti and Meta,” Shroud replied. “Although I suspect you already know that part. If I targeted every private contractor in the city, half of New Rome would be wiped out, and she finances an orphanage in Rust Town. She ships them food and money every week. I won’t attack someone trying to turn their life around.”

Ryan froze, as a few things fell into place. “The Meta-Gang intends to attack that place soon.”

Shroud immediately tensed. “Why?”

“You heard dem bones, they need normies to get inside the bunker. Apparently, some places are too big for adults to crawl into.”

“So you can peek into alternate timelines,” Shroud took this as a confirmation of his theory, although he clenched his fists. “You are a pseudo-precog, and you help me because this is the optimal scenario.”

“Don’t get too cocky, Windshield.”

“I will take care of the orphanage,” he said with firm dedication. “As for reaching your friend, I cannot help much. The only person who remains in contact with her is Vulcan since they have a technology trade going on. I can look into it if you want.”

“I don’t think that will be necessary, but thank you,” Finally, the moment of truth. “You see, I have received an offer from both Wyvern and Vulcan to join their respective organizations.”

“Continue.”

“I want you to stop your explosive assassination spree of the Augusti.”

“And why would I do that?” Shroud asked, his tone turning from cautiously friendly to cold.

“Because if I infiltrate the Augusti on your behalf, I don’t want to get blown-up by accident.”

The vigilante remained silent for a few seconds as he processed Ryan’s words, then he laughed. “You know that they have a truth-teller?”

“Luigi’s my problem,” Ryan replied, the vigilante a bit surprised that he knew the name. “What you want is to cripple the Augusti organization, correct?”

“Not cripple,” Shroud replied. “Destroy it utterly.”

“Which can be done without killing anyone,” Ryan argued. “Most of their revenue comes from Bliss.”

“Not all of it,” Shroud replied. “They have a finger in every pie. Prostitution, gambling, weapon trafficking, booze… but Bliss is the cornerstone of their business and money-maker, yes. It’s half their revenues.”

“And correct me if I’m wrong, all the Bliss come from their island superlab.”

“Yes,” Shroud confirmed. “I don’t know why, but they can only produce the drug there. Maybe they need a specific Genome or environmental conditions. I haven’t been able to get in, or even close. Security is too tight.”

“Well then, that’s it,” Ryan said, putting his hands on his hips in a Superman pose. “I’ll destroy this lab for you, and cripple their business!”

Glass man remained skeptical though. “Assuming you succeed, which… may be plausible… you want me to do what, ignore the criminal syndicate killing people every day in the meantime?”

“You don’t attack the Augusti, especially Zanbato, Chitter, or Sphere.” He might have included Luigi in the group, but Ryan didn’t like him and the truth-teller could cause problems down the line. “And obviously you won’t go after me.”

“Crippling their Bliss supply won’t be enough to destroy the organization,” Shroud replied. “It will weaken them, certainly, but we want to destroy Augustus’ empire permanently.”

“Yes, but if an assassin targets them, then the Augusti will be on edge and increase security around the lab,” Ryan pointed out. “If they get no early warning, and focus entirely on the Meta…”

The courier let the sentence hang, while Shroud joined his hands to ponder the offer. Frankly, he had everything to gain with this arrangement. The Augusti and Meta-Gang would kill each other without him having to risk discovery, and he would have an agent inside Augustus’ group supplying him with information. With his own access to Dynamis’ servers, the vigilante could secretly infiltrate every organization in the city, fix the whole board.

“Three weeks,” said the vigilante. “You have three weeks to destroy that lab. Afterward, the matter will be out of my hands and I can’t promise anything.”

“And in whose hands will it be then?”

Shroud remained silent as a tombstone. Perhaps he wanted to gauge the limits of Ryan’s abilities, or he didn’t trust him yet.

Well, hopefully, Ryan would have met with Len then, and it wouldn’t be his problem anymore. He didn’t care if Augustus and the Carnival fought one another, so long as he completed his own Perfect Run. He might even make another loop, just to bypass saying anything compromising to the glass manipulator.

“Don’t bother coming back here, I will contact you,” Shroud said. “I will keep you informed of the Meta investigation, and you will return me the favor as far as the Augusti are concerned. If you tell anyone I exist, I will learn of it, and the deal is off.”

“Deal.” Ryan presented his hand, Shroud shaking it. “Don’t take it personally when I say I hope we don’t meet again.”

“We both know this ain’t happening.” The glass manipulator dismissed him without a word, returning to his screens and files.

Ryan turned away, reached the door, and opened it.

“Quicksave?” Shroud called him from behind.

Ryan stopped on the threshold.

“I wish you luck, for everything. You’re doing good in the world. Don’t forget that.”

Ryan waved his hand at him without turning back, closing the door behind. He glanced at the sea beyond the ship graveyard, where Len waited for him.

Finally, the perfect path was clear.

多么明媚的一天。瑞恩开车前往船舶墓地和裹尸布的仓库，一路上对自己满意极了。快递员有种直觉，这一回，一切都会顺顺当当。

“我觉得你就是我的幸运符，朋友。”瑞恩对食尸鬼说，“就像兔子脚，或者四叶草。早该把你留在身边了。”

疯魔那颗没了身体的骷髅头用绳子吊在后视镜上，正瞪着他。

出乎意料的是，说服私人安保队把疯魔留给他自己处置，居然比请他们把疯魔关起来花的钱还少。他猜，养一个囚犯总比对一个义警睁只眼闭只眼更费钱。

和之前每一轮一样，双足飞龙来找过他，只是不知闹的什么鬼，这回她似乎没那么热情。她还坚持要求他交出食尸鬼，送去妥善看管，以示信任——也是为了他自己的“安全”。随后，伏尔甘又来招揽了他，让他稳稳踏上了奥古斯蒂路线。

到目前为止，一切顺利。

瑞恩把车停在仓库前，用拳拳抓起食尸鬼，下了车。“我要杀了你，”食尸鬼咆哮道，“我要杀了你，我发——”

他没能说完，因为瑞恩开始一边吹口哨，一边把骷髅头抛上抛下地耍着玩。瑞恩透过仓库窗户向里望去，既没看见服务器，也没看见那位友好的邻家刺客。要不是绝对信任自己的能力，快递员没准会以为上一轮发生的事只是一场高烧中的梦。

这回瑞恩没有破门而入，而是把晕得犯恶心的食尸鬼脑袋夹在腋下，敲了敲门。

“喂，能让我进去吗？我的车窗出了点问题！”瑞恩喊道，“裹裹修玻璃，裹裹换玻璃？”

他足足等了一分钟，门才终于打开，露出另一边的玻璃人和服务器。“你是怎么知道的？”嘉年华的成员问道，同时环顾四周，像是在找什么隐藏摄像头。

“哦，我是一个人来的，嘉年华的朋友！”瑞恩说完，亮出了骷髅头，“除了这位神奇食尸鬼，不过我俩是捆绑套餐。就像德累斯顿和鲍勃，或者劳莱和哈代。”

“进来。”瑞恩走了进去，裹尸布在他们身后关上了门。

这次，那名基因者始终没有隐形，或许以为快递员不知道他还有这一手。他在椅子上坐下，多台电脑的屏幕上显示着一幅新罗马地图，许多地点都做了标记。大多似乎是奥古斯蒂的掩护场所，比如博徒和雷内斯科的店。键盘旁摆着一杯洋甘菊茶。

“快存，你是怎么知道的？”裹尸布又问了一遍，省去了客套，直奔正事。

“哪有让魔术师揭穿自己戏法的。”瑞恩瞥了一眼杯子，答道，“比如这个：茶。”

他在茶杯前摇晃食尸鬼的脑袋，直到骷髅头喷出一团白雾。茶水凉了下来，表面浮现出冰块。

“冰茶。”

“真是天才。”裹尸布的语气讽刺十足，不过没碰那杯饮料。

“放进冰箱也能用，而且环保。”

“我要强奸你，你这个疯子！”食尸鬼咆哮道，“我要杀了你，再趁热强奸你的尸体！”

“你这是活该，混蛋。”玻璃操纵者对疯魔的处境毫不同情，“根据我的档案，你至少杀了十七个人。”

“才十七个？”疯魔笑了起来，接着大吹大擂，“我杀了几百个！几百个！”

听起来他还真为此自豪。按说都沦落到这步田地了，食尸鬼总该懂得别再炫耀自己杀了多少人，可他偏不。裹尸布冷冷地轻蔑打量着疯魔，随后转向瑞恩。“你想让我拿他怎么办？”

“当然是审问他啦！”瑞恩一边说，一边抚摸食尸鬼的后脑勺，“对不对，斯凯灵顿？你那个大坏蛋老大一心想要的大地堡，你会把它的事全告诉我们的，对吧？”

“地堡？”裹尸布立刻来了兴趣。

“去你哔——的，快存！去你哔——的！”

“闭嘴，奴隶。”瑞恩说完，扇了食尸鬼一耳光。

“你、你打我耳光！”会说话的骷髅头嚷道，“你打——”

瑞恩又扇了他一耳光，疯魔满眼愤怒与屈辱地瞪着他。“你们能对我干的事，亚当都能干得更狠。”

“哦，是吗？”裹尸布接受了挑战，从盔甲上分离出一片玻璃，将它塑成一根细针。玻璃针悬在疯魔的骷髅头前，正对他的左眼。“不把一切都告诉我，这根针就会钻进你的眼睛，再钻进脑子。很慢，很疼。然后我再来处理另一只眼睛。”

“我脑袋被砍了都没死，贱人。”食尸鬼不为所动。他盯着越逼越近的凶器，丝毫没有退缩。

瑞恩叹了口气，把手搭在裹尸布肩上。“怎么？”玻璃操纵者问道，在针尖抵达角膜时停住了它，“你觉得他不该受这个罪？”

“我知道你想扮杰克·鲍尔，但折磨疯魔不是这么个折磨法。”瑞恩说着，把不死者的骷髅头搁在桌角，伸手在风衣里翻找。

快递员拿出了一瓶绿色药水，装在形似香水瓶的容器里。食尸鬼眼中的自信顿时变成了痴迷。瓶身上印着迪纳米斯的标志，旁边是药剂的名字。

“迪纳米斯出品，赫拉克勒斯仿制灵药。”瑞恩像做广告似的介绍着产品，在食尸鬼面前晃来晃去。骷髅头想用牙咬住它，可没有腿，显然办不到。“喜欢吗？我今天早上买的。它能赋予人超凡的力量和耐力，而且我听说，喝下去就像喝了液体高潮。”

“给我！”食尸鬼咆哮道，瘾头彻底占了上风，“他妈的，给我！”

“不行不行，四肢瘫痪者禁用。”瑞恩逗弄着他，“看来只能倒进马桶冲掉了。”

“你、你这个怪物！”疯魔听上去真的吓坏了，“你不敢的，你知道这东西多贵吗？”

“多贵？”快递员爆发出一阵癫狂的大笑，让食尸鬼寒意彻骨。这又让他笑得更厉害了，玻璃人则不安地沉默旁观。“人活着不是为了钱！是为了乐子！”

“你得阻止他！”食尸鬼冲裹尸布吼道，“你，玻璃人！你得阻止他！他疯了！疯得真会干出这种事！”

“除非你给我情报，否则我恐怕拦不住他。”裹尸布收回玻璃针，转而唱起了红脸，“现在这样，我已经快管不住他了。”

瑞恩打开瓶子，让食尸鬼闻了闻它的香甜气味，随后倾斜瓶身。一点药液落到地上，不死者发出了惊恐的吼声。

“住手，住手！”食尸鬼很快就屈服了，“废料场底下有个地方！有个地方！”

“有个地方？”裹尸布不为所动，瑞恩则继续缓缓往外倒药水。“这可不够！”

“地堡，在垃圾塔下面！”食尸鬼绝望地盯着灵药说道，“里面全是机器人和激光炮塔，一看见基因者就开火！我们就是为它才来新罗马的！”

这回瑞恩不再往地上倒仿制灵药了，瓶里还剩下一半。食尸鬼大大松了口气，奇怪的是，他明明没有肺。

“地堡里有什么？”裹尸布问道，语气危险。

“亚当不肯告诉我们。”食尸鬼答道，听起来像是实话，“他只告诉了几个人。他不想让消息传出去。”

“所以你们连里面是什么都不知道，就往一处严密设防的地方冲？”裹尸布面无表情地问，尽管听得越多，他似乎越感兴趣。“恕我直言，这也太可疑了。”

“亚当最清楚。”食尸鬼答道，“他一直都最清楚。而且他对那地方着了魔。他说那是，他怎么说来着……未来，对！未来！自动防御系统能感应到基因者，我们已经死了几个，所以亚当决定派普通人进去！连狗都派！”

“那再问一个。”瑞恩说，“你们这些疯魔喝得飘飘欲仙的灵药，又是从哪儿弄来的？”

“我不知道，行了吧！”食尸鬼吼道，裹尸布则像紧盯鸽子的鹰一般凝神听着，“心震替亚当管这事。只要我们守规矩，他们就会定期发仿制灵药。要是不听话，或者打听货源，就会被断供。”

“真正的灵药那么稀有，不可能维持这样的供应。”裹尸布抱着双臂，沉吟道，“来自迪纳米斯吗？如果是仿制品，我会这么猜。”

“你聋了吗？我都说了，我不知道！只要有得喝，我管那甘露哔——从哪儿来！”

瑞恩转向玻璃人，得意极了。“看见没？”

“我承认，这事令人担忧。”裹尸布说，“我会调查的。我能留下食尸鬼，继续审问吗？”

“当然，身体剩下的部分就在我后备厢里冷藏着呢。”瑞恩被自己的笑话逗乐了，食尸鬼投来的怨毒目光让他笑得更欢。“不过，我希望你能随时告诉我进展。我答应过一个人，会把超能帮赶出锈镇，我说到做到。”

裹尸布偏了偏头，没有追问细节。食尸鬼却越来越激动。“现在给我！我全都告诉你们了！”

瑞恩望着这颗骷髅头，望进他可爱的小眼睛。“没手，就没灵药。”

不死者发出一声痛苦而愤怒的咆哮，快递员心里顿时涌起一股扭曲而温暖的幸灾乐祸。他把仿制灵药放到桌子另一头，远得食尸鬼根本够不着，同时对裹尸布说：“希望就像早餐的鸡蛋。不把它们打碎，这一天就没法开始。”

玻璃人没有接话，而是从玻璃盔甲上分离出一部分，重塑成一个罐子，把食尸鬼的骷髅头关了进去。“你为什么把这些情报告诉我？你想要什么回报？”

瑞恩把双手背到身后，向裹尸布俯身凑近，直到两人的脑袋只隔着几英寸。“蕾恩在哪儿？”

玻璃人没有立刻回答。他的大脑仿佛卡住了，处理不了瑞恩的话。“这说不通。”裹尸布终于开口，摇着头，“这个问题，还有眼下这整件事，都说不通。”

“什么意思，圣戈班先生？我想已经够清楚了吧。”

“是很清楚，但你不该……”他似乎突然想通了什么。“你的能力真的是暂停时间吗？”

瑞恩没有说话。

“我一直在想，你为什么给自己取名快存。”裹尸布说，“你似乎幸运得异乎寻常，仿佛总能预先知道事情会怎样发展。仿佛世界本身都会依着你的性子走。你明摆着是个疯子，留下一路烂摊子，却不知怎么总能全身而退。我没留下任何线索，你却知道我在哪儿；你知道疯魔的情报会让我感兴趣，还知道我有你需要的信息。这不可能是巧合，所以它就不是巧合。”

“哦？”瑞恩好奇地看着裹尸布，“请，继续。”

“你其实没有暂停时间。”裹尸布推断道，“我认为，你是窥探不同的平行现实，再选出一个对你有利的，覆盖当前的现实。高级现实操控。只是在旁人看来，切换的过程像是暂停了时间。”

瑞恩十分耐心地听着这番长篇大论。他不得不承认，这个理论说得通，尤其考虑到紫系基因者的能力。不过裹尸布犯了个错误：他以为瑞恩只有一种展现在外的能力，却没想到一种能力可以有多种用法。快递员决定，接下来的循环里要小心些，确保这个玻璃操纵者永远猜不到他能力的真正本质。

“所以，我猜对了吗？”义警问。

“谁知道呢。”快递员耸了耸肩，“不过，如果你猜对了，那当然就该听听我的金玉良言。还有，今晚押霸王龙，以及‘橙子在鸡舍里’。”

“橙子在鸡舍里？”裹尸布一头雾水。

“记住这句话，你就安全了。”

这让那名基因者困惑不已，瑞恩却乐在其中。玻璃基因者一边在心里琢磨，一边转向键盘，开始打字。屏幕上出现了一幅西部地区和第勒尼安海的地图，裹尸布伸出手指，点在一处海域上，那里与新罗马、撒丁岛和西西里岛的距离大致相等。“她在这儿。”

“瓦维洛夫海盆？”瑞恩沉吟着，心跳漏了一拍。

“第勒尼安海盆最深的地方。”玻璃基因者证实道，“她现在自称深潜者，在那片海域的某个地方有一座海底基地，位于海面下三公里。”

瑞恩把线索串了起来，不禁倒吸一口气。“海底的共产主义乌托邦。”

“你觉得那是一座新的克里姆林宫？”裹尸布转过头，颇为惊讶。

“她是个马克思列宁主义者。”瑞恩兴奋得晕乎乎的，终于达成了目标。“我要怎么进去？”

“我不知道。”玻璃人的回答让快递员失望了，“就算有潜水装备，那地方也到处都是变异鱼类和其他危险。我没怎么深入调查，因为除了供应和维修他们的运输潜艇，她不参与奥古斯蒂组织的事务。”

“哇，你居然真的全告诉我了。”

裹尸布愣住了。“是啊，然后呢？”

要是瑞恩早知道这么容易，不用去袭击电影制片厂，也不用参加研讨会，他早就这么干了！“希望你没打算利用这些信息做什么坏事。”快递员换了个话题，“因为你要是打算对她做什么，咱俩可就要翻脸了。”

“我的目标只有奥古斯蒂和超能帮。”裹尸布答道，“不过我猜你已经知道了。如果我要对付这城里的每个私人承包商，半个新罗马都会被夷为平地。况且她还资助着锈镇的一家孤儿院，每周都会送去食物和钱。我不会攻击一个努力让自己的人生走上正轨的人。”

瑞恩愣住了，几件事忽然联系了起来。“超能帮打算近期袭击那里。”

裹尸布立刻绷紧了身体。“为什么？”

“你听那堆骨头说了，他们需要普通人进地堡。据说有些地方太大了，成年人爬不进去。”

“所以你确实能窥探别的时间线。”裹尸布认为这证实了自己的理论，不过他攥紧了拳头。“你相当于一个预知者，你帮我，是因为这是最优方案。”

“别太自以为是了，挡风玻璃。”

“我会照看好孤儿院。”他的语气坚定不移，“至于怎么到你朋友那里去，我帮不上太多忙。还在和她保持联系的人只有伏尔甘，两人一直在做技术交易。如果你愿意，我可以查一查。”

“我想没那个必要，不过还是谢谢你。”终于到了摊牌的时候。“是这样，双足飞龙和伏尔甘都来邀请我加入各自的组织。”

“继续。”

“我要你停止针对奥古斯蒂的连环爆炸暗杀。”

“我为什么要这么做？”裹尸布问，语气从谨慎的友好转为冰冷。

“因为如果我要替你潜入奥古斯蒂，可不想被你不小心炸飞。”

义警沉默了几秒，消化着瑞恩的话，随后笑了起来。“你知道他们有个真言者吧？”

“路易吉归我处理。”瑞恩说，义警对他知道这个名字略感惊讶。“你想要的是重创奥古斯蒂组织，对吧？”

“不只是重创。”裹尸布答道，“是彻底摧毁。”

“这件事不杀人也能做到。”瑞恩说，“他们的大部分收入都来自极乐。”

“不是全部。”裹尸布答道，“他们什么生意都要插一脚。卖淫、赌博、军火走私、酒类生意……不过没错，极乐是他们生意的基石，也是摇钱树。占了他们一半的收入。”

“如果我说错了，你就纠正我——所有极乐，都来自他们岛上的超级实验室。”

“没错。”裹尸布确认道，“我不知道为什么，但他们只能在那里生产这种毒品。也许需要某个特定的基因者，或者特定的环境条件。我一直没能进去，甚至没法靠近。安保太严了。”

“那就这么定了。”瑞恩双手叉腰，摆出超人的姿势，“我帮你毁掉那座实验室，重创他们的生意！”

玻璃人依然持怀疑态度。“假设你能成功，虽然……也许还真有可能……你希望我怎么做？在此期间，对这个每天都在杀人的犯罪集团视而不见？”

“你不能攻击奥古斯蒂，尤其是斩马刀、吱喳和球体。”他本可以把路易吉也加进名单，不过瑞恩不喜欢他，而且这个真言者之后可能会惹出麻烦。“当然，也不能来对付我。”

“重创极乐的供应，还不足以摧毁这个组织。”裹尸布答道，“肯定能削弱他们，但我们要的是彻底毁掉奥古斯都的帝国，让它永不复起。”

“是啊，可要是有刺客盯上他们，奥古斯蒂就会草木皆兵，加强实验室周围的安保。”瑞恩指出，“如果他们事先没得到任何警讯，把注意力全放在超能帮身上……”

快递员没有把话说完，裹尸布则双手交握，权衡着这个提议。说实话，这项安排对裹尸布有百利而无一害。奥古斯蒂和超能帮会互相残杀，他却不必冒暴露的风险，还能在奥古斯都的组织里安插一个为他提供情报的内线。再加上他自己能够接入迪纳米斯的服务器，这名义警就能秘密渗透城中的每一个组织，操纵整盘棋局。

“三周。”义警说，“给你三周时间，毁掉那座实验室。之后就不由我说了算了，我也保证不了任何事。”

“那到时由谁说了算？”

裹尸布像块墓碑一样沉默。也许他想试探瑞恩能力的极限，也许他还不信任瑞恩。

好吧，希望到那时瑞恩已经见到了蕾恩，这事就再也轮不到他操心了。只要能完成自己的完美通关，他才不在乎奥古斯都和嘉年华是否会打起来。说不定他还会再来一轮，干脆省掉向玻璃操纵者说出任何可能留下把柄的话这一环。

“不用再来这里，我会联系你。”裹尸布说，“超能帮的调查有进展，我会告诉你；奥古斯蒂那边，你也得投桃报李。如果你把我的存在告诉任何人，我都会知道，交易也就作废了。”

“成交。”瑞恩伸出手，裹尸布跟他握了握。“我希望咱俩别再见面了，别往心里去。”

“咱俩都知道，那是不可能的。”玻璃操纵者没再多说，示意他离开，重新看起屏幕和档案。

瑞恩转身走到门口，打开了门。

“快存？”裹尸布在背后叫住了他。

瑞恩停在门槛上。

“祝你一切顺利。你在为这个世界做好事。别忘了这一点。”

瑞恩没有回头，只朝他挥了挥手，随后关上身后的门。他望向船舶墓地之外的大海，蕾恩就在那里等着他。

终于，那条完美的道路清晰可见。