同章对照

And so, Vulcan’s biblical judgment was passed upon the heathens at Dynamis. Wyvern’s movie ended in rats and pestilence, like the previous Augusti loop.

It saddened Ryan to ruin Atom Cat’s first movie appearance, especially after befriending him earlier. His adorable feline sidekick hated these commercial ventures though, so no harm done. They would make up later.

When the Made Men returned to the house in his beautiful car, the courier almost expected Shroud to blow up the place again. Ryan had never gone farther than this moment, so he couldn’t tell what would happen next. Ki-jung didn’t seem agitated in the Plymouth Fury’s back, so her rat sentries should be fine.

The courier almost wished for an unforeseen disaster, to spice things up.

When Ryan noticed Vulcan’s enormous armor parked in the garden right next to a black Lamborghini, and girls waiting at the front door, he realized someone upstairs had granted his prayer.

Instead of summoning them to her lair, Pluto had decided to visit her employees herself.

Besides her usual bodyguard and Vulcan, the Underboss also enjoyed the company of a young woman Ryan hadn’t seen before; a petite, smiling blonde with pale blue eyes, who kept her hair in two braids. She wore a white sweater and pants, and Ryan guessed she probably had Slavic origins from her facial features.

“She brought two of the Killer Seven,” Chitter said, uneasy at the sight.

“You’re ready for this?” Jamie asked Ryan, as the courier parked the car.

“Well, it feels like I’ll have to pass hard speech checks or fight a difficult boss,” Ryan replied. “But that means I’m close to the end.”

“You aren’t going to beat that one, I can already tell you,” Lanka said at the back, everyone getting out of the car.

The group approached Pluto’s own, with everyone tensing up as the Underboss looked at them. Even Ryan remained quiet at first, mostly because he knew his long-awaited reunion with Len was just around that corner.

“Boss,” Jamie cleared his throat, “I didn’t expect to see you here.”

“That’s the purpose of a surprise inspection,” Pluto replied dryly, her eyes settling on Ryan. “Our business is with him only, Zanbato. Your team can do as they wish.”

“If you don’t mind, I would like to be present,” the Made Man replied calmly. “If only as moral support to the new recruit.”

“I’ll stay too,” Lanka said.

“Aw, I knew you cared,” Ryan taunted her.

“If she kills you, blabbermouth, I’ll be the one saddled with corpse disposal,” she replied. “I would rather do less work.”

“I guess I will stay too then,” Ki-jung replied, although she clearly didn’t want to. A rat climbed on her shoulder, like a Pikachu. “Just don’t mind me.”

Pluto shrugged it off, and then immediately started barking orders. “Sparrow, search his person; Vulcan, check for any Genius tech he might have. Cancel, you know the drill.”

“I’m already on it,” the blonde said with a Bulgarian accent, before grinning at Ryan. “Hey! I’m Cancel, but you can call me Greta! Nice to meet you, Ryan!”

“Oh hi, Greta.” The courier waved a hand at her, surprised by her niceness. “I’m immortal, but don’t tell anyone.”

Pluto’s female bodyguard, ‘Sparrow,’ immediately started feeling up Ryan with her big hands, searching everywhere. She removed his mask, his hat, his jacket, and then started to look into places better left unexplored.

“You know, lady, if you wanted to look at my underwear,” the courier said as she checked a... private place… “You could just ask. I’m young, easy, and available.”

“I might take you up on that,” Sparrow replied with an amused smile. Over time, a pile of weapons grew next to Ryan, Vulcan swiftly examining them one at a time like hors-d’oeuvres, until she hit the plat de resistance.

“How did you pack so many lasers inside such a tiny space?” Vulcan asked, examining the rabbit plushie with astonished eyes. “Even my armor doesn’t have that many.”

“One at a time,” Ryan shrugged it off.

“What is this?” Pluto asked, curious. “Some toy?”

“It’s quite cute,” Ki-jung said.

“A toy with enough firepower to wipe out a small city,” Vulcan said, more and more fascinated by the plushie’s dark power. “Can I—”

“No,” the courier denied her.

“But—”

“No!” Ryan said firmly. “I’m not loaning it!”

A-bombs, fine, but something this dangerous? No way in Hell. It couldn’t end in anything but tragedy.

Vulcan looked deeply, deeply disappointed, but didn’t push the issue. “It’s exceptionally lethal,” she told Pluto, putting the plushie back on the weapon pile. “But it doesn’t cause memory alteration. None of his weapons can do that.”

“Neither can his power,” Cancel said. “Or at least I don’t think so. He’s as Violet as they come.”

“Oh, you’re a White?” Ryan asked, the girl nodding.

“One of the mightiest.” Pluto smiled at Ryan. “Cancel can negate the powers of everyone within a certain radius. My brother excepted, of course.”

“Ah, that’s funny.”

Cancel immediately pouted. “Why don’t you check for yourself then, huh?”

Challenge accepted.

Ryan immediately attempted to stop time... and nothing happened. No feedback, no world freezing with the power of his mind, not even an itching sensation. Nothing at all. His ability simply refused to activate.

He tried again, but he kept having performance issues. His annoyance must have shown on his face because a smug, victorious smile appeared at the edge of Greta’s lips.

Well, that wasn’t good.

That wasn’t good at all! His save point shouldn’t be affected, but if Cancel negated the automatic trigger… then if Ryan perished close to her, he might die for good.

“Miss Pluto, have I told you I find you extraordinarily elegant and beautiful?” Ryan said. When in doubt, flatter them!

“Pointless, but thank you,” Pluto replied with false affability, before turning to Cancel. “Still nothing?”

“If it was memory manipulation, I should have purged the effect,” the girl replied. “Whether it was Blue, Green, Yellow, or even Violet.”

Pluto said nothing. Instead, she looked for a pocket inside her dress and grabbed a smoke; Sparrow brought a lighter and set it ablaze just as her mistress put the cancer stick in her mouth.

“I control death,” Pluto told Ryan, Jamie’s group freezing still at her words. “The metaphysical concept of death, the end of life. While I cannot count them, I can sense the weight of a person’s years. And if I’m not mistaken, Quicksave, you’re the oldest person I’ve ever met. Far older than anyone should be. Now that I’ve taken a good long look at you, I would peg you as…”

She breathed a cloud of smoke on Ryan’s face.

“Somewhere in the triple digits, and closer to four than two.”

Oh my, that long? Ryan had lost count after the first century.

“Three digits?” Ki-jung frowned. “That doesn't make sense.”

“He seems a bit young for an old geezer,” Lanka replied with a shrug. “Are you sure, boss? I don’t mean to doubt you—”

“You are,” Pluto cut her off, as sharp as a blade. She didn’t raise her tone, but it silenced all critics. “My power is never wrong. So Quicksave, care to explain this to me?”

The way she phrased it, Ryan knew that Pluto would either spare or kill him depending on the answer.

No choice then.

“I knew this day would come.”

Everyone glanced at the courier, who did his best ‘guilty culprit confession’ impersonation.

“Okay, I admit it,” the courier let out a long, long sigh. “I lied. I lied to you. To everyone. About my power.”

“I suspected as much,” Vulcan said, now listening with rapturous attention. “I can’t imagine how one could stop time and still be able to act. You should evolve in a lightless world, where every item is a deadly projectile.”

“So, you lied about the nature of your power to keep an ace in the hole?” Pluto asked, playing with her cancer stick. “A sensible thing to do, especially with strangers. I applaud your caution.”

“I guess you aren’t as stupid as you look,” Lanka teased him, Jamie elbowing her.

“How does it actually work then?” Pluto asked.

“When I freeze time, I actually jump into another parallel universe, usually to avoid death,” Ryan lied through his teeth. “One alternate world very close to mine. I ‘overlap’ with the ‘me’ of that world and we become one.”

Ryan expected denial, but much to his surprise, nothing of the sort came up.

“That’s awesome,” Greta all but swooned. “Does that mean you can become a woman? Like fuse with an alternate version of you that is a girl? How does it work?”

“Once, I spent three months Chinese,” Ryan lied, the bigger the better. “And I became American, twice!”

“Wait, that’s how you cheated at cards!” Lanka immediately focused on the important tidbit. “You asshole, you jumped universes whenever you had a bad hand!”

“Huh, that’s interesting,” Jamie said, crossing his arms. “That puts some of your comments at the casino in a new light.”

“That explains the Chronoradio too,” Ki-jung added.

“Chronoradio?” Vulcan frowned. “A radio that listens through time?”

“Multiple pasts,” Ryan corrected.

“You can’t have more than one past,” Lanka grunted in the background.

“A radio that can tap into alternate timelines?” The more she observed his technology, the more Vulcan seemed fascinated with it. “How does it work?”

“It’s really complicated but—”

“I’m a Genius,” she interrupted Ryan. “How does it work?”

“Observer effect, my smug friend,” Ryan replied with a shrug, unwilling to elaborate much. “The observed state changes depending on the observation method.”

“It works with past events?” Vulcan’s eyes widened, as she struggled to grasp the underlying theory.

Meanwhile, Pluto’s face was undecipherable. Finally, she uttered a single word, “Okay.”

“Wow, you guys took it a lot better than I thought,” Ryan admitted. “People usually think I’m pulling their legs when I say that.”

“My niece Minerva can interact with parallel universes, although she’s a Blue. I wonder how your respective abilities would interact. Could be interesting...” The Underboss examined the courier with a whole new look, trying to puzzle it out. “So the abnormal number of years I sense, is because you fuse with your copies and your metaphysical weight accumulates?”

“Could it be that you marked an alternate version of him,” Sparrow said. “And your power followed him through his jumps?”

“Possible,” she admitted. “Though the fact I marked him at all is a warning sign.”

“You mark every Genome you meet,” Vulcan pointed out brashly. “It’s quite vulgar, frankly.”

Pluto ignored the jab and observed Ryan closely, who gave her a smile in return. “Search his car for any devices,” she ordered her cronies next, “I’m not entirely convinced yet.”

Sparrow examined the Plymouth Fury as thoroughly as she checked Ryan’s body, searching under the seats, the trunk, and the hidden compartments. She clearly had experience with these things. Vulcan, meanwhile, examined the Chronoradio, checking multiple channels.

When she opened the car hood and looked inside, Sparrow’s bored face turned into one of confusion, then astonishment. “My God…”

“What do—” Ki-jung peeked inside, and then screamed in horror. The rat on her shoulder was so startled, it fell to the ground. Jamie immediately rushed to his girlfriend’s side, taking her in his arms, and frowning at the car hood.

Of course, everyone gathered to peek inside, much to Ryan’s confusion. Why such a reaction? Even the unflappable Pluto had raised an eyebrow, and Lanka was at a loss of words. “What the fuck…”

“Ryan.”

Jamie looked at the courier as if he were deranged.

“Why is there a brain inside your car?”

Ryan peeked beneath the car hood and understood what they meant.

Below the engines and near the heat pump, there was a hidden hatch which Sparrow had opened; revealing an elongated brain floated in a jar of green liquid, the spine linked to cables.

“Oh, my,” Ryan said, scratching his hair. “I completely forgot about that.”

“I will ask again,” Jamie’s voice had turned deadly cold, while Ki-jung hid behind her boyfriend. “Why do you keep a brain in storage?”

“It’s not in storage, it’s connected to my car. I mean, how did you think the self-driving worked? The Chronoradio? You believed it was ‘magic’ or ‘artificial intelligence’?”

Seriously, Jamie was okay with Ryan keeping an A-bomb, but he drew the line at a brain-driven car? Where was the logic in that?

“That’s so messed up,” Lanka muttered to herself. “You abducted a complete stranger and extracted his brain, because you couldn’t get a driver’s licence?”

“Oh, I see where it's going.” Ryan raised his hands. “You think I abducted homeless people off the streets with the help of a creepy hunchback assistant? And that his name was Igor?”

It said something about Pluto and Vulcan that they looked more curious than disturbed by the possibility. And Greta kept smiling, fascinated. It should have looked cute, but now it seemed downright disturbing.

“It’s not a human brain,” Vulcan pointed out. “The shape doesn’t fit. It looks like a manta ray’s but… no, I don’t recognize it. Some of the parts are clearly artificial.”

“It’s homegrown,” Ryan replied. “Entirely synthetic.”

“Explain this,” Pluto said. “Now.”

“I worked a few jobs for Geniuses in the past, and usually, they paid me with tech rather than cash. Like my A-bomb.” He drew quite a few angry glares at this, except Vulcan, who was more and more interested. The courier powered through. “I couldn’t get the Chronoradio to work due to lack of processing power, and I wanted my car to drive by itself. A client proposed to solve both problems at once.”

“By putting a brain in your car?” Lanka deadpanned.

“One of his specialties lied in wetware computers,” Ryan replied. “He had like, hundreds of brains in jars. He grew them like weed.”

“So it’s not sentient?” Ki-jung asked, looking at the brain matter with an anxious face. “It’s just a computer?”

“Of course it’s not sentient,” Ryan protested. “You think I would do half the things I do with my car if there was a real person inside? Do you take me for a savage?”

Nobody answered that. Jamie kept his arms crossed. “I don’t know how to feel about this.”

“Me neither,” his girlfriend admitted.

Pluto, who had remained completely unflappable so far, threw her smoke on the lawn and glanced at Vulcan. “What do you think?”

“He clearly had multiple Geniuses work on his car, and I think I see a miniature particle accelerator connected to the brain,” the weapon designer replied, before closing the car hood. “It will take me a few days to review everything, but I doubt any of his devices can be used for memory manipulation.”

“I see,” Pluto said, turning to Ryan next, “Quicksave.”

“Yeeees?”

“You’re on probation for now. I'm not entirely sold yet, but I will give you the benefit of the doubt. Don’t make me come back.” She glanced at Vulcan next. “Jasmine, he’s yours to do as you wish. If he fucks up, I’ll hold you responsible.”

Jamie seemed a bit disappointed in the background, perhaps believing she would assign Ryan to his own superior’s division. But he knew better than to mouth off to that lethal woman.

Without a word nor goodbye, Pluto considered the matter settled and moved towards her car. “See you soon!” Greta waved at everyone, while she and Sparrow went for the Lamborghini.

Crisis averted!

No sooner after they left, Vulcan tried to buy Ryan on the spot. “Okay, three thousand,” she declared out of nowhere, unable to resist her newfound feelings for the courier. “To work as my lab assistant, and let me examine your rabbit.”

“Does a toy warrant more attention than a brain-driven car?” Ki-jung whispered to Jamie, who shrugged his shoulders. He had long stopped trying to make sense out of the situation.

“Three grand per month?” Ryan smiled smugly at this cute offer. “My, you’re cheap—”

“Per day,” Vulcan corrected the courier. “Half cash, half wired.”

Ryan merely raised an eyebrow; Lanka was the one who almost died of a stroke on the spot. “Per day? For him? He cheats at cards!”

“I will make you your own armor, everything else you want,” Vulcan continued, completely ignoring the minion. “Drugs, enough whores to break your nuts on, your own personal lab? And of course… your girl.”

“You grease the hinges, the door opens,” Ryan replied. “My main quest first, then we’ll see about the side-quests.”

“Alright, fair,” Vulcan replied, moving towards her armor. “We’re going.”

“To the Moooooooon?”

“To your friend,” Vulcan replied as if he was saying something stupid. “There’s a second seat in my suit’s cockpit, so climb in.”

Finally.

He was going to see Len at long last.

于是，伏尔甘那堪比《圣经》天罚的审判降临在了迪纳米斯的异教徒头上。和上一次奥古斯蒂路线的循环一样，双足飞龙的电影以鼠群与瘟疫收场。

毁掉原子猫首次参演的电影，瑞恩有些过意不去，尤其是他之前才跟对方交上了朋友。不过，他那可爱的猫咪小跟班本来就讨厌这些商业活动，所以也没什么损失。他们以后会和好的。

一众正式成员坐着瑞恩那辆漂亮的车回到住处时，信使几乎已经做好了准备，等着裹尸布再次把这里炸上天。瑞恩还从没经历过这一刻之后的事，所以也说不准接下来会发生什么。坐在普利茅斯“狂怒”后座的基贞看起来并不焦躁，她的老鼠哨兵应该都平安无事。

信使几乎巴不得来一场意料之外的灾难，给生活添点滋味。

等瑞恩看见伏尔甘的巨型装甲停在花园里，紧挨着一辆黑色兰博基尼，还有几个女人等在前门口时，他便意识到，上头有人听到了他的祈祷。

普鲁托没有把他们召到自己的巢穴，而是决定亲自登门，探望手下的员工。

除了常伴左右的保镖和伏尔甘，这位副首领身边还有一个瑞恩没见过的年轻女人：她身材娇小，面带笑容，浅蓝色的眼睛，金发编成了两条辫子。她穿着白色毛衣和长裤，瑞恩看她的五官，猜测她大概有斯拉夫血统。

“她带了杀手七人组里的两个过来。”吱喳看着那一行人，不安地说道。

“准备好了吗？”信使停车时，杰米问瑞恩。

“唔，感觉我接下来不是得通过几次高难度口才检定，就是得打一场高难度首领战。”瑞恩答道，“不过，这也说明快到结局了。”

“那一位你可打不过，我现在就能告诉你。”兰卡在后座说道，众人陆续下了车。

他们走向普鲁托一行人。副首领的目光投来，所有人都绷紧了神经。就连瑞恩起初也保持着沉默，主要是因为他知道，自己盼了许久的那场与蕾恩的重逢，已经近在眼前。

“老大，”杰米清了清嗓子，“没想到您会来这里。”

“突击检查要的就是这个效果。”普鲁托冷淡地答道，目光落在瑞恩身上，“我们只找他，斩马刀。你的小队可以自便。”

“您不介意的话，我想留下。”这位正式成员平静地答道，“哪怕只是给新人一点精神上的支持。”

“我也留下。”兰卡说。

“哎呀，我就知道你关心我。”瑞恩逗她道。

“话痨，她要是杀了你，处理尸体这活儿就得落到我头上。”她答道，“我还是宁愿少干点活。”

“那我想，我也留下吧。”基贞说道，尽管她显然并不想留下。一只老鼠像皮卡丘似的爬上她的肩膀。“不用管我就好。”

普鲁托无所谓地耸耸肩，随即开始厉声发号施令：“麻雀，搜他的身；伏尔甘，检查他身上可能带着的天才科技。消除者，你知道该怎么做。”

“已经在做了。”金发姑娘带着保加利亚口音说道，随后朝瑞恩咧嘴一笑。“嗨！我是消除者，不过你可以叫我格蕾塔！很高兴认识你，瑞恩！”

“哦，你好，格蕾塔。”信使朝她挥了挥手，对她的友善有些意外。“我是不死之身，不过别告诉别人。”

普鲁托那位名叫“麻雀”的女保镖立刻伸出大手，在瑞恩身上摸索起来，哪儿都不放过。她摘了他的面具和帽子，脱了他的外套，随后开始检查一些最好别去探索的地方。

“女士，你要是想看我的内裤，”她检查某个……私密部位……时，信使说道，“开口就行。我年轻、随便，随时奉陪。”

“那我说不定就不客气了。”麻雀觉得好笑，微笑着答道。搜着搜着，瑞恩身旁的武器堆越来越高，伏尔甘飞快地逐一检查，如同在品尝一道道前菜，直到她碰上了那道主菜。

“你是怎么把这么多激光器塞进这么小的空间里的？”伏尔甘惊讶地端详着兔子毛绒玩具，问道，“连我的装甲都没装这么多。”

“一个一个塞的。”瑞恩不以为意地耸了耸肩。

“这是什么？”普鲁托好奇地问，“某种玩具？”

“挺可爱的。”基贞说。

“一件火力足以夷平一座小城的玩具。”伏尔甘说道，愈发为这毛绒玩具的黑暗力量着迷。“我能不能——”

“不能。”信使拒绝了她。

“可是——”

“不行！”瑞恩斩钉截铁地说道，“这个不外借！”

原子弹，可以；可这么危险的东西？门儿都没有。除了悲剧，不可能有别的结果。

伏尔甘显得非常、非常失望，但没有继续纠缠。“它的杀伤力非同寻常，”她把毛绒玩具放回武器堆，对普鲁托说道，“不过它无法修改记忆。他的武器里没有一件能做到。”

“他的能力也不能。”消除者说，“至少我觉得不能。他是再正宗不过的紫系。”

“哦，你是白色系？”瑞恩问道，姑娘点了点头。

“最强的白色系之一。”普鲁托朝瑞恩微笑，“消除者能让一定范围内所有人的能力失效。当然，我哥哥除外。”

“啊，那可真有意思。”

消除者立刻噘起嘴。“那你干吗不亲自试试看，嗯？”

这挑战，他接了。

瑞恩立刻尝试暂停时间……什么也没发生。没有反馈，世界没有随他的心念而冻结，甚至连一丝痒意都没有。什么都没有。他的能力就是发动不了。

他又试了一次，可还是有心无力。他的恼火一定写在了脸上，因为格蕾塔的嘴角浮起了得意的胜利微笑。

好吧，这可不妙。

这可太不妙了！他的存档点应该不会受到影响，但如果消除者连自动触发机制也能消除……那瑞恩要是死在她附近，可能就真的死透了。

“普鲁托小姐，我有没有说过，我觉得您格外优雅美丽？”瑞恩说道。拿不定主意时，先拍马屁！

“没用，不过谢谢。”普鲁托假意和气地答道，随后转向消除者。“还是没有？”

“如果是记忆操纵，我应该已经清除效果了。”姑娘答道，“不管是蓝系、绿系、黄系，甚至紫系，都一样。”

普鲁托没有说话，而是在连衣裙里摸到一个口袋，掏出一根烟。麻雀拿出打火机，女主人刚把那根致癌棒叼进嘴里，她便为其点上了火。

“我掌控死亡。”普鲁托对瑞恩说道，杰米一行人听见这话，顿时僵在了原地。“形而上的死亡概念，生命的终结。虽然数不出具体年数，但我能感受到一个人身上岁月的分量。而如果我没弄错，快存，你是我见过的年纪最大的人。远远超过任何人应有的年岁。现在仔细看过你之后，我估计你的岁数……”

她朝瑞恩脸上吐出一团烟雾。

“是三位数，而且离四位数比离两位数更近。”

哎呀，已经这么久了？过完头一个世纪，瑞恩就数不清了。

“三位数？”基贞皱眉，“这说不通啊。”

“要说他是个老头，未免也太年轻了点。”兰卡耸肩道，“老大，您确定吗？我不是要怀疑您——”

“你就是。”普鲁托打断了她，话锋利得如同刀刃。她并未抬高声音，却压下了所有异议。“我的能力绝不会出错。那么，快存，愿意给我解释一下吗？”

听她这措辞，瑞恩便知道，普鲁托是放过他还是杀了他，全看他接下来怎么回答。

那就没得选了。

“我就知道会有这么一天。”

所有人都看向信使，而他则使出浑身解数，演起了“罪人忏悔”。

“好吧，我承认。”信使长长地、长长地叹了口气。“我撒谎了。骗了你。骗了所有人。关于我的能力。”

“我早就有这个怀疑了。”伏尔甘说道，此刻听得全神贯注，兴致勃勃。“我想不出一个人怎么可能暂停时间后还能行动。你应该身处一个没有光的世界，每样东西都会变成致命的飞射物。”

“所以，你隐瞒了能力的本质，好给自己留一张底牌？”普鲁托把玩着她的致癌棒，问道，“明智之举，尤其是面对陌生人的时候。我很欣赏你的谨慎。”

“看来你也没看着那么蠢嘛。”兰卡揶揄他，杰米拿胳膊肘顶了她一下。

“那它究竟是怎么运作的？”普鲁托问。

“我冻结时间的时候，其实是跳进了另一个平行宇宙，通常是为了躲开死亡。”瑞恩睁着眼睛说瞎话。“一个跟我的世界非常接近的平行世界。我会与那个世界的‘我’发生‘重叠’，然后我们合二为一。”

瑞恩本以为会有人出声质疑，可大出他意料的是，根本没这回事。

“那也太棒了。”格蕾塔几乎陶醉了。“那是不是说，你可以变成女人？比如说，跟另一个身为女孩子的你融合？具体是怎么回事？”

“有一次，我当了三个月的中国人。”瑞恩继续撒谎，越离谱越好。“美国人也当过，两次！”

“等等，你打牌就是这么作弊的！”兰卡立刻抓住了重点。“你这混蛋，一拿到烂牌就跳去别的宇宙！”

“嗯，有意思。”杰米抱起双臂。“这么一来，你在赌场说的那些话，有些就得换个角度理解了。”

“时空收音机也解释得通了。”基贞补充道。

“时空收音机？”伏尔甘皱眉，“能跨越时间收听的收音机？”

“是收听多个过去。”瑞恩纠正道。

“一个人不可能有不止一个过去。”兰卡在旁边咕哝。

“能接入其他时间线的收音机？”伏尔甘对他的科技产品看得越多，似乎就越是着迷。“原理是什么？”

“真的很复杂，不过——”

“我是天才。”她打断瑞恩，“原理是什么？”

“观察者效应，我自鸣得意的朋友。”瑞恩耸耸肩，不愿多作解释。“被观察的状态会随观察方式而改变。”

“对过去的事件也能起作用？”伏尔甘睁大眼睛，竭力理解其中的理论。

与此同时，普鲁托的表情让人捉摸不透。最后，她只吐出一个字：“好。”

“哇，你们接受得比我想象中好多了。”瑞恩承认道，“一般人听我这么说，都以为我是在耍他们。”

“我侄女密涅瓦也能与平行宇宙互动，不过她是蓝系。我很好奇，你们各自的能力会产生怎样的交互。可能会很有意思……”副首领用一种全新的目光打量着信使，试图理清其中的道理。“所以，我感受到的异常年岁，是因为你与你的复制体融合，导致你在形而上层面的分量不断累积？”

“会不会是您标记了另一个版本的他，”麻雀说道，“而您的能力在他跳跃宇宙时，一路跟了过来？”

“有可能。”她承认道，“不过，我曾经标记过他，这件事本身就是个警讯。”

“你见到基因者就标记。”伏尔甘毫不客气地指出，“说实话，挺没品的。”

普鲁托无视了这句挖苦，仔细打量瑞恩，后者回以微笑。随后她对手下下令：“搜他的车，看看有什么设备。我还没完全信服。”

麻雀搜查普利茅斯“狂怒”时，和搜瑞恩的身一样彻底，座椅下方、后备厢、暗格，一处不落。她显然很有这方面的经验。与此同时，伏尔甘在检查时空收音机，接连调试了好几个频道。

麻雀掀开引擎盖，朝里面一看，原本无聊的表情先变成困惑，随后成了惊愕。“我的天……”

“什么——”基贞探头看了一眼，随即惊恐地尖叫起来。她肩上的老鼠吓得直接掉到了地上。杰米立刻冲到女友身边，把她揽进怀里，皱眉望向引擎盖下。

理所当然，所有人都围过去往里看，弄得瑞恩莫名其妙。反应至于这么大吗？就连一向镇定自若的普鲁托都挑起了一边眉毛，兰卡更是不知该说什么。“这他妈……”

“瑞恩。”

杰米看着信使，仿佛在看一个疯子。

“你车里为什么会有个大脑？”

瑞恩朝引擎盖下瞥了一眼，明白了他们在说什么。

引擎下方、靠近热泵的地方，有一道隐藏的舱门，被麻雀打开了。里面露出一只装满绿色液体的罐子，一颗细长的大脑漂浮其中，脊柱上连着电缆。

“哦，哎呀。”瑞恩挠了挠头发。“把这茬给忘得一干二净了。”

“我再问一遍。”杰米的声音冷得吓人，基贞躲在男友身后。“你为什么存着一颗大脑？”

“不是存着，是接在我车上的。不是，你以为自动驾驶怎么运作的？还有时空收音机？你以为靠的是‘魔法’，还是‘人工智能’？”

说真的，瑞恩揣着一颗原子弹，杰米没意见，结果一辆大脑驱动的车就踩到他的底线了？这是什么逻辑？

“这也太变态了。”兰卡喃喃自语。“就因为考不出驾照，你绑架了一个素不相识的人，还把人家的大脑挖了出来？”

“哦，我明白你们往哪儿想了。”瑞恩举起双手。“你们以为我带着一个阴森森的驼背助手，从街上绑架流浪汉？那助手还叫伊戈尔？”

对于这种可能，普鲁托和伏尔甘脸上的好奇竟然多过不安，很能说明她俩的为人。格蕾塔则始终面带微笑，看得入迷。那模样本该挺可爱，如今却让人毛骨悚然。

“这不是人脑。”伏尔甘指出，“形状不对。有点像蝠鲼的，但……不，我认不出来。有些部分明显是人造的。”

“是人工培育的。”瑞恩答道，“完全合成。”

“解释。”普鲁托说，“现在。”

“我以前替天才干过几回活，他们通常不用现金，而是拿科技产品付账。比如我的原子弹。”这句话引来了好几道愤怒的瞪视，唯独伏尔甘除外，她反倒越来越感兴趣。信使硬着头皮说了下去。“时空收音机缺乏运算能力，一直用不了，我又想让车能自己开。有个客户提议，一次解决这两个问题。”

“办法就是在你车里装个大脑？”兰卡面无表情地问。

“他的专长之一就是湿件计算机。”瑞恩答道，“他那儿罐装的大脑得有几百颗，种大麻似的培育它们。”

“所以它没有意识？”基贞不安地看着那团脑组织，问道，“只是台计算机？”

“当然没有意识。”瑞恩抗议道，“我要是知道车里有个活生生的人，你觉得我用这辆车干的那些事，哪怕一半我还干得出来吗？你们当我是野蛮人？”

没人接这句话。杰米依旧抱着双臂。“我不知道该怎么看待这事。”

“我也不知道。”他的女友承认。

始终镇定自若的普鲁托把烟扔到草坪上，瞥向伏尔甘。“你怎么看？”

“显然有不止一个天才替他改过车，而且我好像看到了一台微型粒子加速器，跟这颗大脑连在一起。”武器设计师答道，随后合上了引擎盖。“要把所有东西检查一遍，得花我几天时间。不过，我不认为他这些设备里有任何一件能操纵记忆。”

“明白了。”普鲁托说，随后转向瑞恩。“快存。”

“在——？”

“你暂时进入考察期。我还没完全相信，但在证据不足的情况下，姑且信你一次。别让我再来一趟。”随后，她看向伏尔甘。“贾丝敏，他归你了，你看着办。他要是捅了娄子，我找你负责。”

一旁的杰米似乎有些失望，大概原以为她会把瑞恩分到自己上司的部门。不过他也知道，不能跟这个致命的女人顶嘴。

普鲁托认为此事已经解决，二话不说便走向座驾，连句道别都没有。“回头见！”格蕾塔朝众人挥了挥手，随后和麻雀一起走向兰博基尼。

危机解除！

她们前脚刚走，伏尔甘后脚就想当场把瑞恩买下来。“好，三千。”她没头没脑地开出了价，显然已经按捺不住对这位信使新生的感情。“来当我的实验室助手，再让我研究一下你的兔子。”

“一个玩具比大脑驱动的汽车还值得关注？”基贞小声问杰米，后者耸了耸肩。他早就放弃理解眼前这一切了。

“每月三千？”面对这可爱的报价，瑞恩得意地一笑。“哎呀，你可真抠——”

“每天。”伏尔甘纠正道，“一半现金，一半转账。”

瑞恩只是挑了挑眉，兰卡却差点当场中风死过去。“每天？给他？他打牌作弊！”

“我会给你造一套专属装甲，别的你想要什么也都给你。”伏尔甘继续说，完全没理会那个小喽啰。“毒品，多到能把你卵蛋都榨废的妓女，还是你自己的专属实验室？当然还有……你的姑娘。”

“门轴上了油，门自然就开了。”瑞恩答道，“先做完我的主线任务，支线任务之后再说。”

“行，公平。”伏尔甘答道，朝自己的装甲走去。“我们走。”

“去月——球——？”

“去见你朋友。”伏尔甘答道，仿佛他刚才说了句傻话。“我的装甲驾驶舱里还有一个座位，爬上来。”

终于。

他终于要见到蕾恩了。