同章对照

After attacking Ghoul with his car in all his previous restarts, Ryan thought it had grown a little stale.

So this time, he hit the Psycho with a truck instead.

Ryan couldn’t find a Japanese one, but the one he ‘borrowed’ did the job, crashing through the walls and tossing Ghoul against the counter. The courier climbed down from the vehicle, carrying a black cane he had purchased at a shop down the street.

“Ghoul, there are a few things I can’t tolerate. The mass-murder? Eh, I’ve seen worse. The child-abductions? Now it gets my blood boiling. Trashing my car, thrice?” Ryan shook his head. “I can’t let that slide, Ghoul.”

“Who the…” As it turned out, a truck did a lot more damage than a Plymouth Fury. Some of Ghoul’s bones had broken upon impact, and he struggled to get back up. “Who the hell are you?!”

“You see this?” Ryan pointed at his hat. “This is my normal magician’s hat. The happy hat.”

He tossed it away and showed Ghoul a new, black bowler hat.

“This is the war hat.”

Ryan put it on and suddenly looked far more intimidating.

“You know me, Ghoul. I’m a model of mental stability and composure. I’m well-adjusted. But now that I’m wearing my war hat? Oh boy! Oh boy, no more Mr. Nice Guy! I will do great and terrible things today! It’s going to be terrific!”

“What are you—”

Ryan hit Ghoul’s knee with his cane, causing the broken Psycho to fall helplessly on the ground.

“Bartender, a Moloko Plus!” The courier ordered the frightened Renesco, before kicking Ghoul while he was down. “It’s going to sharpen me up for a wild night of mindless property damage!”

Because this restart was going to be an espresso.

Short, but intense.

---

After paying off the Private Security, Ryan moved to Rust Town and stopped his car in front of Paulie’s place. Ghoul’s head and torso were on the backseat, the courier having tossed the rest in a dumpster. As it turned out, the Psycho had great difficulties channeling his ice power without his arms and lower parts.

Or maybe it was learned helplessness at work.

“I have something to confess,” Ryan said, looking at his captive in the rear-view mirror. “I’ve been feeling down lately. The stuff with Len really weighed on my mind, and I still have a lot of work ahead to make up with her. I was aimless, with no main quest or distraction, nor any clear path ahead. I had no distraction to fend off the boredom and existential dread.”

The helpless skeleton looked at him with a mix of abject terror and confusion.

“But now I’m rested!” Ryan said, turning his head to look at the skeleton dead in the eyes. “I’m pumped! I’m on top of my game again, and I’ve got a new main quest! To give your whole gang a wedgie they will never forget!”

“What are you going to do to me?” the Psycho asked, more and more frightened the longer he listened.

“We’re going on a trip to Happyland, my droog!” Ryan grabbed Ghoul’s skull, bringing him close to his own face. “Happyland!”

“Somebody help!” Ghoul shouted, as loud as he could. “Somebody save me!”

But nobody came.

Ryan stepped out of the car, wielding his cane, and waltzed into Paulie’s place. Since it was the loop’s first day, the Meta-Gang hadn’t pressed the shopkeeper into service yet. He raised his eyes at Quicksave, his gaze turning into a glare upon recognizing him.

“Hey, Paulie my old friend!” Ryan announced his unforgettable presence. “It’s me, Quicksave!”

“You?” The shopkeeper raised his archaic rocket launcher at his future client’s face. “You dare show your face here?”

“Yes, yes, I know we had our differences, but ooh boys, Paulie, do I have a deal for you!”

Ryan slammed the ground with the tip of his cane.

“How much for that facehugger missile?”

---

As it turned out, when Paulie learned what Ryan had planned, he gave away the rocket launcher for free.

It took thirty minutes for the courier to prepare. It wasn’t the first time he did a suicide run, so it was a well-oiled routine, but he only tried that kind of stunt when he didn't risk facing a Genome capable of permanently killing him. While Psyshock was dangerous, the courier was confident he could take the maniac out, or kill himself before being brainjacked. From the intelligence he had gathered over the previous restarts, the Meta didn’t have anyone else capable of threatening future loops.

As far as Ryan knew, the circumstances were right, especially if he could take out Acid Rain early. Since the Meta had struggled to organize a counterattack when three hundred foot-soldiers had invaded their territory, then logically, they shouldn’t expect a lone wolf.

After all, who would be mad enough to attack them head-on with no back-up, and no chance of survival?

“Don’t tell anyone,” Ryan said, driving straight for the Junkyard with his trench coat closed to hide the surprise underneath. The rocket launcher waited on the seat next to him, alongside two submachine guns, and the courier had put the Fisty Brothers gauntlets on his hands. “But I’m immortal.”

Chained to the car hood, Ghoul let out a shriek of horror, as the courier drove through the streets of Rust Town at full speed.

Besides avenging the three times the Meta trashed his car—no score was too small to settle—Ryan thought they simply deserved to be wiped out. They kidnapped children, including orphans under Len’s distant care, enslaved civilians, murdered people without provocation, and just made the world a worse place to live in. While neither Dynamis nor the Augusti were perfect, some of their members were good people.

The courier couldn’t say the same for the Meta.

It was the last loop that settled it. These Psychos were simply too dangerous to be left alone, and Ryan needed to check on that famous bunker for himself. Stealth was a lost cause, from what Shroud had told him, and the Meta-Gang would quickly organize a defense if a large group moved into their territory. A lone wolf suicide attack, fast and unpredictable, seemed more likely to succeed in gathering intelligence.

As he approached the junkyard, Ryan briefly raised his mask to consume red pills. They were doses of Rampage, a Genius-designed, combat-enhancing drug. It boosted pain tolerance, reaction time, accelerated the production of adrenaline, and hastened the metabolism for four hours. It was powerful enough to affect even Genomes.

Well, afterward the drug made the user vomit for days and increased the risk of strokes, which was why Ryan never took it during normal runs. Thankfully, that wouldn’t be a problem for this one.

After passing the dilapidated neighborhood without being interrupted, Ryan finally came into view of the Junkyard. Stacks of cars, piles of trash, and cranes overshadowed a three meters-tall fence topped with barbed wires. The metallic items seemed organized into hills of various sizes, with the biggest one at the center.

Two Psychos protected the entry point in the fence. One was some kind of humanoid lizard, two-meters tall, with scales of various colors. The other was a pale woman, whose whole body, from her long hair to her creased face, were as white as milk; her shadow, however, was that of a monstrous, demonic creature. Ryan identified the woman as Gemini but didn’t recognize lizard-boy.

“Ghoul?!” Lizard-boy shouted upon seeing the car approach, his yellow, reptilian eyes widening upon realization.

In response, Ryan screamed like a berserker and accelerated. "Valhalla!"

Gemini instantly disappeared in a flash of light, but lizard-boy wasn’t so quick. Ryan ran him over, the body letting out a ‘thump’ as it went flying against the fence nearby, his body jolting from an electrical current.

Ryan drove inside a labyrinth of trash walls, with forking twists and turns. The Rampage drug started taking effect, accelerating his heartbeat, sharpening his senses. He quickly crossed paths with a few Psychos scavenging the area, Mongrel among them. The mutant raised his head in shock upon seeing him approach, his teeth sunk inside the carcass of a large rat.

Ryan opened the car’s window, grabbed a submachine gun, and fired at anyone in his path. The fastest Meta members dived to the ground to dodge a hail of gunfire, but Mongrel took a full volley to the face for his trouble, collapsing on his back.

“I thought life was meaningless, but I was wrong!” Ryan shouted to Ghoul. “It’s your suffering! Causing you pain is my reason to live!”

As he drove through the labyrinth in search of the bunker’s entrance, Ryan heard the sound of bells echo through the Junkyard. Someone had sounded the alarm.

Immediately afterward, he sensed an invisible pressure weighing on his shoulders. The same effect as during the last loop, before everything went to hell. The feeling of someone judging him.

The Land.

So that settled it. The Meta used their new recruit as a sensor, but as Ryan had guessed, it wasn’t a perfect spying method. He doubted anyone could oversee an area as vast as Rust Town and pay attention to every single detail.

It clicked during the visit to Paulie's place. Mosquito ambushed him the last time Ryan went there, but no welcome committee had interrupted the courier today. This implied that since Ghoul was nearby, the sensor didn’t pay much mind to the Plymouth Fury. She must have mistaken the situation for a return trip, especially since bone daddy had gone on an assassination mission hours before.

The trash walls started to tremble and rain debris on the Plymouth Fury, though Ryan dodged them with driving skills honed over countless loops. The courier guessed the Land couldn’t cause an earthquake inside their HQ, and her geokinesis didn’t seem very precise.

However, acid clouds had started to appear in the skies. Ryan had expected something like this. Considering her power, Acid Rain was only effective in an open space, and thus would be assigned to defend the surface.

Moving towards the center, Ryan tossed grenades behind him, causing trash piles to fall and condemn the roads behind him. Eventually, after a wild ride, the courier finally reached a twenty-meter tall tower made of rusted cars, debris, and domestic items like washing machines. As he had thought, the base of the ‘landmark’ had been dug up, revealing a tunnel leading down below the earth.

Mosquito and Acid Rain guarded the entrance, the psychotic woman already drawing two knives. Instead of paying attention to her, Ryan focused on Mosquito. Having emptied the submachine gun, he tossed it through the window, then drove straight at the insectoid monster.

Mosquito looked up, saw death approaching, and extended his wings. But while he may have the appearance of a genuine bloodsucker, he couldn’t move faster than a car racing at two-hundred forty kph. Ryan grabbed the rocket launcher, opened the door, and then jumped out before the collision.

Ghoul let out a final scream, as the Plymouth Fury hit Mosquito head on before he could fly away.

SQUASH!

Mosquito perished the way of his kind: stuck to a windshield.

The Plymouth Fury finished its course inside the trash tower, sending pieces of Ghoul flying in all directions. Ryan himself had managed to roll over the ground, but the collision with the ground had torn some of his trench coat. A normal human would have had their skin torn off, but for a Genome, the wounds were superficial.

“I’m sorry,” Ryan apologized to his car as he rose back to his feet, the Plymouth Fury buried alongside Mosquito’s remains under a pile of debris. “I will make it up to you later!”

“You teasing thief!” Acid Rain shrieked, charging at him with astonishing dexterity, knives raised. Toxic raindrops already fell on the ground, eating at Ryan’s hat. “I’ll tear you apart!”

“Duty. Honor. Courage.” Ryan pointed the rocket launcher at her pretty face and pressed the trigger. “SEMPER FI!”

A missile with a smiley face painted on it flew straight at Acid Rain, who teleported atop a wall of cars.

The rocket switched directions and pursued the Psycho.

Acid Rain immediately teleported to another trash wall, only for the facehugger missile to chase after her with relentless, implacable ferocity.

Ryan rejoiced at the sight. He had had the idea when Paulie warned him his facehugger missile could track him down in a previous loop, even if he could stop time. Acid Rain wasn’t so different from Quicksave as a fighter, except she moved through space instead of frozen time.

The missile would keep tracking her until it either caught the Psycho or ran out of fuel. Which could take minutes. By then, Ryan would hopefully be in the bunker, the absence of rainfall negating Acid Rain’s power.

Still, Ryan hurriedly rushed towards the tunnel before the acid rain could turn into a downpour. He tossed the rocket launcher away before bringing out his coil gun and desert eagle from under his coat, wielding one in each hand.

He descended into the tunnel, fires spreading in the labyrinth behind him. He didn’t know how long it would take for the Psychos outside to clear the way after he had collapsed some of the trash walls, but he might find himself surrounded anytime soon. He had to keep the initiative and adopt an all-offense strategy.

When Ryan had advanced far enough though, the earth walls around him trembled. The Land must have figured out his intentions and tried to block the entrance by collapsing it. If she hesitated so long about doing so, it meant a lot of her teammates were inside and risked being trapped as well.

“Just what I was looking for,” the courier said, “victims!”

Rushing against the clock, Ryan quickly arrived in front of an opened blast door with Mechron’s symbol on it. The thick steel construct probably weighed more than two dozen tons, and wouldn’t disgrace the Cheyenne Mountain bunker. The Meta had clearly forcefully opened it with a laser weapon of some kind, removing the joints and putting the gate next to the entrance.

A pack of four Dynamis drones protected the area, immediately charging at Ryan with their weapons raised. The Genome stopped time and shot each of them with the coil gun, the electromagnetic projectiles piercing through their metal shells. When time resumed, the various machines crumbled into scrap and screws.

Ryan loved to challenge himself, but sometimes, it was relaxing to play life on Easy Mode.

The courier rushed past the blast door before the tunnel collapsed behind him, entering a long metal corridor. The second he walked inside, the invisible pressure vanished. For whatever reason, the Land’s power didn’t carry inside the vault. She probably needed dirt or earth to serve as a relay for her sensory abilities. He briefly tested his time-stop, just in case a power negation effect covered the bunker, but thankfully his ability worked perfectly.

Reinforced glass windows on both sides of the path allowed Ryan to peek inside underground hangars below the Junkyard.

The one on the left held the mecha which Psyshock piloted in the previous loop, waiting on top of a platform. Ryan noticed a closed door embedded in the ceiling, perhaps to allow the robot to quickly move the surface. The hangar on his right, meanwhile, housed some kind of sci-fi submarine, halfway submerged inside a large pool probably leading into the sea. Like its brethren, Mechron’s symbol was painted on the back. Normal humans whom Ryan assumed were engineers worked on both of the vehicles.

Huh, so they had already unearthed these mechs prior to the courier’s arrival to New Rome. That made his plans for a blitzkrieg much more complicated.

The Meta had forcefully opened each gate on the path and didn’t bother to close them afterward. The distance also muffled sound from outside, so Ryan simply walked in the room at the end of the corridor without anyone bothering him.

He eventually entered some kind of atrium, which the Meta had repurposed into a recreational area. Well-lit, the room included an assortment of pastimes, such as a pool table, a bar stand, and even a Street Fighters arcade game. Considering the number of doors on each side, it seemed to be some kind of hub room; he also noticed an elevator on the other end of the atrium, leading to levels below.

A group of Psychos, Sarin included, were in the room. Hazmat girl was currently wielding a cue stick, and sending a ball into a hole, much to her fellow mutants’ frustration.

“Hey, what was the cause of the racket out….” Sarin asked as she raised her head from the pool table, trailing off as she didn’t recognize Ryan, “side…”

“Sarin,” Ryan raised his guns. “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Hazmat girl looked at him in confusion. “Who are yo—”

“Don’t break my heart like that!” Ryan shot her in the chest with his Desert Eagle, the impact propelling her backward. “I’m a sensitive soul!”

And then, the courier opened fire on the surprised Psychos while laughing like a maniac.

For the Meta, the survival horror had only started.

此前每次重来，瑞恩都开车撞食尸鬼。他觉得这一招有点腻了。

所以这回，他换了辆卡车撞这个疯魔。

瑞恩没找到日本卡车，不过他“借”来的这辆也很管用，直接撞穿墙壁，食尸鬼被掀飞出去，撞上了吧台。快递员从车上下来，手里拿着一根在街边店里买的黑色手杖。

“食尸鬼，有几件事我是不能容忍的。大开杀戒？嗐，我见过更狠的。绑架儿童？这就让我火大了。砸我的车，还砸了三次？”瑞恩摇摇头，“这事可不能就这么算了，食尸鬼。”

“你他……”事实证明，卡车的杀伤力远胜普利茅斯“狂怒”。食尸鬼被撞断了好几根骨头，挣扎着想爬起来。“你他妈到底是谁？！”

“看见这个了吗？”瑞恩指了指自己的帽子，“这是我平时戴的魔术师礼帽。快乐帽。”

他把帽子扔到一边，给食尸鬼展示了一顶新的黑色圆顶礼帽。

“这是战争帽。”

瑞恩把它戴上，顿时显得凶狠多了。

“你了解我的，食尸鬼。我可是心理稳定、沉着冷静的楷模。我身心健全。但现在，我戴上战争帽了？嚯！嚯，老好人到此为止！今天我要干些既伟大又可怕的事！绝对精彩得吓人！”

“你在说什——”

瑞恩一杖敲在食尸鬼的膝盖上，重伤的疯魔毫无反抗之力，倒在了地上。

“酒保，来杯超级牛奶！”快递员朝吓坏的雷内斯科喊道，接着又踢了倒地的食尸鬼一脚。“让我提提神，好过一个肆意破坏财物的狂野之夜！”

因为这一轮要像一杯意式浓缩。

短暂，却浓烈。

---

花钱打点了私人安保队之后，瑞恩来到锈镇，把车停在保利的店前。食尸鬼的头和躯干搁在后座上，其余部分被快递员扔进了垃圾箱。事实证明，没了双臂和下半身，这个疯魔很难施展寒冰能力。

也可能是习得性无助在起作用。

“我得坦白一件事。”瑞恩望着后视镜里的俘虏说道，“最近我心情不太好。蕾恩的事一直压在我心头，要跟她和好，还有好多事要做。我漫无目的，既没有主线任务，也没有消遣，前路更是一片迷茫。没有什么能让我分心，赶走无聊和对自身存在的惶恐。”

无力反抗的骷髅望着他，眼神里混杂着极度的恐惧和困惑。

“可现在我歇够了！”瑞恩转过头，直勾勾地盯着骷髅的双眼，“我来劲了！我又回到巅峰状态了，而且还有了新的主线任务！我要揪起你们全帮的内裤，勒得你们一辈子都忘不了！”

“你要对我做什么？”疯魔越听越怕。

“咱们要去欢乐国旅行了，我的老伙计！”瑞恩抓住食尸鬼的脑袋，拉到自己面前。“欢乐国！”

“谁来帮帮我！”食尸鬼扯着嗓子尖叫，“谁来救救我！”

但没有人来。

瑞恩拿着手杖下了车，大摇大摆地走进保利的店。这还是本轮循环的第一天，超能帮尚未强征店主入伙。保利抬眼看向快存，认出他之后，目光顿时变成了怒视。

“嘿，保利，我的老朋友！”瑞恩高声宣告自己这位让人过目不忘的主儿来了。“是我，快存！”

“你？”店主举起那支古董级火箭筒，对准了未来顾客的脸。“你还敢在这儿露面？”

“是，是，我知道咱们以前有过分歧，不过，嚯，保利，我这儿有桩买卖，你绝对感兴趣！”

瑞恩用手杖尖重重一顿地面。

“那枚抱脸虫导弹多少钱？”

---

结果，保利一听说瑞恩的计划，就把火箭筒白送给了他。

快递员花了三十分钟做准备。这不是他第一次发动自杀式突袭，整套流程早已驾轻就熟。不过，只有在不存在遇上能将他永久杀死的基因者的风险时，他才会玩这种花样。心震固然危险，但快递员有把握干掉那个疯子，或者在大脑遭到劫持前自杀。根据前几轮收集的情报，超能帮里没有其他人能威胁到后续的循环。

就瑞恩所知，目前的条件正合适，尤其是如果能早早解决酸雨。三百名步兵杀进地盘时，超能帮组织反击尚且费了不少劲；那么按理说，他们更不会料到有人单枪匹马杀上门。

毕竟，谁会疯到在没有后援、毫无生还希望的情况下，正面进攻他们？

“别告诉任何人啊。”瑞恩开车直奔废料场，风衣拢得严严实实，藏着底下的惊喜。火箭筒和两把冲锋枪就放在旁边的座位上，快递员手上已经戴好了拳头兄弟拳套。“不过，我可是不死之身。”

快递员全速驶过锈镇街头，锁在引擎盖上的食尸鬼发出惊恐的尖叫。

除了要报超能帮三次毁车之仇——再小的账也得算清——瑞恩还觉得，这伙人本来就该被消灭。他们绑架儿童，其中还包括蕾恩从远处照拂的孤儿；他们奴役平民，无端杀人，除了让这个世界更糟，别无用处。迪纳米斯和奥古斯蒂虽然都不完美，至少其中还有些好人。

超能帮可没法让快递员说出这种评价。

上一轮的经历让他彻底下了决心。这些疯魔实在太危险，不能再放任不管，而且瑞恩需要亲自探探那个大名鼎鼎的地堡。按裹尸布的说法，潜入根本行不通；而大队人马一旦进入超能帮的地盘，他们又会迅速组织防御。单枪匹马发动一场迅猛而难以预料的自杀式突袭，反而更有可能成功获取情报。

快到废料场时，瑞恩短暂掀起面具，吞下几颗红色药片。那是几剂狂暴，一种由天才设计、能增强战斗力的药物。服药后的四小时内，痛觉耐受力会提高，反应会变快，肾上腺素分泌和新陈代谢也会加速。药效强劲，连基因者都不例外。

当然，药劲过去之后，使用者会连吐好几天，中风风险也会增加，所以正常循环中，瑞恩从来不碰它。幸好，这一轮不必担心这个。

一路畅通无阻地穿过破败街区后，废料场终于出现在瑞恩眼前。一道三米高、顶上架着铁丝网的围栏后，堆叠的汽车、成山的垃圾和起重机高高耸立。那些金属物件似乎被堆成了大小不一的山丘，最大的一座就在中央。

两个疯魔守在围栏的入口处。一个像是人形蜥蜴，身高两米，鳞片五颜六色。另一个是个苍白的女人，从长发到布满褶皱的面孔，全身都白得像牛奶；然而她的影子却属于某种恶魔般的怪物。瑞恩认出那女人是双子，却不认识那个蜥蜴小子。

“食尸鬼？！”蜥蜴小子看见车开过来，认清情况后，那双黄色的爬行动物眼睛猛地瞪大。

瑞恩的回答是一声狂战士般的咆哮，脚下同时加速。“英灵殿！”

双子瞬间消失在一道闪光中，蜥蜴小子却没那么快。瑞恩从他身上碾了过去，只听砰的一声，他整个人飞起来，撞向附近的围栏，身体被一股电流击得直抽搐。

瑞恩开进了垃圾墙围成的迷宫，道路曲折，岔路纵横。狂暴开始起效，他的心跳加快，感官也变得敏锐。很快，他就撞见了几个在附近拾荒的疯魔，杂种也在其中。那个变种人看到他驶来，震惊地抬起头，牙齿还咬在一只大老鼠的尸体里。

瑞恩摇下车窗，抓起一把冲锋枪，朝沿途所有人开火。反应最快的超能帮成员扑倒在地，躲过了弹雨，杂种却结结实实地被扫了一脸子弹，仰面栽倒。

“我原以为人生毫无意义，可我错了！”瑞恩冲食尸鬼喊道，“意义就是你的苦难！让你痛苦，就是我活下去的理由！”

他一边开车穿行迷宫、寻找地堡入口，一边听见钟声在废料场中回荡。有人拉响了警报。

紧接着，他感到一股无形的压力落在肩上。和上一轮一切失控前的感觉一模一样。有人在审视他。

大地。

这下就确定了。超能帮把新成员当作探测器来用，可正如瑞恩猜测的那样，这种监视手段并不完美。他不相信有人能一边监控锈镇那么大的地方，一边留意其中每一个细节。

去保利店里时，他就想通了这一点。上次瑞恩去那里，蚊子伏击了他，今天却没有迎宾队来打扰快递员。这意味着，食尸鬼就在旁边，让那位探测器没怎么留意这辆普利茅斯“狂怒”。她一定以为这是他们在回程，尤其是骷髅老爹几小时前才出门执行暗杀任务。

垃圾墙开始震动，碎片雨点般砸向普利茅斯“狂怒”，却被瑞恩凭借无数轮循环磨炼出的车技一一避开。快递员猜，大地不能在自家总部制造地震，而她操纵土石的能力似乎也不怎么精确。

不过，酸云已经开始在空中聚集。瑞恩早就料到了。以酸雨的能力，只有在开阔地带才能发挥作用，因此她会被安排守卫地表。

瑞恩朝中央驶去，往身后扔出手雷，炸塌垃圾堆，堵死来路。经过一番狂飙，快递员终于抵达一座二十米高的塔，塔身由生锈的汽车、杂物和洗衣机之类的家用电器堆成。正如他所料，这座“地标”的底部已被挖开，露出一条通往地下的隧道。

蚊子和酸雨守着入口，那个疯女人已经抽出了两把刀。瑞恩没有理她，而是盯住了蚊子。冲锋枪的子弹已经打空，他把枪扔出窗外，径直朝那个虫形怪物撞了过去。

蚊子抬起头，看见死神逼近，连忙展开翅膀。他虽然长得像个货真价实的吸血虫，速度却快不过一辆以每小时二百四十公里狂飙的汽车。瑞恩抓起火箭筒，打开车门，在撞击发生前跳了出去。

蚊子还没来得及飞走，就被普利茅斯“狂怒”迎面撞中，食尸鬼发出了最后一声惨叫。

啪叽！

蚊子死得和他的同类一个样：糊在挡风玻璃上。

普利茅斯“狂怒”一头扎进垃圾塔，终于停了下来，食尸鬼的碎片四散飞溅。瑞恩落地后成功翻滚卸力，但地面的冲撞还是撕破了他风衣的几处地方。换成普通人，皮都会被剥掉一层，不过对基因者来说，这些只是皮外伤。

“对不起。”瑞恩站起来，向自己的车道歉。普利茅斯“狂怒”和蚊子的残骸一起，被埋在一堆碎片下。“回头我会补偿你的！”

“你这耍人的贼！”酸雨尖叫着举起双刀，以惊人的灵活身手朝他冲来。毒雨已经落下，开始腐蚀瑞恩的帽子。“我要把你撕成碎片！”

“职责。荣誉。勇气。”瑞恩把火箭筒对准她漂亮的脸，扣下扳机。“永远忠诚！”

一枚画着笑脸的导弹直奔酸雨，她则瞬移到了汽车堆成的墙顶。

火箭弹改变方向，追着疯魔飞了过去。

酸雨立刻又瞬移到另一堵垃圾墙上，可抱脸虫导弹依旧凶猛地紧追不舍，半点不肯罢休。

瑞恩看得心花怒放。这个点子来自之前的一轮循环：当时保利警告过他，就算他能暂停时间，抱脸虫导弹也能追到他。论战斗方式，酸雨和快存差别不大，只不过她是穿越空间，而不是在冻结的时间里移动。

这枚导弹会一直追着她，直到追上那个疯魔，或者燃料耗尽。这可能得花上几分钟。希望到那时，瑞恩已经进了地堡，没有雨水，酸雨的能力也就无从施展。

尽管如此，瑞恩还是赶在酸雨变成倾盆大雨之前，急忙冲向隧道。他扔掉火箭筒，从风衣底下抽出线圈枪和沙漠之鹰，左右手各握一把。

他沿隧道向下走去，身后的迷宫里火势正在蔓延。他炸塌了几堵垃圾墙，但不知道外面的疯魔要花多久才能清出路来，随时都有可能被包围。他必须保持主动，采取全力进攻的策略。

然而，瑞恩走到足够深的地方时，四周的土壁开始震动。大地一定是猜到了他的意图，试图让隧道塌下来，堵住入口。如果她犹豫了这么久才动手，就说明里面还有不少她的队友，也有被困住的风险。

“正合我意。”快递员说道，“受害者！”

瑞恩争分夺秒地往前冲，很快便来到一扇已经打开、印有梅克隆标志的防爆门前。这扇厚重的钢门恐怕重逾二十四吨，就算装在夏延山地堡里也毫不逊色。超能帮显然是用某种激光武器强行破了门，拆去连接部件，把门挪到了入口旁边。

四台迪纳米斯无人机守卫着这里，立刻举起武器朝瑞恩冲来。基因者暂停了时间，用线圈枪逐一射击，电磁弹丸穿透了它们的金属外壳。时间恢复流动，几台机器纷纷垮成了废铁和螺丝。

瑞恩喜欢挑战自我，不过有时候，用简单模式玩人生也挺放松的。

快递员赶在身后的隧道坍塌前冲过防爆门，进入一条长长的金属走廊。他刚一踏进去，那股无形的压力就消失了。不知为什么，大地的能力无法延伸进这座地堡。她大概需要泥土充当感知能力的传导媒介。他短暂测试了一下时间暂停，以防地堡里有使能力失效的效果，幸好，他的能力运转得毫无问题。

透过通道两侧的强化玻璃窗，瑞恩得以窥见废料场下方的地下机库。

左侧机库里放着上一轮心震驾驶的机甲，正停在一座平台上。瑞恩注意到天花板中嵌着一扇紧闭的门，也许是为了让机器人迅速升到地表。右侧机库则容纳着某种科幻潜艇，艇身一半浸在巨大的水池里，池子多半通往大海。和那台机甲一样，潜艇背部也漆着梅克隆的标志。一些普通人正在两台载具上作业，瑞恩猜他们是工程师。

嚯，原来早在快递员抵达新罗马之前，他们就已经挖出了这些机械。这下，他的闪电战计划可复杂多了。

超能帮强行打开了沿途每一扇门，之后也懒得关。外面的声响传到这里也已减弱，于是瑞恩一路走进走廊尽头的房间，都没人来打扰他。

他最终进入了一处类似中庭的地方，超能帮把它改成了娱乐区。室内灯光明亮，各种消遣设施一应俱全，有台球桌、吧台，甚至还有一台《街头霸王》街机。看两侧门的数量，这里似乎是个枢纽区域；他还注意到中庭另一端有部电梯，通往更下方的楼层。

一群疯魔待在这里，沙林也在其中。防化服姑娘正握着球杆，一杆把球送进袋口，惹得她那几个变种人同伴懊恼不已。

“嘿，外面吵吵嚷嚷的，出了什么……”沙林从台球桌上抬起头，开口问道。发现自己并不认识瑞恩，她的声音渐渐低了下去，“事……”

“沙林。”瑞恩举起双枪，“你有男朋友吗？”

防化服姑娘困惑地看着他。“你是——”

“别这样伤我的心！”瑞恩用沙漠之鹰朝她胸口开了一枪，冲击力把她掀向后方。“我可是个心思敏感的人！”

随后，快递员一边疯子似的大笑，一边朝猝不及防的疯魔们开火。

对超能帮来说，恐怖求生才刚刚开始。