同章对照

Where could Mechron be hiding?

Smashing through blast doors and steel walls, Leonard Hargraves felt something wrong in the atmosphere. Space itself bending and twisting. Something created powerful magnetic fields inside the base, tearing apart the very fabric of reality.

As he had thought, Mechron’s fortress also counted as a particle accelerator. Did the Genius activate it? For what purpose? How could it help repel the army at his door?

“Pythia, where do I go?” Leonard asked, but he only ‘heard’ psychic static. Whatever happened inside the fortress interfered with the telepathic contact.

He was on his own.

Leonard eventually made his way into the fortress’ collider, a closed circuit of steel inside which particles moved at an astonishing speed. A stream of unknown, blue energy raced through the superstructure, the Red Genome entering it like a fish swimming inside a river. He didn’t identify the particles inside the collider; perhaps they were undiscovered by modern science, or not native to Earth’s reality.

Much to his surprise, Leo started to see things inside the stream. Bluish phantoms of strange, inhuman figures composed of raw data, blinking in and out of existence. These mirages never settled in one shape, constantly changing.

What was going on?

The living sun could tell the ambient energy focused in one place at the facility’s center; the point where the two loops making up the infinity symbol joined. He followed the blue stream towards its endpoint, eventually crashing through more steel walls. The blue stream leaked out behind him, dispersing into fine particles.

Leo’s crash course ended at the very core of the fortress, a command center straight out of H. R. Giger’s nightmares. The entire room looked like a gothic cathedral of steel, whose walls were alive; veins of metal coursed through them, pumping the building with thick black oil. The structure seemed capable of breathing, while coiled tin spines formed the pillars keeping the roof. Eye-like screens projected images of the battle outside, while loudspeakers screamed warnings.

Six giant, biomechanical brains the size of elephants formed a circle around a tiny blue spot floating in the midst of an energy pillar; the focal point of the entire superstructure. Each of the brains were protected from the outside world by reinforced glass tanks, and connected by thick wires. Leo guessed they were biomechanical supercomputers, housing the AIs piloting their master’s entire war effort.

Mechron was there, standing on a platform below the blue spot. The wizened old man wore nothing but simple white clothes and needed a black cane to walk. He was the only creature of flesh in this ghastly iron heart, giving orders to his AI servants in Bosnian.

“Transfer all data to the back-up base.” Mechron’s voice sounded so calm, so small. So human. “Activate all remaining units outside, and open the gate.”

“Data transfer initiated.” A robotic voice answered through loudspeakers. “Warning: dimensional coordinates incomplete. High-degree of instability expec—”

“Don’t care if we destroy Sarajevo! Open the gate!”

Mechron suddenly noticed Leonard, who had his palm raised at the man.

Now that he could take a good look at the Genius’ face, the living sun realized that the battle had taken its toll on him too. Already past his seventies, Mechron seemed like he hadn’t slept in days. His eyes were blackened by fatigue, his hands shaking with stress.

He looked so… so normal. He didn’t wear a costume, nor was he a larger-than-life, charismatic dark lord. Mechron was a mere man, straight out of a retirement home; one who had killed millions, perhaps billions.

And yet... he looked so very tired of it all. Broken by a decade of endless warfare.

The living sun’s hand wavered.

“Make your shot count,” Mechron said, glaring bitterly at Leonard. “You won’t get another.”

Instead of blasting him, Leonard Hargraves stared at the hateful dictator straight in the eyes. “Are you happy, Mechron?” he asked in Bosnian.

The question took the Genius aback.

“Are you happy living like this?” Leonard asked. While he didn’t unleash any plasma blast, he kept his hand raised. Pythia would flay him alive if she knew. “Alone in a bunker, surrounded by machines, killing people left and right? Was that your wish? Are you happy living like this?”

The fortress shook, while the Genius mulled the question over. He looked away, before focusing back on Leonard.

“No,” Mechron admitted, sounding exhausted. “No, I’m not.”

“Then why won’t you stop?”

“Why do you care?” the Genius snapped back.

“Because… because I want to believe human life should be cherished. Even yours. I will kill you if I must, but call me naive… if there is the slightest chance of ending this by the book, I want to try it.” Leonard paused, trying to find his words. “I don’t know what made you what you are, but you must realize deep down that hurting other people won’t help.”

He did. Leonard could see it painted all over his face.

“Please surrender peacefully,” the living sun asked. “Tell your machines to stand down, and we will give you a fair hearing. Nobody else has to die; not even you. You started this, and you can end it.”

Mechron’s expression suddenly morphed from sadness to wrath.

“I didn’t start anything,” the man snarled, his voice dripping with venom. Anger bottled up for years roared to the surface. “You did. The Serbians murdered my sons at Srebrenica and you people… you people just watched! If you want this war to end, then stop getting in my way!”

Leonard got his answer in the man’s intense, hateful gaze.

He would never stop. It didn’t matter how many had to die to fuel the fire burning within him; it was an inferno that could never be extinguished. This bitter, hateful man would never stop until he had brought the whole world to its knees.

A demon born of war.

Leonard regretfully opened fire.

A crimson force field activated around the rogue Genius, deflecting a stream of plasma. Metal and electrical devices around Mechron melted, but the warlord remained completely unharmed. Similar fields protected the giant brains, protecting them from danger. Leonard flew towards the Genius, intending to smash through the forcefield and end Mechron’s life.

A roar echoed at his left, a wormhole opening. The biomechanical dragon from last time emerged from it, claws raised at the living sun.

A powerful gravitational force pushed Leonard against a steel wall, sending him crashing against mechanical panels. The dragon kept the gravitational force active, attempting to break the Red Genome’s heart-core apart.

“It could have been beautiful! A new Eden!” Mechron’s face twitched in anger. “I could have eradicated diseases, solved world hunger, brought peace! Increased life expectancy, everything automated! Everything would have been perfect!”

The rogue Genius raised his cane at Leonard, gritting his teeth in impotent rage.

“If it hadn’t been for you…” He hit the ground with his cane, his hands shaking. “If it hadn’t been for people like you, I could have saved the world!”

“Look through your window, Mechron!” Leo replied angrily, trying to break free of the battle-beast’s gravitational field. “You didn’t save the world, you killed it! You’re living among the dead!”

The Genius visibly flinched, his fingers clenching around his cane. By now, he was so furious he couldn't make coherent sentences. “If politicians had any imagination, I wouldn’t have... I wouldn't have fed all the killing data! Had to make them stop! They never listened! Couldn't understand!”

Leonard ignored that maniac and blasted the biomechanical dragon with plasma. The creature’s scales and flesh melted away, leaving only mechanical implants and seared bones. Yet astonishingly, it kept moving and didn’t release the pressure.

Meanwhile, the blue sphere started expanding inside the energy pillar, turning into some kind of energy lens. A spatial anomaly leading into a place of bright blue light. When Leonard looked at this reality tear, he felt something brush against his mind. He thought it was Pythia for a second, before realizing the telepathic signal came from the spatial anomaly.

Images formed inside the living sun’s mind, like in the blue stream. Vivid pictures of his childhood in Hackney, surrounded by criminality; of his first day in the London Fire Department, helping a family evacuate from a burning building; of finding the strange box in the mail, and the crimson potion within; of the day he and Alice founded the Carnival...

“What is this?” Leonard asked, mesmerized by the portal and the images it sent him. Even the burned dragon stopped attacking, entranced by whatever power came from beyond this blue wormhole.

“The Akashic Records…” Mechron muttered, his eyes widening in triumph. “The universal compendium. All data, all information, all knowledge, all intent, and emotions, it all comes from this place. The source of Blue powers, of all Geniuses’ knowledge… a Blue World of pure intellect.”

Mechron raised his cane at the portal, his fury replaced with excitement.

“It’s all here! All the world’s secrets, everything that can fix it! It’s all here!” He turned his back on the Red Genome, chuckling to himself. “Even you must see its beauty!

The mental stream of image continued, but instead of showing pictures of Leo’s own life, they shifted to stranger sights. Of alien worlds covered in massive oceans, ruled by fishlike creatures; of supernovas illuminating the darkness of space.

“With it, I can begin again!” Mechron boasted. “Fix everything! Once I get there, I will know everything!”

Leonard looked at the blue with divine fascination, until he spotted a tiny taint of blackness.

The telepathic signal instantly ended, the pictures turning black. The screens in the facility turned red, and the loudspeakers changed their tune. “Warning: anomaly detected. Warning: anomaly detected. Warning: unknown dimension converging.”

The blue hole seemed consumed from within by darkness. Black spots slowly grew from within the blue portal, tainting it entirely. The room seemed to freeze over, the temperature dropping at an alarming rate.

Even Mechron had no idea what was happening. “It’s… it’s not the blue world… it’s somewhere else… it’s…”

Within seconds, the blue star had turned into a black hole, a sphere of darkness from which no light could escape. It wasn’t a door to a dimension of pure information, but one of void and nothingness.

“It’s all black,” Mechron muttered, gazing into the abyss.

And then...

The abyss gazed back.

A pulse of darkness erupted from the portal, vaporizing the dragon, the artificial brains, and most of the room. Mechron barely had the time to scream as his forcefield vanished, and the void devoured him.

Leonard felt the dragon’s gravitational field disappear, only to have his own overwhelmed by darkness too. An alien force threatened to consume him, the way a black hole ate a star.

Something was looking at them from the other side.

The dark gaze was peeling Mechron layer by layer, like an onion. Skin, flesh, bones, and then working its ways down. Within the seconds, the Genius had been erased from existence, his atoms torn asunder and annihilated.

Without his heart-core keeping his body whole through a powerful gravitational field, Leonard would have suffered the same fate. Even now he felt the outer layers of his solar body disintegrating, its molecules annihilated into nothingness. The sustained gaze of this thing would tear him apart in minutes, destroying his heart-core as it did with Mechron.

His human mind simply couldn’t comprehend what he was looking at. A shape vaguely reminding Leo of an eye, surrounded by a cloud of dark, empty space; a sentient hole in reality, a living darkness that devoured light instead of being banished by it. A colossal entity, so powerful, so almighty, that it destroyed their reality simply by looking at it.

And it was trying to get in.

The black portal slowly widened, the radius of the baleful gaze increasing. The entity behind the gate kept looking, unaware, or perhaps uncaring, of the damage it caused. If the particle accelerator continued expanding the portal...

“Mechron will somehow kill everyone in Sarajevo.”

As Pythia’s words came to mind, Leonard immediately unleashed a stream of plasma at the portal. Flames as searing as a nuclear detonation.

They quickly stopped to exist.

They weren’t absorbed by the hole or extinguished. They disappeared, leaving neither heat nor smoke behind. The dark force on the other side of the portal hadn’t even noticed Leonard’s counterattack; its mere presence erased his flames.

Compared to this entity, the living sun looked like an ant trying to attack an elephant.

If he couldn’t destroy the portal directly, what could Leonard do? If he did nothing, this thing would erase him from existing within minutes, and then do the same with the fortress. The particle accelerator’s destruction would probably cause the portal to implode, but Sarajevo would be wiped out.

The particle accelerator’s destruction…

If Leonard could sufficiently damage the fortress, he could collapse the portal before it could grow larger. But the explosion needed… it might cost him his life.

Leonard thought about the hundreds of people outside. Heroes fighting to make a difference in this bleak, devastated world. Friends like Pythia, with families at home; soldiers trying to rebuild a kind, democratic civilization. Good people.

Leonard didn’t hesitate.

He gathered all his remaining energy, calling upon whatever power fueled his heart-core, and caused his heart-core to implode on itself. His body turned white, his radiance incinerating the room. The black hole absorbed most of the heat, but not all of it.

“As they say…” he muttered, staring defiantly at the darkness beyond. “Better to go out with a bang, rather than a whimper!”

His last thought towards his comrades outside, the Living Sun went supernova.

Leonard’s light consumed the world in a cataclysmic explosion, and the darkness returned from whence it came.

---

Darkness.

It was all darkness. A pitch-black nothingness. He couldn’t see, couldn’t hear, couldn’t smell, couldn’t taste. He could barely think.

He felt cold.

He felt numb.

And more than anything, he felt alone.

Was this… was this death? Had the darkness beyond that portal been the afterlife? Or maybe it was all a hallucination, his brain’s last hurrah before the final end?

He had never truly believed in any god or afterlife. He thought he would just vanish, cease to exist. Compared to an eternity in the dark, it would have been a mercy.

He had always lived through others, as far as he could remember. He might have looked like the sun, but he never felt warm when alone. So he had filled the void with his fellow human beings, their happiness becoming his own. Loneliness had always scared him more than death.

Now, he was alone with his thoughts. Alone with his regrets.

He would never have a wife, never have children. He hadn’t written that urban fantasy book he always said he would. He would never return to London and see the people he left behind. He would never get to make up with certain friends, whom he had parted with on bad terms; he would never avenge the Costas or bring Augustus to justice. He would never know if his sacrifice had made a difference.

So many things left unfinished.

But…

He was okay with it.

He had tried.

He had done his best.

He saw light in the darkness. He felt like driving a car to the end of a long tunnel, though he couldn’t see what was beyond the exit. Was it Heaven? Was it the last door? Were the Christians right, or the Muslims? The Hindus or the Buddhists? All of them, or none at all?

He didn’t know, but whatever awaited him beyond… he could live with it.

He entered the light.

---

Leonard opened his eyes.

Instead of facing angels, he could only see a white ceiling.

He had returned to his frail human form, though with some changes. His black skin was somehow hairless now, and all his muscles felt sore. His dark eyes struggled to adapt to the light, though he noticed two people looking over him.

“Easy, Leo.” The roguish teleporter Ace smiled down on her friend. “You come back from Hell itself.”

“Good to see you awake, sir,” Stitch said. This strange Genome always wore a plague doctor outfit, to the point Leonard had never seen how he looked underneath. “You had us worried.”

“Where…” The living sun’s eyes acclimated enough to allow him to see. He seemed to be in some kind of hospital, laying on a bed and hooked to machinery.

Clearly, death hadn’t claimed him yet.

“Visoko,” Stitch answered. “A few dozen kilometers from Sarajevo. We evacuated here after the battle.”

“We won!” Ace beamed with happiness. “We won, Leo! We fucking won!”

“How long was I…” Leonard struggled to form words. His throat felt dry and sore. “How long was I out?”

“Three days,” Stitch answered.

“And Mechron’s fortress…”

“It’s all gone, a crater of molten steel and glass.” Ace smiled at him, happy to see her friend alive. “You blew up that place good.”

“Truth be told, we believed that you had perished in the explosion,” Stitch said dryly.

“Me too,” Leo replied with the same tone.

Ace elbowed the plague doctor for his insensitivity, before looking back at Leo. “We found your core in the wreckage, reduced to a white sphere the size of a hand. It took days for your power to recreate your body, even with Sidekick’s help.”

“Sarajevo has been taken, though the city lies in ruins,” Stitch explained. “Shining Knight and her group are busy destroying the last surviving robots, but the production factories have been dismantled. The Genome Wars have ended.”

It was the end.

The words took a weight off Leonard’s shoulder. He had originally co-founded the Carnival with Pythia to fight dangerous Genomes and help mankind recover from the Wars. Mechron had been the greatest threat to all of humanity, and now… now he was gone. It had taken almost ten years, but maybe mankind would finally rise back from the old world’s ashes.

And through some miracle, Leo had lived through it all.

Maybe… maybe he should reconsider some of his beliefs. After having seen that creature beyond the portal and his near-death experience, he wondered if religions were onto something.

Stitch cleared his throat. “However…”

“However?” Leo repeated.

“The Bahamut is now in orbit deep in space, far beyond our reach,” the plague doctor said. “The Cossack tried to bring it down, even breaking half his bones from the g-force, but he wasn’t fast enough.”

“Who cares?” Ace asked, far more optimistic. “There’s no one left to activate it.”

“Some of Mechron’s bases remain,” Stitch replied with pessimism. “And while our foe and his allies are all dead, there’s no guarantee nobody else could find a way to hack into the satellite. I believe we will live to regret that failure.”

"The evil that men do lives after them,” Leonard quoted, looking back at the white, lifeless ceiling. Was the Bahamut looking down on them, far above their heads? “The good is oft interred with their bones."

“Was that from Shakespeare, sir?”

“I don’t know,” Leo admitted. “I only ever memorized the famous quotes. I thought it would make me sound smarter.”

“It doesn’t,” Ace chuckled, though her smile didn’t reach her eyes. Something weighed on her mind. “By the way, he’s dead right? As in, no last-minute escape, or a clone hidden somewhere? Mechron is really dead?”

The memory of the Genius’ disintegration flashed in Leonard’s mind, much to his unease. “Yes,” he said grimly, though his allies let out a relieved sigh. “He is dead for good, and I don’t think he will come back from that.”

The memory still sent shivers down Leonard’s spine. There had been no malice or benevolence in this entity’s actions; only curiosity. That godlike being had simply noticed the breach and looked through, the same way a child did through a keyhole. Leo could have just easily switched places with Mechron, had he been less lucky.

No, he shouldn’t think like that. He had been given a new chance at life, and he would spend it looking forward, rather than back.

Though, if creatures so powerful were out there, waiting…

“How many casualties?” Leonard asked, trying to fend off the existential dread with down-to-earth news.

“One out of four,” Stitch replied. “It was a good day.”

“Jesse died,” Ace replied with a frown, much less optimistic. “Her brother is heartbroken. I think he’ll retire.”

The news saddened Leonard Hargraves. Due to regularly picking fights with the most dangerous Genomes, the Carnival experienced a lot of turnovers, losing people in almost every engagement. Leonard had buried far too many good people. “Mr. Wave? Pythia?”

“Mr. Wave is… well, you know him. He’s boasting about his Killer Robot Killcount to everyone who will listen.” Ace’s expression harshened. “Pythia though…”

She glanced at another hospital bed, Leo following her gaze. His eyes widened in horror at what he found.

Alice was in a bed near his own, heavily sedated and linked to intravenous medical devices. Her skin had turned pale as death, and her gaze was empty.

Lifeless.

“Alice!” Leonard attempted to rise from his bed but lacked the strength to lift himself up. Ace put a hand on his chest with a frown, to force him back to his bed. “Shit!”

“Hey calm down,” Ace said with a frown. “You’re still sick, and you can’t do anything for her.”

“She’s been like this since the battle’s end, sir,” Stitch explained with clinical coldness. “Her symptoms fit those of extreme brain damage.”

“She overtaxed her power,” Leo realized with sadness. He had warned her, but she had been willing to risk it all.

Maybe she had always known it would end this way.

The plague doctor nodded. “Nidhogg could cure her if given time. He said that considering her pivotal role in today’s victory, it was only natural he helped her recover.”

Leonard shivered. “Considering the man’s methods, we need to warn her husband and son. It’s their choice, not ours.”

“I already called them.” Ace shook her head. “Poor Mathias.”

“Miss Martel left something for you, sir,” Stitch handed Leonard a USB key. “I apologize for the indiscretion, but we already took a look.”

“What does it contain?” Leonard asked with a frown.

“Precognitive analysis of the next few years,” Stitch explained, “Calculator and her compiled a database of the greatest threats to human civilization before the battle. I believed Pythia anticipated her fate and wished to help us beyond that point.”

“I suppose Augustus is on the list?” Leonard asked, his tone turning venomous. He had been given a second chance to see justice done, and he wouldn’t waste it.

“Yes,” Ace nodded, her expression turning grim. “But someone else has taken the top spot.”

This surprised Leonard. Who could be more dangerous than an invincible, megalomaniacal warlord? “Who?”

“Some Psycho called Bloodstream,” Stitch explained. “According to the data, there is a high chance that he will cause an extinction event in 2017 if not slain beforehand.”

“Something about his daughter dying, I think,” Ace added with a frown. “You will have to wait for Augustus, Leo. That Psycho comes with a time-limit.”

Leonard looked at the USB key, wondering what grim prophecies it held.

“Bloodstream...”

梅克隆会藏在哪里？

伦纳德·哈格雷夫斯撞穿一道道防爆门和钢墙，察觉到周围有些不对劲。空间本身正在弯折、扭曲。某种东西在基地内部制造出强大的磁场，撕扯着现实的结构。

果然不出他所料，梅克隆的堡垒还兼有粒子加速器的功能。那名天才把它启动了吗？目的是什么？这东西如何能击退打到他家门口的大军？

“皮提亚，我该往哪儿走？”伦纳德问道，却只“听见”一片精神杂音。堡垒内部发生的事情干扰了心灵感应联系。

他只能靠自己了。

伦纳德终于进入堡垒的对撞机。那是一个钢铁构成的闭合回路，粒子在其中以惊人的速度运动。一股未知的蓝色能量流在这座巨构中疾驰，红系基因者进入其中，犹如游鱼跃入河流。他认不出对撞机内的粒子；或许现代科学还没有发现它们，又或许它们根本不属于地球所在的现实。

令利奥大感意外的是，他开始在能量流中看见一些东西。蓝幽幽的幻影，由原始数据构成的怪异非人形体，时而出现，时而消失。这些幻象始终没有固定的形态，不断变幻着。

这是怎么回事？

活体太阳能感觉到，周围的能量正汇聚到设施中央的一处——构成无穷符号的两个环相交的位置。他沿着蓝色能量流追向终点，最终又撞穿了几道钢墙。蓝色能量流从他身后的破口泄出，散成细微的粒子。

利奥一路横冲直撞，最终抵达了堡垒的最核心。这里的指挥中心简直是从H·R·吉格尔的噩梦中走出来的。整个房间如同一座钢铁铸造的哥特式大教堂，墙壁竟是活的；金属脉管纵横其间，将黏稠的黑色油液泵送到建筑各处。整座建筑仿佛能够呼吸，盘曲的锡制脊柱则充当了撑住屋顶的支柱。眼睛般的屏幕映出外面的战况，扬声器尖声发出警报。

六颗大象般巨大的生物机械脑围成一圈，环绕着一道能量柱，其中悬浮着一点微小的蓝光——那是整座巨构的焦点。每颗大脑都装在强化玻璃舱内，与外界隔绝，彼此以粗大的线缆连接。利奥猜测，它们是生物机械超级计算机，容纳着替主人指挥整场战争的人工智能。

梅克隆就在这里，站在蓝色光点下方的一座平台上。这个干瘦的老人只穿着朴素的白色衣服，行走还得倚靠一根黑色手杖。在这颗阴森可怖的钢铁心脏中，他是唯一的血肉生物，正用波斯尼亚语向自己的人工智能仆从下令。

“将全部数据转移到备用基地。”梅克隆的声音如此平静，如此微弱。如此像一个普通人。“启动外面所有剩余单位，打开大门。”

“数据传输已启动。”一个机械声从扬声器中传来。“警告：维度坐标不完整。预计将出现高度不稳——”

“萨拉热窝毁了也无所谓！打开大门！”

梅克隆这才突然注意到伦纳德，后者已经抬起手掌，对准了他。

如今终于能看清这名天才的脸，活体太阳才发现，这场战斗同样在对方身上留下了痕迹。梅克隆已经八十开外，看起来好几天没有合过眼了。他眼周因疲惫而发黑，双手在压力之下颤抖。

他看起来那么……那么普通。他没有穿什么特别的服装，也不是什么超凡脱俗、魅力非凡的黑暗君主。梅克隆只是个普通人，活像刚从养老院里出来；却杀害了数百万人，甚至可能是数十亿人。

然而……他似乎已经无比厌倦这一切。十年无休止的战争，已将他彻底压垮。

活体太阳举起的手微微一晃。

“这一发可得打准。”梅克隆满怀怨恨地瞪着伦纳德。“你不会有第二次机会。”

伦纳德·哈格雷夫斯没有开火，而是直视着这位满心仇恨的独裁者的眼睛。“你幸福吗，梅克隆？”他用波斯尼亚语问道。

这个问题让天才愣住了。

“这样活着，你幸福吗？”伦纳德问。虽然没有发射等离子束，他的手仍旧举着。要是皮提亚知道了，非活剥了他不可。“独自待在地堡里，身边全是机器，四处杀人？这就是你想要的吗？这样活着，你幸福吗？”

堡垒震动着，那名天才仍在思考这个问题。他移开视线，随后又望向伦纳德。

“不。”梅克隆承认，声音疲惫不堪。“不，我不幸福。”

“那你为什么不肯停手？”

“关你什么事？”天才厉声反问。

“因为……因为我愿意相信，人的生命值得珍惜。就连你的也一样。必要时我会杀了你，但就算说我天真也好……只要还有一丝依法结束这一切的机会，我都想试试。”伦纳德停了停，斟酌着措辞。“我不知道是什么把你变成了如今这样，但在内心深处，你一定明白，伤害别人解决不了问题。”

他确实明白。伦纳德从他脸上看得一清二楚。

“请和平投降吧。”活体太阳请求道，“让你的机器停止抵抗，我们会给你公正的审判。谁都不必再死，连你也一样。这一切由你而起，也能由你结束。”

梅克隆脸上的悲伤骤然化为了暴怒。

“不是我挑起的。”男人咆哮着，话语中满是怨毒。积压多年的怒火喷涌而出。“是你们。塞尔维亚人在斯雷布雷尼察杀害了我的儿子们，而你们……你们就那么看着！如果你想让这场战争结束，就别再挡我的路！”

伦纳德从他那炽烈而仇恨的目光中得到了答案。

他永远不会停手。无论要死多少人，为他心中燃烧的烈火添柴，都无关紧要；那是一场永远无法扑灭的地狱之火。这个满怀怨恨的男人，除非让整个世界跪倒在自己脚下，否则绝不会罢休。

一个由战争孕育的恶魔。

伦纳德带着遗憾开了火。

一道猩红色力场在这名为非作歹的天才身周展开，弹开了等离子流。梅克隆周围的金属与电气设备纷纷熔化，军阀本人却毫发无损。巨脑也有同样的力场保护，未受波及。伦纳德向天才飞去，打算撞穿力场，终结梅克隆的性命。

左侧响起一声咆哮，一个虫洞随之张开。先前那头生物机械龙从中现身，向活体太阳举起利爪。

一股强大的引力将伦纳德推向钢墙，撞上机械面板。巨龙维持着引力，试图将这名红系基因者的心核撕裂。

“本来一切都能很美好！一个全新的伊甸园！”梅克隆的脸因愤怒而抽搐。“我本可以消灭疾病，解决全世界的饥荒，带来和平！延长人类寿命，让一切都实现自动化！一切本可以完美无缺！”

那名为非作歹的天才举起手杖，指着伦纳德，在无能为力的暴怒中咬紧牙关。

“要不是你……”他用手杖顿地，双手发抖。“要不是有你这种人，我本来能拯救世界！”

“看看你的窗外，梅克隆！”利奥愤怒地回道，一边试图挣脱战兽的引力场。“你没有拯救世界，你杀了它！你就活在死人堆里！”

天才明显瑟缩了一下，手指攥紧了手杖。此时他已经气得说不出连贯的话来。“那些政客哪怕有一点想象力，我也不至于……不至于把所有杀戮数据都喂进去！必须让他们停手！他们从不肯听！根本无法理解！”

伦纳德不再理会那个疯子，向生物机械龙射出等离子束。巨龙的鳞片与血肉熔化殆尽，只剩机械植入物和烧焦的骨骼。然而令人震惊的是，它仍在活动，施加的压力也没有松懈。

与此同时，能量柱中的蓝色球体开始膨胀，变成某种能量透镜。那是一处空间异常，通向一个蓝光明亮的地方。伦纳德望向这道现实裂隙时，感觉有什么东西轻轻掠过自己的意识。他一瞬间以为那是皮提亚，随即才意识到，心灵感应信号来自那处空间异常。

如同先前身处蓝色能量流中时一样，活体太阳的脑海里浮现出一幅幅画面。鲜明的影像接连闪过：他在哈克尼度过的童年，周围充斥着犯罪；他加入伦敦消防队的第一天，帮助一家人从着火的建筑里撤离；他从邮件中发现那个奇怪的盒子，以及盒中猩红色的药剂；还有他与爱丽丝创立嘉年华的那一天……

“这是什么？”伦纳德问道，门户和它传来的画面让他失了神。连那头被烧得面目全非的巨龙都停止了攻击，被蓝色虫洞彼端传来的某种力量迷住了。

“阿卡西记录……”梅克隆喃喃道，双眼因得偿所愿而睁大。“宇宙的总集。所有数据，所有信息，所有知识，所有意图与情感，全都来自这里。蓝系能力的源头，所有天才知识的源头……一个纯粹智识构成的蓝色世界。”

梅克隆举起手杖，指向门户，怒火已被兴奋取代。

“全在这里！世界的一切秘密，修复它所需的一切！全在这里！”他背对着红系基因者，自顾自地笑了起来。“就连你，也一定能看出它的美！”

脑海中的影像之流还在继续，却不再呈现利奥自己的人生，而是转向了更陌生的景象。被浩瀚海洋覆盖、由鱼形生物统治的外星世界；照亮幽暗太空的超新星。

“有了它，我就能重新开始！”梅克隆狂言道，“修复一切！只要到了那里，我就会无所不知！”

伦纳德凝视那片蔚蓝，如同面对神迹般心驰神往，直到他发现其中有一点细小的黑色污迹。

心灵感应信号瞬间中断，画面归于漆黑。设施中的屏幕一片通红，扬声器也换了警报内容。“警告：检测到异常。警告：检测到异常。警告：未知维度正在交汇。”

蓝色孔洞仿佛正被黑暗从内部吞噬。黑色斑点在蓝色门户内部缓缓扩大，直至将它彻底染黑。室内气温以惊人的速度下降，整个房间都像要冻结了。

就连梅克隆也不知道发生了什么。“这……这不是蓝色世界……是别的地方……是……”

几秒之内，那颗蓝色星辰便变成了一个黑洞，一颗连光也无法逃脱的黑暗球体。这扇门通往的不是纯粹信息构成的维度，而是一片虚空与虚无。

“全是黑的。”梅克隆凝视着深渊，喃喃道。

然后……

深渊回望了他。

一道黑暗脉冲从门户中爆发，将巨龙、人造大脑和房间的大部分一并汽化。梅克隆刚来得及惨叫，护身力场便已消失，虚空吞没了他。

伦纳德感觉到巨龙的引力场消失了，紧接着，他自己的引力场也被黑暗压倒。一股异质的力量即将吞噬他，如同黑洞吞食恒星。

有什么东西正从另一侧注视着他们。

那道幽暗的目光正一层层剥开梅克隆，如同剥开一颗洋葱。皮肤、血肉、骨骼，然后继续深入。短短几秒，这名天才便从世间被彻底抹除，构成他的原子被撕裂、湮灭。

若非心核以强大的引力场维系着身体，伦纳德也会遭遇同样的命运。即便如此，他仍能感觉到恒星之躯的外层正在崩解，分子湮灭，归于虚无。只要那东西继续凝视，几分钟后就会将他撕碎，摧毁他的心核，就像对梅克隆所做的那样。

他的人类心智根本无法理解眼前的东西。那形状让利奥隐约联想到一只眼睛，四周环绕着云团般幽暗、空无的空间；一个拥有意识的现实空洞，一团活着的黑暗，不仅不被光驱散，反而吞噬光芒。那是一个无比庞大的存在，如此强大，如此无所不能，仅仅投来一瞥，便会摧毁他们所在的现实。

而它正试图进来。

漆黑的门户缓缓扩大，那道凶险目光波及的半径也在随之增长。门后的存在仍在注视，对自己造成的破坏浑然不觉，又或者根本不在乎。如果粒子加速器继续扩大门户……

“梅克隆会以某种方式杀死萨拉热窝的所有人。”

皮提亚的话浮上心头，伦纳德立刻向门户射出一道等离子流。那烈焰如核爆般灼热。

它们转瞬便不复存在。

它们不是被孔洞吸收，也不是熄灭了，而是消失了，没有留下热量，也没有留下烟雾。门户另一侧的黑暗力量甚至没有察觉 伦纳德的反击；仅仅是它的存在，就抹去了他的火焰。

与这个存在相比，活体太阳就像一只试图攻击大象的蚂蚁。

如果无法直接摧毁门户，伦纳德还能做什么？倘若什么都不做，这东西几分钟内就会把他从世间抹去，然后以同样的方式消灭堡垒。粒子加速器被毁，或许能让门户向内坍缩，但萨拉热窝也会被夷为平地。

摧毁粒子加速器……

只要伦纳德对堡垒造成足够严重的破坏，就能在门户进一步扩大前让它坍塌。但所需的爆炸……可能要付出他的性命。

伦纳德想起了外面的数百人。在这个惨淡、满目疮痍的世界里，为改变现状而战的英雄。像皮提亚那样，家中还有亲人在等待的朋友；努力重建一个仁善、民主文明的战士。都是好人。

伦纳德没有犹豫。

他聚集起所有剩余的能量，唤起为心核供能的那股力量，使心核向内坍缩。他的身体变得炽白，光芒焚毁了房间。黑洞吸走了大部分热量，却没能吸走全部。

“俗话说得好……”他低声道，不屈地凝视着彼端的黑暗。“与其呜咽着落幕，不如轰轰烈烈地谢场！”

最后的思绪落在外面的战友身上，活体太阳爆发成了一颗超新星。

一场灾变般的大爆炸中，伦纳德的光芒吞没了世界，黑暗则退回了它来时的地方。

---

黑暗。

全是黑暗。一片漆黑的虚无。他看不见，听不见，闻不到，也尝不到。就连思考都几乎做不到。

他觉得冷。

他觉得麻木。

但压过这一切的，是孤独。

这就是……这就是死亡吗？那扇门彼端的黑暗，难道就是死后的世界？又或者，这一切只是幻觉，是大脑在最终熄灭前的最后一场狂欢？

他从未真正相信过任何神明或来世。他原以为自己只会消失，不复存在。与永恒地困在黑暗里相比，那倒算得上是一种仁慈。

从他记事起，他的人生就总是寄托在别人身上。他看起来或许像太阳，独处时却从未感到温暖。因此，他用身边的人填补空虚，他们的幸福也就成了他的幸福。比起死亡，孤独始终更让他恐惧。

如今，他只能独自面对自己的思绪。独自面对自己的遗憾。

他再也不会有妻子，不会有孩子。他还没有写出那本总挂在嘴边、说一定要写的都市奇幻小说。他再也无法回到伦敦，去见那些留在身后的人。他再也没机会与某些曾不欢而散的朋友和解；他无法再为科斯塔一家报仇，也无法将奥古斯都绳之以法。他永远不会知道，自己的牺牲是否改变了什么。

还有那么多未竟之事。

可是……

他能接受。

他尝试过了。

他已经尽了全力。

他在黑暗中看见了光。他感觉自己仿佛开着车，来到一条漫长隧道的尽头，却看不清出口之外有什么。是天堂吗？是最后一道门吗？基督徒说对了，还是穆斯林说对了？是印度教徒，还是佛教徒？他们都说对了，还是全都错了？

他不知道，但无论彼端有什么在等他……他都能坦然接受。

他走进了光里。

---

伦纳德睁开了眼睛。

眼前没有天使，只有一片白色天花板。

他恢复了脆弱的人类形态，只是有了些变化。他黑色的皮肤上不知为何没了毛发，全身肌肉酸痛。深色的眼睛艰难地适应着光线，不过他还是发现有两个人正俯身看着自己。

“慢着点，利奥。”那位带着几分痞气的传送者王牌低头朝朋友笑了笑。“你可是刚从地狱里回来。”

“很高兴看到您醒了，先生。”斯蒂奇说道。这名古怪的基因者总是穿着一身瘟疫医生的行头，以至于伦纳德从没见过他藏在衣服下面的真容。“您可让我们担心坏了。”

“这是哪……”活体太阳的眼睛总算适应了光线，能看清周围了。他似乎身在某家医院，躺在病床上，身上接着仪器。

显然，死亡还没有带走他。

“维索科。”斯蒂奇回答，“离萨拉热窝几十公里。战斗结束后，我们撤到了这里。”

“我们赢了！”王牌笑得满脸喜悦。“我们赢了，利奥！我们他妈的赢了！”

“我已经……”伦纳德艰难地吐出字句，喉咙又干又疼。“我昏迷了多久？”

“三天。”斯蒂奇回答。

“那梅克隆的堡垒……”

“全没了，只剩一个熔融钢铁和玻璃的大坑。”王牌看着他微笑，很高兴朋友还活着。“你把那地方炸了个彻底。”

“说实话，我们以为您已经死在爆炸里了。”斯蒂奇平板地说道。

“我也是。”利奥用同样的语气回道。

王牌用胳膊肘撞了瘟疫医生一下，责怪他不懂体谅人，随后又看向利奥。“我们在废墟里找到了你的核心，只剩一个巴掌大的白球。就算有跟班帮忙，你的能力还是花了好几天才重塑出身体。”

“我们攻下了萨拉热窝，尽管这座城市已经化为废墟。”斯蒂奇解释道，“光辉骑士和她的人正在清理最后残存的机器人，不过生产工厂都已拆除。基因者战争结束了。”

终于结束了。

这句话卸下了伦纳德肩头的一副重担。当初，他与皮提亚共同创立嘉年华，就是为了对抗危险的基因者，帮助人类从战争中恢复过来。梅克隆曾是全人类最大的威胁，而现在……现在他不在了。虽然花了将近十年，但人类或许终于能从旧世界的灰烬中重新崛起。

而利奥，竟奇迹般地活着熬过了这一切。

也许……也许他该重新审视自己的一些信念。见过门户彼端的那个生物，又经历了一次濒死体验，他不禁想，宗教或许并非全无道理。

斯蒂奇清了清嗓子。“不过……”

“不过？”利奥重复道。

“巴哈姆特号现在已进入深空轨道，远远超出了我们能触及的范围。”瘟疫医生说，“哥萨克试图把它打下来，过载甚至压断了他一半的骨头，但他还是不够快。”

“那又怎样？”王牌的态度乐观得多。“已经没人能启动它了。”

“梅克隆还有一些基地尚存。”斯蒂奇悲观地回答，“虽然我们的敌人和他的盟友都死了，但谁也不能保证，别人就找不到侵入那颗卫星的办法。我相信，我们迟早会为这次失手后悔。”

“人所作的恶，死后仍会流传。”伦纳德引用了一句名言，再度望向白得毫无生气的天花板。巴哈姆特号是否正在他们头顶的遥远高处，俯视着他们？“善行却往往随他们的尸骨一同入土。”

“那是莎士比亚写的吗，先生？”

“我不知道。”利奥承认，“我向来只背那些名句。我以为这样能让我显得聪明些。”

“并没有。”王牌轻笑了一声，笑意却没到眼底。她心里压着事。“对了，他死了，对吧？我是说，没有在最后关头逃掉，也没在什么地方藏个克隆体？梅克隆真的死了？”

天才灰飞烟灭的景象闪过伦纳德的脑海，令他十分不安。“是的。”他沉重地回答，同伴们却如释重负地松了口气。“他死透了。我不觉得变成那样之后，他还能回来。”

那段记忆仍让伦纳德脊背发凉。那个存在的举动没有恶意，也没有善意，只有好奇。那个神明般的生物只是注意到了缺口，便往里看了一眼，就像孩子从锁孔里向内张望。要是运气差一些，利奥完全可能落得梅克隆那样的下场。

不，他不该这么想。他得到了重活一次的机会，往后的日子应该向前看，而不是回头。

可是，如果外面真的有如此强大的生物，正等待着……

“伤亡有多少？”伦纳德问，试图用切实的消息驱散那份对存在本身的恐惧。

“四分之一。”斯蒂奇回答，“算是个好日子。”

“杰西死了。”王牌皱眉道，远没有那么乐观。“她的兄弟伤心透了。我想他会退出。”

这个消息让伦纳德·哈格雷夫斯心中一痛。由于经常与最危险的基因者交战，嘉年华的成员更替频繁，几乎每场战斗都会失去人手。伦纳德已经埋葬过太多好人了。“波动先生呢？皮提亚呢？”

“波动先生……唉，你也知道他那个人。逮着个肯听的，他就吹嘘自己的杀手机器人击杀数。”王牌的表情变得凝重。“可皮提亚……”

她瞥向另一张病床，利奥顺着她的视线望去。看清眼前的景象，他惊骇地睁大了眼睛。

爱丽丝就躺在他附近的一张床上，用了大剂量的镇静药，身上连着静脉输液设备。她的皮肤惨白如死，目光一片空洞。

毫无生气。

“爱丽丝！”伦纳德想从床上起来，却连撑起自己的力气都没有。王牌皱着眉把手放在他胸前，将他按回床上。“妈的！”

“喂，冷静点。”王牌皱眉道，“你还没好，而且你也帮不了她。”

“战斗结束后，她就一直是这样，先生。”斯蒂奇用冷冰冰的诊断口吻解释道，“她的症状符合极重度脑损伤的表现。”

“她把能力透支了。”利奥悲伤地明白过来。他警告过她，可她甘愿拿一切去冒险。

或许她早就知道，会是这样的结局。

瘟疫医生点了点头。“只要有足够的时间，尼德霍格就能治好她。他说，考虑到她在今天这场胜利中起到的关键作用，帮她康复是理所当然的事。”

伦纳德打了个寒战。“考虑到那个人的手段，我们得先提醒她的丈夫和儿子。该由他们来决定，不是我们。”

“我已经给他们打过电话了。”王牌摇了摇头。“可怜的马蒂亚斯。”

“马特尔小姐给您留了点东西，先生。”斯蒂奇递给伦纳德一个U盘。“抱歉，未经允许我们已经看过了。”

“里面有什么？”伦纳德皱眉问道。

“对未来几年的预知分析。”斯蒂奇解释，“战斗开始前，她和计算师整理出了一份数据库，收录了对人类文明威胁最大的对象。我想皮提亚预见了自己的命运，希望在那之后仍能帮助我们。”

“我想奥古斯都也在名单上吧？”伦纳德问，语气变得狠厉。他得到了又一次伸张正义的机会，绝不会白白浪费。

“是的。”王牌点头，神色阴沉下来。“不过，榜首另有其人。”

伦纳德吃了一惊。还有谁能比一个不可战胜、妄自尊大的军阀更危险？“谁？”

“一个叫血流的疯魔。”斯蒂奇解释道，“根据数据，如果不提前杀死他，他很可能在2017年引发一场灭绝事件。”

“我记得，好像跟他女儿死亡有关。”王牌皱眉补充道，“奥古斯都的事得等等了，利奥。这个疯魔有时限。”

伦纳德望着U盘，猜想里面还藏着怎样阴沉的预言。

“血流……”