同章对照

The Pandamobile was… well, everything Ryan had expected.

A Dynamis-made copy of a second-generation Fiat Panda, covered in white and black fur to mimic an actual panda. It was comfy and cute, with a panda doll dangling from the rear-view mirror. A complete lack of imagination packaged by a corporation too lazy to make a custom car.

If the Panda hadn’t given him the keys beforehand, Ryan wouldn’t have touched the thing with a nine-foot pole. And even then, just putting his hands on the driving wheel felt wrong.

“I feel like I'm cheating on my long-suffering wife with a dirty whore,” Ryan said, thinking fondly of his Plymouth Fury. “I’m filled with regrets! Regrets and anguish!”

“Shut up and keep driving,” Atom Cat said from the front seat, repeatedly looking in the rear-view mirror for any sign of Pluto. The duo had reached the city’s suburbs, and would soon approach an overpass.

Great pillars of concrete lifted the highway out of New Rome above the road like a bridge, and loomed over shacks inhabited by the city’s poorest residents. While Dynamis had put some effort into keeping the highway functional, they clearly didn’t look below it.

Still, the sun was starting to set, and no sign of the Augusti yet. If all went well, the duo should reach the rendezvous point with Len near the Amalfi Coast at nightfall.

“Hey, you’re the one who prevented us from taking a better car!” Upon seeing the abomination, Ryan had immediately tried to ‘borrow’ the nearest sports car, but no, Kitten was too nice to allow it. “It’s your life on the line. One of them anyway.”

“Yours too now. Augustus will target anyone who helps me.” Felix sighed. “Sorry to be snappy, Ryan. I appreciate the help.”

“Have you fallen for me yet?” the courier teased him, just as his phone started ringing. Lucky Girl. “Because your sister has, in spite of my best efforts.”

“You shouldn’t be calling while driving,” Atom Cat said gruffly, as Ryan picked up the phone while driving towards a traffic light.

“Fortuna, darling, how can I make you even happier today?”

“Ryan?” Much to his surprise, she seemed confused to have the handsome courier on the phone. “How can it be, I was trying to call Felix! My power is never wrong!”

“Well your wish has come true,” Ryan said, while Felix shook his head like a maniac, “he is right next to me, begging me for protection.”

“He is?” Fortuna asked while her brother glared at the courier. “Oh my Ryan, you truly are the perfect gentleman, anticipating my wishes before I even think of them! Now, hand him the phone!”

“I don’t want it,” Felix said, as Ryan dangled the cellphone right in front of his partner’s head.

“Come on, don’t be a bab—”

The traffic light above them separated from the pole holding it above the ground, and threatened to fall on the Pandamobile.

Ryan activated his power, looked out of the window, and then skillfully drove out of the object’s way when time resumed. The traffic light crashed on the ground and shattered into pieces. “Sheesh, what happened to public service?” the Violet Genome asked, before shoving the phone against Felix’s ear.

“Stop…” the hero complained, until he heard Fortuna berating him on the other end. “Yes, Fortuna, I’m alive. No, I can’t tell you where I am.”

Ryan tried to relax, but didn’t have the time to as he noticed a car coming from his right. The courier had to veer at the last second to dodge the incoming maniac. “Does everyone in this town drive like crazy?” Ryan complained. New Rome’s traffic killed him twice on his first day. “At least I can stop time!”

Atom Cat tensed up. “It wasn’t an accident,” he said, pushing the phone away. “Can you feel it? The cold?”

What cold?

“It’s her?” Ryan looked at the rearview mirror, but didn’t notice anything extraordinary. “How far does her range extend?”

“I don’t know, but if I can feel the effects, then she can track me.”

Damn it. “Milady,” the courier said, as he recovered the phone, “I’ll call you back.”

“Don’t you dare hang up on me again, Ryan—” The courier hung up on Fortuna, putting his phone back under his suit, and took a turn towards the highway.

Soon, the Pandamobile climbed on the giant highway and left New Rome entirely. The enormous road, lifted by pillars, oversaw the lush countryside around the city. The urban jungle was replaced with woods, country roads, and isolated houses. Besides a few diesel vehicles, Ryan had the road to himself.

“Kitten, you’re sure she can track people down with her power?” After all, Pluto didn’t notice that she had marked Ryan until they met in a previous loop.

“Yes,” Felix said, repeatedly glancing at the rear-view mirror. “Once she marks a target and activates her curse, it creates a sympathetic link between them. And the closer she is to her victim, the stronger her power is. I don’t know everything about her ability, but I learned that at least.”

If Pluto’s range extended so far they couldn’t even see her, and if she could truly sense her targets, then they had no way to surprise her.

Felix looked through his window, and gasped in surprise. “There!”

Ryan froze time, and looked through Atom Cat’s window.

A familiar black Lamborghini moved on the road below the highway, between the woods. A few hundred meters away from the Pandamobile.

Worse, two people on a motorcycle escorted the car. The driver was a gaunt, masculine figure entirely dressed in a black bodysuit covering him from head to toe. The other was a woman in a red leather jacket, her crimson hair flowing out of her biker helmet; she was carrying a submachine gun.

The road they followed led back to the highway, at a junction roughly a kilometer ahead.

“Kitten, put on your belt, we’re gonna rock,“ Ryan warned as time resumed. The courier smashed the accelerator, and the Pandamobile moved faster and faster. With luck, they would reach their maximum speed and beat their pursuers to the road junction.

“The Vamp, and Night Terror,” Felix said before looking at the speedometer, as it climbed to one hundred twenty and kept rising. “Can this car go faster than a Lamborghini?”

“Now, Kitten, don’t be stupid.” Pluto was driving a Lamborghini Gallardo, which could go twice as fast as the Pandamobile. That Dynamis abomination could reach a hundred and fifty kilometers per hour maximum. “Night Terror, you said? I think I heard that name before...”

“The Blue Genome of the Killer Seven. I don’t know what his power does, except it activates in the darkness.”

“Oh, so during the night?” Ryan was glad some of the Killer Seven used appropriate names themed after their abilities. “And the Vamp? She sucks you dry?”

“Not really, she can use pheromones to make people do stupid things, and even kill them on touch. I should have known they would send the one Genome I couldn’t blow up through direct contact.” Atom Cat looked through the window and ground his teeth. “They’re accelerating. They know we noticed them.”

Thankfully, the Pandamobile passed the road junction first, and had now reached its maximum speed. However, when Ryan looked into his rear-view mirror, he noticed the black Lamborghini and its escort pursuing them.

Pluto had engaged Ryan in a highway car chase.

She had no idea who she was dealing with. “Go get’em, tiger!”

“With pleasure.” Felix opened his window, and threw an explosive dart at their pursuers with insane dexterity. Though Night Terror’s motorcycle dodged the attack, the projectile exploded right in front of the Lamborghini in a catastrophic blast and blew dust everywhere.

A truck next to the Pandamobile suddenly veered off course, one of its wheels breaking down. Thanks to skills honed through countless stunts across his loops and selective use of his time-stop, the courier managed to dodge the vehicle as it fell off the highway.

“No reincarnations today!” Ryan mocked the truck, though he immediately had to avoid a pickup next. From what he saw, it suffered from the same problem as the previous vehicle.

Ryan had a nasty gut feeling, and checked on the various parts of the Pandamobile. He quickly realized their car hadn’t been spared either. “Oh great, the brakes don’t work anymore. Not that I ever needed them before, but...”

“It will become worse, the closer she gets,” Felix warned, as Pluto’s Lamborghini emerged from the dust cloud unharmed. The Vamp, meanwhile, raised her submachine gun at the Pandamobile. “Get down!”

Ryan didn’t need a warning. He and Felix lowered their heads, as a volley of bullets shattered the windows at the back of the Pandamobile and impacted the windshield. One of the glass shards deviated from its natural course and aimed straight at Atom Cat’s throat. The courier stopped time, grabbed the projectile, and threw it out of the car once time resumed.

“Does Pluto have any weaknesses?” Ryan asked while looking at the road ahead. The sun was starting to vanish behind the horizon, and if Night Terror’s power truly activated in the dark...

“I think she can only target one person at once,” Felix said, throwing another dart at Night Terror’s motorcycle. The assassin skillfully dodged the projectile, though at least it prevented his backup from aiming.

From the glass shard incident, Ryan guessed Pluto directed her power at Atom Cat. Which would have been a great asset to counterattack, if the two heroes weren’t in the same car!

“She needs physical proximity for the effect to get stronger,” Atom Cat said, grabbing a new dart from his bandoleer, “so if we get far enough, it will lose potency. Maybe the brakes will work again then.”

“What happens if she gets within say, ten meters of us?”

Felix scowled. “Heart attack.”

Ryan hoped it would take more than forty seconds.

Her power had to have a weakness. All Yellow Genomes had weird limits. They warped reality, transforming an imaginary concept or narrative into a physical law of the universe. They changed the very logic of the world.

“This world,” Ryan muttered out loud.

Pluto’s power might make death an inevitable certainty for her victims, but the Purple World belonged to the Violet Genome. Like how he ignored Fortuna’s luck, the courier could break Pluto’s hold on causality by stopping time selectively. Neither did Ryan think Pluto actually controlled the calamities she generated, or she would have caused their car to explode already.

She was Fortuna’s evil counterpart.

She was…

“She’s our final destination,” said Ryan.

“I’m sorry?” Felix asked, while Night Terror attempted to bridge the gap between their two vehicles and the Vamp prepared a second volley.

“You never watched that movie?” Ryan veered off to dodge a deer before it could hit the Pandamobile. A deer. On a highway! “Spoiler alert, the heroes live at the end!”

But they died in the sequel. He'd better not mention that.

While Atom Cat’s explosions prevented the Vamp from aiming her submachine gun and forced Pluto’s car to slow down to avoid getting blown up, Ryan could already see the consequences. The highway seemed to tremble, the structural damage from the explosions extrapolated by Cruella’s own ability.

Eventually, what was bound to happen, happened.

One of the pillars holding the highway two dozen meters above the ground in front of the Pandamobile collapsed, causing cars to fall to their doom. A large hole had formed between both halves of the road, one slightly higher than the other.

“Hold tight!” Ryan said, the Pandamobile now an unstoppable missile. The side of the road was located slightly higher than the other side, so they had a chance to make it. “I got this!”

“You’re sure?!” Atom Cat panicked, as he quickly put on his belt.

“I couldn’t slow down even if I wanted to!”

Ryan froze time for a few seconds to calculate the right angle, and then made the jump when it resumed.

Like the majestic beast it took inspiration from, the Pandamobile soared through the air with grace and dignity. The vehicle crossed the hole at full speed, Ryan adjusting its movements slightly to make the perfect landing. He then took a strong, confident pose, because when you made such a brave jump, you had to look the part too.

And then came the moment of truth.

The Pandamobile landed with a loud thump, Felix almost jumping from his seat as the vehicle continued its course. Ryan heard the sound of the wheels straining from the impact, realizing they might flatten soon.

Night Terror, that coward, chickened out and abruptly stopped his motorcycle within a few inches of the hole, much to the Vamp’s chagrin.

The Lamborghini Gallardo though, kept accelerating. The car soared through the air like the Pandamobile and made the jump, while Night Terror turned his bike around to find another way.

Unfortunately, while Ryan was undoubtedly the most experienced driver in the world, Pluto’s car could go twice as fast as his own. The Lamborghini started to gain ground, from three hundred meters to two hundred.

A chill ran down Ryan’s spine, like the hand of death crawling on his back. His heartbeat accelerated, his breathing grew a little shorter. The courier felt like a rabbit hearing the faint steps of a predator nearby. His vision started to blur at the edges, his fingers twitched, and he heard his own heartbeat in his skull.

Pluto’s evil eye was on him now.

“Hit her!” he snarled at Felix, Pluto’s power making him unnaturally anxious. “Hit her, hit her!”

“I’m trying!” Felix panicked, removing his seat-belt and struggling to find a new projectile. “And I’m running out of darts!”

In which case... “Kitten, hold the driving wheel.”

“What?” Felix hastily grabbed the wheel as Ryan kicked his door open, grabbing a revolver from under his suit. Then, as his cat struggled to keep the Pandamobile on track, the courier rose half out of the car.

“Didn’t you hear?” Ryan shouted to Pluto, as he froze time and aimed at the Lamborghini. “I’m immortal!”

He fired multiple shots, two at the windshield, one at the engine, and two at the wheels.

Almost all of them bounced off.

“A bulletproof car?” Ryan raged as time resumed, as he took back the driving wheel and closed his door. “They have bulletproof cars, and we have a Fiat Panda?”

Worse, the Pandamobile’s car hood let out a puff of smoke, a flame rising from below. The calamities had started targeting the engine.

“Leave me and run!” Felix shouted, as he found the only item left to throw: the panda doll dangling from the rear-view mirror. He grabbed it and prepared to throw this lethal projectile like a grenade. “They’re only after me!”

“No way, let me think!” Ryan snarled, his breathing getting shorter, his body colder. The sun had now set, night ruled supreme, and the enemy car was now within one hundred meters. “Let me think, I can figure—”

“Cesare.”

Ryan froze in fear, as he recognized the voice coming from his back.

He didn’t even dare look behind himself. He looked into the rear-view, and he saw.

It was dark outside, and Bloodstream sat at the back.

He was exactly like in Ryan’s memory, a monstrous, human-shaped blob of blood. And he remembered.

“You’re dead…” Ryan whispered, his voice breaking in primal fear. "You're dead."

“Because you killed me!” His arms lunged for Ryan’s throat and started to choke him, like in his childhood. The courier lost his breath, and control of the driving wheel. “Your own father!”

“Ryan, what’s happening?” Felix panicked, as he abandoned his plan to throw the doll to regain control of the car. Unfortunately, he couldn’t. Without the brakes, an intact engine, and a good driver, the Pandamobile veered off course.

The car crashed through the guardrail, and fell from the highway.

Felix screamed in horror, as the Pandamobile prepared to crash into the woods below. Ryan activated his time-stop, the instinct of a dead man.

Bloodstream’s hold vanished along with his ghost, though the pain in the courier’s neck didn’t. The Pandamobile had frozen a few meters above the ground, interrupting the fall.

Working entirely on instinct, Ryan kicked the door of his car open and grabbed the time-frozen Felix. He leapt out of the car with his friend, both rolling on the soft grass a few meters away from their vehicle.

When time resumed, the Pandamobile hit the ground and exploded in a fiery detonation. Smoke and fumes rose from the wreck, illuminating the darkness. Bloodstream was nowhere to be found.

He had never been there at all.

“An… illusion…” Ryan croaked, as he regained his breath and rose back to his feet. An illusion that could harm the target. Psychosomatic wounds? “Night Terror?”

“No time!” Felix said, pointing a finger at the highway above. The Lamborghini had stopped at the edge, Pluto and Sparrow stepping out of it to inspect the Pandamobile’s wreckage.

Ryan and Felix immediately fled into the woods, just as Sparrow noticed them. The assassin unleashed a crimson beam from her vantage point and set a tree on fire, but the two heroes managed to escape into the darkness.

The hunt had only started.

熊猫战车嘛……嗯，跟瑞恩想的一模一样。

迪纳米斯出品的第二代菲亚特“熊猫”仿制车，车身裹着黑白皮毛，力求模仿一只真正的熊猫。车里舒适又可爱，后视镜上还吊着一只熊猫玩偶。一家懒得定制专车的公司，把毫无想象力包装成了商品。

要不是熊猫事先把钥匙给了他，就算给瑞恩一根九英尺长的杆子，他也不愿碰这玩意儿。即便如此，光是把手放上方向盘，他就觉得浑身不对劲。

“我觉得自己背着任劳任怨的糟糠之妻，跟一个脏婊子偷情了。”瑞恩说，心中满是对普利茅斯“狂怒”的眷恋，“我悔恨交加！既悔恨，又痛苦！”

“闭嘴，好好开车。”副驾驶上的原子猫说着，不断看向后视镜，搜寻普鲁托的踪影。两人已经到了城市郊区，前面不远就是一座高架桥。

巨大的混凝土桥墩将通往新罗马城外的高速公路撑在地面道路上方，桥下挤着城里最穷困居民居住的棚屋。迪纳米斯倒是花了些心思维持高速公路的通行，却显然从没往桥下看过一眼。

不过，太阳已经开始西沉，奥古斯蒂的人却还没露面。如果一切顺利，两人应该能在入夜时赶到阿马尔菲海岸附近，与蕾恩会合。

“喂，是你不让我们换辆好车的！”一看见这辆怪胎，瑞恩就想去“借”旁边最近的跑车，可小猫咪偏偏善良得不肯答应。“现在拿来冒险的可是你的命。至少是你其中的一条命。”

“现在也有你的命了。谁帮我，奥古斯都就会对付谁。”菲利克斯叹了口气，“抱歉，瑞恩，我不该冲你发火。谢谢你帮我。”

“你爱上我没有？”快递员逗他道，恰好这时手机响了。是幸运女孩。“因为你姐姐已经爱上我了，虽然我拼了命地想阻止。”

“开车时不该打电话。”原子猫没好气地说。瑞恩正一边接电话，一边朝一处红绿灯驶去。

“福尔图娜，亲爱的，今天我还能怎么让你更开心？”

“瑞恩？”令他大为意外的是，发现接电话的是这位英俊的快递员，她似乎十分困惑。“怎么会是你？我想打给菲利克斯的！我的能力从来不会出错！”

“那你的愿望已经实现了。”瑞恩说，菲利克斯在旁边拼命摇头，“他就在我身边，求我保护他呢。”

“真的？”福尔图娜问道，她弟弟则怒视着快递员。“天哪，瑞恩，你真是完美的绅士，我还没想到，你就替我料到了！现在把电话给他！”

“我不接。”菲利克斯说。瑞恩正拿着手机在搭档眼前晃悠。

“行了，别像个小——”

两人头顶的红绿灯突然从支撑杆上脱落，眼看就要砸到熊猫战车上。

瑞恩发动能力，朝窗外看了一眼，随后在时间恢复流动时，熟练地驾车避开了坠物。红绿灯砸在地上，摔得粉碎。“啧，公共服务怎么搞的？”这位紫系基因者说着，把手机硬贴到了菲利克斯耳边。

“别闹……”年轻的英雄抱怨了一声，随即听见了电话那头福尔图娜的训斥。“对，福尔图娜，我还活着。不行，我不能告诉你我在哪儿。”

瑞恩想放松一下，可还没来得及喘口气，就发现右边冲来一辆车。快递员在最后一刻猛打方向，才躲开这个迎面冲来的疯子。“这城里的人开车都不要命吗？”瑞恩抱怨道。他来新罗马的第一天，就被这里的交通弄死过两次。“至少我还能暂停时间！”

原子猫绷紧了身体。“这不是意外。”他说着，把手机推开，“你感觉到了吗？那股寒意？”

什么寒意？

“是她？”瑞恩看了一眼后视镜，却没发现什么异常，“她的能力范围有多大？”

“不知道，但只要我能感觉到影响，她就能追踪我。”

该死。“大小姐，”快递员拿回电话，说道，“我回头再打给你。”

“你敢再挂我电话试试，瑞恩——”快递员挂断了福尔图娜的电话，把手机收回西装里，转向高速公路。

很快，熊猫战车驶上宽阔的高速公路，彻底离开了新罗马。这条由桥墩托起的巨型公路，俯瞰着城市周围草木葱茏的乡野。钢筋水泥的丛林退去，取而代之的是树林、乡间小路和零星的房屋。除了几辆柴油车，整条路几乎都归瑞恩独享。

“小猫咪，你确定她能靠能力追踪别人？”毕竟在之前的一轮里，普鲁托直到和瑞恩见面，才发现自己已经给他打过标记。

“确定。”菲利克斯说，不住地瞄向后视镜，“只要她标记一个目标，再发动诅咒，两者之间就会建立一种感应联系。而且她离受害者越近，能力就越强。我不清楚她能力的全部细节，但至少知道这些。”

如果普鲁托的能力范围大到他们连她的人影都看不见，而且她真能感应到自己的目标，那么他们就没法打她个措手不及。

菲利克斯看向窗外，惊呼一声：“在那里！”

瑞恩暂停时间，朝原子猫那边的车窗外望去。

一辆眼熟的黑色兰博基尼，正行驶在高架下方穿过树林的道路上。离熊猫战车只有几百米远。

更糟的是，还有两个人骑着摩托车护送那辆车。驾驶者是个形容枯槁的男性身影，一身黑色紧身衣从头包到脚。后座上是个穿红色皮夹克的女人，深红长发从摩托车头盔下飘出来；她手里端着一把冲锋枪。

他们走的那条路，会在前方大约一公里处接入高速公路。

“小猫咪，系好安全带，我们要飙起来了。”时间恢复流动时，瑞恩提醒道。快递员一脚踩死油门，熊猫战车越跑越快。运气好的话，他们能加速到极限，抢在追兵前面通过路口。

“妖姬，还有夜魇。”菲利克斯说，随后看向速度表，指针已经爬到一百二，还在继续上升。“这车能跑赢兰博基尼吗？”

“得了吧，小猫咪，别犯傻。”普鲁托开的是兰博基尼盖拉多，速度能达到熊猫战车的两倍。迪纳米斯造的这辆怪胎，最高时速也就一百五十公里。“你刚才说夜魇？这个名字我好像听过……”

“杀手七人组里的蓝系基因者。我不知道他的能力具体是什么，只知道会在黑暗中发动。”

“哦，也就是晚上？”瑞恩很欣慰，杀手七人组里至少有人懂得按能力取个恰当的名字。“那妖姬呢？会把你吸干？”

“不算是。她能用信息素让人干蠢事，甚至只要碰一下就能杀人。我早该想到，他们会派唯一一个我没法靠直接接触炸死的基因者来。”原子猫望着窗外，咬紧了牙，“他们在加速。他们知道我们发现了。”

幸好熊猫战车先一步通过了路口，此时也已达到最高时速。然而，瑞恩看向后视镜时，发现那辆黑色兰博基尼和护卫摩托车已经追了上来。

普鲁托竟然要跟瑞恩来一场高速公路追逐战。

她根本不知道自己惹的是谁。“上吧，小老虎！”

“乐意之至。”菲利克斯打开车窗，以惊人的精准手法朝追兵掷出一枚爆炸飞镖。夜魇骑着摩托躲过了攻击，但飞镖就在兰博基尼正前方猛烈炸开，扬起漫天尘土。

熊猫战车旁边的一辆卡车突然有个车轮损坏，猛地偏离车道。凭着在无数次循环的特技驾驶中磨炼出的技术，再加上恰到好处的时间暂停，快递员成功躲开了这辆车，任它坠下高架。

“今天休想送我去转生！”瑞恩对着卡车嘲讽道，紧接着却又得避让一辆皮卡。从他看到的情况判断，皮卡出了跟前一辆车同样的毛病。

瑞恩生出一股不祥的预感，检查了一遍熊猫战车的各项功能。他很快发现，他们的车也没能幸免。“哦，好极了，刹车失灵了。倒不是说我以前用得着这东西，不过……”

“她越近，情况就会越糟。”菲利克斯警告道。普鲁托的兰博基尼毫发无伤地冲出了尘云，与此同时，妖姬举起冲锋枪，瞄准熊猫战车。“趴下！”

用不着他提醒。一梭子弹击碎了熊猫战车的后窗，打在挡风玻璃上时，瑞恩和菲利克斯已经低下了头。一片碎玻璃偏离了原本的轨迹，直奔原子猫的喉咙而去。快递员暂停时间，抓住那片飞来的玻璃，等时间恢复流动后，把它扔出了车外。

“普鲁托有什么弱点吗？”瑞恩问道，目光盯着前方路面。太阳正一点点沉入地平线，要是夜魇的能力真会在黑暗中发动……

“我想她一次只能对付一个人。”菲利克斯说，又朝夜魇的摩托车掷出一枚飞镖。杀手熟练地避开了飞镖，不过至少他后座上的搭档没法瞄准了。

从刚才碎玻璃的事来看，瑞恩猜测普鲁托正把能力用在原子猫身上。这本来会是反击的大好条件——要不是他们两个英雄坐在同一辆车里的话！

“她得靠近，能力效果才会增强，”原子猫说着，从胸前的镖带里又抽出一枚飞镖，“所以只要我们拉开足够的距离，效果就会减弱。到时候刹车说不定又能用了。”

“那要是她接近到，比如说，离我们十米以内呢？”

菲利克斯脸色阴沉。“心脏病发作。”

瑞恩希望这至少得花上四十秒以上。

她的能力一定有弱点。所有黄系基因者都有些古怪的限制。他们扭曲现实，将虚构的概念或故事变成宇宙中的物理法则。他们改变的是世界本身的逻辑。

“这个世界。”瑞恩喃喃出声。

普鲁托的能力也许能让受害者的死亡成为必然，但紫色世界却是他这个紫系基因者的地盘。就像他能无视福尔图娜的运气一样，快递员只要选准时机暂停时间，就能打破普鲁托对因果的控制。而且瑞恩不认为普鲁托能真正操纵她引发的灾难，否则她早就让他们的车爆炸了。

她就是邪恶版的福尔图娜。

她就是……

“她就是我们的《死神来了》。”瑞恩说。

“你说什么？”菲利克斯问道。夜魇正试图拉近两车之间的距离，妖姬则准备再次开火。

“你没看过那部电影？”瑞恩猛打方向，及时躲开一头险些撞上熊猫战车的鹿。一头鹿。在高速公路上！“剧透警告，主角们最后都活下来了！”

不过他们在续集里死了。这事最好别提。

原子猫的爆炸让妖姬无法用冲锋枪瞄准，也迫使普鲁托的车减速，以免被炸飞，可瑞恩已经看到了这样做的后果。高速公路似乎正在颤抖，爆炸造成的结构损伤又被库伊拉自身的能力进一步放大了。

终于，该来的还是来了。

熊猫战车前方，一根将高速公路撑在离地二十四米高处的桥墩坍塌了，车流随之坠落，跌向死亡。路面两截之间裂开了一个巨大的缺口，一端比另一端略高。

“抓稳了！”瑞恩喊道，熊猫战车如今已是一枚停不下来的导弹。他们这一侧的路面比对面略高，所以还有机会飞过去。“看我的！”

“你确定？！”原子猫慌忙系上安全带，惊恐地问道。

“就算我想减速，也减不了啊！”

瑞恩暂停了几秒时间，算出合适的角度，随后在时间恢复流动时飞跃而出。

熊猫战车像赋予它设计灵感的那头威武猛兽一样，优雅而庄严地腾空而起。车子全速飞越缺口，瑞恩微调着它的动向，力求完美着陆。随后，他摆出一个刚毅而自信的姿势，因为既然做出了如此英勇的一跃，造型也必须跟上。

然后，见真章的时刻到了。

熊猫战车砰的一声重重落地，继续向前疾驰，菲利克斯差点从座位上弹起来。瑞恩听见车轮在冲击下不堪重负的声音，意识到轮胎恐怕很快就要瘪了。

夜魇那个胆小鬼临阵退缩，在离缺口只有几英寸的地方猛地刹住摩托车，惹得妖姬大为恼火。

兰博基尼盖拉多却还在加速。它像熊猫战车一样飞上半空，成功跃过了缺口，而夜魇则调转车头，另寻出路。

可惜，瑞恩虽然毫无疑问是世上经验最丰富的司机，普鲁托的车速却能达到他的两倍。兰博基尼开始追近，从三百米缩短到两百米。

一股寒意沿着瑞恩的脊背窜下，仿佛死神的手正在他背上爬行。他心跳加速，呼吸变得有些急促。快递员觉得自己就像一只兔子，听见了捕食者在附近轻轻落下的脚步。视野边缘开始模糊，手指抽动，他的脑袋里回荡着自己的心跳声。

普鲁托的邪眼现在盯上了他。

“打她！”他冲菲利克斯吼道，普鲁托的能力让他焦躁得异乎寻常。“打她，快打她！”

“我在打！”菲利克斯慌忙解开安全带，手忙脚乱地寻找新的投掷物。“我快没飞镖了！”

既然如此……“小猫咪，扶住方向盘。”

“什么？”瑞恩一脚踹开车门，从西装里抽出一把左轮手枪，菲利克斯连忙抓住方向盘。随后，趁着他家猫咪努力维持熊猫战车的行驶方向，快递员探出了半个身子。

“你没听说吗？”瑞恩朝普鲁托喊道，同时暂停时间，瞄准兰博基尼，“我是不死之身！”

他连开数枪，两枪打向挡风玻璃，一枪打向发动机，两枪打向车轮。

子弹几乎全被弹开了。

“防弹车？”时间恢复流动，瑞恩重新接过方向盘，关上车门，怒道，“他们有防弹车，我们只有一辆菲亚特‘熊猫’？”

更糟的是，熊猫战车的引擎盖冒出一股烟，底下蹿起了火苗。灾难已经开始瞄准发动机了。

“别管我，你快跑！”菲利克斯喊道，终于找到了最后一样能扔的东西：后视镜上吊着的熊猫玩偶。他一把抓过来，准备像扔手榴弹一样扔出这件致命武器。“他们只想杀我！”

“不行，让我想想！”瑞恩吼道，呼吸愈发急促，身体愈发冰冷。太阳已经落山，黑夜统治了一切，敌人的车也已逼近到一百米以内。“让我想想，我能想到办——”

“切萨雷。”

认出背后传来的声音时，瑞恩吓得僵住了。

他甚至不敢回头。他望向后视镜，然后看见了。

外面一片漆黑，血流就坐在后座上。

他和瑞恩记忆中一模一样，是一团恐怖的人形血块。而且，他还记得。

“你已经死了……”瑞恩低声说，最原始的恐惧让他连声音都在颤抖。“你已经死了。”

“因为你杀了我！”他双手猛地扑向瑞恩的喉咙，开始用力掐紧，和瑞恩小时候一样。快递员喘不过气来，也失去了对方向盘的控制。“我可是你的亲爹！”

“瑞恩，怎么回事？”菲利克斯慌了，放弃了扔玩偶的打算，转而试图稳住车子。可惜他没能做到。没了刹车，发动机也坏了，又没人能好好开车，熊猫战车偏离了道路。

车子撞穿护栏，从高架上坠了下去。

眼看熊猫战车就要砸进下方的树林，菲利克斯发出了惊恐的尖叫。瑞恩凭着一个死人的本能，发动了时间暂停。

血流的鬼影消失了，掐住脖子的力道也随之消散，快递员颈间的疼痛却还在。熊猫战车凝固在离地几米的空中，坠势戛然而止。

瑞恩完全凭着本能行动，一脚踹开车门，抓住了被暂停在时间里的菲利克斯。他带着朋友跳出车外，两人落在几米外柔软的草地上，翻滚了几圈。

时间恢复流动，熊猫战车砸在地上，轰然炸成一团烈火。残骸中火光冲天、浓烟翻涌，照亮了黑暗。血流早已不见踪影。

他根本就没来过。

“幻……幻觉……”瑞恩嘶哑地说，总算喘过气来，重新站起身。能伤害目标的幻觉。心因性伤害？“夜魇？”

“没时间了！”菲利克斯指着头顶的高速公路说。兰博基尼停在断裂的护栏边，普鲁托和麻雀正下车查看熊猫战车的残骸。

瑞恩和菲利克斯立刻往树林里逃，恰好被麻雀发现。女杀手从高处射出一道赤红光束，点燃了一棵树，但两位英雄还是成功逃进了黑暗。

猎杀才刚刚开始。