[Damnit!]
[该死的！]
The fire centipede he had cultivated for so long suffered a severe blow the moment its new intelligence was born. Yang Zicang, who had nurtured a tranquil nature over a thousand years, felt a rage he hadn’t experienced in ages.
培养了好久的火蜈蚣一诞生新灵智就遭受重创，千年养得心性恬淡的杨子藏，久违感受到愤怒。
In that instant, Yang Zicang seemed to hear the ethereal sound of a subway whistle fading into extinction.
这瞬间的杨子藏，像是听到了虚无缥缈的地铁嘶鸣之音在暗淡消泯。
With a movement of his hand, a burst of golden light laced with time-sequence shot forth. Yet it couldn’t truly attack these fragmented manifestations of Ma Chao’s telekinetic body.
他手上一动，一片附带时序的金辉冲去。却无法真正攻击到这些残破的马超念力身躯。
The centipede nightmare, with its tiger- and wolf-like head, re-materialized its head, though it remained rather fragmented.
长着虎狼般头颅的蜈蚣恶魇重新具现出头颅，只是还很破碎。
It didn’t die outright, which slightly relieved Morrie as well.
没直接死掉，这稍微让莫里也松了口气。
{What a relief it didn’t blow up.}
{还好没炸掉。}
Near the subway station, countless incomplete phantoms of Yang Zicang flickered across the seawater in various spots, drawing closer and converging.
地铁站附近，无数个残缺的杨子藏幻影在这片海水各处闪烁越聚越近。
These figures were the products of his spiritual body torn apart. They instinctively gathered together, seeking to merge.
这些身影是自己的精神体被撕碎后的产物，它们本能的聚拢，想与融合。
But in that very moment, Yang Zicang suddenly felt an inspiration flash through his mind.
但就在这么一瞬间，杨子藏忽地像是福至心灵般想到了什么。
No, [don’t] merge!
不，不能融合！
“Quick, eat them!”
“快，吃掉它们！”
Yang Zicang opened his mouth, forcing his throat to emit a low, whimpering sound.
杨子藏张开嘴，用力鼓动喉咙发出呜咽的声音。
The nightmare creature, which was teetering on the brink of death once more, contorted, its head largely blown away.
已经快要再次死去的恶魇怪物扭曲着炸开大半的头颅。
Yang Zicang stamped his foot, his fists rolling up the seawater, causing two of his own incomplete spiritual fragments to surge forth.
杨子藏脚下一瞪，双拳用力卷起海水，让其中两个自己的残缺精神体荡起。
[Scheduling, trajectory alteration!]
[调度，轨迹变化！]
The two phantom figures of himself rushed into its mouth, transforming into spiritual energy that entered the centipede’s body.
两个自己的虚影冲入它的口中，化为精神能量进入蜈蚣身躯。
Yang Zicang felt his connection with the centipede monster deepen.
杨子藏感觉自己对蜈蚣怪物的联系加深了。
It was working!
有效！
More and more of his own spiritual figures were sent by Yang Zicang into the centipede’s mouth.
越来越多自己的精神身影，被杨子藏送入蜈蚣的嘴中。
[I…]
[我…]
A thought surfaced deep within his mind, yet it seemed to come from the centipede itself.
一个心念出现在内心深处，却又像是自那蜈蚣内心传来。
Mori rushed over.
莫里冲了过来。
{What are you doing?}
{你在干嘛。}
[Help me gather temporal sequences for feeding.]
[快帮我聚集时序进行喂养。]
Yang Zicang tossed him two deformed gold coins.
杨子藏丢给他两块变形的金币。
After Mori injected a slight amount of temporal sequences, Yang Zicang infused a thousand years into them in one breath, then sent the coins into the monster, which was starting to materialize its head again.
莫里注入些微时序后，杨子藏一口气往里面注入了一千年，然后将金币送进开始再次努力具现出头颅的怪物。
Crack, crack!
咔咔！
The Nightmare’s newly grown crooked teeth pierced through the gold coins, and the golden glow quickly merged into this faint white spiritual centipede monster.
恶魇重新长出的弯曲牙齿将金币刺穿，金辉快速融入这淡淡的白色精神体蜈蚣怪物。
Yang Zicang felt an increasingly intimate connection with it.
杨子藏感觉越来越与之心意相通。
{Great, it survived! What’s its name?}
{太好了，它活下来了。它叫什么？}
Mori felt happy for Yang Zicang.
莫里都为杨子藏感到高兴。
Crunch, crunch!
咔擦咔嚓！
The obedient Nightmare monster tore at the station’s surrounding energy, including the phantom mist from Ma Chao’s psyonic avatar collapsing.
听话的恶魇怪物撕咬着周围的站台能量，包括马超念力体崩坏后的幻影雾气。
This monster could detect and devour psychic energy from the spiritual level; even if it couldn’t bring it out of this world, simply swallowing the psychic station buried within Yang Zicang’s sea of spirit was well worth it.
这怪物能发现并吃掉精神层面上的念力物，哪怕它无法带出这个世界，光是吞掉了埋入杨子藏精神之海的念力站台就非常值得了。
[I want to call it “White Shadow Thought-Dragon.”]
[我想叫它“白影念龙”。]
{A great name. My God, I wish I had one too.}
{不错的名字，上帝啊，我好想也要一个。}
Moli’s envy was evident in every word.
莫里羡慕之情溢于言表。
The White Shadow Thought-Dragon chased down the remaining wisps of energy, spiraling through the seabed. When it swallowed the last piece of the platform, Yang Zicang felt a faint, elusive presence stir within him.
白影念龙在海底旋转追击着剩余的微弱能量。当它吞进最后一块站台后，杨子藏感觉自己心中多出了若有若无的东西。
[The White Shadow Thought-Dragon devoured a thought entity of its kind that had transcended its boundaries.]
[白影念龙吞噬了超越界限的同类念体。]
[I know the White Shadow Thought-Dragon will begin absorbing abilities of its kind, and it is about to fall into slumber.]
[我知道白影念龙将开始吸纳同类能力，它即将陷入沉睡。]
Truly worthy of a flame kindled by the first generation of great shamans. Yang Zicang found himself missing his “Xiao Wu” from thousands of years ago.
不愧是初代大巫所燃起来的火种。杨子藏有点想念几千年前自己那位“小武”了。
The gift he had left for himself, like a hidden treasure, was still unfolding even after millennia.
他给自己的礼物如同深藏的宝藏，在数千年后也还在开启。
At a mere thought from Yang Zicang, the White Shadow Thought-Dragon returned to the magma ahead.
随着杨子藏的心念一动，白影念龙回到前方岩浆内。
[Sleep, my good child.]
[睡吧，好孩子。]
In the seabed’s molten core, a faint red light surged nothingly, as if formed by scorching currents of air.
海底熔岩处，涌起虚无的淡淡红色光芒，就像高温的气流所组成。
The nightmare creature, grotesque with a head like that of a tiger-wolf, coiled its body like a dragon-serpent, buried its head in the center of the circle, and lay upon the magma.
长着像是虎狼头颅的恶魇怪物将自己如龙蛇般卷成圈，将头埋入最中心，趴在岩浆上。
This slumber would again span countless years.
这一睡又不知要多少年。
But he could afford to wait.
但自己等得起。
{So, this is your damn experiment, huh? When will you ever get to Hub Town, Mr. Zicang!}
{这就是你那该死的实验，啊，子藏先生，你什么时候才来枢纽镇啊！}
Moli declared with a melancholy sigh.
莫里怅然地道。
[What? Are you inviting me to be a guest?]
[怎么？你想邀请我去做客吗。]
{Mr. Zicang, join my team. With me, and Boppoli, and a powerhouse like you, our abilities can perfectly complement each other and achieve great things.}
{子藏先生，成为我的队友吧。我，还有波波利，再加上你这样厉害的人物，我们的能力可以最完美的配合，发挥出巨大的作用。}
There was absolutely no such thing as “achieving great things.”
根本没“能发挥巨大作用”这回事。
Yang Zicang broke into a smile, ready to say something, when a flash of light flickered from the model on his chest.
杨子藏露出笑容，他正想说什么，胸前模型闪动了下光线。
[I’ve received a completed proxy contract.]
[我收获了一份完结状态的代练契约书。]
Had someone passed away?
是有人去世了吗。
Yang Zicang looked up toward the land, unable to tell whether he was feeling happy or sad.
杨子藏抬头望向陆地的方向，内心说不出到底是高兴还是难过。
……
……
Ma Chao, who was about to enter the A-class Intersection Zone, paused.
正在准备进入A级交错地的马超一愣。
“What’s wrong?” a bald-headed man beside him turned to ask.
“怎么了。”他身边一个大光头转头问道。
“Nothing.”
“没什么。”
Standing before this gate, Ma Chao turned his head to gaze deeply at the ruined city shrouded in darkness. He believed Yang Zicang was hiding inside some building there.
站在这扇门前，马超转头深深看了眼黑暗中的残缺城市。他相信杨子藏就躲在里面的某个建筑内。
He even managed to eliminate the mark I implanted.
竟然能清除自己种下的标记。
That method of erasing marks—no way it must remain unknown and never leak out.
那不知是如何能够清除标记的方法，绝对不能传播出去。
A red ring emerged faintly on Ma Chao’s chest, and quadrilateral lines refracted outward from it.
马超胸前一道红色的环形浮现，四边形的线条折射出去。
……
……
Half a day later in reality, Moli woke up on a wooden bed cluttered with things.
现实中半天后，莫里从堆满东西的木床上醒来。
The window of the room was wide open; the soft night breeze billowed the curtains, and the scent of alcohol had already dissipated.
屋子的窗户大开着，酥软的夜风将窗帘荡起，酒味已经消散了。
“You’re awake, huh.” Boppoli, sitting on a small stool nearby and slurping instant noodles, said in broken Chinese.
“你醒了啊。”波波利正坐在旁边的小板凳上嗦着泡面，用磕绊的汉语道。
Moli pointed at the noodles and asked, “Where did that come from?”
莫里指着泡面道：“这东西哪里来的。”
“Just now, the boss who put in an order for ‘Chinese’ came to check on me—he brought it.”
“刚才，下单‘汉语’的老板过来看过我，他给带来的。”
Boppoli forked some noodles, blew on them, and said:
波波利叉起泡面，吹了口气道：
“Look, I devoured the instant noodle nightmare. Want a bite?”
“你看，我把泡面恶魇给吃掉了，你要来口吗。”
This is the favorite joke among the people in Hub Town. Eating food before it gives birth to an evil nightmare is like devouring the nightmare itself.
这是枢纽镇里的人最爱开的玩笑。在食物诞生恶魇之前将它们吃掉，就相当于把恶魇吃掉了。
Moli looked at the thin boy in pajamas with messy yellow hair and chuckled, “Stop eating.”
莫里看着身穿睡衣，黄发乱糟糟的消瘦少年，笑道：“别吃了。”
“Hoo hoo, it’s so fragrant, I haven’t had something this delicious in a long time.”
“呼呼，好香啊，好久没吃到这么好吃的东西了。”
“I told you to stop eating, you dumb donkey.”
“我说让你别吃了啊，蠢驴。”
Moli sat up and snatched the bowl out of his hands.
莫里坐起身将他手中的碗给抢了过来。
“Hey, what are you doing? I still need to eat and hurry up and learn Chinese.”
“喂，你干嘛啊，我吃了还得加紧学中文呢。”
“If you worked this hard learning Chinese back on Earth, you wouldn’t have needed to go into boosting business.”
“在地球你要是这么努力学，早就不用去搞什么代练了。”
Thinking about how many times this guy had tried to learn Chinese, Moli found it amusing.
想到这家伙都不知是第几次学中文了，莫里就觉得很好笑。
For the boy, this was a mental hell, yet it was also one of the few places where he could put his ability to use.
对于少年来说这简直是精神的地狱，确也是他为数不多能运用能力的地方。
Boppoli was learning faster each time, and it was a good thing that people from other countries kept showing up in this place, otherwise, Boppoli would have starved to death a long time ago.
波波利的学习速度越来越快，还好进入这里的其它国家的人总是会出现，否则波波利这家伙早就饿死了。
A hint of anger appeared on Boppoli’s face.
波波利脸上露出些怒气。
“Oh right, you’re a lecturer at a prestigious university, and look how far you’ve come now, you’re way better off than my dumb self. You speak Chinese, yet you refused to help me learn Chinese dialects when I asked, and now you’re grabbing my noodles.”
“好啊，你是名牌大学的讲师，但你现在又怎么样，比我这蠢东西好太多了是吧。你会中文，我让你帮忙学中文的方言你都不肯，这会却来抢我的泡面。”
“I didn’t refuse. I was busy at the time, you know that. And besides, they won’t pay for dialects with too big a gap, while those with only a small gap don’t count for anything.”
“不是不肯，是我当时在忙，你又不是不知道。而且差距大的方言他们又不买，差距小的又不作数。”
“Busy? Hah, you were mainly just getting conned. Idiot, moron, bum!”
“忙？呵，还不是给骗了。傻子，蠢货，流浪汉！”
Boppoli reached for the bowl, but Moli grabbed his wrist.
波波利伸手去拿碗，却被莫里一把按住手腕。
“I said stop eating. We’ll go get a feast later.”
“我说别吃了，待会我们去吃大餐。”
Boppoli looked up at him: “What do you mean? Did you strike it rich? You just scammed me out of several centuries of temporal order a while back. If I die this month, you’ll be paying the rent alone!”
波波利抬头看向他：“什么意思，你发财了？那会才坑了我几百年的时序。这个月我要是死了，房租你就一个人付去吧！”
Moli snorted lightly, revealing a mysterious smile.
莫里轻哼了声，露出神秘的笑容。
The model on his chest flickered, and a contract imprinted with light materialized in his hand, shimmering with translucent illusions.
他胸腔前模型闪动，手上出现一本光线具现而成的，闪动着半透明幻影的契约单。
Boppoli showed a shocked expression. His eyes swept across the bed—not a single Ability Sphere was missing.
波波利露出震惊的神色，他在床上一扫而过，那些能力球一个都没有见少。
“When did you…”
“你什么时候。”
“Just now.”
“刚刚。”
Moli tossed the illusory contract onto the bed, then pointed his palm at the bedsheet as light flashed, and dozens of similar contracts fluttered down.
莫里将这幻影契约单丢在床上，随后手掌对着床单，光芒一闪，几十份类似的契约单哗哗落下。
“Good heavens!”
“天啊！”
Boppoli flung himself onto the bedside, kneeling on the ground, hugging the pile in his arms. He grabbed one contract in a fluster and examined it.
波波利扑倒床边半跪在地上将这一堆东西搂在怀里，他慌忙抓起来一份契约单一看。
“Substitute Training Contract: Silent Night, eighty-two years of cultivation experience, completeness 100%.”
《代练契约：沉吟之夜，八十二年修行经验，完整度100%》
“Ah!”
“啊！”
The boy hurriedly clutched another one.
男孩慌忙将另一张抓在手里。
“Substitute Training Contract: Frost and Snow Swordplay, one hundred and eight years of cultivation experience, completeness 100%.”
《代练契约：霜雪剑法，一百零八年修行经验，完整度100%》
“Substitute Training Contract: Blazing Sword Path, ninety-four years of cultivation experience, completeness 100%.”
《代练契约：烈焰剑道，九十四年修行经验，完整度100%》
“Huh? This… is this something my ‘Substitute Training Contract’ can do?!”
“啊？这…这是我的‘代练契约’能干成的事情吗？！”
The boy felt his blood and energy surging, making his skin heat up. This was his ability—the crystallization of his power!
少年感到浑身气血涌动，让皮肤都燥热。这是自己的能力，这就是自己能力的结晶！
Boppoli was dumbfounded.
波波利蒙圈了。
Weren’t these books just urgently collected in town a few hours ago? What, what on earth was going on here?
这些书不是几个小时前才在镇上紧急收来的吗，这，这到底是怎么回事？
“Oh my god, what did you do? Is this real or fake?”
“上帝啊，你干了什么，这是真的还是假的。”
Moli snorted with a laugh, on the verge of puffing his chest out to the sky.
莫里哼哼一笑，恨不得将胸膛挺到天上去。
“It’s all thanks to me finding a powerful person.”
“这都得多亏我找到了个强大的人。”
“Who?”
“谁？”
“A weird guy named YangZicang.”
“一个叫杨子藏的奇怪家伙。”
Boppoli’s entire focus was now on those folded pages. He kept flipping through the stack of documents.
波波利现在的注意力全在这些折线化现的纸张上。他在这一摞单据里不断翻看。
Each book had several corresponding power-leveling contracts.
每本书都有好几个对应的代练契约。
“Why are there so many for these two books?”
“为什么这两本书这么多呀。”
Boppoli picked up Silent Night and Glass Perception.
波波利拿起《沉吟之夜》和《琉璃感知》。
“Speaking of which, it’s a good thing we got these two books.”
“说起这个，还好我们收到了这两本书。”
Moli’s expression turned serious, and he said in a low voice, “You know about mages?”
莫里的神色变得郑重，他低声道：“你知道魔法师吗？”
Boppoli’s eyes instantly lit up. Of course he knew about mages.
波波利目光腾地下就亮了。他怎么可能不知道魔法师。
“Are you saying this is a book recording magic?”
“你是说，这是记载了魔法的书？”
“Not exactly, but it provides strong aid for mental strength. Take this Silent Night, for instance. Guess what? The first person who studied it could clearly sense any movement within a two-kilometer radius just by sitting in a room, and could walk around with his eyes closed as if he could see normally.”
“不算，不过对精神力的帮助很强。比如这《沉吟之夜》。你猜怎么着，最早修习这本书的那家伙，他只是坐在屋子里，方圆两公里内的动静都能清楚感知，闭上眼也能如常人般走动。”
“Wow! Perception magic? What does that have to do with ‘silent night’ then?”
“哇！感知魔法？那跟‘沉吟’有什么关系。”
“Chén Yín means… He could communicate deeply with all things—tigers, wolves, jackals, leopards, even trees and grass. And he could make these beings ignore the people he wanted to block.”
“沉吟指的是。他能与万物深入沟通。虎狼豺豹乃至树木花草，而且他能让万物屏蔽他想屏蔽掉的人。”
Mori didn’t elaborate that in battles against nightmares, those training in this skill could concentrate and block the perception of low-level nightmares for dozens to over a hundred meters all by themselves, turning the low-level nightmares into headless flies.
莫里没细说的是，在与恶魇的战斗中，修行这功法者，集中精力一人就能屏蔽数十上百米区域内低级恶魇的感知，让低级恶魇成为无头苍蝇。