第七十四章 拜访枢纽镇


In the vast hall, even on this silent night, figures moved across the wooden floor without pause.
宽广大厅，沉寂的夜晚也不乏有条条身影在木质地板上走动。
A commotion from the front drew the attention of those nearby.
一阵骚动从正前方传来，吸引了周围人的目光。
They looked up and saw that on the ancient and massive cathode-ray tube display, an unfamiliar city symbol suddenly shot up like a rocket, appearing side by side with another city.
他们抬头看去，只见那古老又巨大的突屏阴极射线管显示器上，一个陌生的城市符号如同坐火箭般突然窜了上来，与另一座城并排出现。
“How did that city’s ranking suddenly jump eighteen places?”
“那座城市的排名怎么突然跳了十八位？”
Those focusing on the smaller screens nearby were also drawn by the commotion and stood up to approach.
正注意着其它几个小些屏幕画面的人也被那边所吸引，起身过去。
Inside the counter-like station below the large screen, someone shook awake the duty officer who was dozing at the desk: “Quick, check what’s happening in City 41.”
大屏幕下方如同银行柜台般的横台内，一人推醒了正在伏案熟睡的值班人员：“快查查，41号城发生了什么。”
“Oh, ah.”
“哦噢。”
“City 41? Huh, it’s shot up to 23rd place in one go.”
“41号？欸，它一下排到23名了。”
Amid the crowd’s clamor, a man in a red plaid suit emerged from a second-floor booth. He leaned his hands on the wooden railing, gazing at the shifting city code on the screen.
正在人群喧闹时，一道身穿红色斜格子西装的男人从二楼包厢出来，他双手撑在木横栏上，注视着屏幕上变动的那个城市代码。
A man in a black long gown and a round hat, sporting a handlebar mustache, appeared beside him.
这人身旁出现道身穿黑色长衫，带着圆帽子的八字胡男人。
“Zhu Yin, word is that a few hours ago, a Defender appeared in that city below. Is the sudden spike due to that Defender being eliminated?”
“逐银，据说几小时前，下面那座城市出现了抵御者，提升这么快难道是抵御者被消灭了？”
“It’s just a temporary ranking boost. Stability depends on the year-end.”
“排名暂时提升而已，能不能稳定得看年末。”
Zhu Yin tapped his fingers, turned his face to the other side, and looked down from the second floor through the window of a small room beside the hall, speaking slowly:
逐银敲敲指头，将脸转向另一边，由二楼至下透过大厅旁小房间的窗口，缓声道：
“There’s a bit of a shortage of some supplies in town. Once summer’s over, we need to prepare coal and grain for winter. The supply team that delivered to us last year has been out of contact for six months.”
“镇内的有些物品有点缺货了，夏天一过就要准备过冬的煤矿以及储粮，去年给我们供货的筑货队已经失联半年了。”
The man in the black round hat lit a cigarette.
顶着黑圆帽的八字胡点燃根烟。
“Probably gone by now.”
“估计已经覆灭了吧。”
He suddenly smiled at Zhu Yin. “You have ulterior motives. What you really want is to find someone who can complete that engine, but this can only be a slow process.”
他突然冲逐银笑道，“醉翁之意不在酒，你真正想找的一个完成那种引擎的人吧。这事只能慢慢等。”
“Yeah. But how much longer must we wait?”
“是啊。但还要等多久？”
“Actually, there is someone who fits the bill. He’s right here in City 41. A pity, though—he belongs to the monster. Maybe in another hub town, someone there is already close to obtaining that lost memory engine.”
“其实有个人倒是很符合条件，他就在这座四十一号城内。可惜啊，他却是怪物的人。说不定在另一座枢纽镇，那里的人已经快获得了那种失念引擎了吧。”
“You mean Ma Chao, the one who always sneaks in. He’s indeed a suitable candidate. Unfortunately, our manual can’t be used by him, and it’s not that simple—he’s not exactly easy to cooperate with.”
“你是说那个老是偷度进来的马超吧，的确是合适的人，可惜我们的手册没法给他用，而且那事没那么容易，他也不是那么容易合作的。”
Right as they spoke, a man in a black wool coat rushed up the stairs, holding a document in his hand, and handed it to Zhu Yin, who was dressed in a red suit.
正说着，一穿着黑绒外套的人噔噔跑上楼，手上捏着份文件递给了红西装的逐银。
“The owner of the Nightmare Train has changed? Code names: New Ma Chao and Little Ma Chao? So it was him who took down the Defender. Oh, is that so? Suspected summoning card.”
“恶魇列车的拥有者换人了？代号新马超和小马超？竟然就是他干掉了抵御者，噢，是这样啊，疑似召唤名片。”
“A summoning card?”
“召唤名片？”
The man with the mustache and black round hat leaned in upon hearing this.
八字胡闻言将头伸了过来：
“Yes! New Ma Chao is one of us? Hey, if it’s him, isn’t he exactly the kind of person you’ve been looking for? Quickly contact someone in that city to reach him.”
“耶诶！新马超是我们的人了？喂，如果是他，不就是你一直想的那种人吗！快找那座城的人联系他。”
“Thank goodness he didn’t leave this world through the card.”
“谢天谢地，他没有通过名片离开这个世界。”
Zhu Yin was about to dash downstairs when a model faintly materialized on his chest.
逐银正要往楼下跑去，他胸前的模型隐隐浮现。
[The mayor informed me that a stowaway is about to arrive.]
[镇长告知我，有偷渡者即将到达。]
“A stowaway? At this time…”
“偷渡者？这个时候…”
Zhu Yin looked up at the night outside the hall, a gleam of joy spreading across his face.
逐银抬头望向了大厅外的夜色，露出喜色。
……
……
Meanwhile, at the other end of this hub town, inside a silent stone house.
于此同时，这座枢纽镇的另一端，寂静的岩石房屋内。
The dim yellow light from the streetlamp outside filtered through frosted glass, pushing back the darkness shrouding the gravel road for a few meters. Ans, standing by the window with a wooden cigarette holder in his mouth, glanced at the wall clock. It would be less than ten minutes before the sky began to brighten.
窗外路灯昏黄的光线透过毛玻璃，将笼罩碎石路的黑暗驱散出几米空间。站在窗前的叼着木烟嘴的安斯瞧了眼墙上的挂钟，还有不到十几分钟天色就要明亮起来了。
That guy won’t show up, he thought.
那家伙不会出现的吧，他想到。
“Brothers, looks like tonight’s a peaceful pass.”
“兄弟们，今晚算是平安度过了。”
With his chiseled features, he lit a match and lit the cigarette holder.
五官立体的他打着了火将烟嘴点燃。
“That damn Ma Chao, shit. I’m going back tomorrow.”
“那该死的马超，娘的。明天我就回去。”
“Ah damn, if only I hadn’t been greedy for that bit of sequence. Stowaways aren’t bound by the peace rule here.”
“唉呀欸，早知道不贪那点时序了，偷度者可不在和平规则束缚之内。”
No sooner had he spoken than they sensed something amiss.
刚说完，他们觉得气氛有些不对。
They looked up to see the figure standing before them by the window had fallen asleep on his feet!
几人抬头看去，只见站在窗前对着自己的那道身影竟然站着就睡着了。
The air was warping behind him, as if some distant presence was about to arrive!
空气在他背后扭动，似有远方的存在即将到来！
“New Machao is coming!”
“新马超来了！”
One of them sprang up in terror from the vintage wooden chair: “Ans, wake up!”
一人惊恐地从复古造型的木椅子上跳了起来：“安斯，快醒醒！”
The group was thrown into chaos, but they dared not scatter and run apart; if they drifted off suddenly, they’d be done for.
几人乱成一团，他们又不敢分散离去，那要是突然睡着就死定了。
“I hope this shelter can fend off psionic attacks—this town should be fine, right?” said one, his voice thick with tears.
“希望这里的保护可以抵御念力攻击，这镇子应该没问题吧。”一人带哭腔道。
He knew full well that stowaways could strike people inside the town, yet still clung to delusion.
他明明知道偷度者可以攻击到镇子里的人，却依旧心存幻想。
“God, I have to get back to the city right now!”
“天啊，我现在就要回去城市！”
After two minutes of panic, they found Ansi at the window had woken up, the airflow behind him returning to calm.
慌了两分钟后，他们发现窗前的安斯已经醒了过来，背后的气流恢复平静。
“Hmm, did I doze off?”
“唔，我打了个盹儿？”
The group stared at him stiffly.
几人动作僵硬地看了他一眼。
……
……
The train hovered outside a row of staggered rock-and-stone houses along the street.
列车悬停在这排高地错落的岩石房屋街道外。
Because it had stopped at a low speed, it didn’t draw much attention, especially since the early morning streets had few people.
因为停下时的速度不快，到没吸引太多人的注意力，毕竟凌晨的街道也没几人。
Mori had already arrived, flanked by two doctors and a four-wheeled cart. It resembled the oldest carriages, with open seats like a horse-drawn cart, the rear wheels twice as large as the front ones.
莫里已经提前来到了这里，在他身边跟着两位医生和一辆四轮车。它就像是最古老的轿车，拥有敞开如马车般的座椅，后方两个轮子是前面的两倍大。
Astonishingly, this was not a car manifested from nightmare entities.
这竟然不是恶魇化现的车子。
As soon as the train door opened, the man carrying the young woman eagerly jumped out.
列车一打开门，抱着少女的男人就迫不及待地跳下车。
“I appreciate the effort, but my time is limited—can we hurry?”
“辛苦了，我的时间不多，能尽快吗？”
[I sense unwelcome scrutiny.]
[我感受到了不受欢迎的注视。]
[The master of this city orders me to leave within an hour.]
[这座城的主人示意我在一小时内离开。]
A layer of energy rapidly spread across and covered his body.
一层能量迅速弥漫覆盖身体。
Two well-dressed doctors standing beside Mori stepped forward.
莫里身旁两名穿着得体的大夫走了上来。
“This is the young lady?”
“就是这位小姐？”
“Yes, the injury is mild, but it requires a minor surgery. About forty minutes should do it—afterward, she’ll be as healthy as an ordinary person.”
“嗯，伤得并不严重，不过需要动个小手术，大约四十分钟就能搞定，到时候她会跟普通人一样健康。”
“Truly divine physicians,” Yang Zicang sighed in relief as he praised them.
“真是神医。”杨子藏松口气的夸赞道。
“Hoho, sir, we are all people who have legitimately arrived here through the Crimson Moon-level nexus. As physicians on Earth, with the boost from the corresponding model, it’s no exaggeration to call us miracle doctors. Rest assured, your princess will show up bouncing and lively.”
“嚯嚯，先生，我们可都是正经通过绯月级交错地来到这里的人，作为地球上的医师，获得相配合的模型加成后，说是神医真的不过分。放心吧，你的公主会活蹦乱跳出现的。”