第一百二十一章 探寻
The short, mustachioed thin man rubbed his bony fingers and chuckled, saying:
八字胡小矮子搓搓干瘦手指笑了笑，说道：
“If you are truly Deputy Mayor Zhuyin’s supply convoy leader in these parts, I can invite you to become our premium member.”
“如果阁下真的是逐银副镇长在这边的货队长，那么我可以邀请阁下成为我们的高级会员。”
“You have a membership system?”
“你们还有会员制？”
“Of course. We’ll provide you at a low price with any rare intelligence—whether it’s about emerging screens in the Lost Frequency, monsters coming out, the shack camps in the Zones, or new developments about the strong.”
“当然咯。有任何稀有情报，不论是新出现的失频幕景、走出的怪物、失频之地上的棚区和强者们的新动态都会低价给会员一份。”
He let out two low chuckles, stretched his neck, and lowered his voice:
他嘿嘿两声，伸长脖子压低声音：
“In return, Sir Jiazi, as a premium member, you’ll have to look after the business at our inn—after all, being a premium member makes you a shareholder.”
“相应的，甲子间阁下，作为高级会员，你要负责维护我们客栈的生意，毕竟高级会员就算是股东了。”
Yang Zicang thought his mental fortitude was already considerable, but encountering this kind of good fortune usually only seen in stories for the first time still stirred a surge within him—so this is what it’s like to be a top-tier warrior? Indeed, those with real skill are welcomed everywhere.
杨子藏觉得自己心境已经比较厉害了，但第一次遇到这种故事中才会出现的好事，还是难免让其心中澎湃——这就是高手的待遇吗，果然有实力的人在哪都受欢迎。
Just as Boss Zhuang was speaking, a small orb of light appeared beside Yang Zicang’s shoulder, and Boss Zhuang immediately clamped his mouth shut.
庄老板正说着，一个小光团出现在杨子藏肩膀旁，庄老板顿时把嘴紧闭。
Yang Zicang turned his head and said:
杨子藏扭头道：
“It’s already a new week. I’m not a celebrity, so what are you here for?”
“已经新的一周了，我又不是名人，你来干什么。”
Puff waved one small hand and crossed the other across her chest:
粒粒牙挥了挥小手，抱在胸前道：
{This place is interesting. Can’t I just pass by?}
{这里好玩，路过不行吗。}
“Scram, scram. We’re discussing business here; don’t join in now.”
“去去，我们在谈事情，这会别来凑热闹。”
Yang Zicang had long known from Zhuyin that the perspective hubs used by little reporters to record celebrities could be observed by certain people in town, so he quickly shooed her away.
杨子藏早已通过逐银知道，小记者们记录名人时的视角枢纽镇里有人能看见，因此立即将它给轰走了。
After flying a short distance, the orb wobbled and turned mid-air, sticking out its tongue at Yang Zicang.
光团飞出一段路后飘忽着转头，对着杨子藏吐了吐舌头。
{The big meanie is just putting on airs.}
{大坏蛋在装样子。}
After the reporter vanished, Boss Zhuang smoothed his beard with his thumb.
记者消失后，庄老板用拇指顺了顺自己的胡子。
“I forgot you used to be something of a celebrity yourself.”
“我都忘了，你之前是个名人。”
Boss Zhuang turned to look at Luo Bin, who was staring wide-eyed at him.
庄老板转头看向瞪着眼注视自己的洛宾。
“Ah, as for your question, well… I lost a bet. If I don’t do what she tasked me with, she’ll find out. That’s all.”
“哎呀，至于你的问题嘛，嗯，我跟人打赌打输了，如果我不完成她订下的事，她会知道，就这样。”
“Automatically deduct timepoints?”
“自动扣时序？”
“Of course it’s not—I just held up my end of the wager.”
“当然没那种事，我只是愿赌服输而已。”
That a single bet could compel this intelligence station boss to willingly follow through—was the other party really that overpowering, or was he just someone who simply wouldn’t break a promise?
一个赌注就让这位情报站老板甘愿履行，也不知是对方太强，还是这人只是单纯的不愿意违背赌约。
Yang Zicang took the booklet and stood up, saying:
杨子藏拿着册子起身道：
“I see. It seems Boss Zhuang values integrity as much as gold. I’ll give this task a try. But should I bring the missing person’s body to you?”
“我晓得了，看来庄老板是位视诚信如黄金的人，这个任务我试着做下吧。只是失踪者的尸体是带到你这里吗？”
“As you wish. Just get it out. If you bring it back, I’ll use it to fire up the boiler.”
“随便你，能弄出来就行。你带回来的话，我就用来烧锅炉。”
“How many days has it been? Never mind, no matter how long they’ve been missing, I think you should prepare me a waterproof suit and a coffin. Otherwise, I’ll only cremate the body on-site.”
“有多少天了？算了，不管失踪几天，我想你都应该给我准备一身防水服，以及一副棺木。不然我只有就地火化了。”
“He’s lucky—it’s been less than three days since he went missing, and you’ve taken the job. The current outdoor temperature shouldn’t cause you too much trouble. That’s it, I’ll have someone prepare a large wine barrel for you.”
“他运气好，不到三天就遇到了你。现在野外这温度应该不会给你造成太多困扰，算了，我这就让人给你准备个大点的酒桶。”
Yang Zicang and Luo Bin emerged from the doorway, carrying a massive beer barrel that towered over their heads. The few people waiting outside immediately came forward politely to lend a hand.
杨子藏和洛宾两人抬着没顶的大啤酒桶从门口走了出来，外面守着的几人立时非常客气的上来帮忙。
“When are we heading out?” Luo Bin rubbed his hands together eagerly.
“咱们什么时候去？”洛宾摩拳擦掌的道。
The missing guy’s last known location was that A-grade intersection space that collapsed into this place. The deputy township chief hinted there might be a chance to get a psychic ability there—how could I miss that?
失踪的家伙最后去的地方，就是那处跌落进这里的A级交错空间啊。副镇长可是表示了，那里有可能获得念力型能力，自己怎能错过。
Just look at this kid beside me—ever since he got his psychic ability in the Complete Stamp Emblem World, he’s swaggering around like he owns the place. If I got one too, wouldn’t I shoot straight to the top?
瞧瞧身旁这小子，在完整邮徽世界获得了念力型能力后，现在拽得跟二五八万似的。自己要是也获得，还不得一飞冲天。
Yang Zicang, holding the barrel with one hand, said, “I’m going alone.”
杨子藏一只手提着桶道：“我一个人去就行了。”
“Come on, bro, I can be helpful. If I happen to gain a psychic ability too, wouldn’t I be an even better right-hand man for you?” Luo Bin humbled himself considerably.
“别啊哥，我能帮上忙，万一我要是获得了念力型能力，不就更是你的得力干将了吗。”洛宾姿态非常的低。
“I want to keep that chance for Xiao Yu.”
“我想留给小雨。”
“Ah, why are you always thinking about that girl? Do you really think you two are a good match?”
“啊，你怎么老想着那个妹子，你真觉得你们俩合适吗。”
YangZicang turned his head and stared silently at Luo Bin.
杨子藏转头静静看向洛宾。
“She worries about me dying and risked coming out to invest her lifespan in me. How could I not leave something good for someone like that? After all, I will leave eventually.”
“她担心我死掉，甘愿冒风险出来想将她的寿命投资给我，这样的人，我怎么能不给她留点好东西呢，毕竟我迟早会离开的。”
“You… ah, I don’t plan on leaving. How about this: give me this opportunity, and I’ll spend the next six months scouring the entire Land of Lost Frequencies to find a new ability for her. Deal?”
“你，唉，我还不打算走，这样，你把这次机会给我，接下来半年我踏遍整个失频之地给她找新能力，怎样？”
“You said it.”
“这可是你说的。”
……
……
Taking advantage of the dim pre-dawn light, the two boarded the train and arrived at the location marked in the handbook: 280 kilometers southwest of the inn, using it as the origin point.
趁着天色还未明亮，两人乘着列车来到了手册上所画的地方：以客栈为原点，西南方向二百八十公里。
Without a telekinetic train platform, this journey took almost the entire night.
没有念力站台，这段路程几乎花费了整晚时间。
In the distance, mountains towered in clusters, with some peaks scraping the clouds, clearly a place of rugged terrain.
远处群山林立，有些山峰高耸入云，一看就是险要之地。
“Grade A areas are really vast. Stabilizing one in just half a month is something only an exceptionally strong team can do,” Luo Bin remarked with admiration.
“A级区域真大啊，半个月能稳定一座A级区域是非常强的队伍才能做到的。”洛宾感叹的说道。
At the end of each month, any unsteady alternating projections that had been entered but not yet stabilized converge here in full force.
每个月月底，已经进入过人但未成功稳定的交错幕景，会尽数来到这里。
YangZicang nodded: “Be careful. The monsters in a crimson-moon-level alternate space are exceptionally powerful. Starting from Grade B, monsters continue to be born in stabilized alternate spaces. According to Zhu Yin, there aren’t a few monsters inside.”
杨子藏点点头：“小心点，绯月级的交错地里怪物都异常强大，从B级开始稳定的交错地内都会继续诞生怪物，听逐银说那里面的怪物不少。”
“I just think it’d be great if we could haul back a chunk of land, hahaha.”
“我倒是觉得，要是能搬回去块土地就好了，哈哈哈。”
If they encounter an ordinary lost-frequency projection, digging up some sod and bringing it back isn’t entirely out of the question.
遇到普通失频幕景的话铲点地皮回去到也不是不行。
But as for carrying back the mountains here, Yang Zicang was confident that no one here could accomplish it—these were feats only characters from myths could pull off.
但想将这里的山背回去，杨子藏自信这里没有任何人能够做到，那都是神话中的人物才能办成的事情。
It suddenly occurred to him whether, in that old alternate world, there were figures capable of moving mountains and filling seas.
他突然想到，不知那个旧的异界中，有没有那样能够移山填海般的人物。
“I’ll go take a look around first; you stay right here and don’t move.”
“我先进去转一圈，你就在此地不要动。”
“Alright, I won’t follow you—don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”
“行，我就不跟上了，鸡蛋不能放一个篮子里。”
The train turned into wind and vanished, charging toward the distant mountains.
列车化为风消失，冲向远处的群山。
Luo Bin let out a long sigh and sat down on the ground. The contours of these mountains reminded him of Guilin on Earth, and a sentimental warmth welled up in his eyes.
洛宾长叹口气坐到地上，这些山的轮廓让他想到了地球的桂林，眼中出现了回忆般的温情。
“Alone, a stranger in a strange land, I doubly long for my kin on every festive day. If I remember correctly, in a few months it will be the 130th anniversary of Kong Yiji’s debt.”
“独在异乡为异客，每逢佳节倍思亲。如果没记错，再过几个月就是孔乙己欠钱一百三十周年了吧。”
He gazed out at the dim and dreary land.
他看向这片暗沉的大地。
“Still, there are plenty of folks around here too.”
“不过这边老乡也很多。”
With that, Luo Bin rose, brushed the dust off his pants, and walked toward a forest that looked as if it had been ravaged by a giant beast. At its edge, in the borderland, lay a corpse.
说罢，洛宾起身拍了拍屁股上的灰尘，走向一旁像是被巨兽摧毁过的山林，它的边缘接壤处有具尸体。
The train’s speed was swift relative to the area of several mountains, traversing this region in just over ten minutes.
列车的速度相对于几座山的面积来说很快，十几分钟已经横穿了这片区域。
Suddenly, the Nightmare Train halted before a mountain peak.
忽然恶魇列车停顿在一座山峰前。
Yang Zicang, gripping the open door, looked up at the sky, where the figure of a translucent man stood, gazing down at him.
杨子藏抓住敞开的车门看上天际，一个半透明男人的身影站在天空注视着自己。
{You’re far better than those humans before—at last, one worth looking at has arrived.}
{你比之前那些人类强了不少，总算来了个能看的了。}
“Humans? Aren’t you human, then?”
“人类？你不是人类吗。”
{Hmph.}
{哼。}
The thought-form-like man calmly fixed his gaze on Yang Zicang, then lifted his head to look toward the other side.
类似念力体的男人平静的注视着杨子藏，随后他抬起头看向另一端。
{More humans have arrived. This place really attracts you, but unfortunately, no one can obtain the benefits they expect here.}
{又有人类来了，这里还真是吸引你们，可惜没有人能从这里获得他们期望的好处。}
Yang Zicang couldn’t figure out what this was. According to Luo Bin, if a humanoid creature appears in the “surplus world” (or “Excess World”), it means such a creature is extremely dangerous.
杨子藏琢磨不透这是什么，按照洛宾的说法，若在“多余世界”见到人形生物，那就代表这种生物非常危险。
{Leave quickly. I’ll pretend you never came this time.}
{速速离去，这次我就当你没来过。}
In the dim light, the figure of the telekinetic man, only visible as a silhouette, turned in the sky and walked back into the shadows of the mountains, disappearing. Yang Zicang’s gaze fell upon the tallest peak near him.
在灰暗光线中只有个轮廓的念力人在天空转身，走入群山的阴影内消失，杨子藏的目光落在它附近那座最高的山尖之上。
A mountain like this would take him just over twenty minutes to climb if he were his telekinetic-world self; relying purely on physical strength now, it wouldn’t take him more than half an hour.
这样的山峰，如果是在念力世界的自己攀爬起来只需要二十多分钟，现在的自己纯凭体力也不会超过大半个小时，
He vaguely sensed that this mountain was somehow different from the others. This insight came naturally from communicating with the surrounding environment after practicing “Silent Night.”
他隐隐感觉这座山跟其它山峦有些不同之处，这是修习沉吟之夜后，与周围环境自然自然而然的交流所得。
[Silent Night.]
[沉吟之夜。]
A wave of qi radiated from his young body, and the environment within a range of six to seven hundred meters emerged naturally. Countless whispers arose, as if the trees, soil, flowers, plants, and moisture itself were communicating with him.
年轻身上一股气浪扩散开去，方圆六七百米内的环境自然浮现，无数呓语响起，仿佛是树木、泥土、花草、水气在跟自己交流。
{Save me…}
{救我…}
{Save us…}
{救救我们…}
Countless voices of terrified emotions appeared in his heart (or mind).
无数恐惧的心念声音出现在心中。
Yang Zicang suddenly looked up. Phantom-like images surged in overwhelmingly. They were distorted, contorted bodies and pale, grimacing illusory figures caught in unbearable pain.
杨子藏猛然抬头，幻影般的画面铺天盖地涌来，那是一具具身体扭曲，面容狰狞痛苦的虚幻人影。
Behind them, a figure seated upon a black stone throne at the mountain’s peak, deific and demonic.
在它们背后一道如神似魔般的身影座于山巅黑岩石椅。
He opened his eyes, where five-pointed stars slowly rotated within, and swept his gaze toward Yang Zicang.
他睁开双眼，眼中五角星缓缓旋转，向着杨子藏扫来。
A pressure like a curtain enveloped the void, as if intent on encompassing all.
如同帷幕般的压力笼罩虚空，似要囊括一切。
“Five points?!”
“五角？！”
The train roared as it charged toward the edge of the mountain forest.
列车轰地冲向这片山林边缘。
Yang Zicang felt as if he had entered an immortal’s Cosmic Sleeve, his spiritual world twisting and spinning like a curling scroll of heaven and earth.
杨子藏感觉自己像是进入了神仙的乾坤袖般，精神世界的天地卷曲般旋转。
[Trajectory Dispatch!]
[轨迹调度！]
With a whoosh, the train twisted and transformed into a fierce gale, arcing out of the ever-stretching mountain ranges in a curved trajectory.
列车呜地扭曲着化为狂风从变得不断拉伸的山峦中以弧线冲出。
The moment they left this area, Yang Zicang felt as if he had burst out of a bubble. Turning his head to look, that world showed no signs of abnormality, and the experience just now felt like a dream.
离开这片区域的瞬间，杨子藏感觉仿若从水泡中冲出，转头看去，那片世界没有任何异状，刚才的经历只像是场梦。
Little Ma Chao said with slight surprise:
小马超略显惊讶的道：
{It’s a phantom zone. Lü Bu has encountered similar intersecting spaces.}
{是幻境场，吕布经历过类似的交错空间。}
Upon hearing the train’s words, Yang Zicang, now calmer, asked:
听到列车的话，心情平静些的杨子藏问道：
“How did Lü Bu deal with it? And what would have happened if we hadn’t left just now?”
“吕布是怎么应对的，刚刚如果我们不离开会发生什么。”
{Which of your two questions should I answer first?}
{我要先回答你两个问题中的哪个。}
“The second one.”
“第二个吧。”
{I don’t know.}
{不知道。}
“……”
“……”
Yang Zicang, standing by the car door, was at a loss for words. After a pause, he said:
车门口的杨子藏无语了下，顿了顿他道：
“Then tell me what exactly a phantom field is.”
“那你说说幻境场是怎么回事。”
{Based on the data they collected, some illusion realms only frighten you; others can make people lost or mistake companions for enemies; certain illusion realms can synchronize mental frequencies, causing people to believe they are truly harmed and thus lose their lives. This kind is also called a psychic field. The Little White Shadow was the third type.}
{根据他们收集的资料，有些幻境场只是吓唬你；有的能让人迷失、或是将同伴当成敌人；有的幻境场会真实的同化精神频率，让人认为自己真的受到伤害，从而失去生命。这种也叫做念力场。小白影就是第三种。}
Actually, you kind of count too…
其实你也算是啊…
“Little White Shadow?” Yang Zicang said casually, “What exactly did you guys talk about in the spiritual world?”
“小白影？”杨子藏随口道：“你们在精神世界到底交流了些什么啊。”
{We chatted about everything. He talked most about the route from 23 Xiangyun Road to Xicao Park. It was a spiritual connection.}
{什么都聊，从祥云路23号到茜草公园是他聊得最多的，我们是精神上的交流。}
Yang Zicang had merely asked casually, but then his expression turned a bit grim.
杨子藏本只是随口一问，随后脸色有点难看。
Wasn’t that the road he often took as a child to his grandmother’s house?
那不是自己小时候去外婆家经常走的路吗。
Shaking his head, he looked at the mountain behind him. It didn’t seem particularly tall now, no different from the surroundings. The strangeness he’d sensed earlier was only a presence one could pick up on from close range.
甩甩头，他看向身后的那座山。此刻看上去并不算高，跟周围没什么区别，之前察觉的异样只是近距离后才能感知到的气息。
“A five-pointed star, a pentagon? Is it real or fake?”
“竟然有五角星，五边形吗，到底是真的还是假的。”
{If it’s real, the kaleidoscope you broke could defend against psychic attacks. Leave quickly. My time off track is almost up tonight.}
{如果是真的，那个被你敲坏的万花筒能够防御念力攻击。快离开吧，我今晚离轨的时间快到了。}
Yang Zicang, of course, knew that the kaleidoscope was an extremely precious treasure, but despite asking around at Headquarters and Hub Town, no one could repair a completely damaged mimic device.
杨子藏当然知道那个万花筒是个非常珍贵的宝物，可惜他问遍了总部和枢纽镇，也没有人能修彻底损坏的模器。