Yang Zicang (杨子藏) thought he had been the one to take down that guy yesterday, yet the Xiongying Group (雄英组) was causing trouble for them — no wonder they were so angry.
杨子藏还以为昨日的人是自己干掉的，雄英组却找的他们的麻烦，难怪人家一肚子火。
So they had come demanding some item?
结果是来要什么东西的？
“What kind of thing is that?” Mu Xiaoyu (沐小雨), who had walked outside, asked the round-faced girl softly.
“那是什么东西？”走出门的沐小雨轻声问圆脸小妹。
“It’s like a key to enter the Crossing Space (交错空间). After the phantom of our hometown appears around the middle of the month, other Crossing Space entrances can occasionally be found in the second half of the month. But they require a Quadrilateral (四边形) Model owner to resonate with a statue — then the entrance appears where the monthly Frequency Crystal (频晶) is born, mm-hmm.” The girl spread her hands and shrugged.
“相当于进入交错空间的钥匙。在月中我们家乡的虚影出现过后，下半月中其它交错空间入口还能偶然找到，但必须由四边形模型拥有者共鸣雕像后，每月所诞生的频晶所出现入口的地方，嗯哼。”女孩摊手耸了耸肩。
Yang Zicang turned his head to listen.
杨子藏侧首听去。
Another person beside him explained quietly:
旁边另一人也小声解释道：
“Moreover, the Crossing Frequency Crystal (交错频晶) can stabilize chaotic areas within the Crossing Place. Without them, once you enter a Crossing Place, you might never find your way out again.”
“而且，交错频晶可以稳定交错之地内的混沌区域。没有它们，进入交错之地后可能永远无法再走出来。”
Ahead, Yu Fei’s (余霏) voice came:
前方传来余霏的声音：
“Besides that crystal, lend us the Zhang Fei (张飞) armor for half a year, and our Shennü Brothers Alliance (神女兄弟盟) will take this matter on for you.”
“除了那枚晶石，再将张飞盔甲租用给我们半年，这件事就算是我们神女兄弟盟替你们抗下了。”
“You’re dreaming.”
“你在做梦。”
“I’ve already reported the armor matter to the Alliance headquarters. Headquarters has agreed to let us rent it.”
“我已经把盔甲的事上报给联盟总部了，总部已经同意，让我们可以租用。”
“Wait.” Amid the chaotic back-and-forth, Yang Zicang stepped forward with his hands making a stopping gesture.
“等等。”双方混乱扯皮中，杨子藏双手做出停止的手势上前一步道。
“Headquarters agreed? What does that mean, everyone?”
“总部同意？那是什么意思各位？”
“Heh, after all, you’re still a newcomer who doesn’t understand the situation.” Someone from the opposite side looked at him and sneered with resentment: “Who owns the place you’re staying in now? Where does the food and everything you eat and use come from? From the production staff who make them.”
“呵，总归还是新人，搞不清楚状况。”对面一人看来，面含怨气的讽刺道：“你现在住的地方是谁的？你们吃的用的，都是哪里来的？还不是生产人员们所制作的。”
“You…” Yang Zicang glanced at Yao Qiming (姚启明) beside him.
“你…”杨子藏看了看旁边的姚启铭。
It was true — what he ate and drank wasn’t his own.
自己的确吃的喝的不是自己的。
“High-level战利品 (zhàn lì pǐn) are turned over to headquarters, which then allocates them at discretion, lending them to those who have made contributions. Otherwise, someone like you, whose abilities aren’t suited for direct combat, would have a hard time getting high-level equipment.”
“高级战利品上缴，咱们联盟总部酌情分配，租借给那些做出贡献的人。否则，像你这样能力不适合直接战斗的人，很难获得高级装备。”
As if deliberately trying to provoke him, the person opposite pursed his lips and stared directly at Yang Zicang, who was slightly bowing his head in thought.
对面就像是要故意气自己似的，一人憋着嘴直勾勾盯着稍显低头思索的杨子藏说道。
Yang Zicang raised his eyes and glanced over:
杨子藏抬眸扫去：
“Oh. You mean the person who attacked me yesterday died by suicide?”
“噢。你的意思是，昨天攻击我的人是自裁而死的咯？”
“Arguing is useless.” Yu Fei shook his head. “If Zhang Fei had taken you a little more seriously and synchronized with his armor earlier, you would absolutely have died. You have to admit that.”
“狡辩也没用。”余霏摇摇头：“张飞若稍微重视下你，早点深层同步铠甲，死的绝对是你。这点你要承认。”
Yang Zicang laughed in anger.
杨子藏气笑了。
These people were definitely just here to pick a fight.
这几人绝对就只是来找茬的。
The people in the car laughed and said: “Young man, Zhang Fei only died because of arrogance. And although you have additional Time Sequence (时序) amplification, for a team, that can be made up through collective investment. Don’t you understand? So hand over the armor sooner — right now, it’s not much use to you anyway.”
车上几人笑道：“年轻人，张飞只是死于傲慢。而你，虽然有额外的时序增幅，但对于团队来说，可以用集体投资来补足。你还不明白吗？所以早点把铠甲拿出来，反正现在对你来说也是没有多大作用的。”
Yao Qiming looked sideways.
姚启明侧首看来。
Flurry Zhao (赵雪美) walked over and said quietly:
赵雪美走过来小声道：
“Forget it, Zicang. Wait until you’ve grown stronger. These people have long operated in the streets under the Xiongying Group’s influence — they’re no longer on the same path as us.”
“算了，子藏，等你成长起来再说吧。这些人长期混在雄英组的势力街道，跟我们已经不对路了。”
…
……
Soon, people from headquarters arrived, bringing this month’s Crossing Frequency Crystal.
不久，总部的人到来，带来了这个月的交错频晶。
Yu Fei stepped forward and demanded that the Crimson Moon-level (绯月级) Frequency Crystal be handed over to them, providing application documents and magic crystals as保证金 (bǎo zhèng jīn).
余霏站出来要求将绯月级交错频晶交给他们，提供了申请资料和用作保证金的魔晶石。
The two staff members exchanged a glance. One of them looked at Yao Qiming:
两位工作人员对看了一眼，其中一人看向姚启明：
“Captain Yao, your team hasn’t submitted feedback on any new A-class Crossing Place for half a year. The regulations state that if no feedback is submitted for three months, we have the right to hand over the Frequency Crystal resonated and born by Mr. Zhao Anlong (赵安龙) to other teams that apply. Do you have any objections?”
“姚队长，你们队伍已经半年没有反馈过新a级交错地的资料了。规定表示，只要三个月没有提交反馈，我们有权将赵安龙先生共鸣孕育出的频晶，交给提出申请的其它队伍。你们有异议吗？”
“We…” Yao Qiming’s expression was very unpleasant.
“我们…”姚启明脸色很难看。
Headquarters had already approved — meaning this organization’s strength had been recognized by headquarters, at least meeting the minimum stability requirement.
总部已经批复，意味着这个组织的实力已经得到了总部的确认，至少满足了最低的稳定实力。
“What objections could there be? Captain Zhao Anlong is no longer here.” People around sighed.
“能有什么异议，赵安龙队长都不在了。”周围人叹息。
Yu Fei triumphantly took the brilliant blood-red crystal, holding it up to the sky to look at the faint crimson circular pattern inside.
余霏得意地将璀璨的血红色晶石接过，对着天空看着里面那枚若有若无的绯红圆形图案。
“Everyone, wish us good news.”
“诸位，听我们的好消息吧。”
“Haha.”
“哈哈。”
Yao Qiming looked at Yang Zicang as if he wanted to say something but held back:
姚启明欲言又止的看向杨子藏：
“Zicang, don’t be discouraged. That armor can’t be used immediately — it needs special处理 (chǔ lǐ). Just清理 (qīng lǐ) the残留 (cán liú) will of the Nightmare (恶魇) inside will take quite some time, at least a month or two. How about…”
“子藏，你也不用气馁。那件铠甲并不能立即使用，要经过特殊处理，光是清理里面的恶魇残留意志，就要花费不少时间，至少得一两个月。要不…”
He hesitated and said: “Take it out first so we can deal with the Nightmare残留 (cán liú) on it.”
他踌躇的说：“就先拿出来处理上面的恶魇残留吧。”
Yang Zicang nodded. He felt a suppressed anger in his heart. He needed to get stronger quickly, he thought.
杨子藏点点头，他心中憋着口气。得快点变强才行啊，他想到。
…
……
Liang Xi (梁喜) lay on the ground. The iron bar in his hand had become slippery and caked with blood and grime.
梁喜趴在地上，他手上的铁棍已经滑腻无比，满是血污。
“Altogether, two hundred and thirty years. I haven’t let him down…”
“一共两百三十年了，我没有辜负他的信
He looked at his own body, covered in horrifying wounds.
他看了眼自己的身躯，身上满是恐怖的伤痕。
The half-grown boy placed his hand on the monster rat’s body. The obtuse-angle-like folding line on his chest flashed to his palm, where a small, translucent, eggshell-like light appeared.
半大少年的手掌放在了怪物老鼠身上，胸口钝角般的折线闪动至手掌，在掌心出现道小巧的类似蛋壳的半透明光芒。
It slowly flipped inside out, continuously, like an illusory physical model.
它缓缓由内至外不断翻转，就像个虚幻的物理模型。
[Slaughterhouse treatment room…]
[屠宰场的治疗室…]
The rat monster’s body, which had stopped breathing, began to tremble.
已经断掉呼吸的老鼠怪物身躯震动起来。
[Time Sequence decreased by 1Y.]
[时序减少1Y。]
The muscles beneath the monster’s skin writhed, bulging and collapsing. Streams of dark energy flowed through the force field of his palm from the monster’s body into his own. The horrifying wounds rapidly writhed and scabbed over.
怪物皮肤下的肌肉蠕动鼓起又陷落，一道道晦暗的能量流通过他的手掌力场从怪物身躯内传递到自己身体上，那些骇人的伤口快速蠕动、结疤。
The scars on the boy’s body had grown so numerous they were like scales covering him entirely.
少年身上的疤痕已经多到宛如遍布全身的鳞甲了。
“Hic~”
“嗝~”
Liang Xi let out a small burp. Feeling a slight discomfort in his stomach, he suppressed his nausea, smeared the rat monster’s fresh blood on his body, then got up and moved cautiously along the管道 (guǎn dào).
梁喜轻轻吐了个嗝。感受了下胃部略显不适的感觉后，强忍着恶心，在自己身上抹上了老鼠怪物的新鲜血液，随后起身沿着管道警惕地前行。
This godforsaken place didn’t lack the smell of blood — what it lacked was the scent of humans. Compared to the danger of blood, the smell of humans was a far stronger lure for monsters.
这鬼地方不缺少血腥味，缺少的是人类的气息。与鲜血的危险相比，人类的气味才是吸引怪物的强效引诱剂。
A few minutes later, he laboriously climbed up into a dark crevice at the top of a narrow passage.
几分钟后，他吃力爬上一处狭窄通道顶端的暗沟里。
Just as he closed his eyes to rest for a while, a refracted ray of light appeared on his chest, lighting up his small ring Model.
正当其闭上眼准备休息一阵时，一道折射光线出现在胸前，将自己的模型小圆环点亮。
A look of joy appeared in Liang Xi’s eyes — it was the person who had helped him.
梁喜的目光中露出欣喜，是那个帮助自己的人。
[How are you doing.]
[你怎么样了。]
Yang Zicang asked silently in his heart.
杨子藏在心中默问道。
{Brother Zicang, I’m doing well so far. I’ve already accumulated over two hundred years of Time Sequence. Um, brother, hasn’t your phone been disposed of?}
{子藏哥，我目前很好，已经积累两百多年时序了，唔，哥，你的手机没有被处理掉吗？}
In the画面 (huà miàn), Yang Zicang was sitting on a wooden bed against the wall, holding his phone, flipping through photos, missing Earth.
画面中的杨子藏正坐在一个靠墙的木床边，手中拿着手机翻着相册思念地球。
[Disposed of?]
[处理掉？]
Yang Zicang looked at the void before him in confusion.
杨子藏疑惑地看着前面的虚无。
Earlier, Chu Qiang (楚强) had indeed given him a box, emphasizing that he should store his belongings in it.
之前楚强的确给了自己一个箱子，强调用来储存物品来着。
{Maybe your base has stronger capabilities. On our end, these man-made items aren’t allowed — especially game consoles, DV players, TVs — and cell phones are the most critical banned items. They’re all dismantled and burned to ashes.}
{那可能是你们那边的驻地功能更强吧。我们这边是不允许使用这些人造物的，特别是游戏机、DV电视之类的，其中手机是最关键的禁用品，它们都会被全部拆掉，烧成渣。}
[That serious?]
[这么严重？]
Yang Zicang was somewhat stunned. No one had mentioned this to him.
杨子藏有些愕然，没人跟自己提这件事。
{Yeah. Because all of these can give birth to Nightmares (恶魇). Even some shoes, clothes, plastic or tempered glass cups — basically, any man-made item brought over can potentially nurture a Nightmare. I thought you, big brother, just weren’t afraid of this stuff.}
{是啊，因为这些都会诞生恶魇，甚至于某些鞋子、衣服、塑料或钢化玻璃杯等等，反正只要是任何带过来的人造物，都有可能孕育出恶魇。我还以为大哥哥你是根本不怕这些呢。}
Yang Zicang looked at the clothes he was wearing and touched the blue earring on his left ear. Immediately, he realized the seriousness of the matter.
杨子藏看了眼身上的行头，他摸了摸自己左耳上的蓝色耳环，立即便感受到了事态的严重性。
Was it because he wasn’t yet “one of them” that Chu Qiang and Yao Qiming hadn’t shared much information about this world with him?
是因为自己还不是“自己人”，所以关于这个世界的很多信息，楚强和姚启明并没有给自己分享吗。
Yang Zicang looked at the box under the bed. The wooden box looked very ordinary, but when he opened it, he found fine golden thread-like patterns inside that appeared decorative.
杨子藏看了眼床下的箱子，木箱显得很普通，但此刻他打开后发现内部蕴含着细微金线制作的纹路，看上去是装饰。
But who would carve decorative patterns inside an ordinary wooden box?
但谁会把装饰纹路刻在普通木箱内部。
If he let his thoughts发散 (fā sàn) a bit further, Yang Zicang could easily think of words like “formation” and “seal.”
如果思维再发散一点，杨子藏很容易想到“法阵”与“封印”这种词汇。
{But don’t worry, big brother. After you’ve already obtained a Model, touching these man-made items again might take half a year or even a year or two before a Nightmare starts to gestate. Plus, your base was probably built with materials applied for from headquarters, so it has a stronger效果 (xiào guǒ) against Nightmares.}
{不过大哥哥你不用怕，已经获得模型后，我们再触碰这些人造物，可能大半年甚至一两年以后才会开始孕育恶魇。加上你们的驻地应该是从总部申请的材料建造的，抵抗恶魇的效果更强。}
[Anyway, thank you. Without you telling me, I would still be in the dark.]
[总之谢谢，没有你的告知，我还被蒙在鼓里。]
Good thing he had this little brother giving him such important information for free — truly, good deeds bring good rewards.
还好，自己还有个小弟给自己免费分享如此重要的消息，果真善有善报。
He glanced at his phone, which had no signal, then continued silently in his heart:
他看了眼毫无信号的手机画面后，继续在心中默道。
[About the线索 (xiàn suǒ) regarding the legendary weapon you mentioned yesterday — how likely is it?]
[关于你昨天说的，传说中的武器线索的事，有几分可能？]
After yesterday’s long-term investment, the boy had been moved by him, and thinking he might die inside, had told him a secret about the place where he was.
在昨日的长期投资过后，这少年被自己感动，又想到可能会死在里面，于是告知了自己一个那小子所在地方的隐秘消息。
{I’m certain it’s real! Deep inside this monster’s nest, there’s definitely a Hundred-Year Artifact (百年器). I heard them say that last year, someone from headquarters found a Hundred-Year Artifact in an Alternate Dimension (异度空间) — one that delivered 105 years of Time Sequence per strike! The whole city’s hunters went wild.}
{我相信绝对是真的！这座怪物巢穴的深处，肯定有百年器的存在。我听他们说了，去年有总部的人在异度空间中，找到了每击拥有一百零五年时序的百年器！当时整个城市的狩猎者都沸腾了。}
A sharp light appeared in Liang Xi’s eyes. If he weren’t in danger, he would definitely have shouted out.
梁喜目光中露出精光，要不是身处危险之中，他绝对已经叫了出来。
It was only at times like this that one could still see some of his childish nature.
只有这个时候，才看得出来他还拥有的一些孩子性子。
Yang Zicang sighed.
杨子藏叹了口气。
No wonder Captain Luo Xin (罗鑫) didn’t like this kind of guy — too naive.
难怪罗鑫队长不待见这种家伙，太天真了。
[I advise you to go back. If you stay there any longer and run into a swarm of monsters, you’ll die a horrible death.]
[我劝你还是回去得比较好，如果继续待在那里，遇到成群的怪物，会死得很难看。]
Liang Xi’s expression flickered, hesitating for a moment, then grew firm again.
梁喜目光闪动，有些犹豫，随后又变得坚定。
{No, I have to survive. I need to earn a full three hundred years here. I have no one… to protect me anymore.}
{不行，我要活下去，我必须在这里赚够三百年，我已经…没有人来保护我了。}
Clearly, Yang Zicang sensed some implied meaning in the boy’s words.
很显然，杨子藏意识到了这小子话中的某种含义。
He suddenly thought of something.
他突然想到什么。
[Earn a full three hundred years? Is there a time when you’ll need them?]
[赚够三百年？是什么时候会需要它们吗？]
{The end of the month! Brother Zicang, did you come to this world on the 15th of last month?}
{月末！子藏哥，你是上个月的十五号来的这个世界吗？}
[I came yesterday.]
[我是昨天。]
{Ah?!}
{啊？！}
Liang Xi showed an expression of disbelief.
梁喜露出不可思议的神色。
Thinking of the scenes he had seen yesterday afternoon after investing ten years for him, the boy’s body trembled slightly, followed by a deep sense of darkness.
想到昨日下午为他投资10年后所看到的画面，少年身体出现了丝颤栗，然后便是深刻的黯然。
At this moment, Yang Zicang also felt a chill run through his body.
杨子藏此刻也浑身发冷。
No one had told him that at the end of the month, three hundred years of Time Sequence would be deducted.
没有人告诉自己，月末会扣除三百年时序的这件事。