Yao Qiming (姚启明) handed the hard bow to Yang Zicang, letting him feel its weight.
姚启明将硬弓递到了杨子藏手上，让他感受了下它的实沉。
“This bow adds an extra fifty yards. Adding your own twenty-meter range, you should be able to reach the monster on the bridge. However…”
“这张弓能额外增加五十码。加上子藏你本身的二十米距离，打击范围应该能够得着桥上的怪物。只不过…”
“However what?”
“只不过什么？”
“Never mind. In a moment, I’ll shoot the bow myself. You just help me with acceleration and aiming.”
“算了，一会还是我来射这弓好了。你帮我加速和瞄准就行。”
“What is it exactly?”
“到底有什么？”
Yao Qiming watched Yang Zicang continuously stroke the long bow, as if he couldn’t bear to put it down.
姚启明看向不断拿手抚摸长弓的杨子藏，仿佛爱不释手。
“Drawing this bow costs thirty years of Time Sequence (时序) per shot — not the amplified kind, but the principal. Real lifespan!”
“拉动这弓，一次就需要三十年时序，不是增幅过后的那种，而是本金，也就是真正的寿命！”
Yang Zicang and the others were secretly astonished.
杨子藏几人暗自乍舌。
Drawing the bowstring once — thirty years of life gone.
拉动一次弓弦，三十年寿命就没有了。
His fondness for the bow instantly vanished.
他心中对这弓的喜爱顿时化为乌有。
{Captain Yao, have you decided? That thing has nearly human-level intelligence. It’s blocking the road like it’s waiting for something.}
{姚队长，你们商量好了吗，那家伙拥有接近普通人的智慧了，它堵在路上像是在等什么。}
The person transmitting the畫面 (huà miàn) from afar urged again through telepathy.
远方传递画面的人再次心灵通讯催促着。
“We’re bringing the Extreme Evil Bow (极恶弓).”
“我们准备把极恶弓带来。”
{The Extreme Evil Bow? That thing doesn’t shoot far, and it consumes time…}
{极恶弓？那东西射不远不说，还吃时间…}
Yao Qiming reassured: “Don’t worry. There’s someone very strong with me who can unleash this bow’s power even more.”
姚启明宽慰道：“你们放心，我这里有位实力很强的人，可以更大的激发这弓的力量。”
{Oh? How strong? Did Zhao Anlong (赵安龙) come back?}
{呵，能有多强，赵安龙回来了？}
“Something like that.”
“差不多。”
The expression of the person on the other side clearly changed. He had just been speaking casually — he hadn’t expected this answer.
对面那人的脸色明显变幻了下。他只是随口一说罢了，没想到居然得到了这个答复。
Someone comparable to Zhao Anlong? Could it be a new Quadrilateral (四边形) Model owner?
跟赵安龙差不多的人？难道是新的四边形模型拥有者？
…
……
Inside the Crossing Space (交错空间), on the stone platform where these people were waiting, one of the rescued panicked men and women spoke in a hoarse voice:
交错空间内，这些人所待着的石台上，那十来名被救的慌张男女中，一人声音沙哑的道：
“Hey, are you guys actors or not? This is some kind of variety show, right? There must be a cameraman here.”
“喂，你们到底是不是演员啊，这是什么综艺节目对不对？这里肯定有摄影师。”
“Shut up. We risked going through an Alternate Dimension (异度空间) to save you, and you’re still making sarcastic remarks.”
“你快闭嘴吧，我们冒危险穿越异度空间去救你们，还在这说风凉话。”
“Tch. Who knows if this is real? Those things in that house back there were just machine props, if you ask me.”
“切，谁知道真的假的，我看那会那屋子里的东西就只是机器道具而已。”
The four team members ignored him, only warily watching the bottom of the cliff. There, shadows stirred, as if something was writhing upward.
四名队员不搭理他，只是戒备的望着悬崖下方。那里暗影戳戳，似乎有什么东西在往上蠕动。
“Deploy the force field.” The team leader commanded戒备 (jiè bèi)ly.
“张开力场。”这小队长戒备着指挥。
One of the Mutant Hunter Alliance (猎怪者联盟) members suggested: “I think if it’s really impossible, we should retreat and take a detour.”
猎怪者联盟的一人提议道：“我看，实在不行就退回去，走绕路也行。”
“No way. It’s too far. None of these people have cultivated Models. They’ll definitely activate Nightmare (恶魇) eggs all along the way, and then we’ll all die.”
“不行，太远了，这些人都没有培育出模型，肯定会一路激活恶魇之卵，到时候我们都得死。”
Suddenly, a fist-sized winged creature charged up from below.
忽然，一只震动翅膀的拳头大的东西从下方冲来。
Bang! It slammed into the force field.
砰！它一头撞在力场上。
The man sustaining the force field changed expression. Countless buzzing sounds came from below.
支撑力场的男人面色一变，无数嗡嗡声自下方传来。
…
……
Led by Yao Qiming, Yang Zicang rode in a battle-damaged off-road vehicle, bumping along the rocky road toward the ambush site. Occasionally, they passed a few figures.
杨子藏在姚启明的带领下，坐着辆战损版越野车，一路颠簸的顺着岩石路面往遇袭地赶去，路上偶尔会遇见几个人影。
“Not to mention the car — where did you even find gasoline?”
“车就不说了，你们居然还能找到汽油？”
“It’s modified. What it burns is something you probably don’t want to know.”
“改造过的，烧的东西你肯定不想知道是什么。”
Catching a faint smell of blood, Yang Zicang suppressed his curiosity.
闻着淡淡的血腥味，杨子藏忍住了好奇。
He looked around. In the distance, a jagged mountain range lay low on the horizon, shimmering with a purple-red luster under the sunlight.
他看向四周，远处一条怪石嶙峋的山脉低趴在地平线上，在阳光下闪烁着紫红的光泽。
“Brother Yao, can we go back to Earth?”
“姚大哥，我们还能回去地球吗？”
Yao Qiming laughed heartily: “Hopefully we can. Hold on tight — I’m speeding up. It’ll take half an hour from here.”
姚启明哈哈一笑：“但愿还可以吧。坐好，我要加速了，这儿过去得半个小时。”
Yang Zicang glanced at the tachometer. The engine was already roaring, but the speed was only sixty or seventy.
杨子藏看了眼转速表，发动机已经发出轰鸣，却还只是六七十的数值。
“How long does it take to recover the Time Sequence consumed by amplification?”
“增幅消耗的时序要多久恢复？”
“For me, about two days. You should be faster — if I’m not mistaken, maybe around twenty hours.”
“我的话，差不多两天时间，你应该会快些，如果我没猜错，大概也就二十多小时。”
“I see. That’s good to know.”
“这样啊，那我就放心了。”
“What?” Yao Qiming, focused on driving, hadn’t realized what the young man beside him was planning.
“什么？”专注开车的姚启明还没意识到身旁的年轻人打算干嘛。
[Dispatching…]
[调度…]
A white ring like a finger band appeared on Yang Zicang’s chest. The Quadrilateral spread out from it.
杨子藏的胸口浮现出如同指环般的白色光圈，四边形从中扩散而出。
Before Yao Qiming could react, the tachometer instantly shot up to 160.
姚启明还未反应过来，转速表瞬间飙到一百六。
A low “Vroom” sounded in their ears. The off-road vehicle beneath them roared like a waking beast as it shot forward.
耳边“嗡”地一声沉响，屁股下的越野车如同苏醒的猛兽轰鸣着冲出。
“Aha! Now this is what I call off-roading!” Yao Qiming excitedly pressed the accelerator.
“啊哈！这才有点越野的样子！”姚启明兴奋地踩下加油踏板。
Vroom~
呜嗡~
On the roadside, two men carrying ore in bamboo baskets heard only a roar as a vehicle blasted past them. The wind from the off-road vehicle whipped their clothes.
路边，两个用竹篓背着矿物的男人只听到一声轰鸣从身旁充斥而过。带起劲风的越野车将它们的衣衫刮起猎猎风声。
…
……
Ten minutes later, the off-road vehicle stopped in front of a dilapidated commercial building. Inside was thick black mist. Several collapsed pillars lay in the fragmented hall.
十分钟后，越野车停在一处破败的商业大厦前，里面充满黑色的迷雾，支离破碎的大厅内，倒塌着几根柱子。
“We enter here. In two hours, we can reach the other side of the city. By the way, can you still use that acceleration ability you just used — on me?”
“从这里进入，可以在两个小时内通往城市另一边。对了，你还能用刚才那种加速能力吗，对我。”
Yang Zicang tried it out. Yao Qiming jogged in place and felt his body lighten.
杨子藏试了试，姚启明原地跑动了下，感觉身上都变得有些轻快起来。
“It takes double the Time Sequence. Let’s go — you lead the way, we need to hurry.”
“要用双份的时序，走吧，你带路，我们快点过去。”
A triangle圖形 (tú xíng) appeared on Yao Qiming’s body, stretching and folding into the void. Within two seconds, his expression shifted.
姚启明身上浮现出三角形图像，拉长折进虚空，没两秒，他神情一震。
“Quick — they’re under attack. The monsters below sensed the presence of ordinary people and want to trap them all there!”
“快，他们遇袭了，那下面的怪物感知到了普通人的气息，想要将他们全部留在那里！”
The burly man quickly tossed a bundle containing arrowheads to Yang Zicang, then took down a steel sword, three fingers wide, and strapped it to his back. The blade still showed uneven grinding marks — clearly cut from a thick steel plate.
这个汉子快速将一个装着箭苗的包裹丢给杨子藏，又取下一把三指多宽的钢剑背在背上。这剑的豁口还看得出来不均匀的打磨痕迹，它明显是被人用厚钢板切割制作的。
Yao Qiming lifted the apparently heavy Extreme Evil Bow (极恶弓) with some effort and said: “Go!”
姚启明举起看上去挺沉的极恶弓，略显吃力的道：“走！”
The two ran inside the commercial building like athletic sprinters.
两人如同矫健的运动员奔向大厦内部。
The path sloped further and further downward, gradually as if entering a ravine. Unknown vegetation covered the slopes. Due to limited sunlight, a slightly cold, damp aura pervaded the area.
这条道路越来越往下延伸，逐渐像是进入了一座山沟，未知的植被覆盖坡道。阳光照射少的原因，略显阴冷的气息弥漫。
Rumble!
轰隆隆！
Vibrations and monster roars came from the cave ahead. The terrible sounds made their hearts pound with fear.
前方山洞内传来震动与怪物的嘶鸣，那可怕的声音让人心惊胆颤。
“Zicang, you can deploy your Model now. Chu Qiang (楚强) has already prepared new investments for you.”
“子藏，你可以展开模型了，楚强已经准备好了给你的新投资。”
[The Mutant Hunter Alliance has invested 1500N in me.]
[猎怪者联盟为我投资了1500N。]
[Mu Xiaoyu (沐小雨) has invested 5N in me.]
[沐小雨为我投资了5N。]
At this moment, Mu Xiaoyu, still at the base, realized she could no longer invest more of her lifespan — she would have to wait two or three days to recover.
此刻留在驻地的沐小雨才发现，已经没办法运用寿命作更多投资。得两三天以后才能恢复。
Just as she was about to ask something, Chu Qiang said: “In the future, if you want to invest your own lifespan, you’d better go through me. I’ll help manage the safety — though it’s not a hundred percent.”
她正欲问什么，楚强道：“以后如果要投资自己的寿命，最好还是经过我。我会为你们把控安全性，虽然不是百分之百。”
He patted a monster “corpse” in front of him — something resembling a radio but covered in scales.
他拍了拍身前的一个类似电台，但长着鳞甲的怪物“尸体”。
“This thing can broadcast our financing requests over a wider area. Moreover, few other radios allow ordinary people without Models to actively invest from a distance. That’s how we’re able to go so far to rescue people. It was a habit of our former captain.”
“这东西可以把我们的融资请求扩散更远的地方。而且，其它电台很少能让没有模型的普通人也能主动远距离投资，这就是我们能那么远去救人的缘由。这也是曾经的队长的习惯。”
Liu Ming (刘明) and the others listened to his earnest explanation, a strange feeling filling their hearts…
刘明三人看着他一本正经的解释，怪异感充斥心中…
A financing radio — also something that had turned from a dead Nightmare.
融资电台，这也是恶魇死后变的。
Zhang Yang (张扬) wondered: was he trying to make Yang Zicang stay by showing goodwill to the three of them?
张扬想到，他是想通过对自己三人释放好感，让杨子藏留下来吗？
…
……
[Fulrry Zhao (赵雪美) has invested 100N in me.]
[赵雪美为我投资了100N。]
[Feng Cailin (冯彩琳) has invested 100N in me.]
[冯彩琳为我投资了100N。]
Continuous voices sounded in Yang Zicang’s heart.
杨子藏心中响起连续不断的声音。
{Hey, who is this guy? How does he get so much investment?}
{喂，这是谁啊，怎么获得这么多投资额。}
An unfamiliar telepathic voice appeared in his heart.
一道陌生心念声出现在心中。
{Ah, isn’t this Captain Yao of the Mutant Hunter Alliance? This place is that cave passage you control, right?}
{呀，这不是猎怪者联盟的姚队长吗，这地方就是你们控制的那个溶洞通道了吧。}
“If you want to invest, invest. If not, stay away.” Yao Qiming said coldly as he ran.
“你要投就投，不投就离远点。”姚启明边跑边冷言道。
In front of others, this burly man wasn’t nearly as good-tempered.
面对其他人，这个魁梧汉子可就没那么好的脾气了。
{I have to give Captain Yao face.}
{姚队长的面子我还是要给的。}
[An Jixiu (安吉秀) has invested 500N in me.]
[安吉秀为我投资了500N。]
This person was quite generous — a personal investment of 500N Time Sequence.
这人好大的气魄，作为个人，一出手就是500N时序。
Yang Zicang felt a slight warmth in his heart.
杨子藏心中微有感动。
[Liang Xi (梁喜) has invested 10N in me.]
[梁喜为我投资了10N。]
This kid wasn’t dead yet.
这小子还没死。
[Thirty-two anonymous individuals have invested a total of 276.11N in me.]
[三十二位匿名者为我投资了276.11N。]
[Zhang Yang has invested 1N in me.]
[张扬为我投资了1N。]
[Liu Yang (刘阳) has invested 1Y in me.]
[刘阳为我投资了1Y。]
“2,493 years!”
“2493年！”
Yang Zicang transferred all this invested Time Sequence directly into his hand.
杨子藏直接将这些被投资而来的时序转入手中。
As for his own few hundred years, he didn’t plan to use them casually.
自己的那几百年，他不打算随便动用。
Otherwise, if something else happened in the next day or so and he couldn’t amplify, he would have to fight with just his “principal.”
否则接下来的一天时间还有别的状况发生，要是不能增幅的话，就只能用“本金”去战斗。
The cave grew deeper and darker, but some rocks on the walls emitted fluorescence, barely enough to see the path underfoot.
洞穴越来越幽深，但墙壁上一些岩石发出荧光，勉强能看清脚下的路。
“Hiss~”
“嘶~”
“Sss, hiss~”
“呲，嘶~”
A faint tongue-flicking sound that sent goosebumps down one’s spine echoed in the air. After rounding a bend, the two could already hear the clash of weapons in the distance.
让人鸡皮疙瘩都冒出的轻微吐信声回荡在空气中，转过个弯道后，两人已经能听到远处传来的兵器碰撞之声。
Suddenly, a black shadow clinging to the wall leaped toward them.
突地一道趴在墙上的黑影跃来。
“Zicang, look out!”
“子藏，小心！”
In the instant the claws reached his face, Yang Zicang, reacting belatedly, shifted his body and narrowly brushed past it.
在那道爪子落在头前的瞬间，后知后觉的杨子藏身形变幻，惊险的与之擦过。
[An anonymous investor withdrew 10N.]
[匿名者撤资10N。]
It was a half-human-sized gecko. Yang Zicang caught a faint sweetish smell of blood.
那是个半人大小的壁虎，杨子藏闻到了一股淡淡的腥甜味道。
[I countered 13N.]
[我抵消了13N.]
“It’s poisonous. Use Time Sequence to protect your nose and mouth, otherwise your internal organs will be poisoned.”
“有毒，运用时序保护鼻腔和嘴，否则内脏会中毒。”
One breath cost over ten years of Time Sequence. This poison gas was truly terrifying — like continuous Time Sequence attacks.
吸一口就少了十多年时序，这毒气真是可怕，堪比连绵的时序攻击。
Yao Qiming turned around, planted his foot, and thrust his steel sword upward. The blade, glowing faintly gold, split the lizard in two.
姚启明转身，脚下一踏钢剑刺出，剑身上划，冒着淡金色的钢剑将这只蜥蜴一分为二。
“Seventeen years. The monsters here are getting stronger. At first, they only had a few months of lifespan.”
“十七年。这里的怪物越来越强了，最开始才几个月寿命而已。”
For the rest of the path, the burly man slowed down slightly, dealing with sporadic monsters himself.
接下来的路这汉子的速度稍微慢了些，遇到零星的怪物他都出手解决。
{What are you trying to do? This guy’s speed looks decent, but his reaction seems pretty poor.}
{你们想要干嘛，这个人速度看上去不错，但反应貌似不太行。}
An Jixiu said.
安吉秀道。
Yang Zicang kept his complaints to himself. His performance just now had indeed been amateur.
杨子藏将吐槽闷在了心中，刚才的表现的确业余。
“What are we trying to do? Hunt monsters, of course. This time, it’s a Nightmare with a residual bloodline.”
“想干嘛？我们当然是猎杀怪物了，这次，是蕴含血脉残留的恶魇。”
{Bloodline? It hasn’t awakened its bloodline ring, has it?}
{血脉？没觉醒血脉之环吧。}
Another voice said in the financing Model.
融资模型中，另一个声音道。
“Don’t worry about that!”
“你们放心好了！”
（注：{}符号为听到心声中对方传来的心念声音。[]为听到自己发出的心念声。）