Ground Stars / 地上星 · Ch.18 第18章 独赴异鼠之巢 -3
第18章 独赴异鼠之巢 –3
Chapter 18: Venturing Alone into the Nest of Strange Rats –3
杨子藏赶紧将书合上，这才好了起来。
Yang Zicang quickly closed the book, and only then did he feel better.
「这东西肯定是件不错的宝物。」
“This thing must be quite a valuable treasure.”
虽然看不懂，但他肯定这上面记载著异世界的珍贵知识，否则不会用这种材料来铸造。
Though he couldn’t understand it, he was certain that this object contained precious knowledge from another world; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been crafted from such material.
因为它上面的每一个文字都是用银丝镶嵌上去的，可见其耗费了多少铸造者的心血，特别是最后那副魔法阵，那相当于一个真正用各种材料记录在书里的小法阵，其上还有著几个小宝石。
Every single character was inlaid with silver wire, a testament to the immense effort the artisan had poured into it—especially the magic circle at the end, which was practically a miniature functional array recorded within the book using various materials, complete with a few small gems.
将书收起后，杨子藏看向了墙上的一扇锈迹斑斑的小门。
After stowing the book away, Yang Zicang turned his gaze toward a rusty little door on the wall.
推了下，紧闭的生锈铁门发出嘎吱响的声音。 还好，它没有蕴含时序。
He pushed it, and the tightly shut, rusted iron door creaked in protest. Fortunately, it didn’t harbor any traces of Chronos.
费了翻功夫将它的锁砸开后，杨子藏掰下一簇散发微光的魔晶，借它们的光亮小心翼翼地进入这条略显狭窄的通道。
After some effort to break its lock, Yang Zicang pried off a cluster of faintly glowing magic crystals and, using their light as illumination, carefully entered the somewhat narrow passage.
空气沉闷，走进来十来分钟后，前方又是另一道门，但它敞开著，门外的漆黑大殿内阴风荡漾，一阵阵扑到年轻人的面庞之上。
The air was stifling. After walking for about ten minutes, he encountered another door ahead—but it stood wide open. Beyond it, in the pitch-black hall, an eerie wind stirred, gusting wave after wave against the young man’s face.
杨子藏快速往那扇门走去，在距离门口还有三四步的时候，他忽然感觉到心慌。
Yang Zicang hurried toward that door, but when he was still three or four steps away, a sudden sense of dread seized his heart.
不由自主停顿下脚步的他似乎听到，暗暗的啜泣声若有若无的响起。
He involuntarily paused, as if hearing faint, intermittent sobbing sounds.
这像是人类女人的声音，但… 却显得有气无力，又如万古长存般回荡不息。
It sounded like a woman’s voice, but… it was weak and feeble, yet it echoed unceasingly like an ancient presence.
他忽然感觉到了莫大的恐惧感。
Suddenly, an overwhelming sense of terror gripped him.
杨子藏头皮发麻，他毫不犹豫迅速转身往后奔去。
His scalp tingled, and without a moment’s hesitation, he whirled around and bolted back the way he came.
[41号评议委员为我标记了‘怪物血脉‘的废弃母体。]
[Council Member No. 41 has marked for me a discarded mother host of the ‘Monster Bloodline’.]
[怪物母体（废弃），能力：未知。 发现者：应选者杨子藏。]
[Monster Host (Abandoned), Ability: Unknown. Discoverer: Yang Zicang. ]
[如若我将之消灭，41号评议委员将赐予我属于他的初级血脉雕塑。]
[If I eliminate it, Council Member No. 41 will bestow upon me his primary bloodline sculpture.]
血脉？ 杨子藏一愣后，随即便感觉森然气息自背后袭来。
Bloodline? Yang Zicang was stunned for a moment, then felt a chilling presence creeping up from behind.
那声音似远似近，远时恰在天边，近时仿佛就在自己耳畔低语！
The sound seemed distant yet near; far away as if at the edge of the sky, yet near enough to whisper right into his ear!
管它什么血脉不血脉，母体不母体。
Screw the bloodline, screw the host.
杨子藏发疯似的跑动。
Yang Zicang ran like a madman.
[41号评议委员期待我与‘母体‘进行战斗。]
[Council Member No. 41 expects me to engage the ‘host’ in battle.]
踏嗒踏嗒。
Thump, thump, thump.
这条通道似乎没有尽头般，那声音越来越清晰，越来越近，到最后，杨子藏甚至感觉自己身旁有个人影跟随著自己在急切的逃跑。
The corridor seemed endless, the sound growing clearer and closer with each step until, finally, Yang Zicang felt as if a shadowy figure was beside him, fleeing in frantic haste.
｛爸爸。｝
{Dad?}
耳畔似有柔嫩少女焦虑的吐息之声，但那是彻骨的阴森之气。
Beside his ear seemed to be the anxious breath of a tender maiden, yet it was a bone-chilling aura of dread.
｛你是带我去见爸爸吗… 你问问他，他让女儿怀的是什么…｝
{Are you taking me to see Father… Ask him, what is it he has made his daughter carry within her…}
｛为什么我好冷… 为什么村民都害怕我呢… 我不是神使的母亲吗… 真的是吗…｝
{Why am I so cold… Why do the villagers fear me… Am I not the mother of the divine envoy… Truly, am I…}
｛为什么，阿郎只是摸了我，就死了呢…｝
{Why, when A-Lang merely touched me, did he die…}
无数怪异的语言忽左忽右的响起，而杨子藏恐惧的是自己居然还能听懂她的话。
Countless eerie voices echoed from left and right, and what terrified Yang Zicang was that he could actually understand her words.
｛为什么我感觉过了好久好久…｝
{Why does it feel like an eternity has passed…}
｛爸爸，这么多年了，你还在那边研究什么…｝
{Father, after all these years, what are you still researching over there…}
前方出现门的光景，这女人虚弱的声音也跟著变得雀跃了些，似乎长久的期待即将变为现实。
Ahead, the sight of a door appeared, and the woman’s weak voice grew a little more animated, as if a long-awaited expectation was about to become reality.
那尸骨是她父亲？
Was that skeleton her father?
杨子藏咬牙，猛地加速冲出房间，回首将门关上。
Yang Zicang gritted his teeth, abruptly burst forward out of the room, and turned back to close the door.
但在这刹那，他寒气直冒的发现，这门的另一面就是刚才看见的那阴森大殿。
But in that instant, a chill surged through him as he discovered that the other side of this door was precisely the gloomy, sinister hall he had seen just moments ago.
通道消失了。
The passage had vanished.
此刻殿内朦胧幽蓝光线密布，其中由贴满符文的银白铁链内，悬吊著个神色疲倦不已的人影。
At this moment, the hall was flooded with faint, hazy blue light, and amidst it, suspended within silver-white iron chains plastered with talismanic runes, hung a figure utterly exhausted.
人影身上的衣服已经破败陈旧，宛如历经千年时光般腐朽。
The clothes on this figure were tattered and worn, as if eroded by a thousand years of time.
那肚子挺起，比怀胎十月还要夸张，撑得皮肤已经薄如蚕翼，各式血管如同魔纹遍布她的皮肤。
Her belly was swelling, more exaggerated than a pregnancy at full term, the skin stretched thin as a cicada’s wing, with veins crisscrossing her skin like dark magic runes.
而在那半透明的皮肤之内，是个宛如十来岁小孩般大小的蜷缩身影，他全身如同人类，但却长著根缠绕著自己的赤红尾巴。
Within that translucent skin lay a curled-up figure, no larger than a child of ten or so, human-like in overall form, yet growing from its form was a crimson tail coiled around itself.
在杨子藏看向他的瞬间，那蜷缩于肚皮内的「人」埋著的脸庞上，睁开只血红的复眼。
The moment Yang Zicang’s gaze fell upon it, the “person” curled up within the belly—its face buried—opened a single blood-red compound eye.
[我被「抵御者」注视了。]
[I have been seen by the “Defender.”]
杨子藏感觉胸口的光环霎时涌现出更深层的某种力量。
Yang Zicang felt an instant surge of some deeper power from the halo on his chest.
强烈的暴力与嗜血欲望如同上瘾般充斥著大脑，他感觉自己的眼睛灼热，头脑像要爆炸。
An intense craving for violence and bloodlust flooded his brain like an addiction; his eyes burned, and his mind felt as though it might explode.
胸前的圆环冒出丝微弱的红芒。
A faint trace of red light emanated from the ring on his chest.
砰！
Bang!
杨子藏用尽力气将生锈的铁门关紧。
Yang Zicang mustered every ounce of strength and slammed the rusty iron door shut.
｛放我过去…｝
{Just let me through…}
凄厉的声音迅速变弱，所有阴森恐怖的气息立即便消失无踪。
The harrowing voice quickly faded away, and all the eerie, sinister presence vanished without a trace.
杨子藏大口大口的喘著气。
Yang Zicang gasped for air, panting heavily.
此刻他才发现这看上去脆弱的铁门，居然能阻隔那样不详的气息。
Only now did he realize how deceiving this seemingly fragile iron door was, capable of blocking out such a forbidding aura.
拿手擦了把门上铁锈，露出下面嵌入门内的金丝细线，继续抹了两把，露出它的全部图案，是个魔纹法阵。
He wiped a handful of rust off the door with his hand, revealing fine gold threads embedded in it below. Continuing to wipe a few more times, he uncovered the complete pattern—a magic rune array.
虽然看著倒还没什么，杨子藏却心知这法阵不简单。
Though it didn’t seem all that impressive at first glance, Yang Zicang knew in his heart that this array was no simple matter.
他刚试著记忆这图形，便觉得头脑一阵眩晕，差点昏厥过去。
The moment he tried to memorize the pattern, a dizzy spell hit him so hard he nearly passed out.
｛杨哥，你还好吗？｝
{Brother Yang, are you okay?}
「还，还行…」
“I’m… still holding up…”
杨子藏避过头去道：「我终于知道，为什么那些怪物疯狂追我了，它们应该就是阻止我过来这里啊。」
Yang Zicang turned his head away and said, “Now I finally get why those monsters were chasing me like mad—they were trying to stop me from getting here.”
那断口恐怕也是被人有意为之。
Even that gap was probably deliberately cut open.
此刻梁喜也明白了自己之所以能活著，只是因为自己没靠近那半边，否则面对那群怪物，自己根本活不几秒。
At this moment, Liang Xi also realized that the only reason he was still alive was that he hadn’t approached that half. Otherwise, facing those monsters, he wouldn’t have survived even a few seconds.
｛刚才那家伙肯定是个不得了的东西。｝
{That guy just now must have been something formidable.}
少年内心发毛的道。
The young man murmured, a chill creeping into his gut.
杨子藏休息片刻后，寻找了石头将门抵住。
After resting for a moment, Yang Zicang found a stone to wedge against the door.
想了想，还不放心，于是找了块散落的铁片，在一块小石板上吃力刻画起来：
He thought it over and, still uneasy, picked up a stray piece of scrap metal and laboriously inscribed a warning on a small stone slab:
——门对面是孕育了「怪物母体」至少数百年的女人，会污染Moexl，切勿轻易进入!!
—The woman on the other side of the door has incubated the “Monster Matrix” for at least centuries; she will contaminate the Moxel. Do not enter lightly!!
希望能警示后人吧。
He hoped this would serve as a warning for those who came after.
四边形变得略带瘆人的心念声响起：
Quad’s somewhat eerie telepathic voice rang out:
[41号评议委员遗憾于我的懦弱选择。]
[Evaluation Committee Member No. 41 regrets my cowardly choice.]
有什么遗憾的，那家伙只是在女人体内往外看了眼，自己的Moexl就差点出现奇怪的变化。
What’s there to regret? That bastard just took a peek from inside a woman’s body, and my Moxel nearly underwent some strange changes.
[41号评议委员发起对我的制裁投票，倒计时十分钟。]
[Evaluation Committee Member No. 41 initiates a sanction vote against me, counting down from ten minutes.]
制裁？ 杨子藏压制了咒骂这个未知存在的想法。
Sanction? Yang Zicang suppressed the urge to curse this unknown existence.
抱著对未知惩罚的忐忑心理，他看了眼胸前的圆环，红色已经消退，但之前银白的色泽还是多了些微弱的橘光。
With a nervous heart uncertain of the unknown punishment, he glanced at the ring on his chest—the red had faded, but traces of a faint orange glow now mingled with its original silvery-white sheen.
如果在这个世界没有Moexl，自己会成为什么样，他根本不敢想像。
He couldn’t even begin to imagine what would become of him if he didn’t have Moxel in this world.
另一边，梁喜心脏咚咚直跳。
On the other side, Liang Xi’s heart thumped wildly.
他对于在这里赚取时序的梦已经破碎了，自己纯粹就只是因为运气好而已，再待下去，随时都可能会死掉。
His dream of earning Chronos here had shattered; he was purely there out of good luck. If he stayed any longer, he could die at any moment.
[哥，怎么办，你那里还有别的路可以出去吗？]
[Bro, what do we do? Do you have any other way out?]
杨子藏扫视了眼前方阴暗的房间。
Yang Zicang swept his gaze across the dimly lit room ahead.
「我好像感知到风的流动，等下我找看看刚才的管道内有没有通往别的地方的路。」
“I think I sense the flow of wind. Let me check if there’s a path out through that pipe we came through.”
他看了眼这些魔石，说道：「这些东西能拿来干嘛？」
He glanced at the demon stones and asked, “What can these things be used for?”
｛可以用来制作装备。 还可以修房子。 结合总部的图纸，据说由它们造的房子会比较难诞生恶魇。 至于其它作用我也不知道。｝
“They can be used to make equipment. Also to build houses. Combined with the headquarters’ blueprints, it’s said that houses made from them make it harder for nightmares to spawn. As for other uses, I don’t know.”
跟姚启明说的一样笼统。 看来这玩意儿的运用不是普通人搞得懂的。 这里的魔石不知道等级如何，但至少数量能装一大箱以上。
As vague as what Yao Chiming said. It seems the application of this stuff isn’t something ordinary people can grasp. I don’t know the grade of this luminescent ore here, but at least there’s enough quantity to fill a large chest.
杨子藏收回心神，举起发光魔石往来路走去。
Yang Zicang snapped back to focus, raised the luminescent ore, and walked back the way he came.
这次他的速度很慢，走一步要闭目停下感受周围空气的流动好一会儿，没多久，还真叫他找到了这股若有若无的风力吹来的方向。
This time he moved very slowly, taking one step at a time, then closing his eyes and pausing to sense the airflow around him for a moment. Before long, he actually managed to locate the direction from which this faint, elusive breeze was blowing.
「是这里吧。」
“It’s here, isn’t it?”
微光中的青年将魔石举起，看向高处的一个破碎的铁皮，那里黑洞洞的。
The young man in the faint light raised the luminescent ore and looked up at a broken iron sheet up high, where there was a dark, gaping hole.
｛那洞口太小了，杨哥。｝
“That hole is too small, Brother Yang.”
不用梁喜说，杨子藏已经看清了，正常人根本无法通过那个小洞。
Without Liang Xi needing to say it, Yang Zicang had already seen it clearly: a normal person simply couldn’t pass through that tiny hole.
「这次麻烦了，前有魔物，后有追兵。」
“This is trouble. There are monsters ahead, and pursuers behind.”
自己食物和水都没带，这是因为杨子藏打算先进来试试怪物的强度。
He hadn’t brought any food or water because Yang Zicang had planned to come in first to test the monsters’ strength.
梁喜遭遇怪物的密度迷惑了自己。
The density of monsters Liang Xi encountered had fooled him.
｛你只有把它们都消灭了，才能出来，杨哥，你能做到的吧。｝
“You’ll have to eliminate them all to get back out, Brother Yang. You can do it, right?”
阿梁期待的道。
Liang said, full of anticipation.
[对我的制裁投票已完成，赞成票数5，弃权票数40，结果为：生效。]
[The voting for my sanction has concluded. Votes in favor: 5. Abstentions: 40. Result: Effective.]
「什么，这也能生效？ 还这么快，才三四分钟。」杨子藏有些茫然。
“What? This passes just like that? And so quickly too, only three or four minutes.” Yang Zicang looked on in bewilderment.
突然，梁喜跟自己一直进行著的心灵连结断掉了。
Suddenly, the mental link that Liang Xi had been maintaining was severed.
胸前的Moexl光芒自动展开，扩散进周围的空气中消失不见。
The glow of the Moxel on his chest automatically expanded, dispersing into the surrounding air and vanishing.
杨子藏有些紧张的等待著，十几秒过去，依旧没有任何人进行投资或者是心灵链接传来。
Yang Zicang tensely waited, but after more than ten seconds, there was still no Invest or Syn-Link transmission from anyone.
这一次没有任何反馈提示。
This time, there was zero feedback or notification.
他不由想到，这是怎么一回事。 所谓的制裁，到底是什么。
He couldn’t help thinking, what was going on? What exactly was this so-called sanction?
嗡隆隆…
*BOOM… RUMBLE…*
老鼠怪物聚集之地传来怪异声响。
An eerie noise came from where the rat monsters had gathered.
杨子藏紧张的往通道口走去，看了一眼后，寒毛直竖。
Yang Zicang nervously crept toward the tunnel entrance. One glance later, his hair stood on end.
自己离开的时候都至少往这边跑来了接近七八十只老鼠怪物，而这个时候那里已经堆满了它们的身影。
When he had left, around seventy or eighty rat monsters had rushed this way. Now, their writhing, twisted bodies clogged every inch of that space.
不过当杨子藏出现后，它们像是有智慧般的集体后退，将躯体藏在视线之外。
However, as soon as Yang Zicang appeared, almost as if they possessed intelligence, they fell back in unison, hiding their forms out of sight.
「有指挥者？」
“A commander?”
杨子藏目光露出凝重之色，除了刚才那个东西，这座怪物巢穴内还有拥有智慧的首领。
A hint of gravity darkened Yang Zicang’s gaze. Besides that thing earlier, a leader with intelligence lurked inside this monster nest.
不过，这些怪物可不知道自己能让攻击拐弯。
But then? These monsters had no idea he could make attacks veer around corners.
跟阿梁说得一样，这算是个好机会。
Just as Liang said, this is indeed a good opportunity.
按普通的每只十来年时序，梁喜遇到的那种人立而起的则三四十年时序计算。 这下面便拥有著至少上千年的时序等待著自己的收获。
Based on the standard calculation of about a dozen Chronos for ordinary creatures and three to four decades of Chronos for the upright-standing ones that Liang Xi encountered, the underground space below holds at least a millennium’s worth of Chronos waiting to be harvested.
杨子藏手上银色虚光闪动的石子抛了下去。
Yang Zicang hurled the faintly shimmering silver pebble in his hand downward.
砰！
*Bang!*
石子划过弧线直冲进那管道内后，撞在了无形的屏障上。
The stone traced an arc, darting straight into the pipe tunnel before slamming into an invisible barrier.
[时序消耗 500N。]
[Chronos Consumption: 500N.]
杨子藏心中一紧。
Yang Zicang’s heart tightened.
刚刚这石子就是用的五百增幅时序，居然被全部抵消了。
That pebble had just used five hundred amplified Chronos, yet it was entirely nullified.
忽然，Moexl的心念声传来。
Suddenly, Moxel’s telepathic voice rang out.
[惩戒内容：存活十五分钟。]
[Penalty Objective: Survive for fifteen minutes.]