第一百零八章 雨幕中的身影
After the meeting, Chen Yu returned to his room—a small space with a bed, a desk, and a washroom, which could serve as both an office and a long-term residence.
会议过后，晨御回到自己的房间，这是个有床有书桌，还配了洗漱间的小房间，既可以是办公室，又可以长住。
After working for a while, a knock sounded. Wearing a simple coat, Li Mi walked in and brought him an ice-cold drink.
忙了会儿，敲门声响起，身穿朴素外套的李弥走了进来，并给他端来了杯冰镇过的饮料。
“Have a seat.” Chen Yu pointed to a chair by the wall.
“坐吧。”晨御指了指墙边的椅子。
Li Mi placed the drink on the table but stood still instead of sitting down.
李弥将饮料放在桌子上，没有坐，而是站在原地。
Chen Yu put down his pen and looked up at him: “What’s this method you mentioned? Speak your mind boldly. You saw how no one in that meeting uttered a word. Coming up with your own proposal already puts you ahead of them all. Even if you’re wrong, it’s fine.”
晨御放下笔抬头看向他：“你所指的方法是什么？放心大胆的讲，你也看到了，会议上那些人屁都不放一个，你能有自己的提案比他们所有人都强，就算说错了也没关系。”
“I’m sorry, Director Chen, but I can’t say. However, I do want to carry out my plan and hope you can support it.”
“对不起，晨董，我不能讲，但我想进行我这个计划，还请你能够支持。”
“Why?”
“为什么？”
Li Mi just smiled.
李弥只是笑笑。
Chen Yu stared at his face for a moment, then sneered, “Do you think I care about all this now? Speak. If you don’t, no one will clean up your mess later. When trouble comes knocking, you’ll be forced to the Lost Frequency Zone.”
晨御盯着他的脸看了一阵，哼笑道：“你以为我在乎现在这些东西吗，说吧，不说的话，后面没人给你擦屁股，到时候有人找麻烦，你只能被逼得去失频之地。”
Silence.
沉默。
Yet amidst this silence, those gentle eyes brimmed with immense confidence.
但是，这沉默的温和双目中，却透露着极度的自信。
“All you need to do is support me, Director Chen. Trust me.”
“您只需要支持我就好了，晨董事，请相信我。”
“Director” was the title given to those responsible for various affairs at headquarters—the high-ranking officials of the Monster Hunter faction’s central command.
董事是总部这些负责各项事务之人的称呼，他们便是猎怪者阵营总部的高层。
Suddenly, a series of astonished shouts erupted outside the building.
忽地，屋外传来阵子惊呼声。
“How arrogant!”
“太嚣张了。”
“This is inhuman, absolutely despicable—someone like him surely deserves to burn in hell.”
“简直不是人，可恶至极，这种人绝对会下地狱。”
Just outside this building, a shift of wind and upheaval clouds was accompanied by a beam of heavenly light descending.
就在这栋建筑外，刚刚风起云涌，一道天光垂落。
A flicker of change crossed Chen Yu’s face.
晨御的脸色变了变。
Fang Tian had even dared to launch a direct attack on headquarters.
方天都敢直接攻击总部所在地了。
He listened closely to the escalating chaos outside, his own chest burning with a surge of fury.
他细听着外面变得混乱的声音，胸中也是一股子怒意激荡。
“How confident are you?”
“你的把握有多大。”
Chen Yu spoke in a low, serious tone, turning his gaze to the man standing by the desk.
晨御沉声看向桌边伫立的人。
“While I can’t do anything about the satellites up there, I’m ninety percent sure we can stop him from acting so brazenly.”
“虽然不能解决掉天上的卫星，但有九成让他不敢如此猖狂。”
“Alright, we’ll do it your way. Tell me what you need, and I’ll make the request on your behalf.”
“好，就依你的办，你要什么，告诉我，我为你申请。”
A solemn look settled on Li Mi’s face.
李弥的脸上，露出抹郑重。
“Thank you, Director Chen. I would like to meet a convicted criminal named Kuang Yuming.”
“谢谢晨董。我想见一位罪犯，他叫匡雨明。”
As dusk fell, the sky suddenly gathered thick clouds—a storm seeming imminent to brew, which somewhat eased the tension among those present.
傍晚时分，天际忽然刮起厚云，一副风雨欲来的模样，这让众人松了口气。
Taking advantage of the thick clouds, many people who had been afraid to go out started searching for food and supplies. Some banded together to look for high-quality buildings not yet claimed by the Xiong Ying Group, while others simply planned to settle in the next intersecting space.
趁着有这厚云，好多不敢出门的人开始出去寻找食物与物资，有人结伴去寻找还没有被雄英组瓜分的优质建筑，还有的干脆打算住进下一个交错空间内。
Crack! Crack!
咔嚓咔嚓。
Thunder flashed across the sky, and heavy rain poured down.
天上雷电闪烁，大雨轰然坠落。
In the curtain of rain, Li Mi held a black umbrella, standing in front of the dilapidated building at the square.
雨幕中，李弥撑着黑伞，站在广场前方那栋残破的大楼下。
Before him, a man with stubbled cheeks was wiping a glass photo frame wet by the rainwater. Inside the frame was a picture of a woman and two young girls at a fried chicken shop.
他身前一个胡渣满脸的男人，正在擦手中被雨水冲刷的玻璃相框，里面是个妇女和两位小女孩在炸鸡店的相片。
“So this is what Yingying looks like now? You actually managed to meet her and take a photo.”
“这就是莹莹现在的样子么，你竟然能见到她，还拍下了照片。”
Rainwater covered the man’s cheeks beneath his eye sockets.
男人眼框下的脸颊上布满了雨水。
“Lili actually didn’t remarry. She’s still here, and the second child is this grown now.”
“阿莉竟然没有改嫁，她还在这儿，老二也这么大了。”
“You should understand that if illusions appear in the same place but not over here, there’s a high probability that those illusions will continue to emerge over the next two months.”
“你应该清楚，同一个地方若是出现了幻影却未出现在这边，那么下两个月有很大概率会继续诞生那些幻影。”
“Her shop…”
“她的店…”
The man’s heart ached.
男人心中绞痛。
He looked up at the young man under the umbrella, whose upright posture resembled a pine or cypress in the wind—secluded, aloof, and detached.
他抬头看向伞下的年轻人，对方笔挺的身躯像是风中的松柏，静寥脱俗。
“Your plan is too simplistic. It’s almost impossible to succeed.”
“你的计划太过简单，几乎不可能成功。”
Li Mi lowered his gaze slightly, landing on Kuang Yuming’s face.
李弥的目光往下了点，落在匡雨明的脸上。
“The essence of anything is very simple. Although Lü Bu has prepared for this, he might not care about one or two instances. But ten or twenty? Then he’d have to think twice.”
“任何事情的本质都是很简单的，吕布虽然对此有所应对，一个两个他可能不会在意，但十个二十个，他就应该会有所顾虑。”
“Ten or twenty?”
“十个二十个？”
Kuang Yuming stared wide-eyed at the man holding the umbrella before him.
匡雨明瞪大眼看向身前撑着雨伞的人。
Such words came so calmly from this young man’s composed face—he casually spoke of ten or twenty men.
从这年轻人平静的脸上竟然说出如此的话来，张口就十个二十个。
Was he a devil?
他是魔鬼吗？
“Can you convince ten or twenty people like me?”
“你能说服十个二十个我这种人？”
The man burst into loud laughter.
男人哈哈大笑起来。
“How could you possibly persuade twenty people like me to march to their deaths? No one is that selfless, least of all a murderer like me—and especially not for the sake of those gentlemen sitting inside.”
“你怎么可能说服二十个我这样的人去送死，没有人会这么无私，更何况是我这种杀人犯，而且，还是为了那些坐在里面的家伙们。”
A lightning arc flashed, and Li Mi said calmly, “I don’t need to convince that many people. I only need to convince you.”
电弧闪过，李弥平静的道：“我不需要说服那么多人，我只需要说服你就够了。”
Confusion flickered in the man’s eyes.
男人眼中闪过疑惑。
“Once you succeed, others will naturally rush to carry out the same plan.”
“只要你成功了，那么自然有人迫不及待的去实施相同的计划。”
Boom. The thunderclap finally reached the ground.
轰隆，雷霆的炸响终于传到地面。
The man clutching the photo frame swayed and stepped back.
捏着相框的人身体一晃，后退了步。
Then he burst into laughter, bending over until his waist ached.
随后他哈哈大笑起来，笑得都弯下了腰。
“Ha ha ha.”
“哈哈哈。”
The man straightened up and pointed at Li Mi. “So this is your kind, huh? This is… indeed. Now that I think about it, it’s actually a plan worth trying!”
男人直起身用手指指向李弥：“这就是你们啊，这就是…还真是。说起来，还真是值得一试的计划！”
Kuang Yuming glanced at the building behind the gray curtain of rain across the way—a place he had once yearned to enter.
匡雨明扫了眼对面灰蒙蒙雨帘后的建筑，那是他曾渴望进入的地方。
“I really want to see if you self-proclaimed righteous bastards will end up in the same place I’m headed, after you slowly turn into executioners yourselves.”
“我还真想看看，你们这些自诩正义的家伙们一步步成为侩子手后，会不会跟我下到同样的地方去。”
“Then our deal is sealed. Next year, I’ll write everything that happened this year, burn it, and deliver it to you. Invest every amount of your remaining Sequence into the one behind you—don’t keep a single moment for yourself.”
“那么，我们的合作算是达成了，明年我会把这一年发生的事，都写好烧给你的。将你的所有剩余时序投资给后面那人吧，一秒都不要留。”
Li Mi turned sideways, revealing a guard in the square behind him. The guard, tasked with watching the prisoners, inexplicably received an investment of over forty years’ worth of Time Sequence.
李弥侧身，露出后面广场上一个守卫，看守这犯人的守卫莫名收到了四十多年时序的投资。
“Now, please accept the investment we’ve made for you.”
“接下来，请接收我们为你进行的投资。”
The aged Kuang Yuming waited in silence, a hint of nervousness in his heart. A folded line appeared through the curtain of rain, shooting into the silver-white ring on his chest.
苍老的匡雨明心中略有紧张的静静等待，一道折线从雨幕中出现，射入胸前银白圆环。
[An anonymous user has invested Full-Authority Time Sequence 9999N for me.]
[匿名者为我投资了全权时序9999N。]
He lifted his gaze.
他抬起眼眸。
There really was that much Time Sequence—the other side had truly given him so much.
真的有这么多时序，对面真的给了自己这么多时序。
“Aren’t you… afraid that I’ll run away?”
“你就，不怕我，跑掉吗。”
“No.”
“不怕。”
A ring emerged on Li Mi’s chest as a corner of a triangle rapidly stretched into a sharp line, piercing toward the other side.
李弥胸口浮现出圆环，三角形的一角快速拉扯成尖锐线条刺向对面。
[Li Mi wants to initiate an active investment for me.]
[李弥想要为我进行主动投资。]
“From now on, do not kill any living being.”
“从现在开始不要杀生。”
[Li Mi has invested 11Y for me.]
[李弥为我投资了11Y.]
“And do not accept any more gifts.”
“也不要再接受任何馈赠。”
[Li Mi has invested 29R for me.]
[李弥为我投资了29R.]
“Don’t use any enhancements, don’t consume Time Sequence, don’t put up any protection for yourself.”
“不要进行任何增幅，不要消耗时序，不要对自己作任何保护。”
One instruction after another was uttered from the mouth of the man before him.
一条条嘱咐，从身前男人的口中吐出。
“Everything else is up to you. Go enjoy your remaining life.”
“其它的随你，去享受剩余的生命吧。”
At the other end of the square, inside a building carved into the rock wall, two figures stood beside Chen Yu on the long corridor behind the glass window, looking outward.
广场另一端从岩壁上凹入而铸的大楼内，玻璃窗后的长楼道上，两道身影站在晨御左右看向外面。
“What’s that young man’s plan?”
“那个小伙子的计划是什么。”
“I’m not sure, but I can probably guess it.”
“我不清楚，不过，我大概能猜到了。”
The other person thought for a moment, a slight tremor in their gaze as they looked at Chen Yu and the solemn-faced man to his right, and said, “Could it be… playing the victim?”
另外一人想了想，目光轻微震动了下，他看向晨御和他右边面容肃穆的人道：“难道是…苦肉？”
Chen Yu’s gaze fixed on the sky, piercing through the thunder and dark clouds as if he could see through to the heavens:
晨御的目光看向苍穹，看向雷霆与乌云，像是能将其穿透直视苍宇：
“At this moment, I’m afraid this is the only threat the weak can pose to Lü Bu.”
“在这个时候，恐怕这是弱者能带给吕布的唯一威胁。”
“This? He, he is daring to defy the world’s condemnation!”
“这？他，他简直是冒天下之大不韪！”
This man shuddered all over, thinking with relief that he was fortunate not to be this guy’s direct supervising director.
这人浑身一个激灵，他庆幸的想到，还好自己不是这家伙的直属董事。
To Chen Yu’s right, the middle-aged man with an erect back turned and left.
晨御右侧，腰背笔挺的中年男子转身离去。
“Tell the First Security Team to fully coordinate with Li Mi on any and all actions.”
“告诉第一安保队，全力配合李弥的任何行动，一切的行动。”
“Yes, Director Yu.”
“好的，俞董事。”
……
……
After over a day had passed, Ning Yang and the others felt as if their bodies were about to shake apart.
一天多的时间过去，宁洋几人觉得自己整个人都快被抖散架了。
“Captain Zhao, when will we finally get there?”
“赵队，咱们什么时候才能到那里啊。”
“Soon, very soon.”
“快了快了。”
Those beside Ning Yang grew a bit irritated: “You’ve been saying that for half a day now, and we still can’t even see the shadow of the backdrop on this side.”
宁洋身边几人顿时有点气：“半天前你就这样说了，现在连落到这边的幕景影子都看不见。”
“Yeah, Zhao Qi, you said it would take a day to get there, but we didn’t prepare that much food. We have a long way back.”
“是啊，赵启，你说的一天就能到，我们可没准备那么多食物，回去还要挺久的。”
The marching convoy slowly came to a halt. Zhao Qi, riding on the back of a creature resembling a hippo but with bull horns, turned around and fixed his gaze on Ning Yang and the others.
行进的队伍缓缓停下，骑在一头类似河马，但长着牛角的生物背上的赵启转过头来盯着宁洋几人。
Ning Yang’s heart suddenly tightened; he sensed that the entire cargo fleet was subtly surrounding them now.
宁洋内心忽地一紧，他发现整个货队的人此刻隐隐将自己几人包围了起来。
The model on his chest quickly surfaced, but the next second, he heard two screams beside him, and blood splattered.
他胸口模型快速浮现，但下一秒便听得身旁两声惨叫，鲜血飞溅。
“You bastards!” Ning Yang roared in fury, drawing his sword as he rose, a golden phantom flame appearing on his body.
“你们！”宁洋大怒的起身抽刀，身上浮现出金色虚焰。
But immediately, over ten long knives and spears were pointed at them, among them two pitch-black musket barrels.
但十来把长刀长枪立即对准了自己，其中还有两个黑洞洞的土枪管。
“Zhao Qi, what do you mean by this? Weren’t you going to invest in my shelter zone!”
“赵启，你这是什么意思，你不是要入股我的棚区吗！”
Zhao Qi shook his head with a sneer and said, “Is your shelter zone now even worth as much as a single flatbed cart of mine?”
赵启晃着脑袋饥笑道：“就你现在的棚区，有我一个板车的价值高？”
Several flatbed carts around were piled high with piles of clothes and daily necessities—in the Lost Frequency Lands, this was indeed invaluable.
周围几个板车上都拉着成堆的衣服和日用品，在失频之地，的确价值不菲。
“We only lost an engine; as long as we have a craftsman, we can still build another one.”
“我们丢的只是个引擎而已，有制作师傅在还能造得出来。”
Ning Yang tried to keep his voice steady as he spoke.
宁洋努力让自己声音平稳的道。
One member of the cargo fleet, carrying a knife over his shoulder, wandered around them and spat at their feet: “Piss off, master craftsman’s over at Wuyou now. Don’t think we don’t know—you’re the ones who drove that Jiazi Segment out.”
货队中一人扛着刀在几人身边转悠，冲着他们脚下啐了一口：“滚你娘的蛋，制作者现在就在无忧那边，别以为我们不晓得，那就是被你们赶出去的甲子间。”
“Hahahaha!”
“哈哈哈哈！”
Several members of the cargo fleet let out merciless jeers.
货队几人发出毫不留情的嘲笑。
The four still alive beside Ning Yang were both angry and enraged but dared not strike because Zhao Qi and the two men beside him were clearly emitting red phantom flames.
宁洋身旁还活着的四人又气又怒，但却不敢出手，因为赵启和他身旁两人身上，分明冒出红色的虚焰。
They hadn’t known what that red meant before, but now they did.
以前他们不知道那红色意味着什么，但现在知道了。
“Is that really true, Ning-ge?” Niuwa, who had come along, asked the shelter master, his face pale.
“真的假的啊宁哥。”跟着来的牛娃脸色苍白的问向棚主。
Ning Yang felt his face scorching hot—unsure if it was from anger or shame—three of the four beside him were hearing this news for the first time and looked at Ning Yang in shock.
宁洋感觉自己的脸上热腾腾的，也不晓得是怒的还是羞的，他身旁四人中的三人都还是第一次听说这消息，大惊失色的看向宁洋。
Seeing the shelter master’s expression, everyone knew Zhao Qi’s words were no lie.
瞧见棚主这副神态，谁不知赵启他们说的不是假话。
“Could it be that Lyu Zhi and those guys weren’t lying after all?”
“难道吕志那些家伙，没有说假话？”
The four of them recalled the scene when they had driven out Jiazi Space.
四人都想起当时赶走甲子间一行人的画面。
“Everyone, don’t get worked up. Captain Zhao, let’s talk this out.”
“大家不要激动，赵，赵队，有事好商量。”
At this moment, Shed Master Ning felt that life and death hung in the balance, hating himself for being so impulsive, unable to see the situation clearly—having lost the formula and the engine, yet foolishly hoping to turn things around based on a few words from this unfamiliar cargo fleet.
此刻的宁棚主只觉得生死难料，恨自己为什么会如此冲动，分不清现实状况，明明失去了配方和引擎，还妄想靠这陌生货队的一席话来翻身。
“Alright, alright, that’s what we wanted to hear. Brother Ning, have your tenants prepare the cycles for you—eight thousand per person, or they’ll become raw materials for Lost Mind engines.”
“好好好，就等着你这句话。宁兄弟，让你的租客给你准备时序，八千放一个人，否则就变成我们的失念引擎材料。”
Eight thousand! The group felt their heads spin.
八千！几人只觉得昏头转向。
It was uncertain whether the entire shed area of dozens of people could scrape together eight thousand cycles, let alone eight thousand per person.
整个棚区几十号人能不能凑够八千都不知道，还八千一人。
“Get to work on it. The latest is tonight; otherwise, hmph, we’ve got more road to cover.”
“准备去吧，最迟今晚，否则，哼哼，我们可是还要继续赶路的。”
As he finished, the air rang with the sounds of hooves and shouting. Ning Yang saw several convoy groups marching toward them on the horizon, all bearing the same cargo flags as Zhao Qi’s fleet.
说完，空气中传来蹄声与吆喝声，宁洋看到地平线上几队货队的远远行来，全都挂着跟赵启车队一样的货旗。
“You… you all are… the Wasteland Cargo Fleet?”
“你们，你们是…荒车大货队？”
A deep sense of despair surged in Ning Yang’s eyes as he thought of that bandit organization.
想到某个匪徒组织的宁洋眼中，涌现出了深深的绝望。
“Huh, busted, are we?”
“嗯哈，居然被认出来了。”