第一百一十七章 暗野上的交易 -1
In Pivot Township, Zhuyin, just back from his own city, stood before the brass typewriter.
枢纽镇，刚从自己城市回来的逐银站在黄铜打字机前。
Beside him in a chair, an employee staring at several rows of protruding-screen monitors yawned and asked,
身旁椅子上，盯着几排突屏荧幕的雇员打着哈欠道：
“Deputy Mayor, no losses in your city at the end of this month, right?”
“副镇，这次的月末你们城市没什么损失吧。”
Zhuyin held paper resembling newsprint in his hand and casually acknowledged with a “mm-hmm,” reading as he replied,
逐银的手上拿着类似报纸的新闻纸，随意嗯了声，边看边回应道：
“It’s fine, the newcomers are settling in well.”
“还好，新人都挺安顿的。”
The fine typeface on the paper recorded some recent breaking news, already a week old.
纸张上纤细的字体记载着最近发生的想突发新闻，这已经是上礼拜的事情了。
To qualify as breaking news, it had to be something that emerged by chance on the Frequency-Lost Land or carry massive impact—like the sudden appearance of a Panoramic-Ground stretching for kilometers or, within it, a Moon Shadow Summon Bug.
能够成为突发新闻的，只有在失频之地上偶然出现，或是影响力巨大的新闻，比如之前突然诞生数公里的幕景地，以及幕景地中的月影级怪物。
Now, he was reading about events he already knew through the Mental Link.
现在，他看的是已经通过心灵链接所知晓的事情。
— The Crane Garden Fort Construction Team had developed a new element-based egg-milk crunch; a single piece could cover the entire day’s calorie needs for Great Figures.
——鹤园筑货队研制出新的元素型蛋米酥，一块就可以提供大人物们整日的热量消耗。
“Nice stuff. You could order some of this egg-milk crunch.”
“不错的东西，这种蛋米酥你们可以定购点。”
The neighboring duty employee nodded in acknowledgment.
旁边的值班雇员点点头。
Zhuyin’s gaze skimmed over print that had been sitting for days, finally settling on the last two lines.
逐银的目光从已经打印出来好几天的字迹上划过，落到最后那行两行字迹上。
— The famed thief, Timer, stole the underwear of tenners from ten large gathering plazas’ tent masters in a single night; motive unknown.
——名盗时迁一夜间盗走十个大聚集地棚主们的内裤，意图不明。
“Hmph, this guy’s attempt to get famous is way too obvious.”
“哼，这家伙想要出名的企图也太明显了。”
He moved his gaze further down.
目光继续下移。
—Rose Creek has built a new, efficient loom, so the big shots in Rose Creek will have more stylish clothes to wear from now on.
——玫瑰溪造出新的高效织布机，以后玫瑰溪的大人物们有更多漂漂衣服穿了。
—Zorro, alone on a motorcycle, stormed into a notorious bandit lair in the southern wasteland, wiped them out, and rescued several abducted big shots.
——佐罗在南部荒区，孤身一骑闯入当地著名土匪巢穴并剿灭，救下了几名被掳走的大人物。
—Jia Zijian and the newcomer Luo Bin eliminated more than half of the effective forces of the Desert Cart Convoy, wiping out 237 men besides the leader and a few weak small-time convoy leaders, while 18 escaped.
——甲子间与新人洛宾覆灭荒车大货队超过半数有生力量，除首领及几位弱小众货队主外的237人被剿灭，逃生18人。
Upon reading this, Zhuyin’s gaze paused.
看到这里，逐银的目光顿了下。
“Impressive,” the man muttered.
“厉害。”男人念叨了句。
He had already learned of the annihilation of the Desert Cart Convoy as soon as it happened. But now, seeing the brief descriptions of previous sudden events on this news sheet, he still felt a shock.
荒车大货队被灭已是他已经第一时间就知晓的信息。但此刻见到这新闻纸上前几次的简短突发事件描述，依旧感觉到震撼。
That guy had only been in the Lost Frequencies for how long, and he’d already wiped out the infamous Desert Cart Convoy.
那家伙才去失频之地多久，就覆灭了臭名昭著的荒车大货队。
Usually, that convoy kept its identity hidden, scattering in many places. To wipe them out clean in one go required not only knowing the specific distribution of their numbers, but also figuring out how to lure all of them together, and then prepare sufficient power to crush them. And such a deployment to annihilate two to three hundred scumbags couldn’t possibly be concealed in the Lost Frequencies from people with all kinds of strange abilities.
要知道，平时那个货队都隐藏自己的身份分散各处。想要一举捣灭，不光要知晓对方具体人数分布，还要想办法将这些人给尽数钓出来，再准备能覆灭掉对方的强大力量。而那种覆灭两三百恶徒的人员调度，在失频之地上不可能瞒过拥有各种奇怪能力的人。
For hundreds of people to face off like that, if word got out, it could lead to an even larger chaos. Therefore, in the Lost Frequency Land, even for idealistic big-shed owners who aim to achieve this, it’s extremely difficult; they might go out themselves only to have their own base immediately raided by another shed.
这样的数百人的对决，走漏消息的后果就是可能带来更大的混战。因此失频之地上，即便有充满正义感的大棚主，他们想要做到这件事，也极不容易，可能自己一出去，老巢立马就被别的大棚给端了。
Yet Yang Zicang arrived at the gathering point of the Wasteland Truck Convoy within just a few hours of receiving the news, and with merely a handful of people, wiped out this lingering tumor in the Lost Frequency Land—it’s undeniable how formidable he is.
而杨子藏，仅仅在得到消息的数小时内就赶到了荒车大货队集结之地，以仅区区数人之力，剿灭了这游荡在失频之地上的毒瘤，不可谓不强。
Zhu Yin thought to himself, what a shame that this Yang Zicang wasn’t from his own city, or he could have recruited him into his team. Then, whether in the city or at the hub town, it would have been a tremendous asset.
逐银沉思了下，真可惜这杨子藏不是自己城市的人，否则可以加入自己的队伍，到时不管是在城市还是在枢纽镇，都是一大助力。
“I only wish you, this guy… forget it, it’s already too late.”
“只希望你这家伙…算了，已经没戏了。”
After muttering this, he was about to put down the newspaper when the keys of the brass typewriter suddenly began pressing themselves down with a series of clicks. The keys bounced rapidly, the paper slid left and right as lines emerged, and a new row of text appeared.
他念叨了句后，正要放下报纸，黄铜打字机的按键忽地咔咔不断自动按下。键盘快速弹跳，纸张左右滑动往上冒出，一行新的字迹出现。
Zhu Yin turned to look, and the writing above slowly came into view.
逐银转头看去，上方的字迹缓缓出现。
—Spectacular. Given the many unexpected incidents last month, the editor-in-chief will send a representative to the Lost Frequency Land to explore the source of its ever-growing influence and vitality.
——震撼，鉴于上月诞生诸多突发事件，主编将派遣其代表前来失频之地，探访影响力不断爆发的活力来源。
“The editor-in-chief?” Zhu Yin’s brows furrowed together.
“主编？”逐银的眉头搅在一起。
“Deputy town mayor, who is this editor-in-chief?”
“副镇长，这主编是谁啊？”
Turning to the person in the room who noticed this line of text, he asked.
房间内注意到这行字的人看过来道。
“Yeah, we’ve never heard of them. Do those little ones even have an editor-in-chief?”
“是啊，从来没听说过，那些小家伙们还有主编吗。”
Zhu Yin hesitated for a moment: “I’m not sure either.”
逐银沉迟疑：“我也不清楚。”
A crease of light shot toward him.
一道折线射来。
{Elder Silver, please help us.}
{逐银老大，求帮忙。}
Before long, Zhu Yin directly appeared where those who were looking for him were located.
没多久逐银直接出现在了这些找他的人所在的位置。
Seeing the Deputy Mayor suddenly appear over a dozen meters away, the four somewhat anxious individuals were first startled, then quickly hurried over as something dawned on them.
瞧见突然出现在十几米外的副镇长身影，这四位正有些焦急的人先是一惊，随后想到些什么的他们赶紧迎了上去。
“Good evening, Deputy Mayor. We’re sorry to trouble you to come here in person so late.”
“副镇你好，这么晚还麻烦您亲自前来，真是不好意思。”
“No problem. As long as I’m within the town, it’s just a few steps for me. Anyway, what’s the situation with you all?”
“没事，反正只要在镇子内，对我来说就是迈几步而已。好了，你们什么情况？”
The people in front of him belonged to a team from one of the cities ranked around twentieth. At the moment, frustration showed on their faces.
身前几人属于排名二十左右的一个城市的队伍，此刻这他们脸上都露出些烦闷情绪。
“Earlier, one of our teammates was invited to help stabilize an A-level area. After the landmass merger occurred, a mental illusion manifested within the sudden vast terrain, completely different from what they had expected—fighting monsters. Anyway, by now they should have arrived at the Lost Frequency Zone. We just don’t know if they’re still alive.”
“之前我们有个队员被人请去稳定A级区域，地貌聚合发生之后，突然诞生的大片地形中出现了精神幻境，跟他们预想的与怪物战斗完全不同。反正，现在他们应该已经去到失频之地了，就是不知道还活着没有。”
“We want to ask the town chief for help, to see if we can find our teammate,” said Qiao Ming, the vice-captain of the Ruins Storm Group.
“我们想请镇长帮忙，看能不能找到我们的队员。”废墟风暴团的副队长乔明说道。
Zhu Yin forcefully exhaled two puffs of air. He raised his hand, which was shoved into one of his pockets, and said:
逐银鼻子里狠出了两道气，他抬起插在包里的手道：
“Hey, hey, brothers, I think you should know this too. First, even if my friends in the Lost Frequency Zone really find that interleaved space of lost frequencies, and second, even if your teammate and those who asked him for help are still alive…”
“喂喂，几位兄弟，我想你们也应该知道的。一，哪怕我在失频之地里的那些朋友们真的找到那处失频的交错空间，二，哪怕你们的那位队员和那些请他帮忙的人都还活着…”
Zhu Yin raised two fingers:
逐银举着两根手指：
“…It would still be hard for them to return to your city, wouldn’t it?”
“…他们也难以回到你们的城市了，不是吗。”
The girl among the four said:
四人中的那名女孩道：
“As long as they’re alive, at least we’ve got one of our own in the Lost Frequencies now. Who knows, if we manage to scrape together enough time to rent a shop, we’ll have someone to supply us, haha.”
“只要还活着，至少我们在失频之地算是有个自己人了，以后万一凑够租铺面的时序，也有人给我们供货嘛，哈哈。”
Seeing her rather awkward smile, Deputy Mayor Zhuyin responded with a fake grin.
瞧她笑得挺尬，逐银脸上露出个假笑。
“If you don’t lay your cards on the table, there’s no way I can help you.”
“事情不说透，我可没办法帮你们。”
The four exchanged glances, and the man in front said helplessly:
四人互相看了眼，前面那男士无奈的道：
“Alright, we’ll come clean. First off, we’re giving this information about the crossover spot to you, Deputy Mayor Zhuyin, for free. Within this Lost Frequencies zone, there might be psychic-related items or abilities about to emerge.”
“那我们就实话实话了，首先我们将这个交错地的情报白送给逐银副镇长你，这次的失频之地内或许有念力相关的东西或者能力诞生。”
By the time Qiao Ming brought up psychic attacks, Zhuyin had already made a guess.
当乔明提到精神系的攻击时，逐银已经有猜测了。
Whenever abilities related to mental attacks or illusions appear, that crossover space is bound to have either a monster or a plant with such abilities… or a related item.
只要有跟精神攻击、幻境相关的能力出现，那处交错空间要么有此能力的怪物或植物，要么有有相关物品。
An item would be incredibly valuable; a plant is the second most desirable prize.
若是物品则有非常大的价值，其次是植物。
The most disappointing scenario is when the psychic attack ability comes from a monster—dead monsters are nearly useless except for crafting Alien Magic Arrays and potions. But in most cases, all we run into are monsters anyway.
最令人遗憾的情况是精神攻击能力来自于怪物——死去的怪物除了炼制异界魔阵与魔药，几乎没什么能用得上的地方，但大多数情况都是遇到怪物而已。
As for crafting arrays or even potions, no one here can pull that off.
至于炼制魔阵甚至魔药，这儿没人做得出来。
“So your teammate took some valuable item in there with him, right?”
“是你们的队友带了什么好东西进去对吧？”
“Uh…”
“呃……”
“No kidding. It’s a sharp, cone-shaped sword. Sigh, that old Xue Lao’er brought a 80N-chronology war implement comatron after mutated creatures inside. And the result? Well, yeah— exactly this situation.”
“没错，是把尖锥形的剑，唉，薛老二那家伙把一柄时序80N的战器带进去准备对付里面的变异生物，结果就是，嗯，那这了。”
Zhuyin let out a snort.
逐银呵了声。
They had assumed the battle scene would be against a monster-type, but after the terrain converged, a psychic attack appeared—truly a tragic turn of events.
以为是怪物型的战斗幕景，在地貌聚合后出现了精神系攻击，的确够悲催的。
“OK, how much are you willing to pay to retrieve that weapon?” Zhuyin said.
“OK，你们打算付出多大的代价来捞回那把武器？”逐银道。
Qiao Ming and the others felt somewhat embarrassed.
乔明几人有些尴尬。
“We… we don’t have that much Chrono. So, we intend to exchange three thousand Chrono and three Chrono Weapons of about forty years’ caliber for that weapon.”
“我们，我们没有那么多时序，所以，我们打算用三万时序外加三把四十年左右的时序战器换回那把武器。”
Zhuyin flashed a malicious grin and said, “Do you think that’s possible?”
逐银露出不怀好意的笑容道：“你觉得可能吗？”
“We’ve already offered you information about Telekinesis for free, which itself is quite valuable,” one of them said urgently.
“我们已经免费送上了关于念力的情报，这个本就价值不菲。”一人急道。
“Oh, I almost forgot, haha, sorry about that. Well then, I’ll do my best to find it. But! If your teammate is still alive and unwilling to hand over the weapon, then there’s nothing I can do.”
“噢，我都忘了，哈哈，不好意思。那就这样吧，我尽力找找。但是！如果你们的队友还活着且不愿意交出武器的话，我也没办法。”
……
……
Under the overcast sky, Zuo Feixian looked up and down at the short fellow, who stood with his arms crossed, chest puffed out, and chin raised.
阴云天色下，左非闲上下打量着抱着手臂昂然挺胸扬着下巴的矮子。
After gesturing the other’s height, he placed a hand horizontally across his chest:
他比划对方的身高后，将手横在胸前：
“You only come up to here—are you really… an expert?”
“你才到我这儿，你真的是…高手？”
“Of course, I’m a master with unparalleled skills.”
“当然，我是拥有绝技的大高手。”
Liang Xi kicked his foot, causing the wooden stick stuck in the ground to hum, spin into the air, and be caught firmly in the boy’s hand.
梁喜将脚一踢，插在地上的木棍嗡地旋转着飞起，被小少年一把抓在手上。
Boom!
轰！
The wooden rod burst into red flames, which then flickered with a golden light.
木棍燃起火焰的红色，随后这火焰附带上了金光。
“Hiyah!”
“喝啊！”
He brandished the wooden rod with fierce momentum, the flames roaring and swaying, leaving the few people in front of the tent wide-eyed.
他将手中木棒舞得虎虎生威，火焰呼呼晃动，看得帐篷前几人瞪大双眼。
“I remember, Brother Jiazi knows that move too.”
“我记得，这一招甲子哥也会。”
“Can you all do it? Can we learn it too?” The few people looked at the boy with envy.
“你们都会吗？我们能不能学啊。”几人羡慕的看着少年。
Yang Zicang walked over from the edge of the distant woods and wheat fields:
杨子藏从远方的林间与麦田边缘走来：
“Of course. He was called over to teach you all this. Also, Liang Xi, you need to learn other secret techniques.”
“当然，让他过来就是教你们这些的，另外，梁喜，你也要学其它的秘技。”
Liang Xi’s head drooped the moment he heard that.
梁喜一听就耷拉着脑袋。
“And, what grade are you in for middle school? You can’t fall behind in your cultural classes either.” Yang Zicang added.
“还有，你上中学几年级了，文化课也不能落下。”杨子藏道。
“Wha—what?!”
“什，什么？！”
This sentence struck Liang Xi like a bolt from the blue.
这句话对梁喜来说犹如晴天霹雳。
“Heh heh heh.”
“嘿嘿嘿。”
Teacher Chen, who was making molds with others behind the crowd, stood up and pushed up his glasses upon hearing this.
人群后方和人做着模具的陈老师听到这话，站起身推了推眼镜。
“My teacher here is at the professor level. Yang Zicang, leave this little brat to us from now on.”
“我老师可是教授级别的人物，杨子藏，这小鬼头以后就交给我们了。”
Little Liu rejoiced inwardly; he never expected he’d get an extra junior apprentice after hanging around here for so long.
小刘暗喜，他没想到自己在这边混了这么久，还能多个师弟。
Liang Xi looked up with a terrified expression:
梁喜神色恐惧的抬起头：
“Bro, can I go back? I don’t want to stay here anymore.”
“哥，我能回去吗？我不想待在这里了。”
“No!”
“不行！”
Yang Zicang waved at Zuo Feixian, and the two of them walked into the tent next door.
杨子藏对着左非闲招了招手，两人走入隔壁的帐篷。
“Have these tents shown any signs of turning into Nightmares in the past couple of days?”
“这两天这些帐篷没有变成恶魇的征兆吧。”
“No. Everyone has models, and the items we create take a long time to give birth to Nightmares—several months or even a year before any signs appear.”
“没有，大家都有模型，造出的物品诞生恶魇的时间很长，几个月甚至一年才有征兆。”
The young man, now changed into a casual jacket, sat down on a stool and took out a notebook.
换了身休闲外套的青年坐到凳子上，将一份笔记拿出来。
“That’s good. You’ll need to keep an eye on things here from now on.”
“那就好，这边的情况以后你多注意一下。”
As long as there are no ordinary people, the speed at which Nightmares are born will be greatly extended. As long as you respond as soon as signs appear, there’s generally not much of a problem—unless you fail to notice them all along.
只要没有普通人，恶魇诞生的速度就会拉长很多，从出现征兆就开始应对，一般问题都不大，除非一直没察觉。
“Don’t worry, here these plank sheds won’t be dismantled and rebuilt for months or even a year. Our sheds have only been up for a few days, so Old Jia, you have nothing to worry about.”
“放心好咯，在这边嘛，那些木棚好几个月甚至一年才会拆了重新修一遍，咱们这些棚子才立起来几天啊，老甲你不用担心。”
Yang Zicang automatically associated the words “Old Jia” with the little turtles Li Mi had sent him.
杨子藏一听到“老甲”两字就想到那几只李弥送来的小乌龟。
He shook his head, reached out his arm, and placed a few sheets of paper on the table of spliced planks.
他摇摇头，伸出手臂将几张纸放在木板拼成的桌面上。
“This is the map I’ve drawn over the past few days. Ask it if there are any errors.”
“这是我这两天所绘制的地图，你问问它，看有纰漏吗。”
Zuo Feixian now knew that his own hand had assigned Jiadi Sector the task of collecting his body parts; an unexpected discovery that also made him faintly uneasy.
左非闲已经知道了自己的那只手竟然给甲子间安排了收集自己身体部件的这样一件事，这让他很意外，也略感不妥。
But he had no way to stop it and could only remind Yang Zicang circuitously that monsters could not be trusted.
但他也没办法去阻止，只能拐弯抹角的提醒杨子藏，怪物不能相信。
Yang Zicang, of course, understood this principle. For now, he was just doing the preliminary preparation work.
杨子藏当然知道这个道理，他目前也只是做个前期的准备工作而已。
“If the map’s correct, we… our construction goods team is ready to start the business as well.”
“地图没错的话，我们…我们筑货队也是时候开展业务了。”
He had struggled for a long time but still couldn’t bring himself to say the words ‘Big Jiafang’.
他努力了许久，也没有把“大甲方”这三个字说出口。
If he could go back a few days, Yang Zicang would certainly never have held this so-called public name selection and anonymous vote thing. Even now, he has no idea who came up with the name ‘Big Jiafang’ and who voted for it.
要是回到几天以前，杨子藏一定不会进行所谓的大家参与取名及匿名投票的事。到现在他也不知道这“大甲方”三个字是谁取的，又是谁投出来的。