与灰夫人喝杯茶 Tea with the Gray Lady

我最先听到的声音是尖锐的金属在石头上刮过的动静。我眼前一片昏花，仍然沉浸在朦胧的黑暗中，但意识深处却已经认出了这声音：这是刀刃划过潮湿的卵石。跟我的石匠在悬崖上做采石标记的锉响一模一样。我一下子紧张得牙根发颤。我努力地想挣脱手腕上的绳子，同时脑海里的迷雾渐渐散去，唯一剩下的念头越发地清晰起来：

The first sound I heard was the scrape of sharp metal against rock. My sight was blurred, my vision still swimming in murky darkness, but something in the back of my mind registered it, that knife-edge slide on wet stone. The rasp was the same as my mason when he marks out which rock to cut away from the cliff. It set my teeth on edge. The fog in my brain receded, but it left me with only one panicked thought as I strained at the ropes binding my hands:

我死定了。

I was a dead man.

我前方传来一声闷哼，还有沉重的木头嘎吱声。我眯眼看去，大概能看到一个魁梧的轮廓。我猜应该是戈登·安塞尔坐在对面。雇来的打手也就这样了。看样子，他也快醒了吧。

In front of me, there was a grunt and a heavy wooden creak. If I squinted, I could make out the bulk of what I guessed was Gordon Ansel sitting across from me. So much for hired muscle. It looked like he was coming around as well.

“好啊，你们都醒了。”一个女人的声音，从容淡定。“我正打算泡茶。”

“Oh good. You're both awake.” A woman's voice, refined, polished. “I was just about to put the tea on.”

我转向她，感觉自己半边脸又肿又疼，嘴角绷在一起。我试着活动了一下肿胀得下巴，嘴里却涌上一股铜锈味。我应该感谢老天自己还能呼吸。空气中全是化学物质的气味，仿佛一个深呼吸就能烧焦你的鼻毛。

I turned toward her. Half of my face felt fat and bruised. The corners of my mouth were stuck together. I tried to move my swollen jaw and a coppery taste pooled on my tongue. I should have been thankful I was still breathing. The air had a lingering chemical smell, like it would singe off your nose hair if you inhaled too deeply.

这破运气。我还在祖安。

Just my luck. I was still in Zaun.

“你们谁能告诉我，码头上的爆炸是什么人的杰作？”女人继续说道。她背对着我们，跳动的蓝光映出她纤细的腰肢和一双非人般的长腿。她把一只玻璃壶放到化工喷灯近乎无形的火焰上，隐约传来了液体晃荡的水声。

“One of you knows who is responsible for the explosion at the docks,” the woman continued. She had her back to us; a flickering bluish light illuminated her slim waist and inhumanly long legs. There was a faint slosh of water as she set a glass kettle above the near-invisible flame of a chem-burner.

“去揍小扒手啊，小姐。”安塞尔咕哝道。

“Go pound a sump, lady,” Ansel groaned.

安塞尔最大的本事就是把“糟糕”变成“完蛋”。

Leave it to Ansel to make a bad situation worse.

“格莱姆男爵的手下说话都挺有一套的。”

“Baron Grime's men always have such a way with words.”

女人转过来面对我们：照亮她体形的原来不是台灯，而是她身体里发出的躁动光芒。“你会老老实实交代的，因为你的死活就靠这个了。”

The woman turned to face us: It wasn't a lamp that lit her figure, but something within her that gave off an unsettling light. “You will tell me what I want to know as if your life depends on it.”

“我没什么要说的。”安塞尔哼哼地说。

“I ain't saying nothing,” Ansel snarled.

她欠了一下身，地上又发出了金属刮擦的声音。她在考虑先拿谁来开刀。但这种声音我却不知道是哪来的，直到她朝着安塞尔走过去时我才搞明白。她丝绒般的剪影离开了桌子的轮廓，髋部发出神秘的青光。我的视线沿着她柔弱的身形一路向下……却看到了一对双刀。她是一个非常高级的杂合体，与我在皮城或是祖安所见过的都不一样。

Metal scraped the floor as she shifted her weight. She was deciding which of us to carve from the quarry first. The sound made no sense until she began walking toward Ansel, and then I understood. Her velvet shadow separated from the silhouette of the table. Mystifying blue light pulsed from her hips, leading my eye down her lithe form... to twin blades. She was a high-end chimeric, unlike any I'd seen in Piltover or Zaun.

“安塞尔先生，不要侮辱了我的好意。有些人偏要，他们已经死了。”

“Do not insult my courtesy, Mr. Ansel. Others have. They are dead now.”

“你觉得你那双腿能吓到我？”

“You think them legs of yours scare me?”

女人站到了这个蠢货面前。我听到壶里的水开始翻滚。只一眨眼，一道银芒夹着蓝光闪过。捆住安塞尔双手的绳子掉在了地上。

The woman stood in front of my thick-headed acquaintance. I could hear the water in the kettle start to boil. I blinked and there was a flash of silver and blue. The rope that bound Ansel's hands fell to the floor.

我的保镖发出一串沙哑的大笑。“没砍着啊，亲爱的。”但我们的猎人看起来是在耐心地等待着。安塞尔往前凑了几寸，又青又紫的脸上抹出一个狂妄的傻笑。

A hoarse laugh escaped my bodyguard. “You missed, darling.” Our captor seemed to be waiting patiently. Ansel leaned forward a few inches, an arrogant smirk plastered across his weather-beaten face.

“来舔我的——”

“You can lick my—”

女人转了一圈。这一次，她腿上锋利的刀刃结结实实地扫过了安塞尔的脖子。

The woman spun around. This time, the razor-sharp blade of her leg sliced cleanly through Ansel's neck.

头颅滚到我眼前，玻璃壶发出欢快的哨声。安塞尔这个大嘴巴。现在可好，虽然他仍然大张着嘴，但好歹安静了。

The severed head rolled to a stop in front of me just as the kettle whistle blew. Ansel always had a big mouth. Now it lolled open, silenced at last.

我不停地安慰自己安塞尔已经死了，但他的一对眼珠子仍然惊恐地死盯住我。恐惧从我的头顶直达尾椎，几乎要把我的肠子都拱出来，但我最终说服了自己——反正最后都会淌到地上的。

I kept telling myself Ansel was dead, but his eyes still stared at me in horrified surprise. The fear in my brain climbed down my spine, stopping to throttle my gut until I was convinced whatever was left inside was going to end up on the floor.

“现在，图雷克先生，我们可以一起喝杯茶，你来跟我讲讲我想听的东西。”她不紧不慢地说。

“Now, Mr. Turek, we are going to have a cup of tea, and you will tell me what I wish to know,” she said, her words unhurried.

女人在桌边坐下微笑。她往陶瓷茶杯里倒进沸水，飘起一缕蒸汽。她看向我，神情倨傲，同时满是遗憾，仿佛我是一个算数迟钝的小学生。我逃不开她的那种笑容。要人性命，看透一切——把我吓惨了。

The woman sat down at her table and smiled. A whisper of steam escaped as she poured the boiling water into her porcelain teapot. She looked at me with an imperious pity, like I was a schoolboy too slow at his figures. It was that smile that I couldn't look away from. Deadly. Knowing. It scared the piss out of me.

“茶？”我几乎是哭着说出这个词。

“Tea?” I nearly choked on the word.

“哎，孩子，喝茶的时间总是有的。”她说。

“Oh, my boy,” she said. “There is always time for tea.”