影子会笑的人 The Man With the Grinning Shadow

作者：Jared Rosen

“你是法警？”说话的人是个河民。他灰头土脸，面貌不清，不知是哪个陈年湖底的烂泥混着干巴了的红千层针叶敷在脸上。河民站在卢锡安的私人车厢门外，个头不大，口气却不小。他裹着几条淘金用的毯子，应该是哪个在进步城外围干非法勾当的家伙死了之后被他捡来的。

“You the marshal?” the river man said, his features an unreadable patina of lowland dust and dried bottlebrush needles, caked together by mud from the bottom of an old lakebed. He stood in the doorway of Lucian's private train cabin, small and large at the same time, dressed in gold-panning rags that had been picked from a dead claim jumper on the outskirts of Progress.

河民没有呼吸。因为不需要。

The river man didn't breathe in or out. Didn't have to.

卢锡安之前就听说过河民，但这是头一回近距离地遇上一个。他们得一直保持身体湿润，否则就会干死，所以河民从来不会远离自己的泥洞和水沟。要是你极其不走运，旅行途中灌水的地方恰好是河民的臭水坑，或者是不巧往他们居住的淤泥中下了淘金盘子，河民就会像鳄鱼一样把你一口咬住，然后用泥巴颜色的粗壮胳膊把你拖进密不透风的烂泥里，你就这么完蛋了。大西部从此又多了一个野鬼。

Lucian had heard about them before, the river men, but never seen one up close. They needed moisture or they'd dry out, never venturing far from the mudholes and gulches they spawned in. If a traveler was unlucky enough they’d try to fill a flask with a river man's putrid water, or dig a pan into the silt where one lived. Without warning, it would snap up like an alligator, pulling you into the suffocating muck with wide, earthen arms, and just like that you were gone. Another ghost of the Old West.

“以前是。”卢锡安说。

“Not anymore,” said Lucian.

他看着河民，河民也盯着他。卢锡安正舒服地靠着车厢里的印花布垫休息。列车轰隆行进，窗帘外不时透进几缕光芒，落在河民的脸上。他有一双鱼类的黑色眼珠，几乎完全被脸上东一道西一道的泥巴沟挡住了。

Lucian looked at the river man and the river man looked back, the gunslinger comfortably resting against the floral draperies of his cabin. Flecks of light occasionally entered through the curtains as their train rattled along, illuminating the river man's dark, piscine eyes, nearly hidden beneath the earthen cracks in his face.

“我要你的警徽。”他说。

“I want your badge,” he said.

卢锡安点了点头。这家伙要是拿着联邦的警徽，就能摆脱夜堡的猎怪人，沿着商道一直去到班德尔城南边的红树林沼泽。说不定会在那儿开个店，因为现在从东海岸跑来低地沙漠定居的人越来越多。虽说这家伙是个孤注一掷的赌徒，但卢锡安觉得，一上来就把赌注先说明白倒挺值得欣赏的。

Lucian nodded. A federal's badge would get the thing past Fort Nox, away from its government monster hunters, and down by way of caravan to the mangrove swamps just south of Bandle. Probably thought it could take up shop there, now that more and more east coasters were settling the low desert. Didn't make the creature's gamble less desperate, but Lucian appreciated when the stakes were clear.

“你们的人肯定不多了吧。”卢锡安说。

“Must not be many of you left,” said Lucian.

“什么东西都不多了。”河民说。

“Ain't too many of anything left,” said the river man.

列车经过一排参差的铁轨，车厢之间的弹簧互相挤压，哐当作响。就在车厢晃动的一瞬间，河民张开了双臂，脸上的污泥间冒出一张大嘴，里头布满针状的尖牙，肩膀也爆出了巨大的骨刺。没等弹簧吭第二声，一发枪火便轰然射出。一道纤细的冥火穿透车厢侧壁，奔向缓缓落下的太阳。河民还没碰到地面，卢锡安的手枪就已然收回了枪套。

The boxcar's springs clicked once as they compressed against a couplet of uneven rail lines, and in the instant that the cabin shifted, the river man spread his arms wide, the mud on his face giving way to dozens of needle-sharp teeth as great spines burst from his shoulders. Before the springs clicked again a gunshot rang out, a thin ray of hellfire erupting through the side of the train and into the setting sun, and before the river man hit the floor Lucian's sidearm was already back in its holster.

河民的脑袋从中间一分为二，烧得面目全非，发出一股硫磺混合了黑刺李的气味。他的身子在地上扭成一团，从里到外烧得焦透。卢锡安正了正帽子，又靠回坐垫上。车厢里的黑暗轻柔地覆在他身上，他露出了一抹微笑。

The creature's head, split down the center and burnt beyond recognition, smoldered with the faint scent of sulfur and blackthorn. Its body contorted on the ground, flame roasting its membranes from the inside, and Lucian straightened his hat as he leaned back into the darkness of his room. The darkness shuddered softly around him, and smiled.

没人来看热闹。畸零的尸体也没人来收。卢锡安听任车厢敞开着门，和尸体一路无言，直到抵达终点站，天使镇。

No one came to check on Lucian. No one came to take the dessicated body of the river man. The two traveled in silence together, door open, all the way down to the last stop at Angel's Perch.

他要去找一个可以和死者对话的传教士。

And then out to the preacher who spoke with the dead.

进化城一直有传言，魔鬼缠身的法警已经迷失了自我，而现在，他正要前往新伊甸去和那里的圣牧聊聊。这两件事在大西部都是不祥之兆，所以没有人打算阻拦这个影子会笑的男人。他们可不希望双苇镇或者红河镇的事情再次上演——因为一些诡异的事件，整个镇子都被夷为了平地。他们只盼着卢锡安能够尽快离开，越快越好，所以不管他需要什么东西，总会有人忙不迭地送来。

Progress had been alive with whispers that this was the lawman what tangled with the devil and lost, and now he was headed up to New Eden to meet with the holy reverend. Both were ill portents in the Old West, so nobody would deny the aims of the man with the grinning shadow. They didn't need another Twin Reeds or Redriver, entire towns swallowed up and gone with some foul twist of happenstance. They needed Lucian out of their settlement and fast, and would give him anything he needed with all speed.自从他接下了联邦给他的任务以来便一直如此。他们当时派他去解决那个魔鬼，把他押回文明世界。然后他们会“让魔鬼伏法”——至少计划是这样的——然后证明给天下人看，边境仍然是安全的人类领地。This had been the game ever since his last job with the federals, when they'd sent him out to reckon with the devil himself and drag him back to civilization. They would ‘put the devil on trial’—or that was the play, at least—and prove to the world that the frontier was safe to claim.当然，卢锡安知道魔鬼不止一个，但公众更愿意这么认为。他见过沙漠里匍匐着来自世上各个角落的古怪生物：恶魔身穿着笔挺的西装，天使们在山岩中安家；女巫、鬼魂和各色怪兽借着月光的掩护将毫无防备的朝圣者撕成肉条。西部的原住民与他们怪模怪样的武器，只吃熟肉的骷髅脸石像，早已失控多年、由人类制造的机械人。还有魔鬼，杀不尽的魔鬼。Of course, Lucian knew there wasn't just one devil, but the public thought better in singulars. He’d seen how the desert was crawling with strange creatures from every end of the world: demons in clean pressed suits, angels holed up in mountain crags, witches and ghosts and all manner of beast that might cloak itself in moonlight and tear an unsuspecting pilgrim to ribbons. The western natives and their alien weaponry; the skull-faced colossi who fed on ripened flesh; the mechanical men built by human hands, long gone rogue. And always, always devils.然而，这个魔鬼有些不同。他有很多名字——收割者、屠神、老狱卒，还有大角。他会收集灵魂——反正故事里是这么说的。他在一个个城镇之间流窜作恶，从活人身上剥去灵魂，留下一具空壳。他是大西部的恶鬼，蛮荒边境的凶神。初来乍到的探险者们浩浩荡荡，如同一条大河，灌溉着他那不知餍足的饥渴。因为案例太多，人们终于开始留意了。对于一心扩张的政府而言，人们一旦留意，很多事情就不方便干了。This devil, though, was different. He went by many names—The Reaper, The Slaughter God, Old Turnkey, and Great Horn. He collected souls, or so the stories said, and went from town to town conducting his dark business, tearing the spirits out of the living and leaving their flayed skins behind. A creature of the Old World and demon of the wild frontier who, like his kin, sated his terrible hungers on an endless river of fresh-faced pioneers. Enough so that folks were starting to take notice, and for a government aimed on expansion, folks taking notice was bad for business.算起来，一共有三名法警死在了他手上。卢锡安还认识其中两人。Three marshals were dead at his hands, all told. Lucian had known two of them.“他们叫它锤石，”办事员告诉他。“你觉得你能行吗？”“They call it Thresh,” his handlers revealed. “Think you can catch him?”卢锡安打量着画像，看到怪物长着一颗黄铜质地的骷髅牛头，燃烧着来自七大地狱的火焰。他觉得，怪物身边古怪地挂着的那盏灯笼，应该就是它力量的来源。只要他能一枪命中，这场仗不用打就已经结束了。Lucian looked over the sketches, noting the monster’s brazen, bovine skull, alight with the flames of all seven hells. He figured the lantern hanging curiously nearby was the source of its power, and if he could get in a clean shot, the fight would be over before it started.但是魔鬼从来都没这么容易对付，尤其是身上背着联邦血债的魔鬼。他记得曾经在楚帕罗萨附近和一个非常下流的家伙交过手。那东西跑起来像沙尘暴一样快，一路跑一路搅起旋风，快得根本没法瞄准。要不是卢锡安的同伴及时插手，他自己恐怕都难活命。所以，这趟差事他需要一个帮手。Yet it was never that easy with devils, especially devils with a federal bodycount. He remembered tangling with a particularly nasty specimen near Chuparosa that moved with the speed of a desert storm, kicking up whirlwinds as it went. It was too fast to hit with a bullet, and if it hadn’t been for the timely intervention of his partner, Lucian might not have made it out alive. This hunt required backup.“我自己不行，”卢锡安说，“得要赛娜帮忙。”

“Not alone,” said Lucian. “I’ll need Senna.”

“终点站，天使镇。”列车员温和地催了一句，几乎像是在耳语。河民的尸体快被沿途的炙热天气烤成了干皮，但在车厢里长长的影子中，一个更可怕的生物正端坐在卢锡安原来的位子上。

“Last stop, Angel’s Perch,” the conductor uttered, so gently it was almost a whisper. The heat of the journey had shriveled the river man’s corpse nearly into rawhide, but in the long shadows of the cabin a worse creature had perched itself upon Lucian’s seat.

火焰混着烟气，牙齿在火中隐现。两只臂膀似乎是一对由魔鬼在地底深处铸造的火炮。一个隐约的人形，像是用营火的灰烬堆成的身体，胸前倒挂着联邦法警的徽记，正在发光。双腿好像一对焚化过的榆木尖刺，还在燃着火焰。鲜红的心脏仿佛鼓动着大地上的所有怒火。

It was smoke and fire, teeth and flames, its arms the artillery of a demon general cast up from the bottom of the abyss. It had the rough shape of a man, were a man made from campfire ash, with the glowing sigil of the federal marshals inverted upon its breast. Its legs were the incinerated spires of ancient, burning elms. Its red heart pulsed with the rage of all the earth.

“神呐。”列车员也不知道自己在呼唤哪位神灵。怪物站起来，一双腿瘦骨嶙峋，像是倚着车厢里静止的空气。它的脸好像是被扯开了，在令人震悚的狂野之中咧开了嘴——地狱烈火的照耀下，它露出了破烂不堪的嘲笑。

“God,” spoke the conductor, not knowing which god he was invoking. The thing stood on its curious, spindling legs, leaning against the train’s still air. Its face seemed to peel apart, mouth broken in horrific ecstasy, as hellfire illuminated a ragged, mocking grin.

就在这时，尘灰落尽，黑影中跨出一个人来，正是卢锡安。

In that moment the ash fell away, and Lucian stepped out from the darkness.

“抱歉，朋友。”他说。“不是有意要吓你的。”

“Sorry, friend,” he spoke. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

列车员没吭声，只一个劲儿地发抖。卢锡安与他擦肩而过，穿过守车的铁皮车厢，踏进了暮色沉沉的夜晚。他心想，那列车员肯定会大肆添油加醋一番的。

The conductor quivered in silence for a long while before Lucian brushed past, down the steel halls of the cabin car and out into the twilit evening. He figured the man would make a good story of it.

天使镇，是文明边陲的新兴之地。树木接天蔽日，空气里充塞着蜂蜜与美酒的馥郁芬芳。镇子西边的山脚下生着巨大的松树林子，围成一道屏障。没人知道再往西去有什么东西，但人们知道镇上有足够的人手和武器，无论这西部边境窜出什么怪物都能招架得了。反正他们是这么认为的。在天使镇安家的生物对边境之外也就只知道这么多，因为从来没有什么活物到过西边更远的地方后还能神智正常地回来，如果能回来的话。

Angel’s Perch. A boomtown at the edge of civilization, where the trees grew tall and the air was thick with the scent of honey and wine. No one knew what lay beyond the ring of gargantuan pines at the foot of the mountains west of town, but they did know they had enough guns and men to hold off anything the far frontier could throw at them. Or at least they assumed. The creatures who made a home of Angel’s Perch would only reveal so much about what lay beyond, and no other living thing what had ventured that far west had returned sane, or at all.

卢锡安钻出忙乱的车站，走进了小镇中心。他一路上见到不下三个蛇油贩子，叫卖的油膏都是工业化的东部地区倒腾来的人造品。还有一个酒吧女招待，有着眼镜蛇的身子，一双奶白色的眼珠藏在面纱下。这样一来，客人不至于还没坐下开喝就被变成了石头。

Lucian made his way through the Perch’s bustling train station and into the center of town, past no less than three snake oil salesmen, each hucking the artificial magic ointments of the industrial east, and a saloon girl with the body of a cobra. Her milky eyes were hidden behind a veil, lest a paying customer turn to granite before they ever sat down to drink.

经过一群伐木工和点灯人，越过几家杂货店和妓院，还要再走过一个离群索居的枪匠家门——据说曾经是个堕落的神，最后在大路路口附近，就到了镇上最有名的的酒馆。传言玄乎其玄，说这酒馆自从镇子建立以来便一直开业至今，说不定时间更长。酒馆名叫“凡间之王”。无论你是男是女是人是兽，若是你想要力挽命运的狂澜，这里就会向你敞开大门……只要你花得起钱。

Near the mouth of main street, beyond the loggers and lamplighters, the general stores and the brothels, and the reclusive gunsmith rumored to be a fallen deity, there stood the town’s famed saloon. Popular myth held it had been in business since the founding of the settlement, or perhaps even before. It was called The Earthly King: be you man, woman or beast with a fate to outrun, its kingdom was open to you… as long as you had cash to spare.

不管你怎么看，这间酒馆都是那种会让人迷失自我的地方。但是，卢锡安可以用来迷失的自我已经所剩无几。他时常感到自己的灵魂颤颤巍巍地悬在看不见的丝线上，而自己的影子在身后狞笑。他不能停留太久。

It was, in many ways, the kind of place where a man might lose himself. But Lucian didn’t have much of himself left to lose, always feeling the tug of invisible strings against the weight of his soul, the shadow grinning behind him. He couldn’t stay for long.

人类对于远西之地的村落知之甚少，而镇上的这些生物更是非得打一架才肯吐露自己的珍贵秘密。至于这儿的原住民，就算是会说话的，也从来不会对任何事情发表任何评论。即便是少数能够容忍外来者的家伙，也是成天埋头鼓捣着他们奇怪的机械。

Humans had little knowledge of settlements in the far west, and creatures living in town wouldn’t spill their precious secrets without a fight. The natives, if they spoke at all, would never reveal anything about anything, the few who tolerated settlers busying themselves with their strange machines.

卢锡安必须找朋友帮忙。他认识的人很多都是联邦的警探，但是他们对魔鬼没有太大兴趣，而且不管你怎么想，卢锡安自己也快要变成其中一员了。所以他得找以前的朋友，很早以前的，比他接下政府的合同还要早，比他踏上圣祖安的鹅卵石街道还要早，直到他还是个年轻又性急的雇佣枪手的时候。那时候他遇到过不少伙伴，个个都是手里提着一把左轮，活得痛快，死得更快。但惟独有一个人始终顽强坚挺。他块头很大，杀不掉，同时老谋深算，警醒非常。这人其实不算是人，但他开始和人干仗的时候，这片大陆还没迎来第一批靠岸的航船。而且看样子，有可能在一切早已化作尘土与叹息之后，他仍然还在打。

Lucian had to rely on friends. Most could have been counted among the federal marshals, but they didn’t take kindly to demons, and like it or not that was what Lucian was fast becoming. He had to reach even further back, before the government contracts and the cobblestone streets of St. Zaun, to his days as a brash young gunfighter for hire. There he’d met many friends who lived and died with a revolver in their hand, but one figure remained as steadfast and obstinate as always, too big to kill and too old to die. He wasn’t a man per se, but he’d been fighting long before the first ships landed on the continent, and would probably be fighting long after everything else was dust and whispers.

卢锡安踱进酒馆的大门，里面的空气似乎猛然一滞。面目狰狞的主顾们向这位愁苦的陌生人投来上下打量的眼光。“我找长角。”话音刚落，所有人就把注意力重新放回了牌桌或是酒杯。吵吵嚷嚷，嘻嘻哈哈，一架不在调上的钢琴发出刺耳的高音，全都撞在一起。

Lucian stepped through the wide-set doors of the King and, for a moment, the bar grew quiet as its unsightly patrons sized up the harrowed stranger. “I’m looking for the longhorn,” he said, and they at once turned back to their card games and beer, the high shrill of an out of tune piano crashing against a dozen incomprehensible hoots and hollers.

卢锡安很快就在吧台的最远端发现了长角。即便是在一片狂欢烂醉的人群中，想要错过他其实挺难的。别看他这么大个头，长角还是更喜欢自己呆着，可是总有不知天高地厚的年轻人来挑衅他，觉得自己能打赢长角，一举成名。结果从来都很惨烈。无论来挑事儿的家伙有多嚣张，长角的回应总是一记简单迅猛的头槌——头骨粉碎的人是没法再说话的。

Lucian soon spotted the longhorn at the far end of the bar—his massive bulk was hard to miss, even amid the carousing of the King’s clientele. Despite his frame he liked to keep to himself, though it was not uncommon for cocky young fighters to call him out over some perceived slight, hoping to down the beast for fame and glory. This never ended well, and more nights than not a boisterous challenger would have their skull pulverized with a single, swift butt to the head.

阿利斯塔是个牛头人，身高十尺，体宽六尺。如果你打算找他打一架，现在心里该有点数了。

Alistar was a minotaur, easily ten feet tall and six feet wide. If you picked a fight with him, you got what was coming.

“长角。”卢锡安说。

“Longhorn,” said Lucian.

“长官。”阿利斯塔应了声。

“Marshal,” replied Alistar.

“我要去新伊甸了。”卢锡安说。

“I’m making my way to New Eden,” said Lucian.

“谁不是呢。”阿利斯塔说完，卢锡安在他身边坐了下来。

“Aren’t we all,” replied Alistar, as Lucian sat beside him.

阿利斯塔很老了，他的同胞已经所剩无几，那么毫无疑问，阿利斯塔会比他们都要活得长。他白天是个传说中的恶霸——当然是那些弱者传的，晚上就只会在酒馆里，找一张只有他一半大小的高脚凳，坐下来打发一整晚的时间。

Alistar was old, now—few of his kind remained, and he would no doubt outlive them all. He spent his days as a glorified thug for other, weaker creatures, and his nights on a bar stool built for beings half his size.

两人肃穆地望着前方发呆。任何人来天使镇都有原因，而但凡是来到凡间之王的人，个个都有更吓人的原因。这里是叛徒和死人的饮水地，也是消沉之人随波漂流的排水孔。还有些人来这儿是为了人生最后的决斗。他们一掷千金散尽家财，转身就踏进荒野，自此消失。

The pair gazed solemnly ahead. Not a man came to Angel’s Perch without a reason, and fewer still walked through the doors of The Earthly King unless that reason was dire. It was the drinking hole of renegades and dead men, a drain where the aimless slowly circled downward, and those seeking a final battle spilled their coin before vanishing into the wilderness.

卢锡安要深入无人知晓的西北腹地。那里不通火车，林子里凶神横行。而他为了一个传闻，要赌上自己侥幸得活的性命。

Lucian was heading deep into the uncharted northwest, where no trains ran and vicious gods walked among the trees, seeking a rumor on borrowed time.

两人都知道这赌局的筹码，也懂得往哪边下注，即便他们都没有开口。

Both knew the stakes, and the favor, though none had been asked.

“等你到了那儿，”阿利斯塔问。“你觉得她会怎么说？”

“What do you think she’ll say?” asked Alistar. “When you get there.”

“不知道。”卢锡安回答。“我真不知道。”

“I don’t know,” answered Lucian. “I don’t rightly know.”

长角叹着气埋下头喝酒。厚实的铝杯足有一个小孩那么大。他向来不喜欢告别时拖泥带水。

The longhorn sighed into his drink, a thick aluminum tankard about the size of a child. He never had liked long goodbyes.

“我给你画张地图。”

“Let me draw you a map.”

卢锡安与赛娜初识，他正被一把枪指着，是她的枪。那是在秃鹫河谷一间脏乱无比的酒馆，爆发了一场血腥的枪战。倒不是说枪战在秃鹫河谷有多新鲜，但这次不一样。有个脑子不好的赏金猎人拔出枪来指住了一个外民的后背。然后就一发不可收拾了。

Lucian had first met Senna at the end of a gun—her gun—during a bloody shootout in one of Buzzard Gulch’s most squalid drinking parlors. Not that shootouts in Buzzard Gulch were uncommon, but this one had involved some fool bounty hunter drawing on an Outsider with his back turned. It got ugly.这些自称外民的家伙，不知道是什么来历，反正一夜之间就遍布全世界。它们穿着干净挺拔的西服，因为热爱赌博，所以不法帮派和走投无路的农民们都知道它们的名声。要是你赢了一个外民，那就会有数不尽的财富凭空出现，上面带有外民的火漆印鉴。哪怕光是这剥下来的印鉴就能值一笔小钱。可要是输了就是另一回事了，因为它们唯一接受的赌注是对方最最珍爱的东西。比如农场、手表、子女、灵魂……或是最喜欢的刀子——从来都是凶险的赌局，只是很多人还没发觉罢了。The Outsiders, so they claimed, were from everywhere and nowhere at once, creatures in clean pressed suits whose love of gambling had made them infamous among outlaw clans and desperate homesteaders. Beating one meant riches beyond compare, conjured from nothing and guaranteed by an Outsider’s wax seal—itself worth a small fortune. Losing was another matter, as they accepted no wager less than a man’s most deeply cherished possession. Farms, watches, children, souls… a favorite knife—the bet was always steep, even if you didn’t know it yet.眼前这个外民据说是赢了铁路大亨杰里米亚·詹姆斯。卢锡安之前帮这位身家百万的男爵干过些小活儿。杰里米亚是个巨商，也很小气。他当时不知道中了什么邪，抵上的赌注足够他破产两次有余。所以输掉钱的一瞬间他就挂出了天价的悬赏。Rumor had it this specimen had beaten Jeremiah James, a millionaire railroad baron Lucian had once done small jobs for. Jeremiah was a giant, and a mean one at that, who’d posted a sky-high bounty the moment he lost whatever dire prize he so foolishly put up for collateral—enough to bankrupt him twice over.几乎每个枪手都知道，秃鹫河谷的赏金栏上贴出来的告示要么是鸡毛蒜皮腥臊恶臭，要么就是掉脑袋的营生。而现在，失踪了的实业家既然扔出了一单生意，赏金猎人们一定会闻风而至。这些家伙除了钱和杀人之外，别的事情一概没有兴趣。And as almost every gunfighter knew, once a reward swung out of the piss-pot, gully stabbing, prairie-shotgun-ambush fare of Buzzard Gulch’s wanted board and into the realm of jilted industrialists, bounty hunters would come calling. The whole lot of them loved money and killing, and not much else.赏金猎人没打招呼就拔出了手枪，屋子里瞬间安静下来。那个外民冷静地啜着威士忌，看起来跟没事儿人一样。赛娜和几个联邦法警以及长角也在场，同时还有一些枪不离手的贼人匪类，都是这镇子的常客。所有人都蓄势待发。The hunter drew with little warning, and instantly the room went quiet. The Outsider sipped his whiskey with a calm that suggested the absence of all intent. Senna, a handful of federal marshals and the longhorn were present, among the town’s usual collection of heavily armed scoundrels and murderers. Everyone waited to make a move.“好了，朋友。”猎人轻轻地说。她嗓音甜美，带着血腥的气息。“你身上有我要的东西。交出来，然后大家怎么进来的就怎么出去。”“Now, friend,” the hunter cooed, her voice sugar tinged with blood, “I know you’ve got what I came for. Turn it over, and everybody walks out the way they came in.”外民什么也没说。他的脸温润得就像是一尊瓷器娃娃，对着两把左轮手枪面不改色，纹丝不动。他早就知道她要来的。说不定她还没接下这活儿的时候就知道了。但在这夕阳的余温下，在世界边缘喝不完的酒杯之间，很难说到底谁在蠢蠢欲动，而谁又是在虚张声势。The Outsider said nothing—his face was as placid as a porcelain doll, unmoved and unperturbed by the threat of his assailant’s twin six-guns. He’d known she was coming the whole time. Probably knew before she even took the job. But in the heat of the low sun, plied with drink at the edge of the world, it was hard to tell who was itching for a fight, and who was just bluffing.猎人首先打破了沉默。一发子弹破膛而出，正中外民的心口。他的身体向后猛然翻去，胸口的破洞中冒出黑烟，化成了纷扬的群鸦。浓烟中探出一只可怖的巨爪，撞翻了一张牌桌。扑克、筹码和炽热的鲜血在屋里四下飞溅，而猎人正要退下打空的弹壳。The hunter broke the silence with a bullet, and a heavy round exploded from her pistol and into the center of the creature’s chest. The Outsider’s body billowed outward, the hole rippling black smoke in the shape of crows, and from the smoky mass a great, vicious claw burst into a table of poker players. Cards, chips, and searing blood sprayed across the room as the hunter started unloading.卢锡安拔枪指着猎人，法警们指着卢锡安，而长角在酒馆里横冲直撞，争分夺秒地把各处散落的钱拢到怀里。屋子里每一把枪都响了。子弹横飞，倒下的人既有枪手也有法警，而卢锡安找了一张台球桌当作掩护——然后他就发觉自己陷入了另一番窘境。Lucian drew on the hunter, the marshals drew on Lucian, and the longhorn tore through the bar to get as many pieces of the action as time would allow. Every gun in the place lit up, and as bullets ripped through fastgun and marshal alike, Lucian took cover behind a pool table—where he found himself in quite a different predicament.“你好，陌生人。”赛娜的枪端正地顶着卢锡安的额头。她的眼睛如同一片温柔的草原，间或点缀着些许黑色。卢锡安几乎忘了自己面前是一把上了膛的火器。“Hello, stranger,” said Senna, her gun squarely aimed at Lucian’s forehead. Her eyes were the color of a gentle prairie, mottled with specks of black, and Lucian almost forgot he was speaking into a loaded firearm.“夫人。”他回答。“我猜你应该会想要做个好人吧？”她说着，一个酒吧招待灌了铅似的身子软绵绵地倒在两人身边，嘴里缓缓冒出黑烟。“Ma’am,” he replied.“有多好？”卢锡安说。“I assume you choose to associate with these upstanding individuals?” she asked, as the lead-riddled body of a barkeep collapsed limply beside them. Black smoke drifted softly out of his mouth.一发子弹削掉了桌子的一角，赛娜矮身一避。动作快得卢锡安几乎什么也没看清——他也从来没见过有人能躲开子弹。最起码不会这么胸有成竹，而赛娜显然游刃有余。“Some of them,” Lucian answered.她露出一个温暖的笑容，胸前的警徽反射着光芒。法警中的明星，尽人皆知的夺命快枪。Senna ducked as another shell ripped past the backside of the bar, taking a chunk of a pool table with it. The motion was so quick Lucian almost didn’t see it—then again, he’d never seen anyone dodge a bullet. Certainly not with such confidence, and Senna had plenty to spare.“嗯，非常好，”她坏笑一下，轻柔地没收了卢锡安的手枪。“别着急，会还给你的……只要完事以后你还活着。”She smiled warmly, her badge glinting in the light. The star of a chief marshal, one of the deadliest quickdraws in the known world.她躲在掩体后打出两发快枪，然后翻出去加入了战斗，留下卢锡安一个人还在琢磨这是什么情况。“Well, to each their own,” she grinned, gingerly confiscating Lucian’s pistol. “Don’t worry, I’ll give it back… if you’re not dead when this is over.”接下来的枪战他已经记不清楚了。只记得赏金猎人瞅个空子，从河民翻滚的身体里掏出了一件油腻腻的东西，然后闪身窜出了酒馆大门。河民尖叫着追了出去。大部分客人都成了尸体，再没什么东西可以打了。幸存的人穿过马路去对面继续喝酒。在秃鹫河谷，死尸和烈酒一直有求必应。And with two quick shots from cover, she swung back into the fight, leaving Lucian wondering what had just happened.

The rest of the shootout was a blur. At one point the bounty hunter ripped some sort of oil-soaked object from the Outsider’s roiling body and ran out the saloon doors, and the creature went screaming after her. With most of the clientele dead and nobody left to shoot, the survivors went across the street to finish their drinks. Buzzard Gulch never found itself wanting for corpses or liquor.

法警们会说，也就是从那天开始，卢锡安决定金盆洗手，开始为政府干起了猎魔的行当。

虽然他们还会说，卢锡安可不是为了救人于水火，而是为了一个漂亮的女孩。她脸上挂着笑容，躲开了一枚子弹。

It was there, the marshals like to say, that Lucian decided to hang up his hat and hunt monsters for the government.

Though they’ll also mention it was less about saving people from beasts, and more about a pretty girl who dodged a bullet with a smile.

撇开潦草不谈，长角的地图倒也算是有用。卢锡安按着地图指引，出了天使镇向北徒步而行，走了感觉足有一百年之久。大多数活人从来不敢深入北方这么远。目之所及的色彩显得越发鲜艳，空气里也似乎漂浮着诡异的魔力。卢锡安打盹的时候，他非常肯定有些巨大的生物就潜伏在他眼角的余光之外。不过他并不觉得害怕。太阳落山之后他就会扎营，做好准备。因为夜晚是影子最有力量的时刻。

他将会感觉影子把自己拉出身体，不停地往下拖拽。他的皮肤很快就会刺痒并成片剥落，嘴角扭出饥渴的狞笑。他会感觉到烈火，听到魔鬼用他的声音低语。靛蓝色的鼠尾草原会化作一片炼狱火海，而自己是泅水的人。他还会感到愤怒。可怕的、不老的愤怒，羞耻，还有厌恶。灵魂中的黑暗挤出恶毒的胆汁。这就是战斗开始的时刻——魔鬼想要霸占卢锡安的身体，而他所剩不多的自我就要拼尽全力地夺回来。

The longhorn’s map had been useful, if sloppy. Lucian had followed it on foot for what seemed like a hundred years, further north from Angel's Perch than most living souls would ever dare to venture. Here colors seemed more vivid, the air itself breathed with strange magics, and when Lucian drifted off, he could swear gargantuan creatures lurked just beyond the edge of his vision, watching. Yet Lucian did not feel afraid. He made camp as the sun dipped over the horizon, and steeled himself. The shadow grew strongest at night.

最近，卢锡安发觉变身的持续时间越来越长。他很不喜欢。

He would sense its evil dragging him downwards, pulling him out of himself. Soon Lucian’s skin would itch and flake away, his mouth twisted into a hungry grin. He would feel the flames, hear the demon whisper in his own voice. He would drown in the crackling inferno of indigo sagelands erupting into a sea of hellfire. And he would feel the anger. The terrible, ageless anger, the shame, the disgust. Hateful bile born the from the darkness of his own soul. Only then would the battle begin—the demon assuming Lucian’s body, while what was left of the man tried to wrestle it back.

他感觉皮肤开始刺痛，夜晚的凉风一吹便出现了龟裂。卢锡安靠着一根断木休息，尽可能地放松自己。他绷紧了肌肉——等待着变身，缠斗，和黎明的前兆。

Lately, the transformations were beginning to last longer than Lucian liked.

他向上望去。天空扭曲着变作了猩红色——永久不尽的日落，周围环绕着火焰。他身旁的树木如同可怖的图腾，钻进冥界般的浓雾里。只有营火附近被照亮的地方还是原来斑驳着绿色和棕色的草地。变化开始了。又或者不是变化，是更糟的事情。

He felt his skin begin to prickle, and watched as it cracked against the cool night air. Lucian rested himself against an old log, as comfortably as he could. His muscles froze in place—awaiting the change, and the struggle, and the promise of morning.

密林深处传来一声火车的哨音，空空地回荡。魔鬼般棕红的浓雾里袭来又一个声音，像是有人打了个古怪的呵欠。这和之前不一样，是卢锡安没有预料到的东西。可他现在没法战斗，因为他既不能转身，也不能拔枪。粗壮的金属腿驮着一个巨人般的身躯，像踩碎玩具一样碾过古老的树林。卢锡安动弹不得，眼睛也无法转动，只能眼睁睁地看着那个身影——发光的核心饥渴地啃食着煤炭，可怕的血肉。一个早已死去的壮硕身躯，肩膀上的球形火车阀门正喷吐着蒸汽。

His eyes glazed over. The sky twisted into deep crimson—overtaken by a perpetual sundown, ringed with flame, and the trees around him stood as ghastly totems against thick, otherworldly fog. Only the campfire illuminated the world as it was, the greens and browns of patchy grassland. The change had begun.

是恶魔，卢锡安心想。又一个恶魔。

Or if not the change, something worse.

巨怪一步步走来，在雾气中始终看不真切。它屈腿弯下腰来，火光渐渐映出了一张熟悉的脸。

Deep in the forest, a train whistle sounded. It rang hollow, a warped and yawning sound that spilled out from the demonic vision’s umber mist. This was something new, a creature Lucian had not prepared to face—and locked in combat with himself, he could not turn or draw. He tried to stand as thick metal legs splintered the primeval woodlands like they were toys, dragging a colossal torso awkwardly behind them. He could not move, nor turn his eyes from the glowing core of hungry coals, or grisly flesh, or smoke from bulbous locomotive valves that lined the shoulders of a long-dead giant.

“卢锡安。”它开口道。

A devil, Lucian thought. Another devil.

卢锡安立刻认出了这东西——这人。早已被认定为失踪或是死亡的百万富翁。在多年前和外民的赌局中，他押上了自己的心脏。

The hulking thing stepped before him, still obscured by fog, and bent its massive legs down until a familiar face leaned into view of the firelight.

“杰里米亚？”

“Lucian,” it spoke.

曾经的工业巨子笑了。他已经变得如此畸形，最后一点人类的残余也已经消逝，取而代之的是烈火锻造的蒸汽装具，还有一堆废弃的机车拼装出的森森骨架。他的腹部燃烧着一座恶魔的熔炉，两人之间的营火好像也被拽得歪向了一侧，仿佛顺应着杰里米亚的呼吸。

Lucian recognized it—him—instantly. The millionaire, long thought missing or dead, who so many years ago had wagered his own heart in an Outsider’s game of chance.

“好伙计，我曾经确实叫那个名字。”他的声音几乎要将大地融化，而卢锡安全身瘫痪地坐在他面前。“你可以叫我厄加特，我自己挑的名字。”

“Jeremiah?”

“我知道你在想什么。”他继续道。“你知道我曾经竭尽全力，为了让这片荒凉的土地变得开化，也放弃了打造一个钢铁帝国的计划。但是，我太过刚愎自用——我做了一笔交易，像你从前一样……付出了太大太大的代价。”

The old industrialist chuckled. He was hideously malformed—gone were even the last glimpses of his humanity, replaced instead by infernal steamwork and the gutted skeletons of a dozen ruined cargo trains. His belly swelled with heat of a devil’s furnace, and the campfire between the two travelers seemed to draw towards it, as though Jeremiah were breathing it in.

巨人指了指自己心脏原本所在的位置，现在只有一团烧得白热的铜块。传言是真的，杰里米亚确实死了。

“I have shed that name, my good marshal,” he spoke, his voice melting over the land as Lucian sat paralyzed before him. “You may call me Urgot now, for that is the name I have taken.”

“倒也不是死了。”他像是听到了卢锡安心里的声音。“虽然当时我拿回了自己最珍贵的东西，但已经太迟了，我早就不能算是活人。我的身体被一些……同事们扔到了沙漠边缘，而他们现在已经知道了背叛我的代价。当然你也知道，世上有很多恶魔……但和你杀不掉的那个怪物不一样，来找我的那个恶魔提出了一个非常诱人的建议。”

“I know what you are wondering,” he continued. “Understand that I was laid low in my efforts to civilize this desperate land, and divorced from my plans for a great steel empire. No, I made a mistake of hubris—I took a deal, as you once did… and paid so, so dearly for it.”

厄加特现在靠得更近了，营火不停地钻进他的腹腔。他的体内似乎有上千枚齿轮，发出互相啃噬的声响。卢锡安仿佛看到了一张巨口，连天空都要扯下来吞吃殆尽。

The colossus motioned towards where his heart might have been, now nothing but a tangled mass of white-hot copper. The rumors had been true. Jeremiah had died.

“警官，我知道你最终会输掉跟自己的较量。因为我就这样。我的损失让我失魂落魄，沦为贼党。我可悲地幻想着自己还是个人类，却发觉我只剩下了最黑暗的空洞。等你走上我的老路——你一定会的——我很想和最终占据你身体的家伙见上一面。我们会有……很多可以聊的东西。”

“It was not death,” he said, as if snatching the thought from the air. “Though by the time my treasured property was returned, it was far too late to call myself alive. My body was abandoned at the edge of the desert by some… associates… who have come to know the dire price of treachery. Yet as you are aware, there are many devils… and unlike the monster you failed to destroy, I was visited by one with a particularly tantalizing offer.”

说完，厄加特迈开粗硕的金属腿走了。直到犹如地狱之口的光晕从卢锡安的视野中完全消失，天空仿佛轻轻叩了一下，裂开了——苦涩的落日再次变成了清冷无光的午夜，映着卢锡安孤独的身影。

Urgot was close now, the campfire pouring endlessly upwards into his stomach. The grinding of a thousand starving gears echoed from somewhere within him, and Lucian imagined a devouring maw, chaining the sky down before swallowing it whole.

影子很快就会将他夺走。

“I know you will lose the duel within yourself, marshal. I did. Brought low by my losses I turned to common banditry, and the darkest hollows of my sadly mortal imagination. When you follow me down that trail—and you will—I intend to meet with the creature wearing your body. We have… a great many things to discuss.”

他得加快脚步了。

With that, the enormous metal legs pulled Urgot away, until even his illuminated hellmouth disappeared from view. The sky buckled, and broke—bitter sun replaced once more by cold, lightless midnight, and Lucian was alone.

The shadow would claim him soon.

He had to move quickly.

卢锡安曾经大意了。

Lucian had been careless.他忘记了恶魔的本质，也忘记了它们的能耐，所以他和赛娜骑着马就冲进了一片高山上的苔原，打算一枪就结果了锤石。卢锡安是最出色的法警之一，而赛娜就是最出色的那个。他们俩很勇敢，也很鲁莽，并且深深相爱——锤石早就在等着他们了。Forgetting what a devil was, the kind of power one could wield, he and Senna had rushed into an alpine tundra on horseback, determined to take Thresh with a single shot. Lucian was one of the greatest marshals the outfit had ever seen; Senna was the greatest. They were brave, and impetuous, and in love—and Thresh had been waiting for them.然而锤石不是边境的普通恶魔。他饥渴又残忍，早在旧世界的人类初次登上这片大陆的东海岸之前便已经存在了上万年。The devil called Thresh was not an ordinary monster of the high frontier. Ravenous and cruel, he had lived for eons before the men of the Old World landed on his continent’s eastern shores.孕育了众神的星界生物都已经衰朽死去，它们古老的身体落在大地上化为了山岳、峡谷和最初的海洋。可是锤石依然健在。他对毁灭的欲望深不见底，支撑着他反常的生命。在世界上的语言出现之前，他还没有名字的时候，所有活物都知道他的模样——一个怪兽似的头颅，燃着憎恨的烈火，不祥地俯视着终生。恶意已经深深地浸透了他的身体，永远无法祛除。他行走于宏伟之物留下的破碎尸身之间——它们的孩子已经惨遭遗忘，任由锤石大啖自己的灵魂。The cosmic beings who birthed the gods grew old and died, their ancient bodies fell to earth to become the mountains and valleys and primordial seas, but Thresh continued on, his unnatural life sustained by a bottomless, ravenous thirst for destruction. Before spoken word could give shape to his name, all living things knew his face—the skull of a beast, hateful and burning, gazing balefully down upon them. His malice was woven so deeply into his ancient form that it could never be purged, and he walked across the broken bodies of the vast things he had outlived, devouring the souls of their sad and forgotten children.卢锡安甚至还没看见自己的对手，一条刃鞭就干脆地切进了他的肩膀。这一下把他打下了坐骑，使枪的手臂也用不上了。赛娜大步跃过来想要拾起爱人的手枪，但她也被恶魔的力量击倒了。火墙拔地而起，锤石苍白无盖的头骨里回荡着狂笑。这声音在两人的脑袋里嗡嗡作响，那是一股深沉又原始的嗥叫。卢锡安在意念中看到那怪物把刀子深深地捅进了赛娜了喉咙。战斗只持续了几秒钟，锤石便已经赢了。Lucian didn’t even see his opponent before a razor whip sliced cleanly into his shoulder, knocking him from his mount and crippling his shooting arm. Senna leapt for her lover’s pistol, but she too was struck low by the devil’s power, walls of flame erupting from the earth as laughter echoed from his bleached, lidless skull. His voice rattled within their heads, a deep and primordial howl, and Lucian saw in his mind the beast sinking his blade deep into Senna’s throat. The fight had lasted only seconds, and already Thresh had won.这恶魔站在赛娜身边，古老的身体里逆着冷风迸出火焰。他从自己迎风招展的破烂大衣里摸出了一把犬牙交错的刀。在赶来锤石老巢的这一路上，卢锡安见过十几个镇子里铺满了被剥了皮的尸体，也见过堆成山的商队保镖尸身，都是不幸被锤石的恶念盯上的人。卢锡安早就——很早就做好了准备，让锤石拿走自己的性命。可是他不想让赛娜和一个年轻又愚蠢的枪手迎来同样的命运。The devil stood over Senna, flames within his ancient body twisting against the chill air, and he drew a jagged blade from somewhere inside of his ragged, billowing coat. Lucian had seen the skinned corpses of a dozen frontier towns on the way to Thresh’s den, and the piles of twitching muscle where unlucky wagon trains had drawn his hellish gaze. Lucian was prepared for the devil to take him, and always had been—but he would not let Senna share the fate of a young and foolish gunfighter.也许是因为无数年代里阴森又奢侈的屠杀之后，锤石感觉到了短暂的愉悦，所以他跟卢锡安提出了一笔交易。And perhaps, momentarily amused after so many years of dark, sumptuous slaughter, that was why Thresh offered him a deal.太简单了，卢锡安心想。这太容易接受了。Such a simple thing, Lucian had thought. So easy to accept.用他的灵魂来换女孩的命。His soul for the life of the girl.然后阴影就攫住了他。恨意和羞耻从年轻警官的心底浮上来，在赛娜乞求的眼光注视下，侵占了他的感官，腐蚀了他的肉体。交易已经接受，契约达成。卢锡安的视野渐渐变成了一片火海。他看到自己被派来猎杀的恶魔转向了赛娜毫无抵抗之力的身体，狞笑着挖出了她的心脏。

Then the shadow took hold, the hate and shame within the young marshal coming alive, hijacking his senses, his body corrupting before Senna’s pleading eyes. The bargain had been struck, the pact sealed. As Lucian’s vision turned to flame, he watched the monstrous devil he had been sent to hunt turn to Senna’s defenseless body—laughing hideously as he ripped out her heart.

几乎没有人清楚新伊甸的圣牧是什么来历，但有关他力量的传闻甚至在东部地区都有所耳闻。很多人都说他能够和死者对话，可是很少有人能涉险进入未知的西北蛮荒去亲自验证。出发前往新伊甸的人从没回来过——而现在，卢锡安站在附近的山顶看着脚下这块飞地时，终于知道了是为什么。

The holy reverend of New Eden was little known or understood, but the rumors of his supposed power had spread even as far as the eastern territories. A man who could speak with the dead, as many liked to say, though few did survive the pilgrimage into the unexplored northwest to see if the rumors were true. Those who struck out for New Eden never returned—and now, looking down upon the enclave from a nearby hill, Lucian understood why.

一座端庄的教堂，没有受到过元素的侵染和野兽的袭扰，不大，但朝气蓬勃。教堂周围生着茂密的谷物，还有看起来生机盎然的房屋。孩子们在土路上奔跑，人们从容地来来往往。这里没有魔鬼，没有外民，也没有蛇怪、巨人，更没有心怀不轨的匪帮——否则这里的每栋房子早就被洗劫一空了。这里明亮又整洁，只有在故事书里才会出现这样的地方。卢锡安不由得愣住了。他甚至怀疑自己是不是已经输掉了与魔鬼的决斗，而这就是他的奖赏。

Untouched by the elements and unspoiled by the beasts of the forest, the modest church commune was small and thriving, surrounded by bountiful crops and quaint homes that seemed to swell with life. Children ran across dirt roads as shopkeeps and townspeople passed peacefully by, far removed from demons and Outsiders, gorgons and giants, and the machinations of bandit clans that should have long ago picked every building clean. It was a place from a storybook, bright and clean. Lucian wondered for a moment if he had lost the duel with the demon already, and this was his reward.

他下了山，村民们都聚了过来，想要看看新来的客人。

He descended from the hill, and the villagers turned to see the newcomer in their midst.

“你是来找圣牧的吗？”一个非常年轻的男子问他。

“You’ve come to meet the holy reverend?” asked a fresh-faced young man.

卢锡安点点头。

Lucian nodded.

“那么陌生人，哈利路亚。”他笑着说。“你辛苦了。”

“Then hallelujah, stranger,” he smiled. “You’ve come home.”

在卢锡安的记忆里，没有任何一个镇子能媲美新伊甸的美景。一股新鲜出炉的面包香味飘进他的鼻子。街上的提琴手拉着乐曲，年轻的女孩随之翩翩起舞。蜜酒大屋里传出沁人心脾的歌声，丝毫没有沾染半点大西部的暴虐疯狂。他经过的人们纷纷向他致意，还给他食物和水，问他从哪儿来，又要往哪儿去。

No town in Lucian’s memory accurately compared to the sights of New Eden. A bakery filled his nostrils with the scent of fresh bread, as young women danced and fiddlers played in the street. Songs of salvation drifted from mead halls that had never for a moment known the Old West’s violent madness. Ordinary people greeted him as he passed by, offering him food and water, asking where he came from and where he was going.

身体里的魔鬼正在咆哮，但在光天化日之下卢锡安还可以压制得了。而且，这里有种力量让他平静下来。这种感觉他已经太久太久没有体会过了。

The demon raged inside him, but in the light of day Lucian could overpower it, control it. And there was something about this place that calmed him, in a way he hadn’t felt in a long, long time.

“这里没人害怕死亡。”有人说道。卢锡安转头看去，是一个慈祥的老人。他穿着朴素的教士袍，衰朽的眼睛里闪动着年轻的神采。“害怕死亡意味着害怕生命。我们对死亡很坦然，活着的时候才会毫不在意不知何时降临的结局。”

“No one fears death here,” someone spoke. Lucian turned to find a kindly old man, dressed in a modest preacher’s frock, possessing a youthful glint in his now-faded eyes. “A fear of death is a fear of life. We accept death for what it is, and live a life free from the snares of its uncertainty.”

卢锡安很喜欢老人说话的方式。他的语调柔和轻快，像吟唱一般。

Lucian liked the way the man spoke. His speech lilted softly, like a song.

“我不知道该不该信。”卢锡安说。

“I don’t know if I believe that,” replied Lucian.

老人笑了。“可以理解。”

The man smiled. “Of course.”

他信步向前走去。卢锡安跟在后面。

He continued on, walking in no particular direction. Lucian followed.

“我们生活在天使与魔鬼共存的土地上。每天我们都能看到他们的影响，有时好，有时坏，还有他们交手时所引发的灾祸。这个世界非常古老，但很多神灵依然健在，还在照看着他们的子民。哪怕是此刻。”

“We live in a land of angels and demons. We see their influence every day, for good or evil, and the calamities they wreak. The world is old, but many of our gods are still alive, watching over their progeny even now.”

他走向镇子中心，那里有一座如画般的教堂，白墙蓝瓦。整栋建筑整洁无瑕，就连彩玻璃窗都干干净净，隐隐散发着辉光。村民们络绎进出不绝，谈笑有加，孩子们绕膝欢闹。教堂简直就像是昨天刚刚建成一般。

He motioned to the center of town, where a picturesque church with white walls and a blue roof stood. The building was immaculate—even the stained glass windows seemed to glow, polished to a radiant sheen. Villagers milled in and out, talking and laughing, as children crowded around their legs. The building could have been erected yesterday.

“他们会赐福于忠诚的人。赐人以生命，赐人以爱。”

“And they bestow the faithful with many gifts. The gift of life, the gift of love.”

老人转向卢锡安，脸上挂着洞悉一切的微笑。

The man turned to Lucian, a knowing smile upon his face.

“以及死亡。”

“And the gift of death.”

卢锡安的耳畔传来一声异响——老人说“死亡”的时候，声音在他唇边化作词语的方式，像是在爱人耳边吐露了一个秘密。路上的行人突然静止，双眼紧闭犹如堕入梦境。等到古怪的韵律流经他们的身体之后，才重新睁开了眼帘。

Something rang curiously in Lucian’s ears. It was the way the man said death, the way the sound was shaped by his lips, much like a secret whispered to a lover. The passersby, too, had become still, their eyes closed as if dreaming, and they only opened them again when the odd melody had finished washing over them.

“等你准备好了，就到里面找我。”他说。“他们叫我卡尔萨斯牧师，我有很多东西要给你看。”

“Meet me inside, when you’re ready,” he said. “They call me Reverend Karthus, and I have so much I want to show you.”

教堂内部也很干净，一片雪白。条凳光洁，神台肃穆。卡尔萨斯驱散了教堂里的会众，而他们经过卢锡安身边时都投来了关爱的眼神。有人低声说了句“欢迎”，还有些人轻轻地鼓掌以示敬意。卢锡安觉得，新伊甸就像一个熟睡中的孩童，还没有醒来目睹过游荡在门外的怪物。它之所以能够存在，似乎得益于人们传言中卡尔萨斯的能力，不管是真是假。

The interior of the church was clean and white—its pews were polished, its pulpit modest. Karthus shooed the rest of his congregation outside, and they looked lovingly at Lucian as they passed. Some whispered a passing “welcome,” others clapped their hands together in quiet reverence. To Lucian, New Eden seemed to be a sleeping child that hadn’t yet awoken to the monsters in the world outside its door. The fact that it stood at all was testament to whatever powers Karthus claimed to possess, real or not.

在卢锡安内心深处，阴影发出了狂怒。他再次感到皮肤发痒，灵魂里某个黑暗的角落滋生出烈火。他嘴角歪斜，挤出一个无法抗拒的狞笑。但这次有些不一样——那东西害怕了，卢锡安不知道为什么。

Deep within Lucian, the shadow raged. He once again felt the itch beneath his skin, the flames bubbling up from some dark corner of his soul, and his mouth twisting into a forceful, mocking grin. But something was different—the creature was frightened, and Lucian couldn’t understand why.

“哎呀呀，”卡尔萨斯脸上仍然带着微笑。“现在可不是时候，对吧？”

“My, my,” Karthus spoke, a smile still crossing his face. “We can’t have that now, can we?”

牧师拿起一本外皮漆黑的小书，上面装饰着一把金色钥匙的纹样。他轻柔地一挥手，吐出几个含混的词语，魔鬼立时安静下来。卢锡安从来没有过这样的经历。魔鬼在他耳边低语，仿佛是行将熄灭的火焰发出的低沉呜咽。

The reverend picked up a small, black-bound book, emblazoned with the symbol of a golden key. With a gentle wave and some intangible words, the demon was suddenly silenced—but not before Lucian felt something else, something the creature had not done before. It whispered softly in his ear, the low and crackling whimper of a dying fire.

“他们是怪物。”

“They are monsters.”

“在天使与魔鬼共存的地方，我很好奇你最终的命运。”卡尔萨斯披上一条褪色的披肩，示意卢锡安在自己面前跪下。卢锡安惊讶地发觉自己竟然照做了。

“In a land of angels and demons, I wonder what you will become?” continued Karthus, resting a faded stole over his shoulders. The reverend then motioned for Lucian to kneel before him, and to Lucian’s surprise, he did.

“你为什么要战斗？你想获得什么？”

“Why do you fight this battle? What do you have to gain?”

卢锡安没有回答。光芒开始暗淡，新伊甸令人心怡的音乐逐渐变调成一支诡异的挽歌。卡尔萨斯缓缓点头，他的笑容变得更加灿烂，而卢锡安定定地注视着前方。身后的地面发出古怪的动静。这个声音他太熟悉了。

Lucian did not answer. The light had begun to fade, as New Eden’s hopeful music slowly twisted into a strange, lopsided dirge. Karthus nodded slowly, his smile widening, and Lucian kept his eyes locked ahead. A curious skittering echoed from the floorboards behind him. It was a sound he knew well.

“我们把大部分的自我都交付给了恐惧。”卡尔萨斯的声音变得更加深沉黑暗。“而你付出的是最多的。”

“We give so much of ourselves to fear,” spoke Karthus, his voice growing deeper and darker. “And you have given most of all.”

老人身边环绕起能量——蓝绿色的荧光大略勾勒出卢锡安曾经失去的伙伴，和他杀死过的东西。幻影绕着屋椽起舞，教堂现在已经变得老朽不堪，油漆剥落，显出了底下乌黑的霉迹。

Energies swirled about the old man—luminescent blues and greens in the rough shapes of friends Lucian had lost, things he had killed. They danced against the rafters of the now decrepit church, its paint peeling away to reveal black, moldering rot.

卢锡安感觉自己身后至少有十几个影子。有些四足着地，有些攀附在破败变形的条凳上，更多则在教堂外等待着。它们的人类伪装正在消融。卢锡安这才明白为什么这个镇子如此干净，为什么所有人看起来都这么和蔼可亲：他们根本就不是人。或许他们曾经是，但肯定已经死去很久了。

Lucian sensed the presence of at least a dozen shapes behind him. Some were crouched on all fours, others clambered softly over the warped and ruined pews, and still more waited outside the church, their human disguises melting away. Lucian now knew why the town lay untouched, why its people seemed so good and kind: they weren’t people at all. Or if they had been, they’d been dead a very long time.

卢锡安慢慢地摸向自己的手枪。

Lucian’s hands moved slowly towards his pistols.

圣牧握紧了带着金钥匙图案的书浮上了半空。他的祝祷词爆发成无数声音交叠在一起的狂乱吟唱：“死亡的冰河将净化我们的灵魂！我们破碎的精魂将还原如初，失去的一切也将归来！”

The reverend now loomed over him, lifting off the ground as he gripped the book with the golden key, his sermon exploding into a rapturous chorus of overlapping voices: “Our souls will be purified in the cool waters of death! Our broken spirits will be repaired, the things we lost shall be returned!”

卢锡安背后的东西向前爬来，垂涎欲滴，饥渴难耐。卡尔萨斯在污浊的空气中张开双臂，越升越高。卢锡安记忆里的影像在卡尔萨斯身边环绕，男男女女的死亡景象不断地重复。

The creatures behind Lucian crawled forward, slavering and starved, as Karthus floated ever upwards, his arms outstretched, ascending into the musty air. Images of Lucian’s past twirled all around him, men and women whose deaths played out again and again.

一个熟悉的声音灌进他的耳朵，像是一个词，但不确切。

A familiar voice brushed against his ear, almost a word, but not.

“你听到她了吗？”卡尔萨斯问。

“Do you hear her?” asked Karthus.

卢锡安仔细地听。

Lucian listened.

他听到鼠尾草折断，营火成灰，火柴划擦。这声音诉说着赛娜的死亡，还有卢锡安坠入绝望的经历。心如死灰的法警在大地上四处漫游，除了一个名字他什么都不在意，任何欢乐也与他无关。日子一天天过去，他的意志就会被邪恶啃去一点。内心的黑暗渴望着将他完全掌控。只要有一点重获安宁的可能，他就会尝试，不管有多么威胁或是愚蠢。

The sound was crackling sage, the ashes of a campfire, the striking of a match. It spoke of Senna’s death, and how Lucian had fallen into despair. For years the ruined marshal had wandered from place to place, dead in everything but name and emptied of all joy. As each day had passed, another small, cruel thing filled his mind, and the shadow had grown wild within him, his inner darkness yearning to seize control. Any offer of peace had to be investigated, no matter how dangerous or foolish.卢锡安听说有人能和死者对话，没有多问便上路了。他心里洪烈的恨意化成了一个影子，而他把自己拱手让出，让影子完全地占据了自己。Lucian had heard of a man who could speak with the dead, and gone without question. He had given himself to a shadow that took the shape of his own monstrous hatred, and allowed it to rule him utterly.卢锡安发现自己正独自面对着魔鬼——他离教堂很远，离新伊甸也很远。两者在一片月光照亮的花地上相对而立。卢锡安可以感觉到凉风拂过身体，远远地能看到高山上一座小镇的灯光，还有天空中低垂的月亮。魔鬼脚下的花朵烧焦卷曲，但它淡然地站着，面庞扭曲成一个熟悉的、饥渴的狞笑。Lucian found himself alone with the demon—away from the church, and far from the streets of New Eden. The two stood apart, facing one another, in a moonlit field of white flowers. Lucian could feel the cool air against his skin. He could see the distant lights of a town, high in the mountains, and the moon hanging low in the sky. Beneath the demon the flowers burned, but the creature stood calmly, its face twisted into a familiar, ravenous grin.卢锡安吸了口气。他的自我几乎已经完全交付给了影子——还有无情西部的幽灵，锤石。但他仍然保有着自己的灵魂。尽管已经半是腐朽，但这影子也是灵魂的一部分，是他自己的一部分。Lucian breathed. So much of himself had been lost to the shadow—to Thresh, and the spectre of the unforgiving west. But he still ruled his own soul, half-corrupted as it was, and the shadow was a part of it—a part of him.影子缓缓地走来，每踏出一步都会烧毁更多的花朵。It drew closer, slowly, each step burning more flowers away.卢锡安伸出了手，影子把自己炭化的胳膊放进他的手掌。它低声说：“你会将你的敌人投进烈火吗？”Lucian reached out his hand, and the shadow rested a charred limb upon it. It whispered: “Would you cast your enemies into the fire?”卢锡安沉默了。影子的触摸让他皮肤开裂，但他什么也没说。影子已经知道了他的回答。Lucian was silent. His skin crackled at the shadow’s touch, but he said nothing. It already had its answer.它灰化的身体与卢锡安的血肉开始融结，而它再次低语，这次变成了卢锡安自己的声音：“那我们就一起动手吧。”

It whispered once more, now in Lucian’s own voice, as its ashen body bonded with his mortal flesh: “Then we will go together.”

“你是否听到了自己失去的爱人？”卡尔萨斯颂唱道。

“Do you hear the love you have lost?” Karthus sang.

卢锡安抽出了手枪。“没有。”

Lucian drew his pistol. “No.”

他双臂伸长，化成了一对魔鬼铸造的地狱火炮，一道不洁的火焰洞穿了卡尔萨斯的额头。牧师的身体从半空中跌落，条凳上一个尸鬼尖叫着扑过来。卢锡安转身融进了阴影中。他一枪将那怪物杀灭，再一枪射向其余那些状若枯骨的贪婪怪物。提琴家、面包师、舞女和农夫们现在变得萎缩、扭曲又空洞。子弹在它们之间炸开，当下残肢横飞。同一时刻，人山人海的怪物从门口、窗户和教堂墙壁的裂缝中喷涌而出。新伊甸终于醒来了。

His arm elongated, stretching into the hellish cannon of the demon within him, and a ray of unholy flame ripped through Karthus’s forehead. As the preacher’s body fell, Lucian spun around, melting into shadow as a screaming ghoul leapt at him from one of the broken pews. He fired again, obliterating the creature, and launched a third shot into the crowd of its shriveled, wide-mouthed brethren—the fiddlers and bakers, dancers and farmers now shrunken, twisted, and hollow. The bullet exploded among them, blasting their bodies apart, and at once a swelling sea of horrors flowed in through the doors, windows, and broken cracks in the church’s ruined facade. New Eden had risen to greet him.

卢锡安将身体让给了影子。瀑布一样的火柱冲进了怪物群中，影子高举起双臂。魔鬼快乐地尖叫，与卢锡安自己的声音紧紧相合。地狱的烈火朝着每一个方向喷溅，而影子猛然冲上了半空。枪火穿透了教堂朽坏的四壁，掠过新伊甸遍地滋生的污秽，照亮了整个城镇。燃着的木片从天花板上瓢泼洒落。尸鬼们恐惧地尖叫，开始成群溃退，但是魔鬼的速度更快。它从崩溃的屋顶一跃而出来到了破烂失修的街道上，将炮火灌进怪物们大张的口中。

Lucian’s body gave way to the shadow, and it lifted its arms high as a stream of liquid fire tore through the crowd of monsters. The demon shrieked with joy, its voice melding with Lucian’s own, and it soared into the air as hellfire sprayed in every direction. Burning wood fell from the ceiling as shots tore outward through the church’s brittle walls and across the sprawling wastes of New Eden, setting the town alight. Ghouls shrieked in terror, their hordes turned to flee, but the demon was quick—springing through the crumbling roof and into the delipidated streets, firing the cannons of hell into the creatures’ still-open mouths.

这时，卢锡安遽然迸出，魔鬼的身躯应声炸裂化作灰雾。亡灵们四散逃窜，卢锡安将两把手枪拍在一起。枪身中铸进的魔法能量开始涌动，精细的纹路伸展延长，两根枪管迫不及待地融在一起。一束夺目的光芒从枪内喷薄而出，愤怒地撕裂了大地和无数尖叫着的亡灵。

Then, Lucian surged outwards from within the demon’s form, its body bursting into ashen mist. He clapped his pistols together as the undead hordes scattered in every direction. Artificial magics woven into the gunmetal bubbled, their intricate filigrees spiraling outward as the barrels hungrily fused. A concentrated beam of light surged from somewhere within them, cutting across the plains as screaming undead melted beneath its fury.

光芒一闪即逝。卢锡安环视四周，两把手枪也已经重新解开。

Soon the light faded, and the metal unwound itself as Lucian scanned his surroundings.

他在等待。身体里的影子现在安静了。废弃的房屋烈火熊熊，田地里满是腐败的谷物。不再有任何尸鬼出现了。卡尔萨斯的教堂坍塌下来，盖住了他的尸身。火焰正吞噬着每一寸他的邪恶魔法留下的残迹。不过卢锡安很肯定，从眼角的余光中他看到老传教士被一群新伊甸的居民们簇拥在中间，依然在微笑。着火的屋顶终于陷落，将他们彻底地掩埋起来。

He waited. The shadow within him was quiet now. No more ghouls lept from the burning, derelict homes, or rose from the beds of rotten crops. Karthus lay dead as his church collapsed around him, flames consuming even the memory of his fell magic. Though from the corner of his eye Lucian swore he could see the old preacher, grinning among a crowd of New Eden’s townsfolk, as the burning roof finally caved in over their heads.

卢锡安转身向着文明世界走去。影子跟在他身后不远处，展露出狞笑。

The former marshal turned back towards civilization and began to walk, the shadow grinning close behind.

他差一点儿就能和赛娜说上话了。就差一点儿。但卢锡安不再需要借助古老的仪式和咒语来安慰自己。他会再次见到自己的爱人，或是等着赛娜来与他相会，只要等到他入土那天。这才是一个名副其实的勇敢枪手理所应当的结局。在那之前，可怕的怪物仍然潜伏在黑暗中，人人自危地等待着魔鬼敲响他们的家门。

He’d been close to speaking with Senna again. Closer than he’d ever been. But Lucian no longer needed the comforts of old rituals and incantation—he would see his love once more, one way or another, the day he was lowered into the dirt. That was the rightful end of a true and valiant gunfighter. Until then, there were terrible things lurking in the darkness, which could only imagine the demon soon to knock upon their doors.

而在广袤的边境地带中，还有一个恶魔等着卢锡安亲自手刃。

Out there, somewhere in the wild expanses of the great frontier, Lucian had a devil to kill.