寻找不存在之人 In Pursuit of a Phantom

为了帮助胡桃而前往冒险家协会，却没想到她想要做的是往生堂的「业务拓展」。在谈及生死的话题上胡桃毫不避讳，虽然她自有一套道理，但你总觉得不太能接受。当你道出疑虑之后，胡桃却惊讶地解释道，「业务拓展」早已结束，现在要寻找一位名叫狼哥的人。 When you agreed to help Hu Tao and followed her to the Adventurers' Guild, you had

回往生堂向老孟了解情况 Talk to Meng at Wangsheng Funeral Parlor and find out what happened

胡桃：老孟，我回来啦！很遗憾，还是没找到狼哥。

Hu Tao：Meng, I'm back! I'm afraid we're still no closer to finding Big G.

老孟：这样啊，那就麻烦了。我们能猜到的地方，算是都找过了一遍了…

Meng：I see. Well, I'm just sorry for the trouble. We've already searched in all the likely places...

派蒙：狼哥到底是谁啊？

Paimon：Who is this Big G anyway?

老孟：我还是从头开始解释吧。我的老家就在无妄坡附近，小时候，我有几个玩得很好的朋友。

Meng：I guess I should start at the beginning. My home was in the vicinity of Wuwang Hill. In my youth, I had a good many friends there.

老孟：狼哥，就是其中之一，和我关系特别好，形影不离。可是，某一天因为意外，他不幸去世了。

Meng：Big G was one of them. We were the best of friends, inseparable really. But one day there was an accident, and that was the end of him.

老孟：我总是忘不了这件事，可能因为我是个特别恋旧的人吧，所以我现在也经常回无妄坡看看。

Meng：I've never forgotten... Too many memories, I suppose. I often return to Wuwang Hill.

老孟：但就在前段时间我从无妄坡回来之后，我就觉得很不舒服，而且每天晚上的梦里，狼哥都会出现。

Meng：But recently, after one such visit, I started to feel strange. Now, every night, Big G appears in my dreams.

老孟：我就觉得，是不是我惊动了他？

Meng：I can't help but wonder, did I disturb him somehow?

【选项1】

旅行者：听着很像幻想故事。

Traveler: Sounds like a tall story.

【选项2】

旅行者：这种事不存在吧。

Traveler: That kind of thing doesn't happen.

老孟：可能吧，虽然我没有证据，但我怎么都放心不下来，越想越担心。

Meng：Perhaps. I don't have proof, but I can't stop worrying. I get more anxious every day.

老孟：想到孩提时代的友人，有可能变成了恶鬼，这种事怎么能接受啊？

Meng：How would I ever come to terms with my childhood friend becoming an evil spirit?

胡桃：他就是因为这个原因，才加入的往生堂。拜这件事所赐，我也不用给他付工钱。

Hu Tao：That's why he joined Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. In place of a salary, I'm helping him deal with this matter.

胡桃：不过，老孟说的这种事是有可能的，因为确实时不时就会有鬼灵在现世游荡。

Hu Tao：And in fact, what Meng has said is entirely plausible. Spirits, on occasion, do find a way into our world.

胡桃：但恶鬼什么的，纯粹就是自己吓唬自己了，我自己都没有碰到过几次恶鬼呢。

Hu Tao：But as for evil spirits, I think you're scaring yourself. Even I have only encountered malevolent forces a handful of times.

老孟：可是，这也不能证明狼哥的事没有危险，我真的很不想看到他去到处害人。

Meng：But are you sure there's no danger? I couldn't bear for him to go around harming people.

胡桃：你们看，就是这样，如果不能把狼哥找出来的话，我说什么老孟都听不进去。

Hu Tao：You see what I mean? Look at the state of him. If we can't find Big G, it'll eat away at Meng forever.

胡桃：刚刚我们找的那几个人，同样也是老孟的童年好友，本来以为狼哥会藏在他们那里，结果又扑了个空。

Hu Tao：Those people we found today were also Meng's childhood friends. I thought there was a good chance Big G might have hidden among them. But here we are, empty-handed.

老孟：无妄坡附近也找了，以前的朋友也找了，这下线索是彻底断了…

Meng：Wuwang Hill, childhood friends... Seems like we're out of leads...

？？？：抱歉，抱歉，请问你们是往生堂的人吗？

???：Sorry, excuse me, is this Wangsheng Funeral Parlor?

洛成：我叫洛成，我最近感觉很不对劲，感觉有什么东西在盯着我。

Luocheng：My name's Luocheng. I've had this awful feeling recently, like something's staring at me.

洛成：前几天我和朋友去无妄坡试胆，回来之后我就病倒了，每天都做噩梦，找医生也诊断不出毛病。

Luocheng：Some of my friends and I went to Wuwang Hill the other day on a dare. After I returned home, I fell ill... I've been having recurring nightmares, but the doctors can't find anything wrong with me.

洛成：我这样，肯定是被诅咒了对吧！被魔神诅咒了！

Luocheng：I think that... it's a curse, right? I've been cursed by a demon!

胡桃：对对对，嗯，是的，魔神诅咒，可严重了。

Hu Tao：Say no more. There's no doubt, it's a demonic curse alright — and a serious one at that.

洛成：你也知道对吧！就是那个，传说中在魔神战争中死去的魔神，对世间降下的痛苦诅咒。

Luocheng：You believe so too!? Then it's just like they say in the tales of old... The vengeful spirits of the gods who fell in the Archon War return to cast their evil curses upon mortals...

洛成：只要无法驱逐这种诅咒，最后就会烧穿五脏，骨肉分离，下场非常凄惨！

Luocheng：And if the curse isn't lifted, it will burn through the body, laying waste to flesh and bone! Oh, what a wretched end!

洛成：传说里中了这种诅咒的症状，跟我现在简直是一模一样！

Luocheng：The symptoms I'm having are just like those described in the tales!

老孟：无妄坡，诅咒…不对，应该不是诅咒，多半是因为狼哥…

Meng：Wuwang Hill? Hmm... No, I don't think it was a curse, it was probably just Big G—

胡桃：唉，停一下停一下，你们两个，都就此打住，别再自说自话了。

Hu Tao：Hold your horses, both of you. There's no need to creep each other out.

派蒙：你才是最喜欢自说自话的人吧。

Paimon：Isn't that exactly what you like to do, though?

洛成：往生堂擅长解决这种鬼怪和魔神的事吧！能不能帮帮我！我还不想死！

Luocheng：Wangsheng Funeral Parlor specializes in demonic stuff like this, right? Help me, I beg you! I'm too young to die!

胡桃：好啊，没问题，交给我吧，找我是找对人了。

Hu Tao：Alright alright, don't panic. Leave it to me, you've come to the right person.

胡桃：不过要解除诅咒需要一个合适的场地，还要提前做一点准备。

Hu Tao：However, in order to lift the curse, we need a suitable location... and we need to make some preparations.

胡桃：新来的，我需要你帮我，跟我一起去吧。

Hu Tao：Come with me, my trusty assistants. I'm going to need your help.

老孟：那、那我也一起去…

Meng：I—I guess I'll come too...

胡桃：你先帮他做一下准备。焚香驱邪那一套，我教过你的。

Hu Tao：Help him make the preparations first. The incense exorcism, the one I taught you.

胡桃：做完准备工作来找我。等这头忙完，我们再讨论狼哥的事。

Hu Tao：When you're ready, come and find me. Once we've finished with this, we'll get back to the Big G matter.

老孟：好吧，只能这样了。

Meng：Okay, I guess.

胡桃：那，我们走吧。

Hu Tao：Right, let's go.

前往驱咒地点 Go to the exorcism site

派蒙：所以，神神秘秘的，到底要做什么啊？

Paimon：So... what mysterious rituals are you gonna perform here?

胡桃：什么都不做，在这儿等着。

Hu Tao：No ritual at all. We just need to kill some time.

派蒙：欸？！

Paimon：Eh!?

胡桃：你不会把什么魔神诅咒的说法当真了吧？那种东西，早就被扑灭喽！

Hu Tao：Wait, you didn't take all that vengeful god's curse stuff seriously, did you? They were eradicated ages ago!

旅行者：那我们为什么要到这里来？

Traveler：So why are we here?

胡桃：你也看到那两个人了，一个觉得自己被诅咒，一个觉得挚友变成了恶鬼，都不好好听别人说话。

Hu Tao：You saw those two. One thinks he's been cursed, the other one believes his friend's turned into an evil spirit. It's hard to reason with them.

胡桃：唉，所以我说，普通人什么都不知道才是最好的。

Hu Tao：sigh Now you see why I believe that ordinary folks should be kept in the dark...

胡桃：为这种事情绪失控的人，我见得太多了。想让人平静下来，必须让他们看到令人信服的东西。

Hu Tao：I've seen too many people lose their senses on account of things like this. If you want to calm them down, you need to convince them with something tangible.

胡桃：面对相信鬼怪的人，就该当着他们的面消灭鬼怪。

Hu Tao：And the best way to do that is to make a great show of destroying the bogeyman they believe in before their very eyes.

派蒙：唔…这话听起来像哄三岁小孩的把戏…

Paimon：Uh... Sounds like that might work if you were trying to cheer up a three-year-old...

【选项1】

旅行者：让普通人知晓一切或许更好？

Traveler: Isn't it better to tell people the truth?

派蒙：对哦，如果说恐惧来源于未知的话。

Paimon：You're onto something. After all, we're only afraid of what we don't know.

【选项2】

旅行者：派蒙今年几岁？

Traveler: How old are you, Paimon?

派蒙：为什么突然问这个！

Paimon：Why would you ask that!?

派蒙：我更关心为什么不能直接告诉大家真相！

Paimon：Paimon just wants to know why we can't tell everyone the truth!

胡桃：因为没有人能保证，把真相告诉无知之人，就能让现状变好而不是变糟。

Hu Tao：Because you can't guarantee that telling an ignorant person the truth will improve the situation instead of exacerbating it.

胡桃：我要将靠近「边界」的人拉回去。既然是心理作用，就对症下药，当成心理作用来处理好了。

Hu Tao：What I can do is pretend to pull back anyone who believes their time is nigh. But, since the curse is imaginary, our fix will also be make-believe.

派蒙：倒是有点道理…那，诅咒的事又怎么说？

Paimon：Makes sense, but... why would anyone believe that it's a curse?

胡桃：这个嘛，你们听说过「夜叉」的历史吗？

Hu Tao：Do you know the history of the Yaksha?

【选项1】

旅行者：没听过。

Traveler: Haven't heard about it.

【选项2】

旅行者：了解一点。

Traveler: I know just some bits and pieces.

胡桃：他们曾经和魔神作战，打得眼花缭乱、昏天黑地。虽然魔神最后被击败，但它们的怨念久久不散。

Hu Tao：They once fought against the ancient gods. They fought brilliantly in a battle that engulfed the whole world in darkness. Although the gods were defeated in the end, their resentment persevered.

胡桃：有怨念化为瘟疫，在普通人之间传播开来，惶恐的人们都以为那是「魔神降下的诅咒」。

Hu Tao：That resentment turned into a pestilence spreading amongst the ordinary folk. Hysteric people mistook it for "the curse of the gods."

胡桃：很多人被瘟疫夺去了性命，而这种瘟疫又以死去的人为温床，继续扩散。

Hu Tao：The plague took the lives of many, which only furthered its spread, as the dead were a breeding ground for the disease.

胡桃：后来有人发现了阻止瘟疫扩散的方法：净化空气，焚烧尸骸。而第一批开始做这种事的人，就是「往生堂」最初的创立者了。

Hu Tao：Then, someone discovered how to prevent it from spreading: purify the air and burn the bodies of the deceased. The pioneers of these practices were, you guessed it, the founders of the Wangsheng Funeral Parlor.

派蒙：原、原来是这样吗？

Paimon：...Paimon didn't see that coming. Really?

胡桃：嗯，在那之后又过了许多年，那一场瘟疫终于被完全扑灭了。

Hu Tao：Yes. Anyway, it took many years, but eventually the plague was completely eradicated.

胡桃：类似的事件，历史上「往生堂」处理过很多次，最后的结果，都是让璃月的生死重新回到某种平衡。

Hu Tao：We've dealt with similar phenomena multiple times throughout the ages. Each time, we successfully restore the balance between life and death.

胡桃：简而言之，我们就像是「看门人」，不仅帮普通人看门，也帮不是人的东西看门，嘿嘿。

Hu Tao：To sum it up, we are "gatekeepers," guarding the border for the sake of both the living and the dead, hehe.

【选项1】

旅行者：这就是「维护生死的边界」吗？

Traveler: That's what you meant by "guarding the border"?

【选项2】

旅行者：没想到还源远流长。

Traveler: Never knew Wangsheng had such a long history.

胡桃：所以，「诅咒」只是心理作用，这我比谁都要清楚。但曾经存在这种事，也是不能告诉普通人的。

Hu Tao：So when I say this "curse" is just a figment of the imagination, I say it with more certainty than most. But I also can't really go telling people that the ancient plagues were real, or it would incite panic.

胡桃：我们稍微等一等吧，等会儿就用这个地脉镇石，演一出好戏。

Hu Tao：Anyway, let's wait a bit more and get ready for the show. This Ley Line Monolith will make for a really great prop.

你们等待了一段时间之后…

You wait for a while...

胡桃：终于来了，我们也刚刚准备好。

Hu Tao：Ah, you're finally here! We just finished our preparations.

胡桃：看，这就是用来驱邪的特殊装置，可以把诅咒从你的体内吸引出来，再具象化。

Hu Tao：Now, look here. This device is used to drive away evil spirits. It'll absorb the curse inside you and cause it to take a physical form.

胡桃：不用担心会有危险，因为这边的旅行者是身经百战的。

Hu Tao：But don't worry, the Traveler here is a seasoned warrior and will assure our safety.

【选项1】

旅行者：果然是我。

Traveler: Doing the dirty work again...

【选项2】

旅行者：我可没听说过要战斗。

Traveler: You failed to mention we'd need to fight.

胡桃：哦哦，对哦，忘记说了，哈哈，但是无所谓吧。

Hu Tao：Oh, right. I forgot to tell you, haha! It'll be fine.

洛成：这样真的就没问题了吗？

Luocheng：Will that really solve my problem?

老孟：相信堂主吧，虽然人看上去有点奇怪，但她做事是很认真的。

Meng：Trust the director. She might look like a weirdo, but she's serious about everything she does.

胡桃：喂，怎么能用「奇怪」来形容我呀？至少也该是天真烂漫、不拘一格吧！

Hu Tao：Ugh, how can you call me a weirdo? I mean, wouldn't you say it's more... charmingly naive? Or... disarmingly different?

胡桃：总之，速速开工！新来的，去启动装置。

Hu Tao：Alright, let's get down to business! My glamorous assistant, please activate the device!

守护地脉镇石，击退敌人 Protect the Ley Line Monolith and fend off the enemies

听胡桃对洛成讲述诅咒真相 Listen as Hu Tao tells Luocheng the truth about the exorcism

胡桃：怎么样，是不是觉得诅咒全都被驱散了？

Hu Tao：How are you feeling? Did the curse leave your body?

洛成：对，前所未有的舒畅！是健康的感觉！

Luocheng：Yes, I feel more invigorated than ever before! I'm cured!

洛成：非常谢谢你，还有这位旅行者！不然我可能就真的因为诅咒暴毙了。

Luocheng：I can't express how grateful I am for your and the Traveler's help! If it hadn't been for you, the curse would've taken my life.

胡桃：那，我现在就可以告诉你了——

Hu Tao：Ah, great! In which case, I guess now I can tell you...

胡桃：锵锵！你被骗了！

Hu Tao：fanfare You've been pranked!

洛成：欸？怎、怎么了？

Luocheng：Eh? Wh—What?

胡桃：这个东西，一般人接触不到，但其实就是普通的地脉镇石啦，它很容易吸引怪物过来。

Hu Tao：This exorcism device? People like you wouldn't recognize it, but it's just an old Ley Line Monolith, deceptively effective at attracting monsters.

胡桃：那些怪物也根本就不是什么诅咒的具象化，就是真正的怪物。

Hu Tao：And those were real monsters, not a manifestation of your curse.

胡桃：那就奇怪了，明明我什么都没做，你却感觉完全没事了，那说明什么呢？

Hu Tao：So riddle me this: If I didn't do anything to lift the curse, then what's the cause of your sudden recovery?

洛成：这、这个…难道，其实我没有被诅咒？

Luocheng：The curse... wasn't real?

洛成：可是，那我为什么会生病呢？

Luocheng：...Then why was I sick?

胡桃：着凉了，吃了坏掉的东西，或者自己吓唬自己，都有可能…我倾向最后一种，是我这里的常见病哦。

Hu Tao：You caught a cold, ate something bad, or just scared yourself sick, it's anyone's guess... but I'm leaning towards the last option. It wouldn't be the first time in my career.

老孟：没想到是这样…

Meng：How unexpected...

洛成：我也没想到，但…总之还是要谢谢你。

Luocheng：I also didn't expect that, but still... I'd like to thank you.

胡桃：道谢就不必了，以后不要这么疑神疑鬼的，我也不是每次都能找到合适的方法安慰你。

Hu Tao：Don't mention it. I found a way to deal with your fears this time, but I can't do it over and over again, so I'd appreciate it if you try not to give in to superstitions in the future.

胡桃：人这一辈子这么短，趁着还活着抓紧时间好好享受生活。

Hu Tao：Human life is short. Enjoy it while it lasts.

洛成：这话怎么听着…有点怪。

Luocheng：Wow, I... What a weird thing to say.

洛成：那、那我先走了，抱歉给你们添麻烦。

Luocheng：I—I shall head back. I'm sorry for troubling you.

老孟：看来不是狼哥干的，我稍微安心了一点。可是，只要狼哥没有下落，就不能阻止他乱来…

Meng：I feel relieved to see that it wasn't Big G's doing. However, unless he crosses the border, there will be no end to his antics.

老孟：既然这件事已经解决了，我们是不是可以继续去找狼哥了？

Meng：Since we are done with the matter at hand, can we resume our search for Big G?

胡桃：我觉得，应该没这个必要。

Hu Tao：I believe that won't be needed.

胡桃：因为要找的人已经主动上门来了。

Hu Tao：He found us first.

老孟：狼、狼哥——？！

Meng：Big G!?

狼哥：那、那个…抱歉，打扰你，还有你们了…

Big G：U—Um... I didn't mean to bother you... Any of you...

派蒙：他就是狼哥？为什么是个小孩子？！

Paimon：This is Big G? He's just a child!

胡桃：因为是幽灵嘛，理所当然地保持着他当年的样子。

Hu Tao：Well, he is a spirit. It's quite normal that he looks just like he did when he left this world.

派蒙：呃，和「狼哥」这个名字给我留下的印象不太一样呢。

Paimon：Umm, that's not what Paimon imagined when Paimon first heard the name "Big G."

胡桃：先带他回往生堂再说。接下来还有不少事要做。

Hu Tao：Let's bring him back to Wangsheng Funeral Parlor. We have much to do.