Chapter 8

Chapter 8 THE END CITY: COME FOR THE SIGHTS. STAY BECAUSE YOURE TRAPPED. FOREVER! Ash tried to hide it, but she was worried. Very worried. She'd always been pretty good at keeping track of the group's inventory. Even with everything split up among them, she usually had a rough idea of how many arrows, apples, and torches they had left. Right now, they didn't have much. The dungeon delve had pushed them to their limits. They hadn't worried about it too much, because they had assumed they'd be able to resupply when they were back on the surface.

第八章末世之城：来看看风景。 留下来，因为你被困住了。 永远!艾什试图隐瞒，但她很担心。 非常担心。她一直很擅长记录小组的存货。 即使把所有的东西都分给了他们，她通常也能大致知道他们还剩下多少箭、苹果和火把。 现在，他们没有太多。 地牢探险把他们逼到了极限。 他们并没有太过担心，因为他们以为回到地面后就能进行补给。

So much for that. She stood now in the shadow of their old castle and watched Morgan try to gnaw on a piece of cooked fish. "It's not working," he said, putting the fillet back into his inventory. "I can't eat. And that means I can't heal the damage I took from the skeleton's arrow." That isn't good, Ash thought. It isn't good at all. But out loud, she said, "That's okay. WE'LL JUST HAVE TO BE REALLY CAREFUL." She closed her eyes and pulled up her own status bar. Her health was full, but her hunger meter was not. When that meter ran out, she'd start taking damage. It was the same for all of them. They still didn't know what would happen if one of them ran out of health here. Ash really didn't want to find out. "And you're sure we can't go to Theo?" she asked Harper. "I STILL THINK A PROGRAMMER COULD HELP." "Maybe a programmer could help," said Harper. "But we can't risk asking him. Not until we know what he's hiding."

到此为止。她现在站在他们古老城堡的阴影里，看着摩根试着咬一块煮熟的鱼。 “不管用，”他说着，把鱼片放回了库存中。 “我吃不下。这就意味着我无法治愈骷髅之箭给我造成的伤害。” 这可不妙，艾什想。 一点都不好。但她大声说：“没关系。 我们必须非常小心。” 她闭上眼睛，打开自己的状态栏。 她的身体很健康，但她的饥饿计却不是。 当计价器用完时，她就会开始受到伤害。 对所有人来说都是一样的。 他们仍然不知道如果他们中的一个在这里耗尽了健康会发生什么。 阿什真的不想知道。 “你确定我们不能去找西奥？”她问哈珀。 “我还是觉得程序员能帮上忙。” “也许程序员能帮上忙，”哈珀说。 “但我们不能冒险去问他。 除非我们知道他在隐瞒什么。”

By then, Ash thought, it might be too late. But out loud, she said, "All right, Harper. It's your call, and I trust you." Despite low health and mostly unusable items in their inventories, they set out for the block tower in the distance. It was still raining. With each step, Ash felt gloomier. It would have been smarter to tunnel through the great hill so they could reach the tower without being easily seen. But that wasn't an option. They had precious few options left to them. What could they do except walk up to the tower and step through its front door? Ash recognized the tower as an End City a structure typically found in another dimension entirely. Putting the tower square in the middle of the Overworld was just the latest example of the Evoker King's flaunting his powers. She would have call it arrogance…except his powers were very impressive. They came upon a waterfall, and Ash gasped at the sight. The blocks of water had stopped mid-fall.

到那时，艾什想，可能就太晚了。 但她大声说：“好吧，哈珀。 这是你的决定，我相信你。” 尽管他们的生命值很低，而且他们的库存中大多是无法使用的物品，但他们还是向远处的方块塔出发了。 天还在下雨。每走一步，阿什就感到更沮丧。 更聪明的办法是挖地道穿过大山，这样他们就能不被人发现地到达塔楼。 但这不是一个选择。 他们没有多少选择余地了。 除了走到塔顶，从它的正门进去，他们还能做什么呢？ 阿什认出这座塔是末地城，一个完全存在于另一个维度的建筑。 把高塔广场放在上面世界的中央只是Evoker国王炫耀他的力量的最新例子。 她会说这是傲慢……但他的能力令人印象深刻。 他们来到了一个瀑布前，阿什被眼前的景象吓得倒吸了一口气。 一片片的水在秋天中期停止了。

It was like a 3D sculpture of a waterfall— utterly still and silent. There was something especially eerie about seeing the water blocks stuck in place while rain still fell from the sky. The silence was interrupted by the sound of honking. Ash turned to see a villager walking across the grassy field. His movements were erratic. "He's a little far from home," said Po. "The nearest village is a good long walk from here." "He seems a little…off," said Harper.

它就像一个瀑布的3D雕塑——完全静止和沉默。 看到水块粘在原地，而雨仍然从天上落下，这是一件特别诡异的事情。 寂静被喇叭声打破了。 阿什转过身来，看见一个村民正穿过草地。 他的动作不稳定。 “他离家有点远，”阿宝说。 “离这儿最近的村庄也要走好长一段路。” “他好像有点……不正常。”

Ash thought Harper was right. The villager was wandering aimlessly rather than going anywhere in particular. Even his honking sounded confused and desperate. "Poor guy," said Jodi. "Maybe he's a farmer who just discovered he can't harvest his crop. Maybe he can't even get his front door open. He must be so confused!" They all watched as the villager staggered out of view. Then they resumed their journey. The End City grew larger as they drew nearer.

阿什认为哈珀是对的。 这个村民漫无目的地闲逛，没有去什么特别的地方。 就连他的喇叭声听起来也很困惑和绝望。 “可怜的家伙，”乔迪说。“也许他是一个刚刚发现自己无法收获庄稼的农民。 也许他连前门都打不开。 他一定很困惑！”他们都看着那个村民摇摇晃晃地消失了。 然后他们继续他们的旅程。 他们越靠近末堡城，城就越大。

There was another sound, which Ash recognized as clucking. Sure enough, a chicken came into view as it walked atop a nearby hill. It was followed by a cute, blocky chick. Jodi took a big step back. "Are you all right, Jodi?" asked Ash. "I don't think I've ever seen you step away from an animal before." "Other than spiders!" said Po. Jodi frowned. "I'm just afraid a lightning bolt is going to turn that chicken into a razor-beaked attack skeleton," Jodi said. "You know…the usual." The chicken didn't transform, however. It led its chick over the hill and out of sight. "That little chick will never grow up," said Morgan. "And the mama chicken will never lay another egg."

还有另一种声音，阿什听出是咯咯声。 果然，一只小鸡走在附近的山顶上，进入了人们的视野。 后面跟着一只可爱的胖胖的小鸡。 乔迪后退了一大步。 “你没事吧，乔迪？”阿什问。 “我想我以前从来没见过你离开动物。” “除了蜘蛛！”阿宝说。 乔迪•皱起了眉头。乔迪说：“我只是担心闪电会把那只鸡变成一具锋利的攻击骨架。” “你知道……还是老样子。”然而，这只鸡并没有变形。 它带着小企鹅翻过小山，消失在人们的视线之外。 “那只小鸡永远长不大，”摩根说。 “而且鸡妈妈再也不会下蛋了。”