Chapter 9

Chapter 9 STRAIGHT INTO THE SPIDER'S WEB! WHAT COULD GO WRONG? PROBABLY NOTHING-EXCEPT A GIANT SPIDER! Despite the unresolved disagreements from their lunchtime meeting, Theo and the others all agreed to return to Minecraft as soon as possible. The moment the end-of-day bell rang, they hurried to the library and put on their VR headsets. They spawned in the village. Theo had hoped to find the villagers back where they belonged. But the houses remained empty. The streets were silent. That meant the villagers were still underground. And the kids had no choice but to follow them. "Let's cut down some trees first," said Harper. "We're going through a lot of torches down there."

第九章直接掉进蜘蛛网里！会出什么问题呢？ 可能什么都没有——除了一只巨大的蜘蛛！尽管他们在午餐会议上存在未解决的分歧，Theo和其他人都同意尽快回到Minecraft。 下课铃声一响，他们就匆匆赶到图书馆，戴上虚拟现实头盔。 他们在村里产卵。 西奥希望村民们能回到属于他们的地方。 但这些房子仍然空无一人。 街上一片寂静。这意味着村民们还在地下。 孩子们别无选择，只能跟着他们。 “我们先砍几棵树吧，”哈珀说。 “我们在那里经历了很多火炬。”

As they climbed back down the hole that Theo had cut through the earth, he readied his sword and thought back to the last major foe they'd faced. They'd called it the Endermonster, and they had not been able to defeat it by fighting it. Instead, they'd trapped the mob in a pit, and then Theo had talked to it—connected with it. He'd made it understand that they meant no harm. Would their conflict with this strange spider work similarly? "I THINK WE SHOULD TRY TO TRAP THE SPIDER," he said. "Like we did with the

当他们爬下西奥在地上挖的洞时，他准备好了剑，回想起他们面对的最后一个主要敌人。 他们称它为末底怪，他们无法通过与它战斗来击败它。 相反，他们把暴徒困在一个坑里，然后西奥和他们交谈——和他们联系。 他让它明白，他们没有恶意。 它们与这只奇怪的蜘蛛的冲突是否也会起同样的作用？ “我想我们应该设法捉住蜘蛛，”他说。 “就像我们做的那样

Endermonster. That way, we can maybe find out what it wants…without hurting it." Theo remembered the other lesson he'd learned on that adventure: how to be a team player. "That's just my idea," he added. "What do you all think?" "It makes sense to me," said Harper. "Do you want to get it to chase us?" asked Jodi. Theo nodded. "AND WE'LL LEAD THE MOB RIGHT INTO A WAITING PIT." "I bet it'll be even easier with the spider," said Po. "At least it can't teleport!" "But we'll be running through the fog, if it's chasing us," Morgan reminded them. "I think it's a good plan, Theo. We'll just need to be careful." They descended to the dripstone cavern where they'd mined for materials the day before. "The villagers must have come through here," said Theo. "I didn't see any other paths the entire way down." "We came from that direction the other day," said Harper, pointing. "AND WE KNOW THAT'S A DERD END, SINCE WE BLOCKED THE TUNNEL WITH COBELESTONE." "So it's that way," said Morgan, pointing at the only other exit from the cavern. "They had to have gone through there."

Endermonster。这样，我们也许可以在不伤害它的情况下，找出它想要什么。” 西奥还记得他在那次冒险中学到的另一课：如何成为一名团队成员。 “这只是我的想法，”他补充说。 “你们怎么想？”“这对我来说很有意义，”哈珀说。 “你想让它追我们吗？”乔迪问。 西奥点点头。“我们会把暴徒引到一个等待的坑里。” “我打赌有蜘蛛会更容易，”阿宝说。 “至少它不能瞬间传送！”“但如果它在追我们，我们就要在雾中奔跑了。”摩根提醒他们。 “我认为这是个好计划，西奥。 我们只需要小心点。” 他们下到前一天开采原料的滴石洞。 “村民们一定是从这里经过的。”西奥说。 “在整个下山过程中，我没有看到任何其他路径。” “那天我们从那个方向来的。”哈珀指着说。 “我们知道这是一个尽头，因为我们用鹅卵石堵住了隧道。” “原来是那条路。”摩根指着洞穴里唯一的另一个出口说。 “他们一定是从那里经过的。”

Theo gulped. It was easy to be brave when they were just talking about a plan. But now, as the dark pressed closer to them and their encounter with the spider drew near…he felt a trickle of fear run through his avatar. HARPER STEPPED INTO THE MIDDLE OF THE CAVERN, AND SHE PULLED A PICKAXE FROM HER INVENTORY. "Spiders can jump, so we need a pretty deep hole this time," she said. "I'd better free some space in my inventory for all the dirt we're going to kick up," said Po. He jabbed a couple of glowing "Vote for Po" signs into the ground. "How many of those things did he make?" asked Theo to no one in particular. Harper sighed, then forced a smile. "LET'S START DIGGING," she said. The pit had been dug, and Theo crept along a tunnel toward the spider. The tunnel was two blocks wide, so there was just enough room for two of them to walk side by side. Theo was in the lead with Harper. They'd agreed not to use too many torches. They didn't want the spider to see them coming.

西奥一饮而尽。当他们只是在谈论一个计划时，很容易勇敢起来。 但现在，随着黑暗向他们逼近，他们与蜘蛛的相遇越来越近……他感到一丝恐惧涌上了他的化身。 哈珀走进洞穴中央，从她的物品清单里拿出一把鹤嘴锄。 “蜘蛛会跳，所以这次我们需要一个相当深的洞，”她说。 阿宝说：“我最好在我的库存中腾出一些空间来存放我们将要踢起的所有污垢。” 他把两个发光的“投阿宝一票”的牌子戳到地上。 “他做了多少这样的东西？”西奥没有特别问任何人。 哈珀叹了口气，然后勉强挤出一个微笑。 “我们开始挖吧，”她说。 坑已经挖好了，西奥沿着一条隧道向蜘蛛爬去。 隧道有两个街区宽，所以只有足够的空间让他们两人并肩行走。 西奥和哈珀领先。 他们同意不使用太多火把。 他们不想让蜘蛛看到他们来了。

But it was dark. Theo walked with one hand in front of him so he wouldn't bump into anything. He didn't even realize that the tunnel had begun to fill with mist until Harper pointed it out. "We must be getting close," she whispered. And then, suddenly, she gripped him and pulled him back. The spider was directly ahead of them, standing in the middle of a large cavern. The only light came from the slight bluish glow of two small ponds. Theo guessed there were glow squids in those pools. He squinted and saw axolotls swimming alongside them. Those aquatic creatures were not the only mobs present. The spider was surrounded by red-eyed villagers, sheep, rabbits, and more. Theo saw a llama, and he was pretty sure it was the same llama that had attacked Jodi. As for the villagers, they seemed to be treating the spider like a king. They offered it fresh-baked bread and emeralds. Theo half expected to see them massage the mob's eight big block feet next!

但是天很黑。西奥走路时一只手放在前面，这样他就不会撞到任何东西。 他甚至没有意识到隧道已经开始充满了雾，直到哈珀指出来。 “我们一定快到了。”她低声说。 然后，突然，她抓住他，把他拉了回来。 蜘蛛就在他们正前方，站在一个大洞穴的中央。 唯一的光亮来自两个小池塘发出的淡淡的蓝光。 西奥猜那些池子里有发光乌贼。 他眯起眼睛，看见蝾螈在他们身边游来游去。 这些水生生物并不是在场的唯一生物。 蜘蛛周围有红眼的村民、绵羊、兔子等等。 西奥看到了一只羊驼，他很确定这就是袭击乔迪的那只羊驼。 至于村民们，他们似乎把蜘蛛当国王一样对待。 他们给它新鲜出炉的面包和绿宝石。 西奥还以为接下来会看到他们按摩暴徒的八只大脚呢！

"Po was right. IT IS BUILDING AN ARMY," Theo whispered. "I don't know," whispered Harper. "They all seem sort of…peaceful. They look more like worshippers or servants than soldiers." "This doesn't change anything," whispered Morgan. "Our plan's still a good one. PO, DO YOU WANT TO DO THE HONORS?" Po smiled. "You know I do." "Then make some noise," said Morgan. Po stepped in front of Theo and cleared his throat. Then he yelled at the top of his lungs: "VOTE FOR PO!!" The spider snapped to attention. The large mob hissed, lifting one of its long legs and pointing right at

阿宝说得对。“它正在建立一支军队。”西奥低声说。 “我不知道。”哈珀小声说。 “他们看起来都很……平和。 他们看起来更像崇拜者或仆人，而不是士兵。” “这改变不了什么。”摩根小声说。 “我们的计划仍然很好。 阿宝，你愿意承担这个责任吗？”阿宝笑了。 “你知道我爱你。”“那就制造点声音。”摩根说。 阿宝走到西奥面前，清了清嗓子。 然后他声嘶力竭地喊道：“投阿宝一票！！”蜘蛛啪地一声立正。 一大群人发出嘶嘶声，抬起一条长腿，指着