Chapter 19

chapter nineteen Thrull? What would Thrull be doing here? Bardle was the one who seemed to have some hidden knowledge of The Shrieking. "Oh no!" June says, snapping me back to attention. "Alfred!" Through the trees, I spot Alfred's flashing bicycle helmet. He's shuffling into the clearing. Shuffling in, to be eaten... My butler! No evil tree eats my butler! Quint grabs at my shirt. "Jack, no." I shake him off and begin sneaking around the edge of the clearing. Every other moment there's a sickening SCHLURP and a howling moan as another zombie brain is devoured by the tree. Thrull's chanting grows louder and louder... I tiptoe out into the clearing. I come up behind Alfred like I'm doing some Assassin's Creed–type stuff, but I'm not executing him—I'm saving him. I

第十九章画眉？Thrull会在这里做什么？ 巴德尔似乎知道一些关于尖叫的秘密。 “哦,不!”琼说，猛地把我拉回了注意力。 “阿尔弗雷德!”穿过树林，我看到了阿尔弗雷德闪烁的自行车头盔。 他慢吞吞地走进空地。 拖着脚进来，等着被吃掉…… 我的管家!没有邪恶的树吃我的管家！昆特抓住我的衬衫。 “杰克,没有。”我甩掉他，开始在空地的边缘偷偷摸摸。 每隔一分钟，就会有一声恶心的呜咽和嚎叫，因为又一个僵尸的大脑被树吞噬了。 斯拉尔的吟唱越来越响亮…… 我蹑手蹑脚地走到空地上。 我走到阿尔弗雷德身后，就像在做《刺客信条》里的东西一样，但我不是在处决他——我是在救他。 我

flex my fingers, feel the chain mail against them, and then— Alfred instantly bites down on my hand—and I really, really hope Quint's chain-mail gloves are as strong as he promised. Alfred's heels trace two rough tracks in the dirt as I drag him back into the darkness. When every last zombie has been swallowed— except for Alfred—Thrull stops chanting and begins to speak. And what he says is just—wow...

弯曲我的手指，感受锁子甲的作用，然后——阿尔弗雷德立刻咬了我的手——我真的，真的希望昆特的锁子甲手套像他说的那样结实。 我拖着阿尔弗雷德回到黑暗中，他的脚跟在泥土上留下了两条粗糙的脚印。 当最后一个僵尸被吞下——除了阿尔弗雷德——thrull停止吟唱，开始说话。 他说的是……

TREE OF ENTRY, HEAR my WORDS I PLANTEP You WEEKS AGO you HAVE FED ON UNPEAP HUMANS S0 THAT YOU MAY GROW. AND Now, YOU ARE FULL. NOW I gasp. Holy. Ravioli. .e...c. the Ancient? That's the bad dude Bardle was talking about. And Thrull is trying to bring him here?!? Thrull is a servant of .e...c. the Ancient, just like Blarg was! And Thrull is using this tree to bring .e...c. into our world!

进入之树，请听我的话语，我在几周前种植了你，你以未开化的人类为食，这样你就可以成长。 现在，你吃饱了。现在我倒抽了一口气。 圣。意式馄饨。即…c。古代的? 这就是巴德尔说的那个坏蛋。 而Thrull想把他带到这里来？ Thrull是……的仆人。 远古的，就像布拉格一样！Thrull用这棵树来… 进入我们的世界！

The two large branches atop the tree pull apart, cracking, like ancient fingers separating. They slowly rise to form a V high above the tree. The branches glow red and blue as beams of energy begin to jump back and forth between them. In this strange window of glimmering, flickering light, a dim, blurry face appears. An inhuman face. And as it begins to speak, I realize, with horror— I'm staring at the face of .e...c. the Ancient, calling to Thrull from another dimension. WHAT OF THE KEY? WHAT KEY WILL BE USED TO OPEN THE TREE OF ENTRY AND BRING ME INTO THE WORLD?

树顶的两根大树枝拉开了，劈啪作响，就像古老的手指分开一样。 它们慢慢地在树的上方形成一个V形。 当能量束开始在树枝之间来回跳跃时，树枝发出红色和蓝色的光。 在这一扇奇怪的、闪烁着微光的窗户里，出现了一张模糊的脸。 一张不人道的脸。当它开始说话时，我惊恐地意识到——我正盯着他的脸…… 远古者，从另一个维度呼唤着斯拉。 那钥匙呢？要用什么钥匙打开入口之树，带我进入这个世界？

I look across the way to Quint and mouth, "Key?" Quint just shrugs. ".e...c., my lord," Thrull says. "I am your servant." "What of the key?" the voice repeats. "I must see this world for myself, and I cannot until you open the door." "A group of human children are completing a bestiary," Thrull says. "I have filled the bestiary with magical energy. When the bestiary is full, the essence of the creatures inside will transform the book into the key." There's a hard lump in my throat as realization floods through me... Thrull used us! "I hunger," .e...c. says. "Our old world is bare. When I enter this new world, I must eat." "Yes, .e...c.," Thrull says. "There are many monsters close by that you can feast upon. I have gathered them. They know nothing of this. I alone am your servant."

我看了看对面的昆特，说：“钥匙？”昆特只是耸了耸肩。 “即…c。“大人，”瑟鲁说。 “我是你的仆人。”“那钥匙呢？”那个声音重复道。 “我必须亲眼看看这个世界，除非你开门，否则我看不见。” “一群人类的孩子正在完成一本动物的书，”Thrull说。 “我已经用魔法能量填满了兽书。 当这本书满了，里面生物的精华就会把书变成钥匙。” 当我意识到这一点时，我的喉咙哽住了。 Thrull利用了我们！“我饿了，”…… 说。“我们的旧世界是光秃秃的。 当我进入这个新世界时，我必须吃东西。” “是的,即c。Thrull说。 “附近有很多怪物，你可以尽情享用。 我把它们收集起来了。他们对此一无所知。 惟独我是你的仆人。”

Does he mean the monsters at Joe's? Are they in cahoots with Thrull—or is he going to feed his friends to .e...c.?! "Good," the voice growls. "Goooood. SoooooN. SoooooN you shall bring me forth..." And with that, the energy snaps away. The tree crackles and the window closes and the branches become still. This strange, evil, magical ceremony is over. Thrull uses my hockey stick to slowly stand. Seeing that, it hits me. That's why Thrull was at the mall! He was hunting for monsters to fill the bestiary himself. And that's why the bestiary already had entries in it when Thrull gave it to us. But then he was injured. Thrull's injury is no trick. He knew he could not fill the bestiary by himself anymore. And then the moment he saw the Louisville Slicer, the moment he realized that I "felled" Blarg—he knew we could help. Upon receiving the bestiary, we began doing his foul deeds for him. We were never simply documenting or recording. We were loading the magic book up with monster essence—so the book

他是说乔家的怪物吗？ 他们是和瑟鲁串通一气，还是他要把他的朋友喂给……？！“很好，”那个声音咆哮道。 “Goooood。SoooooN。很快你就会把我带出来……” 这样一来，能量就消失了。 树噼啪作响，窗户关上了，树枝静止了。 这个奇怪，邪恶，神奇的仪式结束了。 Thrull用我的曲棍球棍慢慢站立。 看到这些，我很震惊。所以Thrull才会去商场！他在寻找怪物来填满自己的魔书。 这就是为什么当瑟鲁尔给我们的时候，这本书里已经有记录了。 但后来他受伤了。Thrull的受伤不是把戏。 他知道他不能再独自填满兽书了。 然后，当他看到路易斯维尔切片机的那一刻，当他意识到我“打倒”了布拉格的那一刻，他知道我们能帮上忙。 一收到这本书，我们就开始为他做坏事。 我们从来没有简单地记录或记录。 我们在魔法书里塞满了怪物的精华，所以这本书