0 Prologue

Prologue The world, like a brand-new page, was white. A vast canvas of sky hung over the snowy landscape, decorated with a few pale brushstroke clouds. Everything was still. Suddenly, movement. A small, dark shape was carving a straight line across the valley. It was an animal of sorts, or at least a sketch of one. A scribble of fur with legs and a tail. A dog, maybe. Whatever it was, it moved with a distinct purpose: to escape whatever was chasing it. Its pointy ears were pressed flat against its head as it sprinted towards a small cluster of trees near a signpost. Every ten strides or so it looked back over its shoulder with fearful, inky eyes. Time seemed to slow as the distance between the dog and the trees got smaller. A hundred metres. Fifty metres.

序幕 这世界就像一张崭新的书页，一片洁白。 广袤天幕笼罩着雪原，点缀着几笔好似画笔刷出来的淡云。 一切都静悄悄的。 忽然，有了动静。 一个小小的黑影，在山谷里划出一道直线。 它算是某种动物，至少是动物的一幅速写。 草草勾出皮毛，还长着腿和尾巴。 搞不好，是只狗。 不管它是什么，它跑向一个明确的目标：逃离正在追赶它的东西。 它尖尖的耳朵紧紧贴在脑袋上，朝着路标旁的一小片树林狂奔。 每跑十来步，它就会回过头，用乌黑恐惧的眼睛往后看一眼。 当小狗和树林的距离越来越近，时间好像都变慢了。 一百米。 五十米。

Ten metres. Then... it flew into the graphite copse like a bullet. Ten seconds of silence. Then came the sound. You could feel it before you could hear it—a light fluttering sensation in the pit of your stomach, followed by a soft, deep hum. Gradually, it got louder. And louder. And louder. Within a minute, the whole valley shimmered as a billion snowflakes began to vibrate with the thrum. Then the enormous, monstrous, terrifying vehicle appeared on the horizon...

十米。 接着……它像子弹一样冲进了这片深灰的小树林。 十秒钟的寂静。 然后，声音来了。 你还没听见就先感觉到了——心窝泛起轻轻的颤意，接着传来柔和低沉的轰鸣。 渐渐地，声音变大了。 越来越大。 越来越大。 不出一分钟，无数雪花都跟着震颤晃动，整座山谷都微微闪起光来。 接着，那辆硕大、狰狞、恐怖的车出现在了地平线上……