Chapter 8 Chapter 8: The Stone That Breaks Everyone's Heart
I took everyone out of the eccentricity situation with a heavy heart, trying to remember when the last time the will was amended.I had long ago decided that if something happened—or, after all, something happened—Casey would be my successor.It's just that I haven't written down this last wish in black and white.Changing the will is something that can be delayed, because no one likes to think about their own affairs. Everyone always thinks that they still have a lot of time... until they find that they are already on the way to visit the Lord of Thorns.I suddenly had the urge to call Kathy, if only to talk to her, but my inner sanity convinced me.After all, what else could I say to her but goodbye?
None of my companions seemed bothered.The sinner and the beautiful poison are holding hands, once again showing a happy expression in love.The madman also returned to his private world.I tried to explain to them how dangerous the journey was, and they all nodded in understanding, though I'm sure they didn't, at least not really.If they really understood, they would never agree to go to the "underground realm" with me.I had an urge to tell them not to follow, to wait for me in a safe place, but a practical reason put that off; I'd need them if I was going to survive the journey s help.Am I really willing to sacrifice their lives to learn the truth about the origins of the Nightside and my mother?
maybe.After all, they are not friends, maybe that's why I chose to investigate this case with them.If I have to throw my partner into the wolves, at least I won't feel so bad myself.
Startled by this grim thought, I looked around for something to distract me.It was at this time that I discovered that Walker's men began to emerge from the end of the street again, and Tongtong followed them blatantly, no longer hiding their tracks.As we walked by, they immediately clustered together, ready to defend themselves.The battle mages even drew protective spells in front of them on the spot.The traces of the spell glowed in the air, bursting into strange flames.I stopped a certain distance away and observed the watchers calmly.
"I just said that the woman should be killed." Beautiful Poison said. "Bad Penny's favorite snitch. She must have given away our destination."
"They were restless, scared, and demoralized," I said. "That's what I like about Walker's men. Now look at mine." I took a step forward, and all the watchers showed horror.I gave a mysterious smile and said, "Hey everyone, I have good news and bad news for you. The bad news is, yes, we did teach bad Penny a lesson and make her go home crying Find Dad; yes, we did take care of the Wailer; yes, we're on our way to find Lord Briar. The worst news is, I lied to you when I said there was good news. Anyone have any questions?"
Almost at the same time, all the monitors decided to go back to Walker to ask for instructions on the next step, and they all disappeared without a trace in an instant.Three Jesuit demonists even ran off on the spot.
"That's a really worrying sight," said the sinner.
To find Lord Thorn, one must leave the ground and enter the underground world.There are various catacombs, mine passages, canal channels, and sewers under the night city, collectively known as the "underground realm".There are many people and many other creatures living in the Underground Realm. These guys can only move in the dark and cannot see the light at all.They were born underground, lived underground, and died underground. Many of them never left the underground realm in their entire lives, and never saw any neon lights in Night City.These underground passages, of course, also provide the residents of Night City with a secret way of moving, but few people actually use them, because the beings living in the underground do not like to see outsiders.They love to kill and eat anyone who disturbs them, and they are easily disturbed. However, if you want to enter the territory of the Thorn Lord, you must pass through the underground realm.I have never gone to see Lord Thorn, and I think no one has ever done such a crazy thing.However, I often take the initiative to buy some information that may not be useful, because no one can guarantee what information will be needed in the investigation process.The person who sold me information about the Underground Realm and the Thorn Lord was a man without eyeballs, because both of his eyeballs had been crushed out of his body by the residents of the underground.To find the Lord of Briars, according to his hollow whispers, was a darkness deeper than night, a passage without end, and silent monsters like giant worms that lurk in the catacombs. There are no signposts leading to the Underworld on the streets.If you don't know where the entrance is, you don't need to know.I led everyone through many narrower and narrower alleys, passed through increasingly dim street lights, and came to the closest entrance when passersby flocked to avoid it.It was a small private garden, which had to be entered through a locked gate.I looked at the interior of the garden through the iron railings on both sides. This is a very beautiful place, surrounded by bright gas lights, and it feels like seeing a pure lily in a cesspit.The garden is full of flowers and trees and looks very eye-catching.There was a strong smell of perfume coming from the door.The beautiful poison came to me slowly. "How can there be such a beautiful garden in such a dirty area? Why is there such a powerful protection spell at the gate of the garden?" "Nightside is full of surprises," I said. "The hidden secret is like our food and water." "That means you don't know either," said the sinner. "Guess right." I said. "But I have the key to the door. It was part of the payment from a previous case." "You're not going to tell us which case it is," said Beautiful Poison. "It's better not to know." I said seriously. "You're bluffing," said the lunatic.We all turned to look at him, but again he was done talking. I pulled the door key from the key ring and inserted it into the lock hole of the door.The lock was evidently unwilling to be opened, and it took me a great deal of effort to finally turn the key and open the garden gate.I clearly felt that the defensive magic on the door was automatically released, as if the tension in the air suddenly relaxed.I stand aside and ask others to enter first.I do this not out of politeness, but simply because I don't trust the garden.After confirming that nothing bad happened, I immediately followed everyone in, and then turned around and locked the door. Under the light of the light blue moon, the whole garden was shrouded in an illusory and strange atmosphere.The trees were tall and thin, their bare silhouettes casting horrible shadows on the walls in the yellow light of the old-fashioned gas lamps.A wriggling muddy walkway lay quietly between heavy bushes and many night-blooming flowers.In fact, everything in the garden was squirming, but there was no smell.Even the petals of the flowers are opening and closing silently, like a little girl pursing her mouth.Most of these flowers are white and red, and the overall feeling of them makes me think that white represents bones and red represents flesh and blood.I once heard a rose sing, and it was the most wicked song I ever heard in my life. "Good place." The sinner bent down to smell a flower, but soon scratched his nose and raised his head. "No." Beautiful Poison said. "I don't think it's a good place to be." "The demons from hell really have extraordinary eyesight." I said. "These plants are all deeply rooted. You don't want to know where they get their nourishment. Our goal is the statue in the middle of the garden. Don't touch anything." The garden path kept pumping up and down so that all the plants in the garden could see us.Anyway, in the end, the trail brought us to the statue.It was a statue of an angel kneeling in front of his broken wings and weeping silently. The appearance of its face had been completely eroded, and it was unknown whether it was caused by wind and rain and time, or it was eroded by the never-ending tears on its face.There is a moondial behind the angel statue, which shows the correct time at any time.I grabbed the moon gauge on it and carefully turned it 180 degrees.The entire moondial began to vibrate violently, and then slid to the side, revealing a bottomless passage. The passage is about a man's width, and it looks like it leads straight to hell.A set of black iron ladders was installed on one side of the passage, extending endlessly downwards.We took turns peering into the darkness of the passage.Beautiful Poison summons a hellfire in his hands, but the light doesn't shine very far.In the end we decided to let her go down first, so that we would lead the way with the flames, and we didn't want to sink blindly in the dark at all. So the beautiful poison went down first, then the sinner who was unwilling to leave her side, and then the lunatic, and I climbed at the end, urging the lunatic to move on at any time.The iron ladder rails were warm and damp to the touch.The moonlight shining from the entrance above his head disappeared quickly.The hellfire of Beautiful Poison is just enough for us to see each other.I don't like the glow of hellfire, it makes me feel very... uncomfortable.I focused my attention on the iron ladder, and found that the distance between each step was too far, and it seemed that it was not designed for human use at all. I put my shoulders against the walls on both sides, and crawled step by step towards the seemingly endless underground.We kept climbing and climbing until the muscles in our hands and feet started to ache, but we still couldn't see the bottom of the tunnel.I really wanted to change my mind and go back up, but I didn't have the strength to climb back, so I had to keep going down.Our breathing became more and more heavy, and it sounded extra loud in the quiet passage. We all breathed a sigh of relief when Pretty Poison suddenly announced that its feet had hit bottom, even the lunatics.He seems to be spending more and more time in the real world.Maybe he just needs someone to accompany him, or maybe it's because he feels a powerful crisis and needs to concentrate to face it; I don't want to ask him, because his answer will definitely give me a headache. We jumped down the iron ladder one by one and stepped onto a walkway next to an underground channel.Dark channels flowed with dark fluids.The stone wall on the opposite side of the channel has many huge claw marks, which are obviously the deliberate marks left by some kind of giant monster.We saw no one within the flames of the beautiful poison.But there is a small silver bell hanging on a high platform next to it.The four of us huddled together in the narrow aisle, finding solace in each other's presence.We could all tell it was not a good place, the air was hot and humid, like being in a steam room, and there was a very bad smell of putrefaction. "What now?" asked the sinner, in a dull voice. "I think we should go and ring that bell," I said. "The extent of my knowledge can only take us so far, the rest is uncharted territory." "Ring the bell?" said the sinner. "How do you know that's not the lunch bell of a nearby monster?" "I don't know." I said. "If you have other ideas, please feel free to say it. After all, what do you have to worry about, aren't you going to get hurt?" "No. I'm just able to resist damage. If I was eaten by a big monster, digested, and then excreted, I'm not sure if I can survive. I'm a special case, but it doesn't mean that I There is no limit." "Just say it now." I said. "Gentlemen, gentlemen," said Beautiful Poison.She crouched on the edge of the channel, hellfire floating on the black water. "I'm sure there's something moving in the water...you guys think there's a crocodile? I've heard stories of pet crocodiles being washed down the drain." "I have a strong feeling that the people here eat crocodiles for dessert," I said. "If I were you, I would leave the waterway immediately. Take your time and be careful, only the most ferocious monsters are qualified to survive in this kind of place." "Ring the bell," said the sinner. I grabbed the bell and shook it hard a few times.A burst of sharp ringing immediately spread far away, clear and direct, without any echo. We were on full alert, ready to face an attack from the darkness, but nothing happened.The bell disappeared and everything was quiet.Our tense emotions relaxed again, but the background music of the madman still did not resume playing, perhaps because there was no music that could match the current situation.Then, from our right, deep in the channel, in the dark shadows, there came suddenly the sound of a boat breaking through the water.We all stared wide-eyed into the dim shadows, and at last we saw a flat-bottomed boat floating out of the dark water.The boat was surrounded by a golden light, and a human figure stood on the boat, holding a silver paddle in his hand, slowly manipulating the boat to row towards us.The flat-bottomed boat was about twenty feet long, and the hull was painted bright blue, with a large black eye painted on each side of the bow.The people on board wore a large bright red cloak and a milky white mask on their faces.Disturbingly, the mask has only one eye hole, the one for the left eye.The boat stopped before us.Then the cloaked man bowed deeply to us. "Welcome to the Underworld, stupid wretches." His voice was very strong, with a heavy French accent. "Where do you guys want me to take you? I have to admit, there aren't many places to choose from. The upstream is bad, and the downstream is even worse, but at least the corpse eaters have been showing up less recently. A while ago someone tried Poison, but those rotting monsters eat poison like they eat. I hope you are here for a purpose, because I don't like being a tour guide. If I were you, I would go the same way now. There is nothing to see here Yes, the deeper you go, the more dangerous it will be." "It's about the same as I imagined a welcome speech." I finally found a gap to interject. "Can you take us to see the Lord of Thorns?" "Is it really so impatient to live?" said the ferryman. "There are better ways to commit suicide, and most of them are less painful." "The Lord of Thorns." I said firmly. "Is it possible?" "No problem, my friends. Get aboard. Don't fall into the water. The people here are full of energy and hungry." We jumped into the boat carefully, the hull was very stable, and it did not shake under our weight.The ferryman plunged the oars into the water, and the boat immediately slid far away with one stroke. It seemed that the ferryman was also a hidden and ruthless character; place to survive.We all breathed a sigh of relief under the golden light of the ship, and the beautiful poison put out the hellfire.The boat moved forward silently in the darkness, and the ferryman stared into the distance from the bow.As for what he saw in that lonely left eye, he did not share with us at all. "Not many tourists have come down recently," he said.The voice behind the mask seemed to come from far away. "Although outsiders rarely come in, and we don't like outsiders. Peace and quiet is a beautiful thing, isn't it? Are there any famous people among you? I don't like listening to people's gossip as much as I used to. " "This is a sinner," I said. "This is Beauty Poison. That's Crazy. I'm John Taylor." The ferryman shook his head and said, "I've never heard of it. I'm sorry. These names mean nothing to me. I've carried Julian Advent once before. A real gentleman, nothing to say." "How long have you been here?" I asked. "I don't know. Don't tell me, because I don't want to know at all. I came to the Night City on the Metro that just opened in Paris, around the beginning of the twentieth century, and it didn't take long for me to drift underground. I am fed up with the hustle and bustle of city life, and I just want to find a place to live in seclusion. However, I am full of nostalgia for opera... Anyway, I am here to provide ferry service, on the one hand it gives me something to do On the one hand, it is also atonement for the mistakes committed by youth and frivolity." "Can you tell us something about the Underworld?" asked the sinner. "Parts of this place are as old and dangerous as the Night City itself. At first, it was just a series of sewers, underground canals and tributaries of the Thames. Later, the Romans expanded the size of the city above and built many catacombs underground. , to satisfy their shady desires, they are really a very practical people. They believe that as long as the gods can't see their deeds, they will not get any punishment after death. There are still many people living in the underground who agree with this Thoughts, of course, what I call 'people' represent many different races. In recent years, the population of the Underworld has increased. Some come here to live in seclusion, sitting alone in dark stone chambers in search of better souls Li Qiudao. Some are weird guys even in a place like Night City, weird people who can’t get along with anyone. Of course, there are people like me who came here to escape the normal world. In addition, there are already The people of the subterranean who have settled here for centuries. They built their cities in the catacombs. As long as you don't disturb them, they will not sacrifice you to the gods. Vampires, ghouls, and Descendants of some ancient creature... there are all kinds of guys here, but don't worry about them, friends. My boat is protected by ancient powers, and if you sit still, I will take you to the gate of the Lord of Briars. After that, I hope my God can take care of you, because the Lord of Thorns will never be lenient." "Have you seen the Lord of Thorns?" asked the sinner. The Ferryman snorted loudly behind the mask. "No. You probably won't see him either. He's very closely guarded." He rowed the oars with ease, singing majestic opera and witty French ballads along the way in his baritone voice.The lunatic echoed his singing, playing a perfect and moving melody.Unknown monsters kept swimming by under the black water, and occasionally even bumped into the bottom of the boat, but nothing surfaced.The golden light blooming on the ship illuminates the ceiling, revealing countless astronomical marks carved on the ceiling, representing galaxies that have never been seen on earth since ancient times.The beautiful poison snuggled up to the sinner, ignoring everything around him, whispering softly in his ear.The sinner didn't respond to her words, just shook his head occasionally. The boat finally slowed down, and finally stopped beside a section of river that looked nothing special.The masked ferryman leaned on his oar and looked around. "I can only take you here, and this is not a good place, friends. Goodbye, everyone, although I doubt we will ever have the chance to see each other again." Immediately after we landed, he pushed the boat away from the bank, in the direction in which he had come.He doesn't continue to sing anymore.The golden light on the boat dimmed as the ferry moved away, and the surrounding light was gradually replaced by the red light above a nearby arch.Several ancient Greek texts are inscribed on the arch.We looked at each other for a while, and finally Beautiful Poison smacked his lips impatiently. "People don't study classical writing these days. Let me explain to you, in simple terms, it says 'eat meat is murder'." "Great." The sinner said. "We're in vegetarian territory." "I doubt it." Beautiful Poison said. "I smell rotting flesh coming from inside the arch." I smell it too.It was a very disgusting smell, and it felt like a spiritual bone tower exposed to the sun.I was sure the smell was coming from inside the arch, but there was no sign of movement for a while.Maybe it's a warning, maybe it's a threat, either way it doesn't make a difference to us because there's no other way to go unless we turn back.I lead the way through the arch, with the others reluctantly following me. We walked down a short passage with many drops of water seeping from the stone walls on either side.Not long after, they came to a large cave.This cave looks like a place where believers worship gods, but the arrangement in the cave is by no means an ideal church in anyone's mind.The ceiling is full of butcher's tools, wires, hacksaws, kitchen knives, kebabs, each of which is stained with dried ancient blood.On the other side of the cave was a terrifying throne made entirely of meat slices, some fresh and some rotten.The entire throne was shrouded in a black cloud of flies.All the stone walls in the cave are covered with names of people in various languages and cultures, and all of them are written in blood. "Are these names people who have been here before us?" The sinner asked curiously. "I don't know if you have noticed!" Beautiful Poison said. "There doesn't seem to be any other way out here." "I noticed." I said. "In my imagination, the residence of Lord Thorn is completely different from this place." The sinner said. "I strongly suspect we've been played." "Probably not." Beautiful Poison said slowly. "There are others here." A black cloud of flies suddenly rushed up from around the Flesh Throne, making a loud buzzing sound.They scuttled through the cave so quickly that we flailed while dodging.Then the black cloud returned to gather in front of the throne, gradually forming a human form.The figure has strong feet, a strong body, and a huge body, with its head reaching directly to the ceiling.Just watch it lean back and sit down on the throne of flesh and blood.Then the fly resonated and made a sound like talking, which sounded dirty and disgusting, as if it was full of mockery of human language. "Welcome, dear travelers," said the flies. "You have come to the gate of the Thorn Lord's domain, but you can't go any further. The Lord doesn't want to be disturbed, so he asked me to guard here. I am a demon from hell, bound here by the Thorn Lord. Just to make sure no one can bother him. I am the cursed Prince of Hell, destined here to serve the servants of Heaven until the destruction of Nightside, or the end of time itself. Sometimes I think the whole universe is It operates on the basis of sarcasm. But anyway, at least the food here is good. Hello, beautiful poison, long time no see. Do you like my place? Although it is not very luxurious, it still feels full of home." "Hello, Bobble," said Pretty Poison. "How could you follow the will of a mortal and be bound in such a place?" "Because this mortal is the Lord of Thorns, he knows too much forbidden knowledge. Is the person next to you your sinner? The only soul who refuses to give up love after going to hell?" "Yes." Beautiful Poison said. "He is my dear Sydney." "You are not only a pervert." The devil said to the sinner. "And an idiot. And now you believe hell's lies? She'll corrupt your mind and drag you back to hell. That's her job, and she's good at her job." "As long as you have enough time and motivation." The sinner said. "I might beat you to death." I decided to cut in before their conversation got any worse. "Hi, I'm John Taber, I'm sure you've heard my name. I'm here to talk to Lord Thorn. Get out of the way now, or I'll use interesting means to deal with you." "John Taylor?" The devil leaned forward, looked at me and asked. "It's an honor to meet you, really, although I imagined you shouldn't be so short. However, I still can't let you go, because this job is all I have left. No matter how vicious your methods are, Nor can it be compared to the Lord of Thorns. I am bound here, under his will. Besides, since no one has been here for a long time, I am starved to death." The dark figure stood up suddenly, and his body swelled instantly, almost filling half of the cave, and the buzzing sound was deafening.It grabbed at the lunatic with its palm, but all the flies passed through his body without touching a single hair on him.The demon hesitated for a while, then turned to grab me.I just saw the flies on its fingers sprinting forward and pounced on my head in groups.They swept across my face, trying to get inside me through my mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears.I was taken aback, and immediately closed my lips and eyes, and covered my nostrils and ears with my hands.Countless flies crawled all over my face, but suddenly they all backed away as if electrocuted.The devil froze on the spot, as if he didn't know what happened just like me.I seized this fleeting opportunity to summon my talent, opened my mind's eyes, and instantly found the spell used to bind the demon here. ——When I found out the spell, a certain instinct in my body automatically turned off the talent immediately.Because at that moment I already felt that something terrible was approaching rapidly, trying to find out my exact location.The enemy sent out something even more terrifying than the Pain Bringer this time, and all my instincts were screaming, warning me not to use my talents at will, otherwise this brand new monster will follow the master's will and kill me mercilessly . I recited the mantra I just found out.It was a voice that didn't belong to human language, and it drove people crazy just to hear it.I slowly forced the spell out of my mouth, syllable by syllable.The terrifying sound echoed in my head, almost exploding my brain.Howling in rage, the demon vanished, along with the Throne of Flesh and all the butcher's tools, leaving only a dull red light in the air and the names written all over the walls in the victim's own blood. Beautiful Poison took a step back, looked at me and said, "How could you recite such a powerful spell? Your soul should have been blasted out of your body." "I'm hiding some secrets that no one knows." I said with a tingle in my throat.There is now an opening in the wall where the Flesh Throne used to be. "It seems that the same is true of this place." We approached cautiously, examining the new opening.The opening had the shape of a door, and the edges were polished very smoothly, but it was just a simple square opening without a door frame or any warning signs.Behind the opening is a staircase that descends along the wall on one side and the empty abyss on the other.There is a ray of light hovering on the stairs at intervals, but from these faint lights, it is completely impossible to tell how deep the stairs are.There are no handrails beside the ladder, and if you are not careful, you will fall into the abyss.I stepped up the steps, leaning my shoulders against the wall and going down.After a while, others followed me down.We walked step by step into the bottomless darkness for a long, long time. "Are you there yet?" asked the madman. "Shut up," I said. "Are we still under the Nightside?" the sinner asked. "We seem to have come a long way." "We haven't left the Nightside yet, dear," said Pretty Poison. "I can feel it." "We are in a dark place under the surface," said the madman. "Here lies all ancient and dangerous secrets. There are many ancient monsters sleeping around us. They sleep under the earth, in the rocks, in the nothingness between the spaces. Make no noise. Some monsters Mere slumber, they have the power to affect our world even in their dreams. We walk among forgotten gods and sleeping demons, who have been here since the world was formed, from the dawn of ignorance." "I like it better when you're talking nonsense," said the sinner. The floating lights turned out to be human skin lanterns nailed to the wall, and the sides of the lanterns facing the stairs were full of faces screaming silently.As we walked by, the eyeballs of the faces all followed our shadows. "Are they still alive?" I asked. "Is the suffering not over yet?" "Oh, that's right." Beautiful Poison's voice revealed a certain pleasure of satisfaction. "Hush..." the sinner said. "What are they?" I asked. "What exactly are they?" "An uninvited guest." After the lunatic finished speaking, we were all quiet for a while. We continue to sink into the ground, the steps under our feet spiraling down the outer wall of the huge abyss.The dark stones on the walls have traces of artificial carvings in ancient times. At first it looked like carving tools were used, but later it seemed that they were dug with bare hands.Someone has spent a lot of time decorating this huge abyss under the Nightside, but who did it, and for what purpose?Will it be built by humans?Is there any other divine help?Why would anyone want to dig such a big hole in the ground?Could it be that Lord Thorn is really so scary that he must be buried so deep in the ground?The deeper I went underground, the more scared I became.My hands were shaking and my mouth was dry.This case is too involved and too important, and I should never have followed it in the first place.I really want to go back to being an ordinary private detective, trying to bluff the common people and manage the notoriety that I have deliberately cultivated.But no, I have to go on. I have spent a lot of effort to find the truth. Even if I lose all the courage to go on, I must go on with a strong willpower. The stone wall on which the shoulder rested began to show signs of depression and corrosion, and a strange liquid flowed out from the dark stone cracks.I stopped and looked carefully at the wet wall. "Don't touch it," said the sinner. "I didn't intend to touch it either. What do you think it is? Acid rain? Or something special underground?" "Neither." Beautiful Poison said. "It was tears." The sinner looked at her suspiciously: "You know this place?" "I've heard of it. All demons and angels know this place, and we're almost at the domain of the Overseer of the Nightside, the Lord of Briars." "Overseer of the Nightside?" I said. "Does that mean he's the one in power?" "No." Beautiful Poison said. "His power is far greater than those in power. He is the arbiter of everything, completely free from sympathy and pity." "I want to go home," said the madman. "That's the most sensible thing you've ever said today," said the sinner. The stairs finally come to an end, leading us to a huge and elegant crystal cave.All of a sudden, a pleasant light burst out from above our heads. Reflected by the crystal surface, it immediately illuminated the entire cave like daylight, giving people the feeling of standing in a huge diamond. In the very center of the crystal grotto, stood a large polished stone slab, on which lay a person, sleeping peacefully on it.He has gray hair, is wearing a gray robe, has a peaceful face, and there is no danger in his body.We stood in the shiny crystal cave, looking around in bewilderment.We all expected to encounter more guards or stronger defensive spells, but at this moment, nothing happened, and it felt like being in the quiet eye of the storm. Each crystal face is inscribed with words in Ino, a language created by humans in ancient times to communicate with angels.I can understand it, but I don't know how to pronounce it; not many people can speak it these days, because its pronunciation corrupts people's hearts.Beautiful Poison walked across a crystal wall, touching the words engraved on it with her fingers. "These are names," she said softly. "Very many names, names of angels belonging to heaven and hell, all ranks from top to bottom, names of all angels... Even my name is here, the real name I used before my fall. This knowledge should not be Anything held by any mortal..." "But... why are these names written here?" asked the sinner. "Because knowing the real name of an item represents the power to manipulate the other party." Beautiful Poison said. "You can command and control each other. No matter who brought the Lord of Thorns here, whoever appointed him as the Overseer of the Night City, the other party also gave him the power to control all the angels in heaven and hell." "No wonder he can tear the angel's wings in angelic war," said the sinner. "But who can give him such great power?" "I can think of two possibilities," said the madman. "Shut up." Beautiful Poison said. There was panic and anger in her tone.My mind is on the man on the slate.He hasn't moved at all since we entered the Crystal Grotto.Even so, I don't think he was in a deep sleep, because a normal sleeping person should be able to breathe. Then I was startled, for he sat up suddenly, kicked his feet over the edge of the flagstone, and glared at us.我们全都被他的眼光掳获，呆立在原地，有如一群被人当场抓到的小偷。灰色长发、胡须，以及布袍让荆棘大君看起来就像是旧约圣经里的先知一样。就是会告诉你说大洪水要来了，不过诺亚的方舟却已经离岸的那种先知。他拥有人类史上最苍老的一张面孔，眼神之中却隐含着一股永恒疯狂的狂野愤怒。整座水晶洞都充满了他恢弘无匹的强大气势，我们所有人都在他的瞪视之下变得渺小不值。 当然，除了疯子以外。他大叫了一声“爹！”然后往荆棘大君冲了过去。我们不约而同从他身后扑倒他，使尽全身蛮力才终于阻止他继续前进。接着我们一个一个在荆棘大君身前下跪，只因为他的气势让我们打从心底表示敬意。疯子耸了耸肩，然后跟着我们一同跪下。我低下头，试着露出忏悔的神情。这是个接受审判的地方，我感觉得出来，而没有同情与怜悯的审判，向来都是一种值得惧怕的东西。 荆棘大君缓缓地站起身来，全身上下的关节都发出骨骼的声响。我偷偷地看了他一眼，发现他倚靠着一根朴素的木头拐杖而立。一看到这根拐杖，我的心跳立刻急遽加速。传说在罗马时代，亚利马太的圣约瑟由原始的生命之树上折下一根树枝，带来英格兰移植，而这根拐杖就是由那棵树的枝干制成的。有人说荆棘大君就是亚利马太的圣约瑟，至少他看起来像是从那个年代活到现在的人。当他开口说话的时候，听起来就像是石头辗磨在一起的感觉。 “我是令所有人心碎的石头；我是将耶稣钉在十字架上的铆钉；我是射穿国王眼睛的弓矢；我是人类成长无可避免的苦难，夜城最清澈而又冷酷的良心。为了避免夜城被其本质所摧毁，我被赋予权力，支配所有生存于夜城之中的生命。我维持着'大实验'的运作，尽心尽力地看顾着它，并且审判所有企图腐化其本质的生命。我是割除病灶的解剖刀；使人睿智的碎心石。我乃荆棘大君。我认识在座的每一位。罪人、美丽毒药、疯子，以及约翰·泰勒。站起来吧，我正在等待你们的到来。” 我们从地上爬起，神情不定地面面相觑，有如一群等待校长责罚的学生一般。我强迫自己开口说话，只因为我深知一个道理：在面对夜城里的强者时，不管心里有多害怕，都绝对不能显露出来；只要对方发现你心里的恐惧，他们就再也不会对你客气。 "Well," I said. “我们来此是为了接受审判吗？” “不。”荆棘大君道。“我很欢迎你的到来，约翰·泰勒。” 我心里顿时冒出一股紧张的情绪，不过我也没有在脸上显露出来。我眯起眼睛看着荆棘大君，说道：“很多人认为，我对夜城的存在而言，是一项威胁；你是说他们都错了吗？” “不，我只是说你是个特殊个案。”他脸上浮现浅浅的微笑。“不，我也不知道你为什么这么特殊。你在我的眼中就和在其他人眼中一样，是个难解之谜。如果你认为这个情况不可思议的话，你就可以想象我有多么惊讶了。” 他对我们所有人微笑，原本围绕在水晶洞中的所有压力顿时消失。荆棘大君依然展现出伟大的气势，不过至少我们都不再感到随时都有被摧毁的危险了。荆棘大君伸了伸懒腰，看起来像只在太阳底下睡太久的懒猫一样。 “你们为了找寻答案远道而来。”他说。“真希望我能帮得上忙。可惜事实上，我只是在这里工作而已，只是个夜城的仆人罢了。或许我的确比世间所有希望与理性都还要强大，但那只是为了监督夜城所必备的能力。其实说到底，我也不过是一个无法卸下负担的老头罢了。我是夜城所有行动与决定的中心，而我已经非常厌倦这种生活了。想问什么就问吧，约翰·泰勒，我一定会把我所知道的全盘托出。或许这是我唯一能对夜城做出的反动吧。” “不好意思。”罪人非常有礼貌地说道。“那我们其他人呢？你也不会审判我们吧？” “你们不重要。”荆棘大君冷冷地道。“只有约翰·泰勒才重要。不过你们三个都是夜城之中独一无二的生命，基于各自不同的理由，塑造出了属于你们自己的独特命运。你们的身分早已在决定一切重要事务的地方，也就是隶属光明异界的神圣法庭中决定了。我的审判无法加诸在你们身上……罪人、恶魔，以及疯子。” 他的目光在他们脸上梭巡，最后又回到我身上。“你选择同伴的眼光十分睿智，任何其他人都不可能来到此地却又逃离我的审判的。现在，想问什么就快问吧。” "Okay." I said. “告诉我关于夜城的起源的一切，它被创造出来的目的以及本质究竟为何？” “夜城是个古老的地方。”荆棘大君说。“我想大概只有它的创造者才知道究竟有多古老。我只知道夜城在我之前就已经存在了。不过在当时，夜城还不是个适合人类居住的地方，怪物与古老的力量游走其间，依然无法肯定自我的身分以及存在的目的。当我第一次踏入英格兰的时候，罗马人就已经知道夜城这个地方了。他们出于害怕与尊敬而在夜城外围建立了伦狄尼姆城，藉以保护夜城，同时也将夜城的力量限制于其间，以免影响到帝国以及人民的生存空间。他们也知道你的母亲，约翰，并且崇拜她，只不过时至今日，已经没人知道他们是以什么神的名义崇拜她了。或许我曾经知道，但是却早已遗忘。我认为我不是自愿遗忘的。我花了很长的时间思考这个问题，想要知道她的真实身分……这么多个世纪以来，我做过无数假设，推翻过许多可能。我认为你母亲最有可能的身分就是一个名叫露娜的古神，也就是盖亚的妹妹。” “等等，”我举手说道。“盖亚……大地之母？那个盖亚？你认为我母亲是月神？” “没错，挂在天际照耀夜城的巨大明月。我认为你母亲就是月亮在人间的实体化身。你以为夜城的月亮为什么会如此巨大？只因为她在看顾着自己所创造出来的世界。你乃月亮之子，约翰·泰勒，既不身属光明，亦非全然属于黑暗，也就是恶名昭彰的毒蛇之子，尼可拉斯·贺伯的兄弟。我相信露娜创造夜城是为了与大地之间保持联系，进而与姐姐维持良好的关系，并且参与帮助人类进化的过程。” “但是……我听说，”罪人谦卑地说道。“露娜女神是个疯子，而且已经疯很久了。” “没错。”荆棘大君道。 罪人看着我：“那就可以解释很多事情了。” “狗屎。”我说。所有人都吓了一跳，对我看来。我大力摇头，瞪着荆棘大君，说道：“你只是在猜而已，就跟其他人一样。我问的每一个人都有不一样的答案，但是你们却没有一个可以肯定自己的推测。” “可不可以请你不要对着夜城监督者大呼小叫？”美丽毒药说。“我们还想完完整整地离开这里呢。” “如果我曾经知道她的真实身分，那段记忆也被人夺走了。”荆棘大君冷静地说。“我想其他人一定也和我一样。你母亲非常仔细地掩饰着自己的行踪。我怕夜城里再也没有任何比我古老的生命可以回答你这个问题。看来你的调查必须到此为止了。” “不，”我面对他冷酷的目光说道。“我一定要继续下去。我必须知道真相。你打算阻止我吗？” 荆棘大君微笑道：“或许我应该阻止你，不过我没有这个打算。你是个危险人物，约翰·泰勒，但是你很可能会为我在这里的工作画下一个句点。我很期待这个句点的到来。” 我试着站在他的处境设想，千百年来无法离开这个小小的洞窟，纵然偶有访客，也只是一些来接受审判的可怜虫。他监督着夜城中的一切，眼看着一代接着一代的人们来去，世界对他而言必定越来越疏远。但是除了善尽自己的责任，他又能怎么办呢？他曾经是一名人类，单纯的人类。或许如今的他享有夜城监督者的伟大名号，但是说到底，他也不过是一名囚犯罢了。 “是谁叫你待在这里的？”我问。 “如果我曾经知道，那段记忆也已经被人夺走了。”荆棘大君两眼无神地看着远方一会儿，又说：“我认为有可能是我自愿的，但是我很怀疑。” “我一定还有地方可去的。”我说。“夜城里有那么多古老的神灵及力量，一定有谁还知道一些事情的……” “运用你的天赋。”美丽毒药突然说。“传说你的天赋可以找出任何东西。为什么不用天赋找出你的母亲？或着至少找出可以指点一条明路的人？” “不是那么简单的。”我说。“不然我早就这么干了。东西藏得越隐密，我就得花越多的时间及精力才能找出来。我心眼开启越久，我的敌人就越能够找出我的位置，派人来杀我。刚刚利用天赋驱逐守门恶魔的时候，我已经发现某种东西差点找到我面前来了，某种比痛苦使者还要恐怖许多的怪物。要是我再次开启天赋，对方随即就会找到我，即使在这里也不例外。我想就连荆棘大君也未必能够应付这只新的怪物。从现在起，除非不得已，不然我的天赋绝对不能再度开启。” “我们可以去时间之塔。”罪人说。 我抖了一下。“我宁愿不要。只有在一切手段通通无效之后——包括闭上双眼祈祷问题自动消失在内——才应该考虑时光旅行。因为时光旅行所造成的麻烦常常比解决的问题还多。” 既然我的敌人是从一个可能的未来里派出杀手回到过去来追杀我，那么时光旅行很可能会增加我暴露行踪的机会。 美丽毒药并不同意。“我们可以利用时光旅行回到创造夜城的那一刻，亲眼目睹夜城的起源！这样一来，所有答案不就都迎刀而解了吗？” “不是个好主意。”疯子道。“那个年代存在了许多强大的神灵与力量，每一个都具有摧毁我们的能力，我曾经亲眼见过，过去与我们想象之中的有很大的差别。” 我们全都转头看他，不过他已经把话说完了。他的神智显然越来越清楚，不过他的言语只有比疯狂的时候更加骇人听闻。 荆棘大君突然抬起头来。“当权者无视于所有停战协议，此刻已经派人进入地底之境。显然当你驱逐了我大门前的恶魔时，就触发了某种当权者的警报。他们已经将大门挡住，并且试图封起所有的入口。”他转头向我，说道：“你希望的话，我可以把他们全部杀死。当权者只派了几千个人下来而已。” 我一点也不怀疑他有能力这么做。想到被折翼的天使以及渥克手下的那些监视者，我立刻就摇了摇头。 “有时候死亡就是最好的答案。”荆棘大君说。“不过既然你不想见到他们死去，那我还是可以提供另外一条出路。这些年来，早已没有人知道所有通往此地的路径了。” “你是说你可以在当权者之前守住秘密？”罪人道。“我很震惊，说真的，非常震惊。” 荆棘大君不屑地道：“我们已经有数百年不曾交谈过了。他们管理的是夜城的外在形式，我的领域则偏向夜城本身的内在灵性。” “在想出下一步之前，我们还是得先甩掉渥克的手下才行。”我说。“既然当权者已经下达了我的格杀令……” “或许我能帮得上忙。”美丽毒药缓缓说道。“我……曾经跟渥克有过一段过去。” 罪人不太高兴地看了看她。“你倒从来没有提过这件事。” “我认识很多男人。”美丽毒药毫不掩饰。“数不尽的岁月，数不清的男人。当权者曾经将我赐给渥克当礼物，我可以运用旧有的连结直接去找他，然后……跟他聊聊，透过过去的那段关系叫他召回手下，甚至可以套出一些答案。当然，如果他不肯合作的话……” “你不能杀他。”罪人说。 “当然不能，亲爱的。我还要留他问问题并且召回手下呢。” “也不能伤害他。”罪人坚持道。 “你有时候真的很扫兴。没问题，我会想办法的。我先施个法术，让你们都可以看到我跟他会面的状况。”她伸手抚摸罪人的脸庞。“你要学着信任我，亲爱的席尼。我必须这么做。我要跟你证明我自己。”她突然微笑：“我保证，渥克绝对想不到会遇上这种事。”
To find Lord Thorn, one must leave the ground and enter the underground world.There are various catacombs, mine passages, canal channels, and sewers under the night city, collectively known as the "underground realm".There are many people and many other creatures living in the Underground Realm. These guys can only move in the dark and cannot see the light at all.They were born underground, lived underground, and died underground. Many of them never left the underground realm in their entire lives, and never saw any neon lights in Night City.These underground passages, of course, also provide the residents of Night City with a secret way of moving, but few people actually use them, because the beings living in the underground do not like to see outsiders.They love to kill and eat anyone who disturbs them, and they are easily disturbed. However, if you want to enter the territory of the Thorn Lord, you must pass through the underground realm.I have never gone to see Lord Thorn, and I think no one has ever done such a crazy thing.However, I often take the initiative to buy some information that may not be useful, because no one can guarantee what information will be needed in the investigation process.The person who sold me information about the Underground Realm and the Thorn Lord was a man without eyeballs, because both of his eyeballs had been crushed out of his body by the residents of the underground.To find the Lord of Briars, according to his hollow whispers, was a darkness deeper than night, a passage without end, and silent monsters like giant worms that lurk in the catacombs. There are no signposts leading to the Underworld on the streets.If you don't know where the entrance is, you don't need to know.I led everyone through many narrower and narrower alleys, passed through increasingly dim street lights, and came to the closest entrance when passersby flocked to avoid it.It was a small private garden, which had to be entered through a locked gate.I looked at the interior of the garden through the iron railings on both sides. This is a very beautiful place, surrounded by bright gas lights, and it feels like seeing a pure lily in a cesspit.The garden is full of flowers and trees and looks very eye-catching.There was a strong smell of perfume coming from the door.The beautiful poison came to me slowly. "How can there be such a beautiful garden in such a dirty area? Why is there such a powerful protection spell at the gate of the garden?" "Nightside is full of surprises," I said. "The hidden secret is like our food and water." "That means you don't know either," said the sinner. "Guess right." I said. "But I have the key to the door. It was part of the payment from a previous case." "You're not going to tell us which case it is," said Beautiful Poison. "It's better not to know." I said seriously. "You're bluffing," said the lunatic.We all turned to look at him, but again he was done talking. I pulled the door key from the key ring and inserted it into the lock hole of the door.The lock was evidently unwilling to be opened, and it took me a great deal of effort to finally turn the key and open the garden gate.I clearly felt that the defensive magic on the door was automatically released, as if the tension in the air suddenly relaxed.I stand aside and ask others to enter first.I do this not out of politeness, but simply because I don't trust the garden.After confirming that nothing bad happened, I immediately followed everyone in, and then turned around and locked the door. Under the light of the light blue moon, the whole garden was shrouded in an illusory and strange atmosphere.The trees were tall and thin, their bare silhouettes casting horrible shadows on the walls in the yellow light of the old-fashioned gas lamps.A wriggling muddy walkway lay quietly between heavy bushes and many night-blooming flowers.In fact, everything in the garden was squirming, but there was no smell.Even the petals of the flowers are opening and closing silently, like a little girl pursing her mouth.Most of these flowers are white and red, and the overall feeling of them makes me think that white represents bones and red represents flesh and blood.I once heard a rose sing, and it was the most wicked song I ever heard in my life. "Good place." The sinner bent down to smell a flower, but soon scratched his nose and raised his head. "No." Beautiful Poison said. "I don't think it's a good place to be." "The demons from hell really have extraordinary eyesight." I said. "These plants are all deeply rooted. You don't want to know where they get their nourishment. Our goal is the statue in the middle of the garden. Don't touch anything." The garden path kept pumping up and down so that all the plants in the garden could see us.Anyway, in the end, the trail brought us to the statue.It was a statue of an angel kneeling in front of his broken wings and weeping silently. The appearance of its face had been completely eroded, and it was unknown whether it was caused by wind and rain and time, or it was eroded by the never-ending tears on its face.There is a moondial behind the angel statue, which shows the correct time at any time.I grabbed the moon gauge on it and carefully turned it 180 degrees.The entire moondial began to vibrate violently, and then slid to the side, revealing a bottomless passage. The passage is about a man's width, and it looks like it leads straight to hell.A set of black iron ladders was installed on one side of the passage, extending endlessly downwards.We took turns peering into the darkness of the passage.Beautiful Poison summons a hellfire in his hands, but the light doesn't shine very far.In the end we decided to let her go down first, so that we would lead the way with the flames, and we didn't want to sink blindly in the dark at all. So the beautiful poison went down first, then the sinner who was unwilling to leave her side, and then the lunatic, and I climbed at the end, urging the lunatic to move on at any time.The iron ladder rails were warm and damp to the touch.The moonlight shining from the entrance above his head disappeared quickly.The hellfire of Beautiful Poison is just enough for us to see each other.I don't like the glow of hellfire, it makes me feel very... uncomfortable.I focused my attention on the iron ladder, and found that the distance between each step was too far, and it seemed that it was not designed for human use at all. I put my shoulders against the walls on both sides, and crawled step by step towards the seemingly endless underground.We kept climbing and climbing until the muscles in our hands and feet started to ache, but we still couldn't see the bottom of the tunnel.I really wanted to change my mind and go back up, but I didn't have the strength to climb back, so I had to keep going down.Our breathing became more and more heavy, and it sounded extra loud in the quiet passage. We all breathed a sigh of relief when Pretty Poison suddenly announced that its feet had hit bottom, even the lunatics.He seems to be spending more and more time in the real world.Maybe he just needs someone to accompany him, or maybe it's because he feels a powerful crisis and needs to concentrate to face it; I don't want to ask him, because his answer will definitely give me a headache. We jumped down the iron ladder one by one and stepped onto a walkway next to an underground channel.Dark channels flowed with dark fluids.The stone wall on the opposite side of the channel has many huge claw marks, which are obviously the deliberate marks left by some kind of giant monster.We saw no one within the flames of the beautiful poison.But there is a small silver bell hanging on a high platform next to it.The four of us huddled together in the narrow aisle, finding solace in each other's presence.We could all tell it was not a good place, the air was hot and humid, like being in a steam room, and there was a very bad smell of putrefaction. "What now?" asked the sinner, in a dull voice. "I think we should go and ring that bell," I said. "The extent of my knowledge can only take us so far, the rest is uncharted territory." "Ring the bell?" said the sinner. "How do you know that's not the lunch bell of a nearby monster?" "I don't know." I said. "If you have other ideas, please feel free to say it. After all, what do you have to worry about, aren't you going to get hurt?" "No. I'm just able to resist damage. If I was eaten by a big monster, digested, and then excreted, I'm not sure if I can survive. I'm a special case, but it doesn't mean that I There is no limit." "Just say it now." I said. "Gentlemen, gentlemen," said Beautiful Poison.She crouched on the edge of the channel, hellfire floating on the black water. "I'm sure there's something moving in the water...you guys think there's a crocodile? I've heard stories of pet crocodiles being washed down the drain." "I have a strong feeling that the people here eat crocodiles for dessert," I said. "If I were you, I would leave the waterway immediately. Take your time and be careful, only the most ferocious monsters are qualified to survive in this kind of place." "Ring the bell," said the sinner. I grabbed the bell and shook it hard a few times.A burst of sharp ringing immediately spread far away, clear and direct, without any echo. We were on full alert, ready to face an attack from the darkness, but nothing happened.The bell disappeared and everything was quiet.Our tense emotions relaxed again, but the background music of the madman still did not resume playing, perhaps because there was no music that could match the current situation.Then, from our right, deep in the channel, in the dark shadows, there came suddenly the sound of a boat breaking through the water.We all stared wide-eyed into the dim shadows, and at last we saw a flat-bottomed boat floating out of the dark water.The boat was surrounded by a golden light, and a human figure stood on the boat, holding a silver paddle in his hand, slowly manipulating the boat to row towards us.The flat-bottomed boat was about twenty feet long, and the hull was painted bright blue, with a large black eye painted on each side of the bow.The people on board wore a large bright red cloak and a milky white mask on their faces.Disturbingly, the mask has only one eye hole, the one for the left eye.The boat stopped before us.Then the cloaked man bowed deeply to us. "Welcome to the Underworld, stupid wretches." His voice was very strong, with a heavy French accent. "Where do you guys want me to take you? I have to admit, there aren't many places to choose from. The upstream is bad, and the downstream is even worse, but at least the corpse eaters have been showing up less recently. A while ago someone tried Poison, but those rotting monsters eat poison like they eat. I hope you are here for a purpose, because I don't like being a tour guide. If I were you, I would go the same way now. There is nothing to see here Yes, the deeper you go, the more dangerous it will be." "It's about the same as I imagined a welcome speech." I finally found a gap to interject. "Can you take us to see the Lord of Thorns?" "Is it really so impatient to live?" said the ferryman. "There are better ways to commit suicide, and most of them are less painful." "The Lord of Thorns." I said firmly. "Is it possible?" "No problem, my friends. Get aboard. Don't fall into the water. The people here are full of energy and hungry." We jumped into the boat carefully, the hull was very stable, and it did not shake under our weight.The ferryman plunged the oars into the water, and the boat immediately slid far away with one stroke. It seemed that the ferryman was also a hidden and ruthless character; place to survive.We all breathed a sigh of relief under the golden light of the ship, and the beautiful poison put out the hellfire.The boat moved forward silently in the darkness, and the ferryman stared into the distance from the bow.As for what he saw in that lonely left eye, he did not share with us at all. "Not many tourists have come down recently," he said.The voice behind the mask seemed to come from far away. "Although outsiders rarely come in, and we don't like outsiders. Peace and quiet is a beautiful thing, isn't it? Are there any famous people among you? I don't like listening to people's gossip as much as I used to. " "This is a sinner," I said. "This is Beauty Poison. That's Crazy. I'm John Taylor." The ferryman shook his head and said, "I've never heard of it. I'm sorry. These names mean nothing to me. I've carried Julian Advent once before. A real gentleman, nothing to say." "How long have you been here?" I asked. "I don't know. Don't tell me, because I don't want to know at all. I came to the Night City on the Metro that just opened in Paris, around the beginning of the twentieth century, and it didn't take long for me to drift underground. I am fed up with the hustle and bustle of city life, and I just want to find a place to live in seclusion. However, I am full of nostalgia for opera... Anyway, I am here to provide ferry service, on the one hand it gives me something to do On the one hand, it is also atonement for the mistakes committed by youth and frivolity." "Can you tell us something about the Underworld?" asked the sinner. "Parts of this place are as old and dangerous as the Night City itself. At first, it was just a series of sewers, underground canals and tributaries of the Thames. Later, the Romans expanded the size of the city above and built many catacombs underground. , to satisfy their shady desires, they are really a very practical people. They believe that as long as the gods can't see their deeds, they will not get any punishment after death. There are still many people living in the underground who agree with this Thoughts, of course, what I call 'people' represent many different races. In recent years, the population of the Underworld has increased. Some come here to live in seclusion, sitting alone in dark stone chambers in search of better souls Li Qiudao. Some are weird guys even in a place like Night City, weird people who can’t get along with anyone. Of course, there are people like me who came here to escape the normal world. In addition, there are already The people of the subterranean who have settled here for centuries. They built their cities in the catacombs. As long as you don't disturb them, they will not sacrifice you to the gods. Vampires, ghouls, and Descendants of some ancient creature... there are all kinds of guys here, but don't worry about them, friends. My boat is protected by ancient powers, and if you sit still, I will take you to the gate of the Lord of Briars. After that, I hope my God can take care of you, because the Lord of Thorns will never be lenient." "Have you seen the Lord of Thorns?" asked the sinner. The Ferryman snorted loudly behind the mask. "No. You probably won't see him either. He's very closely guarded." He rowed the oars with ease, singing majestic opera and witty French ballads along the way in his baritone voice.The lunatic echoed his singing, playing a perfect and moving melody.Unknown monsters kept swimming by under the black water, and occasionally even bumped into the bottom of the boat, but nothing surfaced.The golden light blooming on the ship illuminates the ceiling, revealing countless astronomical marks carved on the ceiling, representing galaxies that have never been seen on earth since ancient times.The beautiful poison snuggled up to the sinner, ignoring everything around him, whispering softly in his ear.The sinner didn't respond to her words, just shook his head occasionally. The boat finally slowed down, and finally stopped beside a section of river that looked nothing special.The masked ferryman leaned on his oar and looked around. "I can only take you here, and this is not a good place, friends. Goodbye, everyone, although I doubt we will ever have the chance to see each other again." Immediately after we landed, he pushed the boat away from the bank, in the direction in which he had come.He doesn't continue to sing anymore.The golden light on the boat dimmed as the ferry moved away, and the surrounding light was gradually replaced by the red light above a nearby arch.Several ancient Greek texts are inscribed on the arch.We looked at each other for a while, and finally Beautiful Poison smacked his lips impatiently. "People don't study classical writing these days. Let me explain to you, in simple terms, it says 'eat meat is murder'." "Great." The sinner said. "We're in vegetarian territory." "I doubt it." Beautiful Poison said. "I smell rotting flesh coming from inside the arch." I smell it too.It was a very disgusting smell, and it felt like a spiritual bone tower exposed to the sun.I was sure the smell was coming from inside the arch, but there was no sign of movement for a while.Maybe it's a warning, maybe it's a threat, either way it doesn't make a difference to us because there's no other way to go unless we turn back.I lead the way through the arch, with the others reluctantly following me. We walked down a short passage with many drops of water seeping from the stone walls on either side.Not long after, they came to a large cave.This cave looks like a place where believers worship gods, but the arrangement in the cave is by no means an ideal church in anyone's mind.The ceiling is full of butcher's tools, wires, hacksaws, kitchen knives, kebabs, each of which is stained with dried ancient blood.On the other side of the cave was a terrifying throne made entirely of meat slices, some fresh and some rotten.The entire throne was shrouded in a black cloud of flies.All the stone walls in the cave are covered with names of people in various languages and cultures, and all of them are written in blood. "Are these names people who have been here before us?" The sinner asked curiously. "I don't know if you have noticed!" Beautiful Poison said. "There doesn't seem to be any other way out here." "I noticed." I said. "In my imagination, the residence of Lord Thorn is completely different from this place." The sinner said. "I strongly suspect we've been played." "Probably not." Beautiful Poison said slowly. "There are others here." A black cloud of flies suddenly rushed up from around the Flesh Throne, making a loud buzzing sound.They scuttled through the cave so quickly that we flailed while dodging.Then the black cloud returned to gather in front of the throne, gradually forming a human form.The figure has strong feet, a strong body, and a huge body, with its head reaching directly to the ceiling.Just watch it lean back and sit down on the throne of flesh and blood.Then the fly resonated and made a sound like talking, which sounded dirty and disgusting, as if it was full of mockery of human language. "Welcome, dear travelers," said the flies. "You have come to the gate of the Thorn Lord's domain, but you can't go any further. The Lord doesn't want to be disturbed, so he asked me to guard here. I am a demon from hell, bound here by the Thorn Lord. Just to make sure no one can bother him. I am the cursed Prince of Hell, destined here to serve the servants of Heaven until the destruction of Nightside, or the end of time itself. Sometimes I think the whole universe is It operates on the basis of sarcasm. But anyway, at least the food here is good. Hello, beautiful poison, long time no see. Do you like my place? Although it is not very luxurious, it still feels full of home." "Hello, Bobble," said Pretty Poison. "How could you follow the will of a mortal and be bound in such a place?" "Because this mortal is the Lord of Thorns, he knows too much forbidden knowledge. Is the person next to you your sinner? The only soul who refuses to give up love after going to hell?" "Yes." Beautiful Poison said. "He is my dear Sydney." "You are not only a pervert." The devil said to the sinner. "And an idiot. And now you believe hell's lies? She'll corrupt your mind and drag you back to hell. That's her job, and she's good at her job." "As long as you have enough time and motivation." The sinner said. "I might beat you to death." I decided to cut in before their conversation got any worse. "Hi, I'm John Taber, I'm sure you've heard my name. I'm here to talk to Lord Thorn. Get out of the way now, or I'll use interesting means to deal with you." "John Taylor?" The devil leaned forward, looked at me and asked. "It's an honor to meet you, really, although I imagined you shouldn't be so short. However, I still can't let you go, because this job is all I have left. No matter how vicious your methods are, Nor can it be compared to the Lord of Thorns. I am bound here, under his will. Besides, since no one has been here for a long time, I am starved to death." The dark figure stood up suddenly, and his body swelled instantly, almost filling half of the cave, and the buzzing sound was deafening.It grabbed at the lunatic with its palm, but all the flies passed through his body without touching a single hair on him.The demon hesitated for a while, then turned to grab me.I just saw the flies on its fingers sprinting forward and pounced on my head in groups.They swept across my face, trying to get inside me through my mouth, nostrils, eyes and ears.I was taken aback, and immediately closed my lips and eyes, and covered my nostrils and ears with my hands.Countless flies crawled all over my face, but suddenly they all backed away as if electrocuted.The devil froze on the spot, as if he didn't know what happened just like me.I seized this fleeting opportunity to summon my talent, opened my mind's eyes, and instantly found the spell used to bind the demon here. ——When I found out the spell, a certain instinct in my body automatically turned off the talent immediately.Because at that moment I already felt that something terrible was approaching rapidly, trying to find out my exact location.The enemy sent out something even more terrifying than the Pain Bringer this time, and all my instincts were screaming, warning me not to use my talents at will, otherwise this brand new monster will follow the master's will and kill me mercilessly . I recited the mantra I just found out.It was a voice that didn't belong to human language, and it drove people crazy just to hear it.I slowly forced the spell out of my mouth, syllable by syllable.The terrifying sound echoed in my head, almost exploding my brain.Howling in rage, the demon vanished, along with the Throne of Flesh and all the butcher's tools, leaving only a dull red light in the air and the names written all over the walls in the victim's own blood. Beautiful Poison took a step back, looked at me and said, "How could you recite such a powerful spell? Your soul should have been blasted out of your body." "I'm hiding some secrets that no one knows." I said with a tingle in my throat.There is now an opening in the wall where the Flesh Throne used to be. "It seems that the same is true of this place." We approached cautiously, examining the new opening.The opening had the shape of a door, and the edges were polished very smoothly, but it was just a simple square opening without a door frame or any warning signs.Behind the opening is a staircase that descends along the wall on one side and the empty abyss on the other.There is a ray of light hovering on the stairs at intervals, but from these faint lights, it is completely impossible to tell how deep the stairs are.There are no handrails beside the ladder, and if you are not careful, you will fall into the abyss.I stepped up the steps, leaning my shoulders against the wall and going down.After a while, others followed me down.We walked step by step into the bottomless darkness for a long, long time. "Are you there yet?" asked the madman. "Shut up," I said. "Are we still under the Nightside?" the sinner asked. "We seem to have come a long way." "We haven't left the Nightside yet, dear," said Pretty Poison. "I can feel it." "We are in a dark place under the surface," said the madman. "Here lies all ancient and dangerous secrets. There are many ancient monsters sleeping around us. They sleep under the earth, in the rocks, in the nothingness between the spaces. Make no noise. Some monsters Mere slumber, they have the power to affect our world even in their dreams. We walk among forgotten gods and sleeping demons, who have been here since the world was formed, from the dawn of ignorance." "I like it better when you're talking nonsense," said the sinner. The floating lights turned out to be human skin lanterns nailed to the wall, and the sides of the lanterns facing the stairs were full of faces screaming silently.As we walked by, the eyeballs of the faces all followed our shadows. "Are they still alive?" I asked. "Is the suffering not over yet?" "Oh, that's right." Beautiful Poison's voice revealed a certain pleasure of satisfaction. "Hush..." the sinner said. "What are they?" I asked. "What exactly are they?" "An uninvited guest." After the lunatic finished speaking, we were all quiet for a while. We continue to sink into the ground, the steps under our feet spiraling down the outer wall of the huge abyss.The dark stones on the walls have traces of artificial carvings in ancient times. At first it looked like carving tools were used, but later it seemed that they were dug with bare hands.Someone has spent a lot of time decorating this huge abyss under the Nightside, but who did it, and for what purpose?Will it be built by humans?Is there any other divine help?Why would anyone want to dig such a big hole in the ground?Could it be that Lord Thorn is really so scary that he must be buried so deep in the ground?The deeper I went underground, the more scared I became.My hands were shaking and my mouth was dry.This case is too involved and too important, and I should never have followed it in the first place.I really want to go back to being an ordinary private detective, trying to bluff the common people and manage the notoriety that I have deliberately cultivated.But no, I have to go on. I have spent a lot of effort to find the truth. Even if I lose all the courage to go on, I must go on with a strong willpower. The stone wall on which the shoulder rested began to show signs of depression and corrosion, and a strange liquid flowed out from the dark stone cracks.I stopped and looked carefully at the wet wall. "Don't touch it," said the sinner. "I didn't intend to touch it either. What do you think it is? Acid rain? Or something special underground?" "Neither." Beautiful Poison said. "It was tears." The sinner looked at her suspiciously: "You know this place?" "I've heard of it. All demons and angels know this place, and we're almost at the domain of the Overseer of the Nightside, the Lord of Briars." "Overseer of the Nightside?" I said. "Does that mean he's the one in power?" "No." Beautiful Poison said. "His power is far greater than those in power. He is the arbiter of everything, completely free from sympathy and pity." "I want to go home," said the madman. "That's the most sensible thing you've ever said today," said the sinner. The stairs finally come to an end, leading us to a huge and elegant crystal cave.All of a sudden, a pleasant light burst out from above our heads. Reflected by the crystal surface, it immediately illuminated the entire cave like daylight, giving people the feeling of standing in a huge diamond. In the very center of the crystal grotto, stood a large polished stone slab, on which lay a person, sleeping peacefully on it.He has gray hair, is wearing a gray robe, has a peaceful face, and there is no danger in his body.We stood in the shiny crystal cave, looking around in bewilderment.We all expected to encounter more guards or stronger defensive spells, but at this moment, nothing happened, and it felt like being in the quiet eye of the storm. Each crystal face is inscribed with words in Ino, a language created by humans in ancient times to communicate with angels.I can understand it, but I don't know how to pronounce it; not many people can speak it these days, because its pronunciation corrupts people's hearts.Beautiful Poison walked across a crystal wall, touching the words engraved on it with her fingers. "These are names," she said softly. "Very many names, names of angels belonging to heaven and hell, all ranks from top to bottom, names of all angels... Even my name is here, the real name I used before my fall. This knowledge should not be Anything held by any mortal..." "But... why are these names written here?" asked the sinner. "Because knowing the real name of an item represents the power to manipulate the other party." Beautiful Poison said. "You can command and control each other. No matter who brought the Lord of Thorns here, whoever appointed him as the Overseer of the Night City, the other party also gave him the power to control all the angels in heaven and hell." "No wonder he can tear the angel's wings in angelic war," said the sinner. "But who can give him such great power?" "I can think of two possibilities," said the madman. "Shut up." Beautiful Poison said. There was panic and anger in her tone.My mind is on the man on the slate.He hasn't moved at all since we entered the Crystal Grotto.Even so, I don't think he was in a deep sleep, because a normal sleeping person should be able to breathe. Then I was startled, for he sat up suddenly, kicked his feet over the edge of the flagstone, and glared at us.我们全都被他的眼光掳获，呆立在原地，有如一群被人当场抓到的小偷。灰色长发、胡须，以及布袍让荆棘大君看起来就像是旧约圣经里的先知一样。就是会告诉你说大洪水要来了，不过诺亚的方舟却已经离岸的那种先知。他拥有人类史上最苍老的一张面孔，眼神之中却隐含着一股永恒疯狂的狂野愤怒。整座水晶洞都充满了他恢弘无匹的强大气势，我们所有人都在他的瞪视之下变得渺小不值。 当然，除了疯子以外。他大叫了一声“爹！”然后往荆棘大君冲了过去。我们不约而同从他身后扑倒他，使尽全身蛮力才终于阻止他继续前进。接着我们一个一个在荆棘大君身前下跪，只因为他的气势让我们打从心底表示敬意。疯子耸了耸肩，然后跟着我们一同跪下。我低下头，试着露出忏悔的神情。这是个接受审判的地方，我感觉得出来，而没有同情与怜悯的审判，向来都是一种值得惧怕的东西。 荆棘大君缓缓地站起身来，全身上下的关节都发出骨骼的声响。我偷偷地看了他一眼，发现他倚靠着一根朴素的木头拐杖而立。一看到这根拐杖，我的心跳立刻急遽加速。传说在罗马时代，亚利马太的圣约瑟由原始的生命之树上折下一根树枝，带来英格兰移植，而这根拐杖就是由那棵树的枝干制成的。有人说荆棘大君就是亚利马太的圣约瑟，至少他看起来像是从那个年代活到现在的人。当他开口说话的时候，听起来就像是石头辗磨在一起的感觉。 “我是令所有人心碎的石头；我是将耶稣钉在十字架上的铆钉；我是射穿国王眼睛的弓矢；我是人类成长无可避免的苦难，夜城最清澈而又冷酷的良心。为了避免夜城被其本质所摧毁，我被赋予权力，支配所有生存于夜城之中的生命。我维持着'大实验'的运作，尽心尽力地看顾着它，并且审判所有企图腐化其本质的生命。我是割除病灶的解剖刀；使人睿智的碎心石。我乃荆棘大君。我认识在座的每一位。罪人、美丽毒药、疯子，以及约翰·泰勒。站起来吧，我正在等待你们的到来。” 我们从地上爬起，神情不定地面面相觑，有如一群等待校长责罚的学生一般。我强迫自己开口说话，只因为我深知一个道理：在面对夜城里的强者时，不管心里有多害怕，都绝对不能显露出来；只要对方发现你心里的恐惧，他们就再也不会对你客气。 "Well," I said. “我们来此是为了接受审判吗？” “不。”荆棘大君道。“我很欢迎你的到来，约翰·泰勒。” 我心里顿时冒出一股紧张的情绪，不过我也没有在脸上显露出来。我眯起眼睛看着荆棘大君，说道：“很多人认为，我对夜城的存在而言，是一项威胁；你是说他们都错了吗？” “不，我只是说你是个特殊个案。”他脸上浮现浅浅的微笑。“不，我也不知道你为什么这么特殊。你在我的眼中就和在其他人眼中一样，是个难解之谜。如果你认为这个情况不可思议的话，你就可以想象我有多么惊讶了。” 他对我们所有人微笑，原本围绕在水晶洞中的所有压力顿时消失。荆棘大君依然展现出伟大的气势，不过至少我们都不再感到随时都有被摧毁的危险了。荆棘大君伸了伸懒腰，看起来像只在太阳底下睡太久的懒猫一样。 “你们为了找寻答案远道而来。”他说。“真希望我能帮得上忙。可惜事实上，我只是在这里工作而已，只是个夜城的仆人罢了。或许我的确比世间所有希望与理性都还要强大，但那只是为了监督夜城所必备的能力。其实说到底，我也不过是一个无法卸下负担的老头罢了。我是夜城所有行动与决定的中心，而我已经非常厌倦这种生活了。想问什么就问吧，约翰·泰勒，我一定会把我所知道的全盘托出。或许这是我唯一能对夜城做出的反动吧。” “不好意思。”罪人非常有礼貌地说道。“那我们其他人呢？你也不会审判我们吧？” “你们不重要。”荆棘大君冷冷地道。“只有约翰·泰勒才重要。不过你们三个都是夜城之中独一无二的生命，基于各自不同的理由，塑造出了属于你们自己的独特命运。你们的身分早已在决定一切重要事务的地方，也就是隶属光明异界的神圣法庭中决定了。我的审判无法加诸在你们身上……罪人、恶魔，以及疯子。” 他的目光在他们脸上梭巡，最后又回到我身上。“你选择同伴的眼光十分睿智，任何其他人都不可能来到此地却又逃离我的审判的。现在，想问什么就快问吧。” "Okay." I said. “告诉我关于夜城的起源的一切，它被创造出来的目的以及本质究竟为何？” “夜城是个古老的地方。”荆棘大君说。“我想大概只有它的创造者才知道究竟有多古老。我只知道夜城在我之前就已经存在了。不过在当时，夜城还不是个适合人类居住的地方，怪物与古老的力量游走其间，依然无法肯定自我的身分以及存在的目的。当我第一次踏入英格兰的时候，罗马人就已经知道夜城这个地方了。他们出于害怕与尊敬而在夜城外围建立了伦狄尼姆城，藉以保护夜城，同时也将夜城的力量限制于其间，以免影响到帝国以及人民的生存空间。他们也知道你的母亲，约翰，并且崇拜她，只不过时至今日，已经没人知道他们是以什么神的名义崇拜她了。或许我曾经知道，但是却早已遗忘。我认为我不是自愿遗忘的。我花了很长的时间思考这个问题，想要知道她的真实身分……这么多个世纪以来，我做过无数假设，推翻过许多可能。我认为你母亲最有可能的身分就是一个名叫露娜的古神，也就是盖亚的妹妹。” “等等，”我举手说道。“盖亚……大地之母？那个盖亚？你认为我母亲是月神？” “没错，挂在天际照耀夜城的巨大明月。我认为你母亲就是月亮在人间的实体化身。你以为夜城的月亮为什么会如此巨大？只因为她在看顾着自己所创造出来的世界。你乃月亮之子，约翰·泰勒，既不身属光明，亦非全然属于黑暗，也就是恶名昭彰的毒蛇之子，尼可拉斯·贺伯的兄弟。我相信露娜创造夜城是为了与大地之间保持联系，进而与姐姐维持良好的关系，并且参与帮助人类进化的过程。” “但是……我听说，”罪人谦卑地说道。“露娜女神是个疯子，而且已经疯很久了。” “没错。”荆棘大君道。 罪人看着我：“那就可以解释很多事情了。” “狗屎。”我说。所有人都吓了一跳，对我看来。我大力摇头，瞪着荆棘大君，说道：“你只是在猜而已，就跟其他人一样。我问的每一个人都有不一样的答案，但是你们却没有一个可以肯定自己的推测。” “可不可以请你不要对着夜城监督者大呼小叫？”美丽毒药说。“我们还想完完整整地离开这里呢。” “如果我曾经知道她的真实身分，那段记忆也被人夺走了。”荆棘大君冷静地说。“我想其他人一定也和我一样。你母亲非常仔细地掩饰着自己的行踪。我怕夜城里再也没有任何比我古老的生命可以回答你这个问题。看来你的调查必须到此为止了。” “不，”我面对他冷酷的目光说道。“我一定要继续下去。我必须知道真相。你打算阻止我吗？” 荆棘大君微笑道：“或许我应该阻止你，不过我没有这个打算。你是个危险人物，约翰·泰勒，但是你很可能会为我在这里的工作画下一个句点。我很期待这个句点的到来。” 我试着站在他的处境设想，千百年来无法离开这个小小的洞窟，纵然偶有访客，也只是一些来接受审判的可怜虫。他监督着夜城中的一切，眼看着一代接着一代的人们来去，世界对他而言必定越来越疏远。但是除了善尽自己的责任，他又能怎么办呢？他曾经是一名人类，单纯的人类。或许如今的他享有夜城监督者的伟大名号，但是说到底，他也不过是一名囚犯罢了。 “是谁叫你待在这里的？”我问。 “如果我曾经知道，那段记忆也已经被人夺走了。”荆棘大君两眼无神地看着远方一会儿，又说：“我认为有可能是我自愿的，但是我很怀疑。” “我一定还有地方可去的。”我说。“夜城里有那么多古老的神灵及力量，一定有谁还知道一些事情的……” “运用你的天赋。”美丽毒药突然说。“传说你的天赋可以找出任何东西。为什么不用天赋找出你的母亲？或着至少找出可以指点一条明路的人？” “不是那么简单的。”我说。“不然我早就这么干了。东西藏得越隐密，我就得花越多的时间及精力才能找出来。我心眼开启越久，我的敌人就越能够找出我的位置，派人来杀我。刚刚利用天赋驱逐守门恶魔的时候，我已经发现某种东西差点找到我面前来了，某种比痛苦使者还要恐怖许多的怪物。要是我再次开启天赋，对方随即就会找到我，即使在这里也不例外。我想就连荆棘大君也未必能够应付这只新的怪物。从现在起，除非不得已，不然我的天赋绝对不能再度开启。” “我们可以去时间之塔。”罪人说。 我抖了一下。“我宁愿不要。只有在一切手段通通无效之后——包括闭上双眼祈祷问题自动消失在内——才应该考虑时光旅行。因为时光旅行所造成的麻烦常常比解决的问题还多。” 既然我的敌人是从一个可能的未来里派出杀手回到过去来追杀我，那么时光旅行很可能会增加我暴露行踪的机会。 美丽毒药并不同意。“我们可以利用时光旅行回到创造夜城的那一刻，亲眼目睹夜城的起源！这样一来，所有答案不就都迎刀而解了吗？” “不是个好主意。”疯子道。“那个年代存在了许多强大的神灵与力量，每一个都具有摧毁我们的能力，我曾经亲眼见过，过去与我们想象之中的有很大的差别。” 我们全都转头看他，不过他已经把话说完了。他的神智显然越来越清楚，不过他的言语只有比疯狂的时候更加骇人听闻。 荆棘大君突然抬起头来。“当权者无视于所有停战协议，此刻已经派人进入地底之境。显然当你驱逐了我大门前的恶魔时，就触发了某种当权者的警报。他们已经将大门挡住，并且试图封起所有的入口。”他转头向我，说道：“你希望的话，我可以把他们全部杀死。当权者只派了几千个人下来而已。” 我一点也不怀疑他有能力这么做。想到被折翼的天使以及渥克手下的那些监视者，我立刻就摇了摇头。 “有时候死亡就是最好的答案。”荆棘大君说。“不过既然你不想见到他们死去，那我还是可以提供另外一条出路。这些年来，早已没有人知道所有通往此地的路径了。” “你是说你可以在当权者之前守住秘密？”罪人道。“我很震惊，说真的，非常震惊。” 荆棘大君不屑地道：“我们已经有数百年不曾交谈过了。他们管理的是夜城的外在形式，我的领域则偏向夜城本身的内在灵性。” “在想出下一步之前，我们还是得先甩掉渥克的手下才行。”我说。“既然当权者已经下达了我的格杀令……” “或许我能帮得上忙。”美丽毒药缓缓说道。“我……曾经跟渥克有过一段过去。” 罪人不太高兴地看了看她。“你倒从来没有提过这件事。” “我认识很多男人。”美丽毒药毫不掩饰。“数不尽的岁月，数不清的男人。当权者曾经将我赐给渥克当礼物，我可以运用旧有的连结直接去找他，然后……跟他聊聊，透过过去的那段关系叫他召回手下，甚至可以套出一些答案。当然，如果他不肯合作的话……” “你不能杀他。”罪人说。 “当然不能，亲爱的。我还要留他问问题并且召回手下呢。” “也不能伤害他。”罪人坚持道。 “你有时候真的很扫兴。没问题，我会想办法的。我先施个法术，让你们都可以看到我跟他会面的状况。”她伸手抚摸罪人的脸庞。“你要学着信任我，亲爱的席尼。我必须这么做。我要跟你证明我自己。”她突然微笑：“我保证，渥克绝对想不到会遇上这种事。”