016 引人深思

旁白 neutral

Morb groaned as he returned to consciousness

莫布恢复意识时呻吟了一声。

旁白 neutral

For a moment he didn't remember where he was or what had happened

一瞬间他忘了自己在哪，也不知道发生了什么。

旁白 neutral

Then he saw the ruined house around him and the heavy beam lying beside him. His memory came rushing back

接着他看到四周残破的房屋和身旁沉重的横梁，记忆一下子涌了上来。

旁白 neutral

" Aargh!" he yelled, gnashing his teeth." Those rotten children will pay for making a fool of me yet again!"

“啊！”他咬牙切齿地吼道，“那些可恶的孩子，又让我出丑，一定要让他们付出代价！”

旁白 neutral

He rubbed his hands together and healed his aching head

他搓了搓双手，治好了自己疼痛的脑袋。

旁白 neutral

Then he zapped himself back to the fortress

然后他把自己传送回了堡垒。

旁白 neutral

Several trolls were in the tower room staring dully at the map above the Secret Eye, as Morb had ordered

几个巨魔按莫布的命令待在塔楼房间里，呆呆地盯着秘密之眼上方的地图。

旁白 neutral

Morb glanced at the map, which was still blank." Ridiculous," he snapped

莫布瞥了一眼地图，地图仍是一片空白。“荒唐。”他厉声说道。

旁白 neutral

Stalking over, he yanked the blink images out of the eye sockets

他大步走过去，把眨眼图像从眼窝里扯了出来。

旁白 neutral

Immediately the map filled with glowing red dots

地图立刻布满了发光的红点。

旁白 neutral

Morb glared at the trolls, who looked vaguely surprised

莫布瞪着那些巨魔，它们似乎有些惊讶。

旁白 neutral

" Don't just stand there looking stupid!" he told them." Go bring me some more Reds."

“别傻站在那儿！”他对它们说，“去给我多抓些红魔法师来。”

旁白 neutral

The trolls exchanged a glance. One grunted, an image of sloppy gruel appearing over its head

巨魔们交换了一个眼神。其中一个哼了一声，头顶浮现出一碗稀粥的画面。

旁白 neutral

" You'll get more food when you've earned it," Morb snapped

“等你们完成了任务再吃东西，”莫布厉声说道。

旁白 neutral

" Go!" He waited until the trolls zapped away, and then stomped downstairs

“快去！”他等着巨魔们消失不见，然后跺着脚下了楼。

旁白 neutral

Boz was lying in his cell, weak and pale

波兹躺在牢房里，虚弱而苍白。

旁白 neutral

Two trolls were coming out of the cell, carrying a large cauldron full of the bright blue leeches

两个巨魔正从牢房里出来，抬着一口装满鲜蓝色水蛭的大锅。

旁白 neutral

" I hope you enjoyed today's treatment," Morb said sarcastically

“希望你享受今天的治疗，”莫布挖苦道。

旁白 neutral

" Normally I give my guests a day off to regain their magical energy between treatments

“通常我会让客人在两次治疗之间休息一天，好恢复魔力。

旁白 neutral

But since you are a former Magic Master, I thought you could handle two days in a row."

但因为你曾经是魔法大师，我想连续两天治疗你也受得了。”

旁白 neutral

Boz barely had the energy to lift his head and glare at Morb

波兹几乎连抬起头的力气都没有，只能怒视着莫布。

旁白 neutral

" You won't get away with this," he croaked

“你逃不掉的，”他声音嘶哑地说。

旁白 neutral

" Don't try to talk too much, my friend," Morb warned with a sneer

“别太费力气说话，我的朋友，”莫布冷笑道，发出了警告。

旁白 neutral

" You need to rest before your next treatment. My leeches are always hungry

“你得在下一次治疗前好好休息。我的水蛭总是饥肠辘辘。

旁白 neutral

If you don't provide enough magic, they just might suck the life out of you one of these times."

要是你提供不了足够的魔法，它们说不定哪次就会吸走你的生命力。”

旁白 neutral

" Is that supposed to be a threat?" Boz said

“这算是威胁吗？”波兹说。

旁白 neutral

" Because you don't scare me, Morb. You never did."

“因为你吓不到我，莫布。你从来都吓不到我。”

旁白 neutral

" We'll see if you're still so confident when your grandson is in the cell next to you," Morb snarled

“等你孙子也关进你隔壁牢房的时候，看你还能不能这么嘴硬，”莫布咆哮道。

旁白 neutral

" Zann?" Panic suddenly filled Boz's face." Is he here?"

“赞？”波兹脸上突然充满了惊慌。“他在这儿吗？”

旁白 neutral

Morb didn't answer. Instead he turned and walked out of the cell, ordering the trolls to bring the cauldron of leeches

莫布没有回答。他反而转身走出牢房，命令巨魔把装满水蛭的大锅拿来。

旁白 neutral

Boz continued to yell, but Morb ignored him and went into a small room at the end of the corridor

波兹继续叫喊，但莫布没理他，径直走进了走廊尽头的一个小房间。

旁白 neutral

Inside was a stone pit full of firewood and kindling

里面是一个石坑，堆满了木柴和引火物。

旁白 neutral

Morb pointed, and instantly flames leaped out

莫布一指，火焰立刻窜了出来。

旁白 neutral

With a grunt the trolls lifted the cauldron onto the fire

巨魔们哼了一声，把大锅抬到了火上。

旁白 neutral

As the leeches cooked, the magic energy they had just ingested left their bodies

水蛭被烹煮时，它们刚吞下的魔法能量从体内散逸出来。

旁白 neutral

It rose up like steam, emerging from the cauldron in thick blue spirals

那能量像蒸汽一样升腾，化作浓浓的蓝色螺旋，从锅中冒出。

旁白 neutral

Morb leaned over the cauldron, breathing in the escaping magic

莫布俯身凑近大锅，吸入那些逃逸的魔法。

旁白 neutral

The steam burned his nose and throat, but he ignored the unpleasant feeling

蒸汽灼痛了他的鼻子和喉咙，但他毫不在意这种不适。

旁白 neutral

For now he would continue to do things the slow, difficult way. But not for much longer

眼下他还会继续用这种缓慢艰难的方式行事，但不会太久了。

旁白 neutral

He was almost strong enough to put the next step of his plan into action

他已经快要积攒够力量，去实施下一步计划了。

旁白 neutral

" Yes," he whispered, inhaling deeply, as more and more magical energy filled him

“是的，”他轻声说道，深深地吸了一口气，越来越多的魔法能量充满了他全身。

旁白 neutral

He felt powerful — more powerful than ever before

他觉得自己强大无比——从未如此强大过。

旁白 neutral

Boz had strong magic indeed. And now it was all his!

波兹确实拥有强大的魔法。而现在，这一切都是他的了！

旁白 neutral

Morb breathed in the last of the blue steam

莫布吸入了最后一丝蓝色的蒸汽。

旁白 neutral

Then he threw back his head and laughed, never noticing the big-eyed insect fluttering outside the tiny barred window at the top of the stone wall

然后他仰头大笑，完全没有注意到石墙顶端那扇带栅栏的小窗外，一只大眼睛的昆虫正在扑闪着翅膀。

旁白 neutral

" So your grandfather was suspicious of Morb from the start?" Gliss asked

“所以你祖父从一开始就怀疑莫布了？”格丽丝问道。

旁白 neutral

Zann looked around at his friends. All of them, plus Zing, were still in the Hollow

赞环顾着他的朋友们。所有人，还有辛，都还待在凹地里。

旁白 neutral

They hadn't heard from Jev yet. So Zann was still reading as much as he could from his grandfather's diary

他们还没有杰夫的消息。所以赞仍在尽可能地多读祖父的日记。

旁白 neutral

" Boz was suspicious of Morb," he said." At least that's what he wrote in here

“波兹怀疑莫布，”他说，“至少他在这里是这么写的。

旁白 neutral

Boz stopped by the university a few days after Morb started working as an assistant animal caretaker at my parents' lab

莫布开始在我父母的实验室担任动物饲养员助理几天后，波兹顺道去了一趟大学。

旁白 neutral

At first Boz just thought Morb seemed secretive and shifty."

起初，波兹只是觉得莫布鬼鬼祟祟、形迹可疑。”

旁白 neutral

" And then what?" Perda asked

“然后呢？”帕达问。

旁白 neutral

" One day Boz caught Morb performing some nasty secret research on the lab animals," he said

“有一天，波兹撞见莫布在对实验室的动物做某种肮脏的秘密实验。”他说。

旁白 neutral

Perda gasped." What was he doing?"

帕达倒抽一口气。“他在做什么？”

旁白 neutral

" Boz guessed that Morb was trying to figure out ways to steal magic from the creatures under his care."

“波兹猜测，莫布是在想办法从受托照料的生物身上窃取魔法。”

旁白 neutral

Darb looked stricken." That's terrible!" he said, reaching out to stroke Zing's scales

达布面露惊骇。“太可怕了！”他说着，伸手轻抚辛格的鳞片。

旁白 neutral

" That sort of experimentation is strictly regulated by the Red Council

“这种实验受到红色议会的严格管制。

旁白 neutral

And caretakers are never supposed to take part in it."

管理员是绝对不允许参与的。”

旁白 neutral

" I know," Zann said." But I guess Morb didn't care

“我知道，”赞说。“但我猜莫布根本就不在乎。

旁白 neutral

The second time Boz caught him, he was eating some leeches."

波兹第二次抓到他的时候，他正在吃一些水蛭。”

旁白 neutral

" Eating them?" Gliss shuddered." Yuck!"

“吃水蛭？”格丽丝打了个哆嗦。“好恶心！”

旁白 neutral

Zann nodded." I guess it worked, at least a little

赞点了点头。“我猜这确实管用，至少有点效果。

旁白 neutral

Morb was able to do enough magic to zap himself away before Boz could stop him."

莫布积攒了足够施展的魔法，赶在波兹阻止他之前，把自己传送走了。”

旁白 neutral

" What did Boz do?" Darb asked

“波兹做了什么？”达布问。

旁白 neutral

" He told my parents that they should fire Morb and report him to the Council."

“他告诉我的父母，他们应该解雇莫布，并向议会举报他。”

旁白 neutral

" Did they?"

“他们照做了吗？”

旁白 neutral

" The next few pages aren't in very good shape." Zann bit his lip

“接下来的几页损坏得有些严重。”赞咬了咬嘴唇。

旁白 neutral

" So I'm not sure what happened after that

“所以我不确定后来发生了什么。

旁白 neutral

The next part that's readable talks about Boz and me moving to Swamp Bottom."

接下来能辨认的部分，讲的是波兹和我搬去沼泽底的事。”

旁白 neutral

" Wow." Perda looked thoughtful." Don't you find it odd that all that stuff happened right before your parents disappeared?"

“哇。”帕达若有所思。“你不觉得奇怪吗？所有这些事都刚好发生在你父母失踪之前。”

旁白 neutral

Zann shot her a look." Are you saying that Morb had something to do with my parents' disappearance too?"

赞瞥了她一眼。“你是说，我父母的失踪也和莫布有关？”

旁白 neutral

Just then they heard Jev calling them from outside the Hollow

就在这时，他们听到杰夫在树洞外面喊他们。

旁白 neutral

Perda jumped to her feet." The spy fly must be back," she cried." Let's go find out what it saw!"

帕达一跃而起。“间谍飞虫一定回来了，”她喊道。“咱们快去瞧瞧它看到了什么！”