某个包裹上的附信 Letter attached to a package

一种曾经可能毁灭下层区的神秘生物的兴亡史。 The rise and fall of a mysterious creature that could have annihilated the Underworld.

马夏：

Martha,

你还记得之前跟你一起去抓岩居蟹的费恩吗？

Do you remember Fayne? The one who went with you to catch rock crabs?

大长脸，眼睛小得跟从来没有睡醒过一样，有印象了吧。那家伙后来去倒卖古代遗物了，干了没几年，好像遇到了黑吃黑，现在音讯全无。

Long face with eyes that made him look like he was always sleepy? I found out that he got into the ancient relic trade. He did that for a few years, but must have gotten into a turf war or something since I haven't heard anything of him lately.

那家伙之前在机械墓场里挖出一些信件，在收藏古代遗物的集市里根本卖不出去。毕竟在那种地方，不是古代遗物的东西基本上一文不值。结果他后来一时穷困潦倒，跑来问我收不收这些信。我是收水产的，又不是收垃圾的。你把岩居蟹带过来，我收，这东西我要它干嘛？

A while back, he uncovered some letters in the machine graveyard that he couldn't sell on the relic market. I don't know why he tried — anything that isn't a relic is worthless there. He came to me out of desperation and asked if I'd take them. I only purchase aquatic goods, not garbage. If someone brings me rock crabs, no problem, but what am I supposed to do with letters?

不过看在过往的交情上，我还是低价买下了这些信件。

Anyway, for old friendship's sake, I ended up buying them at a low price.

那小子张口就又哄又骗，说这些信里面有倒卖水产的情报，所以不卖给收藏家而是卖给我。几十封信里，只有一封信提到了螃蟹，叫隧道岩蟹的，我做水产这么多年了，根本没听说过这种螃蟹。

Even after I bought them he was still trying to fool me. He told me they contained sales reports on aquatic goods, which is why he sold them to me and not the collectors. Out of dozens of letters, there was only one that mentioned a type of crab — the tunnel rock crab. In all my years of being in this business, I'd never heard of it before.

光看名字，似乎跟岩居蟹有点关系，但谁知道是不是一种东西呢。我听说过一种搞笑的说法，岩居蟹以前没有躲在石头里的习性，因为吃螃蟹的人多了，为了保护自己才躲进石头里的。说不定就是那个时候，这螃蟹给自个儿改名了？

Judging from the name, it's probably related to the standard rock crab, but maybe they're one and the same? I did hear a funny story about rock crabs. Rock crabs never use to hide in the rocks — they only started doing so to protect themselves from the hordes of people trying to eat them. Maybe that's when the crabs changed their own name?

不过呢，那信里说矿区地下这螃蟹可多了，多到成灾了，要是不去管，两百年内矿区都给弄塌了，上头那座城也都跟着没了。现在都多久过去了，啥都没改变。嘿，倒是螃蟹全都不见踪影了，怕是给咱们吃绝种了。我看这些古代的人根本没有文化，就知道自己吓唬自己。

Anyway, the letter mentioned there were many crabs in the underground mining area. Left unattended, they'd cause the tunnels to collapse in less than two hundred years, along with the city above. Well, it's been a long time and nothing has changed. The only difference is all the crabs are gone now, probably extinct from all of us eating them. I can tell the people back then didn't know much. They had nothing better to do than frighten themselves all day long.

要是有那么多螃蟹，我现在就不用愁了。现在的岩居蟹价格居高不下，根本抓不着，说不定都已经灭绝了，我可能也要改行了。

If there were as many crabs now as there was back then, I wouldn't have to worry. The price of rock crabs is high, and they might already be extinct since I can't catch any. I may have to find a different job.

我听说你现在好像到「地火」里去研究历史了。我把这些信翻出来，想着可能对你有帮助，我就直接寄过来了。你们这「地火」要是管伙食，就帮我引荐引荐大厨，这就是我所要不多的回报了，你看怎么样？

I heard you're currently studying history in Wildfire. I came across these letters and thought they could be useful to you, so I forwarded them over. All I ask in return is that you introduce me to the chef there. What do you think?

马塞尔

Marcel