After ending the conversation with Don't Want to Practice, Zhang Heng left the forum room, but he did not change his plan to return to China.
It would be safer to stay in Ireland, but as he said, he still had unfinished business. He had yet to find a cure for Mei Nan's illness, and there was a time bomb hidden in his body. Besides, the most important thing was that his family was here now, and he did not want to bring trouble to them.
The longer he stayed here, the higher the risk of being found. At the same time, the other party would inevitably notice his parents, grandfather, and his unborn sister.
That was the most important reason why Zhang Heng decided to meet Xiao Xia. However, he did not tell Xiao Xia or anyone else in the house about it. Even so, a small problem arose the night before he left.
It was already one o 'clock in the morning, and Zhang Heng heard something coming from downstairs.
The sound was not loud, but it still did not escape Zhang Heng's ears. He did not close the door when he went to bed, just in case something like this happened. So Zhang Heng got up from the bed, grabbed a knife he had just bought at the supermarket, hid it behind him, bent down, and quietly walked down the corridor like a leopard cat.
He walked down the stairs to the living room, only to see a figure standing in front of the refrigerator with his back to him, rummaging through something inside.
"It's so late. What are you looking for?" Zhang Heng put away the knife in his hand and asked.
The figure heard his voice and turned his head. It turned out to be Zhang Heng's father, holding two bottles of beer in his hand. "The stars are nice tonight. Let's go sit in the yard? By the way, bring some mosquito repellent. It's in the first drawer under the coffee table. "
Zhang Heng opened the drawer and found a bottle of mosquito repellent inside. He first sprayed it on himself, then went to the yard, threw the mosquito repellent to his father, and then took a bottle of cold beer from the latter.
"When you were a child, I told you stories about the stars, right?" Zhang Heng's father finished applying the mosquito repellent, found a chair to sit down, and pointed to the starry sky above his head. "It's amazing, isn't it? People more than two thousand years ago looked up and saw the same starry sky as we do."
"I remember you told me a lot of myths related to the stars." Zhang Heng sat down on another chair.
"Yes, if you look back at the early human civilization, you will find that almost all civilizations have stories related to the stars. At that time, people were full of curiosity about the stars above their heads. Those celestial bodies tens of millions of kilometers away from us are so mysterious and untouchable, and the patterns they draw when they get close to each other also stimulated the imagination of people under the stars." Zhang Heng opened the beer in his hand and took a sip.
"At that time, the environment our ancestors lived in was much harder than it is now, and there were too many unexplainable things in the world. Diseases, natural disasters … Why did the wheat yield on the same land decrease year by year, and why did the children of the nobles always have many mentally retarded? They hoped to find an answer, but the level of technology at that time could not provide them with this answer. This is why the gods were born — to bring humanity the answer."
"They are like the starry sky above our heads, mysterious and untouchable, giving people endless reverie. You have to admit that this is actually quite … romantic. People push the problems they can't solve to the gods. Thunder is because the God of Thunder is drumming in the clouds. The sun rises and sets because the God of Sun is driving a carriage to cruise in the sky. Diseases and disasters are the divine punishments that a certain god sends to mankind because he is angry. This also tells us that we should always be humble and do more good."
"When I first came into contact with the stories in the murals and ancient books, I would ask myself, did their prayers and sacrifices work in the end? Did a rainstorm really come in time to save the crops that were about to be killed by the drought? When their country was in danger, did the God of War also bless their country's warriors with victory? Would the Goddess of Fertility bless the birth of his second child? Then I suddenly realized that all of this was not actually important.
"People choose to believe in a certain god because faith can help them find some kind of spiritual comfort in this chaotic and difficult world. At least, before our civilization develops to a certain extent, we can't control the weather. Rain may come tomorrow, or it may not. Those who believe that rain will come tomorrow are at least happier than those who don't believe that rain will come tomorrow. This is the meaning of faith. It can give you some kind of spiritual encouragement, allowing you to survive the long night better than others."
"At that time, it was probably the honeymoon period between humans and the gods. We worked hand in hand to fight against the unpredictable nature, building and developing civilization on this land. However, with the development of technology and productivity, the answers to the previously unanswerable questions were solved one by one, and they became less mysterious. Even the gods behind them lost the respect of humans and fell from their pedestals. As for the remaining gods, their relationship with humans gradually changed. They no longer exist to find a certain answer, but what remains unchanged is that they still carry some kind of human desire."
Zhang Heng listened quietly and opened his own bottle of beer, but he did not speak.
"Of course, with the continuous improvement of technology and entertainment standards, humans have also developed many new desires. For example, in the hot summer, people yearn to return to an air-conditioned room. We have already landed on the moon, so we also yearn to land on those stars. So, I would not be too surprised if a new era of gods appears one day." Mr. Zhang shrugged.
"What if some people are longing for the arrival of the apocalypse?" Zhang Heng, who had been silent all this while, suddenly asked.
Zhang Heng's father didn't look too surprised when he heard this question. He said while drinking, "Fear is the most primitive human instinct, and it can also provide enough stimulation to the brain. In modern society, the danger we face is actually decreasing. We are far less dangerous than our ancestors, so the fear we feel is also decreasing. Most of the time, we can only get this stimulation through horror and movies. We can't live without fear, so doomsday fantasies are actually common."
"This kind of desire can't be eliminated, right?"
"Unfortunately, yes. But don't worry, we will find a solution, just … it will take some time. "Mr. Zhang finished the beer in his hand." Each of us should have faith in ourselves. "
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