48 Hours a Day

Chapter 1296: Farewell

Zhang Heng left the Forum Room after ending the exchange with Fan Meinan, but he did not change his plans to return home.

It would be safer to stay in Ireland, but as he said, he still had unfinished business. Fan Meinan’s illness had not been treated, and there was a ticking time bomb in his body, most importantly, his family was here, and he did not want to bring trouble to them.

Every day he stayed here, the risk of being found increased. At the same time, the other party would also notice his parents, grandfather, and unborn sister.

That was why Zhang Heng decided to pass on the most important reason. However, he did not tell Xiao Xia or the other people in the room about it. Even so, the night before he left, there would still be a small problem.

It was already one o’clock in the morning when Zhang Heng heard the sound coming from downstairs.

The sound was not loud, but it did not escape Zhang Heng’s ears. When he slept, the door was not closed, just in case something happened. Therefore, Zhang Heng got out of bed, he grabbed a knife that he had bought at the supermarket and hid it behind his back. He bent down and quietly walked down the corridor like a civet cat.

He walked down the stairs to the living room and saw a figure carrying him on his back. He was standing in front of the fridge, rummaging through something.

“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 around. It was Father Zhang. He was holding two bottles of beer in his hands, “The Stars Tonight are pretty good. Let’s go sit in the courtyard. Oh right, bring some mosquito repellent. It’s in the first drawer under the coffee table.”

Zhang Heng opened the drawer. Sure enough, he found a bottle of mosquito repellent. He sprayed it all over himself before returning to the courtyard and tossing it to his father. He then took a bottle of cold beer from the latter’s hands.

“When you were young, I told you stories about the stars, didn’t I?”After applying the mosquito repellent, Zhang Heng found a chair and sat down. He pointed at the starry sky above him, “Isn’t it amazing? People from 2,000 years ago looked up and saw the same starry sky as we did.”

“I remember you telling me many myths about the stars.”Zhang Heng sat down on another chair.

“That’s right. If you look back at the early human civilization, you’ll realize that almost every civilization had stories about the stars. At that time, people were filled with curiosity about the stars above their heads. Those celestial bodies tens of millions of kilometers away from us were so mysterious and untouchable. The pictures drawn from their proximity also stimulated the imagination of the people under the stars.”Father Zhang opened the beer in his hand and took a sip.

“At that time, the environment our ancestors lived in was much more difficult than it is now, and there were too many unexplainable things in the world, such as diseases, natural disasters... why the wheat yield on the same piece of land was decreasing year by year, and why there were always many retarded children born to nobles. They hoped to find an answer, but the technological level at that time could not give them that answer. This is why the gods were born — to bring the answer to mankind.”

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“They are like the starry sky above us, mysterious and untouchable, giving people endless reveries. You have to admit that this is actually quite... romantic. People push problems that they can not solve to the gods. Thunder is because the thunder god is drumming on the clouds. The sun rises and sets because the sun god is cruising in a carriage in the sky. Disease and disaster are the divine punishments that a god has given to humans out of anger. This also tells us that we should always be humble and do more good deeds.

“When I first came into contact with the stories in the frescoes and the ancient books, I asked myself, did their prayers and sacrifices finally take effect? Was there really a rainstorm that came in time to save the crops that were about to be killed by the drought? Did the god of War give the blessing of victory to the warriors of their country when their country was in danger? Would the fertility goddess bless the birth of his second child? Then I suddenly realized that none of this really mattered.

“People choose to believe in a god because belief can help them find some kind of spiritual comfort in this chaotic and difficult world. At least until our civilization has developed to a certain extent, we can not control the weather. Rain may or may not come tomorrow. Those who firmly believe that rain will come tomorrow will be happier than those who do not believe that rain will come tomorrow at least for one day. This is the meaning of belief. It can give you some kind of spiritual encouragement so that you can survive the long night better than others.

“At that time, it was probably the honeymoon period between mankind and the gods. Together, we fought against the unpredictable nature and established a civilization on this land. However, with the development of technology and productivity, the previously unanswerable questions were solved one by one and became no longer mysterious. Even the gods behind them lost the respect of mankind and fell from the altar. As for the remaining gods, their relationship with mankind gradually changed. They no longer existed to find an answer, but what remained unchanged was that they still carried the desire of mankind.”

Zhang Heng listened quietly. He opened his own bottle of beer, but he did not say a word.

“Of course, with the constant improvement in technology and entertainment, mankind has developed many new desires. For example, in the hot summer, the desire to return to the air-conditioned room. We have already climbed to the moon, so we are also eager to climb to the stars. So, if one day, some new era of gods appear, I won’t be too surprised.”Father Zhang Shrugged.

“What if some people are longing for the end of the World?”Zhang Heng, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly asked.

Father Zhang did not look too surprised when he heard this question. He said as he drank, “Fear is the most primitive instinct of human beings. It can also provide sufficient stimulation to the brain. In modern society, the dangers we face are actually decreasing. We are far inferior to our ancestors, so the fear that we can feel is also decreasing. Most of the time, we can only get this kind of stimulation through horror novels and movies. We can not do without fear, so doomsday fantasies are actually common.”

“This kind of desire can not be eliminated, right?”

“Unfortunately, yes. But don’t worry, we will find a solution. It’s just that... it will take some time.”Father Zhang finished the beer in his hand, “Each of us should have faith in ourselves.”