All living beings in hell

Chapter 156 - Hansen the Centaur
The lotus lantern at the entrance was lit up, and the office welcomed the 110th guest.

There were several snorting sounds of horses outside the door, the door was pushed open, and a guest with a white horse head came in.The guest wore a blue velvet suit with a black lining, a dark red bow tie, and well-polished English leather shoes.The part of the white mane was braided into a braid and left on the shoulders, exuding a gentle temperament.

"Hello, what should I call you?"

"Hanson Edward III, it is a great honor to meet you."

Hansen took off his black leather gloves and gently held my hand.The surface of his skin is also covered with smooth and hard horse hair, which makes my palms a little itchy.

"Drink tea?"

"Anything is fine."

I poured hot tea and placed it on the table, then spread out my pen and ink and sat down again.

"Why are you looking for me today?"

"I had some regrets when I passed away, and they have been lingering in my heart for a long time, and I can't resolve them for a long time. I would like to ask you to unravel them for me."

"Please speak."

"Before I was alive, I was a respected navigator. In the name of the royal family, I sailed around the world on a [-]-ton ship. Therefore, I have been to many small islands and continents that I have never seen before, and I have also met many people from the world. Different people from all over the world. I brought the rich wine, exquisite utensils and rattan mats from our country to exchange for materials from different places.

All my life I have maintained a respectful relationship with the native peoples of these continents and islands, at least that is what I maintain. "

"What is your claim?"

"A relationship that allows long-term cooperation and coexistence. We horses have learned many similar sailing stories from human history, most of which are based on colonization and aggression. Doing so can indeed bring about a certain degree of economic development and cultural implantation, But what our horse culture cares about is fair and sustainable development.”

"Why do you care so much about fairness and sustainable development?"

Hansen took out a pocket watch from the inner pocket of his suit and put it on the table. The pocket watch seemed to be made of copper, with black hands and scales on a white background, which looked unpretentious.There is a small spring on the side of the pocket watch. Hansen turned the spring a few times, and then put the pocket watch on the table.

The gear parts inside the pocket watch made a sound of running, the transparent glass shell on the surface bounced off, and a giant holographic image appeared on the desktop.

The holographic image is a thumbnail image of a certain galaxy. Hansen stood up and dragged and enlarged the holographic image in the air with both hands.

"Our species experienced two mass extinctions before colonizing the Orion system."

The hologram is positioned on a blue planet that looks similar to Earth, but with a very different distribution of continental plates.

"The first demise stemmed from the overexploitation of resources and war conflicts. We thought that the resources on our planet were inexhaustible, and wanted to use all the resources for our own use. We are the same race, but we Divide the land, claim their own kings, and wage wars to invade other people's territories.

We harvest resources and use these resources to create conflicts and wars. Until the empire can no longer tolerate each other, large-scale armed conflicts ferment again and again, and the planet is overwhelmed and eventually destroyed.

My ancestors, the leaders of the most powerful empire on the planet at that time, had already planned their retreat.They sealed themselves in spaceships and ejected into the vastness of space.This spaceship will automatically search for a planet suitable for us centaurs to live on, and when it finds it, it will automatically land, awaken the travelers in the spaceship, and start life on a new land. "

A small spaceship traveled quickly on the holographic image, and finally stopped at the edge of the Milky Way that I was familiar with.

"The second planet we live in is the earth you existed in before your lifetime."

"Have you ever lived on Earth?"

Hansen nodded: "Yes, many of your ancient civilizations have records about us. 'Gods that look like humans and animals', ancient humans like to call us this way. We bring technology to many ancient civilizations, help They built magnificent buildings. But we also quickly discovered that human beings have similar characteristics to us centaurs, and they also like plunder and war. We foretell the same tragic trend in human beings and the earth will eventually perish overwhelmed in the future .

So we continue the space exploration program while helping humans shape civilization.

In order to survive among humans better, my predecessors abandoned some of their animal-like traits and became more and more human-like, until they were completely mixed in the crowd and could not be distinguished.

Those groups that were thoroughly mixed with humans also separated from us centaurs. They fell in love with the earth and humans and were unwilling to leave.Others feel that this is not a long-term solution, and they still need to find their own planet.

So my ancestors left the earth one after another, and came to an asteroid on the edge of Orion..."

"Sorry to interrupt, that is to say, there are still centaurs on the earth?"

Hansen smiled: "The composition of human beings is very complicated. It's hard for you to say what is considered a purebred human, isn't it?"

"Do those centaurs know that they belong to the centaurs?"

"Some still remember their identities, and some have completely forgotten during their long life with humans."

"What are the characteristics of the centaur humans?"

"This... many tribal shamans are centaurs. They can talk to all things and spirits in nature, and have natural healing power. Of course, some centaurs have completely chosen another direction and are killing in the technology and finance world. , wanting to use their own methods to correct the ignorant mistakes made by their ancestors... that's another topic."

"Continue to talk about the asteroid on the edge of Orion, your new home."

"Our new home is 95% water, mostly scattered islands, and there are not many whole continents. Because the land has a high salt content, it is not suitable for growing crops.

Before we got to that planet, there was already civilization on that planet.These civilizations were still in their infancy, with language and mathematical systems just emerging.They work at sunrise and rest at sunset, and mostly feed on catching marine life.The marine resources of this planet are very rich. So far, we have discovered more than 8000 million species of organisms.

In fact, we have some guesses that there may be another highly developed civilization under the surface of this planet.The initial civilization on the water was just to cover people's eyes and ears. "

"Then have you done any research?"

"Unfortunately, I was a navigator, not a scientist. The navigator is mainly responsible for finding new land and resources for the community, and playing the role of a merchant in it. In order to support my community to survive on the new planet, I'm already so busy that I don't have time to think about things underwater."

"Are you going to continue living on that planet?"

"It's not a very livable planet, but ah, who doesn't want to have a place to take root? Our centaurs have been floating in space for too long, and we are a little tired. If we can take root, the size of the planet doesn't matter. .

But this is just my idea, everything still has to obey the royal family's arrangements. "

"Having said so much, what is your regret in life?"

Hansen raised his teacup and took a sip of tea slowly, thinking during the silent period.

"Regret, when it comes to regret, there are two things."

"Please speak."

"The first thing is that I didn't build a stable trading system for my community before I died. We don't have a unified currency and laws, and transactions are all based on barter and trust. This always makes me feel a little faint disturbed.

It's not that I don't believe in my community, it's that those aborigines are still in the early stages of civilization development.This kind of civilization is too unregulated and has a large coefficient of variation, which makes me feel a little uneasy. "

"What about the second thing?"

Hansen sighed: "Well, although I claim to be elegant, I also did something that hurt others. This incident has made me blame myself a little bit, and I can even say that I don't know how to forgive myself. "

"What's the matter?"

"One year when I was sailing, I encountered a storm. The hull was split in half by lightning from the middle. The crew members fell into the water to protect themselves, and I didn't care about the other crew members, so I grabbed the lifebuoy and escaped.

Three days later, when I was severely dehydrated and had hallucinations, thinking that I was dying, I was taken to the edge of a small island by the waves.The aborigines on the island found me and took me in kindly.

They didn't ask me where I was from, or what I was doing here, we didn't speak the language, but they trusted me out of curiosity.Under their careful care, I slowly regained my strength, and soon I was able to run and jump again.

I am grateful to them and promise to visit them with rich gifts in the future.

But... In the next 56 years, I never found that small island again.It's so evil, I clearly marked the location on the map, and even placed an interstellar locator.However, that location disappeared just like that. I went to the place marked on the map three times, but there was nothing but a vast ocean. "

"I think of the undersea civilization you mentioned earlier."

"How to say?"

"Maybe this small island came from the temporary appearance of the submarine civilization. After that period of time, it returned to the bottom of the sea. And you said that the interstellar locator also failed, right? If it is a rudimentary civilization, maybe there is no If you don’t understand what an interstellar locator is, it’s even more impossible to destroy it. Only when advanced civilizations don’t want to be found again, will they destroy the locator and completely hide their location.”

"I've thought about what you said, but what I'm more worried about is what if the island is swallowed by sea water?"

"Has there been a noticeable rise in sea level during your time on that planet?"

"No, there is even a tendency to decline."

"Maybe it wasn't engulfed or engulfed. Are you regretting that you didn't keep your promise at the time?"

"That's right! A gentleman's words are hard to follow, but I feel like I've broken my word."

"If the language is not available, they may not understand..."

"It's not about whether they understand or not. I say what I say!"

"Have you ever thought about why they rescued you in the first place?"

"Perhaps out of curiosity."

"No matter what it is, it must not be for your gift."

Hansen didn't answer, his lips moved back and forth, but he didn't make a sound.

"If you really thank them, they must have accepted your thanks."

"How do you know?"

"Gratefulness does not necessarily need to be expressed in material things, but more often in the heart."

"Am I getting a little too self-involved?"

"A little bit."

"That's it."

"Great navigator, although you took many exciting adventures during your lifetime, that life is over, and you may not become a horse in your next life. Do you want to consider letting go of your entanglements?"

"Yes, it's useless to be entangled."

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"I hope there will be a place where fallen leaves return to their roots in the next life."

"I bless you and hope you can realize this wish."

Hansen got up and reached out to hold me again: "I have said so much today, I am so disturbed."

"Goodbye." I said.

"Goodbye."

Hansen put the holographic pocket watch on the table into his suit pocket, and his suit pocket suddenly disappeared as if the holographic image disappeared.The limbs of the human figure turned into horseshoes, and Hansen fell on all fours, like a handsome white horse.He glanced back at me, neighed, and stepped out of the office with his hoofs raised high.

(End of this chapter)