Chapter 4 Chapter Four

Hamid's apartment is on the south side of the university, and it is quite spacious: it is next to the oldest university on the planet, and it is only a few kilometers away from the capital of the planet.Rent is surprisingly cheap by comparison.Open the back door, and in front of you are several kilometers of uninhabited forests.That area probably won't be developed for a long time - twenty kilometers to the south is the place where it landed. If there is a storm, maybe some hot things will blow over.In fact, the radiation there may be less than 50% of the maximum value in the natural environment.But since the entire planet is empty, why do they have to be crowded near the landing point?

Hamid put his bike in the front row of the car park and walked quietly around the building.The lights are on upstairs, and the motorcycles of other residents are parked downstairs as usual.It was as if someone was standing behind it.Ah, a Halloween scarecrow. He and Guagua started to walk in the direction of where they lived.It was past dusk, and neither moon was in the sky.Hamid's fingertips were numb from the cold.He put his hands in his pockets, stopped and looked up.The barges of the tour group were parked in space orbit, keeping pace with China and the United States, and looked like a series of light spots in the southern sky.A shadow hangs almost directly overhead, motionless, so it must not be a cloud: it must be Larry's promised protection.

"I'm hungry." "Wait another minute, we'll go in right away." "Okay." Quack leaned obediently on Hamid's leg and made a buzzing sound.It looks chubby now, but it's only because of its fluffy fur.For Guagua, this kind of weather is probably the most comfortable.His eyes scanned the sky full of stars.God, how many hours have I stood like this trying to figure out what these stars mean.In an hour, the Big Cube Constellation will disappear from the sky.The fifth brightest star in that constellation is Roslyn Mull's sun.On Roslyn Marr, and beyond, faster-than-light travel was possible—though for twenty-one centuries it had been an ordinary planet much like home Earth.If Central America were ten light-years away from the center of the Milky Way, Hamid would be living in the Vast Leap.

For the various civilizations that exist in the reptile world, even the people in the leap world only know a rough idea.Giant spaceships, all of which were invented again and again; those civilizations would colonize and gain knowledge, usually lost in the endless deadness of the Reptiles.In the reptile world, nothing can move faster than the speed of light. What theory will those civilizations deep in the reptile world use to explain this phenomenon? (Probably they have also observed FTL events in distant places.) In the reptilian world, whether natural or man-made, intelligence comparable to that of a human is the highest form of intelligence.What kind of theory would they invent about such a thing?Those who live deep in the reptilian world easily convince themselves that they are at the top of creation; perhaps they are the happiest people.Had China and America been a hundred light-years away, Hamid would never have known the truth; he would have been content to love the world and the civilizations in it.

Hamid follows the Milky Way to the eastern horizon.The light there was no brighter than above, but he knew the starry sky above him.He knew that was the center of the galaxy.He smiled feebly.In twentieth-century science fiction on Earth, those nebulae were imagined to be inhabited by ancient races of god-like beings...but tourists referred to them as "the abyss."The abyss of zero consciousness.Not only can faster-than-light flight be impossible there, but even science can't exist—this is their guess, but they can't be sure.Even the fastest round-trip probes would take about 10,000 years to reach the edge of the abyss.Expeditions of this kind are rare, but not without records.

Hamid shuddered.He looked down at the ground, and there were four cats sitting quietly behind the lawn, watching Quagua motionlessly. "Not tonight, Quack." After speaking, Hamid led Quack into the house. The room was a mess, as usual.He cooked dinner for Guagua and warmed up some soup for himself. "Bah. This thing smells like shit!" Quack sat down and made a disgusting sound.Few people have had the opportunity to relive the unpleasant experiences of their childhood as often as Hamid Thompson.He had said this to his mother at mealtimes when he was a child, verbatim.Mom should have shoved a smelly sock down his throat.

He glanced at Quack's chicken and said, "We can't afford better ones, Quack." He had spent all his savings to become a tour guide.Everyone thought it was pie in the sky to work for tourists, so no one thought about paying tour guides. "Bah." It finally started to eat bit by bit. Hamm watched it eat and suddenly realized that one problem had been solved.If Ravna & Claws won't take him away as a croaking "beast trainer", then let this guy from the upper world go back to the leap world by himself.Not only that, but he also wants the worm to provide more convincing evidence—he himself will contact Roslyn Marr directly through Ansible.In short, one must make sure that Ravna & Claws keep their promises.That conversation with Larry had brought to the surface all his fears—the same fears that some people demanded that tour groups be turned away entirely.Who knows what happened to those who left with the tour group?Almost all Chinese and American knowledge of the Feiyue world came from less than a thousand outsiders who arrived in more than two dozen barges.A weirdo from outside the Boundary.If five people hadn't returned, the Chinese and Americans would have been unable to confirm anything the tourists had said.As for the five, let's just say that Hussein Thompson was an enigma, even to Hamid: an amoral, mercenary fellow who appeared to have a good heart.Larry the Lazy is also an enigma, but a delightful one who always says to think twice about what other people say.Only on one thing, the five of them agree: the universe is very vast, there are millions of civilized worlds in Leap World, and thousands of empires across the stars.In such a large space, there is no unified law and order.Collaboration and self-interest are common, but... nightmares lurk here and there, too.

So, what should he do if Ravna & Claws refuse his request, or fail to come up with solid guarantees?Hamid goes into the bedroom, pulls up the news, and drowns himself in a sea of ​​color and movement.Central America is a beautiful place, and most of the land is undeveloped.This tour group brought anti-gravity materials and room temperature fusion devices. With these things, life in China and the United States will be more interesting than ever... In another twenty or thirty years, there will be other tour groups coming here .If he and Quack are still not satisfied with this planet - at least he has decades to prepare.Larry Fujiyama didn't go out until he was forty years old.

Hamid sighed, feeling happier for the first time in days. Just after watching the news, the phone rang.The source of the call popped up on the monitor, a big red word: Ravna.Hamid swallowed hard.He jumped up from the bed, looked around, found a corner that was a little tidier, and turned the receiver of the phone in that direction.He sat down there and got on the phone. Ravna is human.Still a woman. "Hamid Thompson, please." "I, I am." Damn, don't stutter. For a few seconds, there was no response from the other party.Then, a smile flashed across her face.Not a friendly laugh, more like mocking his nervousness. "I'm calling to talk to you about that animal. The one you called quack. You already know our bid, and now I'm going to raise it again." As she spoke, quack entered the room, And passed through the area covered by the phone's camera.The strange thing is that Ratouna didn't even blink her eyes, as if she didn't see Guagua.But the "Video Transmission" light next to the screen is brightly on.Croak began to hum.After a while, at this time, she reacted, and she jumped slightly in surprise.

"What price do you offer?" Another half-second delay.Ravna & Talon are definitely not in Jupiter tonight, they are already close, but they probably haven't reached Central America yet. "We have some instruments that can communicate faster than the speed of light with a world in the... Leap World. Think about what this means. With this, if you decide to stay in Central America, you will become the richest person on the entire planet; if you Decide to get out, leave it to China and America, and you'll help your world take a big step forward." Hamid found himself thinking faster than he had ever done before, except during Larry's oral exam.He found many clues.Ravna is fluent in English than most tourists, but her pronunciation is terrible.Very human, but really bad: her accent is so weird that it's almost unintelligible; plus, her pronunciation is inaccurate, pronouncing "the world" as "four worlds" and "whole" as The "how".

At the same time, he must carefully analyze what she said, and then come up with an appropriate answer.Hamid secretly thanked God, fortunately, he already knew about Ansible. "Your offer is generous, Ms. Ravna. Nevertheless, I stand by my original request. I must be with my pet. Only I can take care of it." He tossed his head. "There is an on-call Isn't the expert here not good?" When he said these words, Laguana's face darkened.Is it anger?As if there was some personal vendetta between them.But by the time he finished speaking, an almost friendly smile appeared on her face. "Of course, that's also within the scope of the agreement. At first we didn't realize how important it was to you." God.I'm a better liar than that, too!This Ravna was probably used to smooth sailing, and she rarely had the opportunity to practice lying to her face; or she was extremely emotionally unstable.Who knows which one. "Also, because of the disparity between our positions, I have to discuss with Roslyn Marr's worm and ask him to provide a reliable guarantee for our agreement." Her mask, which had been so unsuccessfully disguised, had completely crumbled. "This is ridiculous." She looked at something out of the camera. "The Roslyn Marr don't know anything about us...I'll try to accommodate you. But listen up, Hamid Thompson: Compared to Mr. Claw, I'm kind of good-natured and more... er, human. Mr. Claw is getting impatient. I try to reassure him, but if it goes on like this...we could all be There's trouble. Do you understand what I mean?" First it was lying, and now it is doing this again.Hamid forced a smile.Be careful.Don't think it's just fraud and bluff, maybe she's a real madman. "Yes, Miss Ravna, I understand your thoughts. Your offer is indeed generous, but... I have to think about it. Can you give me a little more time?" So that I can appeal to the tourist bureau. "Okay. I think I can give you another hundred hours."

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