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In the endless amber of time, she saw a beautiful parrot not far away, with a blue-green head and body, a little red on its forehead, and blue tail feathers that looked like flowing silk.
Paradise Parrot, this is the name given to it by humans. When Lingye's hand touched the amber of time, he saw the past extinction of the Paradise Parrot.
They originally lived in the grasslands of Australia, where they lived for countless years, living in harmony with the local indigenous people. However, in 1770, Australia was discovered and occupied by the British, and became a British territory. In the 19th century, the British began to immigrate to Australia and discovered this beautiful parrot, so they captured it in large numbers and brought it back to the UK as pets.
The end of the paradise parrot came. They were not used to artificial breeding, and a large number of paradise parrots died, and the forests where they lived were destroyed. In 1927, the time of the last paradise parrot stopped at that year and that moment.
It's not just the paradise parrots. The reasons for the extinction of countless species in the past few hundred years are almost all related to humans.
The passenger pigeon, which once numbered 50 billion and was hunted extensively during the American frontier era because of its delicious meat, saw its number drop sharply in just over 1914 years. By , the species was eaten to extinction by Americans.
The Carolina parakeet, a beautiful jewel-like bird, was also hunted in large numbers during the American pioneer era because of its beautiful feathers, which were made into expensive ornaments. They were declared extinct in 1918.
Other species with delicious meat that have been hunted to extinction by humans include the North American grouse, Guam flying fox, great auk, and many more.
In the past, the extinction of species was due to the survival of the fittest in nature. However, since humans became the masters of the earth, the extinction of species is now in the hands of humans.
Who can continue to survive and who will perish depends on human choice.
Kind of scary.
But Ling still didn't quite understand Gaia's intention of opening up the rights of this space to her.
Was it a reminder? A warning? Or did he want her to do something?
Gaia is always like this, saying nothing.
When Ling also left "Noah's Ark"... Never mind, it's too long, let's just call it "Noah". When she left Noah's space, she found Tian Xiegui waiting for her.
ten minutes ago
Tian Xiegui was alone in the dark reception room, which scared Maria.
In the dark room at night, she seemed to hear a sound. When she turned on the light, she suddenly found someone sitting there. It was natural that she was startled.
The old man was like a dry tree stump, with mottled skin, and it was even hard to tell his age. He might be in his seventies or eighties, or even older, even a hundred would not be surprising.
A while ago, during the spring plowing season, he took care of the vegetable garden for her. At that time, Maria always felt guilty about bullying the elderly.
But the old man loves farming, and when he holds the hoe, he is like a young man. Perhaps he has spent his whole life digging for food in the fields, and he has forgotten his age when he works in the fields? So much so that people have no heart to remind him.
The old man's name is Tian Xie Gui. This name is a bit strange, but not too strange.
Maria didn't know whether this was a name or a surname. It was probably a surname. After all, she had seen someone with the surname Hyakumeki, so it was not surprising that he was also called Amaneki.
Anyway, they are all ghosts from the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons.
"Senior Tian Xiegui, if you are in the room, please turn on the light."
Although she was startled, Maria quickly calmed down.
"Sorry, did I scare you? I like dark places, quiet, without all the noise."
This statement carried a certain elusive momentum. If Maria had met such a stranger by chance, she would have thought he was a weirdo and would have been cautious and alert. But Tian Xiegui was brought back by the eldest lady and had lived in the manor for several months, so he was already familiar to her.
So Maria just thought that this was probably another quirk of the elderly?
Maria knew that many elderly people had quirks, such as bathing in boiling water, a temperature that she couldn't even stand with her hands, more than 60 degrees, or even nearly 70 degrees, and they could soak in it for a long time. It was like boiling yourself.
Compared to this, leaving the lights off at night doesn't seem so strange. Instead, it's a bit poetic, like a poet writing a haiku collection.
"Senior, aren't you going to take a rest?"
"Well, I'm here to see the young lady."
Looking for the eldest daughter? Maria felt even more strange. She looked at the clock on the wall - eight forty
It’s not too late. The young lady should still be in her bedroom at this time.
Shouldn't I knock on her door when I'm looking for her? Maria thought again, maybe the evil spirit was too embarrassed to knock on the door of a girl's bedroom?
"How about I go to the bedroom to look for the young lady on behalf of the senior?"
"No, no need, I'll just wait, the young lady will be here." Tian Xiegui said.
It was useless to knock on the door now, because he knew Ling was not in the room. Not even in this world. There was no scent of the eldest lady in the bedroom, that vast scent that seemed to carry the weight of the entire world.
However, Maria mistakenly thought that he had made an appointment with the eldest lady, so she didn't say anything.
Sure enough, Lingye came to the study room soon. Seeing this, Maria was more certain that they had made an appointment.
"Miss, do you need me to make tea?"
"No, if I drink tea now, I won't be able to sleep at night."
"Then I'll go heat up some milk. Senior, would you like something to drink?"
"I'll just drink some wine."
"Ah? Wine?"
Isn't it inappropriate to drink at this time? Besides, considering Tian Xiegui's age, Maria was really worried that he would go to the emergency room as soon as he drank a sip of wine.
"It's okay, Maria. He can drink a lot. Just go get a jug. I remember there's some sake in the wine cellar, but no one usually drinks it."
Butler Jianye might drink a little, but not much.
Since the eldest lady said so, Maria had no choice but to go to the wine cellar.
"What's wrong, Tianxiegui, is there anything wrong?" Ling spoke after seeing Maria leave.
Although Maria was not sent away intentionally, there were some things that were indeed not convenient for ordinary humans to know.
"That's right, young lady. It's because of the matter of Gensokyo. The monsters in Gensokyo can only enter and leave. There may be some problems."
"has a problem?"
Only in, no out, this is the rule Lingye made. Because that is the world she deliberately isolated from the mortal world, so that monsters and humans do not interfere with each other. This is also the original intention of the establishment of Gensokyo.
Let the monsters have a place to live, and humans will no longer be disturbed by darkness.
After the barrier takes effect, humans cannot set foot in Gensokyo, and monsters cannot set foot out of Gensokyo. It is a semi-permeable membrane for both.
"But monsters probably can't survive without humans."
It's not that they want to eat humans, but because in the past few hundred years, many monsters have lived among humans and have long since put on human clothing. They have become accustomed to living by relying on human civilization.
Now that we have given them an uninhabited continent, do they have to start all over again from the Stone Age?
Human things are also necessities for monsters.
Chapter 271: Reimu Hakurei of Gensokyo
Ling also understood what Tianxiegui meant.
It's not hard to understand, but she just didn't think of it beforehand. She thought monsters were the kind in stories, usually like to scare people, but they didn't bother with grains.
Free from material needs, it exists at a spiritual energy level.
However, it turns out that monsters also need to eat, drink, and entertain themselves. They also have material and spiritual needs.
The ecology in Gensokyo is indeed very good, without pollution. There are mountains, water, plants and animals, forming a world of its own.
But there is no human civilization here, and monsters can no longer live without human civilization.
There are fish to be caught in the river, but there is no seasoning. There are animals in the forest, but there is no oil or salt to cook them. Monsters love to drink, but no one knows how to make wine.
There are many, many more necessities of life that they cannot create themselves.
"So, Miss, if possible, can you grant some monsters the right to enter and exit Gensokyo?"
Ling was also a little hesitant.
Allowing monsters to enter the world at will is against her original intention. The Great Barrier of Gensokyo was originally created to separate humans and monsters. Wouldn't it be meaningless to allow them to enter and exit at will?
She admitted that she was a little biased and a little unfair to the monsters, but after all, she was a human being.
Ling also thought about it seriously.
"It's okay to allow individual monsters to come in and out, but there needs to be at least some supervision."
Gensokyo is a world created for monsters. There is no human oppression there and it belongs exclusively to monsters.
Not being able to leave at will is not an excessive price to pay for entering; it is their free choice and no one forces them to go in.
To get something, you always have to give something.
It is acceptable to let individual monsters act as "purchasers" and report their entry and exit for supervision.
But the question is who will supervise.
She certainly didn't want to get involved in such troublesome things, because supervising monsters, once started, would inevitably be a long-term job.
She is afraid of trouble.
Or could the supervision be handed over to Tian Xiegui? However, Lingye quickly rejected this idea.
In any case, Tian Xiegui was also one of the Hundred Demons back then. It was not very reliable to let monsters supervise monsters.
But as for humans, there is no suitable person...wait, speaking of the suitable person, it seems that there really is one.
Would it be bad to disturb others like this? However, Ling also felt that she might be very happy.
Well, it will definitely be fun.
The quiet moonlight at night shrouds the mountains and forests of Izumo Taisha Shrine.
The dark blue torii in front of the mountain gate looks ordinary. No one knows that it is the dividing point between the human and ghost worlds.
Reimu was lying on the tatami in the room.
She prefers a soft bed with a Simmons mattress, but her father is the most annoying old-fashioned person and is unwilling to accept these new fashions.
Boring, boring
She hadn't finished her homework yet, but she didn't want to do it. Next to her pillow was a comic book that Ling had sent her from Tokyo. In the countryside of Izumo, you couldn't even buy comics.
In the past, he always occupied the TV in my dad's room. These days, he went to Tokyo, and he finally had the TV to himself. But at night, there were no programs on the TV station.
Alas, Izumo in the countryside, I heard that there is TV all day long in Tokyo.
At this moment, Reimu suddenly felt a hard object next to her hand. What was this?
Confused, Reimu got up and found a round stone on the tatami. No, it might be jade.
Is it worth the money?
This was Reimu's first subconscious thought, and then she remembered that she had never seen this before, so how could it appear on the tatami in the room?