Cotton, Sean, and Lancy exchanged glances, seemingly unsure of what Lu Hua meant. They all turned to him, waiting for an explanation.
Lu Hua shook his head gravely and said, "Yesterday afternoon, after I got home, I started translating these poems without even stopping for dinner. Starting with the one titled '10,' I translated each poem and tried to analyze and decipher its meaning as I went along…"
"I worked late into the night without realizing it. Finally, at 2 a.m., I finished translating the last poem in this collection. Initially, I thought this book was simply the 'fifth volume' of the series, and the last page was just marking its conclusion. But after I read through the final poem, I felt as though I'd been struck by lightning in a half-dazed state. The content of that poem scared me so much that I went cold all over, my hair standing on end."
As he spoke, Lu Hua's face turned almost as pale as a sheet. He shuddered several times, like someone who had been choked by fear, unable to utter another word.
Cotton, growing anxious, pressed him, "What exactly does the final poem say?"
Lu Hua pointed to the notebook on the coffee table and said, "See for yourselves. Skip the middle pages; they're irrelevant now. Go straight to the last poem marked '12'."
Cotton, Lancy, and Sean quickly sat down on the couch, their heads huddled together. Cotton swiftly flipped past the page labeled '11'. What lay before them was the longest poem in the entire collection:
The dreadful final day has come,
Apollo stumbles, his wrath and joy undone.
Volcanoes and earthquakes lose their might,
Powerless at the hour of ultimate blight.
Terrified crowds find no place to hide,
Buried beneath a rain of stars worldwide.
Thus, my grand prophecy comes to its close,
Mihir's followers will learn where they chose wrong.
The room fell silent as the three absorbed the ominous verses.
Cotton read the poem aloud, word by word. Although the three of them couldn't fully grasp the meaning behind every line, the overwhelming sense of dread conveyed in the poem left no doubt about the catastrophic disaster it hinted at. The sheer terror embedded within those verses stunned them into silence.
It was a long time before Sean finally broke out of his fearful thoughts. He looked up and asked, "Lu Hua, do you understand what each line of this poem specifically refers to?"
Lu Hua's face darkened. "Can't you see? This poem is completely different from the others—it's predicting humanity's final day! And that's precisely why it's placed on the last page. After this day, everything will end. There will be no future beyond it."
"Ah—" Lancy shuddered, feeling a chill run through her body. "This poem is predicting the end of the world?"
Cotton lifted his gaze to Lu Hua and asked, "How do you interpret this poem, Lu Hua?"
Lu Hua looked at Cotton with a sorrowful expression and said, "This final poem is perhaps the most straightforward of all—it leaves no room for ambiguity. Especially when I realized that the time it refers to is the year '12,' my belief in its meaning became absolute."
"'12'… Oh! That's right, it refers to 2012!" Sean exclaimed, as if a crucial clue had just clicked into place.
"2012… just like the ancient Mayan prophecy," Corton said, his brows furrowed in deep thought.
"Hey, wait a second," Lancy said, looking confused. "What are you guys talking about? What ancient Mayans? What's so special about 2012?"
Sean stared at her in disbelief. "You don't know? Don't you watch TV, read the newspaper, or go online?"
"I wish I could! But my mom thinks that anything outside of studying is a waste of time—no, a waste of life. So none of that stuff is really accessible to me at home!"
"You've got a sadistic mom," Cotton said, looking at Lancy with mock pity. "But if what this poem says turns out to be true, you won't have to worry about that much longer."
Lancy shot him a sharp glare. "Cut the nonsense! Just tell me… What's this ancient Mayan prophecy all about?"
Cotton tilted his head toward Lu Hua. "Why don't you let Lu Hua explain? He can give you the most academic and professional perspective on it."
Lancy quickly turned her expectant gaze to Lu Hua. True to Corton's introduction, Lu Hua spoke in the tone of someone presenting an academic report. "In 2007, The Observer in the UK published an article that sparked widespread attention and research worldwide. In fact, if you type '2012' into any search engine right now, you'll find thousands of people discussing the mysterious 'Mayan prophecy.'"
Lancy listened intently, not blinking.
"The Maya were an ancient civilization that thrived on Earth but mysteriously vanished around the 10th century. They represented a fascinating and advanced culture. Their achievements in astronomy and mathematics were extraordinary. But I'll save the details for you to explore later, Lancy—I'll get straight to the crucial part."
Lu Hua paused briefly before continuing. "Modern archaeologists unearthed an ancient manuscript from a Mayan site in Mexico. According to this document, the Earth is destroyed every 3,740 years, and life on it has already been wiped out four times. This means humanity today is the fifth generation of Earth's inhabitants. The most terrifying part? The Mayans, using their calendar, calculated the date of the fifth destruction thousands of years ago."
Lu Hua paused, and Lancy held her breath, staring at him. After a moment, she cautiously asked, "So, is that time really 2012?"
"To be precise, it's December 31st, 2012," Lu Hua said with a serious expression.
Lancy's mouth dropped open, and she stood frozen for a while, then looked at Cotton and Sean. Suddenly, she burst into laughter. "Ah… I understand now. This is just an ancient guess, a prediction, right? It has no scientific basis."
"No, Lancy, the truth is exactly the opposite," Lu Hua said, his voice filled with sorrow. "Scientists and astronomers have combined the ancient Mayan calendar with modern science, and after conducting extensive research, they input the data into computers and discovered an astonishing result: the Sun's magnetic poles reverse every 3,740 years, and Earth's magnetic field is greatly affected by the Sun's magnetic field. When the Sun's magnetic poles reverse, Earth's poles will follow suit, causing the North and South Poles to swap!"
Lancy's mind struggled to keep up, and she mechanically asked, "So… what does that mean?"
"What does it mean? Oh my god!" Lu Hua became more agitated. "At that point, Earth's life forms will be unable to adapt to the sudden and massive climate changes, leading to the extinction of all life! Earth's crust will undergo intense volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, mudslides, and other catastrophic events. The scariest part is that Earth's gravity will also change, causing asteroids to be pulled toward Earth—this will truly be the 'end of the world'! Do you understand? Scientists have found that the last time this happened was during the extinction of the dinosaurs. The dinosaurs were wiped out by an asteroid impact! And there's no record of such an event in modern human history!"
Lu Hua collapsed back onto the couch, panting heavily. His hollow eyes stared at the ceiling. "It's over. When that happens, we'll all be finished."
Lancy stood frozen, staring at Lu Hua as though she had been paralyzed by fear.
Sean placed his hand in front of his nose and coughed a couple of times. "Lu Hua, don't scare the girls into crying. Let's talk about something more optimistic, alright? Didn't the newspaper also report that NASA scientists issued a statement saying the magnetic pole reversal is just the worst-case scenario, and it's not guaranteed to happen?"
"You're right," Lu Hua said with a hollow gaze. "I used to think that way too. But after I read the prophecy poem about 2012 last night, I realized it's all over. A poem written by a 14th-century French seer aligns perfectly with the Mayan prophecies and modern scientists' predictions. How do you explain that? Is it just a coincidence? Ha," he bitterly laughed. "I really wish I could be hypnotized into fooling myself."
Sean slowly picked up the notebook on the coffee table, carefully comparing the verses. A look of despair and helplessness appeared on his face. "Really… after you put it that way, I realize that every single line of this poem aligns perfectly with the content of the Mayan prophecy. It's almost too obvious to need any guesswork. 'The last day' is a double meaning, referring both to the end of the world and hinting that the time is the last day of 2012, December 31st. 'Apollo' clearly represents the Sun, and describing his 'fall' is a perfect metaphor for the reversal of the Sun's magnetic poles. And 'rain of stars' must refer to several asteroids hitting Earth. Uh, the only line I don't get is… 'The followers of Míxīěr'… Lu Hua, do you know what that means?"
Lu Hua wearily slumped against the couch backrest and, in a weak voice, said, "Shàon, I don't want to keep deciphering these verses anymore. Don't you think it's cruel to make it so clear how we're all going to perish?"
Sean stopped speaking. Lancy stared blankly, her expression vacant as if they had all been weighed down by the "end-of-world prophecy." Cotton frowned, looked at the three of them, and suddenly stood up, saying, "Hey, what's wrong with you all? The end of the world hasn't come yet, and you're all acting like you've lost your souls—snap out of it!"
"I don't think I can, Cotton," Lu Hua said, shaking his head in frustration. "Knowing that I have less than four years left to live, what could I possibly do to lift my spirits?"
Cotton walked over, put his hand on Lu Hua's shoulder, and said firmly, "Stop talking like that! Aren't you the one who's always teaching us how to live a fulfilling and meaningful life? How is it that now you're acting like this book of ancient prophecies has sentenced you to death?"
Sean lifted his head and said, "Cotton, then what do you think we should make of the fact that this prophetic poem matches the Mayan prophecy exactly?"
"And all the previous prophecies it made have been accurate!"
Lancy added,"How do you know all the previous prophecies have been accurate and never made a mistake?" Cotton retorted. "After all, we've only confirmed three of them. We haven't even translated or verified the contents from the first 80 or so pages of this book—from 1913 to 1999. And besides, the events of 2010 and 2011 haven't even happened yet. How can you be sure that the events in the next two years will match the prophecies in this book?"
"So what do you suggest we do? Should we have Lu Hua translate all the poems from 1913 to 1999 and verify each one?" Shawn asked.
Lu Hua tilted his head and said, "You can find someone else to do that. Do you want to kill me off before the end of the world arrives?"
Sean waved his hand at him. "I was just joking. How could I actually do that?" He then turned to Cotton. "But speaking of which, Cotton, if something exactly like the poem happens on January 12th next year, will you believe that the prophecies in this book are all true?"
Cotton snorted, "That may not be the case. Just because the 2010 prophecy came true, does that mean the 2012 one will definitely come true as well? Nostradamus was a famous prophet, and his book Les Prophéties had a 99% accuracy rate, but his most famous prophecy—the destruction of the world in 1999—turned out to be wrong. This shows that the 'end of the world' is not something that can be easily predicted!" Perhaps because Cotton's words made sense, both Shawn and Lanxi visibly perked up. Even Lu Hua, who had been slumped on the couch, sat up straight, and they all looked at Cotton. Lanxi asked, "So what should we do now? Should we just ignore this 'end of the world prophecy'?"
Cotton shook his head. "Of course, we can't do that either. We need to figure out every possible way to determine how likely it is that this 'end of the world prophecy' will come true. If we find out that there's a real possibility it might happen, we should notify the government and the authorities so that everyone can prepare!"
Sean asked in confusion, "But I can't think of any other way, besides waiting until December 31, 2012, to see the results. How else can we determine if this prophecy is true?"
Cotton looked at his three friends and said, "I think we should start by doing one thing. Haven't you noticed? We've been focusing so much on the poems and the events they might correspond to, but we've overlooked one very important question—who exactly wrote these poems?"