11 Explore Mars Batchi People II

On the question of whether to go to the new library or the old one, a small disagreement arose. Sean believed the new library would have a more comprehensive collection, while Lu Hua insisted that he was more familiar with the old library, making it quicker to search there—besides, the new library might lack such ancient reference books. In the end, Cotton sided with Lu Hua, reasoning that since the poetry collection had been found in the old library, similar materials might also be there.

Lu Hua led the way and once again pushed open the glass doors. The familiar chill and quiet of the library greeted them. However, this time, in addition to Old Luo, the librarian sitting directly across from the entrance, there was also a stout, middle-aged man standing beside him—Mr. Xin Ya, the director of the library. At that moment, he was gesturing and murmuring instructions to Old Luo.

Clearly, Lu Hua was just as familiar with the director as he was with Old Luo. He walked up and greeted them warmly, "Good day, Director Xin, Old Luo!"

Director Xin turned around, and upon seeing Lu Hua and his three companions, he smiled kindly. "Hello, Lu Hua. These must be your friends—what a group of young people dedicated to learning."

"Thank you," Lu Hua replied with a forced smile before asking, "Director, could you tell me where the main collections of works from medieval Europe or books about medieval Europe are located?"

"It seems you're working on another history paper," the director said with a raised eyebrow. "But Lu Hua, I thought you were already as familiar with this library as you are with your own room."

"Your analogy is spot on," Lu Hua said. "It just so happens that I also struggle to find things in my own room—especially those small, seldom-used items."

The director winked at him. "Then let's dig out those small items and dust them off—the shelves by the windows on the right side of the second floor's reading room should have what you're looking for."

"Thank you so much, Director," Lu Hua nodded to him before heading upstairs with his three companions.

"This director is such a kind and warm person—I'm starting to like this place," Lancy whispered to Lu Hua.Lu Hua nodded lightly in agreement.

They arrived at the location mentioned by the curator—perhaps to save costs, the reading room on the second floor didn't even have a staff member present. Only two surveillance cameras mounted high on the walls were in operation. Now, it was just the four of them there. Cotton was browsing the books on the shelves.

"The History of Europe, Studies on Medieval Culture… Hey, Lu Hua, these books might actually contain some information about Mars Barth."

"We're mainly looking for content from around the 15th century—even the slightest connection to this Mars Barth shouldn't be overlooked."

The four of them began flipping through books on two rows of shelves, and the only sound in the otherwise silent room was the rustling of pages.

Lu Hua flipped through the books while estimating how much time it would take to go through these two rows of fully stocked shelves, each filled with thick volumes. Though he was feeling tired, he was mentally prepared to spend the entire afternoon here.

However, to his surprise, it took him less than twenty minutes to discover something incredibly exciting in the book he was holding, The Dictionary of Names. The moment his eyes landed on that line of text, it felt like he'd been pricked by a needle—he jumped up abruptly and, forgetting the setting, shouted, "Hey, come and look at this!"

Cotton and the other two were startled by Lu Hua's sudden outburst and quickly gathered around. Sean whispered, "Lu Hua, this is the library's reading room."

"Sorry, sorry! I was just too excited!" Lu Hua could hardly contain his enthusiasm. Pointing to a short section in the middle of the thick book, he exclaimed, "In this 1991 Chinese edition of the Webster's Dictionary of Names, I found an entry about Mars Barth!"

"What? Let me see!" Cotton quickly grabbed the book and, along with Lancy and Sean, read the passage. In the middle of the book, Mars Barth's name was listed with a French phonetic transcription. The original text read:

"Mars Barth, a royal court astrologer in 15th-century France, born in 1501, died in 1572. Mars Barth was originally a highly respected seer, but in 1551, when he and the great prophet Nostradamus jointly predicted the future fate of King Henry II, his prediction was wrong, leading to his ruined reputation. He was mocked by the French public as 'the greatest fraud in the royal court.' After King Henry II's death, Mars Barth was expelled from the court and spent the rest of his life in poverty and humiliation, dying in despair."

After reading the passage, Cotton couldn't help but exclaim, "Ah! Not only was this Mars Barth from the same period as Nostradamus, but he also made predictions for the king together with him—seems like there must have been some connection between them!"

Lancy let out a light sigh of relief. "After reading this introduction, I suddenly feel much more relaxed."

"Why?" Sean asked.

"Well, look," Lancy said, pointing to the text. "It clearly says that Mars Barth's reputation was ruined because of his false predictions, and the French even called him 'the greatest fraud in the royal court.' So we don't really need to worry about his so-called 'end-of-the-world predictions.' Ah, I can finally let go of all that tension."

"But don't forget," Sean reminded, "he made accurate predictions about the '9/11 incident,' the 'Indian Ocean tsunami,' and the 'Wenchuan earthquake'—not a single word was wrong."

"And what's strange is why this introduction doesn't mention that he published a collection of prophetic poems," Lu Hua asked in confusion.

"It seems there's more to this story than we know," Cotton said. "What I'm curious about now is, what exactly did he predict wrong about King Henry II that caused his reputation to be ruined?" He paused, then added, "It seems like the answers can only be found in the two books mentioned in the footnotes."

"Speaking of History of France, I think I came across it just now…" Sean searched along the top row of the bookshelf. "Ah… found it, it's right here!"

Sean pulled out a thick, hardcover book from the shelf and presented its cover to everyone.

Lu Hua said, "Great, now let's see if we can find Behind the Plea as well."

The four of them immediately split up, searching for the book from different positions. With the specific title and author's name, the search became much easier. A few minutes later, Lancy let out a soft exclamation, "I found it!" She pulled out Behind the Plea, written by Lady Labotte, and, feeling a great sense of accomplishment, exclaimed, "I just love this library!"

"Great!" Lu Hua said excitedly. "Maybe we'll find the secret we've been looking for in these two books!"

"Which one should we start with?" Sean asked.

"Let's start with the one you're holding, quickly—I can't wait any longer," Cotton said, walking over to Sean and helping him open the book. Lu Hua and Lancy also approached.

"Here," Lu Hua pointed to the table of contents. "'The Death of Henry II,' page 379—this should be the one."

It was already one o'clock in the afternoon. The four youths had lost track of time and their hunger, completely engrossed as Sean held the book and they all stood there, focused on reading.