The elderly man's hunched figure resembled a flickering candle in the wind. The IV needle was inserted into the withered vein on his forehead. He slumped to one side, drowsy. A heart monitor was connected beside him, while several nurses and doctors hovered around with tense expressions.

Zheng Rong took off his coat and hung it up, glancing at the IV bag, which bore the label of a drug called Piroxicam.

Bowing slightly, Zheng Rong said, "Teacher, I’m here."

The old man tapped a few words on his keyboard: Hello, Zheng Rong. This new keyboard is a bit awkward to use.

Zheng Rong smiled. The old man struggled to type another line: Please, let’s talk alone.

The doctor interjected, "That’s absolutely not allowed. General Wei Rong gave explicit instructions…"

The old man typed: There won’t be any issues. I know my health better than anyone.

The nurses and doctors hesitated, then exchanged glances before reluctantly leaving the room.

"If anything happens, I’ll call for you right away," Zheng Rong reassured them.

Zheng Rong turned back to his teacher. "Teacher, there’s still something I don’t quite understand, or perhaps I can’t be certain about."

The old man typed: Watch the video first, child. It’s alright.

He pressed a few keys on the armrest of his wheelchair. The lights dimmed, and the screen flickered to life, revealing a vast starry sky—a projection of the Milky Way and beyond.

The old man typed again: I’m very pleased. You’re a genius, and your hypotheses have nearly all hit the mark.

Zheng Rong responded, "Actually, I think you already knew the answer long before this."

The old man typed: Child, the more you know, the more your thinking becomes constrained.

Zheng Rong said softly, "This is my first time seeing the real Milky Way... It’s not how I imagined it."

They sat side by side, watching the majestic and strange film unfold like a beautiful dream.

The images shifted rapidly, pausing at a specific moment.

The old man typed: The report they gave you contains a detailed analysis of prehistoric civilizations.

Zheng Rong nodded. "Yes, up to this point, I’ve been able to understand everything."

The old man typed: I think you may have missed this.

He tapped a few more keys, and the video rewound quickly, settling on a sequence showing the Maya altering biological life forms. A strange sense of unease stirred in Zheng Rong’s heart.

"I understand," Zheng Rong said. "They used certain methods to alter the genetic code of Earth’s life forms…"

The old man said nothing further and pressed the play button.

The giant Mayan spaceship embarked on its journey once again, leaving Earth, skimming the surface of the sun, collecting solar samples, and then exiting the solar system.

The endless expanse of stars stretched on. The captain of the Mayan spacecraft stood silently at the center of the ship.

Zheng Rong murmured, "We’ve watched this recording many times. Sometimes I wonder, are we the only species in the galaxy that feels out of place?"

The old man typed: It’s hard to say. If his life could continue indefinitely, perhaps he could eventually examine every planet in this confined universe.

Zheng Rong added, "But that’s what I don’t understand. Why did he start aging? According to the analysis, this species is not subject to the natural laws of aging."

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

The old man typed: The answer may already be present.

Zheng Rong fell into silence.

The old man typed: What do you think the highest form of life is?

Zheng Rong replied, "Immortality. Like them. A single individual can represent an entire species. They have no internal conflicts or dissension, and their endless lifespans would give them ample time to explore their environment and pursue the ultimate purpose of the universe, along with the unification of all knowledge."

The old man typed: If that’s true, why are there only seven of them left? And why did six of them die one by one?

Zheng Rong said, "It’s hard to say… Maybe… there are many rules in the universe we’re still unaware of."

The old man typed: What is the eternal law that governs planets, stars, and nebulae?

He answered his own question: Annihilation. The collapse from a red giant to a white dwarf, eventually turning into a black hole that consumes all light. When the mass becomes dense enough, it heads toward death—an eternal silence.

Zheng Rong countered, "But it will be reborn during the universe’s re-expansion. The reason we can’t see its rebirth is that the universe hasn’t expanded to its critical point yet."

The old man typed: So, the interchange between existence and destruction is the law that governs all things.

Zheng Rong sank into deep contemplation.

"I don’t understand," he finally said. "His form of life has been predetermined, so why would he start aging here?"

The old man typed: He doesn’t understand it either. All we can say is that it’s a rule we don’t yet grasp. There’s a strange and inevitable connection here. The moment he extracted his genetic material and implanted it into Earth’s life forms, he became connected to us, and to the entire planet.

He continued: That’s why the parasites will assume that suitable hosts exist among the people of Earth.

The screen paused again, showing a quiet, glowing rose-colored nebula in the depths of space.

The old man typed: He has used particle generators and tractor beams to travel through the central channel of the Milky Way into a second layer of the universe.

Zheng Rong exhaled deeply.

"There are indeed strange forms of life in the universe," Zheng Rong remarked. "Will humans also evolve into pure energy forms one day?"

The old man typed: It’s hard to say. Is that what you would wish for?

Zheng Rong could not answer. The concept of eternal, indestructible consciousness was beyond his understanding. If humans transformed into souls drifting through the cosmos, what would they do? All pursuits would seem meaningless in the face of eternity.

The silver mothership began its return journey to Earth.

The old man typed: This is the final content of the last stone tablet.

Zheng Rong straightened up uneasily. "You didn’t give me that part."

The old man typed: When you went to the Mesopotamian plains, the Russian and American forces had already secured the final stone tablet from the Peruvian temple. It contains the last prophecy of the Mayans. Or perhaps it’s better described as a reflection on their own form of life, as well as a reinterpretation of life on Earth.

Countless images flashed across the screen—wars, conflicts, humanity reclaiming vast lands at the end of the Ice Age, the migration of animals, birds soaring through the sky, mothers weeping, children dying, thousands of tribes engulfed in flames and smoke, slaughter. And the roaring waves of humanity’s cheers.

The scene before the captain of the Mayan ship gradually faded. A small device emitted a faint glow.

It was divided into two layers, tightly fitted together in a round box shape.

Suddenly, Zheng Rong asked, "Teacher, the particle generator has two components."

The old man typed: Yes. Your brother, Zheng Feng, once obtained one of them—the component that separates and emits particles. The other part is in your hands. It can attract all particles, guiding them along a set trajectory. This is crucial. Everything we do next will depend on these two components.

Zheng Rong said, "I remember my brother’s research project mentioned this. He said the particle generator was missing a component, so the ‘smuggling experiment’ couldn’t bring people from the past into our time for real."

The old man did not respond.

Zheng Rong continued, "If the particle attractor is functional, it can pull in all waves, even summoning the souls of the dead, those wandering spirits?"

Zheng Rong mumbled, "The particle generator mirrors and accurately reproduces past events and entities in spacetime. The attractor captures thoughts, memories, and inserts them into a person's mind… Teacher, is my hypothesis correct? You didn’t finish explaining the sketch on the last page of your report! After the war… Teacher… What was your final speculation?"

"Teacher?" Zheng Rong suddenly sensed something was wrong.

The IV had stopped.

The old man’s heart monitor had become a flat line.

Zheng Rong sprang to his feet and pressed the emergency button, calling for the medical staff.

Chaos ensued in the observation room. Oxygen readings blinked on the mask, and someone outside dialed a phone, urgently reporting to the military.

The old man remained with his eyes closed. Zheng Rong stood nearby, staring blankly.

After a long while, the medical personnel removed the oxygen mask, disconnected the heart monitor, and wheeled away the equipment and the IV apparatus.

"I’m sorry, Dr. Zheng," said the attending physician. "His life was nearing its end when he returned to the underground city. Today… he may have sensed something and insisted on seeing you."

Zheng Rong said, "It’s alright. The priest has completed his mission."

"From now on, there will be no more gods in this world."

Zheng Rong bowed deeply and knelt in front of the wheelchair, performing the respectful rites of a disciple. He solemnly kowtowed three times to the body of his teacher.