The gray-haired man in front of me handed me a photo. It can't really be called a photo; it should be a hand-drawn picture similar to a photo.
There's a black piano in the picture with a little gray rat on the piano keys.
This is the first time that I've truly seen Lu Ah-Cang, and it's also the last time.
"She asked me to find you, telling me to have someone draw the scene I saw at the time and treat it as a photo," the man said with a bitter smile. "She said it's a gift for you."
"What else did she say?" I put away the "photo," my calm face hiding inner turmoil.
"She said, 'There is no one in the world whose teeth are more powerful than a rat demon's.'" The man took a sip of tea. It wasn't Fleeting Life; it was a cup of Qing Shan Lu Shui[1] tea, but he obviously still didn't like the bitterness in the tea.
I have mentioned that Lu Ah-Cang is the only person I've ever seen who can drink Fleeting Life without frowning. Because in order to become Formless, she endured far too much pain. Compared to it, the bitterness of Fleeting Life is too insignificant.
I have no way of guessing what thoughts crossed Lu Ah-Cang's mind when she reverted to her original form as a rat demon and used the strongest teeth in the world to cut off the power source of Sean's collider. I only know that humans, who flaunt themselves as the gods of all things, were saved by a rat that they regard as lowly and dirty.
Of course, they will never know that on a certain day, at a certain time, in a certain area beneath Paris, a strange machine exploded. An unusual substance called Neptune disappeared in the explosion.
It's even more impossible for them to know that it was a rat, who had once successfully cultivated into a Formless, forsaking immortality, who had entered the machine and bit off the power supply.
After seeing off the man, I went to the backyard holding the photo and buried it under the ginkgo tree. Where the photo was buried, an ant leisurely crawled by.
Over there, Fatty is yelling that it's time for dinner, but I don't feel the slightest hint of hunger. There's a smell in the air this summer that makes me sad.
I don't want to judge whether Lu Ah-Cang's final choice was right or foolish; it was her decision. I also don't want to delve into whether the existence of people like Sean is the result of their own issues or the fault of the outside world.
What's obvious to me is that even the most fragile lives, as long as they have never caused harm or behaved despicably, deserve respect.
Even if it's just an ant, a rabbit, or even a rat.
I hope more people understand this philosophy[2]. Really.
[1] A type of green tea. 青山綠水 is an idiom for green hills and rivers; beautiful landscape. Here, it refers to the tea brand of the same name.
[2] The word used here is 道理 which can mean reason; argument; sense; logic; principle; rule; truth; philosophy. Take your pick.
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