The ant colony lives in an enclosed glass box called the Ant Box. They live, breed civilization, and conquer every inch of land they can explore. They mistakenly believe they are the rulers of the world, thinking the land beneath their feet belongs to them.
But their short-sighted antennae prevent them from seeing the world outside the Ant Box, unable to see the countless glass boxes densely packed and lined outside.
Nor can they see the strange creatures eyeing them, trying to climb over from other glass boxes.
Later, they saw it and then discovered that when their self-assured pincers and sharp teeth bit into the invaders, the results were not like those weak prey, screaming, twisting, and bursting with sweet interlocking juices. They simply couldn’t tear apart those hard shells.
The ant colony realized their existence was threatened, so they worked hard to arm their pincers and teeth, but in the face of the word "suddenly," evolution was as slow as a trembling old man trying to cross the wilderness.
It may be that a malicious guest from another glass box climbed over, or that an adjacent glass box shattered, allowing the colony living there to invade, or a mischievous child wanted to watch the fight, throwing Predators into the ants, or perhaps so existence accidentally fell in and quickly left, or the owner of the glass box gave up caring for them—perhaps all these existed simultaneously.
These brought undoubtedly catastrophic disaster to the fragile and weak natives.
The glass box follows the rule of the weak being eaten by the strong, and the weak ant colony is rely the lowest niche in this ecosystem.
Yet there are still humans willing to engage with and observe them.
For example, the children.
Children raising pets would release their treasured pets into the Ant Box, allowing them to feast or watch them kill and conquer in the ant colony; mischievous children teasing these small creatures thought it fun, which usually ant catastrophe for the weak ants; kind-hearted children would sprinkle bread crumbs into the Ant Box, feeding the foraging ant colony; curious children watched the developnt of the ant colony, occasionally reaching out a miraculous helping hand, but sotis inadvertently making things worse for the ants; uninterested children walked by casually or reached out to squash a group of ants; clever children tried to observe and communicate with the ants, but even their voices could crush the sand-sized brains of ants or send them spinning in madness; children with malicious intent would overturn soil, pour dirty water, light wood, and kill all ants in sight.
Besides the children filled with desires, there was another group of people.
Unlike the children, who were dominated by random kindness or malice, they were relatively rational, adhered to rules, and respected life.
The wise race, Snan, was just such a group.
They were often like biologists, calmly and silently observing the Human Ant Box, occasionally recording interesting occurrences, and sotis offering help when encountering intriguing matters, never stingy with the knowledge they possessed.
After all, on the last page of the Book of the Dead, the naless author specifically noted that the book was revised under the guidance of the wise race, Snan.
Lu Li watched Margaret conduct a ritual in Claire’s tower bedroom, using an erasable chalk to draw an array about the size of a bed on the floor, then left, returning minutes later with most of the offerings needed for the summoning ritual.
Margaret’s arrangents were smooth and natural, while Lu Li, who quickly finished his studies in the Midnight City Illusion, couldn’t help much.
The cat’s paw pointed to the list of offerings as Margaret arranged them one by one, stopping at the last offering.
[A Cup of Wisdom] was written above it.
"What’s this?" Lu Li asked her.
"It’s a riddle, a chanism, a locked door, and only wisdom can act as the key," Margaret said.
Then, an obscure and elusive fluctuation simred in the bottle-like ritual on the floor, with the offerings and array gradually fading away, the above ant theory surfacing in Lu Li and Margaret’s minds.
And also the floating, white-cloaked wise race, Snan, with their brains encased in an oval, translucent shell.
Lu Li noticed a light red groove near its pituitary gland area—the summoned being was an elder.
Margaret pulled up the curtains, moved to Lu Li’s side, and ceded control to him.
After pondering the questions he wanted to ask, Lu Li, for the first ti, engaged in conversation with the existence he had summoned—a question that was characteristically Lu Li.
"It’s said that the wise race, Snan, knows the answers to all questions."
A hollow, lingering voice echoed in Lu Li and Margaret’s minds: "I thought you were prepared for this when you summoned ."
"I thought you knew what we wanted to ask," Margaret suddenly said.
Her retort wasn’t very rational, but the wise race, Snan, was quite calm. Attempting to kill them wouldn’t anger them, they’d simply refuse to respond to your summons thereafter—much like rchants.
"I know your desires..." the floating wise race, Snan, slightly rotated, conveying to Lu Li a sense of being "watched," "Yes, including this interesting weapon you’re thinking about now, my answer remains, yes. Want to harm Them? The answer requires a price."
Lu Li, of course, wouldn’t waste the price on aningless answers, seizing the chance to ask questions that might be answered for free: "How do you know my thoughts?"
"Wisdom," the wise race, Snan, said, "Just like when you see a fish with a red tail upstream and then again downstream, the fish cannot comprehend how you know it ca from upstream."
Without further inquiries, Lu Li went straight to the point, "Can you restore the farr’s mory?"
"No," the wise race, Snan, unexpectedly refused Lu Li, "But I can bestow the farr’s mory upon you."
"In what manner?"
"By allowing you to possess its mory."
This sounded rather unhelpful, and could potentially drive oneself mad with two sets of mories, but Lu Li possessed both the Dreamwalker and the Crown of Knowledge.
What rendered Lu Li silent wasn’t this, but rather an abrupt realization that everything coincidentally seed arranged long beforehand.
Lu Li’s arrival here, the True Vision Orb aiding in the search for the soul, the Crown of Knowledge capable of releasing wisdom, and finally, the mory also resolved by the wise race, Snan...
"Do you know the answer?" Lu Li asked, seemingly without reason.
"The wise race, Snan, is all-knowing, but it requires a price," its voice remained ethereal.
"Shilling or Strange Currency?"
"Young and wise human, you should understand the principle of equivalent exchange. Sothing you hold precious may be insignificant to , but it adheres to the rules."
Lu Li was forced to abandon the pursuit of truth and pay the price for the Undead’s mory: the humanity he spent all of yesterday improving fell back to less than 1 unit.
"Prepare yourself, don’t let the mory overwhelm your mind."
The wise race, Snan, kindly reminded, as the summoning array faintly flickered for a mont.
Lu Li abruptly fell into unconsciousness without any warning.
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