The Meaning of My Existence

Tonight came, just as it was supposed to.

As usual, Lin Yuan hid in the shadows.

Harry had arrived.

But this time, something was different.

Lin Yuan's keen spiritual sense detected, behind Harry, a vast and warm presence, with a barely perceptible edge of sharpness.

Like a deep, starry sky.

[Energy signature identified: Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore.]

[Energy level: Extremely high. One of the strongest individuals in this world.]

[Affinity with the laws: Transfiguration (extremely high), elements (fire, extremely high), soul (high)...]

"So he's finally here." Lin Yuan's heart was clear.

He knew that Harry Potter's "personal storyline" was about to reach its end.

He drew in every trace of his aura, reducing the fluctuations of his spiritual sense to a minimum. Like a reef deep beneath the sea, he quietly "observed."

He "heard" Dumbledore's voice, gentle and full of wisdom.

"...This mirror can neither teach us knowledge nor tell us the truth. People waste their time before it, becoming obsessed with the images they see... It will drive you mad..."

"...What it shows is nothing other than the most urgent, most intense desires deep within our hearts..."

In the shadows, Lin Yuan silently nodded.

"An accurate assessment, but the understanding... is still only surface-deep."

He "saw" Dumbledore looking at Harry and his parents in the mirror with a sorrowful, understanding gaze.

"...Starting tomorrow, this mirror will be moved to a new location. Harry, don't go looking for it again. There's no benefit in losing yourself in an illusion and forgetting to live in the real world. Remember that."

Harry nodded, took one last look at his parents in the mirror, then turned and left the room with Dumbledore.

The corridor fell silent again.

But Lin Yuan knew Dumbledore hadn't gone far.

The old headmaster had simply seen Harry back to his dormitory before returning to stand once more before the tapestry.

He clearly intended to deal with the dangerous mirror himself.

Lin Yuan didn't leave.

Tonight was his last chance.

Before the mirror was moved, he had to make one final—and deepest—attempt to "glimpse the Dao."

He stepped out of the shadows and calmly walked toward the tapestry.

He no longer tried to hide himself.

He knew that against a wizard of Dumbledore's caliber, any physical concealment was meaningless.

Sure enough, after he passed by three times and the carved wooden door appeared, he could clearly feel a gentle but powerful probing magic settle over him.

Without changing his expression, Lin Yuan pushed open the door.

Dumbledore stood before the Mirror of Erised. In its faint glow, his silver-white hair and beard looked like flowing moonlight.

He turned around. Behind the half-moon spectacles, his blue eyes held surprise, understanding, and a deeper, more complicated emotion that Lin Yuan couldn't immediately decipher.

"Good evening, Mr. Lin." Dumbledore's voice was as gentle as ever. "It seems the Mirror of Erised's appeal isn't limited to Mr. Potter."

He didn't ask why Lin Yuan was there in the middle of the night, nor did he mention the school rules.

This old man, who had lived for over a century, had long since seen every corner of human nature. He knew that something more than a simple urge to wander at night must have driven a student as precocious and disciplined as Lin Yuan.

"Good evening, Headmaster Dumbledore."

Lin Yuan's tone was as calm as if he were answering a question in class.

He showed no embarrassment at being caught. He simply looked past Dumbledore at the mirror he both loved and hated.

"Then you've discovered its secret as well." Dumbledore followed his gaze and sighed softly. "In that case, allow me to ask: what did you see in this mirror?"

He was curious.

Harry had seen the family he had never had.

As for himself... He closed his eyes, as if he could see in the mirror a whole family untouched by tragedy, and his sister Ariana, alive and well.

The mirror reflected the tenderest, most painful absences in a person's heart.

So what did this mysterious, precocious boy from the East feel he was missing? Did he long for family, like Harry? Or did he yearn for supreme power, like Voldemort?

Lin Yuan was silent for a moment.

He wasn't hesitating. He was searching his sea of consciousness for the word Dumbledore would understand best.

"I saw... the 'Dao.'"

"Dao?" Dumbledore repeated the unfamiliar word. A puzzled glint flashed across his half-moon spectacles. "What is that? A powerful kind of magic? A lost artifact? Or... a form of supreme power?"

That was the most reasonable guess he could make within the bounds of his worldview.

"No." Lin Yuan shook his head. For the first time, his eyes revealed a weariness and fervor beyond his years, almost like those of a "preacher."

"It isn't a 'thing.' Headmaster, you're a powerful wizard. You can control fire, distort space, and even perceive souls. To you, those are 'magic,' aren't they?"

"Perhaps," Dumbledore said with a smile.

"But to me, those are only the most superficial 'appearances' of the Dao, manifested on different levels and in different dimensions."

Lin Yuan raised a finger and pointed to the corner of the room.

"There is air there, along with dust, light, and gravity. The castle's stone walls follow the law of 'solidity.' The Fire-Making Spell on your robe follows the law of 'energy conversion.' And this mirror follows the law of 'mental projection.'"

His voice was not loud, but it echoed clearly through the empty room. Every word seemed to carry a peculiar power that made one reflect.

"And the 'Dao' is the source of all these 'laws.' It is the ultimate, singular 'meta-law' that creates, drives, and ultimately determines every other law."

"It is not power; it defines power. It is not immortality; it governs time and life. It is not knowledge, because all knowledge is merely a paltry description of it."

Lin Yuan turned his head and looked straight into Dumbledore's deep blue eyes with his own dark ones.

"What I desire is not to 'possess' it, but to 'understand' it, to 'analyze' it, and ultimately... to 'become' it."

"To become one with the Dao."

For the first time, Dumbledore's face showed genuine, undisguised shock.

In his more than a century of life, he had seen countless prodigies, madmen, heroes, and villains.

He had heard every kind of ambition and desire.

Some longed for immortality, like his old friend Nicolas Flamel. Some craved power, like his former friend Gellert Grindelwald. Some sought revenge and revolution, like Tom Riddle.

But this was the first time he had heard a desire so... "inconceivable."

This wasn't a worldly ambition.

It was an ultimate pursuit on a philosophical, even theological, level.

The eleven-year-old boy didn't want to rule the world or live forever.

He wanted to become the world's very "underlying logic."

"Child..." It took Dumbledore a long time to find his voice again. His words came out with a dryness he didn't even notice. "That is a dream... grander and more dangerous than any ambition I've ever encountered."

"I understand." Lin Yuan answered calmly. "Any attempt to reach the source comes with the risk of being shattered to pieces. But that is precisely the meaning of my existence."