non-human

    I am Zhang Zhuyi, and I am an individual, you read that right, I am an individual. In my past life, I was an ox, and in the life before that, I was a horse. I complained that I was always toiling for humanity, but my colleagues advised me that this was our duty. But why can I only be an animal? I hate humanity. After I died in my past life, I should have been reincarnated as a pig. But I knelt before Yama, the King of Hell, begging him to let me be reincarnated as a human. Yama said I was destined to be a beast for generations. I refused to accept this and knelt for five hundred years. Finally, he relented and granted my wish.

    I came into this world with only one goal: to punish humanity.

    This is a peaceful society, and I cannot become a demon like Hitler, wantonly slaughtering humanity. I also do not want to break the law, as that would only harm a few. In truth, as an individual, I have been forced to read many books, all sorts of wise sayings, fragmented and disjointed, which I cannot understand at all. I've heard people say that reading these things teaches one shame, but who knows what shame even means? I often pondered how to realize my grand ideals. One day, a sudden inspiration struck me—why not write articles to swear at people? Isn't it said that physical harm is temporary, but mental harm is permanent? I was quite pleased with this brilliant idea.

    So I started swearing. My first thought was to take down each province one by one; otherwise, how could I handle a collective attack? I'm from Hunan; if I swear at people from other provinces, they'd definitely accuse me of favoring my compatriots. But heaven knows, I hate everyone; I won't let a single one go. I decided to become a tainted witness. I gathered accusations against them, and after some research, I discovered that most people from Hunan are quite good, and the same goes for people from other provinces. But I had to demonize them! How could I think like that? Even the tallest tree has its bare branches; I seized this opportunity, generalizing from specific cases, using elaborate and detailed arguments, highlighting flaws to obscure merits, and thoroughly denigrated the people of Hunan. After finishing, I was filled with pride, thinking I had done something truly remarkable. But some people say I'm ungrateful and shameless. What does that mean?

    Whatever! I've even insulted the people of Hunan, what can the other provinces say? I seized the opportunity, waging war against the provinces, unstoppable, sweeping all before me—it was exhilarating! I thought if I could gain widespread notoriety and influence, and eventually insult everyone in China, then I could avenge all my past grudges.

    But humanity is sharp; they would refute me. At first, I ignored them, going my own way. Later, the resistance grew, and I knew this path was unsustainable. And they also called me shameless. Good heavens, what does shamelessness even mean?

    Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated. To defeat humanity, I must first understand what shame is. I consulted dictionaries and many other books, which contained many explanations of shame, defining what should and should not be done. But I still couldn't understand why some things should be done and some shouldn't. Is it because I wasn't human in the past that I can't understand? Thinking this, Yama appeared. His face remained cold and stern, but his eyes held a sense of relief. He said, "Zhang Zhuyi, you've finally figured it out. The reason you can't be human is because you don't know shame. It seems I wasn't wrong to let you make this decision. You can rest assured and be a pig in your next life." I was speechless, completely convinced. I was destined to be an animal.