Chapter 1

Black Steed frowned, his peripheral vision inadvertently catching Li Ang, who was floating blankly in the air. After a moment of hesitation, he couldn't help but ask, "Uh... Brother Shadow Man? What are you..."

"I was thinking," Li Ang maintained his posture of looking up at the hall's dome, "if we were to tell the dinosaurs, 'You've got the wrong person, I'm not Kevin the lawyer,' would they let us leave?"

"The most likely outcome is that they'd just unleash divine punishment and smite the client..." Black Steed said, exasperated. "This isn't the time for jokes. If you have any ideas, just say them. They're waiting for an answer."

"A well-timed silence can make them think we're seriously considering it." Li Ang said calmly, turning to face his teammates.

During this time, he had been using the [Unearther]'s title skill to peer into the inner secrets of all beings in the hall, including his teammates. He had gained a preliminary understanding of the personalities and stances of some of the council members.

"Based on my experience with the killing game's nature, the third stage mission the client is facing is likely [Assist the council in formulating a code], or [Persuade the council], [Persuade the council that humanity is guilty], [Persuade the council that humanity is innocent]." Li Ang said to Mule, "If one of the options I suggest is correct, move a finger on your right hand, starting with the thumb. If none are correct, move your right pinky finger."

Mule frowned, his left hand in front of him, his right arm clamped around his left fist, and his right fist resting under his nose, pretending to be deep in thought. He naturally moved his right index finger.

"Just persuading the council? No other conditions? Like time? Or content?" Li Ang pressed, "If there are conditions, move your index finger again. If not, don't move it."

Mule did as instructed.

Li Ang raised an eyebrow and said softly, "Just persuading the council... Hmm, let me think..."

The Tyrannosaurus Rex on the platform saw that Mule was silent and called out, "Lawyer Kevin?"

"I'm here," Mule raised his head, took a deep breath, and asked as Li Ang instructed, "Are there any specific work guidelines for the official personnel of the underworld? For example, the specific memory cleansing process, the maximum impact of the underworld on the mortal world, the operational process of soul reincarnation, which spirits can reside long-term, which spirits must be reincarnated immediately, and so on."

This request was obviously reasonable.

The Tyrannosaurus Rex snapped its short hand, and a thick book immediately appeared in front of Mule, opening to the table of contents, which clearly recorded the entire operating system of the underworld.

Mule remained silent, his fingers rapidly flipping through the pages, scanning the contents like quantum speed reading.

Li Ang and Black Steed were by his side. The former made the request, and the latter used his mechanical eye to clearly record all the information.

According to Li Ang's instructions, they organized specific content and projected it into the air using the eye's projection function.

The two worked together and quickly finished scanning the entire book.

Mule also pretended to roughly flip through the table of contents, sighed, and heavily closed the book.

"Respected members of the council, so far, I still can't quite understand why it's me." Mule raised his head and said, "I'm just a lawyer, providing legal services to society, and that's my profession. Nothing more. I believe there are souls in human history who are more suitable to answer this question than I am."

"Please don't be modest, Lawyer Kevin Lomax." The Tyrannosaurus Rex, T-Bone, said gently, "The special structure of Paradise Mountain allows us to clearly see everything that happens in the mortal world, and to see the essence of things through the layers of mist. You have been a prosecutor and a lawyer, and you have a deep understanding of the judicial system and the law itself. You are a non-believer, you believe in justice, but you have witnessed justice being delayed by social systems countless times, and you are in pain because of it. Many legal professionals will face similar pain, but they usually choose to harden their hearts, become cold and mechanical, and pretend that nothing has happened - there is nothing wrong with this. Prosecutors or lawyers are just mortals with special professional requirements, still in society, unable to seek justice for all the injustices they see. After all, the abilities of mortals are always limited. But you are different. Your morality and conscience have tormented you for a long time, making you unable to remain indifferent, making you crash into evil like Don Quixote countless times, until death."

The Tyrannosaurus Rex paused and said slowly, "Morality is the standard and norm of living and behavior of all beings. Since it is a norm, it must have its scope of application. Family, nation, country, civilization, species, world, planet... The scope of morality can affect the perspective of looking at things. Although your morality mostly hovers within the scope of the country and civilization, I believe that your conscience is enough to allow you to look at the problem from a higher angle. We, await your answer."

"...You flatter me." Mule nodded, took a deep breath, and said in a deep voice, "Members of the council, I would like to know first whether plants have souls."

"Hmm...this question..." The Tyrannosaurus Rex, T-Bone, frowned slightly and said slowly, "We have also done research before. After a long period of observation, there is only extremely faint, almost non-existent, spiritual energy reaction in plants. There is no essential soul."

Mule asked, "Then the right to survival of plants is not within the scope of the underworld's investigation?"

The Tyrannosaurus Rex, T-Bone, nodded, "Although it is a pity, that is correct."

"Then, what about bacteria, viruses, fungi, and algae?"

"No essential soul, not considered."

"Cancer cells?"

"No essential soul, not considered."

"Single-celled animals?"

"No essential soul, not considered."

"Water bears?"

"Are you talking about tardigrades?" The Tyrannosaurus Rex shook his head, "The soul concentration on them is too low to form a physical entity. They don't even need to participate in soul reincarnation. They only need to absorb the soul energy wandering in the mortal world to exist. The same is true for animals such as coral."

"I understand," Mule nodded, "That is to say, in the underworld's moral system, the factor that determines whether a creature enjoys rights only lies in the soul."

The Tyrannosaurus Rex agreed, "That is correct."

"Okay, back to the previous question," Mule said slowly, "From the perspective of the human species' moral concepts, what humans do is not excessive. Without modern breeding technology, the price of meat in the mortal world would skyrocket, and many people would not be able to afford meat. The behavior of humans eating meat in homes and restaurants is the same as hunting by wild animals, a kind of natural balance. From the perspective of two worlds, human breeding of animals not only violates the morals of the world, but is also harmful to both worlds on a pragmatic level. However, I personally believe that this problem can be solved by humans themselves in the future."

"Oh?" The Tyrannosaurus Rex asked, "Are you saying that with the improvement of material living standards, the overall morality of humans will promote universal vegetarianism?"

"That's not it," Mule shook his head like Li Ang, "The pleasure of taste brought by eating meat has been firmly engraved in human instincts. I don't think that in a short period of time, human morality can make leaps and bounds and cover all animals."

"Then what do you mean..."

"New scientific technology." Mule said frankly, "Scientific technology determines the level of material life, and the level of material life determines social moral standards. I don't know if you have heard of artificial meat. There are two types of artificial meat. One is soybean protein meat, which is made of soybean protein, with vegetables, fat, and food additives, and squeezed by a machine to make it close to the taste of animal meat. The other is animal meat cultivated from animal stem cells as a matrix. Either way, it should meet the moral and practical standards of the underworld."

"Well...these two technologies do conform to morality. If they can be promoted on a large scale, there will be no more moral problems." The Tyrannosaurus Rex said peacefully, "However, soybean protein meat technology has been around for a long time, but it has not yet been universally accepted by humans. And animal cell meat seems to be still in the laboratory stage, right? Commercial use is far away. And even if costs are reduced, large-scale commercial use is achieved, and it is widely accepted by humans, I think it will not stop some humans from continuing to eat farmed meat in pursuit of individuality."

"That's right," Mule nodded, "However, what if there is microscopic adjustment from the underworld?"

"Adjustment?" The Tyrannosaurus Rex frowned, "You mean..."

Mule said calmly, "If the human council members in the era of slavery could create myths in reality by writing stories, then now, they can also adjust the morality of the mortal world by transforming the underworld."

"Impossible." The Tyrannosaurus Rex shook his head, "We have made a mistake once, and we will not make a second one. Worship is the furthest distance from rationality. Any blind belief will eventually lead to chaos. Countless classics tell people to do good deeds and reject evil deeds, but what about it? There are still countless people who are full of moral justice, but do all kinds of bad things behind their backs."

"That's because there is a lack of supervision and punishment mechanisms." Mule said frankly, "The more complex a system is, the fewer people who can fully understand it and use it, and the more power these people have. A lawyer can understand the legal system, so he has a great advantage over ordinary people, and can use the loopholes and defects of the system to profit himself, and even use the system to protect himself. A powerful person can understand the social operation system, so he has a greater advantage over ordinary people. The Matthew effect, the stronger get stronger, the weaker get weaker, education, finance, and science are all the same. All systems in human society cannot avoid this problem - unless higher-level forces are introduced."

The Tyrannosaurus Rex blinked, "For example?"

"For example, transforming the underworld into an amusement park." Mule smiled, "A theme park that significantly improves morality after a tour."