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Mule felt a sense of relief. He had originally thought the other party would present a bizarre, complex, and cumbersome case, but it turned out to be much simpler than he imagined.

Of course, guilty—

Mule had just opened his mouth when the witch behind him shouted sternly, "Wait!"

Mule's mouth froze instantly. His relaxed mind tensed up again.

Only then did the information broker notice that

the bee man sitting in front of him had subtly adjusted his posture.

The angle of his furry, orange-yellow bee head, his facial features, also seemed to have changed,

as if he was putting on a... serious expression?

Although, discerning "seriousness" on a bee's face sounded a little unrealistic....

"In this script mission, you're playing a professional lawyer."

The witch said in a deep voice, "If the arguments, evidence, and reasoning given are too superficial and crude,

it's very likely that you won't pass Bonaparte's test,

or even be suspected of not being who you say you are."

"That's right."

Black Mu Ma nodded. "Bonaparte is well-read in various fields, including mathematics, philosophy, geography, and history.

He promulgated the *Napoleonic Code*, laying the foundation for the social order of Western capitalist countries.

His ability to reason is definitely not lacking.

Answering rashly will only make you look full of loopholes."

"..."

Mule's mind raced. He understood that the strategy team was right, but how could he speak in a way that would pass the other party's test?

Seemingly taking Mule's hesitation as deep thought, the bee man nodded in approval and continued to add details to the case.

For example, during the rescue process, several mountain collapses occurred, one of which claimed the lives of ten rescuers.

During the rescue process, the Cave Exploration Association's funds were quickly exhausted, and subsequent rescue efforts were supported by public donations and statutory appropriations.

The cave explorer, Witmore, first suggested that maybe they could eat one of the members, otherwise the others would not be able to survive.

He also suggested drawing lots, claiming that he had brought a pair of dice.

The other four were initially unwilling to respond to the proposal, but after Witmore used wireless equipment to communicate with the outside world,

they agreed to the proposal and repeatedly discussed the mathematical issues of ensuring the fairness of the lottery, eventually agreeing to use dice to determine life and death.

However, before rolling the dice, Witmore—the proposer of the lottery—announced his withdrawal from the agreement.

He believed that they should wait another week before implementing this horrific act. The others accused him of going back on his word and insisted on rolling the dice. When it was his turn, a member rolled the dice for him and asked Witmore to state whether he agreed with the fairness of the dice.

The latter had no objection, and then, because the dice result was unfavorable to him, he was eventually murdered and eaten by the other members.

"Hoo..."

Mule breathed a long sigh of relief. When he reviewed the entire case again and thought deeply, he realized how shockingly complex this case was.

It was absolutely impossible to give a simple judgment from a single perspective (such as personal moral aesthetics).

"I..."

Mule was about to speak when he was interrupted by the bee man. "Mr. Kevin, you used to be a local prosecutor and then changed careers to become a lawyer, with rich experience in the field.

But in this case, I'm not just asking for the advice of a prosecutor or a lawyer.

I need you, in the capacity of a power holder, to give a judgment."

"A power holder?"

"Yes."

The bee man clasped his hands together, casually resting them on his raised left thigh. "The Underworld is an important cornerstone for the normal operation of the mortal world.

The Thirteen-Person Council, presided over by the Five Dinosaur Lords,

is responsible for receiving the souls of the mortal world, washing away their memories, judging their crimes, and then reclassifying the souls and putting them back into the mortal world.

If the Underworld shuts down, then the mortal world will lack biological souls, thus becoming barren and desolate.

At the same time, the negative emotions accumulated in the mortal world will also be projected into the Underworld.

If the creatures of the mortal world are desperate, negative, degenerate, and numb,

the Underworld will also become desolate and barren.

The two worlds interfere with each other and affect each other.

The Thirteen-Person Council is responsible for maintaining the healthy operation of the Underworld's vital machine.

We need to make judgments on the souls of the mortal world, wash away their sins, and make the polluted souls healthy again,

thereby promoting the mortal world to become positive and maintain the balance between the two realms.

Note that the judgment and adjudication mentioned here are not just aimed at a certain person or a certain species,

but are a macro-control of hundreds of millions of creatures from an extremely high perspective of the two worlds."

The bee man waved his hand and said slowly in a solemn tone: "We are judges, but also lawmakers, enforcers, implementers, and even power holders of the two realms.

We are responsible to the Five Dinosaur Lords, and also to hundreds of millions of creatures.

I hope you can think from our perspective, and at the same time consider morality, law, fairness, and justice, and look at this case in a micro-level way."

"..."

Mule pursed his lips tightly. He finally realized the difficulty of this mission.

Different perspectives and different heights of observation will lead to different conclusions.

With the mind, will, perseverance, and ability of an ordinary person, it is difficult to transcend one's own limitations and evaluate and judge things both macroscopically and microscopically.

What's more, he's not even a lawyer, not even a legal worker...

"It's so complicated..."

Black Mu Ma licked his lips, and the tips of his fingers were slightly numb.

In this programmer's vision, all the legal provisions found were floating,

but these provisions didn't seem to be of much help.

Forest Cat frowned, distressed. "Macro and micro... No wonder Napoleon turned into a bee. Thinking about this kind of problem all day long, he'll go crazy sooner or later."

"Stop saying those useless things."

The middle school witch, who looked the youngest, shook her head and pondered, "Since we want to stand at a higher angle,

we naturally have to abandon the perspectives of the five major legal systems, such as the European continental law system, the Anglo-American law system, the Indian law system, and the Eastern law system.

So we don't have to haggle over specific legal clauses anymore.

Tsk, what a hassle..."

Seeing the confused expression on Forest Cat's face, the witch casually explained, "The world's five major legal systems are five types of legal systems divided by legal scholars based on the basic characteristics of the laws of various countries in the world.

The Anglo-American law system is applicable to Great Britain and America. Its characteristics are that past cases are one of the main bases for judges to make judgments, the jury is responsible for determining factual issues based on evidence, and the judge is responsible for making judgments.

The Continental Law system, on the other hand, applies to France and Germany, and takes legal provisions as the main basis for judgment. There is no jury system, and whether there is guilt and the degree of punishment are all determined by the judge.

If this case uses the Continental Law system, we can easily make a judgment based on a specific legal clause.

Naturally, it won't be so troublesome."

"Why don't we,"

Li Ang stopped struggling with the bookshelf, turned around, and said lightly to his companions, "Ask the bee first, does the Underworld have a universal code?"

"Sure,"

The witch nodded, agreeing. "In front of a mythical species that can destroy you with a look, it's best to test his original attitude first.

It doesn't hurt to ask."

Getting the strategy team's opinion, Mule pretended to finish thinking and seriously asked Li Ang's question again.

"You mean a code?"

The bee nodded, "The Underworld does have a code,

which was compiled by the Five Dinosaur Lords two thousand years ago.

But that code is for all living beings, and the content is very empty.

Basically, it's 'Those who maliciously harm other living beings for the purpose of enjoyment without satisfying the needs of survival and produce negative emotions need to be judged.'

As the human race expands, society changes rapidly, and the impact of humans on nature itself becomes greater and greater, the negative emotions generated by the seven billion humans become heavier and heavier.

The code is no longer applicable."

The bee picked up the wine glass, took a sip of the liquid in the glass with its chewing-sucking mouthparts, and said lightly, "We'll talk about the problems with the code later. Now, I'd rather hear your answer."

"..."

Mule was silent for a while, tapping his fingertips on the table to clearly convey the meaning of 'Help me' to his companions.

Li Ang stared at his companions for a while, and when he found that they were still thinking, he said, "Why don't you say this..."

He stated calmly,

After a brief silence, Mule took a deep breath and repeated Li Ang's words word for word.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bee, as an ordinary person, I am still limited by my own knowledge structure, intellectual level, and past experience, and I can't give a precise and objective conclusion.

I can only give an answer within my ability."

Mule paused, imitating Li Ang, and said slowly in a calm tone: "This event itself has countless angles for analysis.

From the most simple moral and legal principle of killing for life, the four explorers who murdered and ate their companions should be sentenced to death.

For the Underworld, it is also crucial to respect legal provisions. Implementing the law according to strict standards and reducing human factors,

can greatly improve the efficiency of law enforcement and reduce time and labor costs."

The bee man did not express his opinion, but just slightly adjusted his sitting posture.

Mule glanced at him and continued, "Of course, this judgment process is too simple and crude.

What is the cornerstone of law?

The laws formulated by civilized humans are based on the premise that humans can coexist.

The fundamental goal of all laws in the world is to promote and improve the state of human coexistence, and to regulate the fairness and equality of the relationship between each other in the state of coexistence.

If the basis for human coexistence does not exist—for example, if only killing the other party can survive in the case, then the cornerstone that supports the existence of the law will cease to exist, and the law itself will lose its meaning.

In the case, the five trapped people were isolated from the world and waited for the rescue team for a long time.

In this scenario, they are actually in a 'primitive environment without law', unregulated, and do not enjoy the benefits of the social contract brought about by law. Their actions are all based on the human instinct for survival.

By the same token, they should not be subject to the ex post facto trial of civilized society."

The bee shook his head. "Mr. Kevin, your two views seem to contradict each other."

"That's right."

Mule nodded, learning from Li Ang. "The same event can lead to two completely different views from different angles.

Is it wrong to respect legal provisions? No.

Is it wrong to respect the spirit of legislation based on human coexistence? No.

But in the complex real world, there is no simple right or wrong. Or rather, the act of simply and crudely evaluating right and wrong is itself an irresponsible manifestation, and it is an active abandonment of rational thinking, the most important tool of mankind."

Mule sighed deliberately deeply, "The basis of law is public recognition.

In the real world without supernatural abilities, the power to maintain human social relations and order is not guns, weapons, bank deposits, information access rights, knowledge level, or social status,

but the recognition between people.

This is an extremely abstract concept. With public recognition, there is money, there is a country, there is civilization, and even the identity of a person comes from public recognition—

If everyone admits that the beggar is the king, if everyone denies it, then the king can instantly become a beggar.

In this case, most people understand and sympathize with the plight of the four explorers. Public opinion shows that more than 90% of people support the explorers being innocent, or being sentenced to a symbolic punishment.

From the perspective that the law must demonstrate public morality and guide morality, the four should be acquitted."

The bee couldn't help shaking his head when he heard this. "The laws formulated by civilization should indeed serve the vast majority of the people.

However, the embodiment of the people's will, that is, public opinion, is not of much benefit to the enforcement of the law.

Public opinion is based on existing evidence, is emotional, can be artificially guided, and may change at any time.

One day, public opinion roars and demands the release of the suspect,

and the next day, because of the emergence of new evidence, public opinion roars and demands the immediate execution of the suspect.

Assuming that all evidence can be clearly found and the original appearance of the case can be restored during the investigation process, and assuming that the public can think rationally and deliberate carefully,

then there is no problem with judging according to the will of the people.

However, in the actual investigation process, there are too many factors that interfere, and it is impossible to perfectly restore the original appearance of the case.

Therefore, it is not advisable for public opinion to directly interfere with the adjudication. The correct approach is to let public opinion promote the improvement of the law."

"Oh?"

Li Ang's heart moved, and he instantly discovered the problem in the bee's words.

He instructed Mule to ask, "Can't even the Underworld restore the original appearance of the case? I thought the Underworld would have some kind of prop that could perfectly reproduce the life of the soul."

"You're quick-thinking."

The bee opened its chewing-sucking mouthparts and made a "smile" expression. "The Underworld does have this kind of prop.

However, this involves another question, that is, whether the scope of public will should be limited to humans.

We will discuss this later.

You may continue to speak."

"Okay."

Mule also smiled: "From the utilitarian point of view, which is despised but actually exists, the law hopes that everyone can survive.

If conditions do not allow, it should ensure that the lives of most people can be protected—the four people's behavior is innocent.

From a pragmatic point of view, the four explorers in this case could have waited until someone starved to death before eating the corpse, or ate their own bodies first, such as toes and other non-critical parts.

They still have the strength to kill, which means that they have not fallen into a desperate situation of life and death, and do not meet the requirements of the emergency avoidance law—the four people's behavior is guilty.

From a moral point of view, law is revealed morality, morality is hidden law, and lawmakers and law enforcers themselves are also human beings, and they are likely to make the same choices as the explorers in this predicament—if they can't do it themselves, they can't demand that others do it, the four are innocent.

From the perspective of maintaining the dignity of the law, severely punishing criminal behavior can deter potential criminals, thereby maintaining social order. If evildoers deliberately create similar cave predicaments, allowing the behavior may lead to larger-scale crimes—the four people's behavior is guilty..."

"Wait!"

The bee interrupted Mule, leaning forward and asking with unprecedented seriousness: "Mr. Kevin, you can list countless views on this case,

but I'd rather hear your own opinion."

"Me?"

Li Ang lowered his head and thought about how to speak to fit the character of Kevin the lawyer.

After a long time, he raised his head and said after deliberation: "Humans are always limited, and can never transcend themselves, the environment they are in, the times, and other factors to look at problems.

Since this limitation will always exist,

an excellent legal worker must not be able to achieve a perfect balance of morality, fairness, and justice.

They can only settle for second best and hand over some of the responsibility to others.

Its external manifestation,

is that some legal people become mechanical, rigid, numb, and indifferent—that is, the so-called, the more you study law, the more you will gradually lose humanity.

Some unscrupulous and ignorant legal people will even become arrogant, self-proclaimed advanced, detached from public morality,

and take pride in detaching themselves from public morality.

As for me personally, I don't have the ability to give a perfect verdict."

Li Ang of course has his own views, but he must first abide by professional ethics.

You get what you pay for. Since he has accepted Mule's employment, he must naturally consider Mule's interests.

Compassion, gentleness, rationality, kindness, amiability, while not lacking depth, and sometimes even somewhat tactful, these are the qualities that fit the character of Kevin the lawyer.

"Is this the answer you gave after in-depth analysis?"

The bee nodded noncommittally, "Then,

what if we could give you a perspective and ability that transcends humanity?"