Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 603 - 601: The Park

"Theme park?"

The Tyrannosaurus Rex exchanged glances with the other councilors before turning to ask, "Please elaborate."

"It's actually quite simple." The mule smiled slightly, picked up the thick book, and patted it. "According to this book, after animals in the Mortal Realm die, their Souls automatically travel to the Underworld. The Souls of different types of animals enter through different gates and are guided by the Underworld's staff, lining up to take a boat across the Styx. After crossing the Styx, the Souls are scanned by a gigantic machine to detect negative emotions and sins from their lives. Those with lower negative emotions and lesser sins are rapidly arranged for reincarnation. In contrast, those with higher negative emotions and graver sins—usually certain humans—face punishment and cleansing. Those who caused harm for sadistic pleasure will face equivalent harm themselves. After punishment, a group of guilty Souls are stuffed into a large sphere. Underworld staff then pour a special liquid—mixed with Demon Saliva, mineral powder, and compounds—into it. This washes away negative emotions such as pride, envy, wrath, sloth, greed, Gluttony, and lust from the Souls before they are released back into the Mortal Realm.

"This process wasn't a problem for tens of thousands of years, as the Underworld has always used this method to maintain balance between the realms. However, in the last few decades, the Mortal Realm's population suddenly exploded, and the widespread stress of modern life has bred more negative emotions. This has gradually overwhelmed the Underworld. This is enough to prove that the old system can no longer adapt to the current environment." 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

The mule paused, then said, "I read in the book that the Underworld's ability to interfere with the Mortal Realm is not weak. The special structure of Paradise Mountain allows for a clear view of everything happening in the Mortal Realm. Underworld officials can enter the Mortal Realm to capture Specters, or to take away those who were supposed to die but miraculously survived. Slavery Councilors in the past could even appear in the Mortal Realm themselves, perform miracles before people, and draw followers. This means the judgment of Souls doesn't necessarily have to wait until the afterlife.

"I carefully examined the records of disasters in the book and found that the downfall of the Slavery Councilors was due to a famine centuries ago. Some Slavery Councilors, to promote myths favorable to themselves, sneaked into the Mortal Realm, unleashed supernatural powers, and cursed the Irish People who refused to believe in them. This caused a widespread potato blight and crop failure, ultimately leading to the starvation deaths of millions of Irish People.

"Of course, the excessively abnormal number of deaths immediately attracted the attention of the Dinosaur Majesty. Upon investigation, it was discovered to be the actions of these human councilors. They were immediately stripped of their positions and cast into Purgatory. Furthermore, tens of thousands of Underworld staff members were dispatched to tirelessly reorganize the population. They brought back those Souls that should not have died to the Mortal Realm and returned them to their bodies. A considerable amount of supernatural power was used to ensure the deceased were fully resurrected and to correct the overall trajectory of the world. It was from that point on that the Underworld decided not to interfere directly with the Mortal Realm on a large scale. This was a terrible man-made disaster, but it also proved that the Underworld has sufficient mobilization capacity to transfer tens of thousands of human Souls between the two worlds overnight."

The Tyrannosaurus Rex seemed to have thought of something. "You mean to say..."

"That's right."

The mule nodded. "A fundamental substitution, a covert switch of realities. The Underworld's staff, through Paradise Mountain, can see everything in the Mortal Realm. During the night, they could sneak into the Mortal Realm, secretly bringing tens of thousands of sleeping human Souls into the Underworld. Those with heavy sins would be punished severely and have their memories wiped clean. Then, Underworld employees would return them to the Mortal Realm, placing them back into their original bodies. According to the records, Souls that underwent punishment would become riddled with holes. Without a special liquid to wash and heal them, they would gradually fade away. The body of a sinner hosting a Broken Soul would soon develop various ailments, dying slowly and naturally over time. In just a month or more, the Underworld could clear away those humans deeply burdened with sin, who continuously generate negative emotions.

"For those with lesser sins, the Underworld could also take proactive measures for reform, such as constructing a theme park full of brainwashing equipment. The most outstanding thinkers and philosophers from all human eras would serve as lecturers, hosting 24-hour live programs around the clock: Moral Base Camp, Moral Creativity Camp, Ethics 101, Starlight Morality... all sorts of programs. They would conduct large-scale moral and ethical education on kindness, propriety, wisdom, faith, beauty, virtues, humility, honesty, compassion, bravery, justice, sacrifice, honor... The most important thing is to educate humans not to harm other beings in pursuit of pleasure."

The mule, mimicking Li Ang, said, "The previous cleansing process of the Underworld would imprint benevolent images into the subconscious of the Soul. However, such images would quickly be exhausted under the pressures of modern life. Yet, with the theme park project, one could brainwash—COUGH—I mean, ethically reform millions of people overnight. This could constantly and stably encourage humans towards goodness. More ingeniously, by modifying the subconscious, humans could be widely made to accept synthetic meat products, reducing the breeding of other species."

"But…"

The Tyrannosaurus Rex paused, then said slowly, "According to all past experience, human nature will never change. Even those who have undergone subconscious modification will soon be assimilated by the corruption of the Mortal Realm. It's a cure for the symptoms, not the disease."

"Yes, but for now, a cure for the symptoms is all that's needed," said the mule gravely. "If the theme park project can be promoted long-term, the degree of corruption in the Souls of deceased humans will be greatly reduced. The workload of punishment and cleansing projects will plummet. This would significantly lighten the load for Underworld officials. In the long run, it is still beneficial."

As he spoke these words, the mule actually didn't have much confidence. Based on his initial assumption, this mission only required his verdict on human guilt or innocence, not the creation of a time-consuming theme park project. However, seeing Li Rising so confident, he felt he had no choice but to follow suit, no matter how reluctant.

Using the Mystery Delver skill to peek into the councilors' innermost thoughts, Li Ang understood. In fact, the dinosaur councilors regarded humans with a mix of affection, like elders towards juniors, and slight irritation, like parents towards an unruly child. They didn't want to exterminate humans; humans were the only sentient species in the Mortal Realm with the potential for development, and eliminating them would mean destroying the Underworld's modern way of life. However, they would likely collectively agree to some reasonable modifications to humanity.

Indeed, after Li Ang put forth his idea, the councilors whispered among themselves for a while before nodding in unison. Then, the Tyrannosaurus Rex posed the final question.

"Lawyer Kevin, I wonder if you would be interested in applying for the position of theme park director."