Why is his holy light red?

In the warden's office, Mercury sat expressionless across the large desk.

Erin Channing still maintained her charming demeanor, but Mercury no longer had the interest to peek at her.

Eileen sighed, breaking the silence in the room: "I've already told you, don't cause me any more trouble. You managed to hold back when Volcanic Stone attacked you last time, so why did you go and kill someone this time? You're going to court in a few hours, do you really have to leave yourself with something to hold against you at this crucial moment?"

Killing a prisoner inside a prison will inevitably be seized upon by the federal government like a shark smelling blood, and this will definitely become a weakness that will be the focus of his attacks in court.

Mercury slammed the crumpled notebook onto the desk, the paper cover hitting the solid wood surface with a dull thud.

"Anyone who can resist what's in here isn't human," the boy said through gritted teeth. "Right now, I just feel it was too quick for him to die."

Eileen picked up the notebook, casually flipped through a few pages, and lingered on the text for a few seconds. "What...what does this have to do with you?"

Mercury looked surprised and stared intently at her: "Isn't this what you asked me to investigate?"

The beautiful warden leaned back in her chair and shook her head. "I had you investigate the drug trade simply to make sure these drugs wouldn't cause mass deaths among prisoners. The rest is none of my business."

Mercury scrutinized the warden again and sneered, "I almost forgot, you're the warden. You not only knew they were able to leave the prison, you tacitly approved it. So, you're an accomplice too."

"You can think that way if you want. I do know they left, but have you ever thought about why they were legally allowed to leave this prison?" Eileen tapped her fingers on the keyboard a few times, then turned the LCD screen to face Mercury directly.

The screen displays the "Parole Leave" system registration form for the Beast Gang.

Mercury frowned and quickly scanned the system records, which clearly showed that every one or two months, the jaguar would unfortunately suffer the death of a "close relative," thus requiring it to leave the prison to attend the funeral.

Eileen sneered: "Human rights protection law. Non-life imprisonment or death row inmates have the right to apply for one to three days of parole if an immediate family member dies."

"Can't you tell these records are fake?" Mercury's voice was filled with suppressed anger.

"Federal government-verified identification, a death certificate from the coroner, and irrefutable proof of blood ties." Eileen tapped her knuckles on the table. "You say it's fake, where's the evidence?"

"You have every right and ability to find the evidence!"

“Yes, I can investigate. But why should I?” Eileen’s speech quickened, her tone turning icy. “I stopped being a superhero a long time ago. I’m paid a good salary now, and all I need to do is sit here and do my job as warden. I don’t need to risk my life to save ungrateful strangers anymore. Why should I investigate these things?”

Eileen's gaze turned icy: "Mercury, you think Auriga and Black Olive are hell on earth? You haven't seen the real hell yet. Just two hours ago, the Angel of Light stopped a tribal massacre in Africa, saving five hundred people. But at the same time, in another small country, hundreds of people were massacred by extremist religious elements. When the Iron Titans arrived, they only managed to save two children."

Eileen held up two fingers.

"Every second, two people die in this world, and that's just the figure from countries with well-established population statistics systems. In those war-torn, underdeveloped Third World countries, nobody knows what's happening every second. Perhaps in the two minutes we're talking, thousands of innocent people have died. Even if all the world's superheroes didn't sleep for a single second, they simply couldn't keep up."

Mercury didn't interrupt her, but calmly looked at Erin Channing. Looking at this once-shining superhero, a thought flashed through his mind—had she chosen utter defeat and surrender because she had tried her best to save people but realized it was too late?

"Ms. Channing," Mercury's voice was steady, "Saving others and aiding and abetting evil are two extremes. You've skipped the middle ground and plunged headlong into the other extreme. Therefore, your so-called experience is not convincing to me at all."

Eileen stared at him: "You're from the Root District of Auriga City. Have you ever committed a crime because you were desperately short of money?" Her gaze was sharp as a knife, scraping across Mercury's face. "Judging from how skillfully you crushed the jaguar's head just now, that doesn't seem like your first time killing someone."

Mercury remained silent, offering no reply. He had indeed engaged in double-crossing before, but his targets were always scum whose hands were stained with the blood of innocents. However, he felt there was absolutely no need to explain this to Eileen Channing at this moment.

Eileen didn't care whether he admitted it or not; she turned the screen back to her and closed the interface.

"Young man, I'm only sitting here talking nonsense with you because of Robert," Eileen said, her voice tinged with weariness. "When you're faced with a life-or-death decision over a mere hundred dollars, you'll understand that this isn't a question of extremes at all. Going from a high-and-mighty superhero to the next Jaguar might only take a day."

Mercury did not refute this time, because he had already witnessed these things.

Black Egg and Flora, in the blink of an eye, went from being normal people to criminals. Many things are only clear when viewed through a thin layer of glass; Mercury only truly understood how disgusting these sordid things were after personally entering the Black Olive.

If this situation continues to occur, then it's not a personal problem, but a problem with the entire country.

Mercury sighed and said, "So, you superheroes can't do anything."

Eileen smiled and said, "It's good that you understand this; my time wasn't wasted. That's right, heroes can't change anything."

"But it doesn't have to be about being a hero," Mercury said.

These words made Eileen frown.

Mercury stood up and said to Erin, "As you said, superheroes can't save that many people. They're human too, with their own lives and families. They can handle temporary crises, but they're helpless against systemic persecution. Because if they break the rules, they cease to be heroes and become another kind of criminal."

Eileen asked, "What do you want to do?"

Mercury smiled and said, "I'll do whatever I want, Ms. Eileen. You've taught me a lesson: since power and capital can cause systemic persecution and perfectly comply with the rules, then not only can they exploit loopholes in the rules, but I can too. So, from today onward, everything I do will comply with the rules."

"Since you just want a peaceful life, you can certainly make the jaguar's death look like a natural death, right? You can make them leave prison legally and legitimately, so naturally you can make them disappear legally and legitimately, right?"

Eileen asked, "Why should I help you?"

Mercury said nonchalantly, "Because you didn't deliver on all the benefits you promised me. What about the private bathroom? You can only use it once a week, right? I'm going to court soon, so I won't be able to use it then. Use this to replace the benefits you owe me. After all, one death only affects me, but if the entire Beast Gang is wiped out, it will affect your salary, right?"

The perks of a bathroom are certainly not comparable to murder.

But when Eileen looked at the boy in front of her, she suddenly had a strange feeling.

He bears a resemblance to a familiar old friend, only more like a darker version.

If it's that person...

Eileen nodded: "Okay, I'll handle it for you. Jaguar died from its own superpowers going out of control. You can go to court in peace. I hope we never see each other again."