I refuse to unlock Palworld's bleakest tech upgrade

I didn't think it was possible for Palworld's animal sweatshop-style base building to get even more bleak and depressing than it already was, but it turns out I was wrong. Last night, I reached a part of the game's Technology tree that sent an actual shiver down my spine, it was that awful and morbid. No, it wasn't the option to arm my leaf monkey with an assault rifle, or my green squirrels with machine guns - though they were on the same tech branch. Nope, this one was even more sinister, and I absolutely refuse to unlock it.

I'm talking about the Meat Cleaver.

I've screencapped the menu description above, but let's just read the wording one more time, just to truly absorb what it's actually saying. This is a knife "for butchering summoned Pals" - aka: the ones you've captured in your Sphere balls and either have with you out and about or set to work in your base. But wait, it gets worse: "When equipped, the Pet command becomes Butcher. Butchered Pals will not return".

That is so chuffing dark I don't even know where to begin. Just, no. I can't. Absolutely not. This game is already a miserable time for its titular Pals, but this is a step too far. It's the fact that it's called a Meat Cleaver that really gets me. Not a Butcher Knife, but a cleaver, for meat. Because that's all these poor sods are to you now. They're just meat for the grinder, and nothing else. I bet you'd probably end up cooking that meat on your campfire and feeding it back to your other Pals, too, which, nope, sorry. That ain't happening.

It's too sinister, and I will absolutely stop playing this damn game if a quest ever asks me to make this knife to advance my progress. The worst thing is that I can absolutely see this being one of the objectives you need to fulfil to help level up your base, as these usually revolve around building new and important structures or objects (as well as maximising your current worker slots, of course).

I mean, I also captured an actual human being yesterday. I chucked a Sphere at one of the Syndicate goons that are littered about the place, after they were trying to shoot up some leaf monkeys with their assault rifles. I'd seen stories of people doing this over the weekend, so I thought I'd try it as well. And I legit caught the dude and stuffed him inside a tiny ball. He sleeps in a Pal bed now back at my base and helps out with crafting bullets for my own leaf monkey's machinegun. Can I butcher him too? I mean, he's not a friendly NPC, so the island's bloodthirsty police force won't come after me if I do, but man alive. What a dilemma to be confronted with on a Monday night...

Let's end this post on a happier note. I built my Pals a hotspring bathtub yesterday so they can have a nice soak after a hard day's work, and look, this purple deer almost looks like he's having a good time. Almost.