However, after the two major calamities of the Fallen Incense Burner and the Dream Plague, newly born Awakened individuals rarely refuse the invitation from the Mist Bureau.

Whether it's to become a guardian like the previous members of the Mist Bureau's action team, or to quickly improve by utilizing the Mist Bureau's resources so as to have a foothold in a more turbulent and dangerous world.

The outcome is something the Bureau of the Fog is happy to see.

This is also a good thing for Lu Ning.

The more Awakened Ones the Mist Bureau has, the safer Base City 116 will be.

Six months have passed, and there has still been no news regarding the General Administration's plan to deploy Awakened Ones to guard Base City 116.

There has been no further news regarding the formation of the Mist Exploration Team, as Jerry mentioned earlier.

Lu Ning could then continue refining the source of contamination from the Dreamweaver Spider Mother with peace of mind.

Time has passed, and a year has gone by since the dream plague ended.

The Federal Administration's dispatch was completed three months ago.

The General Administration dispatched two sixth-tier awakened individuals, along with ten fifth-tier awakened individuals.

Because the Seventh Division had two fifth-tier Awakeners, Li Mu and Ke Qing, the newly assigned fifth-tier Awakeners were all assigned to other divisions.

As for the bureau chief, it was still Yun Rou, who had already reached the sixth level.

After a year, the number of fourth-tier awakened individuals in the base city was even higher than before the Dream Plague.

It seems that the Fog Bureau's strength has increased considerably.

However, compared with the frequency and intensity of the pathological events, this rate of enhancement is still not satisfactory.

After all, even though the aftermath of the Dream Plague has subsided, a Tier 6 lesion event still occurs in the base city every two or three months.

There are even more of those at or below the fifth order.

Compared to when Lu Ning first joined the Mist Bureau, the number of people involved has increased dramatically, both in terms of quantity and the level of danger.

At this rate, no one knows when a Tier 7 lesion event will occur in Base City 116.

Besides this, there is one more thing that only Lu Ning can see.

Those are the distorted phantoms scattered throughout the base city and the wilderness.

One part of it became increasingly solidified.

Lu Ning guessed that they would eventually materialize into a physical form.

Lu Ning didn't know what those things were, but he was certain they were not easy to deal with.

Lu Ning was powerless to stop this trend.

Although other awakened individuals cannot see the level of mental pollution or the ubiquitous phantoms, they can also see that the pathological events are becoming increasingly serious.

Everyone felt uneasy.

But all they can do is improve their capabilities as much as possible to deal with these disease events.

On this day, Lu Ning received a message from An Lan.

The Mist Exploration Team has been formed.

This time, the exploration team is much stronger than before.

There are three Saints, five ninth-tier powerhouses, and An Lan, a special super-intelligent individual.

Of course, there's also Lu Ning himself.

According to An Lan, the intelligence they obtained in the Fog 233 last time was of great value to the General Administration.

Whether it's the possibility of spatial connectivity within the mist, the arrival of an evil god's projection through a spatial rift in the mist, or the discovery of Yan Bing's existence, each of these is a valuable piece of information and deserves investigation and research.

However, compared to the possibility of spatial connections between the mists and the arrival of the evil god's projection through spatial rifts, Yan Bing's situation is obviously easier to investigate.

The General Administration had already discussed and decided a year ago to revisit the three fogs—Fog 233, Fog 101, and Fog 3—that might be related to Yan Bing's existence to investigate why Yan Bing was still alive and how he could have risen to a suspected demigod level.

However, the operation was put on hold due to the significant increase in abnormal events and the sudden appearance of the dream plague.

Lu Ning had learned from his previous conversation with Jerry that the last dream plague did not only occur in Base City 116, but also affected several other base cities, although the situation in Base City 116 was the most severe.

After all, Jerry first appeared in Base City 116.

The anchor point for that crystallized dream is right here.

Although the losses in other base cities were not as great after the Dream Plague was dealt with, they were still considerable.

In addition, the sudden increase in the number of disease events and the frequent activities of cultists in the wilderness have led to a shortage of manpower for the Mist Bureau.

In order to allocate limited combat power, the Mist Exploration Team has only now been fully formed.

And the first stop this time is the same as before, still the Fog of No. 233.

After Base City 65 disappeared, considering everyone's poor condition, Saint Qinglan only gave them a cursory check before leaving with them.

This time, a more detailed inspection is needed.

If they can't find any clues about Yan Bing in Fog 233, they will head to Fog 101, the fog that swallowed Base City 65.

Finally, there is the No. 3 Mist, which is the mist that swallowed up the No. 3 Base City where Yan Bing was located.