However, as the frost spread, the bodies of these funeral directors were completely frozen, leaving only their heads still movable.

Aishalin looked at Lu Ning.

Lu Ning nodded slightly and approached the weakest funeral director.

The weakest mortician in other teams is rank 7, while the weakest here is already rank 8.

"Seduction!" The word "corruption" came from Lu Ning's mouth.

To everyone's surprise, the funeral director seemed to have no reaction whatsoever.

His expression was furious: "Let me go! What do you want to do?"

Lu Ning raised an eyebrow and tried again.

However, the charm ability was still useless.

Lu Ning could clearly sense that the funeral director's spirit was like a stagnant pool.

Lu Ning seemed to be deep in thought.

Is it because they were already dead?

However, they still clearly retain self-awareness.

Seeing that the funeral director did not react at all, An Lan frowned and said, "Lu Ning, is it because their condition is not right?"

Lu Ning nodded: "Yes, their spirits seem to be different from those of humans."

“Just as I thought…” An Lan’s eyes lit up as she looked at the funeral directors.

He then said expectantly, "Aisalin, freeze a few of them completely, and leave the rest like this."

Aishalin nodded and completely froze a portion of it.

After doing all this, An Lan put all the funeral directors into her spatial bracelet.

Under normal circumstances, An Lan cannot put a living target into her spatial bracelet if it struggles.

But these funeral directors were clearly not normal.

Ya'en and the others watched in surprise as An Lan collected all the funeral directors.

"Shouldn't we leave it outside first?" Osiris asked.

"No need. It's a good time to start the experiment and see if these funeral directors are considered living beings. Put them in the spatial bracelet. If they come out alive, then it means they can no longer be considered living beings."

"We'll go back and do another autopsy to see if there are any changes in their body structure, and whether their heads are normal..."

An Lan excitedly talked about her upcoming experimental plan, making everyone a little uncomfortable.

They felt as if An Lan might open their heads at any moment to see what was inside.

Ya'en coughed lightly and said, "Understood, we understand."

Lu Ning then looked toward the altar.

The crystal on the altar still floated in the sky, but its dim yellow light was much dimmer than that of the other three altars.

Lu Ning speculated that the death power within might have been channeled to enhance those funeral directors.

Lu Ning didn't pay attention and placed his palm on the crystal.

The next moment, the death power containing divinity surged into Lu Ning's body.

Lu Ning's vision blurred, and the phantom reappeared.

This time, Lu Ning was also in the desert.

This is a bustling city.

Lu Ning stood atop an altar made of black rock, surrounded by an endless expanse of buildings.

The streets are teeming with life.

Just then, a gray-white storm began to gather outside the city.

The storm was extremely fast, sweeping across the city and destroying rock buildings, causing them to collapse.

Pedestrians were swept into the sky by the storm, then grayish-white matter swept over their bodies, and in the blink of an eye, flesh and blood dissipated, and bones broke.

Among these beings, there are also awakened ones, and the proportion is extremely high, even exceeding half.

This proportion far exceeds that of humans.

These awakened individuals used their abilities to shield themselves from the storm by taking cover in the collapsed buildings.

When the gray storm dissipated, the entire city had been reduced to ruins.

The number of living beings remaining is less than a third of the original number. Even among the awakened ones, many perished in this natural disaster.

The remaining Awakened Ones left the bunker, looked at the ruins, and seemed to be saying something with excited expressions.

However, Lu Ning could not hear what they were saying.

At that moment, some of the awakened beings began to twist their bodies, their flesh began to fall off, their bones grew, and bone spurs sprouted from their backs.

Some of the awakened individuals became emaciated, with a yellowish-brown fluid seeping from their bodies.

It has become diseased.

Of the survivors who awakened, more than half directly contracted the disease.

The awakened ones who had undergone the transformation rushed frantically towards those who had not yet undergone the transformation.

Just then, the phantom shattered like a bubble.

Lu Ning paused for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the bone sand on the ground.

The grayish-white substance within the grayish-white storm is bone meal from the desert.

He thought of the storm he had encountered before, which also seemed to have a very strong spiritual pollution.

Are they the same thing?

Lu Ning picked up the crystal and stepped down from the altar.

He recounted the illusions he had witnessed to An Lan and the others.

An Lan and the others were both shocked and horrified.

"More than half of the inhabitants of a city are Awakened?! How is that possible?! We humans don't even have one percent yet!" Osiris said in disbelief.

“Yeah, if we had more than half of the Awakened, we could form an Awakened Legion and maybe even march into the Mist. We wouldn’t be like we are now, where we’re short of people even to form a Mist Exploration Team,” Yann complained.

As the captain of this exploration team, he knew all too well how much hair the Mist Bureau's higher-ups had lost since the team was formed.

Why? Isn't it because there's a lack of Awakened Ones?!

More than half of all living beings are awakened beings—a good thing they wouldn't even dare to dream of, let alone in their dreams.