As these deceased individuals rose from the ground, everyone’s eyes widened slightly.

The entire world seemed to fall silent at this moment.

Even those crowds crazily escaping for their lives fell into a brief silence as the corpses beside them stood up.

This silence wasn’t the absence of fear, but rather surprise briefly overwhelming fear, resulting in a temporary stasis.

"Ah—they’re alive—"

A piercing scream awoke the deepest fear within people’s hearts, causing the entire crowd to flee even more frantically.

And those corpses that stood up with fresh blood and mutilated flesh bent their bodies to restore themselves to a generally normal walking form.

Then they gathered, opened their ghastly mouths, and began rushing fiercely toward the crowd.

Among the crowd stood a middle-aged man, the first to bear the brunt, as a corpse lunged at him, opening a blood-stained mouth toward him.

The middle-aged man immediately dodged aside and then looked around somewhat bewildered, staring at the corpses charging at the crowd, his eyes flickering with surprise and unknown fear, "What’s happening here?"

These corpses still had parade slogans and signs hanging on them.

At this moment, he saw a person hiding behind a statue; the corpse attacking this person smashed the statue with a punch, grabbed the person’s neck, and lifted them up.

"The Grim Reaper’s believers have exposed their true colors," the mercenary captain laughed loudly from not far away upon seeing this scene, "I’ve told you before, these Grim Reaper’s believers are greedy and terrifying, but you never believed me." 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

At this point, the mercenary carrying the camera behind him had already raised the camera, aiming it at those frenzied corpses.

Behind these mercenaries, the screen of a mall beside the Rockville Energy Group Building flickered, showing a live scene.

This image seemed to connect to the camera carried by the mercenary, focusing on the frenzied crowd.

However, no shadow of Rockville Energy Group mercenaries appeared in the footage, seemingly excluding all mercenaries from the image.

The content displayed in the video seemed to show those resurrected parade participants chasing ordinary citizens.

"This isn’t right." The middle-aged man looked at the giant screen with confusion, instinctively feeling something was off.

But new corpses had already attacked; seemingly sensing his strength, not just one corpse came this time but three, forcing him to dodge and avoid these attacks.

He didn’t know why these corpses rose, whether they carried some curse, nor dared counterattack.

The panic-stricken crowd and piercing screams echoed in the quiet square.

Not far away in the dense forest, He Ao gently held a stone in his hand, watching the chaotic and tumultuous scene.

Just now, he used this stone as a medium to extend the power of his Divine Sense into those bullets and shells, forcefully interrupting their path.

As for the guns that couldn’t fire, it was because the mercenaries were mentally disturbed and accidentally released the safety.

But the resurrection of these parade participants was something he hadn’t anticipated.

According to his Mysticism Knowledge, even a Necromancer takes time to fully control a manipulated skeleton.

A Puppeteer could quickly complete manipulation, but primarily operates with living people, handling them one by one, unable to control too many at once.

The C-level Talent Sequences he knew couldn’t achieve this effect in such a short time, though it might involve a B-level Transcendent.

Considering the current situation, He Ao leaned toward another explanation.

The current state employed some ’higher power.’

Even a small amount of higher power can achieve effects that ordinary Transcendents can’t create.

However, the main issue now is not contemplating this but deciding how to resolve the current situation.

He Ao glanced at the large screen not far away, then redirected his gaze to the panicked crowd, his sight soon settling on a few figures within the crowd.

Then he gently tapped the ground with his toe, and fierce flames began burning from the point his toe contacted, spreading outward.

Soon, these flames swiftly spread to those corpses.

All the frenzied attacking corpses immediately halted, engulfed almost instantly by the burning flames.

He Ao quietly watched these corpses; for most of them, their souls hadn’t naturally dissipated but were imprisoned within the bodies, serving as fuel to drive the bodies to move and unleash far-exceeding human strength.

In the instant the flames enveloped these corpses, he used the power of Super Memory to pierce a simple thought into these souls.

’Follow K’s faith, heed my command, or become the tool of the conglomerate.’

If these souls were naturally dissipating, they might not necessarily comprehend this thought, but under current circumstances, they likely understood somewhat.

Almost the moment He Ao’s thought pierced into these souls, he glimpsed one corpse hesitate slightly, turn its head, gazing at its surroundings, as if re-’understanding’ this world.

But soon, its motion became stiff again.

Deep within its soul, some hidden, illusory, tightly closed eye emblem began flickering violently.

Its consciousness was once again suppressed, the body attempting to move forward.

However, its movement stalled on the spot because the spreading fierce flames were enveloping its body, burning its soul and simultaneously affecting the emblem’s power, impacting its actions.

Hell Manager’s flames themselves can act as an attack method, though only against those much weaker, burning their souls and bodies.

At this moment, He Ao applied this ability in a partially extended manner, burning the illusory emblem to curtail its power, restraining the corpses’ movements.

The emblem’s power itself isn’t strong, but its Position seems high, exerting excellent influence on the soul.

As Hell Manager’s flames burned, faint purple light already covered He Ao’s pupils; this light merged with the burning flames, spreading to those bodies engulfed by flames, infiltrating the corpses’ souls.

The emblem within the soul of the corpse showing the first movement was the earliest suppressed, recovering brief action within an extremely short time.

In that instant, its body was enveloped by blazing flames, transforming into a burning Skeleton.

It responded to He Ao’s ’summon.’

As a stranger who had never met, it responded to Hell Manager’s summon.

Witnessing this scene, He Ao’s gaze raised slightly; this situation somewhat surprised him, as he was essentially experimenting with the unique status bug of these corpses.

That warrior who followed Hawke for many years, its soul had begun dissipating, but there was natural trust deep within its soul for Hawke, thus naturally responding to Hawke’s summon.

This represents the standard summon method of Hell Manager.

In front of him, these corpses had trapped souls, perhaps retaining brief thinking abilities, possibly allowing them to ’decide’ whether to respond to He Ao’s summon.

But essentially, whether these corpses can respond to his summons depends on their remaining consciousness and its willingness.

He Ao himself, actually, didn’t hold much expectation.

As He Ao gazed, behind this corpse, one after another, more corpses ignited in flames, burning into fierce fires, transforming into Skeleton Knights engulfed in flame.

Ultimately, nearly one-third of the corpses accepted He Ao’s summons, while the remaining consciousness of others was blurred or refused the call.

However, those corpses that didn’t turn into Skeleton Knights were also wrapped in flames, ceasing all movement, becoming still.

He Ao quietly gazed at those Skeleton Knights burning with flames.

Under normal circumstances, summoning a person’s body requires a long time to cultivate trust.

The ’connection’ between these Skeleton Knights and the Hell Manager is almost boundless trust.

And at this moment, with the changes in these corpses, the panicked crowd also uncertainly gazed at these remnants, slowly pulling away.

And at the center of the crowd, a middle-aged man nervously watched the Skeleton Knights, his gaze scanning the mercenary team ahead, and he vaguely discovered that these ’Resurrected’ corpses seemed to have not attacked those mercenaries.

The next moment, those flame-wreathed Skeleton Knights turned their gaze again to the crowd ahead.

"Hahaha, these Grim Reaper believers have even evolved!" the mercenary captain laughed heartily at the situation before him, "I told you all, believing in these Evil God believers brings no good."

The cameraman who had walked beside him adjusted the camera, aiming it at those Skeleton Knights.

On the giant screen appeared close-ups of these Skeleton Knights.

All the mercenaries watched this scene as if anticipating some spectacular occurrence.

But the three figures on the far edge of the crowd slightly furrowed their brows at this moment, with surprise and doubt flickering in their eyes.

Unconsciously, they took several steps backward, hastening to distance themselves from the crowd.

And at this moment, those Skeleton Knights also sprang into action.

They rushed out quickly, some freeing people previously controlled by the corpses, among them one nearly suffocated and fainting, thrown in front of the middle-aged man by a Skeleton Knight.

The middle-aged man looked blankly at the figure, after a brief pause, still supported the person.

Meanwhile, the other Skeleton Knights charged toward the three figures standing outside the crowd.

The three figures seeing the Skeleton Knights charging, were momentarily stunned and immediately accelerated their retreat.

However, the Skeleton Knights were visibly faster, reaching them in an instant.

Hands ablaze raised high, each gripped a phantom Fire Blade that emerged in the hands of these Skeleton Knights.

Seeing this, the three figures hesitated no longer, raising their hands to clutch a Skull Pendant, seemingly activating something.

Phantom skeletons emerged from the earth, rapidly forming a dense array of Skull Soldiers.

"It’s skeletons!" The nearby figure noticing these skeletons quickly retreated, attempting to widen the gap.

And at this moment, those Skull Soldiers had already blocked the Skeleton Knights.

The moment the flame-laden Fire Blades touched the Skull Soldiers, they immediately sliced these Skull Soldiers apart, flames wrapping around their bodies, emitting a ’sizzle—’ sound in the void from burning.

Meanwhile, those rescuing Skeleton Knights came over, charging at the three from both sides.

The densely assembled Skull Soldiers clearly couldn’t withstand the Skeleton Knights’ assault and were soon broken open.

The figure on the far left was the first to falter, as the Skull Soldiers shattered, the Skull Pendant in his hand broke apart, and the flame-wreathed Skeleton Knight reached his front.

Purple light shimmered on his body, attempting to fend off the Skeleton Knights’ charge. Initially, it held against the assault, but soon shattered under the Fire Blade, the fire-forged blade slashing through his body.

This blade did not ignite his body but severed his soul.

In the next instant, the burning soul was engulfed in flames, igniting fiercely.

Seeing this, the figure in the middle hesitated not, but pulled the figure beside him to block the oncoming charge, trying to flee.

But they were stopped by the encircling Skeleton Knights.

Bam bam—

With two sounds of Skull Pendants shattering, one after another, the remaining two figures had their souls cut down by the Skeleton Knights.

Flames covered their souls, then gradually spread over their bodies.

After these battles, the Skeleton Knights rushed back to the crazed mercenaries once more.

The mercenaries seemed utterly unprepared for the slain to charge at them, hastily unfastened the safety catches, and attacked the Skeleton Knights.

The whirling bullets quickly passed through the flame-covered skeletons, but they weren’t slain a second time.

As the firelight swept across the sky, those reckless Butchers eventually fell into pools of blood.

The massive camera rolled onto the ground, illuminating the Skeleton Knights before it.

The knights ultimately gathered together, the flames on them gradually disappearing, turning into a bloodstained, grim visage.

They raised their gaze for the last time, glancing at the rising sun in the sky, then at the towering Rockville Energy Group Building behind, obscuring clouds and sunlight.

After a brief pause, they closed their eyes, bodies falling backward.

That final soul now thoroughly dissipated.

And around them, the corpses, restricted by flames, had the fire slowly disappear from their bodies, falling back onto the ground, remaining souls dispersing with the breeze.

"So, what’s going on here?" the middle-aged man in the crowd looked on confusedly at this scene, "Grim Reaper’s believers internal conflict?"

"It’s ’K’, K manifested!" a figure in the crowd declared loudly as if inspired, "Grim Reaper controls the undead trying to kill us, and ’K’ wrecked His plan!"

At the sound of this figure’s voice, the image on the distant advertisement screen was cut off directly.

And on a nearby higher slope, a lean silhouette stood within the woods, gazing at the plaza ahead, with a somber expression, "A bunch of fools, but who was that really?"

He looked up at the now-cut-off broadcast screen, turned around, readying to leave.

Then, he abruptly stopped.

An elderly man with white curly hair stood not far behind him, gazing calmly at him.

The brown-gold eyes reflected faint light under the rising sun.