At that moment, all the soldiers were staring blankly at the Mutated Zombie corpses piled on the four Armored Vehicles.

They were stationed here, so they saw countless Mercenary Corps coming and going every day.

While not many Mercenary Corps could hunt Mutated Zombies, one or two would manage it each day. On a good day, it wasn’t even surprising for five or six different corps to successfully hunt a Mutated Zombie.

But without exception, these Mercenary Corps brought back one Mutated Zombie at most.

Only the most veteran soldier here had ever seen a Mercenary Corps bring back two Mutated Zombie corpses at once—a story he loved to brag about to the new recruits.

But today, he, the other soldiers, and even the officers felt their worldview had been completely shattered.

Before them were four entire vehicles loaded with Mutated Zombie corpses. They took a quick count—the total was a staggering twelve. And among them were several powerful and extremely rare types of Mutated Zombies.

Mutated Zombies like the Death Claw, Giant Arm, and Blood Worm were creatures you might not see even once in half a year.

Even if a Mercenary Corps did manage to hunt one down, they would typically return covered in wounds. It wouldn’t be surprising if they had suffered more than fifty percent casualties.

But looking at the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps, forget about personnel losses—only a few of them were even bandaged up.

This sparked an absurd thought in the minds of many soldiers. ’Could these Mutated Zombies just be models?’

Of course, no matter what they were thinking, their duty was to follow procedure: step forward, conduct an inspection, and clear them for entry once everything checked out.

Generally speaking, inspections for Mercenary Corps weren’t that strict. Their primary task was just to prevent infected individuals from entering the Shelter.

If a Mercenary Corps couldn’t even handle preventing infections, they would have died outside long ago, let alone successfully advance past the level of a common hunting party.

But today’s situation was rather unique, so the officer in charge couldn’t resist asking, "How did you do it? Kill so many Mutated Zombies."

"We ran into them during a mission, so we killed them," Fang Tianhe said with a smile as he handed over his Mercenary Badge.

Before the officer could respond to Fang Tianhe’s reply, the adjutant beside him lost his patience. "I hope you won’t be flippant," he said sternly. "This is considered a special incident. You must explain it clearly, otherwise..."

Before he could finish his sentence, however, the officer in charge interrupted him.

"Xiaolin, mind your words," the officer in charge reprimanded. Then, he turned to Fang Tianhe and said with a hint of respect, "The inspection is complete. You can go."

Fang Tianhe took back his Mercenary Badge, smiled at the officer, and then led his team into the elevator hall.

The adjutant, Xiaolin, stared at this scene, dumbfounded. "Sir, this... isn’t it a little against regulations?"

His tone might have been a bit harsh, but for a special case like this, they truly had a duty to get to the bottom of things and even report it to their superiors.

"They’re the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps," the officer in charge said with a sigh of wonder.

"Hm?" Adjutant Xiaolin still didn’t understand. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"They are one of only three Mercenary Corps with a Merit Medal. The one you called ’the strongest Second Level Mercenary Corps in history,’" the lead officer said with a complicated expression.

He had only just seen this information himself when he scanned their Mercenary Badge with his device.

Besides, they were giving us face. If they had just pulled out their Merit Medal, they wouldn’t have had to give us the time of day. In fact, at our rank, we would have been required to salute them respectfully.

Adjutant Xiaolin was stunned. "It’s really them? But this is just absurdly powerful! I doubt even the Military Department’s special forces could do this!"

"Go file a report with the higher-ups now! What comes next is out of our hands." After saying this, the lead officer returned to the pillbox, opened his wrist-mounted computer, and sent the few photos he had snapped earlier to his private group chat.

The group chat he had created instantly exploded with activity.

"Shi, you photoshopped this, right?"

"Damn, your photoshop skills are good. What software do you use? Can you photoshop my heroic self in there too? Make it so I’m stepping on a Death Claw’s head."

"The image itself looks real, but the content is just too fake. That’s its biggest failing. Otherwise, you could probably take this to the tech department and enter it in a contest."

News of hunting twelve Mutated Zombies in one go was so stunning that word began to spread even before the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps had properly entered the Star Shield Shelter.

And by the time Fang Tianhe’s group rode the dedicated elevator down to the Mercenary Plaza in the Lower Level District, the commotion they caused was several orders of magnitude greater.

"My god, am I seeing things?" a Mercenary Corps Leader preparing for a mission said.

"What the hell, that can’t be real! How is anyone else supposed to survive?" said a Mercenary Corps Leader who had just gotten back and was turning in his haul.

"Are those really Mutated Zombies? Why are there so many I’ve never even seen before?" said a young man who wanted to become a Mercenary but wasn’t strong enough, so he’d come to the Mercenary Plaza to gain some experience.

The Mercenary Plaza was always a lively place. If any Mercenary Corps managed to bring back even a single Mutated Zombie, they would instantly be mobbed by onlookers and become the topic of conversation.

And today, with the arrival of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps, the atmosphere in the Mercenary Plaza absolutely erupted.

The residents who had rushed over to spectate, especially, snapped out of their initial shock and began to surge toward the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps. Even the staff couldn’t hold them back.

Of course, a major reason for this was that the staff members themselves were still in a daze. They understood Mutated Zombies far better than the ordinary residents, which was precisely why they were even more stunned.

Even the other Mercenaries involuntarily stopped what they were doing and came over to see.

Many of the Mercenaries, and even some Mercenary Corps Leaders, had only ever seen creatures like the Death Claw, Giant Arm, and Blood Worm in data files. Now that the real things were laid out right in front of them, everyone wanted to get a closer look.

In an instant, the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps was surrounded, the crowd packed three layers deep. At first, the onlookers just stared in silent admiration. Then, someone in the crowd—it was impossible to tell who started it—shouted out, "Heroes of humanity!"

Although the slogan was mostly shouted in jest, deep down in their hearts, they couldn’t deny the sentiment.

For the vast majority of residents, life was far too oppressive; they were just barely surviving in the underground Shelter.

They desperately needed a hero, one who could lead them back to the surface to live under the sun once more.

And now, the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps had accomplished this unprecedented feat, naturally igniting that spark of hope in the hearts of these residents.