It wasn’t just the First Level Mercenary Corps who were shaken. Chen Tianlei, the leader of a Second Level Mercenary Corps, also had a look of utter disbelief in his eyes.

As the leader of a Second Level Mercenary Corps, he knew more about the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps than the First Level ones did.

According to the intelligence he had gathered previously, while the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps was indeed powerful, that strength was supposed to be entirely reliant on Lin Xinghai.

But just now, Lin Xinghai hadn’t even made a move. The members of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps alone had effortlessly annihilated such a large horde of Zombies.

This level of strength was even greater than that of the Third Level Mercenary Corps he knew of. At least when it came to their members’ Gun Technique, no other Third Level Mercenary Corps could compare to Heaven-Sundering.

And why was their members’ Gun Technique so incredible? It didn’t take much thought to guess the answer.

"So this is the power of a ’Gun God’? To be able to train his corps members’ Gun Technique to such a level..." Gou Sen muttered from the side, a hint of envy in his eyes.

Chen Tianlei’s expression was complicated as well.

By the time the other Mercenary Corps snapped out of their shock, the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps had already collected most of the Elemental Crystals.

It was then that the other corps realized that not only was Heaven-Sundering highly efficient at killing Zombies, but their speed at collecting Elemental Crystals was also beyond comparison.

With a single slice and a light flick of the blade’s tip, the Elemental Crystal from the back of a Zombie’s head was pried out. One could only imagine how many Elemental Crystals they must have collected to achieve such practiced skill.

Of course, besides their skill, their collection speed was so fast because Heaven-Sundering had actually assigned half of their members—50 people—to the task. On average, each person only needed to collect six Elemental Crystals.

"Alright, move out." While the other Mercenary Corps Leaders were still looking on in envy, Lin Xinghai’s order came down.

The column continued to advance. However, having witnessed the power of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps firsthand, the First Level Mercenary Corps no longer felt their initial apprehension and anxiety.

Excitement took its place. Nearly all the Mercenaries were rubbing their hands together, eager for a real fight.

Lin Xinghai extended his Perception Power, taking in the change among the Mercenary Corps. The corner of his mouth curled into a smile. ’This is exactly what I wanted.’

As the column advanced, a second wave of Zombies charged out from Guanghan City. However, the number of these subsequent hordes was far smaller than the first, with only a little over 100 Zombies each.

This time, Lin Xinghai didn’t have the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps intercept all the Zombies. They only killed the ones at the very front, letting those charging the flanks pass through for the other Mercenary Corps to get some practice.

RAT-TAT-TAT!

Seeing the Zombies charge toward them, the other Mercenary Corps scrambled to open fire.

Since there weren’t many Zombies per corps, they were quickly gunned down.

Of course, the corps closer to the front were able to kill more Zombies. Meanwhile, a corps like Blood Carving, positioned so far to the rear, couldn’t even manage to kill a single one.

This immediately caused the expressions on Chen Tianlei and Gou Sen’s faces to turn sour.

They had previously chosen their position at the rear of the column purely for safety. They never imagined that the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps would be so effective, and that the other corps would be so eager to fight, scrambling to kill Zombies. This led to the awkward situation where they had no Zombies to kill at all.

"Leader, what do we do?" Gou Sen asked anxiously.

Chen Tianlei’s eyes narrowed slightly, but he quickly seemed to realize something. "Don’t worry," he said immediately. "We haven’t even entered the city proper yet. Once we do, Zombies will be charging from all directions. We won’t have to worry about a lack of targets then."

Hearing this, the anxious look on Gou Sen’s face mostly vanished.

’That’s right, this is Guanghan City. The only thing to worry about is the danger, not a shortage of Zombies to kill.’

As the column entered the city, events unfolded just as they had predicted: the number of Zombies began to surge.

More importantly, the hordes attacking from within the city didn’t just come from the front. Zombies could now attack from the left, the right, and even from behind, though in smaller numbers than the frontal assault.

Moreover, as the column advanced, the buildings on either side grew denser, and the hordes charging out from them became increasingly numerous.

By the time the column was 500 meters deep into the city, some First Level Mercenary Corps could no longer suppress the advancing hordes with their Tearing Rifles alone and had to switch to using Hand Cannons.

This proved that Lin Xinghai’s earlier suggestion was extremely effective. As soon as these First Level Mercenary Corps switched to their Hand Cannons, the pressure on them dropped drastically.

Of course, since Hand Cannon ammunition was more expensive, their profits would certainly decrease, but they were still making a good amount overall.

However, bringing out a powerful weapon like the Hand Cannon didn’t mean the First Level Mercenary Corps could rest easy.

While Ordinary and Intermediate Zombies had trouble dodging an area-of-effect weapon like the Hand Cannon, it didn’t pose much of a threat to High Level Zombies.

With their Speed, even if they couldn’t escape the blast radius in time, they could reach the edge of the explosion and, relying on their superior Physique, simply endure the blast.

In the end, these Mercenary Corps still had to use the Tearing Rifles’ Armor-Piercing Bullets to deal with the High Level Zombies.

In the beginning, these First Level Mercenary Corps could still manage, as they only had to deal with one or two High Level Zombies per wave.

But as they pushed deeper, especially after the 1,000-meter mark, the hordes appeared more frequently, the proportion of High Level Zombies steadily increased, and the Mercenary Corps had to start deploying their Mechas to cope.

Seeing this, Lin Xinghai’s brow furrowed slightly. ’The overall strength of these Mercenary Corps is quite a bit worse than I imagined.’

’We’re only 1,000 meters in and haven’t even encountered a single Mutated Zombie, yet every corps is already struggling this much. If this keeps up, there’s no way we can complete the journey.’

He still didn’t say anything, however. He wanted to see what the limits of these Mercenary Corps were.

When they reached a depth of 1,300 meters, the column suffered its first injury. Two High Level Zombies simultaneously broke through the line of fire. The corps’ Mecha only had time to intercept one, and a Mercenary who was collecting Elemental Crystals was instantly and severely wounded.

If that Mercenary hadn’t managed to block with his weapon in time, he likely would have been killed.

"Halt!" Upon seeing this, Lin Xinghai decisively stopped the column.

"Captain Lin, what’s wrong?"

"What happened? Why are we stopping?"

Instantly, the voices of several Mercenary Corps Leaders came over the communication channel, asking questions. It was clear many of them didn’t know what had happened.

"The Steel Mercenary Corps has an injured member," Lin Xinghai said, his tone steady. "If we continue fighting like this, your own corps will likely start suffering injuries soon. It’s time to adjust our formation."

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Author’s Note: I realized I made a mistake in the previous Chapter. The Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps is only a Second Level Mercenary Corps, so their total headcount should be 100 members.