Invincible through Touching Corpses

Chapter 146 - 145: Reactions from All Sides

While Lin Xinghai and his group were boisterously heading to the Mercenary Guild’s bar, Gibson sat in silence at the Morgan Conglomerate headquarters, staring at the intelligence report laid out before him. This time, he didn’t fly into a rage.

A full fifteen minutes passed before he finally asked, "Have you found out what kind of weapons support the military is providing the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps?"

"Young Master, the military is extremely difficult to infiltrate. Our investigation hasn’t yielded any results yet," his butler, Winter, said from nearby.

Gibson fell silent again for a long moment before sighing softly. "Perhaps you were right. We shouldn’t have underestimated the Star Shield Shelter. To use an old Huaxia saying, this operation has been a rude awakening."

"Take this report to the think tank and have them formulate a new plan." As someone dispatched by the Morgan family, Gibson was certainly no fool. Now that he had faced the facts, he was finally demonstrating the competence expected of a scion from a major family.

A gratified smile touched Winter’s lips. "Of course, Young Master!"

...

Lin Xinghai, of course, knew nothing of what was transpiring at the Morgan Conglomerate. He and the other Mercenaries spent nearly the entire afternoon celebrating in the bar as drinks and snacks were served in a continuous stream.

Fang Tianhe spent a full 20,000 Points on the celebration alone, a sum that left the other Mercenaries in the bar both shocked and envious.

Not many Mercenary Corps could afford such a lavish expense.

Naturally, many were curious as to what could have happened to warrant such a grand celebration from the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps.

It was then that news of what had happened in the Lower Level District’s Mercenary Plaza made its way to them.

No one would have guessed that the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps had harvested Elemental Crystals worth a staggering 80,000 Points from a single mission. It was a figure that the other Mercenaries found difficult to believe.

But it didn’t take long for people to figure out why.

The Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps had never been capable of such a feat before. For them to suddenly pull it off could only mean one thing: the new Divine Sharpshooter who had joined their ranks.

Although none of the other Mercenaries understood exactly how a single Divine Sharpshooter could generate such a massive return, it was the only plausible explanation.

For a time, every other Mercenary Corps was green with envy, cursing Heaven-Sundering under their breath for their incredible dumb luck.

’If only a Divine Sharpshooter like that would join our corps,’ they all thought. ’What a blessing that would be.’

As word continued to spread, it wasn’t just the ordinary Mercenary Corps who were envious. Even the corps that already had their own Divine Sharpshooters started to feel a pang of jealousy.

In fact, beyond mere envy, they were utterly baffled.

They couldn’t understand how the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps’ Divine Sharpshooter had managed it when their own couldn’t.

In an instant, every Divine Sharpshooter on the Divine Spear List harbored a deep sense of resentment toward Lin Xinghai, mixed with utter shock.

The Soaring Dragon Merc was a top-tier Third Level Mercenary Corps.

They ranked among the top five of all Mercenary Corps.

However, they weren’t most famous for their overall strength. Rather, it was because the number one ranked Divine Sharpshooter on the Divine Spear List, Tang Zhuofei, was one of their own.

At that moment, the corps’ leader, Qin Wenbo, sat across from Tang Zhuofei. He sipped his tea quietly, waiting for Tang Zhuofei to finish reading the intelligence report.

"I don’t know how he did it," Tang Zhuofei said bluntly after finishing the report.

"Why?" Qin Wenbo asked immediately.

"You should be aware that the main reason my Gun Technique is ranked first is that I use my Superpower as a crutch. Without it, I’m not even sure my Gun Technique would make it onto the Divine Spear List. And you can’t use a Superpower for extended periods," Tang Zhuofei said with a slight sigh.

He wasn’t embarrassed by this admission. After all, nine out of ten of the top Divine Sharpshooters relied on enhancements from their Superpowers. Someone like Lin Xinghai, whose pure Gun Technique was that powerful, was the real anomaly.

"So there’s really no way to match it?" Qin Wenbo asked, still not ready to give up.

’We’re a prestigious Third Level Mercenary Corps! If we can’t even keep up with a Second Level Mercenary Corps, how will that make us look to outsiders?’

Moreover, he was almost certain that with Tang Zhuofei, the First Divine Sharpshooter, on their roster, outsiders would inevitably compare their corps to Heaven-Sundering.

"If our only goal was killing Zombies, I could do it. With the full support of every member of the Soaring Dragon Merc, I could kill 3,000 Zombies in a day. But the problem is, how would we collect the Elemental Crystals?" Tang Zhuofei explained.

That was the fundamental issue. Killing a Zombie was just a matter of pulling the trigger, but collecting an Elemental Crystal was a different story. It took at least ten times longer than the kill itself.

They would have to dedicate the vast majority of their personnel to collecting the Elemental Crystals, which would leave fewer people to actually kill the Zombies.

Qin Wenbo’s brow furrowed as he fell silent.

...

Lin Xinghai, naturally, was unaware that his incredible feat had once again stirred up a storm among the various Mercenary Corps.

The entire Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps had celebrated in the bar for nearly the whole afternoon. As the man of the hour, Lin Xinghai had been plied with so many drinks he was completely tipsy.

And that was only because he had already broken two of his Genetic Locks. Otherwise, drinking the cheap moonshine they served—which was little more than industrial alcohol mixed with water—he probably would have drunk himself to death.

He collapsed into bed the moment he got home and didn’t groggily wake up until the next day.

’I really can’t drink like that again,’ Lin Xinghai thought, shaking his woozy head as he climbed out of bed.

He went to the bathroom first and took a long, comfortable soak in a hot bath. Once his head had completely cleared, he put on the clothes his service robot had laid out for him.

He activated his wrist-mounted computer and checked his messages. Several people had sent him texts, including Fang Tianhe, Gao Mountain, and Liu Miaomiao.

After reading through all of them, he replied to Liu Miaomiao first, asking her to meet him for breakfast at a restaurant in the Lower Level District.

’Business was hardly as important as chasing a girl.’

Ten minutes later, at a restaurant named Xinyue, Lin Xinghai met up with Liu Miaomiao and four other young women.

Liu Miaomiao was too shy to be asked out alone just yet, but that couldn’t be helped. Lin Xinghai wasn’t in a hurry, anyway. It was just a matter of finding the right opportunity.

During breakfast, Liu Miaomiao curiously asked about what had happened with the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps the day before.

After all, the Government Hall frequently dealt with Mercenaries, so it was only natural that word of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps’ "incredible feat" had reached them.

Lin Xinghai just smiled and told her what he could. He focused on the details of the mission, of course, making sure not to mention a single word about the battle between the Mercenary Corps.

Even so, what he did share was enough to leave all the young women astonished.

"You mean to say that with your current Gun Technique, you can kill Zombies at a rate comparable to an entire Mercenary Corps?" Liu Miaomiao asked in disbelief.

"Yep. Where else do you think those 3,000 Elemental Crystals came from?" Lin Xinghai chuckled.

The other women listened with a mixture of envy and admiration. Only Wang Yao’s expression dimmed slightly, as she felt the distance between herself and Lin Xinghai growing ever wider.

After breakfast, Lin Xinghai walked Liu Miaomiao to the Government Hall before heading to the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps’ main base.

’He was also curious to see how big his bonus for this mission would be.’