With Fang Tianhe as their representative, they quickly contacted the supervisor in charge of missions at the Mercenary Guild. Then, the members of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps ranked captain and above were invited into a conference room.

"I’ve long heard of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps’ fame. It’s a true honor to finally meet you all today," the supervisor, a man in his forties with a good deal of white hair, said with a fawning smile.

’He had to be complimentary!’ You could tell just by looking at his hair; he had worried it white over the past few years. Originally, as the Mercenary Guild got on the right track, his stress had eased considerably.

But yesterday, when the Shelter’s upper echelons released their construction plans, the pressure on him instantly more than tripled.

He barely slept at all last night, because these new missions were truly a bit beyond the capabilities of their Mercenary Guild.

More importantly, the Mercenary Guild wasn’t the military. Unless a wartime directive was issued from above, they had no authority to force Mercenary Corps to accept missions.

He had been preparing to swallow his pride and invite some Third Level Mercenary Corps to help, but unexpectedly, before he could even act, the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps had come to him.

"Heh! Supervisor Jiang Rui, time is limited, so let’s not beat around the bush."

"Do you have any missions that are important but difficult to complete? We’re willing to contribute to the Shelter’s development." Fang Tianhe glanced at Lin Xinghai before smiling at Jiang Rui.

"Haha! Captain Fang, you’re so direct. You have no idea, these missions from above have been worrying me to death."

"I won’t waste any more of your time. These missions are all extremely important, but so far, no Mercenary Corps has been willing to take them." After another compliment, as if afraid Fang Tianhe would change his mind, Jiang Rui immediately activated the projection function on his wrist-mounted computer and displayed a mission list.

There were only eight missions on the list, but none of them were simple. Most required traveling to the central districts of major cities to complete.

The missions to acquire certain critical construction equipment were perhaps manageable with enough caution; at least the Third Level Mercenary Corps could potentially complete them.

However, some missions specified clearing out the Zombies in a certain area of a city center. This was no ordinary task. Killing Zombies on a large scale in a city center had a high probability of triggering a Zombie tide.

Looking at these missions, Fang Tianhe’s heart pounded in his chest. If Lin Xinghai weren’t here, he probably would have turned around and left. Under normal circumstances, for a Second Level Mercenary Corps to dare touch these missions was basically a suicide run.

As for now, he stole a glance at Lin Xinghai, who was seriously examining each mission, and could only force himself to calm down and wait quietly.

Sitting opposite them, Jiang Rui also watched Lin Xinghai with a nervous expression.

Of course, he knew about the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps. Especially after yesterday’s great battle with the Morgan Conglomerate, this Second Level Mercenary Corps was being hailed as the strongest Mercenary Corps.

And this was all because of Lin Xinghai. After the testimony of Song Yao and Qin Wenbo, two Third Level Mercenary Corps Leaders, everyone knew that Lin Xinghai was now the strongest mercenary.

At least when piloting a Mecha, he was unbeatable. His feat of slaying three Blood Qi Realm powerhouses was proof enough.

So Jiang Rui knew that if even Lin Xinghai didn’t dare to accept these missions, then probably no Mercenary Corps would.

"Given the current situation, is it very difficult to gather all the necessary resources?" Lin Xinghai suddenly asked.

"Yes!" Although Jiang Rui didn’t quite understand the question, he quickly explained, "Actually, the most urgent shortage right now isn’t construction equipment, but various high-strength alloys."

"After all, if we want to expand the Shelter 500 meters underground, ordinary metals just won’t be able to support the structure." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

"But we’ve been collecting these high-strength alloys for a while now. The high-strength alloys in the nearby cities have already been pretty much picked clean."

Lin Xinghai nodded and pointed to the last mission on the list. "So you’re planning to explore Guanghan City?"

The last mission on the list was indeed a reconnaissance of a certain area in Guanghan City.

However, Guanghan City was different from ordinary cities. Before the apocalypse, it was a genuine first-tier metropolis, with a permanent population approaching the 100 million mark.

In a city like that, even the outskirts had a Zombie density comparable to the center of a normal city.

More importantly, there was an especially high number of Mutated Zombies there. So many that you might run into three or four of them just by circling the outskirts.

Because of this, Guanghan City was practically a forbidden zone for the Mercenary Corps of Star Shield Shelter.

But danger and opportunity coexisted.

According to the mission description, the area they were to explore was an Industrial Park for mechanical manufacturing before the apocalypse. There would be no shortage of various alloys there, and it was even highly likely to contain all sorts of expensive equipment.

For Star Shield Shelter, this was an untapped treasure trove.

In response to Lin Xinghai’s question, Jiang Rui had no intention of hiding anything and nodded readily. "That’s right. Reconnaissance is the first step. If we can’t even gather intelligence on the area, then we can forget about development."

"Will the military be involved in the follow-up operations?" Lin Xinghai asked the most critical question.

Relying on these Mercenary Corps alone would make it impossible to gain a foothold in Guanghan City.

"The military will participate, but out of fear of triggering a terrifying Zombie tide, they won’t send in a large army directly. Instead, they will split into hundred-man squads to go in and clear it out," Jiang Rui said.

Zombies have a very keen sense of smell, and the scent of living humans is quite attractive to them.

However, as long as the number of people is kept under 500, that attraction is limited.

But if the numbers are too large—for example, deploying an army of several thousand people at once—so many people gathered together would create something like a chemical reaction, attracting all the Zombies from tens of kilometers around.

Without a doubt, that would turn into a Zombie tide.

And in a place like Guanghan City, if a Zombie tide were triggered and not handled properly, even the army could be wiped out.

Therefore, for Guanghan City, it was best to rely on Mercenary Corps for exploration.

"Alright, I’ll take this mission. The Mercenary Guild can also start preparing. Once we bring back the intel, you can start posting missions for Guanghan City," Lin Xinghai said, making the final decision.

Jiang Rui was overjoyed, but when he heard Lin Xinghai’s subsequent request, his face turned bitter. "Even if we post missions for Guanghan City, I doubt any Mercenary Corps will take them!"

Lin Xinghai just smiled and said slowly, "They will. When you post the missions, tell them that any area explored by our Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps will be free of Mutated Zombies."