The battle ended, and the various Mercenary Corps excitedly began to clear the battlefield. Elemental Crystals were quickly collected one after another.

The two zombie hordes had totaled over 500. Even split evenly, it was a considerable amount for each Mercenary Corps.

Beyond the haul, what excited them more was the battle itself. It should have been an arduous fight, but they never expected it to end so easily.

More importantly, not a single member had suffered even a minor injury throughout the entire battle, as the zombie horde couldn’t even breach the formation’s outer defenses.

Once the initial excitement died down, one of the Mercenary Corps Leaders suddenly proposed giving ten percent of their corps’ Elemental Crystal earnings to the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps as a gesture of gratitude.

His proposal was quickly met with enthusiastic agreement from the other Mercenary Corps Leaders.

On one hand, this was because the members Lin Xinghai had dispatched were an enormous help to every Mercenary Corps. The resulting boost to their income was worth far more than a mere ten percent.

On the other hand, with the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps’ own income greatly reduced after sending members out, the other corps were worried. They feared that if Heaven-Sundering’s earnings didn’t meet expectations, Lin Xinghai might recall the members he had dispatched.

For these reasons, the Mercenary Corps Leaders quickly reached a consensus and informed Lin Xinghai of their decision.

Lin Xinghai looked surprised when he heard the news. He hadn’t expected these Mercenary Corps to learn to return a favor so quickly. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Naturally, it would be rude to refuse such a good offer, so he accepted all the Elemental Crystals the Mercenary Corps sent over.

This way, not only did the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps not suffer a loss from sending out 32 members, they actually made a huge profit.

Besides, this kind of mutually beneficial arrangement would only strengthen their cooperation.

"Since everyone is willing to give us ten percent of their income, allow me to offer you all another great gift in return."

"In a bit, you can have the sharpshooters with better Gun Technique in your corps shadow the members I sent over. I’ll instruct my people to offer your members some pointers while they’re out hunting Zombies," Lin Xinghai said with a smile, looking at the group of Mercenary Corps Leaders who had personally delivered the Elemental Crystals.

After hearing Lin Xinghai’s words, even leaders as composed as them couldn’t help but let out a collective gasp of astonishment.

Everyone understands the principle of "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." Naturally, they wanted to learn how to fish.

But Gun Technique was the very foundation of most Mercenary Corps’ survival. Most corps would guard it jealously; who would ever be willing to teach it to others?

That’s why Lin Xinghai’s offer elicited such a strong reaction from them.

It wasn’t just the First Level Mercenary Corps Leaders. Even Chen Tianlei, a Second Level Mercenary Corps Leader, was filled with envy when he heard the news.

Even in his Second Level Mercenary Corps, there were only two or three sharpshooters, and these so-called experts were nowhere near the level of an ordinary member of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps.

So, after a moment’s hesitation, he steeled himself and spoke to Lin Xinghai over the communication channel. "Captain Lin, could you also send some members over to give us pointers on Gun Technique? We are also willing to pay ten percent of our Elemental Crystal income as compensation."

Lin Xinghai wasn’t surprised by the request. In fact, he would have been surprised if Chen Tianlei *hadn’t* seized such a golden opportunity.

So, after brief consideration, he nodded in agreement.

Originally, Lin Xinghai had planned to just send a couple of members over, but Xu Haishui unexpectedly volunteered for the task himself.

"Boss, they’re a Second Level Mercenary Corps, a major client. How about letting a team leader like me go over personally to instruct them on their Gun Technique?"

"Besides, you’ve sent out pretty much all the members of my Third Squad. There’s nothing for me to do here anyway," Xu Haishui said with a look of selfless heroism as he entered Lin Xinghai’s Armored Vehicle.

However, he was met with Lin Xinghai’s wry, knowing gaze.

"Boss, is there a problem?" Xu Haishui suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

"There’s no problem. But the main reason you want to go is to show off, isn’t it?"

His thoughts exposed, an embarrassed look immediately appeared on Xu Haishui’s face. "Ahem! Brother Hai, well..."

"Fine, you can go and instruct them personally," Lin Xinghai said with a wave of his hand.

"Huh?" The sudden agreement caught Xu Haishui completely off guard.

"You’re not wrong. The ten percent of Elemental Crystals from a Second Level Mercenary Corps will certainly be several times more than what the other corps are offering. Having a team leader like you go and personally instruct them will surely leave them very satisfied," Lin Xinghai said with a smile.

Lin Xinghai quickly relayed the news to Chen Tianlei. When Chen Tianlei heard that the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps was actually sending a team leader to instruct them, he was overjoyed and thanked Lin Xinghai profusely.

Of course, one had to wonder what they would think if they knew that this team leader, Xu Haishui, had a Gun Technique that was actually slightly worse than that of an average member.

With the battlefield cleared, the massive convoy set off once more. After that battle, the various Mercenary Corps now had a clear understanding of their own capabilities.

As a result, in the subsequent battles, they no longer held back. They attacked freely, and their speed of killing Zombies increased significantly.

Furthermore, after several more rounds of combat, the Mercenary Corps, at Lin Xinghai’s request, continuously worked on their coordination. They were truly beginning to use the advantages of their formation to annihilate the zombie hordes.

Under these conditions, the corps could now emulate the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps, daring to dispatch a portion of their members to collect Elemental Crystals even while clearing out a zombie horde.

This was, of course, on the condition that the zombie horde wasn’t too large. Otherwise, they still needed to give it their all just to cope.

But even so, this saved a great deal of Time, allowing the entire convoy’s rate of advance to more than double.

After nearly another 20 minutes, the First Battalion finally advanced a distance of two kilometers.

According to the route map provided by the military, they should be encountering the first outpost here, a place where they could take a short rest.

However, as Lin Xinghai and the other Mercenary Corps Leaders looked from the electronic maps before them to the distant supermarket designated as the outpost, they all fell silent, their expressions a mixture of confusion and doubt.

"Are there other supermarkets nearby? There are no soldiers here, nor any defensive fortifications!" one of the Mercenary Corps Leaders muttered under his breath.

"The nearby Zombies show signs of having been cleared out, so this should be the right place. Let’s go take a look. Even if something really did happen to the military, they should have left some clues for us," Lin Xinghai said after a moment of thought.

The other leaders had no objections. After everything that had happened, all the Mercenary Corps now looked to him for direction.

And so, the Mercenary Corps of the First Battalion maintained their tight formation as they rapidly approached the supermarket.

However, when the convoy drew within 50 meters of the supermarket, everyone suddenly felt the scene before their eyes shift.