After watching the combat footage he’d received, Yang Jiansheng fell silent for a full minute before slowly spitting out a single word: "Monstrous!"

Qin Fang and Old Zhou couldn’t help but laugh. They knew exactly how Yang Jiansheng felt; he was probably stunned speechless.

Besides, as the video circulated, there would only be more people whose jaws would drop. They were already looking forward to going back and bragging to their comrades with this footage.

As they thought about this, they quickly led their teams toward Lin Xinghai.

By the time the two groups met up, Shen Han had already finished dealing with the Blood-colored Beetles that had burrowed into his Mecha.

However, the Mecha was severely damaged. To prevent any further harm, Lin Xinghai didn’t continue piloting it. Instead, he had an Armored Vehicle from the support team carry the Mecha back.

Five minutes later, the group joined forces and, braving the Zombie tide, fought their way back to the outpost.

The situation there was much better than before; the defensive systems were fully established.

Hundreds of automatic cannons, controlled by an AI system, were constantly strafing the surrounding Zombie hordes. Combined with the Combat Robots and Attack Drones, they could now hold the line entirely on their own, even without the help of Mercenaries.

Of course, that was assuming there weren’t any troublesome creatures like Berserk Zombies and Blood-colored Beetles. But now that the Mutated Zombies had been killed, those things had long since been wiped out.

The Zombie tide was even beginning to show signs of weakening.

After all, without the Mutated Zombies to sustain the assault, and with so many Zombies having been killed, the High Level Zombies would gradually regain their senses, realize the outpost couldn’t be taken, and choose to withdraw.

Their departure would naturally affect the other Zombies. Once the horde thinned out to a certain point, the Zombie tide would dissipate on its own.

"This is a great opportunity to rack up Points. The Zombie tide isn’t dangerous anymore. Don’t save your ammo, just let loose and kill," Lin Xinghai announced over the communication channel after assessing the situation.

The Mercenary Corps Leaders all acknowledged the order and excitedly went to relay it.

In an instant, the thousand Mercenaries of the First Brigade unleashed their combined might. Their firepower more than tripled, and it even looked as if they were about to launch a counteroffensive against the Zombie tide.

"They’re really going all out!" Yang Jiansheng’s mouth twitched as he watched several Mercenaries charge past the Combat Robots’ defensive line to the very front.

"Officer Yang, Mercenaries and soldiers are different," Lin Xinghai said from the side. "They have to rely on themselves for everything. An opportunity like this to rake in Merit might only come once a year. Of course they’re going to give it their all."

"They could just choose to become soldiers," Yang Jiansheng couldn’t help but say.

"The screening process for soldiers is stricter than for Mercenaries. Besides, if all the Mercenaries became soldiers, could the Shelter really afford to support so many of them?" Lin Xinghai asked.

Yang Jiansheng was taken aback. He had never really thought about that question.

The total number of Mercenaries was double that of the soldiers, but the various Mercenary Corps were normally self-sufficient. If they all became soldiers, the Shelter might not be able to bear the military expenditure.

"Then they..." Yang Jiansheng’s gaze toward the Mercenaries suddenly grew complicated.

"Officer Yang, you don’t need to overthink it. These are all personal choices. Besides, being a Mercenary offers more freedom. If you seize one good opportunity, you might rise quickly. So you can’t really say one path is better than the other," Lin Xinghai said with a light laugh.

This time, Yang Jiansheng said no more. He just nodded silently, but his opinion of these Mercenaries had once again changed significantly.

For the next while, the various Mercenary Corps completely stole the show. Every minute, every second, hundreds, even thousands of Zombies fell at their hands.

In a dense Zombie tide like this, using a Hand Cannon was the most cost-effective method. Not only was the kill rate fast, but a single shot could take out at least a dozen Zombies, bringing in several hundred Points. Even the members of the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps couldn’t stay calm and were slaughtering with all their might.

As Time went on, the density of the Zombie tide grew weaker and weaker. After another ten minutes or so, the Zombies actually stopped attacking the outpost and showed signs of retreating.

Seeing this, the Mercenary Corps Leaders grew anxious. For them, every extra minute of killing meant an income of several thousand Points!

Even though many Mercenary Corps had already used up their Hand Cannon Bullets, their speed at hunting Zombies by spraying with Tearing Rifles was still incomparable to normal times.

Seeing this, Lin Xinghai thought for a moment and directly issued the order to pursue.

Cheers erupted from the various Mercenary Corps upon hearing the order. One after another, Armored Vehicles started up and charged into the Zombie tide outside the outpost.

When Yang Jiansheng learned of the situation, he was once again dumbfounded. He hurried out of the command post and rushed over to Lin Xinghai.

"You actually gave such an order? Aren’t you afraid something will go wrong?" Yang Jiansheng said urgently. If it had been anyone else, he would have already started cursing them out.

"Don’t worry, I have it under control," Lin Xinghai said, unfazed. "The Mutated Zombies have all been killed, and there are no more Berserk Zombies or Blood-colored Beetles. As long as they stay inside their Armored Vehicles, the danger is controllable."

"Besides, I’ve set a rule: they can’t go more than one kilometer from the outpost. As long as they’re within that range, I can rescue them in time even if something does happen."

Yang Jiansheng opened his mouth but found he had no real counterargument.

Of course, the most important thing was that with Lin Xinghai’s power, he truly had the confidence to handle any trouble that might arise.

Yang Jiansheng even felt a little envious. He, too, longed to lead his soldiers out for a charge!

After all, Zombies killed while carrying out a mission could later be converted into military Merit.

Twenty minutes later, the Zombie tide had completely dispersed. The Zombies within a one-kilometer radius of the outpost had also been more or less wiped out by the various Mercenary Corps.

Now, everyone was busy gathering the corpses to collect the Elemental Crystals.

The number of Zombies killed this time was simply staggering, making cleaning up the battlefield an extremely troublesome task. Fortunately, the First Brigade had many Mercenaries. With over a thousand people working together, it took more than half an hour to finally collect all the Elemental Crystals, which were then distributed.

There was combat footage of the battlefield, as well as statistics from the AI system. Even with so many Mercenary Corps present, matters like distribution were quite simple and fast.

As for the corpses, they were all burned in a large fire.

If the corpses weren’t incinerated, the thick stench of blood would likely attract another large horde of Zombies, perhaps even Mutated Zombies, which would be a huge problem.

More importantly, if other Zombies were to eat the corpses of their own kind, it would accelerate their evolution. So, for a number of reasons, the bodies had to be destroyed.

"We’ll be heading back to base camp now. Be careful here. Guanghan City has many Mutated Zombies, and there’s no telling when more might wander over," Lin Xinghai said to Yang Jiansheng, taking his leave after his troops had assembled.

"Don’t worry, we’ll be careful. On behalf of all the officers of Outpost 32, thank you all for your righteous support. I’ve already reported this to my superiors, and I’m confident the Military Department won’t shortchange any of you," Yang Jiansheng said gratefully.

Lin Xinghai simply smiled at his words and, without saying more, began to lead the various Mercenary Corps back.

At the same time, the various Mercenary Corps began to take stock of their earnings from the great battle.