Invincible through Touching Corpses-Chapter 83 - 82: Ding! Primordial Qi Detected

In the center of the Mercenary Guild hall stood a floor-to-ceiling screen over ten meters wide. Though it was a single, seamless display, it was divided into many independent sections.

Of course, since the screen was located in the center of the hall, even a section in the corner was extremely eye-catching.

The Sharpshooter Chart was located in one such small corner, one that few people usually watched.

The section displaying the Sharpshooter Chart wasn’t large, so it only showed the names of the top 10 Divine Sharpshooters.

Because of this, the chart often wouldn’t change for a month or two. Even when it did, the changes were minor—usually just someone moving up a spot while another fell back.

Everyone always saw the same familiar names. Over time, this section was naturally ignored.

Matsudaira was an ordinary mercenary. Today, just like any other day, he had come to the Guild to find a suitable mission for his Mercenary Corps.

Every time he came, he had a habit of first looking over the latest mission data on the big screen.

After looking over the newly refreshed missions and finding none suitable for his Mercenary Corps, he sighed in disappointment.

Then, as usual, his gaze casually swept over some of the information in the screen’s corners.

It was just a habit. Subconsciously, he didn’t actually believe he would find any useful information in these out-of-the-way sections.

His gaze swept past the Sharpshooter Chart and quickly moved to the Power Chart.

But he faintly felt that something was off. The positions of the names on the chart he’d just glanced at seemed different from what he remembered.

Filled with confusion, he turned his gaze back to the Sharpshooter Chart. His eyes seemed to lock onto it, and he stood frozen in place as if petrified.

When he realized what had happened and snapped back to his senses, his breathing grew ragged.

"Hey, man, you alright?" a mercenary next to him couldn’t help but ask.

"Look at number two on the Sharpshooter Chart," Matsudaira said.

"Number two on the Sharpshooter Chart? Did someone finally knock that arrogant bastard, Dong Xing, down a peg?" he said, gloating, as he turned his gaze to the chart. Then, he too froze.

He wouldn’t have been surprised if one of the other Divine Sharpshooters on the chart had a sudden surge and claimed the number two spot.

He could even understand if one of the masters ranked in the teens or twenties suddenly broke into the top ten and shot all the way up to second place.

However, for someone who had never even appeared in the top 100 to suddenly storm into second place... well, that was a different story entirely.

The Divine Sharpshooters on the chart, and even any Mercenaries with the potential to become one, had long since been recruited by the Third Level Mercenary Corps.

For a newcomer to suddenly appear at number two on the Sharpshooter Chart without any warning—and with a score not far behind number one—was enough to make the top Mercenary Corps go into a frenzy.

Any mercenary with a bit of experience could imagine that the top Mercenary Corps would pull out all the stops to recruit such a Divine Sharpshooter.

Calling it a coming bloodbath might be an exaggeration, but turbulent undercurrents were practically a certainty.

And the name Lin Xinghai began to spread through the mercenary community at an incredible speed.

Certain enterprising individuals had already begun to gather information on Lin Xinghai.

...

Lin Xinghai was unaware of the commotion back in the Shelter. Of course, even if he had known, he wouldn’t have cared.

As long as he kept a low profile, the Heaven-Sundering Mercenary Corps would fend off any trouble for him.

After a while, the fuss would probably die down.

After all, he had only taken second place.

It was like any other competition; most people’s attention would be on first place. ’As for second place? Who even remembers them after the competition is over?’

Of course, the Sharpshooter Chart wasn’t a competition, and the list would be around for a long time. But as long as he kept a low profile, the attention on him wouldn’t be too intense.

Besides, the Mercenary Guild didn’t just have a Sharpshooter Chart. There were over ten leaderboards in total, including the Power Chart, Defense Chart, Speed Chart, Superpower Chart, and more!

Right now, Lin Xinghai was focused on only one thing: Blood Qi Power.

The multi-functional off-road vehicle sped along the road to Qingtang Town. Lin Xinghai watched the vehicle’s Zombie Detector, his eyes full of anticipation.

However, they had just left the Shelter not long ago, so it was still unlikely they would encounter any Zombies yet.

The vehicle drove a full 10 kilometers out when, under Lin Xinghai’s expectant gaze, a single red dot finally appeared on the Zombie Detector. Then a second, and a third... a total of five red dots lit up as an alarm began to sound.

Judging by the brightness of the dots, they were five ordinary Zombies.

But Lin Xinghai was suddenly pumped up. "Zombies! Let’s go get them."

Lin Xinghai’s words made everyone in the vehicle pause for a moment.

The five Zombies on the detector were over three kilometers off to their right.

Normally, they would ignore something like this; after all, the Zombies were endless. Going three kilometers off the main road just for five of them was more trouble than it was worth.

But the one who spoke was Lin Xinghai, and he had such an expectant look on his face. What could they possibly say?

Huang Nuo turned the steering wheel, drove the multi-functional off-road vehicle off the main road, and headed straight for the five wandering Zombies.

Ling Xiu, sitting on the vehicle’s roof, was the most bewildered of all. He had no idea what was happening when he felt the vehicle leave the main road and begin to bounce violently.

Before the apocalypse, this area had been a mountainous forest. Even though the trees were all dead now, the rocks and rugged terrain were still there!

Describing their driving as ’off-roading over mountains and ridges’ was no exaggeration. In some places, they even had to activate the multi-functional off-road vehicle’s jump mode to get through.

Those inside the vehicle were fine, as the seats provided excellent cushioning.

But Ling Xiu, who was sitting directly on the steel roof plates, was another story. He could handle normal bumps, but with this kind of mountain-crossing, he felt like his ass was going to be split into eight pieces.

What was even more tragic was that, sitting on the roof, he couldn’t hear the conversation inside the vehicle at all. He assumed Lin Xinghai knew of some treasure here, which was why they were making such an arduous trip.

After ten full minutes of bouncing, they arrived at their destination. Ling Xiu discovered there were only five wandering Zombies here.

And when Lin Xinghai finished them off with just a few casual shots, he was truly and utterly dumbfounded.

’Then what in the world did we come all this way for?’

’Just for five Elemental Crystals?’

In fact, that was precisely Lin Xinghai’s goal. After gunning down the five Zombies, he even personally got out of the vehicle and used his Vibrating Dagger to extract the Elemental Crystals.

He even sternly rejected Huang Nuo and the others when they offered to help.

The reason Lin Xinghai gave was, "When I personally hunt Zombies, I should be the one to personally extract their Elemental Crystals. It gives it a sense of ceremony."

In response, Huang Nuo and the others could only nod in bewilderment.

"As per our agreement, I get 60% of the spoils, so I’ll be taking these three Elemental Crystals. You guys can split the other two," Lin Xinghai said, taking the three Elemental Crystals and getting back into the vehicle without another word.

The moment he picked up the Elemental Crystals, a system prompt popped up.

"Ding! Primordial Qi detected. As the host cannot absorb it, would you like to convert it into Blood Qi Power?"