Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 78 Then please don't ask me to back down too.
Qin Chang had no choice but to accept Su Xun's insistence. He said, "What if something happens to you? Who can replace you?"

Su Xun remained silent for a long time before finally standing up: "You can replace me, Xu Huan can replace me, Zheng Yuan can replace me, even Zhang Wei can replace me. Many people can accomplish this."

“I have written most of what I can tell you into that manual. There may be many omissions, but you will eventually figure them out yourselves.”

In his previous life, he had merely taken over the baton of protecting Binhai City from Xu Huan. Even without him, Su Xun, there would still be Zhang Xun and Li Xun.

Now, he has completely and thoroughly changed the world's situation, and many things that are about to happen will be things he has never encountered and could not have predicted. The Sea Qu Secret Realm is a typical example.

“The chairman once said that he handed the flag to us, and if he falls, we will continue to hold it high. The same applies to me. Even if there is a problem, someone will always take over my baton.”

"Even if one of me is missing, there are still thousands upon thousands of me. You may encounter more twists and turns, more trials and tribulations, but what will ultimately lead you to victory is not my leadership, but all of your desire for life and your pursuit of the extraordinary."

"..."

Su Xun said, "This is the apocalypse. There will always be danger, there will always be accidents, and there will always be times when someone needs to take risks. This is not child's play, nor is it a dinner party. Right now, it's just that I am that person. If it were you, would you back down?"

"..."

"Then please don't ask me to back down too."

Su Xun eventually persuaded Qin Chang, not by offering grand theories, but by analyzing the pros and cons of the trip with him.

But he can't set off immediately; he still has a lot of preparations to make before heading to Haiqu.

Not only does he need to make preparations, but all bases also need to get things moving for this. There's no guarantee that Haiqu's situation won't happen in other areas, and given the current strength of each shelter, they will probably have to face some losses.

"We demand that Dengzhou and Licheng establish long-term observation posts at the locations of the secret realms they have observed, that each refuge recruit people with supernatural abilities and send them towards Haiqu, and that Haiqu evacuate the survivors to several refuges far away from the secret realms... that area may soon become a battlefield."

Jiang Yi went to the communications department to arrange this matter, and Su Xun said to Qin Chang, "In addition to these, we need to restart the technology transfer work as soon as possible and transform our old equipment and technology to adapt to the current environment."

This work began before the cataclysm, but due to time constraints and too many tasks, this group only carried out modifications to some key parts, most notably nuclear power facilities.

Qin Chang nodded and said, "I will notify each shelter to recruit a group of engineers and workers to set up an equipment department in the research area. This will be a long process. In fact, some people have already started doing this. Is there any task that needs to be assigned when you raise this question?"

"Of course there are, but probably not now," Su Xun sighed inwardly. The danger came too quickly, and many resources formed after the apocalypse had not yet been harvested. This was one of the reasons why Su Xun insisted on going to the secret realm in person.

"We need to establish remote communication equipment and connect with other hub bases as soon as possible, but there are still some materials that are not available for the time being. In short, let's get the people organized first."

The biggest concern for Su Xun right now is that the secret realms within the Taimon base's jurisdiction have changed. What about other areas? Can they respond effectively in time?

But what's done is done, and worrying is useless; Su Xun could only trust his comrades far away.

“We have a mature plan for this, and each base has reserves. We can gather our personnel together and do other things first. Fortunately, we now have enough superhumans. I’ll give you a few directions to study first.”

Upon hearing this, Qin Chang took out paper and pen to record it.

"The main goal is to fully tap into the power of those with superpowers. They are not only combatants but also productive forces, and they may not be able to unleash much combat power right now."

Su Xun said to Qin Chang, "For those with affinity for the metal element, let them study welding and flaw detection; for those with affinity for the earth element, let them study geology and architecture. That's the general idea." "For the wood element, leave it to Grandpa Xu and let him lead the research on planting."

Although Su Xun is actually much older than Xu Huan now, he has known Xu Huan for so long in his previous life that he can't get rid of the title "Old Master Xu".

"What about body enhancement products?"

"Uh... let's try to get them into the army, or at least do some manual labor..."

Su Xun categorized and arranged the various types of superhumans. Of course, not everyone would have to stay at the research institute. The institute would only try to select those who had already worked in related professions.

After recounting this incident, Su Xun finally began to focus on the specific mission to reach the Haiqu base.

How many artillery pieces do we have available right now?

"By integrating the militia of Xinfu City, we should be able to establish two fully-staffed artillery regiments... We have sufficient artillery and ammunition, but we don't have enough qualified artillerymen yet, and we can't start training for the time being, as most of our soldiers are still on rescue missions."

"...Then let's just send out four hundred men to form an artillery battalion. Also, we might need one of those things stored underground."

"Is it that serious?"

Qin Chang was greatly shocked. Although he knew that powerful individuals might appear in the secret realm, but...

Taimon Base was originally built as a military reserve base and has a certain nuclear counterattack capability. After Su Xun was reborn, he chose this place as the command center for the Sun Chasing Project, which actually lost the necessary concealment.

However, the nuclear warheads were not removed; instead, they were modified. Simply put, they were changed from needing to be launched to being able to be detonated in place more easily.

Even disregarding the impact of spiritual energy on complex guidance systems, the sheer gale-force winds overhead alone rendered all missiles that needed to penetrate the atmosphere ineffective.

In the moment when the apocalypse arrives, who knows if any of the major powers have suddenly pressed the button of their nuclear retaliatory mechanisms, which could have been activated by the sudden loss of communication with their nations?

But what can be confirmed in the end is that no nuclear bomb exploded in any country or city, and all the material that entered the atmosphere was eventually dissipated by the wind.

From this perspective, while the gale layer hindered humanity's journey into space, it also actually saved humanity once.

However, even if you want to use these things to attack any monsters that might appear, you are now limited by the strong winds.

There are certainly nuclear weapons that can be deployed within the atmosphere, and the technology is very mature, perhaps even ancient. But the Taimon base doesn't have any; it only has a few temporarily modified nuclear warheads that can be mounted on vehicles and detonated at set times. These were actually left by Su Xun for a possible large zombie horde, but he didn't expect the secret realm to have changed now.

Su Xun wasn't too sure about Qin Chang's situation either, but thought it was better to be prepared.

Given the commotion it caused, Su Xun doubted that even the firepower of an artillery battalion might not be able to inflict effective damage. It was always safer to be prepared.

Nuclear bombs require maintenance, and in the short term, each one used reduces the remaining supply. However, the current superhumans haven't had time to grow stronger, so they can only temporarily rely on the cutting-edge technology of the older generation to thwart this crisis.

(End of this chapter)