Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 98 Cemetery
"Xiaoyu! Your boyfriend is here to pick you up!"

A crisp sound rang out, and He Xiaoyu raised her hand to slap the little girl: "You brat, can't you keep your voice down? There are so many patients here."

The young girl giggled and hid to the side, but He Xiaoyu still pulled her back. She looked around and whispered in the girl's ear, "If you keep shouting about it, I'll tell your brother He about you secretly writing love letters."

The little girl seemed to freeze in place, her smile gradually fading away.

"Wait, how did you know? You didn't tell anyone, did you?"

"Do you think I'm like you, always making a fuss?"

He Xiaoyu rolled her eyes: "I also know you secretly read comics in the ward. Tsk tsk, this little fujoshi has quite the unique taste. You better watch out, or I'll tell Head Nurse Xu."

The girl's face turned pale: "No, I was wrong, dear sister, I was wrong."

"wrong?"

"Mmmmmmm!"

"Then lend me the comic book later."

"Hmm...huh?"

"Hmm?" He Xiaoyu pinched the girl's cheek, her eyes meeting hers with deep affection, making the girl's heart pound.

"Waaah, I'll borrow it, I'll borrow it!"

"That's pretty much it."

After letting go of the nurse who seemed to have been abused, He Xiaoyu packed her things and walked out of the hospital, where she saw a boy standing there waiting for her.

"Sorry I'm late."

"It's nothing, it's nothing." Sun Qi waved his hand, then asked with concern, "You've been here for two days, how are you feeling?"

"It's alright... my colleagues have been very considerate of me."

When these issues were brought up, He Xiaoyu frowned. Her original intention was to apply for a school teacher position, but the competition was far greater than she had imagined.

Even in the apocalypse, it's still difficult to get a government job.

This left her feeling helpless. Coincidentally, the hospital needed to recruit more medical staff and offered generous compensation, so she came here.

As a newcomer, there are many things I need to learn from scratch, but fortunately the head nurse is very kind, and I don't need to do many things myself yet.

Moreover, having experienced that great escape from the secret realm, she had developed a considerable tolerance for those bloody and mangled external wounds, and was no longer so timid in dealing with them, managing to adapt to them.

The two approached and walked side by side. Sun Qi was suddenly surprised: "Why do you have so many needle marks on your hands? Are you sick?"

"No, we were just practicing giving injections to each other."

Thinking of the little girl she had hurt even more, He Xiaoyu didn't want to explain too much about the matter. She asked, "Leaving me aside, what about you? How are you?"

"I'm doing alright. The tasks assigned to me aren't too difficult. They're just things like standing guard, keeping watch, or carrying bricks at construction sites."

"However... it seems like another major war is about to break out, and quite a few people have been mobilized to the front lines."

"Then, you'll be alright, won't you?"

He Xiaoyu was startled and turned to look at the boy beside her. Although she had accepted his confession, she couldn't quite figure out what kind of feelings he had.

But at least as a friend, as a companion who had gone through life and death together and survived by sheer luck, she sincerely hoped that nothing bad would happen to the other person.

Sun Qi was deeply moved by He Xiaoyu's concern and comforted her, saying, "It's alright. I'm not going to be on the front lines yet. My task right now is to encourage you all to stay safely in the air-raid shelters."

"Oh, that's good." He Xiaoyu breathed a sigh of relief, her eyes darting around, and said softly, "Then I'll have to cooperate with your work properly."

Sun Qi's face visibly flushed again. Seeing her boyfriend blush so easily, He Xiaoyu smiled, grabbed his hand, and they clasped tightly together.

"Let's go, Brother Yang should have picked up Shuyu by now, don't keep them waiting too long."

"Ah, yes."

……

A crowd had gathered in front of a bus stop, including Yang Kun, who was holding a child named Chen Shuyu in his arms. When he saw a young couple walking hand in hand toward them, he smiled and secretly gave Sun Qi a thumbs up.

"Not bad, kid, you're making good progress."

He Xiaoyu rolled her eyes and ignored the topic.

The four of them met again, their destination being the large cemetery that was undergoing intensive expansion these past two days.

They stood there waiting for ages before a bus finally arrived.

This is the main mode of transportation within the safe zone. It seems that many people are heading to the same destination as us, and the vehicle is packed with passengers.

However, the two men still helped He Xiaoyu and Chen Shuyu squeeze onto the bus. The bus was free, and it started moving as soon as the door closed.

The so-called large cemetery is located on the other side of the safe zone and covers an exceptionally large area.

Construction began here on the very first day the safe zone was established. Due to its massive scale, unfinished sections are still clearly visible, but it is already open to the public. There are quite a few stone tablets here, most of which are made of concrete. After getting out of the car, He Xiaoyu frowned slightly: "It seems a bit too hasty."

"I heard that some big shots are concerned about this matter, so the security zone has issued a strict order to set up the scaffolding first, and then repair it slowly later."

"But to be honest, in the current environment, it's already pretty good to have a place like this. I heard that a lot of people with superpowers were brought in to do this, which is why it looks like this now."

"A superhuman...that's true."

If you don't look closely at the details, this place is actually quite spectacular. Countless stone tablets stand on the ground, like soldiers lined up in an army formation, solemn and dignified. After entering, the voices of the group became much quieter.

Yang Kun always seemed to have a lot of inside information, telling the two of them many things they had never heard before.

“Those of us who work in the workshop management also have a task recently: to find ways to matchmake for the workers in the workshop, and we have to talk to them one by one.”

"This job is tough. If you don't do it well, you'll probably get yelled at. I don't know what those leaders thought of. Did they see someone dating?"

“It can’t be the two of us anyway.” Sun Qi said without thinking. “Our class monitor asked me about it before, but I told him I had a girlfriend, and they didn’t believe me at the time.”

"This is probably a policy from above, sigh..."

The group of people walked along the road into the depths of the cemetery. In the distance, they could see a tall monument, which was also the destination for many people.

Suppressed sobs and cries began to rise from the roadside, and the three of them stopped talking.

The monument was not crudely made; standing beneath it, a sense of indescribable sorrow welled up in the hearts of the people present.

"Come on, Shuyu, take this flower upstairs as a gift for your Uncle Xu."

Yang Kun took Chen Shuyu's hand and took two steps forward. There were no fresh flowers at this time; Chen Shuyu held a fake flower. Everyone stood in silence in front of the stone tablet in the middle.

Not only the martyrs who sacrificed their lives in Haiqu rest here, but also the ashes of those who were turned into zombies by the Great Cataclysm were collected and buried here as much as possible. It was not realistic to erect a monument for each person, so this huge monument was built.

Since Xu Changwen's body could not be found, the three of them could only entrust their feelings to this stone tablet.

The setting sun cast its glow upon the words on the stone tablet.

—Silence, mourning, and then moving forward.

(End of this chapter)