Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 26, tell me if it's a new world or not.
No matter how chaotic the situation or how weak the nation, the convention system is still a behemoth that dominates this planet, a former hegemon that once ruled the entire world.

Even now, facing internal conflicts that are causing disintegration, they still extend their reach to all parts of the world under the strong pressure from the East.

The country's power has not diminished or become negligible; it has simply ceased to fight for the interests of the masses and universal principles.

Once the target was found, this terrifying world began to move.

"So, how valuable is this intelligence?"

Someone handed the documents to the agent, who patted him on the arm with a smile: "Don't worry, buddy, that number is enough for you to live a carefree life in the new world."

The man nodded and said, "It would be best if that were true, otherwise I will definitely report your whereabouts to the security department."

The agent shrugged: "Oh buddy, don't say things like that. I think we'll always be friends."

Just then, a phone call came in, and the agent pressed the answer button in front of the caller.

"Hello darling, oh I see, don't worry, it's okay."

The man couldn't understand what the other person was saying, but the agent smiled and opened the car door for him, still on the phone.

"Hurry up, buddy. I've arranged for someone to take you. They'll be here to pick you up soon. Just head back."

Hearing this, the man grinned and said, "That's more like it. This is the sincerity I've been looking for. I'll be waiting for your good news over there."

After saying that, he climbed into the driver's seat and closed the door.

As the car started and drove away, the agent's smile gradually faded.

"he's gone."

"receive."

There was a response on the other end of the phone, followed by a busy tone.

"Boom!!"

Under the watchful eyes of the agents, a concrete mixer truck sped out of the intersection and ran over the car like it was a toy, leaving the flattened cab looking like it was bursting with a ball of paste.

"laugh."

The agent chuckled dismissively.

"It's a new world after all, isn't it? I'll let you know once the mission is successful, in your Eastern way."

As police cars sped towards them, a group of people pulled the drunk man off the cement mixer truck. The agent opened the file in his hand and glanced through it.

"Room-temperature superconductivity? Even Asians have learned how to scam funding?"

"Never mind, I'll just focus on completing my task."

……

Relocating is always tiring, but no one complained. The brand-new superconductor industrial production line was located in Chongqing, the hometown of Academician Chen Jun.

Before boarding the plane to Chongqing, the team members had a rare meal together to celebrate the completion of a phase of their work and the bright prospects of Eastern nuclear fusion.

"When we get to Chongqing, I'll take you to eat hot pot, I guarantee it'll be authentic." Chen Jun, an old man even older than Xu Huan, was in good spirits and cheerfully invited Su Xun and the others.

"I think it's better to pass; it's not safe."

"Is there anything unsafe about it? It's right outside the research institute, owned by an old friend of mine."

"No, what I mean is that your hot pot isn't very safe for us outsiders." Su Xun sighed and smiled wryly. Sichuan and Chongqing hot pot was also very famous in the post-apocalyptic era. Some superhumans had used mutated plants as ingredients and had given Su Xun a portion during exchanges in various places.

Even he, who was already at the eighth level at the time, almost couldn't withstand it and began to doubt his life.

It can only be said that the reverence that people who grew up in areas with low spiciness have for spicy hot pot broth will not diminish even after hundreds of years.

"There's still a lot of work to do, and it wouldn't be good to ruin my health and cause problems."

The old professor was quite disappointed: "That's true, but you can take a portion of the hot pot base home and eat it when you have some free time."

It was during a rare moment of leisure at dinner time, and everyone was chatting and laughing when Zheng Yuan suddenly received a message, and his expression changed instantly.

"What's wrong?" Su Xun looked at him, and everyone else turned around.

"It's nothing." Zheng Yuan said to calm everyone down before continuing, "No serious incidents have occurred, but we caught two spies near Consultant Su's parents' house."

"The two elderly people were not injured, but were just a little frightened. Our comrades who stayed in Binhai have taken Consultant Su's parents and other close relatives to the Binhai underground shelter."

Upon hearing this, everyone present immediately turned their attention to Su Xun, noticing that while his expression remained relatively calm, his face inevitably turned grim.

"Advisor Su, are you alright?"

"fine."

"The reason we didn't provide tighter protection for Advisor Su's family before was twofold: first, we were afraid that any unusual behavior would be noticed by external forces, and second, we were worried about restricting their personal freedom too much."

"It seems that the other side has taken notice of this line, and we need to take some more robust measures. Advisor Su, I hope you can understand."

The organization was unwilling to let Su Xun think that they were trying to coerce him through his family, so Zheng Yuan's tone was quite tactful.

"It's nothing, thank you for your hard work."

Wang Wei said angrily from the side, "These beasts are still so despicable."

"Advisor Su, the other side should have already noticed your presence and become suspicious of you. You must be even more careful recently."

Several people present offered suggestions, while Zheng Yuan contacted the security department to increase the number of people to protect them during the rest of the trip.

Secretary-General Feng Zhengze heard about this and immediately called to comfort Su Xun.

"It's alright. I'm quite confident in the protection my comrades provided. After all, nothing irreversible has happened."

“It’s good that you think that way, Comrade Su. If you have time, you can call home. They’ve been frightened recently, and hearing news of you will put their minds at ease.”

"……I see."

After hanging up the call with Feng Zhengze, everyone around him looked at him. Su Xun was silent for a moment, then said softly, "Please give me some space. I want to talk to my family for a few minutes by myself."

No one objected, and they all stood up to leave.

"Wait a minute, Team Leader Zheng... could you please give me a copy of my family's information?"

After everyone left, Su Xun took the documents and glanced at them. The information Zheng Yuan had given was really detailed. It included not only the life stories of several of his close family members, but also his past communication and chat records with these people.

Through these things, Su Xun once again awakened his past memories.

He came from a poor family, but the family atmosphere was quite harmonious. After graduating, he became an ordinary unemployed youth.

Left with no other choice, I had to start delivering food while I looked for a suitable job.

When the apocalypse came, he was lucky enough to be placed an order with a small supermarket owner. There weren't many people there at night, so he survived in that place.

But he never saw his family again after that.

After hesitating for a long time, looking at the phone number on the document, he finally dialed the number.

"Hello, is this Ah Xun?"

……

Ps:

The storyline concerning the protagonist's family basically ends here, and will not be further developed. If it is mentioned occasionally, it will be briefly mentioned.

It might be a bit slow to write, why did I even include this plot point?

(6.2 Revision) The main issue is the need for plausibility. As you can see from my writing, I'm very particular about plausibility; I'm a bit obsessive-compulsive. I've received a lot of criticism recently, which I humbly accept. However, I won't revise the plot that's already written. Essentially, I feel that having parents is a high-probability event for the protagonist. The presence of these two characters—whether good or bad—is more conducive to readers' understanding and feeling of the cruelty of the apocalypse.

Given this premise, the protagonist's feelings towards his family, as a reborn individual, are an inevitable and thought-provoking question.

What kind of feelings would one have towards the people who influenced the first twenty years of their life, even if they were hundreds of years old? Extending this question, how should one balance the conflicts between personal family and collective cause?

A turbulent era cannot tolerate personal feelings, but the collective care is meticulous, and that is roughly the case.

(End of this chapter)