Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 58 We are ordinary people too
June 12, 2030, three days to go.

The weather is overcast.

The largest water conservancy project in ASEAN requires thousands of people for daily maintenance of its dam. Tens of thousands of workers rely on this engineering marvel for their livelihood, nearly 100,000 troops are stationed around it, and hundreds of millions of people benefit from it.

After news of the catastrophe was disseminated, the area immediately sprang into action, with several shelters being built along different sections of the dam. In recent days, a peculiar sight has emerged: hundreds of people are seen circling around a few dozen others.

After walking around the dam area, Old Chen turned to him and asked, "Xiao Lin, how did it go? Did you learn anything?"

Lin Hai held a thick book, which could be considered the operation manual for the entire dam. After hearing the question, he frowned deeply: "There are still some things I'm not quite sure about."

After training for a few days under the reborn at the Taimon base, he arrived here with many other potential superhumans to begin a two-week technical training program. Some future ordinary survivors had arrived even earlier.

Lin Hai's own major was only marginally related to some of the jobs here, so he became the leader of these people.

Old Chen didn't say anything critical. He had seen all the hard work these people had put in, but looking at the vast river, he couldn't help but feel a little worried.

The core personnel working here have extremely high levels of secrecy and naturally know part of the truth about the catastrophe. He sighed and said, "This dam absolutely cannot fail. The lives of hundreds of millions of people downstream depend on it. If it collapses, the consequences will be unimaginable."

He patted Lin Hai on the shoulder: "I know you have a heavy burden on your shoulders, but... you are the ones who are certain, and we are the ones who are uncertain."

Lin Hai lowered his head, looking at the rippling lake with him. In that instant, he even felt a little breathless.

"Master Chen, we are just ordinary people..."

Old Chen smiled and said, "Who isn't an ordinary person? I'm an ordinary person too. The thousands of workers on this dam are all ordinary people. This dam was built brick by brick by millions of ordinary people like you and me. Don't worry, it's not that difficult. Take a rest first, and I'll take you on another walk later."

"No, I'm not very tired, right now..."

"Hey, you're young, of course you're not tired, but we are."

The experienced workers exchanged glances and laughed. They had been working in the Bashang area for many years and didn't really notice anything, but Lin Hai was a student before he came here, and his face was almost tanned white by the sun.

"Take a break. Use this time to read a book. Later, all of you can try operating it together. As long as the basic functions work, there won't be any problems. You've already gone through this these past few days. It's not difficult at all; it's just physically demanding."

Lin Hai nodded, then asked with some curiosity, "Are you preparing to release the water now?"

Old Chen nodded and said, "Indeed, we must prepare for the worst. From now on, all gates will remain open until after the catastrophe, at which point you can manually close them as needed."

The worst-case scenario...

Lin Hai understood. It was probably because all the survivors in the dam area had died, and even the chosen seeds had encountered problems. No one could make the dam work, and no one could even get close to it.

Yes, on this issue, the organization does not trust itself or the reborn individual.

The organization doesn't even trust humans; they only believe in established facts.

In fact, the Three Gorges Dam recently completed its pre-flood season water level reduction work, and the water level is not high. Every year from April to June, the water level is deliberately lowered to prepare for the flood season.

After a short rest, the group walked together toward the drainage gate. This crucial infrastructure, though not built with the apocalypse in mind, had very comprehensive contingency plans to withstand a nuclear explosion.

EMPs caused by nuclear explosions can also damage electronic devices.

In this situation, the key water release gate is not only electrically driven, but also has mechanical drive and manual gate closing options.

Currently, Lin Hai and others are learning the method of mechanically closing the gate. As for manually closing the gate... it doesn't actually require any technical skill; it's purely a matter of physical labor.

Each gate has more than one valve that can be rotated to close, and each valve needs to be rotated tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of times.

Only in this way can the mountain-like sluice gate in front of us be pushed by human power.

At the Taimon base, Lin Hai and the others had learned what superpowers they might awaken in the future, and at this moment, he couldn't help but ask himself these questions.

Am I destined to do this kind of physical labor because of my physical enhancement ability?
How come we were cattle and horses before the apocalypse, and can't escape this fate even after the apocalypse?

Of course, this was just his self-deprecation. He was already very content to have superpowers, or even just to survive. He was even somewhat apprehensive, apprehensive that such a thing would happen to him, and apprehensive that those who were more capable and had more faith were still under the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads.

Lin Hai's self-deprecation and his sense of unease are now common throughout the country.

Water conservancy hubs in various key locations now occupy the largest share of Su Xun's list, with more than half of the survivors gathered in these places, mainly to ensure the safety and stability of the two lifelines of ASEAN.

In Su Xun's previous life, there had been more than one major breach in the dikes. Each time, the number of dead and injured was countless, and the already scarce survivors were wiped out in the repeated floods.

The reason for this is nothing more than the failure to seize the initiative. Many dams were occupied by mutated beasts, and large reservoirs filled with water were a paradise for aquatic mutated beasts. Those intelligent giant beasts did not care about the lives of downstream creatures. Even if countless survivors rushed to the scene, they could only minimize the losses.

During that timeline, countless moving stories unfolded, with many heroes falling on the way to the dam and many outstanding individuals sacrificing their lives to save people on both sides of the strait.

Generation after generation, almost countless.

At the Taimon Base, Su Xun closed his eyes upon seeing the progress and recalled the faces from his memories. In a timeline unknown to Lin Hai, who was still in university at the time, he had reached the sixth level after the apocalypse and, despite being attacked by mutated fish, had single-handedly dismantled the towering sluice gate, allowing the floodwaters that were about to overflow the dam to slowly dissipate.

In fact, he was among the first to reach the sixth rank, and even Su Xun's evolutionary path benefited from his experience, but he himself died early in the reservoir area because of this.

Su Xun opened his eyes and gently tapped the table, suddenly feeling a sense of ease.

Those moving stories and those fearless deeds will never appear in this world again.

Is it something to regret? Is it something to feel sorry about?

No, we never glorify suffering, or rather, we never glorify suffering for the sake of suffering.

As for Lin Hai—

This time he should be able to learn how to open the gate.

(End of this chapter)