Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 132 A Letter from Haizhou Shelter No. 18 to the Corps
Taking a deep breath, Su Xun opened the envelope in silence.

Surprisingly, the handwriting was very neat. Judging from the words, one could imagine that the person who wrote these words must be a serious, meticulous, and cultured individual.

-

Chief of Staff Liu, Commander-in-Chief Su, and all comrades of the Jianghuai and Tai-Meng Corps.

Dear comrades, we are the last 907 survivors in Haizhou Shelter No. 18. As we write this letter, many of our comrades are still fighting zombies on the outskirts.

Upon learning that you are about to engage in battle against zombies, all members of Vault 18 are greatly encouraged—in the despair we suddenly faced after self-screening, we can finally see a glimmer of hope.

It is not the dawn of survival, but the dawn of final victory.

We were once in despair, believing that the zombies were invincible and that the fall of human civilization was inevitable. But when artillery support from the rear landed close by, we knew that this war was still going to go.

This letter was not a plea for help; it was a request to fight, and also a farewell.

The situation at Shelter 18 is now more dire than ever before. We have suffered severe erosion, and countless comrades have perished. Everyone here is well aware of the inevitable end, and we are fully prepared to sacrifice ourselves.

Since the screening began, we have been jolted awake from our dream of everything being normal, and then a series of battles have begun. We are lucky, after all, some people have survived and have the opportunity to record this letter.

We were also unfortunate; most of the shelter was controlled by zombies, and we were surrounded by millions of them. The remaining survivors had to fight the enemy in a few buildings.

Yesterday, we successfully recaptured the armory, which was also littered with corpses. All the cadres and the masses, with tears in their eyes and with heavy hearts, collected the bodies of our fallen compatriots. But under the tide of corpses, not a single person had a complete body. All our comrades, classmates, relatives and friends were covered in bite marks, broken bones and rotten flesh, and were unrecognizable.

Broken bones and pieces of flesh were everywhere, and the tragic scene was heartbreaking and brought tears to people's eyes. This is a blood feud that the people of Haizhou will never forget!
Many comrades who sacrificed their lives in this disaster, before their deaths and before their infection, earnestly hoped to avenge them and wipe out the zombies. One cook in the mess hall, named Ge Shun, was bitten by a zombie and, clutching explosives, charged into the horde. As he died, he shouted, "I'm glorious! The Corps must avenge me!"

Commander-in-Chief and Chief of Staff, we know the hardships faced by the Corps, and we know that every gun and every bullet points to a broader hope for survival. But Haizhou is not just a point on the map! Here lie our parents, whose bones are still warm; here are our children, dragged into darkness; here are our loved ones, turned into monsters lurking outside our doors!

Every brick and stone here is soaked in our blood and tears!
We demand that you avenge us, that you eliminate the enemy as you did in Haiqu, Licheng, and every other city, and that you leave behind a heroic victory and make a great contribution in Haizhou as well.

Blood debts must be repaid in blood; Haizhou must be liberated!

This is our noble faith in you, and it is also the people's command to their army!
A warm victory salute!
—All residents of Haizhou Shelter No. 18
-

Scrolling down, there was nothing more, only a large number of fingerprints of varying depths, densely packed, like eyes or epitaphs.

The command center was bustling with activity, yet it also seemed to exude a certain deathly stillness; the thin letter paper seemed to radiate a burning heat that seared the fingertips.

"Commander-in-Chief!"

Suddenly a shout rang out. Looking up, one could see several figures being stopped at the door by guards.

"The current division-level commander of Haizhou," Liu Zhen explained to Su Xun from the side.

Stepping forward, Su Xun faced the soldiers whose eyes held a mixture of determination and grief.

"Commander-in-Chief, the Haizhou Division requests permission to fight!"

"Give me a reason."

“You…you can go see our soldiers.” The man’s voice trembled slightly. “Every one of us is hoping to fight our way back to Haizhou, we…”

“Comrade.” Su Xun raised his hand and pressed down on the other person’s shoulder: “I saw it. I saw it in this letter.”

"But, comrade, two hundred thousand soldiers from the two army corps are now gathered here. As the commander-in-chief, I implore you, and I implore the elders of Haizhou, to trust us."

"Haizhou is not just your Haizhou, but also the Haizhou of everyone in the entire East. This pain is not only borne by you, but is also engraved in our hearts." "Comrades, the spark of Haizhou is now in your hands. Your task is to preserve it, develop it, make it burn brighter and brighter, and make it continue forever."

"If you are gone, what's the point of retaking this empty city?"

"...Commander-in-Chief, the ordinary people of the Haizhou Division can retreat, but we still have 1,200 extraordinary individuals. Please allow us to contribute to the return to our homeland!"

"..."

Su Xun knew he had no reason to refuse, and finally, he nodded slightly: "I approve it, but understand that this approval is to allow you to play a role in this war, not to send these people to their deaths."

"Make it clear to them that they must follow orders and not act rashly. Otherwise, I will personally escort them to the rear. Do you understand?"

The other party agreed, and watching the group leave, Su Xun sighed softly.

He glanced down at the letter he was still holding, put it back in the envelope, and then said to Liu Zhen, "Notify Licheng to publish the full text of this letter on the front page of the next edition of the Xinghuo Daily."

"This..." Liu Zhen was quite shocked: "Commander-in-Chief, isn't the content of this letter... a bit too extreme? Will it provoke..."

"I know." Su Xun's eyes showed some fatigue, but it was quickly replaced by determination.

"It is precisely because it is extreme that we must climb it."

"We must let everyone in the safety zone see what happened in the occupied area, let everyone hear the cries and despair of our compatriots in Haizhou, and let them understand that our relative safety here is not a given! It was bought with the lives of those on the front lines!"

"The high walls of the safe zone are the cradle of dreams. We must both cherish this dream and make those in the dream realize that we are ultimately in the end times, and make them understand why they produce those shells, those tanks, those bullets and steel guns."

"I understand."

"Also, inform the General Staff that I am going to speak."

"Yes!"

The staff assembled quickly, since this was the command post, and at this critical juncture, they were basically living and eating here.

Su Xun looked around at everyone, still holding the letter in his hand, and said in a deep voice, "This is not a letter, it is a sword hanging over our heads."

"The pain of Haizhou is my pain, and the cry of Haizhou is my cry."

"I have just made a solemn pledge to the people of Haizhou. We must avenge the blood feud in Haizhou. The many shelters trapped in the danger zone are still waiting for our rescue."

"A new batch of combat forces from Taimon has arrived with me. Now, we will begin to assess and adjust the operational plan and resource allocation, and implement a more proactive operational strategy."

"Integrate the latest reconnaissance information and formulate a decapitation plan for each key node of the zombie horde."

"Within forty-eight hours, I need to see a detailed and highly feasible operational plan for the initial assault on Haizhou and the establishment of a bridgehead."

"The core of the plan is speed and precision. Our top priority is to search for and protect survivors and rescue our compatriots who are still in danger."

"Our goal is to bring back living people, not to collect a list of martyrs!"

"Comrades, the only way forward is to fight, and time waits for no one. The survival of the survivors is the paramount mission of our army!"

(End of this chapter)