Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 189 Television Banter and Cooperation
Despite the freezing weather, the citizens of the various base cities have shown an unexpected level of enthusiasm for the current events.

People in the East are naturally fond of watching excitement, especially grand spectacle. This unprecedented event since the Great Cataclysm has aroused immense curiosity and anticipation among countless people.

This is inevitable. As I said before, entertainment options are extremely scarce after the cataclysm. This is the first time the Legion has held a large-scale event open to the public.

And this is a truly extraordinary battle! Even if entertainment were plentiful, many people would still find it hard to resist.

In an instant, countless people wanted to watch the game, but not everyone could go to the venue. You have to understand that a base city has at least hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions or even tens of millions of people!
This placed extremely high demands on the organization of the competition, but the problem was quickly resolved, or rather, alleviated.

Many citizens who had finished work were on their way home when they suddenly noticed that the former supply points and roadside squares now had old-fashioned CRT televisions set up and banners announcing the live broadcast of the competition.

Live television broadcasts aren't anything that requires much technology! This thing has existed for only a few years after the founding of the nation; it's just that the safe zone didn't have enough production capacity to manufacture these antique television sets that were obsolete before the cataclysm.

Following the summit, many related plans were put on the agenda, including not only television sets, but also many other items related to people's livelihoods. Perhaps soon, citizens will see a series of new products produced by the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps on their shelves.

This can be considered a strategy to support economic reforms. For both the extraordinary and the ordinary, the summit that just ended was a milestone of great historical significance.

Before this, survival was almost the only need for the people on this land, but from then on, the shift from survival to life began to deepen.

Ordinary people may not realize this until decades later, when they look back at the book and suddenly understand.

Oh! What a magnificent era I have lived through! What a world-shaking transformation I have witnessed!
That's a story for another time. Now, even with these television stations that broadcast the games, many people still naturally want to watch the games live.

The Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has also issued policies in this regard. Factories and units in various base cities will arrange for their employees to watch the games in batches in an organized manner. Time restrictions have also been imposed on residents who come to watch the games. This is also to ensure that most people have the opportunity to watch the games in person through reasonable arrangements.

Even if you couldn't be there in person or missed the live stream, there were still minivans and pickup trucks with projectors and screens playing videos in every residential area that night. This activity actually existed long before the summit, and it would play classic films, war documentaries, and sometimes it would be accompanied by performances by cultural troupes in the grassroots.

As dusk fell, men, women, and children of all ages in the residential area brought their own stools and sat around the screen to watch a movie. Children ran around all around, and this atmosphere truly evoked memories for many older residents.

In general, in order to ensure that the major goal of guiding social values ​​can be effectively achieved, the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps has put a lot of effort into publicity.

With many preparations in place, the extraordinary contestants selected from various regions have also arrived one after another.

Within the city of Xinfu Base, there are over two thousand contestants from various grassroots organizations. Accompanying them into the high walls are even more extraordinary individuals. Some smaller teams often have one person participate while the whole family comes to the city.

In the main square, some extraordinary individuals holding their competition credentials had already arrived. There were specially set up viewing platforms and rest areas, but the contestants had no intention of resting. Their purpose in coming here early was to observe many potential future opponents.

"Brother, look, the corpse collectors are here too!"

As a group of superhumans dressed in black arrived, Zou Qing whispered something to Zou Ping, who was also participating in the competition.

Not only did they discover this team, but many people present felt a chill run down their spines, their eyes fixed on them with apprehension.

The reason is simple: the "corpse collectors" that Zou Qing mentioned are a well-known team from the Xinfu area.

For a long time, these people have been dealing with corpses. Similar tasks have been issued to various military units. When frontline soldiers are expanding into dangerous areas, they often don't have time to deal with the zombies they kill. In fact, many places still haven't completely dealt with the zombies killed when establishing safe zones.

With hundreds of millions of zombies to deal with, the disposal of corpses alone has spawned a sizable 'industry'. Within the safe zone, crematoriums operate day and night, while outside the safe zone, numerous teams are also busy with this task. These teams are considered the main 'employment direction' for civilian fire-type superhumans.

Although they often followed behind the front-line troops, they were not entirely without danger. Sometimes, zombies would slip through their fingers. Without the powerful equipment of the regular army, these people also developed considerable skills.

It is possible that the burning of too many human remains caused the members of these teams to have somewhat distorted personalities, making them unpopular with other civilian groups.

As if sensing their watchful gaze, the leader of the group of men in black looked up in their direction and then walked straight over.

The conversation paused, and the Zou brothers frowned. They weren't afraid of their opponents; in terms of strength and influence, they were roughly equal.

They were still some distance away when they heard the other person say from afar, "Isn't this the scavenger? What, couldn't find anything outside, so you've come to the safe zone to screw things in?"

As groups active in the same region, the two sides have had some minor frictions, which are not enough to turn them into enemies, but they are not very polite to each other when they meet.

The other party's leader was named Wu Xu. His words made Zou Ping's face darken; he had hit a nerve. Teams like theirs, who relied on collecting various supplies from city ruins to trade with the safe zone, were not in as good a situation as before.

After searching for half a year, most of the easily accessible supplies had already been taken by various groups. If they wanted to find anything else, they would have to go further away from the safe zone and face greater dangers.

Stopping Zou Qing, who wanted to argue with him, he retorted, "I'd like to ask you vultures if you've been starving and have come to the city to beg for food."

Wu Xu snorted coldly, and Zou Ping's words also implied their current predicament.

With the deployment of various jet weapons, which are almost equivalent to gale generators, to the front-line troops, they can now cleanly dispose of zombie corpses during combat. The corpse disposal departments within the safe zone have also adopted the relevant technology, greatly improving their efficiency.

Although he was unhappy, Wu Xu couldn't lose his composure. He said firmly, "No matter what, we can still do this line of work for a few more years. Once we brothers have made enough money in these few years, we can go back to the safe zone and live a comfortable and prosperous life."

"People like you should probably find out in advance which factories are short of workers!"

The bustling crowds, driven by profit and loss, came to the area outside the safe zone primarily to make a quick buck, just as he said. No one gets rich without windfall gains, and even if a superhuman honestly found a job in the safe zone, their earnings wouldn't compare to their adventures in the dangerous zone.

Moreover, not everyone is a genius, and ordinary superhumans need a lot of resources to improve their strength.

After exchanging a few words, the two sides were on the verge of conflict when someone came over.

The person who took the initiative to act as a peacemaker between the two parties was not weak either. He was the captain of a transport team named Qi Lei, a third-level wind-type ability user. He usually took on some missions to transport supplies. Of course, he could not go to too far places and could only run some relatively safe transportation routes, but this was already a great testament to his strength.

"Brothers, calm down. This isn't outside. Don't actually start a fight."

Zou Ping and Wu Xu turned their gazes over and saw that it was Qi Lei. They were still willing to show him some respect.

"Actually, I came here this time to take this opportunity to discuss some things with my two brothers." Qi Lei pulled one of them to each side and led them to the rest area to sit down.

“Everyone has their difficulties. Although we in the transportation business are a bit better off, we still encounter many problems.” Qi Lei spoke candidly: “I’ve always had an idea, but I’ve been unable to realize it due to limitations. I came here this time to see if we can cooperate with the two of you.”

“The city’s ordinary supplies have been almost completely looted, and the danger has been reduced to an acceptable level. Now you yourselves know that this job is not a long-term solution.”

"But general resources have become scarce, while the stock of steel in cities is huge, and there is always demand in the safe zone. Although the Corps has its own people collecting it, they have other things to do after all. The market gap that exists is a great opportunity."

Zou Ping exchanged a glance with Wu Xu across from him, then turned his gaze back to Qi Lei, offering no rebuttal but waiting for what was to come.

Qi Lei smiled. He had done his research beforehand and knew that these two were motivated to make a change. He said, "My idea is that the three of us should merge and then bring in some other people to do business in this area. I have a car, and your teams are quite strong."

"Brother Zou has many body-enhancing ability users under his command, making it easy for them to carry and pull things, and they are also quite familiar with the urban terrain."

"Captain Wu's fire-type superhumans are also very strong. They can be used to destroy buildings, and the stronger ones can even melt gold and iron directly."

"With our three parties joining forces, we have no trouble making this deal!"

Zou Ping and Wu Lei locked eyes again, their eyes clearly showing their interest. Finally, they said, "This is a big deal. We'll discuss it with the brothers in our team later, and we'll talk about it in detail after the competition!"

"no problem."

The group exchanged smiles, realizing that the truth was pretty much confirmed.

Such exchanges are not only being conducted by their own side. The Grand Competition is an opportunity for many extraordinary individuals who rarely meet in normal times to gather here. Many of them did not come to win a prize in the Grand Competition; their initial goal was to use this opportunity to communicate with each other.

There were people from different groups discussing cooperation, people offering their services to find jobs, and even people coming here to find a partner.

After Zou Ping and the others chatted for a while, they heard a broadcast coming from outside.

"Military superhumans are about to enter! Let's go see what's going on!"

(End of this chapter)