347: Chapter 347 Three Resolutions

At the same moment.

Southern Jiangsu, Provincial First Affiliated Hospital, Special Care Ward.

5:12 AM.

Outside the window, the sky was still dark.

Only the small night light at the head of the bed was on in the ward, its lampshade covered with a layer of translucent cloth. Light fell on his mother's face; the outline of her cheekbones had thinned another circle compared to last month.

The monitor beeped steadily, rhythmically.

Su Mingyuan sat on the chair by the bed, a white towel padded on his knee. A half-peeled Red Fuji apple sat on the towel. The peel formed a single continuous strip, coiled between his fingers, unbroken.

The encrypted communicator on the table vibrated.

He glanced at the screen.

Elder Qin.

He put down the fruit knife and picked up.

"Elder Qin."

There were no pleasantries on the other end of the line.

"All of the USA's Eyes of Satan have been shot down."

Su Mingyuan didn't speak. He knew Elder Qin wasn't calling just to report results.

"They won't let this go," Elder Qin paused. "Plan B has been activated. Operation code: 'Lion Fighting Rabbit'. Taking off from both Yokosuka in Japan and Osan in the Stick Country, the target is you."

"Time window: within twenty-four hours."

The half-peeled apple was still in his hand. Su Mingyuan looked down at it, unmoving.

"They want to capture me?"

"Yes."

Then, the sound of paper flipping came from the other end.

"Don't leave the hospital for the time being."

Su Mingyuan's hand peeling the apple paused for a moment.

Elder Qin's tone left no room for negotiation as he continued:

"Defenses have been deployed at all hospital entrances and exits. Two combined arms brigades have finished moving into the three-kilometer outer perimeter. Ten KJ-600s are rotating overhead, and anti-aircraft positions have been pushed to within twenty kilometers of your bedside."

"Alright, everything will follow the organization's arrangements."

----

Beijing, western suburbs, third basement level of the Central Guard Bureau, meeting room.

Only seventeen people in all of Great Xia could enter this meeting room at any time.

Meetings were held in this room at most twice a month. Sometimes not even once.

This time—it was a temporary convening.

At 5:41 AM, the first Standing Committee Member arrived.

By 6:03 AM, all eleven summoned personnel had arrived.

The meeting table was oval-shaped, made of black marble, with a bronze national emblem embedded in the center.

There were no decorations around the emblem.

At exactly 6:00, the host pressed a button on the edge of the table.

The lights in the room automatically adjusted. The main screen lit up.

"Comrades," the host began, "this emergency meeting is for only two matters."

"The first—"

A distribution map of satellite debris popped up on the screen.

"The reconnaissance satellite constellation deployed by the USA over our country's eastern skies, code-named 'Eye of Satan', totaling twenty-three satellites, was completely dealt with between 4:23 and 4:24 PM Beijing time yesterday."

"The method of disposal is classified."

"Result: All twenty-three satellites are now defunct, and orbital debris is burning up in the atmosphere outside our borders. The international space situational awareness System's response to this event was delayed by seven minutes. Only after seven minutes did the ground radar stations of the USA, the Polar Bear, the EU, and the Third Brother successively capture the signal of the satellites losing contact."

"So far, we have not issued any public statement."

"The USA has not issued any public statement either."

The host paused.

"However, the USA has already reacted."

The screen switched to show a global naval posture map.

Red arrows extended from seven home ports around the world, pointing in the same direction—the Great Xia Western Pacific.

"At 5:11 AM Beijing time, the USA's Third, Fifth, and Seventh Fleets issued level-one combat readiness orders. Twenty-eight nuclear-powered aircraft carriers set sail, converging toward our country's East China Sea."

"At the same time—"

The screen switched again.

This time it was a 3D air defense posture map of the eastern coast.

On the map, red circles lit up at the locations of Yokosuka in Japan and Osan in the Stick Country.

"The USA's intelligence System has launched a special operations mission code-named 'Lion Fighting Rabbit'. The target—"

The host stopped for a moment.

"The target is Comrade Su Mingyuan."

No one in the room spoke. Every Standing Committee Member knew this name.

In the past year, Great Xia's industrial capacity tripled, military spending quintupled, the national Root Bone testing System, the Tianmen Base, and certain things they could only see code names for in the highest-level briefings—all came from this person.

This person's name is a level-one encrypted subject in the Great Xia high-level filing System.

"The USA believes that by capturing this person, Great Xia's reaction will at most be diplomatic protests plus economic countermeasures."

The host stopped here and looked around at everyone in the room.

"They judged wrong."

"But they will act on Comrade Mingyuan according to their judgment."

The room was silent for a few seconds.

Elder Qin coughed lightly and then looked up.

"We suggest—listing Comrade Su Mingyuan on the National Core Strategic Assets List."

Everyone's eyes in the room lifted simultaneously.

The National Core Strategic Assets List—for the past twenty years, this list has had only one item.

That was the Three Gorges Dam.

The Three Gorges Dam is under the absolute protection of all of Great Xia's nuclear forces.

Any attack against the Three Gorges Dam by any country, organization, or in any form will trigger Great Xia's nuclear counterattack mechanism. This rule was written into Great Xia's strategic white paper in the third year of the dam's construction, and the whole world knows it.

For the past twenty years, no country has attempted to cross this line.

Today, Elder Qin wants to add a second item to this list.

And this second item—is not a building, but a person.

Silence lasted for ten seconds.

Then the eldest Standing Committee Member spoke slowly.

"Old Qin."

"You know what this means."

"I know," Elder Qin said.

"It means we are placing a person—in the same position as the Three Gorges Dam."

"I know."

"It means the world's rules are to be rewritten."

"I know."

"It means that from today on, if anyone touches a single finger of this person, we must use nukes."

"If we don't, this card is useless. No one will ever believe Great Xia again."

"I know, I know all of this."

Elder Qin's voice didn't rise. But as soon as he said those words, the air in the room changed.

He closed the folder.

"Comrades."

"In the past, we have always been developing in silence because our strength was insufficient. We endured the trade war, the technological blockade, the South China Sea, the Island Country, and the Eye of Satan. We have endured for decades."

"Some say we are a paper tiger."

"We ourselves know that for a time, we really were just a paper tiger."

"But—"

"Today, when the USA reaches out to grab our person, we must make the whole world understand one thing."

He looked up, his gaze sweeping across every Standing Committee Member in the room.

"Great Xia is no longer the Great Xia of a hundred years ago."

The room fell silent once again.

But this silence was different from before.

The previous silence was one of weighing options.

This silence was one of tacit agreement.

The eldest Standing Committee Member closed his eyes, and after a long time, said one word.

"Good."

"Vote."

The electronic voting devices lit up.

Eleven green lights.

Passed.

The host began to read the resolution.

"Resolution Article One—"

"Effective immediately, Great Xia citizen Su Mingyuan is officially listed on the Great Xia National Core Strategic Assets List."

"Resolution Article Two—"

"At 10:00 AM tomorrow, the Great Xia Permanent Representative to the United Nations will go to the UN Headquarters to issue a special statement."

"Resolution Article Three—"

"If the USA's 'Lion Fighting Rabbit' operation actually enters Great Xia's Air Defense Identification Zone, Great Xia will counterattack!"

The host paused.

"Leave no survivors."