Special forces soldier demobilization: Starting from the county government compound, a meteoric rise

The air in the entire conference room seemed to have been sucked out, plunging into a suffocating silence.

The smug smile on the face of the US chief representative, Smith, had frozen into a perfect sculpture. He even maintained a slightly forward-leaning posture, as if he was about to accept Liu Ming's surrender at any moment.

The group of blond, blue-eyed negotiation experts behind him also adopted a relaxed expression of watching a good show. In their view, the negotiations were over, and Chinese technology companies were about to become fish on their chopping board.

Unfortunately, what they got was not Liu Ming begging for mercy.

Instead, it was a soft laugh.

The laughter was soft, yet it was like an invisible steel needle, instantly piercing through the oppressive atmosphere carefully created by all the foreign representatives present.

Liu Ming leaned back slowly in her chair, her slender fingers tapping rhythmically on the mahogany table, making a "tap, tap, tap" sound, as if it were a countdown to the end of this great show.

"Sanctions? That sounds like a terrible word." Liu Ming's tone was devoid of anger or tension, only a kind of languid, almost playful tone.

He raised his eyelids, his deep, icy eyes sweeping over the astonished faces opposite him, and spoke calmly, "Mr. Smith, I'm curious, who gave you the courage to think that a single sanctions order could strangle China?"

Smith's smile froze. He couldn't understand why this excessively young Chinese official could remain so calm at this point. This wasn't in line with the script! According to their calculations, Liu Ming should be furious at this moment, or at least requesting an emergency adjournment with a grave expression.

"Mr. Liu, I must remind you, this is no joke!" Smith forced a commanding presence, his voice unconsciously rising a few decibels. "Once the sanctions are implemented, over 70% of your nation's high-tech companies will face a shortage of core components within three months! This will be a disaster!"

"Oh, what a disaster..." Liu Ming drawled out, then snapped her fingers.

His assistant, Xiao Li, a capable-looking young woman wearing gold-rimmed glasses, immediately understood. She took out a thick, beautifully bound stack of documents written entirely in English from a black briefcase marked "Top Secret".

On the cover of the document, there is a line of eye-catching gold lettering: "Declaration of Independent Intellectual Property Rights and Global Patents for P-79 Type Strategic Mineral Supercritical Extraction Technology".

With steady steps, Xiao Li placed the document in front of each foreign representative as if distributing death sentences.

The "thud" of the paper hitting the table sounded particularly jarring in the deathly silent conference room.

Smith frowned as he picked up the document, initially dismissive, assuming it was just another Chinese-style protest or a pointless statement. But when his gaze swept over the title, especially when he saw "Globally Unique Patent" and that frighteningly long technical serial number, his blue pupils suddenly contracted.

As a senior official in the Ministry of Commerce in charge of technology trade, he understood better than anyone what the P-79 strategic mineral meant. It was the "lifeblood" of all cutting-edge manufacturing, from turbine blades in aerospace engines to photoresists for the latest generation of quantum chips, all of which relied on this extremely rare material whose purification technology was firmly monopolized by a few Western giants.

"What...what does this mean?" Smith's voice trembled slightly, a tremor he himself was unaware of.

A muffled, intermittent rustling sound of papers being turned filled the conference room. The foreign experts, who had been so arrogant just moments before, now looked as if they had seen a ghost, their faces draining of color at a visible speed.

"The meaning is very simple." Liu Ming finally stopped tapping his fingers on the table, leaned forward slightly, interlaced his fingers on the table, and stared intently at Smith with eyes as sharp as a hawk's.

His voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable, overwhelming force.

"Regarding those rare strategic minerals that you think can be used to strangle us... I hereby formally inform you that China has independently developed the world's only, lowest-cost, and highest-purity 'ion exchange supercritical extraction technology'."

boom!

These words were like a bombshell, exploding in the minds of all the foreign representatives!

The documents in Smith's hands scattered on the floor with a clatter. He jumped to his feet, exclaiming in shock, "Impossible! Absolutely impossible! This technological barrier is something your China will need at least twenty more years to... to even touch!"

"Twenty years?" Liu Ming's lips curled into an extremely contemptuous smile. "Mr. Smith, you know nothing about the speed of China's development."

He stood up, walked slowly to the huge world map in the center of the conference room, and pointed to several countries marked with red circles on the map—the homelands of Smith and most of the representatives present.

"According to our calculations, your countries' existing P-79 strategic mineral reserves, even if you completely cut off raw material imports from China, can at most sustain your high-end manufacturing operations for... ninety-seven days."

Liu Ming turned around, her smile turning cold and cruel.

"In other words, once you wield the big stick of sanctions against us, we won't need to retaliate at all."

Within three months at most, your aircraft will be unable to produce qualified engines, your chip factories will grind to a halt due to a lack of core photoresist, and your entire high-end manufacturing industry, which you are so proud of, will suffer a systemic, avalanche-like paralysis.

The balance of power was reversed in an instant!

The "sanction" that was just a deadly weapon has now become a Damocles' sword hanging over their own heads!

This is no longer a negotiation.

This is a unilateral verdict!

Smith's lips trembled, his face went from flushed to shockingly pale, and finally, to a deathly despair.

He could imagine the terrifying political and economic tsunami that would ensue once this news reached China. Those military-industrial giants and tech oligarchs he had offended would tear him apart!

He's finished.

The group of experts behind him slumped in their chairs, their eyes vacant, cold sweat soaking their expensive suits and shirts. They finally realized that they had been nothing but a clown from beginning to end.

They thought they were hunters wielding knives, unaware that from the moment they stepped into this conference room, they had fallen into a trap meticulously set by this Eastern dragon.

"Now..." Liu Ming walked back to her seat, slowly picked up the cup of tea that had long since gone cold, and took a small sip.

"Do you still want to talk about sanctions, Mr. Smith?"

Smith swayed violently, almost losing his balance. With all his might, he managed to squeeze out a sentence that sounded more like a sob, filled with boundless fear and pleading.

"Deputy Director Liu... no, Minister Liu! Please... please give us another chance! We... we'll talk again!"