Great Xia

Biodata

Background / History

Great Xia’s citizens are among those stranded when the Mysterious Zones appear, including dozens of tourists aboard a luxury cruise ship and Zhang Ming, the lone survivor on a deserted island. Officials initially prioritize earthquake rescue, the flow of information and supplies, and action against food hoarding rather than trying to conceal the widely visible mirages 3.

Disrupted shipping initially gives Great Xia a relative advantage because of its unusually complete industrial supply chains. Nevertheless, repeated earthquakes drive unemployment upward, destroy housing, and undermine banking and production. After the deaths of the survivors in Mirage No. 15 and the North Sea earthquake, the government accelerates military recruitment and inland construction 5 12 28 30.

Government and Institutions

National Resources and Economy

• Industrial capacity: Great Xia possesses the most complete industrial supply chains, giving it an early advantage as tsunamis and Mysterious Zones make maritime freight increasingly dangerous 5.
• Inland refuge: Its vast inland territories offer places to retreat from disasters. Most regions initially lie outside seismic zones and suffer comparatively limited damage 6 10.
• Food reserves: Broadcasts report enough stored grain to feed the entire population for one year without further production. A strict Ever-Normal Granary system helps prevent starvation despite economic paralysis 30 35.
• Coal resources: Reported coal resources total 1.3223 trillion tonnes, with basic reserves of 244 billion tonnes. Coal-based chemical production is promoted to slow industrial decline and increase employment 40.
• Economic strain: Within a month, real estate collapses, mortgage defaults and bank runs spread, and prices soar. Gold rises thirtyfold, silver twentyfold, and electronics generally rise two to five times or more 30.

Financial Controls

Disaster Response and Reconstruction

Major Threats

• Mirage No. 15’s laughter: Observers lose control of their bodies while watching the fishermen’s deaths. Great Xia suppresses most images of the mirage to reduce the chance of renewed exposure 27 28.
• North Sea earthquake: A magnitude 9.7 earthquake damages oil fields and threatens extensive oil and gas leaks. Experts forecast accelerated warming and a possible sixty-meter sea-level rise within ten years, which would also inundate Great Xia’s coastal cities 27.
• Kunlun Mountains phenomenon: A mysterious Buddhist radiance causes witnesses to fall unconscious; after awakening, they describe visions of the world’s end 32.
• Resource conflict: Li Xianfeng warns that shrinking resources and population pressure could intensify international tensions 49.

Supernatural Research

Early Investigation

• Researchers estimate approximately one thousand superpowered people within Great Xia, of whom about six hundred have been located. Most possess physical abilities such as immense strength, regeneration, long-range vision, or exceptional hearing 19.
• The first investigated ability users share unusually strong senses even before awakening. Many describe an internal warm current that existing medical equipment cannot detect 19.
• Researchers provisionally name the mysterious element “spirit.” They hypothesize that higher concentrations in the Mysterious Zones make complex powers easier to awaken, but acknowledge that the mechanism remains unverified 19.
• Zhang Ming’s beach message—“Eating crab meat makes you stronger!”—prompts domestic experiments using mutant flesh 35.

Mutant Flesh and Awakening

Recruitment and Training

• The New World Supernatural Laboratory offers three to ten million yuan to ability users who volunteer for experiments, and rewards of up to ten million yuan for leads on mutant creatures 42.
• A research base is planned near the Pacific boundary, with superpower training and research scheduled to begin within a month 48.
• Li Xianfeng proposes five floating platforms to support monthly deployments of soldiers into the Mysterious Zone, with places also offered to neighboring countries 49.

Mysterious Zone Exploration and Rescue

Satellite findings lead Academician Ge to conclude that the four Mysterious Zones are connected and that Earth has been embedded in a vast parallel world. His explanation attributes the survivors’ distant locations to a one-time spatial displacement during the initial event, rather than an effect that still occurs whenever someone enters a zone 48.

Relationship with Zhang Ming

• National morale: Officials fear that Zhang Ming’s death would severely damage public confidence. Viewers increasingly regard his survival as a contest undertaken on Great Xia’s behalf 12 14.
• Possible national consequences: After thirteen of the original sixteen survivor groups die within a month, disasters consistently strike their home countries. Officials therefore consider Zhang Ming’s rescue a matter of national protection as well as personal survival 34.
• Public following: Domestic interest remains strong even when foreign audiences lose interest. His meals, survival methods, and beach writing attract nationwide discussion 25.
• Indirect communication: Zhang Ming writes requests on the beach and receives relevant radio advice, including instructions for preserving crab meat. Officials later agree to broadcast information about a Faraday Cage in response to another request 24 40 48.
• Research contribution: His survival provides evidence for mutant-flesh experiments and prompts speculation that he may be a rare multi-ability user 35 49.

Key People and Partners

• Li Xianfeng — Minister and principal official responsible for Zhang Ming’s case; coordinates monitoring, broadcasts, exploration, and research cooperation 3 5 34 35.
• Academician Ge — Scientific adviser who explains the satellite findings and urges the rescue of Great Xia citizens in the two located teams 48 49.
• Professor Peter Greer — American parapsychology researcher and cooperation partner; exchanges research through Li Xianfeng and proposes that Zhang Ming possesses multiple abilities 35 49.
• Wang Fumin and Lu Tuyu — Civilians who independently send Zhang Ming a Mysterious Drift Bottle containing a letter, photographs, and medicine 19 20.