Chapter Summaries

Chen Mo followed a large armed party from the American Fur Company through the forest and discovered that they were attacking the Lakota tribe. The chapter ended as the armed men faced more than fifty Lakota warriors at the tribe’s outskirts.

• Chen Mo explored the forest with Victor and James, trading for furs and teaching the boys to fight.
• Chen Mo heard footsteps and found more than thirty armed men from the American Fur Company traveling without trade packs.
• Chen Mo held Victor and James back and followed the armed group for two days.
• The group reached the Lakota tribe, where its warriors spotted the intruders and took up bows, arrows, and spears.
• The armed men charged into the tribe and were confronted by more than fifty Lakota warriors, while their bearded leader stepped forward contemptuously.

Chief Geronimo faced an armed American Fur Company party demanding tribute and continued monthly fur payments after the Lakota refused to trade with them. Rejecting the threat rather than submit, he stepped to the front of his warriors with a spear.

• The American Fur Company leader demanded five hundred beaver pelts as compensation and at least two hundred more every month, threatening to destroy the Lakota tribe if they refused.
• Chief Geronimo recalled how Chen Mo had traded them affordable, useful supplies, including kerosene lamps, leaving them with little reason to trade with the American Fur Company.
• The company sent a larger armed party to retaliate after the Lakota rejected its last purchasing party, seeking to force the tribe back into its fur trade.
• Chief Geronimo chose to face the company’s threat rather than submit, took a spear, and walked to the front of the Lakota formation.

Chief Geronimo and the Lakota warriors prepared to fight the American Fur Company, but two clawed children ambushed the armed men and slaughtered many of them. The middle-aged leader recognized their wounds and ordered his men to stop shooting and use bayonets as the attackers closed in.

• Chief Geronimo prepared to order the Lakota warriors to attack as the American Fur Company leader readied his men to fire.
• Two agile, clawed figures attacked the American Fur Company’s armed men from behind, throwing their ranks into chaos.
• The two attackers killed nearly half the force while the panicked men fired wildly and wounded their own companions.
• The American Fur Company leader realized the attackers were children with blade wounds and ordered his men to use bayonets.

Victor and James slaughtered the American Fur Company's armed force despite its leader ordering the men to use bayonets. Chief Geronimo prepared to join the fight, but Chen Mo stopped him and told him to leave the battle to the two.

• The middle-aged leader recognized that muskets could not stop Victor and James and ordered his men to attack them with bayonets.
• Victor and James tore through the American Fur Company's armed force, killing more than half its men as the survivors panicked.
• The men stabbed Victor and James with bayonets, but the two pushed through their wounds, killed their attackers, and resumed the slaughter.
• Chief Geronimo recognized Victor and James and raised his spear to order the Lakota tribe to help them.
• Chen Mo appeared beside Chief Geronimo, stopped him from giving the order, and said the two could handle the fight themselves.

After Victor and James killed the American Fur Company's armed team, Chief Geronimo asked Chen Mo to protect the Lakota tribe from the company's expected retaliation. Chen Mo agreed, leaving the tribe's hopes in his hands.

• Chief Geronimo recognized Chen Mo's group as the people behind the rumors of two boys slaughtering the American Fur Company's armed teams.
• Victor and James finished off the attackers, and the Lakota tribe welcomed them and Chen Mo as honored guests.
• Chief Geronimo warned Chen Mo that the American Fur Company would send a stronger force to avenge its dead team.
• Chief Geronimo asked Chen Mo to save the Lakota tribe, and Chen Mo nodded in agreement.

Chen Mo accepted Chief Geronimo and the Lakota tribe as his subordinates, then reorganized his fur-trading plans around them. He armed the tribe with advanced muskets, leaving them prepared to defend themselves as he continued his original plan to train two children.

• Chen Mo accepted Geronimo's pledge, took the Lakota tribe under his protection, and told them to call him Boss.
• Chen Mo organized one hundred Lakota warriors and youths into ten teams to trade for furs across the Missouri forests.
• Chen Mo distributed Springfield Model 1842 muskets to the Lakota, including those staying behind to defend the tribe.
• Geronimo and the Lakota tribespeople knelt in shock at Chen Mo's ability to produce the muskets from thin air and called it the power of God.
• Chen Mo remained focused on training the two children, with fur trading serving as a secondary activity.

Chen Mo equipped the Lakota tribe with flintlock rifles and supplies, strengthened their loyalty, and reorganized fur purchasing to help Victor and James locate American Fur Company personnel. The ten armed teams set out to trade for furs and scout for enemies, while the rest of the tribe sorted the supplies Chen Mo had produced.

• Chen Mo assigned the Lakota purchasing teams to search for American Fur Company armed personnel and report their locations to Victor and James.
• Chen Mo used his spatial ability to provide the Lakota with hundreds of flintlock rifles, winning their loyalty and giving the tribe new means to defend itself.
• Chen Mo produced a huge stockpile of trade goods and daily necessities, astonishing the Lakota and prompting them to worship him.
• Victor and James watched the Lakota's reverence for Chen Mo and privately compared it with the fear their claws inspired.
• Chen Mo sent out ten teams of five warriors and five youths, armed with muskets, traditional weapons, and supplies, to purchase furs.
• The remaining Lakota began sorting the supplies Chen Mo had produced.

The Lakota tribe stored the supplies Chen Mo had provided and sent out purchasing teams that traded them for large quantities of furs. When a team reported finding an American Fur Company purchasing party, Victor and James eagerly awaited a fight, while Chen Mo considered how their healing powers might strengthen them through battle.

• Chief Geronimo led the Lakota tribespeople in building tents to store the supplies Chen Mo had given them.
• The first purchasing team returned with loads of furs after trading successfully with nearby tribes.
• A young Lakota purchasing-team member reported that they had found a purchasing team from the American Fur Company.
• Victor and James eagerly looked to Chen Mo for a chance to fight.
• Chen Mo reflected on his theory that Victor and James grew stronger when their self-healing powers repaired battle injuries.

Chen Mo assessed the limits and potential of Victor and James’s healing abilities, concluding that their hearts and brains remained vulnerable but that battle could strengthen both their bodies and recovery. After the Lakota party found armed men from the American Fur Company, Victor and James prepared for another fight while Chen Mo stayed behind.

• Chen Mo determined that Victor and James could not yet survive damage to their hearts or brains, though stronger healing might eventually let them recover from otherwise fatal injuries.
• Chen Mo observed that their healing abilities and physical condition improved together through repeated injury, regeneration, and battle.
• Chen Mo resolved to give Victor and James more opportunities to fight so they could advance their strength and combat skills.
• The Lakota tribe's fur purchasing party discovered traces of armed personnel from the American Fur Company, giving Victor and James another chance to fight.
• Victor and James were thrilled at the prospect of battle, but Chen Mo did not accompany them.

Victor and James grew strong enough to fight the American Fur Company's armed teams with little help from Chen Mo, who left them in Lakota territory to continue training and eliminate the remaining enemies. Chen Mo returned to New York with a warehouse full of furs and instructed Tom's commercial team to sell them.

• Victor and James fought off an American Fur Company force of more than sixty men in the forest, and Chen Mo saw that they could handle the battle without his intervention.
• Chen Mo returned to New York with nearly a thousand cubic meters of furs, leaving Victor and James with the Lakota tribe to continue their training and the fight against the company.
• Chen Mo gave Chief Geronimo responsibility for continuing the fur trade with the Native Americans.
• Chen Mo stored the furs in a secluded Manhattan warehouse and returned to his hotel.
• Tom reported that his team had continued buying land near New York, and Chen Mo told them to pause acquisitions and handle the furs.

Tom’s team sold Chen Mo’s furs through American and European markets, raising funds for his land acquisitions. Chen Mo bought Brooklyn and Queens from Benson and moved into the manor on his new Brooklyn property.

• Tom discovered the warehouse full of valuable furs and organized their sale through European and domestic markets.
• As fur sales brought in money, Chen Mo’s acquisition team negotiated with Benson and bought his more than 250-square-kilometer Brooklyn farm.
• Benson offered to sell his Queens land, and Chen Mo later acquired it at an even lower price.
• Chen Mo left his downtown New York hotel and moved into the Benson family’s manor in Brooklyn.
• Lakota warriors, rather than Victor and James, delivered the furs from the Missouri region.

Chen Mo’s Native American warriors arrived in New York with wagons of goods, revealing his challenge to John Jacob Astor’s Missouri trade monopoly. Astor identified Chen Mo’s private business team as the key to defeating him and prepared to use his influence against it.

• Chen Mo’s Native American warriors escorted more than a dozen wagons from Missouri to New York after defeating armed gangs on the way.
• The convoy’s arrival alerted John Jacob Astor that Chen Mo was undermining his control of the Missouri region.
• Astor recognized that Chen Mo had subdued the Native American tribes and equipped them with muskets, but believed he could defeat Chen Mo in New York.
• Astor investigated Chen Mo’s business operations and learned that a private team managed his land purchases and fur sales.
• Astor concluded that turning Chen Mo’s business team against him would leave Chen Mo with nothing.

John Jacob Astor failed to bribe Chen Mo’s business team, whose members stayed loyal, and grew jealous of Chen Mo’s ability to trust them. When Chen Mo began buying land in The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island, Astor devised a new plan to exploit his land acquisitions.

• John Jacob Astor sent subordinates to bribe Chen Mo’s business team, but every member refused to betray Chen Mo.
• Astor ordered his men to try higher offers and threats, but the team remained loyal and unmoved.
• Chen Mo used the growing profits from his fur trade to buy land in The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island.
• Astor’s butler suggested Chen Mo was buying land to indulge a desire for status, and Astor agreed.
• Astor came up with a plan to help Chen Mo acquire land for his own purposes.

Chen Mo continued buying land despite John Jacob Astor’s efforts to drive up prices, convincing Astor that he was obsessed with acquiring the New York plots. After Astor bought up land across The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island and offered it for double the price, Chen Mo stopped buying, leaving Astor waiting for a sale that did not come.

• Tom reported that competitors had begun outbidding Chen Mo’s team for land in The Bronx, and Chen Mo ordered the team to keep buying at any price.
• Chen Mo’s team raised its offers, and John Jacob Astor escalated the contest to test Chen Mo’s resolve.
• Astor arranged for land in The Bronx to be sold at higher prices, and Chen Mo bought every plot offered without hesitation.
• Astor mobilized his resources to acquire land across The Bronx, Queens, and Staten Island, then doubled the prices and put the land up for sale.
• Chen Mo halted his acquisitions, and Astor’s butler entered his study to address him.

After John Jacob Astor realized Chen Mo had trapped him into buying land he could not resell, he sent gunmen to attack Chen Mo’s manor. Chen Mo intercepted them in his Iron Man suit and killed them with its missiles.

• John Jacob Astor learned that buyers had stopped purchasing land and realized Chen Mo had tricked him into tying up his funds.
• Furious, John Jacob Astor summoned Rex and abandoned his usual business methods in favor of violence.
• The following night, more than a dozen of John Jacob Astor’s gunmen rode toward Chen Mo’s manor in Brooklyn.
• Chen Mo descended in his Iron Man suit and blocked the gunmen’s path.
• Chen Mo fired Micro Auto-tracking Missiles from the suit’s shoulder pods, killing the gunmen and scattering their riderless horses.

Chen Mo killed the assassins sent after him, collected their bodies, and flew to New York. He crashed through John Jacob Astor’s mansion in his Iron Man suit, leaving Astor terrified and demanding to know what he was.

• Chen Mo spared the horses in the fields, collected the assassins’ corpses, and flew north toward New York.
• John Jacob Astor waited in his study, convinced that the assassins he had sent would kill Chen Mo.
• Chen Mo’s Iron Man suit smashed through the ceiling of Astor’s mansion and descended into the study.
• Astor stared at the armor in terror, bit his tongue to test whether he was dreaming, and asked what kind of monster Chen Mo was.

Chen Mo revealed himself to John Jacob Astor, killed him, and seized the land Astor had bought near New York. With more than half of the future city’s land under his control, Chen Mo made New York his base and turned his attention to acquiring western territory.

• Chen Mo emerged from the Iron Man suit and confronted John Jacob Astor, then revealed the bodies of Astor’s dead gunmen, including Rex.
• Chen Mo killed John Jacob Astor and destroyed his villa with an explosive shell, leaving the mansion and the bodies reduced to ashes.
• After Astor’s downfall, Chen Mo acquired his land near New York at a fraction of its original cost, despite widespread suspicion that he had caused the explosion.
• Chen Mo secured most of the land in the future five boroughs and surrounding New York City, establishing his base for the next hundred years.
• Chen Mo shifted his land-buying campaign westward to pursue the vast territories suited to animal husbandry.

Chen Mo expanded his landholdings across the undeveloped American West while the Lakota consolidated control of the Missouri fur trade and brought other tribes under his command. He sent Victor and James to confront the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, while he headed northwest to claim more land.

• Chen Mo bought vast tracts of land in the American West and established large ranches staffed by cowboys.
• The Lakota tribe expanded its fur trade, subdued neighboring tribes, and brought the Missouri region under Chen Mo's control.
• Chen Mo recalled Victor and James from the Missouri region and sent them to fight the Rocky Mountain Fur Company's armed men.
• Chief Geronimo took responsibility for the Lakota fur trade and expansion toward the Mississippi River basin.
• Victor and James entered the Rocky Mountains with more than a hundred Lakota warriors, who traded for furs and searched for the company's men.
• Chen Mo traveled northwest through Montana, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, claiming land in the sparsely settled territories.

Chen Mo traveled into the American West and built a chain of enormous ranches, becoming the largest landowner in the United States. By April 1846, his holdings stretched across a region still largely belonging to Mexico, as the Mexican-American War approached.

• Chen Mo led a supply convoy escorted by hundreds of Native American warriors into the western wilderness.
• Chen Mo bought vast tracts of land and established ranches across the West.
• Chen Mo personally oversaw interviews for the ranches’ first core employees, rejecting more than half of the applicants.
• Chen Mo recruited Native Americans, whites, and blacks as his ranch employees and became the largest landowner and ranch owner in the United States.
• By April 1846, the Mexican-American War was nearing, while Mexico’s political instability had produced more than forty governments since independence.

Chen Mo accepted that the United States would invade Mexico and planned to use the coming war to further train Victor and James. After Victor and James seized control of the Rocky Mountain fur trade, Chen Mo prepared to send them into the military, where the chapter left them poised to join the Mexican-American War.

• The chapter described Mexico’s political instability and economic weakness as the United States grew stronger and coveted its northern territories.
• Chen Mo decided not to interfere with the Mexican-American War and looked forward to using it to train Victor and James.
• Victor and James, aided by Native American warriors, killed more than half of Jim Breed’s armed personnel and took control of the Rocky Mountain fur trade.
• Victor and James’s strength and regenerative abilities improved through battle, though a gunshot to the brain could still erase their memories.
• Chen Mo prepared for Victor and James to join the military and fight in the Mexican-American War.