Chapter Summaries

Chen Mo urged the resurrected Zachary Taylor to look beyond revenge and prepare to help end slavery through war. Taylor regained hope when Chen Mo promised that he could join the fight and revealed that he possessed Eternal Life.

• Zachary Taylor despaired over the political forces that had opposed him, and Chen Mo asked whether he wanted revenge.
• Taylor dismissed revenge as futile and admitted that slavery could not be abolished without defeating the powerful Slave Owners.
• Chen Mo declared that war, not political compromise, would end slavery and predicted that it would happen in fifteen years.
• Chen Mo offered Taylor the chance to join Victor and James in the future war, rekindling Taylor's desire to fight.
• When Taylor worried that age and frailty would keep him from the battlefield, Chen Mo promised to restore his youth and revealed that he possessed Eternal Life.

After reviving Zachary Taylor, Chen Mo offered him the future governorship of a central bank Chen Mo planned to control, turning the bankers’ plot against Taylor into a source of satisfaction. Taylor then confronted Victor for digging up his grave and unexpectedly struck him with surprising strength.

• Chen Mo told Zachary Taylor that his body would recover and offered him the future governorship of a central bank he intended to control.
• Zachary Taylor agreed that taking charge of the bankers’ planned institution would be satisfying, and Chen Mo left him to rest.
• Victor told Zachary Taylor that he and James had dug him out of his coffin, provoking Taylor’s anger.
• Victor taunted Taylor by asking whether he wanted to be buried again, and Taylor leaped from bed to attack him.
• Zachary Taylor struck Victor on the head, astonishing Victor, James, and himself with the force of the blow.

Zachary Taylor discovered that his resurrection had restored his strength and challenged Victor to a fight, though Victor ultimately beat him. Zachary left the room contemplating his newfound power and Victor’s superior combat skill.

• Zachary Taylor struck Victor with surprising speed and strength, then realized his body was rapidly regaining its vitality.
• Zachary and Victor traded insults about fighting for America and the central bank until James reminded them to stop arguing and fight.
• Victor initially held back, but fought at full strength after taking several punches and defeated Zachary, leaving them both bruised.
• Victor mocked Zachary and refused to serve as his guard unless Zachary could beat him, while Zachary abruptly left the room.
• As Zachary went downstairs, he reflected that resurrection had made him nearly Victor’s equal in strength, but Victor’s experience and technique had won the fight.

Chen Mo injected Zachary Taylor with the Improved Super Soldier Serum to make him younger and stronger. Zachary endured the serum’s excruciating effects as Chen Mo waited for the enhancement to finish.

• Victor and James had grown to three times an ordinary person’s strength, while Zachary Taylor had gained similar abilities after becoming an immortal vampire.
• After Victor mocked him, Zachary Taylor went to Chen Mo, who confirmed he could make him younger and stronger.
• Zachary Taylor agreed to the procedure, and Chen Mo produced a silver injector and administered the Improved Super Soldier Serum.
• The serum’s effects spread through Zachary Taylor’s body, causing intense pain, while Chen Mo sat nearby and waited for the enhancement to complete.

Chen Mo oversaw Zachary Taylor’s weakened Super Soldier Serum enhancement while Victor and James tried to persuade him to enhance them too. Chen Mo said they would receive the stronger version when they were older, and Taylor’s treatment ended with him looking about twenty years younger.

• Victor and James came downstairs and asked Chen Mo about Zachary Taylor’s painful transformation.
• Chen Mo told Victor he would have to serve as President Taylor’s bodyguard, prompting Victor to realize Taylor might now defeat him.
• Victor and James asked Chen Mo to enhance them, but Chen Mo scolded them for bullying Taylor and said they were too young for the stronger treatment.
• Victor accepted Chen Mo’s decision, and he and James watched as Zachary Taylor’s enhancement finished.
• Zachary Taylor’s pain faded, and his face appeared about twenty years younger.

Zachary Taylor completed the Improved Super Soldier Serum enhancement, which combined with his undead nature transformed his appearance and physique far more than expected. After eating more than twenty steaks to replenish the energy the process consumed, he finished recovering and emerged stronger than before.

• Chen Mo observed that Zachary Taylor’s transformation was far greater than those of other people enhanced with the Improved Super Soldier Serum, likely because of the effects of undead blood.
• Zachary Taylor woke with a younger appearance, a taller and leaner body, and greatly improved vision and strength.
• When Zachary Taylor’s stomach began to growl, Chen Mo sent Victor to take him to the dining room for steaks.
• Zachary Taylor devoured steak after steak, and Victor joked that he might eat himself to death like the historical president before rushing to hurry the kitchen along.
• After eating more than twenty steaks, Zachary Taylor replenished his energy, filled out with defined muscles, and completed his enhancement.

After Zachary Taylor was transformed and joined Chen Mo’s ranks, Victor explained the vast scale of Chen Mo’s land, industrial wealth, and hidden Native American fur-trading network. Henry Clay sought to recruit Chen Mo into the Whig Party, but Chen Mo saw little value in joining a party already in decline.

• Zachary Taylor settled at Chen Mo’s Brooklyn Manor, called him “boss,” and prepared to help with the coming war and the future central bank.
• Victor told Zachary Taylor that Chen Mo owned enormous tracts of land across the United States and controlled extensive mining, steel, machinery, and shipbuilding interests.
• Victor explained that Geronimo’s Lakota and other Native American tribes had grown to more than ten thousand people and monopolized the fur trade while remaining hidden from public view.
• Henry Clay contacted Chen Mo to recruit him into the Whig Party after learning of his wealth and banks.
• Chen Mo saw little reason to join the Whigs, whose influence was waning after the deaths of Presidents Harrison and Taylor and growing divisions over slavery.

Chen Mo funded marginalized anti-slavery Whig members, bringing them together into a growing faction that waited for a chance to challenge slavery. After the Whig Party’s 1852 defeat and Henry Clay’s death, the faction gained more members and became a cohesive force amid the party’s collapse.

• Chen Mo joined the Whig Party and funded young members who opposed slavery, while Henry Clay welcomed his support and saw no threat to his control.
• Chen Mo helped marginalized members leave Congress, return to their home states, and continue political work while staying in contact with him.
• The anti-slavery members formed a faction around Chen Mo, sharing his belief that slavery would eventually be abolished and war between North and South would come.
• In 1852, Millard Fillmore failed to secure the Whig nomination, and Henry Clay nominated Winfield Scott, whose campaign ended in a crushing defeat.
• Henry Clay died during the campaign, and conflicts over slavery and a central bank left the Whig Party fragmented and ineffective.
• Former Whig members joined Chen Mo’s faction, which grew into a united group and gained influence within the fractured party.

Chen Mo helped establish the Republican Party and backed Abraham Lincoln as its leader while the conflict over slavery intensified. In 1856, a mysterious visitor arrived at Brooklyn Manor to meet Chen Mo and was struck by a painting in his study.

• Chen Mo guided Northern Whigs and other anti-slavery factions in forming the Republican Party, while the Whig Party collapsed and Abraham Lincoln became the new party's leader.
• Armed conflict broke out in Kansas as Southern Slave Owners attempted to expand slavery there.
• A tall, gaunt stranger arrived at Brooklyn Manor and was escorted to Chen Mo's study by Zachary Taylor.
• The stranger wondered why Zachary Taylor seemed both familiar and like a battle-hardened general before knocking on Chen Mo's door.
• After entering the study, the stranger was captivated by an oil painting of Blackrock Castle and charging Knights.

A visitor admired a strange, lifelike painting in Chen Mo’s study before Abraham Lincoln came to discuss the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Chen Mo warned Lincoln that the country was not yet ready for a Republican victory or war over slavery, and urged him to wait for the right moment.

• The visitor studied a painting of a black-robed knight charging a castle before bowing respectfully to Chen Mo.
• Chen Mo asked Lincoln about the Republican Party’s strength, and Lincoln said it could contend with the Democrats for the presidential nomination.
• Chen Mo asked whether slavery could be abolished peacefully, and Lincoln agreed that Southern slave owners would never surrender their interests without conflict.
• Chen Mo warned Lincoln that citizens were not prepared for war and that the Republican Party’s anti-slavery platform could cost it the election.
• Lincoln asked whether the party’s platform was wrong, and Chen Mo said its principles were right but its timing was not.

Chen Mo told Abraham Lincoln that he would become the next president and end slavery, then advised him on Republican Party preparations. As Lincoln left, he noticed a sword matching one in Chen Mo’s painting and saw Zachary Taylor chase Victor and James out to resume their training.

• Chen Mo told Abraham Lincoln to wait for the political crisis to grow and predicted Lincoln would become the next president and end slavery.
• Chen Mo instructed Lincoln on the Republican Party’s plans and suggested that he grow a beard; Lincoln took his leave.
• Lincoln spotted a silver greatsword matching the weapon in a painting in Chen Mo’s study and wondered whether the painted scene had really happened.
• Lincoln saw Zachary Taylor confront Victor and James for slacking off and order them back to training.

After seeing Zachary Taylor discipline Victor and James, Lincoln suspected that Chen Mo’s butler was the supposedly dead president and that Chen Mo was an immortal medieval knight. As Lincoln rode away, he concluded that Chen Mo’s powers and history were beyond ordinary understanding.

• Zachary Taylor caught Victor and James slacking, sent them back to train, and escorted Lincoln from the estate.
• Lincoln recognized Zachary Taylor’s voice, mannerisms, and resemblance to the late president, and heard Victor and James call him “Old Taylor.”
• Lincoln connected Chen Mo’s painting and Knight’s Greatsword to the medieval Black Robe Knight, whom he believed was Chen Mo.
• Lincoln recalled Chen Mo’s unchanged appearance over ten years, his control of Native Americans, and the explosion at John Jacob Astor’s mansion, strengthening his belief that Chen Mo was immortal and powerful.
• As his carriage carried him through the fields, Lincoln reevaluated Chen Mo as a figure beyond ordinary human understanding.

Chen Mo reflected on his old friends and his plan to obtain mutant abilities through William Stryker, while Abraham Lincoln’s visit and the Republican Party’s 1856 campaign suggested Lincoln had correctly recognized Chen Mo’s extraordinary circumstances. The chapter left the Republicans campaigning against slavery without fully committing their resources, despite predicting that Southern slave owners would try to expand slavery nationwide.

• Chen Mo considered how Lincoln had deduced the truth about him and concluded that revealing his strength posed little danger in this world.
• Chen Mo recalled friends and trusted subordinates from the Underworld and Iron Man worlds, especially Selena and old Eddie, and hoped to bring them to the real world.
• Chen Mo resolved to wait for an opportunity to reach William Stryker and acquire mutant abilities.
• After Abraham Lincoln secretly visited Chen Mo, the Republican Party nominated John Fremont for the 1856 presidential election.
• The Republican Party campaigned against slavery but held back its strongest resources and predicted that Southern slave owners would try to spread slavery across the United States.

After the Supreme Court’s Scott Decision made slavery legal across United States territory, northern opposition surged and the Republican Party rose to dominate Congress. As the next presidential election began, Abraham Lincoln gained overwhelming public support, leaving the Republican Party poised to defeat the Democrats.

• The Democratic Party’s James Buchanan won the 1856 presidential election and took office in March 1857, choosing compromise on slavery.
• On March 6, 1857, the Supreme Court ruled in the Scott Decision that Dred Scott was not a citizen and that Congress could not prohibit slavery in any territory.
• The decision provoked fierce northern protests, intensified the conflict over slavery, and helped drive John Brown to launch an uprising to free southern Black slaves.
• As unrest grew, the Republican Party gained control of Congress and its platform called for abolishing slavery and freeing Black slaves in the South.
• Abraham Lincoln won overwhelming public support in the new presidential campaign, while the Democratic Party’s pledge to preserve stability drew anger as a compromise with Slave Owners.

As the Civil War began, Zachary Taylor, Victor, and James joined the Union army while Chen Mo’s vast business empire continued to expand under his team’s management. Left at Brooklyn Manor, Chen Mo began organizing his abilities and assessed how his physical strength had grown to eight times that of an ordinary person.

• Abraham Lincoln’s election and the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter led to the outbreak of the Civil War.
• Zachary Taylor, Victor, and James left Brooklyn Manor and joined the Northern Union army.
• Chen Mo entrusted his growing businesses to his team and had Tom pursue a patent for a four-stroke internal combustion engine.
• Chen Mo stayed at the manor to assess and train his abilities, which had reached eight times ordinary human physical capabilities.
• Chen Mo could lift over 1,100 kilograms, run at more than 100 kilometers per hour, and withstand ordinary handgun and rifle fire without serious injury.

Chen Mo focused on studying and refining Gun Fu, intending to integrate it with his superior swordsmanship and martial arts into a complete combat system. With his plans in the United States largely settled and his exceptional ability to learn, he had ample time to train and optimize his fighting skills.

• Chen Mo judged his physical strength insufficient to face nations and armies, and viewed his equipment as useful but unreliable external protection.
• He decided to focus on improving his combat techniques while waiting for the century-long plan that he expected would greatly enhance his body.
• Chen Mo reviewed how he had combined modern fighting techniques, Chinese martial arts, Church swordsmanship, and Alexander Corvinus's experience into his own powerful styles.
• After learning Gun Fu in the world of "Equilibrium," Chen Mo planned to integrate its battlefield analysis and combat methods with his own swordsmanship and martial arts.
• With his arrangements in the United States largely complete, Chen Mo set aside time to master and optimize Gun Fu, relying on his exceptional intellect and learning ability.

Chen Mo spent the Civil War era refining Gun Fu and his fighting techniques while Victor and James fought on the Union side. A century later, Brooklyn had grown around Chen Mo’s unchanged manor, and Victor and James still could not defeat Zachary Taylor, so they went back to Chen Mo.

• Chen Mo studied and improved Gun Fu, combined it with his martial arts and swordsmanship, and considered new uses for his Adamantium Throwing Knives.
• The Civil War lasted four years, and Victor, James, and Zachary Taylor fought in the conflict while Chen Mo remained at Brooklyn Manor.
• A century passed, and the fields surrounding the secluded manor became the densely built borough of Brooklyn, though the manor grounds remained much as before.
• Victor and James rode across the manor grounds dressed as cowboys, still unable to match Zachary Taylor despite their gains in strength during the Civil War.
• By 1913, Victor still could not defeat Zachary Taylor, whose Super Soldier Serum and Undying Blood gave him an advantage, so Victor and James went to Chen Mo for help.

Victor and James received the Enhanced Super Soldier Serum, then grew stronger through combat in World War I and World War II before returning to Brooklyn Manor as cowboys. After Abraham Lincoln summoned them to the study, they headed inside to learn what their master wanted.

• Chen Mo gave Victor and James the Enhanced Super Soldier Serum, which greatly increased their strength and regenerative abilities.
• Victor and James joined World War I and improved their regenerative abilities amid the fighting.
• During World War II, Victor and James charged through gunfire at Normandy, helping the US Army land successfully.
• After the war, Victor and James returned to Brooklyn Manor, trained with Chen Mo, and herded cattle across the estate.
• Abraham Lincoln told Victor and James that their master wanted to see them in the study.

Lincoln was assassinated by John Booth shortly after the Union won the Civil War, but after Chen Mo revived him, Lincoln suspected a hidden force had orchestrated the killing. The chapter revealed that European bankers had arranged the assassination as part of a plan to divide the United States, provoke war, and seize control of its economy.

• John Booth learned Lincoln would attend a performance at Ford's Theatre and gathered accomplices to assassinate him.
• Booth entered Lincoln's unsecured box while his guards were absent and shot the President, then escaped before being found and killed in Virginia.
• After Chen Mo revived Lincoln at Brooklyn Manor, Lincoln questioned whether Southern slave owners were behind the assassination.
• Chen Mo's information led Lincoln to suspect that European bankers had secretly manipulated Booth and the circumstances of the killing.
• The European bankers planned to split the United States and provoke a war that would burden the government with debt and give them control of its economy.

Chen Mo refused Lincoln’s request for financial support and advised him to issue government currency, disrupting the Rothschild family’s plans to profit from the Civil War. After Lincoln’s assassination and the abolition of his currency policy, Chen Mo let events stand while recognizing that he could later destroy the financial families behind them.

• Solomon Rothschild and August Belmont backed opposing sides of the Civil War while secretly serving the Rothschild family’s interests in the United States.
• When Lincoln’s government faced financial ruin, bankers offered loans at interest rates of 24% to 36%, and Lincoln sought Chen Mo’s help.
• Chen Mo refused to lend money and suggested that Lincoln have the government issue its own currency.
• The bankers arranged for John Booth to assassinate Lincoln, and Congress subsequently abolished the currency policy and capped its issuance at four hundred million dollars.
• Chen Mo allowed those events to unfold, while the Rothschild family and other European financial families later suffered catastrophic losses during World War I.