Completion of the Underground Palace

James had never missed cars and airplanes so much, yet he couldn't help but feel fortunate that this era at least possessed steam trains and a relatively sound railway system; he was grateful that Mr. Watt had improved the steam engine so early on.

After Christmas, James, along with Tom and Daniel, traveled to the United States to finalize details such as factory locations.

This time, James thoroughly indulged his craving for "spending money like water," using the Howlett family fortune to purchase vast tracts of land in New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Philadelphia.

Due to the intensifying domestic turmoil in the United States, land had become increasingly cheap, and these were all locations no one else had set their sights on. Everyone tried to stop James's crazy actions, but all to no avail.

If it weren't for the great distance and the chaotic political situation, he would have even wanted to go "shopping" in southern California and Texas.

This made Mr. Tom Waddell somewhat suspicious that he had misjudged this young Mr. Howlett; opening factories and running industries was not the same as being a plantation owner, where having more land was always better.

Nearly half a year of inspection and acquisition gave James a full understanding of the United States in this era, especially making him realize the injustice, discrimination, and even hatred that the mutant population would face in ordinary human society in the future.

Even in the American North, which leaned toward the abolition of slavery and was based on capitalist industry, Black people still had no so-called rights or dignity to speak of.

Aside from the Black slave population that had not yet been completely cleared out, every city had designated areas marked for Black people; restaurants, hotels, bars, and even restrooms were strictly segregated by color.

James felt this deeply because his grandfather, Mr. Howlett, was an out-and-out hater of Black people, not only due to ingrained narrow-minded racial ideology but also because his brother, who had died of illness, had been infected by a plague carried by a Black slave.

He knew clearly how difficult it was to eliminate such opposition rooted in cognitive origins.

In fact, James was just a martial artist; learning to be a plantation owner and a high-society businessman managing industries had already left him exhausted and overwhelmed.

The underground palace project had reached its final stage and could be delivered for use in three months at most. After Christmas, Dally Vernon had put all the workers who had finished other projects onto the Howlett Estate project, which greatly accelerated the completion speed of the underground palace.

He had to finish this strange cellar project as soon as possible so he could continue to secure the construction contracts for the six factories across four cities that James was about to start. Even for the largest construction contractor in Canada, this was a volume of business that could keep them fed for two or three years.

The equipment cast by boss Tom was basically finished and would be shipped to the estate one after another to be assembled in the underground palace; those big guys couldn't be moved in once assembled. And James's training could finally get on the right track.

Mr. Daniel decided to set off for Africa after one last month of preparation. It was a journey of unknown duration, and his agreement with James was, to some extent, merely a gentleman's pact.

Daniel promised to do his best to find Wakanda; if things went quickly, there might be news in a year or two, but if it could not be found, he had the right to decide when to terminate the mission.

In the blink of an eye, the weather turned cold. Two months ago, James bid farewell to Mr. Daniel and his party of seventeen. This exploration team included nine family riders who had been building the foundation with the Howlett family since his grandfather's generation, responsible for the safety of the entire team, especially Mr. Daniel.

There were three Black slaves purchased from different regions of Africa; James promised that they would regain their freedom from the moment they agreed to this mission, and they would receive a considerable sum upon their return.

There were also four experts skilled in wilderness survival, such as medicine and cooking. After arriving in Africa, they would hire local guides and porters to carry their gear and supplies.

In the early autumn of 1857, James, the first person to touch the trajectory of history in this world, slowly reached out his hand.

Construction on the factories in the United States began one after another. Herbert Vernon ultimately could not swallow all the projects at once; James required the six factories to be built and completed simultaneously in succession, so a well-known construction company in Washington took on the construction of two of the factories.

At this time, the Western world was in the transition period between the First and Second Industrial Revolutions; the steam engine era had reached its peak, while the internal combustion engine had yet to appear. Among these six factories, three were steel mills producing various mechanical raw materials, two were machining plants, and one was an enigmatic "mechanical experimental factory."

Entering a brand-new industrial field was not something one could do well just by having money to buy land and build factories. James had spent only a small portion of his previous six months of inspection on site selection and land acquisition; more of it was spent acquiring poorly managed steel mills and processing plants, finalizing mineral raw material channels, and understanding the American industrial market—all extremely tedious matters.

After sending off Mr. Daniel, he went to various parts of the United States for more than two months to handle numerous affairs. He also hired professional geological surveyors to explore the Howlett family's land in Canada for ores; the family was acting like a wound-up spring, in a tense and busy manner.

If everything went smoothly, the major factories would officially start production in a year, allowing this plantation and livestock owner to gradually transform into an emerging industrial tycoon.

Finally, this winter, James had arranged all matters properly and could have some free time to train his fist techniques and also rest assured to accompany his grandfather through his final days.

Mr. Howlett was now completely bedridden and could only eat liquid food. The butler Vane and O'Hara took care of him around the clock during the day, and the old man's surviving brothers who could still walk would take turns sitting by his bedside every day to talk to him for a while.

Most of the time, Mr. Howlett could only struggle to breathe, making "ho... ho..." sounds to respond. Every night after dinner, James would personally feed the old man, wipe his body, and sit in meditation by his side until dawn.

He hoped that the only relative in this world whom he truly held in his heart would not be alone in his bed facing the vast, dark night when the moment of departure came, but would instead be able to see his beloved grandson and pass away in contentment.

About thirty meters deep beneath the Howlett Estate, in a massive space nearly the size of two modern soccer fields—thirteen thousand square meters and nine meters high—a roar like a pile driver echoed.

This was an underground palace divided into multiple spaces and structures. In a training ground converted from a space of about two thousand square meters, James, his body bare and looking as if it were twisted from steel bars, was punching and kicking a giant steel "mace" about five meters high, occasionally striking with his shoulders, elbows, and knees, his figure flickering and rising.

In the quiet, deep underground space, basins of charcoal fire and torchlight illuminated the surroundings. After nearly half an hour of tireless, dense striking, James landed a final heavy punch on it, slowly withdrew his fist, and circled around to examine his "sandbag," completing today's warm-up exercise.

"The quality is quite good." He nodded with satisfaction. "With my current strength, I can only leave a shallow mark even when I go all out; it's not enough to 'spin' the Iron Stake yet, but it will be enough for a long time..."

He called this giant mace-like steel creation, which resembled a Wing Chun wooden dummy, the "Iron Stake." To move this giant stake, it would require an impact force of over three tons, which was still far from enough.

After checking, James walked to the side to a steel rack piled with thick barbell plates, shouldered a special iron rod as thick as his forearm, and performed basic modern strength training movements like squats and deadlifts, constantly adding weight to test the limits of his current physical strength.

"Five hundred and twenty kilograms for squats, five hundred and eighty kilograms for deadlifts. My current body weight is approximately one hundred and thirty kilograms, more than four times my own body weight..." James held a pen and recorded the relevant data in a notebook, muttering to himself.

A healthy ordinary person can reach a strength level of twice their body weight through a certain intensity and duration of strength training, while top athletes can reach three times or a bit more. Once in this realm, every additional kilogram is a hurdle; this is the limit of human physical strength.

James's data had completely exceeded this limit, and this was even while he had not yet fully tapped into his body's potential. Today, he needed his fist techniques to reach a state of perfection—not like before, where he understood the application of force and mastered his entire body's tendons, bones, skin, and membranes—but he had to reach the bottom of his own physical limits and unearth his potential.