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Storyline
Adopted from China as an infant, Victoria Solana, an average Canadian teenager, celebrates her sixteenth birthday growing up in a small, inconspicuous town in southern Ontario. All of a sudden, her peaceful world turns topsy-turvy. She must run from two armed men-in-black and an intimidating one-eyed stalker in relentless pursuit. Guided by a shady art dealer, she embarks on a dangerous journey to China to uncover the truth about her mysterious background. Victoria realizes her biological mother was a warrior in ancient China and her father was the chief of an influential nomadic tribe in another era. Victoria is separated from each of her parents by thousands of years. Moreover, she learns about a secret clan which has been intervening in pivotal historical events in China. They believe in an oracle about a cataclysmic catastrophe called the “Stopping Of The Sun.” The Apocalypse is at hand, and the secret clan believes Victoria is the long-awaited saviour. Time is running out, and humanity’s survival depends on the Canadian teenager evading her pursuers and reuniting with her parents. To Victoria's surprise, she learns she must achieve the impossible feat of stopping hundreds of millions of aliens from colonizing Earth. This science fiction/historical mystery evokes the spirit of Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang (adapted into the sci-fi movie Arrival) and The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin (adapted into a Netflix mini-series) on steroids. As a bonus, the reader will become an expert on China. Get your copy now. Carpe Liber—seize the book!
Reviews
“Blending mythology, science, and history, Man creates an ambitious narrative that throws many unsuspected obstacles in Victoria’s path. The plot interweaves modern Canadian culture with aspects of ancient Chinese and steppe civilizations, creating an absorbing, multilayered story uncommon in YA or fantasy fiction… Man’s writing is rich with surprising details … this exciting intellectual journey will keep readers engaged as they follow Victoria on a time-bending quest full of unexpected twists and turns.”
─ Booklife Review * Editor's Pick
"Delivered with intelligence—and hilarious fun ... fascinating and immensely entertaining novel."
(Bellatrix) “Blending ancient Chinese history, Confucianism, mythology, science fiction and humor may sound like a daunting task, but Peter Man makes it work well indeed ... Watch him grow.”
─ Grady Harp, Amazon Hall of Fame Top 100 Reviewer
"This book is a tongue in cheek adventure, laugh out loud funny at times, and ... highly educational. That the author has combined all of these things in this book is amazing."
─ V. E., Amazon Vine Voice Reviewer
"A major feat of story-telling … it is a tour de force."
─ M. Hernandez, Amazon Reader
"One hell of an amazing literary masterpiece… I am lost for words trying to write this review."
─ Elizabeth, Amazon Reader
"Absolutely fantastic! I would highly recommend anyone to read this."
─ Ivana S., Amazon Reader
"Almost every genre can be found in this book—romance, suspense, thriller, sci-fi, humor and many more. It was basically like riding a roller-coaster ... Absolutely recommended!"
─ Russ Ann, Amazon Reader
"This is a book that you need to read! ... and enjoy the crazy fabulous ride."
─ Rebecca Hill, Reedsy Editor
“Wild ride of a fantasy!!"
─ Dr. George Koo, author for Asia Times
"Everything you wanted to know about Chinese culture..."
─ Jeff J. Brown, author of the China Trilogy
"‘[this book] combines three of my favorite things: Canada, China, and Sci-Fi. Highly recommended!"
─ Dr. Godfree Roberts, author of Why China Leads the World
"Amazing historical and cultural facts about China..."
─ Dr. Francis Pang C.M., Member of the Order of Canada;
Chairman, Concord College of Sino-Canada
─ Booklife Review * Editor's Pick
"Delivered with intelligence—and hilarious fun ... fascinating and immensely entertaining novel."
(Bellatrix) “Blending ancient Chinese history, Confucianism, mythology, science fiction and humor may sound like a daunting task, but Peter Man makes it work well indeed ... Watch him grow.”
─ Grady Harp, Amazon Hall of Fame Top 100 Reviewer
"This book is a tongue in cheek adventure, laugh out loud funny at times, and ... highly educational. That the author has combined all of these things in this book is amazing."
─ V. E., Amazon Vine Voice Reviewer
"A major feat of story-telling … it is a tour de force."
─ M. Hernandez, Amazon Reader
"One hell of an amazing literary masterpiece… I am lost for words trying to write this review."
─ Elizabeth, Amazon Reader
"Absolutely fantastic! I would highly recommend anyone to read this."
─ Ivana S., Amazon Reader
"Almost every genre can be found in this book—romance, suspense, thriller, sci-fi, humor and many more. It was basically like riding a roller-coaster ... Absolutely recommended!"
─ Russ Ann, Amazon Reader
"This is a book that you need to read! ... and enjoy the crazy fabulous ride."
─ Rebecca Hill, Reedsy Editor
“Wild ride of a fantasy!!"
─ Dr. George Koo, author for Asia Times
"Everything you wanted to know about Chinese culture..."
─ Jeff J. Brown, author of the China Trilogy
"‘[this book] combines three of my favorite things: Canada, China, and Sci-Fi. Highly recommended!"
─ Dr. Godfree Roberts, author of Why China Leads the World
"Amazing historical and cultural facts about China..."
─ Dr. Francis Pang C.M., Member of the Order of Canada;
Chairman, Concord College of Sino-Canada
Preface
In the beginning, when chaos reigned, I wanted to write a book about two little-known topics, Canada and China. I remember telling someone in New York I was visiting from Canada, and she asked, "Where is it?" Also, whenever I switch on the idiot box to catch the breaking news, I get bombarded by a barrage of China China China, as the bugbear, not Panda bear, delivered by talking heads who know bupkis about China.
Considering I carry the genes of Chinese parents who left mainland China to live in Hong Kong, speak Cantonese and Mandarin, read and write both Traditional and Simplified Chinese scripts, studied Chinese history and literature, and lived and worked in mainland China for twenty years, I may know a thing or two about the country.
Furthermore, my father was a renegade communist from Yan'an, the headquarters of the Communist Party of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He wrote a historical novel based on his experience as a party cadre and performer at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts. I also lucked out and befriended people in China who had led extraordinary lives. A prime example was Sidney Rittenberg, an American who lived in China for thirty-eight years after the Second World War, of which sixteen were in prison. Sidney, who passed away in 2019, taught me much about China.
As the son of new immigrants trying to build a new life in a new city under adverse circumstances, I was fortunate to have received an excellent education at La Salle College, an English Catholic school in Hong Kong. Baptized at birth and confirmed at eight, I joined the Legion of Mary under the guidance of the iconic Brother Thomas in secondary school and led the Rosary at the school chapel during lunch breaks. I was so pious I once aspired to be a priest. But it was not meant to be. My zeal cooled when divine calling took my spiritual guide to a faraway land.
Later, my four years at McMaster University, with two living on Wallace, the rowdiest floor of the famous, or infamous, Whidden Hall residence, which inspired the classic campus comedy Animal House, convinced me to make Canada my home.
By a twist of fate, I pioneered and established Chinese language television for the Chinese Canadian communities across Canada. It was an adventure which led to my two-decade sojourn in China, working in the television and broadcast technologies industry and witnessing the country's meteoric rise. In short, I have countless Canadian and Chinese stories to tell.
Although writing about Canada is not particularly challenging, China is another matter. One must compete for attention amongst numerous authors who have been composing copious words in voluminous bestsellers on China, and my opinion, no matter how informed, would be buried under a profusion of poppycock.
Rather than taking on a thankless task, I decided to pivot to socioeconomics, despite never having received any indoctrination in the discipline. Frankly, I do not consider it a disadvantage, as my uncluttered mind is unencumbered by preconceptions.
While researching on the subject, I came across a quote from a Canadian economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, who admitted, “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.” Upon making this discovery, I gave up on the mundane and went for the stars, in other words, science fiction. I realized the sci-fi genre would unfetter my imagination to create faraway alien worlds, travel back and forth through time and predict the future without appearing to have lost my marbles.
Experts and well-meaning friends who knew about my vacillations advised me to stick to one genre and focus on one subject. I could not decide whether I should listen to them or my guts, if guts could talk. After wasting precious minutes on fruitless philosophical contemplation, I went where my guts took me, namely, the kitchen. As I unsealed the portal of the refrigeration unit and a burst of photons from the fridge light flooded my face, I had an epiphany, one similar to what struck René Descartes: “I think; therefore, I’ll have a beer.” I gave life to an idea and collapsed its Schrödinger Wave Function. I would write an oxymoronic fact-based science fiction with everything in it, including the organic craft beer and the kitchen sink.
I have enjoyed the arduous journey of creating this pièce de résistance. I must, however, warn treasure seekers they may not find a mother lode. They may hit a leaky pipe and encounter something unpleasant instead. On the other hand, prospectors with a discerning eye and an open mind will discover new ideas, new knowledge, new interpretations of history, new insight into the origin of human civilizations, new questions about the mysteries of our universe, new ways to understand oneself and the world, in other words, new ways to think, and a new theory for establishing a long-lasting peaceful Utopian society, a lofty aspiration previously deemed beyond the limits of human endeavour. In addition, the reader will learn many wild and woolly facts about Canada and China and be delightfully gobsmacked.
Before taking the plunge, I needed to be convinced my socioeconomic theory was not entirely frivolous, I submitted a concise thesis for review by the estimable Professor Justin Yifu Lin, the renowned dean of several economics institutes at Peking University, previous Senior VP and Chief Economist of the World Bank and the Vice Director of the National CPPCC Economics Committee, providing consultation to the Chinese government. Professor Lin parsed my thesis, concluding it was “logical and convincing.” Amen!
Since I'll be writing hard science fiction, and the story has quantum physics, time travel and artificial intelligence in the mix, I must ensure the science has some basis in fact and not all mumbo jumbo. Thanks to the favourable alignment of the stars, I have had the opportunity to pick the superior brain of a real scientist who happens to be my brother-in-law, Professor Peter Ramadge, director of Princeton University’s Center for Statistics and Machine Learning. Here’s a big shoutout to my brother Peter for humouring me and treating my outlandish ideas as worthy of scientific investigation.
For the benefit of readers of all shades and persuasions, I'm spinning this yarn as a fanciful fable, catering to the consummate consumer's insatiable desire for epicurean pleasures. Although it will not please everyone and may even irk the odd reader, it promises to be something completely different and to transform anyone who has the stomach to read it from cover to cover, if stomachs could read. As a bonus, the reader will become an expert on China. Carpe Liber--seize the book!
Book 2 of the Series: Bellatrix
The sequel delves into the connections between the planets Earth, Shangria and Betel. Lost in the past, Victoria tries to find her way back to the future by visiting the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, thus learning the answers to many of the mysteries in his book. By chance, she witnesses one of the greatest battles ever fought by an invincible general who may have been a Canadian.
Book 3 of the Series: Augenblick
Readers will explore the concept of establishing a perpetually peaceful society, travel across a realm oft visited by heroes, lovers, demigods, epic poets and daydreaming young girls, and learn how our decisions can reset what has already transpired in the past. All the answers await our arrival at the saga's grand finale.
Considering I carry the genes of Chinese parents who left mainland China to live in Hong Kong, speak Cantonese and Mandarin, read and write both Traditional and Simplified Chinese scripts, studied Chinese history and literature, and lived and worked in mainland China for twenty years, I may know a thing or two about the country.
Furthermore, my father was a renegade communist from Yan'an, the headquarters of the Communist Party of China during the Second Sino-Japanese War. He wrote a historical novel based on his experience as a party cadre and performer at the Lu Xun Academy of Fine Arts. I also lucked out and befriended people in China who had led extraordinary lives. A prime example was Sidney Rittenberg, an American who lived in China for thirty-eight years after the Second World War, of which sixteen were in prison. Sidney, who passed away in 2019, taught me much about China.
As the son of new immigrants trying to build a new life in a new city under adverse circumstances, I was fortunate to have received an excellent education at La Salle College, an English Catholic school in Hong Kong. Baptized at birth and confirmed at eight, I joined the Legion of Mary under the guidance of the iconic Brother Thomas in secondary school and led the Rosary at the school chapel during lunch breaks. I was so pious I once aspired to be a priest. But it was not meant to be. My zeal cooled when divine calling took my spiritual guide to a faraway land.
Later, my four years at McMaster University, with two living on Wallace, the rowdiest floor of the famous, or infamous, Whidden Hall residence, which inspired the classic campus comedy Animal House, convinced me to make Canada my home.
By a twist of fate, I pioneered and established Chinese language television for the Chinese Canadian communities across Canada. It was an adventure which led to my two-decade sojourn in China, working in the television and broadcast technologies industry and witnessing the country's meteoric rise. In short, I have countless Canadian and Chinese stories to tell.
Although writing about Canada is not particularly challenging, China is another matter. One must compete for attention amongst numerous authors who have been composing copious words in voluminous bestsellers on China, and my opinion, no matter how informed, would be buried under a profusion of poppycock.
Rather than taking on a thankless task, I decided to pivot to socioeconomics, despite never having received any indoctrination in the discipline. Frankly, I do not consider it a disadvantage, as my uncluttered mind is unencumbered by preconceptions.
While researching on the subject, I came across a quote from a Canadian economist, John Kenneth Galbraith, who admitted, “The only function of economic forecasting is to make astrology look respectable.” Upon making this discovery, I gave up on the mundane and went for the stars, in other words, science fiction. I realized the sci-fi genre would unfetter my imagination to create faraway alien worlds, travel back and forth through time and predict the future without appearing to have lost my marbles.
Experts and well-meaning friends who knew about my vacillations advised me to stick to one genre and focus on one subject. I could not decide whether I should listen to them or my guts, if guts could talk. After wasting precious minutes on fruitless philosophical contemplation, I went where my guts took me, namely, the kitchen. As I unsealed the portal of the refrigeration unit and a burst of photons from the fridge light flooded my face, I had an epiphany, one similar to what struck René Descartes: “I think; therefore, I’ll have a beer.” I gave life to an idea and collapsed its Schrödinger Wave Function. I would write an oxymoronic fact-based science fiction with everything in it, including the organic craft beer and the kitchen sink.
I have enjoyed the arduous journey of creating this pièce de résistance. I must, however, warn treasure seekers they may not find a mother lode. They may hit a leaky pipe and encounter something unpleasant instead. On the other hand, prospectors with a discerning eye and an open mind will discover new ideas, new knowledge, new interpretations of history, new insight into the origin of human civilizations, new questions about the mysteries of our universe, new ways to understand oneself and the world, in other words, new ways to think, and a new theory for establishing a long-lasting peaceful Utopian society, a lofty aspiration previously deemed beyond the limits of human endeavour. In addition, the reader will learn many wild and woolly facts about Canada and China and be delightfully gobsmacked.
Before taking the plunge, I needed to be convinced my socioeconomic theory was not entirely frivolous, I submitted a concise thesis for review by the estimable Professor Justin Yifu Lin, the renowned dean of several economics institutes at Peking University, previous Senior VP and Chief Economist of the World Bank and the Vice Director of the National CPPCC Economics Committee, providing consultation to the Chinese government. Professor Lin parsed my thesis, concluding it was “logical and convincing.” Amen!
Since I'll be writing hard science fiction, and the story has quantum physics, time travel and artificial intelligence in the mix, I must ensure the science has some basis in fact and not all mumbo jumbo. Thanks to the favourable alignment of the stars, I have had the opportunity to pick the superior brain of a real scientist who happens to be my brother-in-law, Professor Peter Ramadge, director of Princeton University’s Center for Statistics and Machine Learning. Here’s a big shoutout to my brother Peter for humouring me and treating my outlandish ideas as worthy of scientific investigation.
For the benefit of readers of all shades and persuasions, I'm spinning this yarn as a fanciful fable, catering to the consummate consumer's insatiable desire for epicurean pleasures. Although it will not please everyone and may even irk the odd reader, it promises to be something completely different and to transform anyone who has the stomach to read it from cover to cover, if stomachs could read. As a bonus, the reader will become an expert on China. Carpe Liber--seize the book!
Book 2 of the Series: Bellatrix
The sequel delves into the connections between the planets Earth, Shangria and Betel. Lost in the past, Victoria tries to find her way back to the future by visiting the author of Dream of the Red Chamber, thus learning the answers to many of the mysteries in his book. By chance, she witnesses one of the greatest battles ever fought by an invincible general who may have been a Canadian.
Book 3 of the Series: Augenblick
Readers will explore the concept of establishing a perpetually peaceful society, travel across a realm oft visited by heroes, lovers, demigods, epic poets and daydreaming young girls, and learn how our decisions can reset what has already transpired in the past. All the answers await our arrival at the saga's grand finale.
The content provided herein are for reference only, all of which are protected by copyright laws, and may not be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping, or by any information retrieval system, and any other operation covered by copyright laws, in whole or in part without the author's expressed written consent, except in the case of brief quotations, embodied in critical articles and reviews.
This is a work of fiction. All of the character, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
This is a work of fiction. All of the character, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously.
Book One
Unconquered
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Before the Fall
Victoria realizes the mythical creature of truth, the unicorn, exists.
Chapter 2: There Are No Accidents
There is no such thing as an accident, only the illusion of one.
Chapter 3: Unbreakable China Doll
Did Victoria survive because of luck or was it a miracle?
Chapter 4: Riddle me This
Can the reader help Victoria solve this riddle?
Chapter 5: Sub Rosa
A ring, a jade pendant and ancient glyphs.
Chapter 6: Weird Sisters
Victoria and her best friends Jackie and Emma.
Chapter 7: War of the Wolves
A decisive battle between the Eastern Wolves and the proto-Huns two thousand years ago.
Chapter 8: The Onslaught
A Homeric battle and the fate of the northern tribes.
Chapter 9: The Warrior Queen
Three thousand years ago, during Shang Dynasty, China's first known warrior queen pursues a northern barbarian tribe.
Chapter 10: The Unicorn Rings
The warrior queen and her jade archer rings from a one-eyed trader.
Chapter 11: Room 929
Victoria meets David Huang, the art dealer.
Chapter 12: Flight of Fancy
Victoria flies to China in a private jet.
Chapter 13: Freefall
Victoria jumps out of the plane mid-flight without a parachute.
Chapter 14: Running on Empty
It is not about Jackson Browne’s song or Sidney Lumet’s film starring the late River Phoenix.
Chapter 15: Sign of the Scorpion
A young man with a scorpion tattoo becomes the chief of a Wolf tribe.
Chapter 16: Heart of the Dragon
The new chief worships Antares of Scorpius, known in China as the "‘Heart star of the Dragon constellation."
Chapter 17: Rising from the Ashes
The Eastern Wolf thrives under the leadership of the young chief.
Chapter 18: The One-eyed Apothecary
The young chief meets an itinerant one-eyed doctor and his idiot companion.
Chapter 19: Oblique Order
The warrior queen's handmaid introduces innovation and guile in battle.
Chapter 20: Twilight of the Gotts
The handmaid decisively defeats the barbarians.
Chapter 21: The Tuman's Banner
The handmaid makes peace.
Chapter 22: What's in a Name?
David explains his background and ancient lineage.
Chapter 23: Empire of Lies
David proves everything we know are lies.
Chapter 24: Wealth of a Nation
Making use of virtual reality technology, David takes Victoria to the South China Sea.
Chapter 25: Fall of an Empire
Victoria witnesses the last battle of the Second Opium War.
Chapter 26: Yellow Stone
Victoria learns of the secret clan and the oracle of the apocalypse.
Chapter 27: Year of the Dragon
1976 is a year of epochal change.
Chapter 28: The One-eyed Collector
Along their VR journey, David takes Victoria to his first auction.
Chapter 29: No. 1 Corn Gas
Two men in black known as Watchers interrogate the gas station attendant.
Chapter 30: Field of Dreams
David and Victoria plan for Christmas dinner at Field in the Rockies.
Chapter 31: Sudden Death
David takes Victoria to the VR battlefield to witness the fall of Shang.
Chapter 32: Confucius and the Secret Shang
Victoria learns the true background of Confucius.
Chapter 33: Wormwood
Victoria learns the true story of her adoptive parents.
Chapter 34: Hill of Beans
In 1974, a young man hiking alone in the mountains of western China is ambushed.
Chapter 35: Paradise Lost
The story of the captive and his captor.
Chapter 36: Lovers' Leap
The young man escapes with his captor.
Chapter 37: Rise of the Peasant
David takes Victoria to the last days of the Qin Empire in the metaverse.
Chapter 38: Alchemist's Cauldron
China is overrun by neighbouring barbaric tribes after the fall of Han.
Chapter 39: Girl Power
David takes Victoria to the capital of Tang Dynasty.
Chapter 40: Stone Man With One Eye
After the fall of Tang, a secret clan member founded the Song Dynasty. Later, a beggar monk establishes the Ming Dynasty.
Chapter 41: The One-eyed Fablemonger
The runaway couple from the mountains of west China arrives at Anyang, the site of Shang's ancient capital.
Chapter 42: The Dragon’s Dream
The young man dreams of a wonderful future with his lover.
Chapter 43: Betrayal
In the VR metaverse, David takes Victoria to the Palace of Versailles during the Paris Peace Conference.
Chapter 44: The Long March
A huge Chinese Nationalist army encircles the peasant militia of the Chinese Communists.
Chapter 45: Turning Red
An unsung Communist peasant general brings a swift end to the Chinese Civil War.
Chapter 46: Brobdingnagian China
David and Victoria arrive at China and head for Shanghai.
Chapter 47: Doing a Hudsucker
David and Victoria are trapped by the Watchers at the top of the Shanghai Tower.
Chapter 48: Next Stop, Gaffer's
Victoria goes to her next destination at a touristy place in Shanghai.
Chapter 49: Dangal with Tiger
Victoria meets Charlie and Viola Chan and learns about Gaffer’s Café.
Chapter 50: The Pianist from Gamma Crucis
Victoria learns about extraordinary contemporary women from China.
Chapter 51: The Awakening
Victoria arrives at the suburbs of Anyang where she finds David's father.
Chapter 52: Invictus
David's father wakes and recalls events before his coma.
Chapter 53: Quantum Leap
Victoria travels to a quantum state of the past.
Chapter 54: Grand Unification
Victoria reunites with her biological parents.
Chapter 55: Revelation
Victoria's parents decipher the oracle and learn its true meaning.
Chapter 56: AlphaOmega
Victoria is challenged by AlphaOmega, a powerful AI, to a dangerous duel of wits.
Chapter 57: Apocalypse
Victoria pinch hits for the Toronto Blue Jays' last at-bat. The end of humanity is at hand.
Unconquered
Table of Contents
Chapter 1: Before the Fall
Victoria realizes the mythical creature of truth, the unicorn, exists.
Chapter 2: There Are No Accidents
There is no such thing as an accident, only the illusion of one.
Chapter 3: Unbreakable China Doll
Did Victoria survive because of luck or was it a miracle?
Chapter 4: Riddle me This
Can the reader help Victoria solve this riddle?
Chapter 5: Sub Rosa
A ring, a jade pendant and ancient glyphs.
Chapter 6: Weird Sisters
Victoria and her best friends Jackie and Emma.
Chapter 7: War of the Wolves
A decisive battle between the Eastern Wolves and the proto-Huns two thousand years ago.
Chapter 8: The Onslaught
A Homeric battle and the fate of the northern tribes.
Chapter 9: The Warrior Queen
Three thousand years ago, during Shang Dynasty, China's first known warrior queen pursues a northern barbarian tribe.
Chapter 10: The Unicorn Rings
The warrior queen and her jade archer rings from a one-eyed trader.
Chapter 11: Room 929
Victoria meets David Huang, the art dealer.
Chapter 12: Flight of Fancy
Victoria flies to China in a private jet.
Chapter 13: Freefall
Victoria jumps out of the plane mid-flight without a parachute.
Chapter 14: Running on Empty
It is not about Jackson Browne’s song or Sidney Lumet’s film starring the late River Phoenix.
Chapter 15: Sign of the Scorpion
A young man with a scorpion tattoo becomes the chief of a Wolf tribe.
Chapter 16: Heart of the Dragon
The new chief worships Antares of Scorpius, known in China as the "‘Heart star of the Dragon constellation."
Chapter 17: Rising from the Ashes
The Eastern Wolf thrives under the leadership of the young chief.
Chapter 18: The One-eyed Apothecary
The young chief meets an itinerant one-eyed doctor and his idiot companion.
Chapter 19: Oblique Order
The warrior queen's handmaid introduces innovation and guile in battle.
Chapter 20: Twilight of the Gotts
The handmaid decisively defeats the barbarians.
Chapter 21: The Tuman's Banner
The handmaid makes peace.
Chapter 22: What's in a Name?
David explains his background and ancient lineage.
Chapter 23: Empire of Lies
David proves everything we know are lies.
Chapter 24: Wealth of a Nation
Making use of virtual reality technology, David takes Victoria to the South China Sea.
Chapter 25: Fall of an Empire
Victoria witnesses the last battle of the Second Opium War.
Chapter 26: Yellow Stone
Victoria learns of the secret clan and the oracle of the apocalypse.
Chapter 27: Year of the Dragon
1976 is a year of epochal change.
Chapter 28: The One-eyed Collector
Along their VR journey, David takes Victoria to his first auction.
Chapter 29: No. 1 Corn Gas
Two men in black known as Watchers interrogate the gas station attendant.
Chapter 30: Field of Dreams
David and Victoria plan for Christmas dinner at Field in the Rockies.
Chapter 31: Sudden Death
David takes Victoria to the VR battlefield to witness the fall of Shang.
Chapter 32: Confucius and the Secret Shang
Victoria learns the true background of Confucius.
Chapter 33: Wormwood
Victoria learns the true story of her adoptive parents.
Chapter 34: Hill of Beans
In 1974, a young man hiking alone in the mountains of western China is ambushed.
Chapter 35: Paradise Lost
The story of the captive and his captor.
Chapter 36: Lovers' Leap
The young man escapes with his captor.
Chapter 37: Rise of the Peasant
David takes Victoria to the last days of the Qin Empire in the metaverse.
Chapter 38: Alchemist's Cauldron
China is overrun by neighbouring barbaric tribes after the fall of Han.
Chapter 39: Girl Power
David takes Victoria to the capital of Tang Dynasty.
Chapter 40: Stone Man With One Eye
After the fall of Tang, a secret clan member founded the Song Dynasty. Later, a beggar monk establishes the Ming Dynasty.
Chapter 41: The One-eyed Fablemonger
The runaway couple from the mountains of west China arrives at Anyang, the site of Shang's ancient capital.
Chapter 42: The Dragon’s Dream
The young man dreams of a wonderful future with his lover.
Chapter 43: Betrayal
In the VR metaverse, David takes Victoria to the Palace of Versailles during the Paris Peace Conference.
Chapter 44: The Long March
A huge Chinese Nationalist army encircles the peasant militia of the Chinese Communists.
Chapter 45: Turning Red
An unsung Communist peasant general brings a swift end to the Chinese Civil War.
Chapter 46: Brobdingnagian China
David and Victoria arrive at China and head for Shanghai.
Chapter 47: Doing a Hudsucker
David and Victoria are trapped by the Watchers at the top of the Shanghai Tower.
Chapter 48: Next Stop, Gaffer's
Victoria goes to her next destination at a touristy place in Shanghai.
Chapter 49: Dangal with Tiger
Victoria meets Charlie and Viola Chan and learns about Gaffer’s Café.
Chapter 50: The Pianist from Gamma Crucis
Victoria learns about extraordinary contemporary women from China.
Chapter 51: The Awakening
Victoria arrives at the suburbs of Anyang where she finds David's father.
Chapter 52: Invictus
David's father wakes and recalls events before his coma.
Chapter 53: Quantum Leap
Victoria travels to a quantum state of the past.
Chapter 54: Grand Unification
Victoria reunites with her biological parents.
Chapter 55: Revelation
Victoria's parents decipher the oracle and learn its true meaning.
Chapter 56: AlphaOmega
Victoria is challenged by AlphaOmega, a powerful AI, to a dangerous duel of wits.
Chapter 57: Apocalypse
Victoria pinch hits for the Toronto Blue Jays' last at-bat. The end of humanity is at hand.
