[1910: The golden age of the British Empire, and the darkest era for the Chinese]
The docks of London's East End, shrouded in fog.
The “coolies” are locked below deck and shipped like livestock. Ahead of them lie mines, railway construction sites, and indenture debts that can never be repaid.
Chen Chuan is one of them.
A young man from Guangdong, tricked into coming here by a fellow countryman. He's skin and bones and can't speak a word of English.
Until a soul from a hundred years in the future opens his eyes.
This is an era when people's hearts are laid bare.
Everyone has weaknesses, everyone has desires, and everyone has secrets they'd rather keep hidden.
Chen Chuan can see them all.
He starts out in a cramped laborers' shack by the docks
Trading a piece of information for a gang's protection;
Using a secret to pry open a banker's safe;
Turning a petition into a means of making a politician his puppet.
While white men are still mocking the “Yellow Peril,”
a vast network woven by the Chinese has already begun to quietly envelop all of Great Britain.
London's gangs? They'll collect protection money for me.
Scotland Yard? They'll be my enforcers.
The Bank of England? They'll keep my books.
The royal aristocracy? They'll pour my wine.
And all this is only the beginning.
“Mr. Chen, would you like to see the prime minister?”
“No. Let the prime minister come see me.”
In 1914, the spark that will ignite the First World War is about to catch.
Standing in the shadows of Downing Street, Chen Chuan gazes at the map of Europe.
He intends to play this game of chess himself.
