The Great Worm Lich

As the young man blew off his own trumpet, the girl next to him giggled loudly. “You really don’t know how to be humble, baby,” Tina commented before continuing to steer the steering wheel and turning into the crossroad heading to the slaughterhouse.

The SUV drove across 20 to 30 trucks that were lined up and when it was only more than ten meters away from the factory, security then hastily ran towards the car and blocked it. “I’m sorry but this is private property. Other than customers who have already made their reservations, everyone else…”

“Wow, is the management of the factory so strict now?” The young man sitting in the passenger seat turned his face and looked at the security guard outside the window.

“Ah!” Even though the security was a new employee, he still remembered Zhang Lisheng’s skinny face that had distinct characteristics printed on the cover of the LS Employee Handbook.

“I’m Zhang Lisheng, who is also the ‘private person’ who owns this ‘private’ property’.”

“Erm, I’m sorry, Sir! Please enter.”

“You don’t have to be sorry. You’re merely carrying out your duty. Thank you.” Zhang Lisheng rolled the window up again. “It’s already night time now, but the weather is still so humid. I think I must increase a little bonus to the patrolling security.”

“You’re really a kind boss. My dad never takes the initiative to increase anybody’s bonus. However, the tone that you talked to the employee just now sounded very much like him.” Tina grinned and drove into the factory, heading towards Zhang Lisheng’s two-story office building.

That night, the two of them developed the next expansion plan of the LS Group together with Charlie. After completing the draft, the general manager of the LS Group showed a lot of appreciation in Tina’s market strategy in seizing the eight metropolitan areas like Los Angeles and Chicago. After all, it completely aligned with his idea without prior consultation.

“My idea of developing the next expansion plan of the LS Group was gradually formed after I’ve started to manage the LS Group for half a year. I didn’t expect Miss Tina to actually come up with such an idea in your spare time in the middle of your college semester…”

“Charlie, we all know Tina is a business genius, so you don’t have to compliment her anymore and make her more proud of herself.” After finishing their business talk, Zhang Lisheng, who was standing next to the glass window, staring at the distant dark Atlantic Ocean while holding a can of Coke, chimed in, “Let’s talk about some other topics instead. What do you, or any friends of yours, think about the emergence of the supernatural realm?”

“Oh, Miss Tina! Look, my boss has started to get nervous because of your outstanding talent in doing business. In fact, he doesn’t have to be nervous at all because he’s a true super genius who only appears in every 100 years. I think you should be the ‘listener’ in this relationship of yours.”

“That’s right! It has always been me who listens to him when we’re together.” Tina smiled.

“So he can become a big shot and care about the big things,” Charlie said while toasting his glass of champagne with the girl with a smooth tongue. “Boss, topics like the supernatural realm and aliens have become very hot because of the election. However, in my opinion, it actually doesn’t make much of a difference to an ordinary American person. Perhaps it may be a good tiding for an adventurous person but…”

“Good tiding? Charlie! Those supernatural realm’s people have killed millions in South Africa! Not only that, but there’s also a possibility that their goal is to occupy the entire planet!”

“Boss, if that army needed to spend several months in fighting the South African government, how long of a preparation would it take for them to occupy the world? Besides, this kind of thing is just too vague for an ordinary person. I believe after sometime later when several exciting celebrity news grips the headline, not many people will pay attention to this news anymore. You have not lived in the US for a long time, so you still don’t understand the mindset of an ordinary US citizen. Right now, there is still nearly one-fifth of US people who think the Earth is the center of the universe and that the sun is revolving around the Earth. Heck, some even think the US is the center of the Earth. Not only that, more than 80% of US citizens still firmly believe that we are an invincible country.”

Just a simple comment from Charlie was enough to portray the US people’s conceit and arrogance vividly. When he was saying those words, he said it with great pride and conceit too, which was out of his character. This made the young man speechless. With no interest to discuss the topic further, he merely ended the conversation hastily.

After sending LS’s general manager away, due to the reason that Tina could not spend the night outside as her father was in New York currently, Zhang Lisheng could only send the girl back to her house in the Upper West Side of New York.

Inside the iron gate was a secluded courtyard filled with trees, but outside of it was the bustling brightly lit streets. Zhang Lisheng kissed Tina goodbye outside of the door, only until the Douglin family’s old butler drove the golf cart near them that he finally released the girl. Waving to the old man who was sitting in the golf cart, wearing a smart-looking suit calmly waving at them, he said, “Good evening, Mr. Butler.”

“Good evening, Mr. Lisheng. What a pair of nice looking pants.”

Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment before glancing down at his own South African-style ugly black shorts. With no comeback at all, he smiled in return.

“Mr. Leroy has always had a good sense of humor. He always makes me laugh since I was young.” Tina kissed the young man one last goodbye. “I’m going back now, baby. May you have a good night’s sleep and don’t forget to dream of me tonight.”

Then, she proceeded to walk into the gate.

After bidding goodbye to the girl, Zhang Lisheng strolled through the brightly lit streets of New York for a while to clear his mind. After that, he casually flagged a taxi and entered the backseat of the car before telling the driver, “Brooklyn Community Number 167, please. Thank you.”

After that, he proceeded to dial his mother’s mobile number.

The instant he told the news of him returning to New York to his mother, he immediately heard her surprised sobs of happiness. “Oh God bless! I prayed for you every day, baby! I knew the Lord will bless you and indeed, you’re back safely now!”

“That’s right mom! I’m safely back in New York now! I’ll be seeing you soon, so please don’t cry anymore, okay? I feel sad, too, when I hear you cry.”

“Alright, alright baby! It’s great that you finally came back! I won’t cry anymore! I will not cry anymore! That’s right! I have good news to share with you. Mr. Steven really has gotten a teaching job at Stanford University. Right now, he has become Professor Steven again! It’s said that he’s setting up his own laboratory. He couldn’t reach you after you’ve gone abroad, so he asked me to tell you if you can return before September, you must give him a call!”

“Alright, mom!” Upon hearing this news, a smile crept upon Zhang Lisheng’s face. Stanford University was located in Stanford, California, in the western part of the country. New York, on the other hand, was located in the eastern part of the country. The distance between these two was about 3,000 kilometers away. If he entered the university, it would mean he would basically have complete independence and freedom.

In fact, Lili was even more concerned about his son’s future education more than Zhang Lisheng himself. When she mentioned Steven’s message, she quickly suppressed her own emotions and said, “Alright, baby! It’s the end of August now, so you better call Professor Steven immediately! In fact, call him now!”

“Don’t worry, mom! Professor Steven will not go against his promise! No matter how difficult the situation is, he’d definitely fight for a chance for me to enter the university. After all, not only am I his high-standard and luck-charmed student, I’m even a reasonable gold tree…” Even though Zhang Lisheng said so, he still proceeded to dial Steven’s number according to what his mother said.

Surely enough, as he had predicted, the instant the call was connected, Steven’s first sentence was to congratulate Zhang Lisheng. He spoke to him happily for becoming the youngest graduate student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Stanford University in the past eight years without the need of going through an interview nor a written test.

His second sentence was that he hoped Zhang Lisheng could contribute to his newly built laboratory and sponsor an expensive DNA filtering machine.

“Don’t worry, Professor Steven, your DNA filtering machine will be sent to the lab by tomorrow,” Upon hearing such a request, the young man who was sitting in the back seat of the taxi agreed to it without hesitation.

“Such an expensive instrument would need to be customized at least three months in advance. Okay! I won’t talk much with you as I’m still in the lab. I’ll see you at Stanford in September, Lisheng!”

“If it needs to be customized, I’ll send somebody to order it tomorrow! Bye, Professor Steven! I’ll see you again at Stanford!”

Unintentionally hearing the call made by his customer, the young and sturdy white driver looked at Zhang Lisheng’s face that could be described as childishly tender from an American’s point of view. He looked at him in the rearview mirror before chiming in, “Hey, buddy! Have you reached 16 already? You’re actually going to Stanford?”

“Hey, I’m already 18 years old!”

“Really? Wow, I really envy yellowed-skin people like you. You always look younger than your age. I’ve heard you mention this DNA filtering machine or something from your conversation just now. What’s that? Is it expensive?”

“It’s a high-end biological laboratory instrument with a price of around 3 million USD.”

“3 million USD? What the f*ck? I couldn’t tell you’re actually this rich!” Without warning, the driver turned around to look at Zhang Lisheng. “I really don’t understand why rich people like you would donate several millions of dollars to the university just for the sake of getting a piece of a certificate.”

Zhang Lisheng did not reply and merely smiled as he looked out of the window.

“Hey, buddy! Are you laughing at me?” The driver saw the faint smile on the corner of the young man’s lips through the rearview mirror and felt a blow to his self-esteem. Loudly, he shouted, “Don’t think I don’t have any dreams! I’ve already made up my mind to go to the supernatural realm and make a fortune there after I’ve finished driving a taxi for this month. Who knows, it may not take too long for me to become a millionaire! Haha…”

“What did you say? Making a fortune in the supernatural realm?!” Zhang Lisheng’s eyes narrowed all of a sudden as he burst out asking.

“That’s right! Just now, the radio announced that President Paul has already signed his first Presidential Decree after the inauguration to open up the Shrimp World No. 2 near New York City to all US citizens. This is just like the Westward Movement that has taken place more than two hundred years ago…” The driver replied triumphantly when he saw the astonished look on the young man sitting at the back seat.

The US’ Westward Movement, also known as the mass movement of the citizens from the eastern part to the western region of the US, was another tragic catastrophe that took place after the invasion and colonization of the European powers on the US indigenous Indians. Not only that, but it was also the incident that gave rise to the United States of America.

By relying on this Western Movement, the US drove millions of Indians to the Indian reservation and opened up 16 new states, before expanding the population from more than 5 million to more than 270 million, establishing the foundation of the world’s overlord.

That time, the cowboy spirit and the countless nouveau riche legends that were born at that time had become the beginning of the American dream.