The Great Worm Lich

According to tradition, it was okay for a matured US community to have no supermarket but the bookstore, that once existed as a social center for all kinds of people, was indispensable in a community.

However, in the current era where online reading and e-commerce were widely practiced, this tradition had gradually disappeared. Many small bookstores with distinctive features in most communities had already closed down.

The only bookstores that could survive were those large-scale bookstore chains that had modern and gorgeous decorations that looked more like a hotel lobby than a bookstore that followed the same patterns. Not only that, but they also provided air-conditioning, drinks, CD and book samples.

However, Zhang Lisheng had never even set foot in such a bookstore chain before. By relying on the navigation on his phone, he finally found the right place.

After opening the door into the rightly lit ‘DuPont Book’ that was closest to his house, a pleasant air-conditioned air enveloped the young man entirely, causing his body that had been running hurriedly to feel refreshed right away.

Standing by the door, he looked around at the people who were strolling around on the first floor of the bookstore. Several young people in sweatshirts were bobbing their heads, listening to music in the CD sales area with headphones.

Seven to eight families, who looked like the parents were bringing their young children here to instill the pleasure of reading in them, were strolling slowly in the children’s book area. Once in a while, they would pick up a children’s book with exaggerated animal prints on the cover and teased their children till they laughed quietly.

At the counters selling cold drinks and snacks, pairs of young people were lining up and enjoying their sweet time together. Such a ‘model’ dating method had started to become more popular among young people in New York.

Seeing no abnormality on any one of them, Zhang Lisheng shook his head and walked quickly towards the stairs.

However, just as he was about to go upstairs, a young man, who was listening to music, suddenly took off his earphones and looked straight at him before striding over not long after.

Zhang Lisheng, who had sharp instincts, immediately noticed the change in this young person. As the young man approached him, a familiar feeling became stronger in his heart.

After carefully discerning the faintly familiar facial features, a horrified expression appeared on the young man’s face. He went forward to greet and ask in a whisper, “Professor, is that you?”

“I was just giving it a try when I made the call but I didn’t expect you to really come. Not only that, you actually can recognize me,” the young man said in a hoarse yet youthful tone as he smiled wryly to confirm Zhang Lisheng’s suspicion. Then, he made merry from the bad situation and asked, “So how is it, Lisheng? I can be said as handsome when I was 25 years old right?”

“Not only are you handsome, but you also have more sense of humor too!” Zhang Lisheng replied with a smile and could not help but say, “Damn it, Professor. You actually managed to come up with a matured stabilizer! Look at your graceful bearing now! Professor Effiny must have also recovered right?”

“Yes, Effiny has recovered already! And she’s also getting younger, at the cost of hundreds of lives of the patients and doctors at the New York Medical Research Association Affiliated Hospital!” Steven lowered his head with a glum expression and became silent for a while. All of a sudden, he looked up and stared into his student’s eyes before answering glumly.

To his surprise, there was no change of expression at all on the face of Zhang Lisheng who was hundreds of times crueler than him. Indifferently, he said, “Professor, from a biological point of view, the monkeys we usually use for experimentation are no more than 30% of a human. An orangutan is even less than 10% of a human. The accident this time is actually no different from a failed experimental accident. You’re acting too cautious right now. I have insider news that the surveillance videos of the New York Medical Research Association Affiliated Hospital were completely destroyed on the day of the incident. On top of that, from the inference made from the surveillance videos of several weeks ago, you were not in the hospital at the time. For this reason, you didn’t appear on the death list or on the list of missing people. The only problem now is that it’s completely unexplainable if you appear like this in the university or the lab. However, Hollywood’s skilled makeup artists should be able to help you. I recently went to the ‘World Cinema Capital’ and I was completely amazed at the amazing craftsmanship of the special effects makeup artists there.”

“Oh, I see. I thought that the reason I wasn’t on the list was because I was listed as a suspect by the police. This is good then! Yes, the fact that you said sounds more reasonable. Haha! Now, I’m finally tasting the true meaning of the word ‘guilty’,” Steven was lost in a daze for a while before sighing in relief.

After that, he recalled how Zhang Lisheng mentioned that the death of hundreds of people were just like the accidental dissection of a frog in the laboratory and finally said in an obviously relaxed expression, “Child, although I’ve guessed that you may have suspected that I was the one who caused the accident at the New York Medical Research Association Affiliated Hospital, your reaction was much more calmer than I thought after hearing my confession. Such an attitude towards life is actually not desirable… But of course, I’m not qualified to say such things. But it really had not crossed my mind that I’d actually create such a huge accident that day…”

“Professor, it’s not convenient to talk about these things at the stairs.” Zhang Lisheng interrupted his words when he saw his supervisor’s pained expression for recalling painful memories. “I’ll go buy some drinks and snacks. Let’s go to the resting place and talk slowly.”

“Buy some drinks and snacks and talk slowly? I really admire you right now, Lisheng. You seem so calm every time!” Steven was dumbstruck for a moment before saying with a wry smile. However, he did not stop his student from going to the counter selling drinks and snacks to buy coffee, Coke and all sorts of cakes with different flavors.

After buying snacks and drinks, the two of them went to the rest area on the second floor of the bookstore. Sitting down on the sofa near a small coffee table, Steven began to tell his story. “Let me start the story from the beginning. Lisheng, when we met for the last time more than a month ago, after you left the Shrimp B1 Island, I was suddenly enlightened, as though God has blessed me or something! One by one, all sorts of wonderful inspiration and good ideas emerged in an endless stream and filled my mind till I felt like it would burst. Just like that, in less than ten days, I’ve optimized more than twenty equations and finally formulated a stabilizer that can prevent gene failure when the rat cells mutate. The first rat monster almost appeared on my hand alive. If it wasn’t for me who disconnected it from the Gold Core shard in time, the monster would have been able to break out of the experimental platform and eat me! After that experiment, the success of the stabilizer on small mammals increased my confidence. After my newly ordered experimental monkeys were sent to the island, I began to have enough materials. I started to mix the primate stabilizers and would occasionally come across some problems but they were all overcome very quickly. Then, I don’t know how many days later but by the time the third batch of monkeys were sent to the lab, I succeeded in deriving a stabilizer for primates. That was an even greater risk but I also managed to kill the monkey monster that became something like a chimpanzee. Without the Gold Core shard as its source of energy, it soon decayed into ashes. After the success of this experiment, there were still two pieces of Gold Core shards left. I originally wanted to select a more full-grained shard to transplant it onto Effiny but I suddenly thought of the rat and monkey experiments. Judging from those experiments, no matter whether I could transplant the Gold Core shard successfully in Effiny or not, I’d definitely die as well. In that case, I might as well take a small risk and carry out a human transplant experiment to first give myself one shard. Who knows, in the end, I actually gained an unexpected magical ability and turned into a monster…”

As Steven was speaking, a maniacal smile crept upon the corner of his mouth. He reached out his left index finger to tap on the Coke can that Zhang Lisheng had finished drinking and instantly, his hand became red in color and there was a vague flame around it. Very soon, a big hole was burned on the aluminum can. “Actually, at first, I didn’t know that I had gained such a magical ability because after I transplanted the Gold Core shard onto myself, nothing unusual appeared at that time, other than immediate recovery of my body. It was only after I transplanted the last shard onto the dying Effiny that I knew. Due to the reason that she has lost consciousness for too long, she did not immediately restore her senses. Instead, she became very violent and turned into a magma giant to attack me, which in the end, lured out the same ability of mine as hers. Finally, both of us caused a terrible disaster in the New York Medical Research Association Affiliated Hospital. Effiny is awake right now but she feels very guilty and cannot forgive herself. She’s on the verge of mentally breaking down right now!”

“So, this means that you still need to slowly guide Professor Effiny’s emotions first.” Zhang Lisheng’s supervisor’s story was almost the same with his own conjecture. He grabbed the aluminum can that had a hole in it and looked at it. Then, he crumpled it to become a metal ball before throwing it into the trash can at the table. “She’s different from you, Professor. Even after her mood has returned to normal, it’s impossible for her to appear in her former identity.”

“That’s right! Nobody can reasonably explain how a dying patient suffering from multiple organ failures was able to escape from a fire and miraculously restored to health.” Steven nodded.

“It doesn’t matter, my legal officer is very good! He should be able to help Professor Effiny forge a new identity…”

“That’s great! But the most important thing is to first put things in the right perspective for her. This matter is top secret so I can’t ask a professional psychiatrist to do it. I can only do it by myself one step at a time. I’ve found a hiding place but my credit cards have been turned into ashes. And now, there’s no way for me to make a new one…”

“This is not a problem, Professor. I’ll take several tens of thousands of cash for you right away.” Zhang Lisheng finally understood the reason why his supervisor looked for him. After putting the last piece of cake into his mouth, he took a restless Steven out of the bookstore and looked for a self-service bank nearby to take out the cash in the cash machine. “70,000 over USD should be enough for the two of you for the time being.”

“Thank you, child! I’ll look for you right away after Effiny’s situation has improved!” After Steven put the huge stack of banknotes into the CD bag, he looked around and when he saw that nobody was looking at them, he bid goodbye to Zhang Lisheng and went into an alley on the roadside before disappearing.