The Great Worm Lich

Zhang Lisheng said nothing while frowning, he showed a suspicious expression on his face.

“Okay, do you know how much Swedish Merkel Co. is selling the genetically modified pocket-sized cat that they had recently produced?” Zhang Lisheng shook his head again responding to Tina’s leaping thoughts.

“100,000 dollars. Not only that, the customers would have to pay beforehand and they’ll only get the cats half a year later. Nevertheless, they’re all sold out. Do you know why?”

“Because it’s a pocket-sized cat?”

“A pocket-sized cat can’t be smaller than a piebald hamster,” Tina smiled after pouting, “Lisheng, it’s expensive not because it’s small, but because the quantity’s limited. It’s only natural that an item’s more precious if it’s scarce. That’s how luxurious items came about. Just like your centipede, think about it, a giant insect pet cultivated using mysterious Chinese ancient method that could help in hunting. This is absolutely unthinkable in anyone’s wildest dreams. How much do you think one could be sold at?”

“But the Wu that I cultivate…ugh, is not to be sold. It’s…It’s a rule that’s been passed down for generations that I shouldn’t break.”

“Buddy, my dad once told me that there’s nothing in this world that can’t be sold. The only problem is whether the price is reasonable or not. You might not be moved by 100,000 dollars, how about a million, or ten million dollars?”

“Nobody in this world would spend ten million dollars to buy an insect, no matter how powerfully mutated it is,” Zhang Lisheng teased.

“Oh, oh, oh Lisheng, trust me. There are many more rich and bored people than you imagined on the planet under our feet. There are people who would spend over 20 million dollars to go through brutal training and risk their lives to go to space just to realize their childhood dream. How would you know those who love hunting, those wealthy middle-eastern kids from the royal family who would spend tens of millions of dollars to feed horses, gundogs, and Falcons wouldn’t spend ten million dollars on a centipede that could kill leopards as soon as it opened its mouth?”

Zhang Lisheng’s jaw dropped and said after a moment of being stunned, “I can’t fight you on luxurious items’ value but I know that it’s impossible to sell those giant centipedes no matter how expensive it is.”

“Okay, let’s not talk about selling it for now. I could help you financially in the beginning stage…”

“No, I could get your help as a friend but I’ll never use your money.”

“Okay, you’re a little man with integrity. I admire you even more now. Now let’s talk about what you have in mind. Don’t tell me you want me to look for a bigger…bigger meat supermarket for you to work there?”

“Something like that, or you could tell me where I could get cheap expiring raw meat. Oh yea, I must pay by credit card from China, those credit cards that are only accepted at specific tourist stores in America.”

“We have quite a bit of Chinese exchange students in our school now, I know which credit card you’re talking about. So how much raw meat are you looking at?”

“I have approximately 100,000 dollars on my card. If it’s cheap, I would like to reserve all of the meat. Of course, I’m not taking the stock all at once.”

“How much do you have on your card?”

“100,000 dollars, it’s considered the inheritance that my dad left behind.”

“You’re saying you have 100,000 dollars start-up capital to cultivate…cultivate your special mutated insect?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you consider purchasing a small slaughterhouse instead of buying expiring raw meat or working at the meat supermarket?” Tina asked in disbelief.

“What?”

“Buy a legal, licensed small slaughterhouse at the satellite town near New York City, get the cheapest raw meat to cultivate your mutated insect, sell them, build a biology lab, continue studying more mutated insects, win a Nobel Prize, become the second Darwin in textbooks. Look how smooth your life would be.”

Hearing Tina’s suggestion, Zhang Lisheng awoke like he had been enlightened all of a sudden. He was just a Rank-2 Wizard now and he only had one wizard worm which was Mountoad but he needed hundreds of kilograms of meat every day. He would breakthrough further in witchcraft and he would have more wizard worms in the future, By then, it would be impossible for him to feed them by working or looking for ways to purchase cheap meat.

Moreover, Americans did not consume animals’ organs and fresh blood. If he was to run a slaughterhouse, he would obtain the meats that his wizard worms needed effortlessly. Looking at it in the long run, a business was beneficial to witchcraft cultivation. After all, the secret methods he obtained only allowed him to cultivate up to a Rank-12 Wizard. Although it seemed far away until he cultivated to such a level, saving for rainy days and building the foundation on his way to witchcraft cultivation was definitely favorable.

Zhang Lisheng came to a realization as he thought to this point, “Although I can never sell mutated insects as pets, you enlightened me without even trying hard. I’m impressed. But Tina, I know nothing about starting a business. Could you help me with the beginning stage?”

“Lisheng, perhaps you’re unaware that as the biggest private equity financial consortium in America, the main profit technique us Douglin family practices is to purchase troubled companies that are short on cash. We would dissolve and restructure the business then sell them at a high price. Fashion parties actually aren’t what I’m most familiar with, I’m most familiar with buying and selling companies. Of course, I could help you with that,” Tina said in full confidence, “The first step we have to do is to cash out all of the funds that you need.”

“How do I do that?”

“It’s indeed troubling if you want to do this on normal days. But you’re very lucky that I’m celebrating my 18th birthday, I’ve got an extremely flexible party budget. I’m sure any PR companies in New York are more than willing to launder 100,000 dollars for me. So, do you still think that it’s your loss to skip school to go to the court with me? Give me your phone number.”

Zhang Lisheng smiled and proceeded to eat his cold Italian beef bolognese spaghetti while thinking to himself after exchanging phone numbers with Tina. After breakfast at Goose Pond Restaurant, Tina brought Zhang Lisheng to a cheap barber shop named Golden Scissors in the blue-collar zone on Third Avenue along the east of Lexington Avenue, Manhattan. After trimming her hair that was already short, they headed straight to New York Supreme Court.

America bonded 50 states into the United States with Magna Carta, the law was the foundation that formed the entire country. Therefore, the court was usually the most majestic building of a city, the same applied to New York.

The steps stretched hundreds of meters high, the end was the grand hall held by gigantic pillars which diameter exceeded ten meters each. One would hold their breath without realizing when they looked from far away, they were reminded to respect the law at all times.

Tina parked her car at the parking lot when they arrived outside the court. Zhang Lisheng said after a moment of being stunned looking at the New York Supreme Court from far away, “It’s just illegal parking, do you have to come here?

“It’s unfortunate that the civil court’s under maintenance so all of the cases have been transferred here,” Tina spoke nervously while looking at the majestic court outside of the window. Her phone happened to ring all of a sudden as she was speaking.

Tina looked at her phone to see who was calling before picking up the call, “Hey Trish, how was your exam?”

“It was great. Sheila’s right next to me, she did great too. How about you Tina, are you at the court now?”

“I’m at the parking lot outside, I’ll go in right now.”

“Alright, we’ll go there now. Don’t panic, wait for us. Sheila has something to say.”

“Trish, it’s almost 1:30 p.m. now. I might be out of the court when you guys made it here, you don’t have to…” Tina tried to stop her.

“We must be there for you, you’re our sister my dear Tina,” It was Sheila who was speaking on the other side of the phone now.

“Oh, thanks, Sheila…”

“Wait for us. Oh, oh did that Mr. Worm agree to be your witness?”

“He’s right beside me.”

“That’s great, see you later.”

“See you later,” Tina walked out of the car with Zhang Lisheng after hanging up the call. They spent close to 10 minutes to get to the New York Supreme Court from the parking lot. Compared to the majestic exterior, the interior of the court seemed simple and plain. The ‘sinners’ from all walks of life were waiting for their destiny to be judged with their family. All common citizens and court journalists gathered for the court hearing, making the dimmed court lobby crowded like a market.

Naturally, nobody dared to speak loudly here. Otherwise, they would be fined or jailed if the court accounted for them for interrupting the hearing. In America which practiced case law, judges in court were the equivalence of law on a certain level. They had the real majesty of getting laws enforced as they said, whereby anyone must respect them fully.

As the two of them traveled across the people, they arrived at the Trial Court No.3 written on the ticket. Tina handed the ticket to the marshal outside the court and pointed at Zhang Lisheng as she spoke, “Sir, I’m here for the court hearing. My name’s Tina Douglin and this is my witness Zhang Lisheng. Please allow us inside the court together.”

The experienced judges handling civil court cases which procedure was simple would have up to 100 hearings per day. It would mean that the time spent in a case from the beginning of court a hearing to the closing of a case would be a couple of minutes. In reality, it was rare that one would bring a witness to cases like this. Furthermore, it was easily counterproductive to do so.

The tall and strong black marshal looked at the ticket then looked at the girl before him who was obviously young. He said out of kindness which was rare, “Miss, it’s your right to bring a witness to court but from my years of experience, the penalty might be lighter if you pledge guilty right away.”

“Thanks for your reminder but I insist to give it a try.”

“Alright, like I said, bringing a witness to the court’s your right,” The marshal said nothing and became serious again as he walked into the court.