The Great Worm Lich

Hundreds of soldiers standing on a snowy mound, wearing dazzling half-armors on their bodies and a shield in their hands. They were fighting a bloody battle with a bunch of naked natives who only had hard shells covering their private part. The infantry soldiers formed an orderly sequence and shouted ‘heyhey…’ as they decapitated the natives’ heads.

The natives, on the other hand, followed their leader lifting their hands high holding a crude puppet made of straw and clay with the monsters that they controlled. They were attacking with poisonous blowguns and crude wooden spears dipped in poison at the armored soldiers’ legs that were not protected. The poison could kill their enemies as long as their weapons could create a tiny wound on them.

Among all of the natives, the man with dark flame tattoos on his face was the most obvious one. He had a lunatic smile on his face while his comrades were fighting in the battle fiercely. He did not stop shouting, “The professor has found them, we’ve made it… The Aryan is really the key, the number could remedy the purity. The professor must have thought of this when he saw the disappearing tribe. We’ve made it! Revenge, revenge…”

Just when he was dancing around like he had lost his mind, a burning, long steel sword fell from the sky all of the sudden and chopped off his head right away. As the native’s head fell onto the ground, he turned into a ball of fire. The mirrors that were made of the yellow mist broke, everything vanished. The cannibal tribe regained its initial peace.

At that moment, Zhang Lisheng had been running on top of the jungle’s trees controlling Island Dragon in the rain, following the Amazon River’s flow. The heavy rain seemed to drench the entire world in the rain, causing their vision to blur. However, as they got into a turn following the river, the view before Zhang Lisheng became vast. To his surprise, the river arrived at the main watercourse.

“The river surface’s at least 2,000 meters wide, I think this must be the Amazon River’s main watercourse,” Zhang Lisheng controlled Island Dragon to stop on top of a giant tree. He hesitated and turned his head to ask by shouting after wiping off the rainwater on his face, “Trish, can you confirm the overall direction whether it’s left or right?”

“Lisheng… Lisheng we don’t have to confirm the direction any longer. Look over there,” When Zhang Lisheng was waiting for Trish’s answer, Tina pointed far away all of the sudden and shouted in excitement. Zhang Lisheng was stunned and looked at the direction where Tina was pointing. He saw many dense spots on the layers of a splash in the watercourse from the raindrops that looked like beans from far away. He looked closer using his hand blocking the rain from his eyes, it was a large tugboat on the watercourse. There was a thick steel rope tying hundreds or thousands of authentic wood at its back as it cruised forward.

“A boat carrying wood, that’s great. Let’s follow them and see. We will call out to them once we arrive at the narrow part of the watercourse then we can go back to the city in one piece,” Zhang Lisheng was relieved and said happily.

“But what if they’re bad people? It’s still an ancient jungle here,” Her brother being killed and boyfriend looking blank now made Trish looked like she had a victim mentality which made her voiced a different opinion.

“Then it’s a bad day for them. No matter what, there must be a map in such a big boat. No matter what happened, it’s beneficial to us,” Zhang Lisheng said that with hidden meaning in it. He then controlled Island Dragon to begin running towards the boat’s direction quickly. Following the tugboat that was moving slowly in the watercourse for a few hours of moving and stopping, he finally found a suitable time to call for help when the sky was turning dark.

The Amazon River’s main watercourse became narrow at this place whereby the two shores looked like they were only 600 to 700 meters apart the most. If they were to call for help at the shore, that should attract the attention of the people on the tugboat. Moreover, the heavy rain had stopped at the moment whereby they could start a fire outside the jungle now. With that to gain attention, the people on the boat would definitely notice Zhang Lisheng and the rest, unless they did not want to save them intentionally.

After picking the spot to call for help, Zhang Lisheng controlled his wizard worm to climb down from the tree. It grabbed many dry branches with its giant claws and Zhang Lisheng made a bonfire. The tugboat came slowly and it clearly slowed down when it was passing by the bonfire. Although it did not stop, it released two rubber boats with a propeller motor. ‘Tututu…’, the rubber boats came to the bonfire following the wind, one at the back and one at the front. It was a hunk with mustache all over his face sitting in the rubber boat in front. He saw Zhang Lisheng’s dirty, skinny face with messy hair with the help of the fire. He was stunned for a moment and shouted loudly, “Chinese?”

“Yes uncle, I’m from Western Sichuan.”

“Holy sh*t, this Sichuan kid has a sweet mouth,” The hunk imitated a Sichuan phrase and said it in an odd accent then proceeded to speak in a fluent accent, “But you’re wrong on your judgment today. I’m only 19 this year, a sophomore. It’s the winter holidays now so I followed my dad, picked out the woods in the Amazon and travel.”

The rubber boats pulled over at the shore when they were chatting. Zhang Lisheng, Tina and Trish brought Sheila and the rest who looked blank over. There were a total of four Chinese men on the two rubber boats. Apart from the high-spirited sophomore hunk, the other three men looked very serious. Although they heard Zhang Lisheng’s Sichuan accent when the rubber boats arrived at the shore, the two men who were on the co-pilot seat brought out their spears anyway. In Amazon’s ancient jungle that had no order, one could totally understand their strong alertness.

“Eh brother, why are all of your friends’ foreigners? Where did you find this group? Why is it so sh*tty that there isn’t even a local guide?” The hunk who called himself a sophomore asked Zhang Lisheng and the rest while smiling as if he could not sense the tension around.

“What do you mean where did I find this group? Brother, I’ve migrated to America. These are my friends, we hired guides too but we lost them during the flood.”

“Oh, that’s cool, brother. So you’re an American citizen, have you gotten your green card yet? I wanted to go there for a long time but my dad won’t allow me to do that. How did you move there? I heard it’s impossible for you to migrate directly since you’re still studying?” The hunk’s eyes lit up and asked in much interest.

“Ah Zhuang, stop asking nonsense. This little fella has no mood to entertain you. We’re here to save people, we might miss the boat if we take too much time here,” There was a man who looked over 40 standing next to the hunk. He looked very strong, he noticed that it was the young people who were calling for help. Although their clothes were torn, the clothes looked expensive. There were three girls among them, and they didn’t seem to look like scoundrels. He then put down the spear in his hand and said, “Little fella, tell your foreigner friends that everything is alright. Get on the rubber boat first, let’s get to the tugboat. You guys could have a hot meal, take a rest and call your family.”

“Third Uncle, didn’t you say that I would be the interpreter when Brother Liu told you he’s not following us because of his stomachache? I’ll be talking to them, I could practice my English,” Ah Zhuang who looked experienced took the initiative to speak in English, “Hello everybody, don’t worry. You are safe, we go back to big ship… big ship… Brother, maybe you should do it.”

“Tina, Trish, we are safe. They’re all good people, let’s get in the rubber boats,” Zhang Lisheng said it simply. The two girls had tears rolling down their face while bringing Sheila and the rest who had lost their senses onto the boat with Zhang Lisheng while crying.

“Brother, what happened to the three fellas?” Ah Zhuang had just noticed that Sheila and the rest looked a little off so he asked passionately to offer help.

“They were too hungry and ate wild fruits that they shouldn’t eat so they became like this. We’re not sure if they could heal in the future.”

“They must’ve eaten the fruits of opium or marijuana plants. The Amazon’s a scary place, there are many weird things in there. But they should be fine if it’s just fruits, they’ll be fine after resting,” Ah Zhuang pulled Sheila onto the rubber boat strenuously, “Wow, they’re heavy even when they’re hungry. These three people are really ‘exploring’ the Amazon. But these two little foreign girls are pretty. They have a sharp face, big eyes, and the body of a model. Is any of them your girlfriend?”

“No, no, we’re just good friends.”

“You’re so pure hehehe…” Zhang Lisheng and the rest had gotten onto the rubber boats as they were chatting. ‘Tututu…’ the two rubber boats went off after the motor was started. It took a small turn and went towards the tugboat far away. Nobody noticed the giant log that was tied closest to the tugboat with steel rope went down a little when Zhang Lisheng who sat at the back moved his mouth softly.

The tugboat was moving extremely slow since it was pulling a lot of wood materials. The rubber boats caught up to it soon. With the help of the lights on the boat and the moonlight, Zhang Lisheng realized that the tugboat had a simple design when he looked at it closely. It seemed like a steel raft surrounded with a circular fence, a double-story cabin on top and was installed with cranes on four sides.

The tugboat’s cranes pulled the rubber boats up when they went behind the boat. A tall and muscular middle-aged man whose body looked like a bear lifted the torchlight on the deck and shouted in panic as he watched the rubber boats that had been lifted onto the boat, “What happened Laosan?”

“Nothing major, just six students who are lost in the jungle. Five of them are foreigners, I don’t understand where do kids nowadays get the guts to play in an ancient jungle for nothing.”

“What guts, they’re stupid. Stupid kids these days are the same no matter which country they come from… Forget about it, get them a cabin to shower, eat and call their family,” The middle-aged man whose body looked like a bear ignored Zhang Lisheng and the rest and went on to do his stuff after learning about the situation.

“Dad, dad! Who are you talking about? What stupid, do you not have empathy?” Ah Zhuang who was still sitting in the rubber boat complained madly hearing what the middle-aged man said, “You stopped me from saving them earlier, how is this dangerous? I think you’re… you’re old and blur now…”

“Your father isn’t talking about you, Ah Zhuang. Alright, bring these students to Cabin No.11 and Cabin No.12 to settle down. Oh yea, lend them your satellite phone. Go now.”