The Great Worm Lich

Dan Souza Butcher Shop’s utility room was huge. There was a big oven and a smoke passage, one could tell that they made all of the cooked food here themselves. There was a mini cold storage in the far end of the utility room. There were pigs and goats that were cut into half and cows that were chopped into a few parts hanging in there.

With a black leather jacket covering his body, George walked into the cold storage while pushing a cart. He glanced through the tags hanging on the pigs, cows, and goats then while twitching his nose he said to Zhang Lisheng, “This Rocky’s a sly, old fella. Indeed, throwing this expired meat away’s simple, but… but… achoo… It’s not easy, especially it’s late autumn now. But I would never think that I would be eager to carry out this task with you even if he didn’t assign us together. Come help,” He brought out two halves of pigs and three halves of goats, the parts combined to half a cow. Together with Zhang Lisheng, they unhooked the parts strenuously and tossed them onto the cart.

“We’re throwing all these away?” Zhang Lisheng was stunned and asked in shock while watching George push the cart out of the cold storage.

“The shelf life of raw frozen meat is seven days but to compete with major hypermarkets, Old man Rocky is committed to keeping the fresh meat at Dan Souza Butcher Shop, not more than five days. Since he made the promise, of course, he’ll have to do as he said.”

“But he doesn’t have to throw them away.”

“Nobody would usually purchase raw meat that’s expiring, the employees can take some home for free. But since we can bring home cooked meat, usually nobody would care about raw meat. Is this a surprise to you?”

“Of course George, this indeed surprised me,” Zhang Lisheng said sincerely.

“It’s not every day that we have such a surprise. A lot of times the meat here are sold out, otherwise, Old Rocky wouldn’t have restocked so much every time.”

The duo walked out of the cold storage as they chatted. After Zhang Lisheng opened the back door, George pushed the little cart that was filled with raw meat to the dark back alley behind the shop with him.

Under the flickering lights in the alley, George stood there after pushing the cart to the trash. He then said with an unstable emotion on his face and seriousness that he had never shown before, “Listen, buddy, I brought you here because I owe you a favor. Whatever the reason you need this meat for, it has nothing to do with me,” He then turned around and returned to the shop after he was done speaking. He closed the door halfway.

Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a little bit and muttered to himself while smiling, “Interesting guy,” He put down his backpack and let out Mountoad onto the ground. Mountoad that had its vitality drained looked a little dull from the looks of it.

Zhang Lisheng looked around the narrow alley and began chanting witchcraft incantation with the sound ‘pst shh…’ after making sure there was no one around. Driven by the witchcraft incantation, Mountoad opened its mouth wide and sucked in a massive amount of air. Its body expanded to over two meters tall while it released its gigantic tongue continuously. After a few times of rolling its tongue, it ate all of the meat on the cart into its stomach.

It had been a while since the last time Zhang Lisheng controlled a wizard worm, he watched his wizard worm eating meat while he stands aside. He was cheered up from the look of his face, he could not help but pat Mountoad’s gigantic head. All of a sudden, he heard people speaking and he had no idea where it was coming from.

“Listen to that, it’s windy out there.”

Zhang Lisheng was shocked, he chanted a witchcraft incantation immediately to get Mountoad to let out the air in its stomach. ‘Whoosh…’ After a swift wind-whistling sound, the wizard worm rapidly shrunk to the size of a football. It seemed like it had digested the meat in its stomach, it had only gotten its vitality replenished by 10% to 20%. Fortunately, many a little makes a mickle. If he could replenish 10% to 20% of Mountoad’s vitality every day, it would be sufficient for him to cultivate a secret method for four to five hours per day. In that case, he might achieve Rank 3 Wizard in a year the most.

Zhang Lisheng thought to himself and put Mountoad back to his backpack wearing a smile. He carried it and pushed the cart back to the butchery shop. There was nobody in the utility room, it seemed like George had sneaked out from the side door. Zhang Lisheng thought about it and sneaked out from the side door directly.

The evening wind was cold, the traffic on the streets was even worse than the traffic during the day. The cars were moving slowly like snails, Zhang Lisheng rode his bicycle and dropped by Walmart that was nearby. One could say that he was moving so fast that he was one with the wind.

As America’s biggest chain hypermarket and departmental store’s branch in New York, this Walmart was humongous. Zhang Lisheng observed the countless racks around and decided it was wise for him to speak to the sales associate, “Miss, may I know where do I get seasoning?”

“Are you looking for American, Japanese, Korean or Chinese seasoning?” The sales associate asked while smiling, showing eight teeth.

“Do you have all of those here?”

“Of course, sir. This is New York’s Walmart,” The sales associate spoke with pride.

“What if I’m looking for Sichuan China’s seasoning?” Zhang Lisheng asked in a doubtful manner.

“Please follow me. By the way, some of Sichuan China’s seasoning failed CFSAN’s certification so you might not be able to find what you’re looking for. We’re sorry for that.”

“What’s CFSAN?”

“Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Center, it’s under the management of Federal Food and Drug Administration,” The sales associate spoke rather professionally. She then guided Zhang Lisheng across the other half of the store and finally stopped when they were at a corner. She pointed at the two rows of racks, “Alright, we’re here. Sichuan China’s seasoning that you’re asking for is here.”

“Thanks,” Zhang Lisheng walked to the rack as he spoke. After taking a good look, he realized most of the seasoning that he used to cook back at the Guawo Village were here. Including those herbal powder that could be used in cooking and healing, they appeared as seasonings on the racks.

“New York’s Walmart’s really…really…cool!” Zhang Lisheng mumbled to himself in shock. He paid and left the hypermarket after getting over ten seasoning and herb powder that he needed. It was past eight in the evening when he arrived home on his bicycle. Lili, Sullo and the children were really waiting for Zhang Lisheng to make dinner.

“Oh look, our chef’s finally home. Zhang Lisheng, your cooking better be as good as Aunt Lili said. Or else, you’ll be in deep trouble,” Seeing Zhang Lisheng walking into the house, Michelle who was mad grumbled at him.

“I’m sorry, I went to the hypermarket to get some seasoning so I got home late. Give me a minute, dinner will be served soon,” Zhang Lisheng kept his words short and put down his backpack as soon as he got into the house. He rushed into the kitchen with the seasoning and quickly took out a few eggs from the refrigerator after he washed his hands. He broke the eggs into a bowl for the base ingredient before beginning to make the sauce.

His family was shocked while watching him because he seemed to really know what he was doing. Michelle was the only one who was grumbling, “Hey, what powder did you put in the eggs? Why does it smell so weird, can we really it that?”

“It’s Chinese seasoning that I bought from Walmart, it’s certified by CFSAN.”

“What?”

“The certification from Federal Food and Drug Administration’s Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Center,” Zhang Lisheng replied based on what he learned.

“That’s great, Li Sheng. You’ve only been in New York for over ten days and you’re already a knowledgeable New Yorker. Let’s guess who is the hillbilly who knows nothing in this house?” Harry who was around found the opportunity to speak quirkily while shaking his head around.

“Harry, you’re asking for trouble,” While Michelle and Harry were laughing and playing, Zhang Lisheng marinated the beef ribs in the big bowl with the sauce that he made. Later on, he fried them with oil and collected the juice. Subsequently, he fried some white rice with oil with the beef. Eventually, he added boiling water and seasoning bit by bit. The jelly-like beef rice broth was now ready to be served.

“Alright, dinner’s served,” He said while smiling, he was relieved. After the rice broth was done, he put a few pieces into a bowl with a spatula. Randy inhaled sharply as he looked at the sticky, dark-brown broth with spots all over in the bowl, “You’re kidding right, Lisheng? You actually messed up the dish.”

“Of course not,” Zhang Lisheng picked up a bowl of beef rice broth while smiling and took a big gulp. The familiar taste with a little bitterness went into his mouth and slid into his stomach through his esophagus. It soon gave his body warmth and comfort, “It would be even better if the cow had just been killed and the blood wasn’t drained from the beef ribs. But this is great too, at least we could tell Dan Souza Butcher Shop’s meat freshness and nutrition is up to standard.”

Michelle then said in disgust while watching Zhang Lisheng’s satisfied face while eating the thick beef broth, “I’d rather die than eat that. It’s not even 9 p.m. now, I’m ordering a burger for take-out. Who else wants that?”

As the man of the house, Sullo who was exhausted from working out there lifted his spirit and said, “Don’t behave like that, Michelle. Lisheng made us…he made us…”

“Beef rice broth,” Lili reminded.

“Right, beef rice broth. We should at least try before we judge,” Sullo scooped a bowl of beef broth at the kitchen table. He hesitated before taking a sip while closing his eyes, “It tastes a little bitter but it’s…it’s nice after you swallow it. This is a weird taste. Now that I thought about it, I’ve tried Chinese cuisine but I’ve never tasted anything like this before. This taste’s hard to describe, seems like I must eat more,” He said and ate the entire bowl of beef rice broth, he got himself another bowl immediately.

“Hey, dad. You make it look like it’s delicious,” Randy walked to the table and picked up a bowl of thick beef broth. He took a sip curiously, “The taste’s very weird. Eh, why do I feel warmth in my body all of a sudden…”