The Great Worm Lich

Such a thing as eating a creature of the same kind was unbelievable, let alone an intelligent creature. Even most low-grade animals would never do so unless they were in a desperate situation.

No matter in which civilization, cannibalism would always be a barbaric and brutal act. Even though the Hellfire tribesmen looked very different in appearance compared to the mainlanders, it was undeniable that they all belonged to the human race. For this reason, the bafflement that Zhang Lisheng put on was not exaggerated in the eyes of the mainlanders.

When the tall woman saw that her words had produced some results, she continued to talk in a hoarse voice, “You’re from a distant country on a different continent, so it was just normal that you’ve never heard of the brutality and barbarity of these Hellfire tribesmen. Eating a human is nothing to them. These people are not some ridiculous ‘little dwarfs’, but brutal barbarians who have destroyed countless civilized countries on our Oasis Mainland!”

“They’re very brave when they’re hunting, but I really can’t tell that they’re actually brutal barbarians and cannibals on top of that! I really can’t tell at all! None at all…” Upon hearing this, Zhang Lisheng froze while an unbelievable expression crept upon his face as he was muttering. Lowering his head, he walked into the jungle as though he had lost his soul.

Watching his disappearing back, that tall woman became silent for a while before suddenly whispering, “Seafarer Hanoo, will he be our hope?”

“We don’t know yet. It’s not reliable to pin our hopes on a stranger whom we have only encountered twice,” the skinny man in another prison muttered with a grave expression. “But in such a situation, he could also be said as a straw in the ocean…”

Just like this, Zhang Lisheng had achieved his wish and became the life-saving straw in the eyes of these prisoners. however, at this time, he purposely played hard to get by not interacting with the prisoners anymore. He would always keep his head down when he delivered the meal and just carried out his words saying nothing.

On the contrary, the mainlanders in the stone prison began to linger near him through the prison and began to talk loudly, mostly about how they missed their loved ones at home.

After three to four days later, Zhang Lisheng figured that he had reached the critical moment where he should up-end his act. After sending lunch for the mainlanders and walked back into the jungle with a grave expression, he suddenly had a change of expression and ordered smilingly at the Wizard Li’s headman who welcomed him. “Tugra, summon a few chief warriors to eat two prisoners. Yeah, look for big-sized women this time.”

“Yes, Conqueror!” The Wizard Li’s headman responded respectfully and turned to leave hurriedly.

Several minutes later, four strong warriors riding giant spiders used their spears to clear away the jungle and appeared in front of the prisoners. Soon, two mainlander women held captive in the stone prison howlingly became fat juicy barbecued meat.

By the time Zhang Lisheng carried the wooden bucket full of food and walked to the stone prison together with the native choresmen in the evening, he found that most of the prisoners’ faces had already become pale. At once, he felt satisfied, but he did not show it on his face. Instead, he continued to do what he was supposed to do.

Upon seeing the young man walking up to their prison while silently scooping up the thick meat porridge using a long wooden ladle, with a swaying body and a shaky gaze; the tall woman, who had been talking to him these past few days, suddenly stood up and walked to the edge of the stone prison. Looking into the eyes of the young man, she said, “The Hellfire tribesmen ate two more people today! Their names are Liza and Fily. Liza was a mother of four children. Her husband was originally the guard in the private guard troop of the previous City Governor of Venis City, but since he had his lungs stabbed while he was chasing a robber, he no longer could work. Because of this, her entire family could only…”

“What does this have to do with me? I’m only an ordinary person. An ordinary person who has only mastered some martial arts. I’m not the legendary god who can slaughter thousands of evil spirits or some shitty hero. My injuries are healed now, and I won’t deliver the meal to all of you anymore starting tomorrow. I’ll resume my life of hunting wild beasts, and who knows, I might just die in obscurity like that. I know what you and that skinny men are trying to do by talking to me every day, but I’m sorry, I can’t save any of you. It’s not that I don’t want to but I don’t have the ability to…”

“You can save us.” The instant Zhang Lisheng’s exasperated words left his mouth, a deep voice resonated from behind him. “I’m a navigator, and I know this sea very well. My companions are all good sailors. We can sail all kinds of ships. As long as you cut the bark rope loose at night and let us all out, we can sneak up to the beach to rob a ship and sail far away. This is not only for our sake but for yours too! Just like what you said yourself. If you stay on this island, living a hunting life every day, you’d not know when you might just be eaten by a monster in obscurity. Your end is not necessarily better than ours. Even if you have great luck and can live to survive peacefully, are you willing to stay on this big and barren island for your entire lifetime? You may not feel it now, but think about it! What happens after one year, two years, or ten years later? Do you think you’ll be willing to just stay on this barren island and be a companion to the natives…”

“Stop it! Stop it! Stop!” Zhang Lisheng turned and howled angrily as he glared at the skinny man who had a regrettable look on his face.

“I’ll only say this one last time,” the skinny man said bitterly and stared into the young man’s distorted face without fear. “I realized that those Hellfire tribesmen are not fattening us so they can eat us, but instead, they treat us like some kind of reward by letting those soldiers who have rendered meritorious service to pick and eat us. So, you better make a decision if you want to save us, for everyone’s taste is different. If one day, Captain Anduki or I have been eaten already, you wouldn’t be able to escape anymore even if you want to.”

“Don’t worry, I’m living a good life here on the island and I don’t have the intention to take such a big risk to save you guys whom I barely know…” Zhang Lisheng froze, being stunned for a while. It was only until when the native choresmen hit his head with a wooden ladle and motioned to him tgat it was time to leave that he muttered weakly and walked into the jungle staggeringly.

After he left, the prisoners in the stone prison did not see him again for a long time. Time passed by quickly somehow, over ten days had already gone by.

On this night, when the natives were already falling asleep, an agile figure suddenly jumped out of a simple bark house on the edge of the Wizard Li’s ancestral ground. Like a monkey, it leaped and rushed into the jungle, moving rapidly yet silently and soon came to the prison where the mainlanders were held as a captive.

“Skinny guy, skinny guy, are you still alive?” The man curled his body up under the moonlight and hesitated for a while before shouting in a whisper, “Skinny guy, make some noise if you’re still alive. otherwise, I’ll leave right away.”

“I’m alive! I’m still alive! Is it you, oh outlander?” A skinny man, lying on his back on a dirty leaf while looking up to the starry night sky but was unable to sleep immediately, was alerted and climbed up. Suppressing the excitement in his heart, he asked in a trembling voice.

“What outlander? I’ll soon become your savior! My name is Lisheng, don’t forget it!” Zhang Lisheng answered in a whisper. “Hurry and wake up everybody in prison. Don’t make any noise! I’ll cut the rope now and bring you all away from this place. It’s already late and we still have to escape to the beach.”

As the young man was speaking, he took out a bottle carved out from a block of solid wood from his waist and opened the cork. Carefully, he poured the liquid from the bottle onto the rope…

A tall old man, who had mud stuck on his white hair and beard, whispered, “Young Master Ennete, this outlander is not as strong as you think. The secret why he can pull and break the rope must lie on the liquid that he has poured onto the rope first. If I hadn’t guess wrongly, his weapon must be both his fists. Therefore, he didn’t steal a knife to cut the rope…”

“Old man, you’re very knowledgeable! That’s right, to us wushu masters, our most powerful weapon is our own body. We always use our hands no matter what kind of strong enemy we face,” Zhang Lisheng chimed in as he pulled off the second rope. “Alright, now that the gap is this big, you guys should be able to get out now. I’ll go break the rope on that stone prison and we’ll go to the beach right away!”

The two ropes broke and revealed a gap that was already the size of a big hole. The men ecstatically looked at the gap but did not compete, instead, they climbed out of the stone prison according to the level of their status.

After Zhang Lisheng broke the ropes of the other stone prison, he saw that the people who first climbed out of the prison were all surrounding the gap, trying to help their companions escape the shackles of the stone prison. Everything seemed to be so orderly. At once, he muttered in a whisper that only himself could hear, “Looks like they live in an orderly and strict yet civilized world…”

“All of us had been blacked out when we were locked up in this prison. We’ll be able to reach the beach if we head in that direction.” The skinny man, who had been secretly paying attention to Zhang Lisheng and saw how he stood there under the moonlight in ponderation after cutting the ropes of the stone prison, said after he thought about it and walked up to the young man.

“The west!” Zhang Lisheng snapped back to reality and replied, “These midgets, erm, I mean Hellfire tribe has already occupied the entire island. They have built docks and ports on the west coast, with some old ships parked right there. Nobody is guarding at all so it should be easy for us to steal the ship.”

When the skinny man heard this, he suddenly smiled. “Lisheng, it looks like you must have wanted to escape some time ago, right?”

“Of course, if I could split myself from one person to 180 of me, and know how to sail a big ship, I’d have stolen a ship and left long ago…” Zhang Lisheng sighed. “Well, even so, it’s still hard for me to make up my determination. After all, this is related to my life. If I’m discovered, there’s only death that will await for me.”