The Great Worm Lich

The barrier between the ‘worlds’ quickly vanished, leaving them blatantly connected together.

He started sensing that the filthy feelings caused by the dust on the tip of his nose seemed to be getting stronger and stronger. The pale face within Zhang Lisheng’s foundation became grave. Looking up into the sky, he whispered, “It won’t just suddenly spread open like this, right? Don’t tell me that you won’t give me a chance to try?”

The crumbling of the red wall ignored the young man’s anger and frustration as it continued to speed up. Fortunately, about half an hour later, it finally stopped.

When Zhang Lisheng saw that the rate in which the wall collapsed was gradually halting and it was slowly disappearing. He heaved a long sigh of relief. After composing himself, he made a rough calculation according to the estimated distance with his eyes. He realized that the passage connecting the Earth to the Shrimp World No. 2 had seemed to become twice as wide as before. The smile that had just emerged on the corner of the young man’s mouth disappeared right away without a trace.

After continuing to ponder for a while, he climbed down the tall building with a blank expression. His movements that were in-par with an excellent parkour enthusiast immediately raised a lot of turmoil from the young people on the streets. Somebody would shout from time to time, “That’s so cool, buddy! It’s so f*cking cool! C’mon, do it again! I’ll record it…”

The young man ignored the cheers around him and returned to Maddie. After taking the two big bags of food from the girl, he could still see people in the distance gesturing towards him, prompting him to frown and say, “Are those guys crazy? The world’s gate was collapsing just now. Don’t they think it’s more important figuring how they would survive in the future than watching a stranger climbing the wall?”

“They’re just kids, Lisheng. They don’t have the responsibility to think about the future of mankind because they don’t have that ability.”

“So you’re saying that I have a responsibility to think about the future of mankind? Is it so, Maddie? Because great power comes great responsibility?” Zhang Lisheng shrugged and entered the car. “But I’m not Spiderman. I have greater power than him, but I don’t have a heart as big as his.”

“Have you been told that you’re adorable when you’re angry?” Maddie sat next to the young man and looked at his still very noble face before asking with a smile.

“People would usually feel terrified and revered when I’m angry,” Zhang Lisheng glanced back at the girl and said coldly.

“They’re all wrong, baby; you are so cute now…” Maddie ignored the young man’s glare and suddenly stretched her neck to quickly plant a kiss on his lips. Then, she hurriedly started the car and turned into the road.

The car sped in silence for a while and drove out of New York’s Chinatown. Finally, it came to a community that looked old and run down, with narrow streets and dirty ground. Cats meowing and dogs barking could once in a while be heard resonating from the apartment buildings on both sides of the road.

“We’re here, Lisheng,” Maddie, who had been silent all this while parked the car on the side of the road and announced in a soft voice.

“Listen, Maddie. I’ll leave right away if you do that again,” Zhang Lisheng said and carried both big bags of Chinese dishes out of the car. Maddie smiled quietly. After walking out of the car, she smiled and pointed at a low-rise apartment building beside them, as though nothing had happened earlier. “I live here, Lisheng, ever since I was born.”

The street lights were dim, and the air in the poor urban community seemed to be much more filthy than Manhattan. Fortunately, compared to the neighborhoods where the new immigrants lived in Queens, no young people were wandering around with guns before midnight. It’s a ‘good place’ for the poor folks.

“Oh, this street is called Jasmine Avenue, but it doesn’t smell good at all…” The young man could not help but remark with a bitter expression as he walked on the gravel street and followed the girl into the apartment.

“That’s right. Come to think about it, it’s quite interesting. The first girl who has an intimate relationship with you is born with a ‘golden spoon’ and lives in Manhattan’s ‘palace’ and can help you all the time. The second girl who has an intimate relationship with you, on the other hand, was born in a slum and had to rely on you entirely to preserve her poor family. What a massive difference between these two! You love the first one, and it’s just right for you to hate the second one,” Maddie walked in the narrow stairwell and came to a halt in front of an old iron gate on the second floor. Turning around, she looked at Zhang Lisheng, who was a little stunned and chuckled, “We’re here,” before knocking on the door.

“Who is it?” A loud and sonorous female voice resonated from the room.

“It’s me, mom!” The girl outside the door also shouted loudly, in a manner, unlike her usual self.

“Oh, my dear Maddie, are you back? You’re much earlier than usual today!” The door opened right away. A tall, middle-aged woman who was old-looking but still had hints of beauty from her younger days extended her head out and hugged Maddie, before kissing her cheeks loudly.

“I’ve brought a friend back home for dinner today, so I came back early, mom,” The girl also kissed her mother’s cheek as she replied.

“Friend?” The middle-aged woman released her daughter in surprise. She looked at Zhang Lisheng, who was by the side and exclaimed in shock, “It’s a man on top of that!”

“Oh mom, it’s like this. Lisheng is my colleague and has gone on a business trip some time ago. When he returned to New York, his mom has already migrated to the Noah World, so since he has no place to go, I decided to invite him over to have dinner at our house.”

“Oh, you did very well, Maddie. The first meat after returning should not be eaten in a restaurant,” The middle-aged woman looked at her daughter with exceptional excitement. She nodded continuously, before greeting Zhang Lisheng with enthusiasm, “Come in, young man. We’re about to have our dinner. Please come in.”

“Thank you, madam!” Zhang Lisheng smiled and walked into the door. The apartment was a lot bigger than he thought. At the very least, he could see that the living room cum dining room was large enough to accommodate a ten-seater table. Once he entered the door, he saw a large tray of fried chicken, sautéed green peas, and parathas on the table.

“Oh, Maddie, my dear baby, you’re back…” Upon seeing Maddie entering the door, a tall white man sitting on the dining table’s host seat exclaimed loudly. When he suddenly saw the uninvited guest beside the girl, he was stunned for a while before asking with a sullen expression, “Who is he?”

“Bob, this young man is Maddie’s colleague. He’s here as a guest today…” When the middle-aged woman heard the change of tone in the tall man’s voice, she glared at her husband and answered on behalf of her daughter.

The instant her words left her mouth, Maddie immediately added, “And Lisheng has even brought the Chinese dishes that you love the most, dad!”

“Ah, you’re too polite, young man! Remember, you don’t have to prepare food when you come over to have dinner with a big family like us.” The middle-aged woman looked at Zhang Lisheng’s thin body and said with a smile.

“Oh, madam, I’m a martial artist, so I’m afraid my food intake is much larger than you think.”

“Is that so? Maddie’s father is a construction worker, and his friends are all strong and powerful big eaters. Even so, nobody has ever surprised me with their food intake yet.” The middle-aged woman took both big bags of Chinese food from Zhang Lisheng. “Oh this is a lot of food. Tyra, go take a chair for your sister’s friend. Just place it beside her seat, hurry.”

Among the five young people sitting around the table, the smallest-looking boy wearing thin brown sweaters with black sweatpants stood up reluctantly. He walked into the room and carried a wooden chair out. After placing down the chair, he roared to Zhang Lisheng, “Hey, buddy, this is my computer chair, use it carefully.”

When Maddie heard her brother’s impertinent remarks on Zhang Lisheng, she immediately pointed to him and shouted, “Jess, that’s a solid wooden chair. We all know that nobody can break it. Be more polite to my friend!”

Under the fierce glaring of his sister, the big-eyed man pouted and mumbled under his breath as he lowered his head, “Okay, Maddie. I’m happy to finally know that my sister is not gay!”

“Come, Lisheng! I’ll introduce you to my family. When Maddie saw that her brother had yielded, she ignored his tasteless joke and casually took Zhang Lisheng’s arm to walk to the table to sit down. Pointing to the tall man on the host seat, she said, “This is my father, Bob Josente. You can call him Bob.”

“Erm Maddie. I think I should call your father Mr. Josente.” The young man, who had started to feel that he should have just bore the name ‘coward’ and rejected Maddie’s invitation to dine in at her house just now, smiled awkwardly. He nodded at Maddie’s expressionless father and said, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Josente.”

In the face of Zhang Lisheng’s greetings, Maddie’s father glared with anger. He answered pointedly, “Boy, I can tell that you have a little style, but if you want to deceive my daughter like this, let me tell you, you’re making a big mistake…”

“Zip it up, Bob. Maddie has said that this young man is her colleague. Stop embarrassing our daughter, will you?” The hostess who had unpacked all the Chinese takeaway onto plates in the kitchen before servicing them on the dining table just so happened to hear her husband’s driveling talk. Thus, she immediately howled at his ears.

“Colleague? Didn’t you see the way Maddie looks at him? She even took his hand just now. Melinda, this is the first time our daughter brought a man home after she has become an adult. Do you still remember that your father also did so when I went to your house for the first time? He even used a chopper to eat his steak, and that the steak was not even medium rare yet! Blood would just come flowing out every time he sliced it…”

“Erm, dad, we’re just about to eat, so can you please stop saying such disgusting things?” Upon hearing their father, a girl who looked very similar to Maddie snarled.

“Did you hear what Mia said, Bob? We’re going to dine soon, so just shut up and eat. Otherwise, your ‘happy night’ once a week tonight will just disappear like that…”

“Oh, mom, can you please stop talking as well? I can’t believe you actually said ‘happy night’ in front of your six kids. Oh this is really, really creeping me out…”

Just like that, Maddie’s family quarreled with each other. The girl looked at all of this in silence for a while before finally leaning to Zhang Lisheng’s ears to say softly, “These are my parents, Lisheng. They always argue in front of me, but I love them. Tonight, I actually want to tell you, through them, whether I, whom you hired to become your girlfriend to accompany you to the school dance the first time we met and have ever since been relying on you for help, am worthy of your love or not…”