The Great Worm Lich

The strange look in Charlie’s eyes disappeared right away. Turning around in pleasant surprise, he looked at the black-haired young man who had somehow appeared out of nowhere and said incoherently. “I-I’m not looking at anything. Boss, you’re b-back. A big earthquake has hit the farm this afternoon…”

He suddenly caught sight of the ghost-like paleness of the young man’s face and choked on his words. After a long moment of bafflement, he asked anxiously, “W-What’s wrong with you, boss?”

“It’s nothing Charlie, I merely paid a price to get some strategic power to become the ‘overlord’ on the chessboard. Haven’t you heard of this saying before, ‘If you want to wear a crown, you must bear its weight first’?” An irrepressible joy appeared on the face of the black-haired young man as he said casually.

Afterward, he walked to a sofa that had fallen to the floor crookedly and waved his hands carelessly. After summoning a breeze to lift the one-seater sofa, he sat down and asked, “Charlie, what about the loss on the farm?”

“I’ve just contacted the rescue team. In terms of personnel, 64 have been found slightly injured, 39 have been seriously injured, five have died, and about 30 are still missing. The loss of materials have not been assessed for the time being, but it’s preliminary estimated to be quite large.”

“The amount of money lost doesn’t matter. What matters more is the reputation of the LS Group. We must compensate the injured farm employees and the families of the deceased as much as possible and minimize the impact of the earthquake at all costs, understood?” Zhang Lisheng stared solemnly at his fat and short representative.

“Yess, boss. Please rest assured, I know what to do.” Charlie nodded quickly and replied seriously.

“Good. I feel most at ease when it’s you who handle the situation. Oh yeah, one more thing. Christmas is coming soon so I’ll go back to the Earth for a long time after Christmas. Tonight may be the last night I see you before I leave. I’ll leave the construction of the farm in the next few months to you and Edward. As for how to implement it step by step, just do it according to the plan we have agreed before. Bye, Charlie.” The young man said and stood up. At once, a thick mist condensed around his body as he slowly drifted out of the simple prefab room into the thick dark night.

In the mist, the young man avoided the huge beam of light lit up by the helicopter flying above him and the team of search and rescue ground personnel as he flew about 3 meters above the ground. Crossing sneakily almost 200 kilometers of grassland and desert, he finally arrived at New Washington A at midnight.

After turning into a boulevard from a remote alley on the edge of the city, he stopped a taxi and hurried to the community where his mother lived.

On the road, the noisy dark-skinned driver kept talking excitedly to Zhang Lisheng about the earthquake that had taken place in the day time just now. He asked questions and answered himself taking delight in his own manner while the young man sitting in the back seat was immersed in thought and said nothing.

It was only until Zhang Lisheng’s eyes inadvertently glanced out of the car window and saw that the fountain square that should have been empty in the city center late at night was full of people that he finally snapped back to reality in bafflement and blurted out, “Is there a midnight Christmas parade today, Mr. Driver? Why are there so many people crowding in the square?”

“Midnight Christmas parade? Midnight Christmas parade…” The taxi driver’s eyes turned wide as he glanced at the black-haired young man sitting in the back seat through his rear mirror, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “Oh buddy, it looks like you have a ‘big strong heart’ that won’t feel nervous. The entire New Washington A almost flip over by the quake this afternoon so who knows whether will there be another quake tonight. I think everyone except you in New Washington A is afraid that the earthquake might hit again now so everyone is taking shelter in open space to overnight tonight.”

Zhang Lisheng finally realized that the quake caused by his taming of the Taotie had scared the inhabitants of the surrounding oasis cities to the state of extreme panic. Bursting out into a chuckle, he said, “Don’t worry, man. There won’t be anymore earthquake.”

“How do you know, are you a seismologist? Oh, you do look like a scientist, engineer, or so on. But, even if you were really a seismologist, you can’t exactly predict when an earthquake will occur, can you? I just heard from the radio that the earthquake is unpredictable and can only be detected by instruments after it happens. Then again, since the earthquake has already occurred, what use is it to detect it afterward?” The black man jabbered on and turned the steering wheel to turn the car into a quiet community.

The streets around the community had become much narrower, and the houses on both sides of the street had also transformed from traditional skyscrapers into traditional American wooden houses.

Even though the seismic index of high-rise buildings was much higher than that of wooden houses from a rational point of view, the collapse of low wooden structures would not cause too many casualties so it was much more comforting from a psychological level. Therefore, the residents here did not hastily go to find open space for shelter but merely turned off their own electricity source and sat on the lawn in front of the house all night.

The taxi turned left and right in the community and finally stopped the car in front of a two-story wooden house that had been painted into milky white. “Buddy, you’re home.”

Zhang Lisheng looked out the window at the galaxy-like dotted candle lights that lit up the entire street and said, “Thank you.” Before giving the driver a hundred dollar bill and pushed the door open to get out of the car.

The instant he stepped on the ground, a pleasant surprised incoherent voice resonated from afar, “Oh my god! my god, baby, you are alright! I knew you’d be alright! Praise the Lord, praise your kindness…”

He was immediately enveloped tightly in a warm embrace.

“Of course I’m fine, mom. What’s the matter with you? Why are you so overwhelmed with emotions?” Zhang Lisheng wriggled unnaturally in his mom’s arms and asked.

“Don’t you know that there was a big earthquake in the afternoon, Lisheng? Your mum has been frantically calling you ever since then but she couldn’t reach you no matter what. She has been overwhelmed with anxiety these few hours.” Lavin who was wearing a police uniform holding a candle approached slowly and answered on behalf of his lover. Following behind him was a beautiful black girl in a casual leather outfit.

“Isn’t it normal for the call to be unable to connect? Oh mom, didn’t I tell you before I left that I’d be collecting materials for biological research in the desert where there’s no communication signal… “The young man glanced in the direction of the sound and frowned faintly before looking at his mom. However, his words were lodged in the throat by the pleasant surprise look in Lili’s eyes.

With no other option, he could only wait until his mother’s emotions had calmed down before he could get out of her embrace. Under the bright moonlight, Zhang Lisheng nodded to Lavin first and said, “Uncle Lavin,” before smiling at the black girl next to the tall police officer and said, “Major Alison, why are you here? Don’t tell me that you’re here to shelter yourself from the aftershocks?”

“You know, Lisheng. I have no family in New Washington A and I only have a few friends, which are Riley and some of the reporters. I don’t have anywhere to go during the Christmas holiday so I could only ask Riley out to hang out, but who knows that we would suddenly encounter an earthquake…” The former military intelligence officer, who somehow became very close to Lavin family’s eldest daughter who was a media personnel after being transferred to the Department of Defense’s Foreign Affairs News Center, explained with a smile.

Lili, who did not discriminate racially and had a good opinion on the black female officer who always talked more about her eldest son, added, “Miss Alison happened to see me calling you when she sent Riley back and she was very concerned about your safety too so she deliberately stayed until now to comfort me.”

“Oh, thank you, Major Alison.” Doubts filled Zhang Lisheng’s heart once again but he could only express his gratitude at this moment.

“How many times have I told you, Lisheng? Can’t you just call me Alison like when we were in Shrimp World No. 2? Or could it be that you just like it when other people call you ‘Dr.’?” Alison asked jokingly.

“It’s just a title. Is it necessary to be so serious?” The young man looked at the black female officer’s delicate face that looked as smooth as silk under the candlelight and said with a shrug. “But since you care about it so much, ok, I’ll pay attention to it next time.”

Upon hearing this, Alison nodded with satisfaction, and then asked with concern, “Where were you at the time of the big earthquake, Lisheng? Did you encounter any danger? Are you injured?”

“Alison, it’s not like you’ve never seen my Kung Fu before in the Shrimp World No. 2. How can an earthquake of this magnitude hurt me?” Zhang Lisheng said with a lie that he had previously thought of. “In fact, I was catching some sand animals in the desert the LS Group bought in the afternoon so I didn’t pay much attention when I suddenly felt the ground shaking. Later, on the way back to New Washington A, I saw that cracks are everywhere and only then I realized that the earthquake had actually caused such a large impact. In the end, my car broke down in the desert and I had returned to the city by feet. ”

“You walked back to the city, baby? Oh, you must be tired and hungry! I-I’ll go make delicious sandwiches for you right away. Just wait a few minutes. It’ll be done in no time…” When the mother next to them heard the son’s fabricated lie, she ran back to the house from the street and left no opportunity for Zhang Lisheng to even stop her.

Alison looked at Lili’s receding back and sighed out of the blue. Pursing her lips and putting on a weird expression, she said softly with a profound meaning, “Lisheng, you have a mother who looks as though she dotes on you too much in the eyes of ordinary American and even though this is not worth showing off, it’s very enviable. I believe you won’t make her sad or disappointed in the future, right?”

Zhang Lisheng fell into a moment of silence and did not answer. He smiled at Lavin and the female officer instead before strolling on the lawn to go sit down beside the Lavin family’s siblings.

“Hey, bro, are you okay?” Randy who was on the grass immediately asked the young man with high five, attracting Riley, Michelle, and a few other more’s concerned gazes. It was apparent that the reason they did not follow their father and stepmother to surround the young man just now was not because they were not concerned about his life-and-death situation but it was because they were afraid that he would find it to be awkward.

“Thank you for your concern. I’m good, brother.” The young man replied with a smile. “All of you look terrible though. An earthquake is not the end of the world.”

“It’s not the end of the world but it’s terrifying enough, Lisheng, especially when the entire city is shaking like eggs in the pan.” Riley replied with a lingering fear.