The Great Worm Lich

After resting on the sofa in the office for a while, Zhang Lisheng slowly walked downstairs and drove back home in high spirits.

In the next two to three days, he did not go anywhere and just spent the remaining days of August in New York City. After bidding goodbye to his mom and family, he flew directly to San Francisco.

San Francisco was Pacific Ocean’s second-largest port city outside of Los Angeles. Just the population of this big city alone was already more than 4.5 million, so one could easily see just how busy it was.

There were many Chinese people here and it had the most lively old Chinatown in the US. It was one of the must-visit cities for every Chinese tourist who traveled across the ocean to the US.

However, to Zhang Lisheng who had lived for two years in New York, the other cities in the US were no longer appealing to him.

Empty-handed and carrying a credit card with a few hundred dollars in cash, he walked out of San Francisco International Airport and looked back at the airport hall with three huge arched eaves under the empty blue sky and white clouds. Taking a deep breath of the refreshing air of California containing the scent of rice straws, he walked into a taxi.

“Where are you going, young man?” The tall and fat black driver who was close to middle-aged sensed that the man was a possible customer as he showed a row of white teeth.

“Stanford.”

“Oh! Silicon Valley engineer!” When the driver heard that he was a big customer, the smile on the driver’s face brightened up even more. “My car is fast and stable! You made the right choice in entering my car!”

The Silicon Valley of the US electronic technology incubator well-known all around the globe was situated in the Stanford campus! It was apparent that the black driver had regarded Zhang Lisheng, who did not take any public transportation after getting off the plane but directly take a taxi instead, as an extravagant computer engineer.

The young man smiled noncommittally and did not explain anything more as he laid his head on the headrest of the back seat while looking out of the window. Upon seeing such an indifferent expression, the driver shrugged and stopped talking, then, he started his car and drove slowly out of the airport.

The entire journey was a spacious and straight highway so after a smooth speeding of more than an hour, the car finally arrived at Stanford University known as the US frontier of new technology and new education.

Compared to Harvard that had a history of 400 years and shared the same amount of fame as the university, Stanford that was just slightly over 100 years old could be best described as ‘new’.

However, when Zhang Lisheng saw the vast campus with an area of ​​more than 30 square kilometers, he was left dumbfounded. Those early US-styled buildings that had been in existence for many years as seen through the car window astounded the young man. He was then overcome with a sudden wish to step into a world of history spontaneously.

When the taxi entered Stanford’s open campus, it automatically slowed down. When it passed by the several shades of long-lined trees, Zhang Lisheng suddenly said, “Thank you, sir. Just stop the car here.”

“Young man, this is the central campus of Stanford. There’s still a long way to go till the Silicon Valley.”

“I’m here to study.” Zhang Lisheng smiled and glanced at the meter before taking out several pieces of 100 dollar bills. “Keep the change, may you have a good trip back.”

Then, he proceeded to walk out of the car.

After stepping out of the car, he glanced around in the bright weather. He could only see several people riding bicycles on the empty campus. With a perplexed look, he called Professor Steven’s phone.

“Professor, I’m already here at Stanford, but there’s basically nobody here…”

“It shouldn’t be! Oh, wait a minute, how did you come, Lisheng?”

“I came from the San Francisco airport by taxi.”

“Oh, it looks like you’ve gone to the wrong campus, Lisheng. Don’t you know that you should usually take the school bus for your college entrance, so you won’t go to the wrong place. You should best remember this now, especially since you’ll be studying is the second-largest university in the US.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve never been persuaded to withdraw before and this is my first time going so far away to study in a university,” Zhang Lisheng joked. “So what should I do now, Professor?”

“Tell me the landmark of the buildings around you and I’ll go pick you up!”

“Thank you very much!” The young man glanced at the surrounding and reported two to three special landmarks before hanging up the phone. After more than ten minutes, he saw his biology teacher drive a small brand new royal blue Smart BeConcept convertible to his front and honked.

“Long time no see, Professor! You look great! Oh! You even bought a brand new eye-catching car!” Zhang Lisheng entered the co-driver seat and said with a smile.

“Long time no see, Lisheng! You look like you’re in high spirits as well! Don’t mention anything about this car! I hate Smart! I feel like I’m driving directly on an engine that’s merely covered with cardboard. Still, it’s much more convenient for me to use this on campus than a big car,” Professor Steven laughed as he replied. “Alright! I’ll bring you to settle the admission process now.”

Judging from the tone of his speech, it looked like his spirit had become higher after getting a teaching position at Stanford. To think that he had actually started to crack jokes on usual terms now.

“Thank you, Professor!”

“You don’t have to thank me, Lisheng. This is my promise to you! Speaking of it, our luck is actually quite good as well since we managed to publish our journal on the first volume of the annual publication of Science. We did it just by relying on the two soft-shell color-changing beetles before the government announced the discovery of the supernatural realm. As a result, I’ve become a lifelong professor in the university once again, and you’ve become a graduate student at Stanford several years earlier. ”

“You have a point, Professor! If we talk about it today, no matter how important the two small bugs are in the evolutionary history of insects, they would be devalued. After all, the discovery of the supernatural realm also meant a biological explosion of species. However, speaking of it, it doesn’t seem easy at the moment to go to the supernatural realm to capture the species there for research. Even though the President has opened the Shrimp World No. 2 to the public, the government and the military are still controlling the spread of the species strictly, right?” Zhang Lisheng asked casually.

“It sounds like you know something that others don’t know, Lisheng!” Steven, who became particularly sensitive upon the mentioning of ‘biological research’, had his eyes lit up right away.

“Yeah, Professor. I went to take a look at the Shrimp World No. 2 while pretending to be a ‘private investor’ three days ago. I believe you must have known if you’ve seen the news that the main area of activity mankind has at the moment is just a huge island with an area of ​​more than 30,000 square kilometers. The US military has built a small town on the island. Like an ancient city, it has walls, gates, and fortifications. They attract the indigenous people of the supernatural realm to go to the small city to trade for items. Yeah, I think they must be trying to use rich materials to try taming those aborigines too. I went to a small city with many small cowboys and had come into contact with the aborigines. I’ve exchanged some items I owned for many strange insects from them, but unfortunately, in the end, the officer on duty at the gathering place told me that insects are not allowed to be taken away…”

“My God Lisheng! You’re really lucky! To think that you’ve actually gone to the supernatural realm already. You’ve even come across the strange biological species there! What kind of insects have you managed to exchange with them? What kind of structure do they have? Are they the same with the insect family we have on Earth?”

“Yeah! The experimental environment is too bad, so I can only pinch those valuable experiment subjects and burst them using my hand. Actually, on the island of the supernatural realm, the subjects are not that valuable either. I saw many resting soldiers and aborigines used meat to barbecue them. Most of them are juicy and have a lump of fine soft meat. So far, I haven’t come across any poison from the visual inspection, but they could be classified under the same family with the insects on Earth. It’s just that they are much larger in size. Oh, speaking of which, Professor! Since ordinary US citizens can go to the supernatural realm for a visit by drawing lots, why don’t you apply to visit there as a researcher if you’re interested?”

“Well, I don’t have the money,” Steven replied irritably. “The lab’s fund has clearly stated that I can use them to buy a laser pulser to bake a burger. They even allowed me to buy a new car for myself, but I cannot use it to go to the supernatural realm to do my scientific research! This is because there’s no precedent case before! Damn those bureaucrats in the university! How could they just brush me off with such a ridiculous reason…”

“Oh, in that case, I may be able to fund a large-scale scientific study of the Shrimp World No. 2 for you. If everything goes well, you can even build a first-class biological laboratory there.” Zhang Lisheng’s heart gave a jolt when he was staring at the beautiful campus outside the car window, prompting him to take advantage of the situation as he spoke.

“What? You’re willing to do so, Lisheng? This is not a matter of just spending a few million USD to donate a research instrument! The amount of investment required will be much larger!”

“Of course I know, Professor. Actually, the reason I start my own business in the first place is so I can help myself become an outstanding biologist. As long as the development of human science is within my financial ability, I’ll do it!” Zhang Lisheng said high-soundingly. “So far, due to the reason that my business is still in the midst of expanding, I can only take out 50 million. However, a year later, after I’ve recouped my investment, if you would really set up a biological laboratory in the supernatural realm, I’d be able to provide at least 100 million USD of funding every year! Of course, if the future research in the laboratory can generate commercial benefits, I’ll account for at least half of the share!”

“Oh Lisheng! You just said that the purpose for you to start your business in the first place is so that you can help yourself become an outstanding biologist, but now you suddenly become so greedy… However, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t matter! It would be very weird instead if you sacrifice so much, but don’t ask for a return at all. As long as you’re willing to take out enough money to fund my research, you can take whatever you want.” Upon hearing Zhang Lisheng’s words, Steven exclaimed loudly in a pleasant surprise. “Looks like we should not rush into settling your admission procedures first! Let us go meet Maggette, the Dean of Stanford’s Biology Faculty. I believe he’ll be very interested in your proposal…”

As he was speaking, the car he was driving suddenly came to a sudden stop. As the Smart’s tires screeched out loud, rubbing against the ground, it sent shocks to the few cyclists on the road who hurriedly braked.

“What the f*ck? Are you crazy?! Who would drive like that on the university campus?” In the midst of the raging curses of the cyclists who snapped back to reality, the small car turned around hastily and sped in the opposite direction.