The Great Worm Lich

Taking out his phone to have a look at it, he noticed that it was an unfamiliar number. Such occasions had happened several times before, so Zhang Lisheng casually picked it up without a care. Just as he expected, a deep voice resonated from the phone. “Sir, I’m the FedEx delivery guy. Your parcel has arrived.”

“11.57pm.” Zhang Lisheng looked at the time. “I know your voice. Very good, ‘deliveryman’, you’re not late. Please wait a moment, I’ll go downstairs immediately.”

Now that the new ‘materials’ had arrived, it made him a little excited. The young man opened the door and walked out of his glass room. Most of the people in the lab worked throughout the night but nobody noticed his actions at all.

As he walked down to the foyer through the stairs, Zhang Lisheng saw two strong and brawny men wearing FedEx uniforms while chatting to a night guard and a skinny young man carrying two big sling bags.

When he approached them, he heard the young man complain in a sullen manner. “I’m not willing to send the pizza to those labs anymore. God forbid what those weirdo scientists are doing when you happily send the pizza there while you anticipate the tips they gave you. Last time, when I knocked on the door and opened it, I witnessed a monkey’s head that was as big as a child being smashed open alive! Not only that, the scientist was even sitting on a peculiar chair grinning with all his might! I had nightmares for a whole week because of this, you know! To be honest, such a horrifying place should be regulated…”

“You don’t know that, buddy! The management of this laboratory is of different grades. The labs in this building are doing ‘harmless’ experiments, so there’s no need for strict supervision at all,” the night guard who was about the same age as the pizza delivery man shrugged and said in a professional tone. When he noticed Zhang Lisheng walk towards them, he kindly greeted him, “Oh, Mr. Lisheng. Good evening! There’s another new package for you!”

“Good evening, Mr. Modi. It’s you on duty again tonight? Is it Friday already?” Zhang Lisheng, who was a little unkempt, smiled at the guard and looked at the two brawny men in yellow uniforms. “Hey, two deliverymen, don’t tell me that there’s a surprise waiting for me tonight?”

“Maybe, sir! We’re bringing three parcels to you.” The delivery man standing at the young man’s left side who looked more burly handed over a bill of lading. “Please sign here, and we’ll help send the package up to the lab.”

“Buy-two take-one or buy-two take-three? These two are fresh goods as well. It looks like the phone call just now was very effective…” A faint smile appeared on the corners of Zhang Lisheng’s mouth as he muttered to himself. As he took the bill, he casually signed his name. “Alright, gentlemen. Thank you for delivering it to my address.”

“You’re welcome!” After receiving the bill of lading, the slightly burly delivery man looked at his companion. “Stop spacing out! It’s time for us to pick up the goods, man.”

“Oh… Oh…” His companion vaguely replied before walking out of the laboratory building with him. When they came to the van written with ‘FedEx’ parked under the steps, he whispered when they opened the car boots, “That person doesn’t seem right, Iron Chain! Something’s not right! When I was standing next to him, I felt as though I was in a caged car in the safari park that has come across a lion charging at me! Did you see his smile just now? It’s very scary! So scary that I think my blood coagulated…”

“Oh, Gas! Did you forget to take your medicine before you came out?” Iron Chain pulled his arms and picked two tightly sealed, square-shaped, hard-shelled cartons with one hand each out of the car. Looking at his companion’s pale face under the moonlight, he whispered viciously, “You keep whining like a girl, you know, every here and then! You’re not a f*cking psychic, so stop saying all these weird things! You know about the boss’ temper very well! If you don’t want to have your neck wrung and be sold, we’d have to beat that man’s ass even if he’s really a lion wearing a white robe! Listen! Lift the box and shut the door! We should do our job! That’s it.”

“Ah damn it! I knew I shouldn’t have come to work today when the button on my shirt suddenly broke off for no reason this morning! F*ck…” Gas, who had no other choice, muttered in a low voice before lifting up the last carton from the van and shut the van’s back door with a ‘bang’.

When the two of them brought the three parcels back to the laboratory building, the guard saw them. They then asked kindly, “Hey, buddies! Why don’t you guys even have a cart in your car? Do you guys need any help?”

“Thank you but it’s alright. We’re used to this kind of transporting work already! It’s easier to use my arms than using a cart.” Iron Chain who had a pair of long limbs relaxedly said.

“You have a point. Tsk, tsk… You’re really strong! If I had a body like yours, I’d have long become a policeman in the city already.” The guard who was young but was already fat said as he looked at the muscled figures of the transporters who were waiting for the elevator not far away.

With a ‘ding’, the elevator door gradually opened and Zhang Lisheng flashed a smile at the depressed guard. “Mr. Modi, eat less and exercise more and you’ll soon get what you want! See you!” Then, he walked into the elevator together with the two transporters.

It was apparent that there was a ball-shaped CCTV that had a 360-degree view on the ceiling of the elevator. For this reason, Iron Chain did not do anything rashly.

The third floor arrived in a blink of an eye. Zhang Lisheng walked into the ‘C2’ lab with the two transporters who were familiar with the passage. As they walked inside, they just so happened to come across Shalin and her two experimental assistants who were changing into their usual clothes. They were just about to leave.

“Dr. Shalin, are you leaving this early today?” Now that he had run into them, of course, he would have to greet them. Without slowing down his footsteps, the young man waved a hand and casually asked.

“It’s Saturday tomorrow. I have a date so I’ll need to leave early today. Lisheng, are you buying more experimental materials?” Shalin looked at the two deliverymen carrying the cardboard boxes behind Zhang Lisheng as she asked.

“Oh yeah. Three very interesting ‘small parcels’.”

“When I was doing my graduate research, I’ve worked part-time for a period of time in the biomedical science field,” Shalin knowingly said with a smile. “Not only are your ‘small parcels’ interesting, but they must also be expensive too, right? See you again, Lisheng!”

“See you, Doctor.” Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment before smiling noncommittally as he opened his glass room after keying in a password and his thumbprint.

After he walked into the independent space, he eagerly pointed towards the experimental platform and said, “Just do the usual, deliverymen. Place the parcels on the platform, and I’ll check the goods first.”

“Okay, Doctor.” Iron Chain placed the two parcel boxes beside each other on the experimental platform before clenching his fists.

After being in this ‘corpse trading’ business for a long time, his experience gave him the knowledge about the sound insulation and the tenacity of this special glass room. It was hard for an ordinary person to imagine that even if a gun battle took place inside, nobody would know a thing outside.

Seeing that Iron Chain had already placed the parcel properly, Zhang Lisheng seemed to be completely unaware of the brawny man’s intention. He took a small and sharp scalpel from the table and opened one of the cardboard boxes to reveal the one-time plastic foam inside.

“It will be the most enjoyable moment next…” When the young man muttered to himself and was about to rip the carton apart completely, Iron Chain suddenly punched hard on his right rib. “Doc, Boss Fierce Dog told me to send you a message. He hopes that you can learn how to be more polite when you’re on the phone with him in the future.”

“Fierce Dog wants me to be more polite? Alright then! It’s still early anyway, so I’ll also bring you to greet him later politely… Sigh! What a headache. Now I have to find a new supplier.” Despite having his fragile spot hit, Zhang Lisheng did not even flinch at all. As though everything was normal, he tore open the cardboard parcel and dexterously ripped the plastic foam into two, revealing a naked, bald, middle-aged man’s corpse whose skin looked dull in a grey-white color curling up in a ball.

Grabbing the chin of the corpse on the experimental platform and looking at Iron Chain, who was stunned and was gradually breathing rapidly, the young man suddenly smiled. “Human beings are indeed greedy. With a ‘living specimen’ like you, it’s really hard for me to like this corpse no matter how I look at it. Ah forget it, I guess I’ll just directly use you as…”

“You’re a madman! Crazy…” Iron Chain did not know how to deal with this particular situation other than using violence the knew best to solve it. With a roar, he cut off Zhang Lisheng’s words and poised himself to strike. Jumping up and down rhythmically for a few times, he looked for the right time before flinging his fist with all his might.

Unfortunately, in front of a powerful transformed wizard, an ordinary person’s attack would only be futile.

With just a light sidestep, the young man easily dodged Iron Chain’s fast punch. Then, he stepped forward and struck out a palm to hit his opponent’s heart.

The pumping of blood in the man’s body suddenly stopped at that instant. Without any struggle, Iron Chain fainted right away and knelt on the ground powerlessly. His body then slumped down directly.

“Oh f*ck! I knew it would be like this! I-I knew it would be like this! But you never listened to me! You didn’t want to listen to me!” Gas, who was by the side, said with a pale face when he saw his companion slumping on the ground. Not knowing whether he was dead or alive, he continued “Doctor, I’ve never thought of offending you before! I’ve never thought of…”

“I know. Calm down, sir. Do you know where Fierce Dog’s nest is?” Zhang Lisheng dexterously opened the few parcels of corpses on the experimental platform and threw them into the freezer.

“D-Doctor. I-I… It’s like this…” Gas stuttered.

Upon seeing the brawny man in front of him hesitate, Zhang Lisheng did not have the intention to press the question any further. He lifted Iron Chain onto the experimental platform all by himself and stripped off all of the clothes from his ‘living specimen’ before he dislocated all of the bone joints of his ‘test material’ one after another.

The intense pain snapped Iron Chain awake right away. His jaw that had been dislocated could only manage to produce “urghhhh urghhh urghhh…” sounds in pain as he struggled with all his might.

Unfortunately, in front of Zhang Lisheng, this big man was as powerless as a baby. A few minutes later, all of the joints in his body was dislocated while he was very much alive and breathing.