The Great Worm Lich

In the golden autumn season, everything around them seemed to have been dying since the day and night were alternating with each other. The temperature had already become chilly now.

As the sun gradually dropped to the horizon, a semi-circular bright moon slowly rose to the sky. At that time, in an unnoticed dark alley in the bustling metropolis of New York, over ten black young men wearing black T-shirts with a red sash chain soaring out of a drawing of a flame armed with chains and baseball bats surrounded three to five brown-skinned American-Mexican who had an aquiline nose. It seemed like their encountered had turned into a chaotic beating.

“Stop!” Soon, the scene became bloody. Upon seeing that the Mexicans who fell to the ground had lost their will to resist, the square-faced young man among the black men with a flat nose who weren’t moving until this very moment thrust his hands into his trouser pocket. Swaying around, he stopped the atrocities of his companions with a ferocious sneer.

Then, he stepped forward and crouched on the ground to speak to the few bloody Mexican young men, “Guys, do you know why we’re y’all up? Well, let me tell you, as descendants of the ‘corns’ from the desert, you might show off your Jordan shoes around in Mexico’s slums filled with cacti and stinky shit, but this is the West End of New York, understand? West End, New York is our territory! You’ll have to learn to walk with your tail tucked in! Olite, Gurk, take off these idiots’ shoes and search their pockets. These few ‘delicate corns’ might be able to get their hands on the ‘nice goods’ that we couldn’t get. They’re very ‘juicy’.”

“Yes, boss!” Upon hearing the square-faced young man’s order, two short grinning teenagers walked out from the group of black thugs and directly placed their blood-stained chains on their shoulders, before removing the Mexicans’ shoes off their feet in a bustle.

First, it was five pairs of black-colored basketball shoes that had red-colored soles and then it was several dozens of banknotes with different values. After obtaining the loot, the black young men began to chat with each other excitedly.

“Wow, it’s really the authentic Air Jordan 21 with a complete retro style. Look at the lasering at the upper part of the shoe that prevents counterfeiting! Tsk tsk… This is completely the highest essence of mechanical civilization.”

“Really? Let me have a look! Wow, it really is genuine! What the hell? We should collect these shoes. Goods like these shouldn’t be worn on their feet! Such an elastic sole will definitely allow me to jump higher! Aha! It’s size 45! it’s my size!”

“Don’t wear these sneakers on your stinky feet, Cody! You took the watch we got last time, so even if the shoes fit you or not, you don’t get a share this time.”

“Oh, buddies! I really don’t understand why you all care so much about a few pairs of second-hand shoes. If I were to choose, I find this stack of banknotes to be much lovelier!”

“We’re the one who doesn’t understand you, Crowe! As a black man, you don’t like rap songs nor basketball! I’m suspecting that you actually only put black paint on your face…”

Upon hearing the cheerful conversations between these young men, it was difficult to put them together with the violent thugs earlier, let alone a violent robbery; it was not unprecedented for such young men who lived in a so-called ‘bad community’ in the US to even kill somebody with a gun just because of a pair of favorite sneakers.

When the discussions slowly turned into some half-hearted quarrels, under the leadership of the square-faced young man, the young habitual robbers had finally divided their loot. When they finally got their hands on the shoes, they replaced their own shoes with the new loot they got; they even mischievously threw their old shoes onto the Mexicans who were still lying and groaning on the ground.

When the square-faced young man saw the Mexicans twitching their blood-covered, big noses while they were glaring at him with intense hatred, he, who was the leader of the pack, pondered for a moment before pulling out a gun from his waist. He then said coldly, “I know that ‘corn dudes’ like you guys do not have it easy too. It’s still the same old saying though. This is the West End of New York’s Qeens! It’s black people’s territory, so only we can march straight right here. Look at my face and remember my name! I’m ‘Mad Dog’ Chadton, the leader of the Hellchain Gang! If you see my face again next time, don’t forget to give way immediately…”

Just as this new gang leader wanted to show some brutal means to make a name for himself, the sound of a speeding car engine suddenly roared and got closer to them, interrupting his words.

Over ten seconds later, a yellow taxi, commonly seen in New York, that had its headlights on, came to an emergency stop at the roadside in a screeching noise while the violent black young men and the Mexican victims stared with awe at it with a dumbfounded expression.

The cool breeze of the night brushed across the street and sent the dust to flutter in the bright lights that the taxi shone. The square-faced young man squinted his eyes through the lights and looked at the car; he could faintly see a driver dressed in a white long robe that Indians often wore all year long sitting in the driver’s seat staring straight into his own eyes with an empty gaze.

At that instant, the square-faced young man, who had an innate violent temperament for he grew up in an environment where violence was the main melody and had only felt afraid of just a mere few times in his 19 years of life, suddenly felt his heart clenching. However, the violent temper he developed from his childhood immediately suppressed the fear that had risen inexplicably in his heart.

“I’ve seen no taxi stopping at the Kelvin Streets in Queens at night. Looks like we’re gonna have more business now…” Tightening his grip onto the gun in his hand, the square-faced young man smiled somewhat stiffly. When he was just about to say something vicious, the roaring of a car engine resonated continuously.

In less than a few minutes, there were twenty to thirty flashing car lights in front of him that flashed across before stopping at the originally empty street that was only lit up by a few dim street lights.

If it was only one taxi cab, one could say that this driver might have just entered this field and was dumb enough to make an astray trip, but when there were several dozens of taxis coming one after another, it would definitely be conspicuous.

“Boss, the situation is not right! There are too many of these taxis! It’s too sudden; we better leave now!” One tall and thin mixed-race black man, who had always been the ‘mind’ of the Hellchain Gang quietly walked up to the square-faced young man and whispered nervously.

“Dawson, I’ll heed your advice. Let’s go!” Despite his rashness and brutality, the square-faced young man was not dumb. When he saw that the situation had gone beyond his control, he nodded immediately.

Soon, the group of violent young mobs ran away with their heads down and sneaked into the lanes beside the street. Relying on the fact that they knew this place well, they quickly disappeared without a trace.

After the black mobs left, the young injured Mexicans on the ground sighed and struggled to climb up.

Although they also felt that it was abnormal for a long row of taxis that had their headlights on to park on the side of the road, the gang had already beaten them till their brains had become groggy. The pain on their bodies was unbearable, and their mobile phones already had no battery power left. It was not realistic for them to walk to the hospital by feet, so with no other choice, they could only secretly count their luck as they staggered to the cars.

“Sir, we were robbed. Please, please help us call the police or send us to the hospital… W-we’ll pay you, please, please…” When they reached the window of the nearest taxi, the person who was the least injured among the few Mexicans began to plead incoherently.

Amid his pleading, the window of the taxi slowly rolled down and a pair of eyes shining with faint dark red brilliance that was cleverly utilizing the headlights from the car behind to stay hidden in the dark stared at them for a moment before suddenly replying, “My eyes can see the same sin and bloody manner from you. Right now, the pain you’re suffering is the suffering you have given to others…”

As he was speaking, a few dried palms suddenly extended out of the window and grabbed the faces of the five Mexican men who looked shocked after seeing the driver’s red eyes.

The horrible feeling of having his cold, skinny hands gripping their faces made the few Mexican youths to have their sight blacked out which snapped them back to reality. Screaming, they began to struggle with all their might.

Unfortunately, their efforts were all vain in the face of the dry hands that already had their fingertips pressing deeply into their flesh. Soon, the driver pulled the heads of these people into the narrow window of the car in pain.

Then, they felt that the dry hands were getting stronger and stronger. When their bones sizzled and snapped as the hands pulled them into the taxi, they heard the last horrifying voice resonated in their ears, “No matter what kind of evil deeds you’ve done, it was unrelated to me at first, but the moment you knocked on my car, I’d have no choice but to give you the final ‘judgment’! This is the iron law that the Black Knight whose body has already fallen but whose soul is still aloof will have to follow.”

After they dragged the Mexicans into the taxi from the window by force, their shrill screams suddenly came to a halt.

The entire neighborhood restored its quiet atmosphere. The only difference was that something had extinguished many of the lights that were originally lit in the dilapidated apartments on both sides of the street.

On the roof of an apartment building that no longer had its street-facing windows lit by light, Zhang Lisheng, who transformed into a slender lizardman over two meters tall, had his body scales blending into the night. Tilting his ferocious-looking head while overlooking the ‘cannibal taxi’ below, his ears were on alert as he muttered sarcastically, “Black Knight? Does this mean the fallen knight who drives a fake taxi? What an ancient profession that conforms to the times…”

Even though he spouted mean words, when he saw that the taxi drivers fetching the guests were also Darkwalkers who had quite some tricks on their sleeves, the young man became even more vigilant towards this joyful themed party that the Lord, the big boss of the underground world of New York, had thrown.

After waiting for a while on the top of the apartment building that was several dozens of meters above the ground, one after another, he saw guests emerging from the dark alley. They were either wearing masks or having an ancient mythology tribal make-up oil painted on their faces, with their invitations on their hands before entering the taxi. Concealing his body while staying horizontally on the wall of the building, Zhang Lisheng quietly crawled to the ground.

Silently, he walked to the nearest taxi and suddenly turned into nothingness as he passed through the car, before sitting on the co-driver seat.