The Great Worm Lich

In the cabin, after Helena had finally taken a good look at the tall, big-eyed, thick-browed young man, her eyes widened right away. With her hand on her chest, her breathing became rapid as she seemed to be in a daze muttering, “Is it you, Fandersal? Is it really you? Oh God bless us! I-I’m not dreaming right? Or could it be that I’m going to die and I’m starting to see all the good hallucinations at the last moment of my life? Or could it be that you’re really here in front of me…”

“You’re not dreaming, Helena. I’m here. I’m beside you now! I’m here by your side…” The tall young man reached out a hand to caress the girl’s cheek, so gently as though he was caressing the glistening dew drop that would disappear in a flash under the sunlight. Holding back his tears, he stuttered and choked on his words.

This touching and beautiful scene touched the hearts of the rest who were by the side, except for Zhang Lisheng, who was in the corridor, who could not help but feel that it was all bullsh*t. With chills running down his spine, he curled his lips and tried to go back to the deck to see what happened. Just as he took a step forward, he was immediately blocked by two guards armed with a machete with a round hat on their heads. “Sir, please don’t roam casually for the time being.”

The young man was stunned. Looking at the guards wearing round hats filling the entire corridor with a bent waist, he was about to say something but all of a sudden, he heard Annete, whose face was completely flushed out of surprise, shouting from not far away, “Tantorn Family’s guards, that is Mr. Lisheng. He’s a wushu master from the Frosty Mainland and he’s the one who saved us from the Hellfire prison. This time, it’s also me who asked him to save Helena so don’t block his way!”

The two guards wearing round hats blocking in front of Zhang Lisheng knew that the teenager doing the talking was actually Bailile’s Young Master, despite wearing raggedly like a beggar, so they immediately looked at their leader.

A middle-aged man, standing in front of the cabin door who was not tall but gave off a kind of icy cold lofty feeling, exchanged glances with his subordinates and said with a blank expression, “Didn’t you hear what Young Master Annete said? Make way now!”

“Yes! Sir Wester!” The two guards, wearing hats, quickly made way for Zhang Lisheng, eliciting a faint smile on his face. “Thank you.”

He continued to stride and walked up the stairs to the deck, but was stopped by Annete when he passed by the teenager. “Mr. Lisheng, we’re saved! Do you know that? we’re saved now…”

“Young Master Annete, I can tell by looking at these people’s aura. We’ve either encountered pirates who hijacked the ship or have been rescued,” Zhang Lisheng chuckled and interrupted the teenager. “Since that ‘Sir Wester’ is respectful to you, it naturally means that we’re saved.”

“Why can you still be so calm after knowing that we’re saved…” Annete was stunned. All of a sudden, he suppressed his excited emotions and lowered his head to mutter under his breath with exasperation, “No, you’re right, Mr. Lisheng. Teacher has told me before that if I want to become a true man, I need to always stay calm no matter what situation I’m in and no matter what emotions I’m having. I’ve lost my cool just now. In front of the Tantorn Family’s guards on top of that! This is too embarrassing…”

In the cabin where echo was everywhere, the young man’s voice was not loud but it was just loud enough to be heard by everybody. When Zhang Lisheng saw those guards wearing round hats had a faint smile on their faces, he recalled Annete’s help to him so he casually remarked, “Don’t talk anymore, Young Master Annete, otherwise, you’ll humiliate yourself more. Let us go to the deck and enjoy the sea breeze. In that way, you’ll be able to calm down.”

“Alright, but I have to go look for teacher first to tell him the good news that we have been saved. I’ll meet you at the deck later, Mr. Lisheng!” Annete replied and ran forward along the corridor. He turned towards a corner and disappeared without a trace.

Zhang Lisheng, on the other hand, walked alone to the bottom of the cabin stairs and climbed onto the deck. Without warning, a fleet of ships tightly connected together by iron chains on the surface of the sea entered his sight.

Looking at the ships that were floating on the sea surface, with the smallest one seemingly four to five times larger than the wooden ship he was standing on, being connected with thick chains, a thought suddenly appeared in the young man’s mind.

After some careful consideration, he walked past those panicked sailors, who had not been involved in the riots but had also been detained by the guards and came to the steering cabin.

Just as he had expected, Hanoo was standing in front of the rudder looking out the window at the fleet of ships printed with a golden guard coat of arms with a dumbfounded expression. He walked up to the navigator and asked deliberately, “Hanoo, do you know how many bizarre twists and turns have happened just now? Most of the sailors on the ship have erupted into a riot and as a result, I beat those crazy sailors up and all of a sudden, a group of guys wearing round hats holding machetes appeared without warning. Then Annete told me we’re rescued…”

“You’ve stopped the sailors’ riot?” Before Zhang Lisheng could finish his words, Hanoo suddenly snapped back from his stance and turned around to stare at him, before blurting out and asking.

“Yeah.” Zhang Lisheng nodded. “What’s wrong?”

“Sigh, there really is such a thing as fate in this world. Some people are lucky, while some people are unfortunate…” Hanoo became silent for a while and sighed. He muttered to himself with a wry smile, as though he had not heard Zhang Lisheng’s question.

“That’s right, I also feel that there is such a thing as fate now.” Hanoo did not wish to answer and Zhang Lisheng was smart enough not to pursue it further. After pondering it for a while, he looked at the vast sea through the window and said, “Such a vast, big ocean and yet the rescue fleet managed to find us! If this is not fate, I don’t know what it is!”

“It’s indeed fate’s arrangement that we’re saved. however, it’d be a joke if we say that this rescue fleet purposely made their ways here to rescue us,” Hanoo gritted his teeth and said.

“Why?” the young man asked, perplexed.

“Nobody will be crazy enough to tie more than ten merchant ships together and sail to the deep sea for a search and rescue mission. Otherwise, the fleet would be completely annihilated if they encounter any sea monster or strong hurricanes,” Hanoo replied with anger. “The reason they do so is because the fleet must be loaded with very expensive goods for coastal sailing. In that way, if something happens to one of the ships, it would not sink at the least and can still hold on and follow the fleet to the nearest port. It’s already December and the annual convention of the Kattaman City State will be held in the most prosperous city of Seniakha. If I haven’t guessed wrongly, the Tantorn fleet must be avoiding some storm on the way to Seniakha City and came across us by chance, in other words, we were originally not far away from the land.”

The instant the navigator’s words left his mouth, a bearded middle-aged man wearing a black sailor cap suddenly walked into the steering room with a few other sailors and bent his waist to walk up to the rudder, before looking at Hanoo diagonally. “You must be Navigator Hanoo, I’m First Mate Danas Solte from the ‘Cormorant’ of Tantorn Trading Company. Due to the reason that the brave and loyal Captain Anduki has been severely injured when he was trying to save Miss Helena, as agreed by Bailile Family’s young master Annete, I’ll stand in and become the captain of this ship for the time being.”

Upon hearing this news, Hanoo was baffled. Colors drained from his face as he groaned. “I’ll give you the rudder right away, First Mate Danas, erm I mean, Captain Danas. I also wanted to go with Captain Anduki to fight the rioting sailors, but someone needed to be at the helm so, so…”

“Mr. Hanoo, the rudder is my responsibility now. Besides, I’m very familiar with this sea area so I don’t need any navigator. You can go to the deck and watch the rioters have their ‘sea bathing’ and complete your wish of doing the ‘opposing’ together with them,” the bearded man sneered at Hanoo, robbed the rudder from his hand and did not say anything more.

Hanoo, who was being pushed away from the rudder, staggered a few steps backward and did not say anything as well before hobbling to the deck. Looking at his panic-stricken back, Zhang Lisheng finally realized that the impact on this navigator’s future was very huge, for not taking the risk to save the employer’s daughter during a riot.

However, the young man did not have the intention to care about such small matters so after giving it a little thought, he suddenly asked the bearded sailor out loud, “Captain Danas, how long will it take us to land?”

Danas became stunned for a while, he looked at Zhang Lisheng, who was next to him, and could see that despite having a ragged and haggard appearance, this young man’s temperament did not seem to be like other ordinary sailors. For this reason, he replied in a tone that was neither filled with enthusiasm nor cold, “I have no knowledge about the speed of this ship yet, Sir. But usually we would be able to land by tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you, looks like we have enough time,” A strange smile appeared on his face. After he thanked the stand-in captain, he walked out of the steering room and left the captain behind feeling perplexed.

Just as soon as he got on the deck, he suddenly saw that more than ten sailors who had not participated in the riots were nailing several smooth planks using big thick nails by the ship’s side with a trembling pair of hands.

The 70 to 80 bleeding rioting sailors by the side, who had their hands tied by leather cords behind their backs, were watching a large piece of wood that extended out of the ship’s side with a pale face and their teeth chattering as they struggled painfully.

When one of the rioting sailors inadvertently saw Zhang Lisheng appearing on the deck, he suddenly shouted incoherently as though he had gone crazy, “It’s you! It’s all because of you! My death would have been worth it if I had managed to have my ‘fun’ with Miss Helena’s servants just now! But in the end, it’s all because of you that I’ll die in vain! My death will be in vain…”

When the guard guarding the nobles like Annete, Helena and the Tantorn Family’s Young Master saw the rioting sailor become crazy, he immediately raised his leather whip and wrapped it at his neck, not caring who this sailor was scolding. It was only until the sailor’s face had turned a shade of blue-purple and his tongue had extended all the way to his chin that he finally retracted the whip.

“These rioters are really crazy.” Upon seeing this, the tall and mighty Young Master from the Tantorn Family looked at Annete and said, “Respected Annete, they’re the sailors of your family and since you’ve decided to use the ancient ‘sea law’ to deal with this riot, just announce it quickly. As a friend of yours and a brother who has been praying in the same temple with you since we were young, I’m very willing to carry out your judgment with the role of ‘assistant’ at such a special moment!”