The Great Worm Lich

“Don’t worry, Lisheng. Only a thin layer of foundation and lip gloss, and you can have a radiant radiance again. Right now, makeup can allow people to completely change their look, you know?” Upon hearing Zhang Lisheng grumble under his breath, Maddie took out a box of honey-colored powder cakes and brushes from her handbag and began to apply it on the young man’s face.

The young man who wanted to stop the girl at first could not help but be stunned when he heard this. An image of a solemn-looking old white man suddenly appeared in his mind. He shrugged and casually replied, no longer stopping the girl, “Is the makeup skill of ordinary women that amazing now? This makes me suddenly think of my supervisor. He and Professor Effiny have been in seclusion for a long time, I wonder why he hasn’t come to find me again.”

“This supervisor that you said is your doctoral supervisor at Stanford, right? Why would he live in seclusion?” The girl asked while applying a dab of foundation on Zhang Lisheng’s face. At once, the young man’s pale face suddenly grew much more radiant looking.

“Professor Steven’s sister, Professor Effiny, was dying after being attacked by some thugs. To save her, my supervisor has used himself as a guinea pig to transplant a spiritual monster’s Gold Core fragment from the Shrimp World No. 2 onto himself. The so-called Gold Core fragment is equivalent to, well erm, a miniature visceral system…”

“Lisheng, there’s no need to explain what the Gold Core fragment is. I have been paying attention to all your journals, news, and information, so I know what it is. You can just tell me the results directly. What happened to Professor Steven after the transplant?”

“He gained the ability to become a ‘fireman.’ He then created the worst fire disaster in New York’s history, together with Professor Effiny. Not only that, but they have even recovered their youthful vigor and became young people in their twenties.”

“Oh, according to your theory, he must have obtained an immortal life, right?” Maddie’s fingers trembled. The lip gloss on her finger accidentally drew a slanted line across Zhang Lisheng’s face as she asked in shock.

“Of course not, it’s impossible for a Gold Core fragment to provide vitality to the human body forever. I suspect that my supervisor and Professor Effiny can only live about five to seven hundred years more than an ordinary person.” Zhang Lisheng looked at the mirror on the car’s sun visor and frowned. “There should not be any makeup on a man’s face. I guess I have no other choice to avoid unnecessary trouble. Wipe the lipgloss of my face, Maddie. Let’s go down.”

“Oh, oh, of course, Lisheng. Of course…” Absent-mindedly, Maddie took out a makeup remover wipe and wiped Zhang Lisheng’s cheeks. When the young man saw that there seemed to be something on her mind, he suddenly added, “Professor Steven and her sister’s success in the Gold Core fragment transplant was pure luck. After that incident, I have used tens of thousands of foreign world’s indigenous people as my living experiments, and I only managed to increase the transplant success rate to 38%. Not only that, but to achieve such a success rate, the recipients must have the body of an Olympic gold medalist and the desire to survive of a disabled war veteran. For this reason, this kind of transplant is not yet suitable for the human body.”

“If the success rate is increased to 80% or 90% in the future, would you be willing to do this surgery for me?”

“I’ll find a method for me to achieve a 100% success rate… Since you have already finished touching up my face, let’s go now.” Zhang Lisheng grew silent for a while. He evaded Maddie’s eyes and opened the car door to walk out the car nonchalantly.

Upon hearing the young man’s answer that did not sound like an answer, an exceptional joyful expression appeared on the girl’s face. She then muttered to herself, “I’d like to see how long you’ll run away from me…”

After composing her emotions, she also got down from the car.

Both of them walked into the Spicy Chicken Restaurant amid the sand fog. The layout of the restaurant was exactly the same as when Zhang Lisheng came a few years ago. When he entered, he saw a wooden lobby painted in brownish-red.

A few steps forward down the stairs was the dining area with a round table and square stools. The tablecloths on the tables were embroidered with large peony flowers while the chandeliers on the ceiling looked like Chinese lanterns. The floor was covered with floorboards was bricks imitation, and the checkout counter was also an old-fashioned Chinese counter made of wood.

“Welcome to the Spicy Chicken Restaurant!” A young Asian waiter with a lovely round face, who was wearing a Chinese-style long white gown, black trousers, and black shoes appeared before them. He immediately greeted their customer when he saw both of them entering. When he finally realized that it was Maddie, his smile grew even wider as he added, “Oh it’s Miss Maddie. Welcome!”

“Good evening, Li, is Dr. Song there?” Maddie walked down the stairs and asked the waiter with a smile.

“The boss has gone out, but the proprietress is here. The signature dishes are as good as always!” The waiter chuckled before suddenly whispering jokingly in a matter-of-fact manner, “As long as you don’t order the signature spicy chicken in the signboard.”

“Oh, Li! Aunt’s spicy chicken is equally delicious, though it’s slightly lacking compared to the one Dr. Song makes. Ah, anyway, I’ll order boiled fish and duck blood today. Take away, please.”

“Oh, Miss Maddie. Whenever I hear you talking about Chinese food, I feel like you’re a Chinese girl dressed as a white girl. You sound too ‘local’ already! So you want the boiled fish and duck blood today…” The waiter repeated the girl’s orders and pointed to an empty table not far away. “Please wait for a while, the food you ordered will be ready soon.”

“Thank you.” Maddie thanked him and casually took Zhang Lisheng’s arm, who had been following beside her to walk to the empty table. Once they sat down, the young man looked around and found that the number of customers there was quite impressive. Over half of the twelve wooden tables had been filled, and he could not help but feel strange. “Maddie, I remember that this restaurant was not so well last time. I’ve come many times and it was usually empty. Don’t tell me that the re-emergence of the foreign world has kinda enlightened the residents of Chinatown in New York, and they no longer save their money as much as before?”

“Of course not! There’s a reason why the business is getting better these days! It’s all because Dr. Song has empty-handedly knocked down two robbers who often robbed people near the Chinatown two years ago. He has become a hero among the Chinese people in New York, so of course, more and more people found out about his restaurant and good cooking skills.”

“Oh, I see,” Zhang Lisheng carefully studied the diners for a while. When he saw them talking in low voices and chowing down their food happily, he could not help but mutter, “Looks like the changes in the general public in this soon-to-come Colossal World era is indeed much smaller than I expected.

“Of course, Lisheng. No matter what, life will continue to go on. Those who protest, who go on strike, and create a street turmoil for no reason are the minority in a ‘mature society,’ you know?” Maddie looked at the young man and answered in a low voice, “This is the most important thing I learned in my ‘Politics’ class at New York University.”

“Is it? The university teaches you such knowledge so you can help capitalists like me to squeeze all the remaining money from the industrial workers, huh? How gratifying,” Zhang Lisheng joked. He shrugged and continued with a sigh, “Actually, I used to be optimistic about the impact of the constant emergence of the foreign world’s channel on Earth on normal civilians. Not only that, but I understood the words that you said, I’ve even said the same things myself too. However, I have now understood the foreign world. Now that I had undergone different trips to the foreign worlds, it’s started to get difficult for me to look at this issue from an objective standpoint. Adding on to the fact that I’ve dealt with the gods from the other ‘worlds.’ Particularly today, when I suddenly found out that my planned ‘steps’ have been disrupted… Ah, maybe you can’t understand what I’m saying either, forget it…”

“I can understand, baby. I really do.” Maddie reached out a hand and held Zhang Lisheng’s palm. “In this world, it’s not only Tina Douglin and her two pretentious sisters who understand you, admire you, and know what you’re saying. I also know what kind of man you are…”

The instant the girl’s words left her mouth, the round-faced waiter walked up to their table with two large bags of Chinese food with all smiles, “It’s 475 dollars, please. These dishes are enough for you to open a very exotic party already, Miss Maddie.”

400 over dollars was enough to buy a US-style fast food to fill the stomachs of twenty strong men. Still, compared to the more expensive Chinese food, this is already affordable.

“Thank you, Li.” Zhang Lisheng hurriedly took the opportunity to his hand away from Maddie’s hand. He beat her to it and took out a few pieces of 100-dollar bills from his pocket to throw it to the waiter. After taking the food, he ushered, “We should go now, Maddie.”

“Thank you, Li.” McGrady nodded, slightly dejected, and stood up from her seat. She glared at the waiter but still thanked him before taking the young man’s arm to walk out of the restaurant together.

Before she got in the car, she suddenly stopped walking and smiled softly, “Lisheng, did you know? I have prepared all the clothes in your office closet personally. I have also put the credit cards and the money in your pockets personally. Right now, I kinda regret putting so much cash in it now. The atmosphere was just right earlier…”

Before the girl could finish her words, one side of her body was suddenly shrouded by a sudden burst of red light.

Upon seeing the familiar red light, Zhang Lisheng’s pupils narrowed as he suddenly yelled, “Wait for me here!”

Just like that, he ran toward the tallest building nearby.

To maintain a quaint exotic mood here, there were not many high-rise buildings in Chinatown. Not only that, but the carved beams and painted rafters outside the building could be easily climbed too. For this reason, the young man did not hide in the dark to incarnate using his transformation power but directly sprinted and jumped like a monkey. Soon, he quickly climbed to the top of a five-story building.

He stood at a high place while looking in the direction of the light. It was just as he expected. In the vast ocean far away, a red light wall that stretched out at the end of the world, towering straight into the sky, appeared before Zhang Lisheng’s eyes.

Relying on his fantastic eyesight, the young man looked through the dusty fog in the sky. He then overlooked the sea opposite the new New York port and saw a clear, bright moon through a gap that was constantly cracking and collapsing on the red light wall. That speed was so fast that it sent chills down his spine.