The Great Worm Lich

There was only one street in the town with rows of low, wooden houses painted white on both sides. There was only one double-story house with a police flag flying above. Apart from the highway, there were vast and endless farms in the town. One could see cows and lambs shivering in the chilly weather while walking around with the protection of shepherd dogs.

Even Tina showed a surprised expression when they got off the SUV parking in front of a bar and looked around, “This looks exactly like Texas, I can’t believe there’s such a place near New York.”

“Hey beautiful lady, welcome to our Kaiserland Town!” The young fella outside the bar whistled and shouted at her, seeing a strange beauty visiting the town.

“Thanks, cowboy, do you know someone named Rudolph Canadison?”

“Oldman Rudolph, he’s in the bar now. Oh my god, don’t tell me you guys are the ones who are buying his slaughterhouse! New York City’s so scary, even such a small… oh no, such a beautiful lady’s doing business. But I’m afraid you’re destined to be disappointed this time. I’ve been hearing Oldman Rudolph saying he wants to leave the town and go back to his hometown in Texas since I was young. It’s been over ten years now, but he still fails to sell his slaughterhouse.”

“Shut up Desa, don’t interfere with my business,” An old scream came from the bar. Subsequently, an old man whose face was wrinkled and wore old cowboy overall walked unsteadily out of the bar after opening the door. He shouted loudly as when he was out, “The reason the slaughterhouse couldn’t be sold was purely because of those buyers that were not suitable or insincere. It’s different this time, I’ve spoken to this Ms. Tina online and it’s almost a done deal now. Perhaps I could buy a plane ticket tomorrow and leave this damn town that I’ve been stuck for over 40 years to get back to beautiful Texas. Sh*t, I must get back before I die. I want to be buried by my family’s side.”

“Oh my god, you know how to surf the internet, Oldman Rudolph! You’ll be the first internet cowboy died of old age in Texas after you get back,” The young fella outside the bar shrugged and ran away laughing.

“That bastard,” The old man cursed softly and shifted his blurry eyes onto Tina, “Lady, you must be Ms. Tina whom I’m meeting right?”

“Yes Mr. Rudolph, this man beside me is my client. He’s the real buyer of your small slaughterhouse, Mr. Zhang Lisheng,” Tina was secretly glad that the seller was much older than she thought. She pointed at Zhang Lisheng who was next to her and said in a professional broker tone.

“Is this kid at least 14… Oh, I don’t care about that. As long as he’s giving me a reasonable amount of money, 4-year-old and 400-year-old isn’t a big difference to me. Alright, I shall bring you guys to take a good look at the place before talking money.”

“But didn’t we already set on the price?”

“But young lady, isn’t the price always opened as long as the agreement isn’t signed?” The old man said slyly and walked to his old pickup truck. Tina was stunned for a moment and ran to the driver’s seat in her SUV in rage. She said to Zhang Lisheng who was sitting in the passenger’s seat, “Lisheng, this isn’t an old, stubborn pumpkinhead but an old, sly fox. I’m calling the shots later, let me handle him.”

“Sure, you’re the expert in business.” Both of them chatted and followed behind the old, dirty pickup truck. They drove out of the little town and turned at a ramp into a small road that only allowed two cars at the same time forcefully, after driving for a few minutes. Soon they saw a vast land surrounded with an iron fence at the end of the road.

There was a rusty, arched metal gate in the middle of the fence. There was a crooked electric sign that looked old above the gate. It was written ‘Welcoming All Livestock to Rudolph Slaughterhouse’ in black on the white sign. There was an old, rectangular factory built in the middle of the vast land behind the gate. The rest of the land was empty, torn animals skins and blood spots could be seen everywhere.

The old man opened the metal gate and parked his pickup truck before the factory. He got off the truck strenuously and pointed around while saying proudly, “Two young people, welcome to the ‘heaven’ of all Kaiserland Town’s livestock, Rudolph Slaughterhouse!”

Tina got off the car while looking stunned. She spoke looking like she was going to vomit, as she looked around, “So this is your slaughterhouse, Mr. Rudolph. I think the reason why you’re selling it isn’t to go back to Texas, this place will be asked to close by the United States Environmental Protection Agency soon!”

“Hey lady, you can’t expect a privately owned village slaughterhouse to be as clean and neat as those big slaughterhouses under Sustainable Food Trust. Although this place looked a little remote, in reality, it’s convenient in transportation sense. There are farms around that would send meat products that they processed every day into New York City to everyone, they’ll never be overstocked. Come, the two houses on both sides are the place I live and the warehouse… There’s nothing to see in there, I’ll bring you guys to the factory in the middle. You guys will understand Rudolph Slaughterhouse’s real value after seeing those sparkly machines,” The old man staggered his way to the huge metal sliding door in the middle of the factory. He then pulled open the sliding door hard.

It was vast in the factory, just that it was slightly dimmed. As the old man turned on the lights on top, a production line with odd machines on both rows presented before Zhang Lisheng and Tina. There was a row of giant metal hooks tied with an over 100 meters long thick gliding metal cable above and a dark, leather belt below.

“Look, stunning machine, bleeding tank, scalding machine, plucking machine, skinning machine, splitting saw… I copied all of the slaughtering machines from the Delware Rath Agricultural Co. Model T01 all-in-one slaughtering production line into mine. Although they’re old since they’re with me for 30 to 40 years, they had a rewarding life. Even a cow that weighs more than 1,800 pounds could be handled with one button,” The old man looked at the slaughtering production line that he copied rather obsessively while mumbling softly. He then pressed on the green button on the remote. ‘Hum…’, the entire production line began working. The machines were loud but the noise was deep and thick, one could tell the production was running smooth hearing that.

At the moment, the old man added another vital point, “Model OX0100 diesel generator, it takes three tonnes of diesel at once. It’s sufficient to run the factory for five days full during a power cut,” He pointed at the huge square generator filled with oil at the side of the wall and said loudly.

Tina was indeed speechless when it came to machinery, she replied loudly looking for a flaw where there was none, “These machines are antiques if we continue to use them…” Rudolph turned off the machine and said after a shrug, “But a brand new Model T01 slaughtering production line alone is 550,000 dollars, young lady.”

“How about those machines to handle the ecological waste including the livestock’ organs and blood? Show them to us,” Tina was speechless at the moment and said after some thoughts to pick on Rudolph’s words.

As expected, Rudolph’s pride was all gone as he pointed in annoyance at the ditch at the end of the production line where the faint stench was coming from, “That’s the machine I use to handle ecological waste. It connects straight to a cement tank underground, there’s a cover that can be opened outside. It’s enough to contain 50 cows…”

“Oh, so how exactly do you handle these ecological waste? There might be people who would willing to take them away for you for free and even pay you some money to do that in the past, but I’m afraid you’re not as fortunate now.”

“Young lady, you know what, I’m starting to hate your sharp tongue. You’re like a greedy businessman who’s eager to squeeze us business owners’ sweat and blood to its very last drop. The license, land, factory, and machines would cost a total of 130,000 dollars, that’s my last price. Oh god, I’m like giving this away. You’ll be able to make both principal and interest back within a year for the most.”

“Everything might go down to drain from the extorting waste management company. If the business here’s really good, I don’t see why nobody slaughters their livestock here. 95,000 dollars. Since you’ve given me a new price, I’ll give you one too. 95,000 dollars, we could transfer the amount to you in a single transaction.”

“95,000 dollars, are you talking about this machine alone? It’s 129,000 dollars, I’ve shown my sincerity…”

Tina and Rudolph argued for a long time. Their war shifted from the slaughterhouse to the bar in town, but they had yet to agree on the price until it was evening. They were stuck on 120,000 dollars. Rudolph was unwilling to go lower since the price was pressed down to 120,000 dollars; As they discussed privately, Zhang Lisheng disagreed with Tina paying the extra 10,000 dollars for him. They were in a pickle.

Seeing that it was late, Tina sighed eventually and said in regret, “Mr. Rudolph, it seems like we can’t close the deal because of someone who backed down on his words.”

“Lady, to me, the reason why the deal can’t be closed is because of someone’s being stubborn,” Rudolph picked up the cowboy hat from the leather chair and put it on his head without backing down. He stood up and left after covering his thinning hair with the hat.

The cowboys in the bar who knew him laughed and said, “Congratulations on your failed deal, Oldman Rudolph. God has a plan for you, you’re destined to die in Kaiserland Town.”

“These brats, I’ll kick your asses with my boots if this was ten years back,” Rudolph turned around and shouted as he walked to the door. He then walked out of the bar while shouting loudly.