The Great Worm Lich

It was difficult for Westerners to understand the heaviness of the invisible power held by those people close to a high-level official, including his secretary and children. In China, the practice ‘when a man gets to the top, all his friends get there with him’ was practiced since ancient times. The most crucial thing that accompanied this ‘under-the-table power’ was that blood was thicker than water.

No matter how wise and brilliant a leader was, he couldn’t maintain a selfless attitude at all times. When the people around him sought personal gain, the secretary was still okay, but if the people were his children, then no matter how grave a mistake they made, they would still always be his children.

If a subordinate calmly pointed out the mistakes, he might be really grateful at the time, but actually, an invisible cloud would still be left behind, and if this cloud was acted on in the future, endless trouble would be in store.

This kind of thing had nothing to do with personality and morality, but actually, it was none other than human nature.

As a leader in the central ministries and committees who was ranked among the top three, the fact that Luo Changbin could excel among the billions of Chinese people would naturally mean that he was a virtuous and talented person. Not only that, his ability and his mind were prominent, he would also have excellent ways of tackling the business, and of course, he understood the saying ‘blood was thicker than water.’

However, at this time, when the Chinese government was about to take over, general interests had to be taken into consideration. After repeated contemplation, Luo Changbin still decided to report this matter to Guo Xiping.

The red phone rang for over ten seconds and was finally picked up. A gentle voice reverberated from the receiver, “Hey, may I know who this is?”

“It’s me, Luo Changbin, secretary.”

“Oh, Changbin. Anything?” The voice chuckled and asked without beating around the bush.

“Secretary, I have some new ideas on the development of the land reclamation in Kunlun World that I’d like to report to you…” Luo Changbin began to repeat Guo Caiying’s idea of how LS Group wanted to invest in the foreign world’s agricultural sector to him, with some polish here and there. “So far, it’s not practical to develop Kunlun World by just relying on our strength alone. I think we should open up an opportunity for private funds and personnel from Europe and America to invest in a controlled manner. Speaking of it, this idea is actually inspired by your daughter, secretary. Caiying just brought a friend of hers to see me just now, and he’s a fine lad indeed. He’s the founder of the giant US slaughterhouse LS Group, and he’s said to be quite an outstanding and amazing person. He’s interested in investing in farms in the remote mountainous areas in the midwest and the Kunlun World…”

“Changbin, I think we must discuss this matter again. KL is now the most important capital for the survival and development of our country. Every move is related to fundamental interests. Let’s discuss this again…” On the other side of the phone, a slightly fat man with a round face who was between the ages of 50 to 60 years old interjected Luo Changbin’s words, something he rarely did. With an unconcealed gloominess and anger, he said.

Knowing that the meaning he wanted to imply had been accurately understood by the future leader, Luo Changbin just smiled and no longer said anything more, “Yes, yes, I’m too quick to jump into a decision and hadn’t thought this through enough. I’m sorry for bothering you, secretary.”

“You’re not too quick in jumping into a decision, but you have a quick mind instead. Nevertheless, when it comes to working, it’s still better to see a farther and bigger picture, Changbin,” After regaining his calm and amiable tone, the round-faced man left a message that gave food for thought and hung up the phone on the desk with a grave expression.

His right hand unconsciously tapped the surface of the mahogany table. After a moment of ponderation, he held his phone like he was about to make a call, but soon, he put it down angrily again. He opened the computer and clicked on a hidden folder; all of the documents inside were all information about Zhang Lisheng that could be found on the surface web.

“A wizard who inherited the ancient witchcraft, an alleged murderer of US intelligence personnel…” Looking at the eye-jabbing information, Guo Xiping’s fist that was holding onto the mouse could not help but clenched tightly. Right now, he looked more like an angry father than the future leader of one of the two superpowers on Earth.

A few minutes later, as though his accumulated anger and anxiety seemed to have finally reached a critical point, the round-faced man took a deep breath; he had come to a resolution. He stood up and walked out of the office. At this time, in the hotel limousine, Zhang Lisheng and Guo Caiying, who had just left the Ministry of Agriculture, were heading for the Great Wall on the outskirts of Beijing.

Since ancient times, China had a famous saying that would go like this, ‘one who fails to reach the Great Wall is not a hero.’ When the girl found out that the young man had not been to the Great Wall despite being here in Beijing for a few days already, she decided to take him to the most ancient and spectacular defensive fortifications of ancient China.

“I’ll bring you to see Minister Jiang after I finish the meeting in the next few days. Although the system in Kunlun World has been soil reclamation and cultivation, the infrastructure is carried out under urban planning. Because of this, Uncle Jiang also has some authority to speak. You don’t have to worry about this matter, just take it slow. I guess it’ll take about a month or two to get results.” Although it was a leisure time for them, Guo Caiying still had not forgotten about Zhang Lisheng’s ‘business.’ As she stared at the street scene slowly passing by the window, she said with indescribable exhaustion and dejection.

There was a coffee machine, a refrigerator, and a wine barrel in the limousine. Zhang Lisheng poured a hot cup of coffee for the girl and said, “Senior Sister, I have no worries. It’s you who seems to be feeling low-spirited lately. I can even tell from the phone. What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. Perhaps my work has been too exhausting lately,” Guo Caiying fell into a moment of silence before asking back, “Junior Brother, have you thought about your future before?”

“Future…” Zhang Lisheng also fell into a moment of silence. Under the girl’s melancholic gaze, he found himself to be unable to lie for a moment, so he just answered truthfully, “Well, the best outcome would be to defeat the Atlanteans and rule hundreds of ‘worlds’ and civilizations and become the most powerful god in history. As for the worst result, I’d be defeated and then beheaded before falling into an eternal sleep. I guess, an outcome that is neither good nor worse would be to have a balanced force with the alien civilization and continue to struggle endlessly.”

Such an answer sounded like Guo Caiyang naturally couldn’t recognize Arabian Nights. The girl said with slight anger, “Junior Brother, I’m not kidding…”

“I’m not joking, Senior Sister. How about you then? Have you thought about the future before?” Zhang Lisheng shrugged and joked with a smile. “To become the first Duchess in the history of the Chinese red regime?”

In Western society, the media often used ‘Duke’ to call the highest leader of China as a metaphor for the relatively closed government of China. The girl who gradually felt disgusted by such Western political discrimination frowned and said, “Junior Brother, this joke is not funny!”

“I’m sorry, Senior Sister, I thought it would be a wonderful blessing.” The young man shrugged. As the two of them talked, the car left the city of Beijing and reached the foot of the Great Wall of Badaling.

It was early autumn, where the breeze was cold and pleasant outside, perfect for traveling. Even if it was not a holiday or a weekend, this most famous section of the Great Wall was also crowded with tourists.

The limousine stopped slowly. Zhang Lisheng, who had chartered the car for a whole day, told the driver, “Mr. Driver, please wait for us at the parking lot.”before leaving the vehicle with Guo Caiying.

In the curious eyes of the tourists, he looked around and said with amazement, “Senior Sister, when I used to live in western Sichuan, I’ve never once felt that I lived in the most populous country in the world. However, in less than a week I’m here in Beijing, I already felt that China is overcrowded. China has a population of 1.4 billion people, so it’s essential to migrate more than half of it to the foreign world. In that case, the burden on Earth will be greatly reduced, and Kunlun World’s degree of development would be higher, and in turn, China’s strength would become stronger too…”

“It’s not the ‘country-building era’ in the middle of the last century now, where you only need tents, cotton jackets, and poles to gather a large number of people to go explore and open up a desert. Although Kunlun World runs on an agricultural system, there’s electricity, purified water, and heating system there too, with no lack of all modern living conditions. The so-called semi-military management is just to restrict people from leaving the farm,” The girl burst out chuckling with a shake of her head, “Alright, Junior Brother, can we stop bringing foreign world or whatsoever in our topic? Let’s not think about anything else, just enjoy the climb and breathe in the fresh air and relax.”

“Of course, Senior Sister. You do look like you need to rest and relax,” Zhang Lisheng nodded and walked into the flow of people while looking at the scenery shoulder to shoulder with the girl.

Following the crowds to get onto the Great Wall, the young man’s gaze selectively filtered countless swaying heads in the vast distance on the ancient beacon tower, and without warning, he was suddenly overcome with an inexplicable sigh of emotions.

The fortifications under his feet that stretched out to tens of thousands of kilometers away was built bit by bit using man-made bricks with nothing but manpower in the era of thousands of years ago where technology and material were fundamentally lacking compared to modern-day standards. Nevertheless, it was so magnificent that it looked like it could last forever, downright incredible.

“Junior Brother, what are you thinking about?” Seeing the young man staring at the distance in silence, Guo Caiying, who was beside him, asked in a whisper.

“I imagine the former glory and greatness of the Chinese nation. It is hard to assume that in an era where the Westerners were still wearing animal skins while living a primitive life, our ancestors have already begun to build such a huge wall to protect our civilization and isolate ourselves from barbarism,” Zhang Lisheng snapped back to reality and replied with a smile.

“To protect our civilization and isolate ourselves from barbarism…” The girl repeated the nine words and answered gently, “There are many people who think that the Great Wall is the ironclad proof of how Chinese ancestors secluded ourselves without any desire to advance further and that it’s something that should not be worthy of our pride, but you have interpreted it from another angle. It’s hard to imagine that these words actually come from you.”

“I also didn’t think that I’d have such a feeling before I came to the Great Wall,” Zhang Lisheng replied with a shrug. “But now that I’m overcome with such emotions, I realized that it’s so overcrowded here that it’s completely terrifying. We won’t stay here all day, right, Senior Sister?”

“Of course not! I still plan to rent a bicycle to roam around the alleys to find snacks after we cross the Great Wall of Badaling…”

“What are we waiting for then?” The young man pulled the girl’s arm and walked under the beacon tower. Just like this, the two of them walked on the Great Wall and went for a walk around the alleys, enjoying themselves until 11pm before returning to the hotel lobby.

When they parted, the young man, who was utterly relaxed, forgot himself and kissed Guo Caiying’s cheek according to Western etiquette. After watching the girl leave, he walked back to the room briskly, not noticing that his unintentional action had already extinguished the last hope of preventing a calamity altogether.