The Great Worm Lich

Looking at the old man leaving, Tina opened both of her arms and said while sighing, “You heard Oldman Rudolph, Lisheng. If it’s not for your stubbornness for not accepting my 10,000 dollars as a gift or even loan, we’ve closed the deal by now.”

“I’m sorry Tina, I can accept your help but I can’t accept you feeding me. That’s the iron law.”

“Feed you… Ahh, forget about it. Okay, you’re a man of integrity who doesn’t accept money from a girl. That’s actually better, at least you’re much better than my ex-boyfriends. I shouldn’t blame you just for this. We can look for someone else since we can’t close the deal with Oldman Rudolph. I’ll get my dad to help if we can’t do it on our own. I’ll see if there’s any slaughtering business in those big companies he’s selling and sell it to you by slitting it.”

“Thank you, Tina,” Zhang Lisheng thanked her sincerely and took out a roll of US dollars from his pocket. He said after counting, “I’ve around 600 dollars cash in my pocket, I could treat you to a good dinner tonight.”

“You’re really considered a tycoon for normal high-schoolers.”

“I’ve to thank Dan Souza Butcher Shop’s owner for paying me high wages and my mom’s sponsorship this morning.”

“Oh, you’ve got such a generous boss and great mother. We could get a lobster buffet for both of us at Hilton with 600 dollars. What are you waiting for?” Tina said and pulled Zhang Lisheng out of the bar while smiling. In the drunk villagers’ whistling and goodbyes, both of them left the bar and went on their journey back to New York.

It was dark when they left, there were zero cars on the secluded road as soon as they got out of the town. The SUV’s lights shone straight deep into the endless night and disappeared. The emptiness around made Tina a little nervous, she said softly while holding the steering right, “I didn’t notice this during the day, but New York’s outskirt’s as empty as Australia at night apart from the bouncing kangaroos on the road…”

‘Ting ting, ting ting…’, a tune came in the car when she was speaking. Tina shook while hearing the sound and panted for a moment. She looked at her carphone’s screen that lit up and made fun of herself, “Oh wow, I was scared by my carphone’s ringtone. That’s so silly. 10… The number’s a little familiar…” She then picked up the phone.

Rudolph’s old and gloomy voice came from the carphone, “Alright Ms. Tina, you guys win. Come find me now before I changed my mind,” He hung up the phone after saying that.

“Did you hear that? Did you hear that Lisheng?” Tina forgot about the scare she had earlier, due to the negotiator’s surrender and shouted in excitement, “I’ve made it, I’ve made it in the first business that I handled on my own. Wow, this feeling’s amazing. The thing had a 180 degree turn when I thought it has failed, this is so dramatic. No wonder my dad always says that the most interesting thing in the world is the battle of wits in negotiation because you’ll never know who is the winner until the very last moment…”

Tina stepped on the accelerator while screaming and drove towards Rudolph Slaughterhouse through the darkness impatiently. She did not stop talking along the way, there was no chance for Zhang Lisheng to speak at all. The SUV turned into the ramp and soon arrived before Rudolph Slaughterhouse’s metal gate. The gate was opened, there seemed to be a thin layer of fog lingering around the factory in the dark, as the car light shone. The house on the right had a little light penetrated in the fog, it seemed to be where Rudolph lived.

Looking at the tiny dot of light, Zhang Lisheng had an unknown concern that came up within him. He touched his backpack habitually and calmed down a little bit. The wizard power in his blood had more than a fold of boost since he came to America with his determination in secret method cultivation and the gangsters who were tortured and died tragically in Queens. He was much firmer in controlling Mountoad now. He would not worry even if he encountered any danger now.

Meanwhile, Tina was blinded by the victory completely. She decelerated only slightly when she saw the gate was opened and drove into the land. She headed straight to the house with light directly. The car’s noise spread far in the quiet night, the door was opened lightly as soon as the SUV arrived before the house.

“You guys made it here, Ms. Tina and Mr. Lisheng,” It was Rudolph who opened the door. The old man looked blurry standing in the dimmed yellow light while saying in uncontrollable excitement, “Come in quick, I’ve already prepared the contract.”

“Doing business with us is a wise choice, Mr. Rudolph. We’ll transfer you the money online as soon as the contract’s signed,” Tina walked out of the SUV and said while pretending to be experienced.

“That’s great,” Rudolph muttered softly and opened the door. There was a living room divided with crude planks as they looked into the house. There was a filthy, long fabric couch in the living room and two old leather single couches that did not match. There was a wooden table too. There was a laptop with printing function on the tablet and a few pens scattered around as well as a document that seemed to have just been put together.

“Mr. Rudolph, may I look at the document?” Tina walked to the table as soon as she entered the house and asked while pointing at the document.

“Of course you can, Ms. Tina.”

Tina picked up the document while smiling and said in satisfaction after looking through meticulously, “The conditions stated in the document’s very reasonable. If there’s nothing else, the contract will take into immediate effect, as soon as both parties have signed. Lisheng, don’t drag it any further. Read it through and sign if you’ve got no objections.”

“Sure,” Zhang Lisheng said and walked to Tina. He signed his name on each page without even looking at it, after taking it over. Seeing Zhang Lisheng signing, Tina said to Rudolph loudly right away, “It’s your turn now, Mr. Rudolph. Sign your name on the counterpart section, then we got a deal. Lisheng, use Mr. Rudolph’s computer to log into your Wells Fargo Bank online account and prepare the transaction. I’ll tell you to transfer the money, as soon as he signed.”

“Sure,” Zhang Lisheng said and began working on the laptop on the table. He soon realized that he could not surf the internet. As Zhang Lisheng was on the computer, a soft snicker ‘hehe…’ came from Rudolph. He walked to the table in steady steps and signed his name on the contract with a pen.

Noticing Rudolph’s agile steps, Tina seemed to find something off subconsciously, but she could not respond consciously at the moment. The situation did not allow her to think further, she said loudly after looking through the contract as she picked it up from the table, “Okay Lisheng, you can transfer the money to Mr. Rudolph now. Mr. Rudolph, may I know what’s your account number…”

“This computer can’t surf the internet,” Zhang Lisheng said loudly all of the sudden. Tina was stunned and took out her handphone immediately while saying to Rudolph, “Don’t worry Mr. Rudolph, I’ve got online transaction function on my phone. I won’t pay you a penny less, I’ll do it right away… Oh, how come there’s no signal on my phone. Mr. Rudolph, we’re not delaying the payment on purpose…”

“It’s alright young lady, of course, I believe you guys aren’t delaying on purpose. Don’t think too much, since we’ve closed the deal, let’s celebrate with some champagne. Wait for me, I’ll get champagne and glasses now.”

Seeing that Rudolph seemed to not be in a hurry for the payment and instead, he went in to get a wine which was ridiculous, Tina said while feeling shocked, “There’s no need for that Mr. Rudolph, it’s very late now. I need to drive back to New York City, the champagne…”

However, Rudolph seemed to not hear Tina’s rejection at all and walked into another part of the house quickly on his own. What he did, caused Tina who had no sense and danger calmed down in the excitement of completing the first solo business in her life, “Lisheng, something’s wrong.”

“Really?” Zhang Lisheng walked to Tina and grabbed the contract from Tina who was obviously a little nervous now. He said after taking a look at it, “Tina, this is amazing to me. Such a big land, factory and machines belong to me forever as soon as we signed!”

“That doesn’t come for free. You’ll need to pay 105,000 dollars for it and you’ll need to pay taxes during the operation. But I’m thinking since we’re disconnected to the world in here, it wouldn’t hurt that we leave now and only transfer the money to Mr. Rudolph tomorrow. What do you think, Lisheng?” Tina said while looking at the endless night outside the open door.

“Sure,” Zhang Lisheng nodded without caring much and put the contract into his pocket after folding it. The moonlight was covered in the dark clouds when they walked out of the house. Just when they were getting into the car in the dark, a deep voice came behind her car all of the sudden, “Young man and young lady, where are you guys heading without paying me?”

‘Ahh…’, Tina screamed from the voice that came out of nowhere. Subsequently, she saw a torchlight turned on behind her car which was then shone on the face. With the help of the light, she gulped as she saw Rudolph standing behind her car while his mouth was moving continuously. She asked while shaking, “Mr… Mr. Rudolph, weren’t… weren’t you in the house… How did… did you get… get here all of the sudden…”

Rudolph held the torchlight in his left hand while trying to crack open a hard walnut with his right hand like a pincer. He put the nut into his mouth after rubbing the skin off. He chewed on it and said softly with a smirk at the edge of his lips, “There is more than one door in the house. I’ve had a glass of champagne and I’m eating the appetizer. As the main course of the night, of course, I’ll have to take a good look at you guys.”

“I’m sorry, what… what did you say, Mr. Rudolph?”

“I said we’re going to have an amazing night,” The smirk on his lips was getting wider, it had now turned into a ferocious smile on his face as Rudolph spoke slowly.