The Great Worm Lich

Tina was scared to her very core by Rudolph’s cunning smile on his face. She began opening the SUV’s door with all of her might suddenly while shouting loudly, “We’re leaving no matter what you say, Mr. Rudolph,” However, the door could not be opened no matter how hard she was pulling.

“Maybe the door’s broken, do you need my help?” Rudolph walked to Tina slowly as he spoke.

“What… What are you trying to do?” Tina ran away terrified and shouted, as she went close to Zhang Lisheng.

“Of course I’m doing my favorite thing. Since 1996, I would have such a party every two years. Everything is god’s plan. The first time I had the plan of selling my slaughterhouse, I had the same customers just like the both of you. A man and a woman, they were a newly married couple from New Jersey who was determined to set their foot in New York by running a business. Can you imagine how surprised I was when I saw them? The wife looked exactly like my ex-girlfriend who betrayed me, causing me to flee my hometown. I had a ridiculous plan that popped into my mind when they stood before the slaughtering machine in the factory, a plan that could get rid of the indescribable rage that had been troubling me for over 20 years. Do you know what the plan was?” Rudolph said without stopping.

“No… No… You pervert, no…” Tina covered her ears while shrieking and cursing. She grabbed Zhang Lisheng along as she ran towards the entrance without thinking twice, “You’re just lucky that you’re not caught, you’ll be punished sooner or later!”

However, as they were getting out of the grim slaughterhouse while panting, they saw the automated electric gate was shutting slowly.

“Oh, no… no… no… Help, help…” Tina shook the gate hard while crying, but she realized that the heavy gate could not be moved at all. At that moment, Rudolph’s deep voice came in the dark which they had no idea where he was, “Shh… Young lady, stop screaming. Your voice won’t spread to the town even at night. Look at your partner, look how calm he is. You don’t have to be afraid, actually. If you guys play along with me, it’ll be over very soon.”

“You’re wrong, Mr. Rudolph. It won’t be ending anytime soon,” Zhang Lisheng who was standing by the gate spoke all of the sudden after not giving the opportunity to speak, “Tina, don’t be afraid. Wait for me here. Don’t go anywhere, keep your appetite. We’re still going to have our lobster dinner in New York.”

He removed his backpack and walked into the dark quickly as he spoke. A few seconds later, Tina heard the ‘pst shh…’ sound that she remembered, faintly lingering in the slaughterhouse air. Subsequently, there was a wind whistling noise and Rudolph’s devastated scream came in the dark soon after the wind, “Ahh… Sh*t, what… what’s this monster… Who… Who are you exactly… Ahh…”

Eventually, Zhang Lisheng’s cold voice came in the pitch dark night, “Mr. Rudolph, although this might be a little out of your expectation, but at least you’re right about something. We’re going to have an amazing night!” It was peace in Tina’s ears, she stood still in shock at the fence for a long time and only snapped back to her senses slowly. She began shivering and spoke softly in a testing manner, “Lisheng, Lisheng where are you… Are… Are you okay?”

Her attempt was to no avail after a long time. She shouted twice again and began climbing the fence that was a great effort to pass behind her since there was no response. As her attempt failed, she hesitated for a moment while panting and began lowering her body. She stepped forward in the dark with her guard up. She moved little by little. Without knowing how long it had been, Tina whose body was extremely sore realized she had arrived at the row of houses in the slaughterhouse as she felt the place with her hands.

The dark clouds were fading slowly at the moment, little moonlight shone as she moved forward towards the wall of the house carefully. ‘Wuwu…’, she heard a light noise all of the sudden, as well as a soft mumble that she could not identify. Suppressing the fear in her, Tina stopped moving and breathed in twice deeply. She mustered her gut and walked towards the soft noise even more carefully.

Soon, she could tell she had arrived at the factory in the slaughterhouse from the side look of it. The metal door was wide opened, it seemed like the noise came from there. Tina held onto the wall and walked even slowly, as well as breathing slowly. She moved towards the opened metal door and lowered her body to look into it.

With the guide of moonlight, she saw a dark silhouette struggling softly while shaking on the row of metal hooks at the slaughtering production line at first glance. Tina covered her mouth as she observed closely, the silhouette was the strong old man Rudolph who hinted he was a killing machine earlier. At the moment, he had blood all over her body. His chin was pierced by the metal hook like a fish on-hook, hanging on the production line that he fixed himself. His limbs seemed to be broken.

Meanwhile, there was a giant toad that was so big that it was hard for one to imagine sitting there faintly. Next to the toad was Zhang Lisheng looking up and shrieking without a sound. He looked down all of the sudden and glared deadly at Rudolph. He took a deep breath in and shouted a Chinese word ‘assemble’ as he breathed out.

His breath turned into a light, black smoke and penetrated into Rudolph’s body following his wounds. It then turned into a black and red mist penetrating throughout his pores and began spreading out in the air. Soon, there was dense, terrifying ‘buzz…’ noise that came all over the place. Countless insects gathered into balls of black fog and came into the factory through the tiny gaps connected to the house including the door and windows. They gathered around bloody Rudolph and indulged in this rare bloody feast.

“I’ve never expected that I would achieve Rank-3 Wizard so soon,” Zhang Lisheng took a few steps back to avoid the insects while witnessing Rudolph’s body shrunk little by little at the speed that could be seen with the naked eyes as he shivered. Zhang Lisheng mumbled in Mandarin while looking elated, “Rank-3 Wizards usually attracts insects with meat. I could easily pick wizard worm embryos if I let those insects fight each other! Unfortunately, the worms here are lousy. I didn’t even see any ordinary venomous worm here, it would be wasting my effort to pick any. But the Rank-2 Wizard’s Worm Refinery Method could be boosted level by level. I could refine my wizard worm whenever my witchcraft improved. That’s such great news. If I spend time in Queens everyday and breakthrough quick, wouldn’t it be… No, no. I shouldn’t think too much and I shouldn’t be greedy. The most important thing in cultivation is steady steps. I have to walk step by step and I must eat my rice one spoonful after another. I shouldn’t think too much and I shouldn’t be greedy…”

He spoke while caressing Mountoad’s bumpy skin softly. He then spat a mouthful of blood and shouted ‘Transform’. The witchcraft incantation came to effect as the blood went to Mountoad. It opened its mouth wide and absorbed the wind and moonlight in with all of its might. It croaked as it expanded to the size of a bus and hopped with its rear legs. It dashed towards Rudolph and the insects on the metal hook then swallowed everything in.

“It’s done,” Zhang Lisheng who was standing aside smiled in a relaxed way as he successfully controlled his double refined wizard worm. He then put it back into his backpack as it released all of the air in his stomach and turned back into a toad sculpture. However, he did not notice that Tina who witnessed everything outside the door. She was shivering and she bit her lips tight while covering her mouth as she ran towards the slaughterhouse gate with both her arms and legs.

Although the business took a turn, Zhang Lisheng accidentally broke through to Rank-2 Wizard and obtained the small slaughterhouse for free. He was elated to have built the foundation of his business. After wiping the faint, odd marks in the factory agilely, he walked out of the factory in light steps and breathed in the fresh air deeply. He then walked toward the gate in big steps.

As he arrived at the gate, he saw Tina leaning on the fence while hugging her legs with a little shiver. She buried her head and sat there shaking, he then comforted her immediately, “Don’t worry Tina, that old man isn’t a match for me. He escaped after crossing the fence. We can leave this sh*tty place now, let’s get back to New York. Don’t be afraid, everything’s over now.”

Tina nodded speechlessly to her partner’s causal console. She stood up holding the fence without looking at Zhang Lisheng and walked slowly to the SUV in a wobbly manner. Realizing that she still could not open the car door after pulling the handle a few times, Tina seemed to descend into madness as she began hitting the window hard. Unfortunately, Cadillac’s tough anti-theft glass could not be broken by this young socialite’s bare hands.

At that moment, Zhang Lisheng who was standing next to her suddenly pointed at Rudolph’s pick-up truck that was not far away from the SUV, “Tina, don’t panic. Maybe we could drive that car back to New York City first.”

The pick-up truck’s doors were locked but the windows could be opened. They saw a bunch of keys plugged in the keyhole fairly through the moonlight. Tina nodded while her body was stiff, she followed Zhang Lisheng to the pick-up truck and went into the car. She turned the car key while her hand was shaking a little, the pick-up truck’s engine started smoothly. Tina turned the heavy steering wheel in excitement and rushed out of the slaughterhouse gate while stepping hard on the accelerator.