The Great Worm Lich

To a top lawyer who was proficient in business rules such as Edward, drafting a well-worded contract with simple terms was just as natural as breathing.

A few minutes later, he finished modifying a file template in the tablet computer he brought with him and printed it before handing it to Philips and Zhang Lisheng.

“Very simple and smart contract, with no loophole nor trap. Let’s use this then.” Philips said straightforwardly after glancing through it.

“I like your straightforward attitude, Mr. Philips.” The young man smiled and scrawled a paragraph on the back of his contract with a smile before handing it to the black man. “Just hand this contract to any native that you see in the Shrimp World No. 2 and you’ll get your gold. Of course, you’ll have to hold a simple ceremony with the native chief and sign a contract before you do that.”

“A meaningless but obligatory process, right? I think your people would also video the ceremony for a keepsake and publicize them.” Philips put away the two contracts with a blank expression and stood up to extend his hand, “I’ll handle this matter and you’ll get everything that you want. My only wish is that your native friends can smoothly hand over the materials needed by the government to me. Goodbye, Dr.”

“Looks like you’re really unexpectedly generous and powerful, Mr. Philips. Please rest assured that my legal officer Edward will supervise the execution of the contract. I promise that you’ll get what you want, goodbye.” Zhang Lisheng stood up from the sofa and shook the black man’s hand to bid his farewell. Then, this special senior federal official strode out of the lobby of the Ocean Empire Hotel.

A few seconds after he stepped out of the revolving door, a big black business car proceeded to stop beside him. The car door opened automatically and a chuckling voice resonated from inside, “Boss, how did the meeting go? Judging from your usual stiff expression, it must have gone pretty smoothly right?”

The black man raised his finger and placed it on his lips to make a silent gesture as he entered the car with one strode. As he passed by the door, a dense net of thousands of red and green lights swept across his huge and tall body.

“Excavator, did you find anything?” As soon as the door was shut, Philips asked anxiously.

“No, boss. The scan result is completely normal. Looks like that Dr. Lisheng didn’t put any ‘tack’ on you,” A low voice came from the front passenger seat.

“I also think that he won’t do such a mentally retarded thing but we better be careful since this involves gods.” Philips mumbled to himself for a while before suddenly saying, “Soundwave, adjust Zhang Lisheng’s danger level from C+ to B.”

“B-level is the ‘red alert’ level, boss. Do we have to take such exaggerated measures?” The chuckling voice resonated again but his tone had become surprised.

“Do as I say. Black Pearl’s previous evaluation of him was correct. This Dr. Zhang Lisheng is not a lucky man born to be so outstanding and fortunate that it’s completely inconceivable for other ordinary people but a hypocritical and evil character instead.” The black man had a rare expression of dread on his face as he sighed.

At the same time, Zhang Lisheng who had silently taken the elevator to the 37th floor of the hotel after the negotiation took a bath in the Chinese bath and put on a brand new cloth. He changed to use the special VIP elevator to the hotel’s top rooftop and suddenly told his representative who had met up with him, “Tell the security department to inspect all public spaces in the building. Starting from today, no flying insect is allowed in the hotel. Check the guest rooms and the limousines as well. Don’t let go of any suspicious point. Who knows what kind of ‘black technology those Area 51 guys possess. I can’t believe that such a big ‘fish’ would actually be hooked in the first round.”

“I’ll immediately notify the security department for screening. Don’t worry, boss. The security system of the Ocean empire Building is designed and trained by the French’s Tower Shield Company and all personnel has been carefully selected. If we handle this carefully, there should be no problem at all.” Charlie was stunned for a while before assuring.

The instant his words left his mouth, a ‘ding dong’ sound resonated and the elevator finally reached the open-air bar that was several hundreds of altitudes in the air.

“I hope so.” The young man shrugged and stepped out of the elevator. “By the way, Charlie, I believe that the 16.8 billion dollars for the payment of gold purchased by the Department of Defense will soon cash in so we’ll have enough ‘ammunition’ so let’s speed up the project of buying experimental oases around the desert.”

“I was about to report this matter to you, boss. With the surrounding large oases as a boundary, excluding the 50 km development reserve that is legally extended by the oasis cities, we’ll need to purchase a total of 160,000 square kilometers of desert, almost equivalent to Florida that is also the 22nd largest state in the United State during peacetime.”

“This area is just right. Any bigger than that would be a waste…” Upon hearing the hesitation in the representative’s tone, Zhang Lisheng muttered and strolled to the wooden table shaped in a stump next to a glass wall in the open-air bar before sitting down. Looking at Charlie, he smiled. “The States has a total of 50 states and does it still considered to be a big state being ranked in 22nd? If 170,000 square kilometers is converted into a regular shape, it’ll be nothing more but a large square with side lengths of slightly more than 400 kilometers. Besides, even if we don’t carry out this matter, we’re already being conspicuous enough so there is nothing worth worrying about.”

“Yes, boss.” Upon hearing the young man’s decision, Charlie’s tone changed as he answered without hesitation. “In that case, I’ll immediately contact the state governments of Washington, New Jersey and so on to buy the land as soon as possible. If there are no unexpected incidents, you’ll become the person who owns the most private lands in Noah World.”

“Oh? That sounds like a good title.” Zhang Lisheng laughed and watched the representative left. After beckoning to a distant waiter with a wave of his hand and asking for a glass of iced Coke, he looked down at the bustling city and long desert of yellow sand in the distance underneath him through the solid and transparent glass wall and spent his entire afternoon in contemplation.

In the days to come, the climate gradually warmed. With Charlie and Edward’s efforts, the land and gold trade went smoothly while Zhang Lisheng, who fell into an idle state, for the time being, would either just stay at home studying that mysterious Leather World or to bask in the sun at the top bar of the Ocean Empire Hotel and browse the news with his tablet.

Such a life was ordinary but pleasant. Two weeks passed in a blink of an eye. It was another weekend today but the young man encountered trouble.

Due to the reason that Lavin family’s eldest daughter who worked at the TV station was promoted to assistant producer in advance, she planned to hold a ‘party’ to treat her friends and colleagues at home so for this reason, Lili actually forced the young man to help to wash vegetables in the kitchen.

Even though Zhang Lisheng had always played the role of an ordinary son in front of his mother, when he was washing the lettuce that had crystal water droplets on the leaves in the vegetable basket, he still felt what he was doing was ridiculous. Unable to help himself, he said, “Mom, I can arrange for an unforgettable party for Riley in the Ocean Empire Hotel…”

“Oh baby, this party is Riley’s first promotion party after starting her newest promotion party after starting her new career in Noah World. Tonight is her special moment but unfortunately, her savings cannot afford even the cheapest night clubs and bars. At this time, what we can do as a family is to use our efforts to help her to entertain the guests with as little money as possible to successfully carry out the party, and not to use money to replace our ‘efforts’.” Lili interrupted the young man gently.

She had always been guiding her outstanding but lonely son to establish a correct outlook on life with this loving but determined attitude but little did she know that her ‘baby’ had already become a horrible demon.

“We can hold a more ordinary family party too! We only need to get a special party company to help us and this kind of delicate and fashionable youth party doesn’t cost much anyway…” The cold Wizard Li God who was easily angered was so soft in front of his mother, to the point where it was completely unimaginable to his enemies. No matter how many talks he received from his mother, he would only helplessly plead again.

“Baby, don’t try to deceive a middle-aged housewife, she knows the price far better than a billionaire who is worth billions. Just wash the vegetables obediently.” Lili saw through his son’s lazy trick and thought for a moment before letting go of the kitchen knife in her hand to turn on the TV hanging on the cupboard. “If you find it to be annoying, just watch the Tudenan Valley and you’ll feel that the time passes more quickly. This is my secret, y’know.”

“Really?” Zhang Lisheng pouted and glanced at the TV from the corner of his eyes. An elderly sparse-haired white anchor on the screen was discussing with several guests about the far-reaching meaning implied in the military supplies purchase contract between the Department of Defense and the mysterious foreign world’s city-state called Wizard Li.

“This is a major step forward that proves that the desire for order is a universal value that crosses the ‘world’. Perhaps from now on, the arrogant Earth human beings will gradually understand that peaceful relations are not only applicable to fellow citizens who have evolved and lived on the same planet as us, but also to all peace-loving intelligent creatures. When our army willfully broke into the other ‘worlds’ and ignited the war, we should have known that one day we will reap what we have sown.”

“Oh, okay Hanks. I know you’re going to mention the Shrimp World No. 1 as an example again. But don’t you forget, out of the four foreign world civilizations that invaded the Earth, only one of them has a counterattack purpose. The other three are blatant aggressions. Of course, I’m not opposed to improving relations with the foreign worlds. This is actually an attempt of the prevailing trend. The old order collapses and the new order is established. We should take the lead.”

“Halles is right. The key question now is not whether the States should seek allies from other foreign worlds but who are our potential allies? Wizard Li, Wizard Li… This name may already be familiar to some privileged people but it’s no doubt a very unfamiliar and unacquainted term for all the people of the United States. At this moment, the authorities should not use secretive measures to completely hide the intelligence of this country as the people have the right to know who is our enemy and who is our friend in the future…”

The views of the host and the guests continued to clash. The program became unusually fierce and gradually attracted the attention of the young man.