The Great Worm Lich

As he drove on the road for a while, he pulled over to give Lili a call. He lied that the slaughterhouse was hectic as Christmas was around the corner and he decided to stay and help, “Mom, there’s nothing much that I could help here but since my workers would have to work overtime, I thought I should stay with them since I’m the boss.”

“Baby, aren’t you dating the ladies with George? How come you’re at the slaughterhouse?”

“There’s a machine maintenance document that I needed to sign so I left last minute.”

Lily was taken aback on the phone, “Baby, I’m happy that…that you’re dedicated but you’re just a high schooler after all…”

“Mom, there are kids who are younger than me at the farms and they’re helping in tying up the cows. It’s Sunday tomorrow, I hope that you could agree with me for being a responsible factory owner tonight without slacking on my homework.”

“Baby, I’m speechless if you said that. But please be careful at the factory, stop working if you’re tired at night. The factory’s filled with machines…” Lili nagged for a long time and fortunately, she said yes to Zhang Lisheng’s request. After hanging up the call, Zhang Lisheng drove to his slaughterhouse in relief.

On the small road towards his slaughterhouse, he was surprised to find that the road was still stuck with cars. He would have to drive his Explorer onto the bumpy road and parked outside the fence. He got off the car limping and chanted wizard incantation secretly to drive the giant lizard to hop over the fence agilely. It landed in the slaughterhouse’s courtyard quietly. It then walked towards the slaughterhouse slowly.

The newly installed lights at LS Slaughterhouse were shining, there was a fleeting groan from the livestock being electrocuted coming out of the factory occasionally. Zhang Lisheng whose body was filled with dirt greeted the Kaiserland Town farmers who were waiting at the courtyard as he walked into the factory. The lights were bright, the people who were working in the factory were shocked to see Zhang Lisheng’s clumsy look. Willy, the helper he hired stopped what he was doing and came to him to ask in concern, “Sir, what…what happened to you?”

“Nothing, I had a minor road accident. I parked my car outside, please call Sterling Insurance Co. for me Willy. Get their people to check on my car and fix it. I’m going to take a shower and change.”

“Lisheng, you don’t look too good. It’s best that you go to the hospital,” Tommy, one of the people in town who knew Zhang Lisheng since the beginning and had the closest relationship with him reminded.

“That’s unnecessary Tommy, I’m not hurt at all. I just need some rest. Oh right Willy, when the people from the insurance company come later, please get them to…”

“Stop minding those matters, Lisheng. You’re our Kaiserland Town’s National Farmers Union’s preparatory chairman now, I’ll handle those people from the insurance company when they’re here. Don’t worry, as long as your car could still move, you only have to wait until tomorrow afternoon the most and you’ll see it looking brand new in front of you,” Tommy said with the manner that he was in charge of everything. The reason why he had such confidence was that National Farmers Union were everywhere around America which was as powerful as the American Labor Union.

The thousands of National Farmers Unions in towns seemed loose but in reality, it was easy to create a domino effect. The power of such a traditional organization that was rooted in the villages before America was built coming together could affect a presidential election. In the history of America, such ridiculous paradox had never happened before. Therefore, an insurance company that survived by word of mouth would not make things difficult. They would fix the car directly for a town National Farmers Union’s chairman as long as the car condition was acceptable.

Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment, he then handed the Explorer key to Tommy, “Thanks Tommy, you’re a great help. Willy, give Mr. Tommy 10% on his slaughtering fee today. Oh yea, you and Tiffany will get triple pay for the overtime. I’ll pay both of you at the end of the month.”

“Thank you, sir, thank you…”

“Oh Lisheng, you’re such a generous boss. Your business will definitely expand.”

“As long as my head’s functioning, I’m planning to open another slaughterhouse near Kaiserland Town after Christmas. Oh, my head’s buzzing, I need to rest. All the best in your work, I hope the cows and lambs that you guys slaughtered will be sold at a handsome price. Goodbye all,” Zhang Lisheng said and turned around, he then left the crowded factory by limping.

The house on the right of the factory was where Rudolph used to live. Zhang Lisheng installed surveillance and lights in there earlier, it was modified into a temporary resting place. He happened to be able to stay the night. The modification was actually installing new soundproof panels in the bathroom and bedroom as well as removing the living room and cigar bar. The walkway was the only thing left in the living room while the bedroom was bigger now. However, the simple modification gave a completely different feeling whenever he walked into the room. It used to be stale and old-fashioned but now it was clean and bright.

Some ten minutes later, Zhang Lisheng who had sore all over his body had a hot shower. He put on new pajamas and got into a wooden bed next to the window after switching off the lights. His condition tonight did not allow him to cultivate a secret method instead of sleeping. However, he insisted to sit on the bed with his legs crossed. He opened the window and mumbled odd sound that went ‘pst shh…’.

As the wizard incantation went on, a strong wind was blown outside the window out of nowhere. Subsequently, a flat head with a mouth full of big daggers appeared slowly in the dark while reaching its nose to the window. Zhang Lisheng laughed out loud feeling relieved that the giant lizard came to him without getting noticed in the crowded slaughterhouse. He then controlled his second wizard worm to curl outside the window. He closed the window and fell into deep sleep.

It was the next afternoon when he woke up. Zhang Lisheng walked out of the house after getting off the bed. He realized there was still a long queue outside the slaughterhouse, there was livestock sent into the factory continuously.

He yawned and walked behind the factory quietly. He controlled Mountoad to open the metal cover to the underground cement pit with its enormous tongue. The weather was cold, it was bloody in the pit but there was no stench since the cover was opened. Looking at the pit that was filled with bloody organs, Zhang Lisheng controlled his two wizard worms to feast on them. Mountoad hopped into the pit and expanded its body as it devoured the organs in the bloody pit; The giant lizard, on the other hand, turned invisible and extended its head to swallow the livestock’s organs into its mouth. It took big gulps but one could only see the bloody flesh lifted from the pit into mid-air and ridiculously faded and disappeared.

Soon, the tens of tonnes of waste were cleared completely. Seeing that his wizard worms were done eating, Zhang Lisheng controlled Mountoad to cover the pit properly before getting it back to his backpack. Before returning to the factory, he happened to see Tiffany bringing a plate of meatloaf and bread into the resting place.

He shouted immediately, “Good morning Tiffany, oh no, it should be good afternoon now.”

“Good afternoon sir, you’re up. I’m just bringing you meatloaf and bread. The insurance company took your car away last night, they said they’ll send it back before evening. We slaughtered 26 cows, 56 lambs, and 95 pigs yesterday. The underground pit should be full from the slaughtering since a few days back.”

“Don’t worry Tiffany, I’ve told you that I’ll handle the pit with the livestock waste. Your job’s to calculate the number of slaughtered livestock and looking after the factory machines.”

“Sir, I don’t mean…”

“Tiffany, I know you’re being kind. Give me the meatloaf and bread, I’m famished,” Zhang Lisheng said while extending his hand smiling. Finishing his meal that was considered as both his breakfast and lunch, Zhang Lisheng who had nothing to do took a scroll in the factory and returned to the resting place. He attempted to build the internal and external circulation for his two wizard worms with a secret method at the same time.

The internal and external circulation was built successfully on his first attempt. There was black fog coming out of his both wizard worms covering his body at the same time, sharing the smoke coming out of his nose, ears, eyes, and mouth. As soon as the circulation was done, Zhang Lisheng began to cultivate in the open with the giant lizard’s perfect invisible ability and the respect of privacy the Americans had. It was past five in the afternoon, when he was awakened by the knocking of the door that came all of the sudden.

“Sir, the insurance company has sent your fixed car back.”

“Alright Tiffany, I’ll be out,” Zhang Lisheng put away Mountoad as he got off the bed and opened the door.