The Great Worm Lich

Seeing the young man becoming quiet all of a sudden, Sheila said after a moment of silence, “Lisheng, I heard from Tina that you’re planning to expand your business am I right?”

“Yes, I’m planning to expand my slaughterhouse.”

“Let me handle the building of the factory, my family happens to manage a construction company…”

“And it’s the second biggest private construction company in America…” Tina, who was surprised to hear that, added.

“Don’t try to butter me up Tina, I know that you want me to say that from the beginning but you never said it.”

“Oh Sheila, I was just afraid that it would trouble you since you haven’t started managing your family business yet…”

“My dear, you have your way of closing deals with my dad and of course I do too. After all, he knows that Lisheng saved my life.”

“You’re right about that. I’m too dumb that I forgot about that, I even hired someone to come up with the blueprint… Sigh.”

The Adventurer parked beside one of 197th Street’s sidewalk as Tina sighed. After Sheila said goodbye to Zhang Lisheng, she winked at her best friend and got off the car. She walked into the upscale gym, making Tina and Zhang Lisheng the two remaining people in the car in the blink of an eye. Both of them fell into silence for a moment. Tina then moved to the passenger’s seat from the back seat. “Sheila’s gone now, it’s better that I sit next to you.”

Zhang Lisheng nodded without saying a word.

“What have you been doing for the past ten days?”

“Going to school and studying the bugs that I brought back from the Amazon.”

“That sounds like what you would do… so do you miss me?” Zhang Lisheng’s hands slipped on the steering wheel when he heard the question. ‘Tss’ his car went off on the New York street, almost crashing into the car coming from across.

“Careful!” Tina shouted from the shock and didn’t dare to ask anything further. She spoke again when the car drove out of New York City into a vast suburb road, “Lisheng, we’re still good friends. It’s just that we did something intimate so we can totally be like how we were. Don’t be too nervous okay?”

“Okay.” Zhang Lisheng’s tensed expression was much more relaxed now. He turned on the car’s navigation and entered ‘Mutteslow’. Seeing the young man’s cheeks that were still flushed by a little, Tina extended her hand and caressed Zhang Lisheng’s shoulder gently while saying nothing. Just like that, both of them arrived at a beautiful lake following the road by car.

Tina was stunned when she heard the ‘you’ve arrived at your destination’ coming from the navigation. “Lisheng, is Mutteslow a lake and not a town?”

“I followed the government officer Thomas’ suggestion who Mr. Howick contacted to take this land. I’ve no idea what Mutteslow means.” He got off the car with a puzzled expression. Tina nodded and got off the car not long after. He looked around the barren land with the chilly wind blowing and pointed at the large whitish-gray land within their field of vision and said, “If we’re talking about saline-alkali land, this should be it.”

Zhang Lisheng hesitated when he saw the girl shaking. He imitated the scene people normally see from movies and took off his shirt then covered it on Tina clumsily. “No matter where this is, it’s best that you get into the car. I really can’t understand what girls like you think. It’s so cold and you’re wearing…”

“Aren’t I sexy?” Tina held Zhang Lisheng’s hand all of a sudden and put it on her voluptuous breasts. Zhang Lisheng’s hand became stiff before he began panting. A green convertible happened to drive by on the road at that exact moment. A young man dressed in punk clothing extended his head out of the window and yelled rudely, “Oh yeah, go to town kid! Rub the babe’s boobs hard. Hahaha, I would’ve done it myself if this happens at night…”

“You’re a dead man if you stop your car.” Zhang Lisheng turned his head and glared at the convertible that drove by with a cold expression. He retrieved his hand in an unnatural manner and said that out loud with a soft tone. Naturally, it would be something someone would say out of rage if they were just ordinary people. However, Tina knew that the skinny young man in front of her was being serious when he said such things.

“Lisheng, of course you can fight back if he’s hurting us but don’t simply… simply…”

“I won’t kill innocents neither do I like a passive counterattack,” Zhang Lisheng shook his head and said calmly. “The only thing I can do is to get Island Dragon to eat him if that person who said that pulled over and came to us.”

“Alright baby, some judges in America approve anticipated defense. In reality, it’s rare that you’re so rational when you possess such unthinkable power. Also, you’re very… very sexy when you show how cool you are when you’re calm and collected.” Tina bit her lips and gave in to the young man’s determination. She then said softly, “Get in the car, let’s look at your land over there. Perhaps we could do something in the car too…”

The girl dragged Zhang Lisheng into the car. The Adventurer began driving slowly and stopped at the saline-alkali land far away from the road while following the bumpy soil road. A while later, the heavy car began shaking lightly. Over ten minutes later, someone opened the Adventurer passenger’s seat door. Tina got off the car while wearing Zhang Lisheng’s jacket, pants and leather shoes with her cheeks flushed red. She looked around with satisfaction while breathing in fresh air.

At that same moment, Zhang Lisheng who only had a bra covering his upper torso and was barefooted laid on the Adventurer driver’s seat that was adjusted all the way down as he stared off towards nothing with the odd, kinky smell lingering all over within the car. A while later, the young man snapped back to his senses and rolled down the window, allowing the chilly air from the wild that was a little salty into the car. Just when he was planning to get off his car after clearing his head, he unintentionally saw a 16-page booklet that was opened in the backseat. There was an antique stone mask that looked ferocious.

“Eh…” Zhang Lisheng thought that the mask was a little familiar all of a sudden. He grabbed the booklet and looked at it, noticing the words ‘Christie’s Spring Auction Collection’ printed on the cover. Tina, who took a stroll around the whitish-gray saline-alkali land, went into the car again. “Lisheng, the land’s great. It’s close to the ocean and so much higher than the ocean surface. It won’t be washed away by the sea water even if there’s a hurricane or heavy rain. The only flaw is that it’s a little far from the highway, it’s a branch line. However, I think transportation should be improved very soon. I’m already figuring why that Mr. Thomas recommended this land to you…”

“Tina, are these art pieces in the booklet very valuable?” Zhang Lisheng did not pay attention to what Tina said as he pointed at the booklet in his hand and asked all of a sudden.

“Of course, each of them is at least millions of dollars…”

“I have a couple of antiques my ancestors passed on that are very similar to these stone masks and sculptures. Maybe we can auction them. I can expand my slaughterhouse even more if we manage to make a sum out of them.”

“Oh baby, it’s true that antique stone artifacts are a big thing this year wherein the price went up a few times more but there are different antique grades. Although 3 million dollars seems to be insufficient now, I could think of ways…”

“Let’s try and see. Looking at the booklet, these stones aren’t as exquisite as the ones I have on my bedhead.”

“Alright then, since you insist,” Tina said while smiling and kissed Zhang Lisheng gently.

“Come to Lowbige tomorrow morning, I’ll bring the stones to you. Let’s head back to New York for lunch now. To be honest, I’m starving since I only had a light breakfast.

“Sure, I’ll just do whatever you say. But you tore my gown, buy me a new one before we eat.”

“Sure, but you have to return me my shoes so I could drive you to get new clothes,” Zhang Lisheng was stunned for a moment and said softly while looking outside the car’s window. The girl removed the leather shoes for Zhang Lisheng while smiling. Soon, the Adventurer’s engine was started again and rushed towards the highway after turning around.

On the next morning, the young man washed up after a session of cultivation and left home with the stone masks and sculptures he prepared last night in his backpack. Classes would start in a little bit over ten minutes at the time he arrived at school. Zhang Lisheng waited under a tree for Tina. George happened to be cycling like a mad man from far away at that moment. He then braked all of a sudden as he noticed his good friend standing next to an SUV. He gave Zhang Lisheng a high-five and shouted, “Morning buddy.”

“Morning George.”

“Are you waiting for someone?”

“Everyone has secrets, especially people like me. Stop asking, go to class right now.”

“Stop pretending to be cool Lisheng, you won’t be as cool anymore if you do this too much. Naturally, I won’t ask about secrets that I shouldn’t ask but I think you can let me in on this secret. You have a girlfriend now?”

Zhang Lisheng was stunned and looked at George with shock.

“Buddy, there’s a hot babe in sunglasses with a figure hotter than a supermodel waving at you over there. Sh*t, what did you do that made you so popular overnight…”

Zhang Lisheng looked at the direction where George was pointing at and saw Tina wearing a black, tight leather dress who showed her body shape completely. She was waving lightly at him from across the road.

“Wait for me, let’s go to class together.”

“Hey hey buddy, are you not going to introduce me to her?”

“I don’t think that’s necessary.” Zhang Lisheng crossed the road while following the pedestrian crossing as he spoke and ran towards Tina.

“How do I look?” The girl asked while showing off her body.

“Not bad but are you wearing this to the auction?”

“I wore this just for you, I have a brand new gown in my car.”

“You wore this just for me… Forget it, class is starting soon. I’m passing the masks and sculptures to you,” the young man said feeling silly. One could easily spot the flaws if he admired antiques for their authenticity or those who were trained professionally. Some were exposed to countless authentic products, naturally, they could tell if the product was fake by instinct. Tina was born to a wealthy family. Although she did not take a special interest in antiques, she could naturally tell that the three stone artifacts Zhang Lisheng passed her were authentic.

“Lisheng, I think it’s best that you go to the auction with me. The quality of these antiques are way better than I imagined…”