The Great Worm Lich

The New York Medical Research Association Affiliated Hospital was small in size, but the single-row ring road outside the hospital was planted with evergreen coniferous plants on both sides, making it easy to create a feeling of being away from the city. The environment was pretty quiet.

Due to the reason that winter was the most prone season for the elderly and children to get sick, after bidding goodbye to Fanster and getting out of the Ford car, Zhang Lisheng, who still felt that his surrounding was deserted when he walked in the cold courtyard, was surprised to see the moving flow of people when he walked into the hospital hall, making him widen his eyes in astonishment.

“Don’t tell me that this is the only hospital that opens after Christmas so every patient in New York has to come here instead…” Zhang Lisheng muttered to himself and avoided the flow of people carefully. He came to the front desk of the hospital and finally reached a busy middle-aged nurse after a long queue. “Excuse me, may I know which ward Miss Effiny Pigros who has a head injury stays?”

“Effiny Pigros…” The nurse repeated as she typed on the computer’s keyboard, before raising her head to size this young Chinese man in front who looked like a drug addict from head to toe. “Sir, she’s the patient of restricted visitation sent in by the NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service). Are you her immediate family member?”

“No. I can be said as her colleague. May I know what is NCIS?”

“Naval Criminal Investigative Service, don’t you watch the TV series?” The nurse asked with a squint. “I’m sorry, I can’t tell you where she is. Nobody is allowed to visit her unless you’re an immediate family member.”

“NCIS? Oh, so the human gathering place on Shrimp B1 Island belongs to the US Navy instead of its Army.” Zhang Lisheng muttered to himself and dialed Steven’s phone. “Professor, I didn’t want to bother you at first but the hospital receptionist told me that Professor Effiny is a patient of restricted visitation sent in by the NCIS so they can’t tell me the ward number.”

“Restricted visitation? Why wasn’t I informed about this? In that case, Lisheng, head to the hospital’s Block A’s seventh floor and I’ll wait for you by the elevator.” Steven’s tired voice resonated from the phone.

“Alright, Professor. I’ll see you later.” After hanging up the phone, Zhang Lisheng headed the seventh floor directly and was welcomed by Steven whose both eyes were swelling and a uniform-wearing officer who seemed to have a straight gaze standing in front of himself.

“Oh, Professor! You look like you need a good night’s sleep!” The young man walked out of the elevator and said straightforwardly. “Or otherwise, there’ll be more than one Pigros lying in the hospital later.”

“I’m not that tired yet, Lisheng. It’s very common for me to stay up overnight for a few days to carry out experiments. Besides, you look much worse than I am so you don’t have the right to say this to me.” Steven smiled and pointed to the officer by his side. “Let me introduce the two of you. This is Lieutenant Harvey, an NCIS agent, whose team is responsible for Effiny’s case. I only found out after this incident that the human gathering place on Shrimp B1 Island was actually built by the Navy instead of the Army. Lieutenant Harvey, this is my experimental collaborator cum student, Zhang Lisheng.”

“I’m also a professor.” Zhang Lisheng shrugged and extended his hand to the young and handsome officer. “Hello, Captain Harvey, someone has actually committed violent crimes against an unarmed scientist and snatched the results and materials. It’s hard for me to imagine that someone would actually do such a terrible thing. I hope you can…”

As he was speaking, a series of tones suddenly resonated from his pocket.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Zhang Lisheng apologized and fished out his phone before accepting the call.

“Baby, I’ve already arrived at the ‘New York Medical Research Association Affiliated Hospital’, but the receptionist…”

“The receptionist doesn’t tell you where the location is, right? it doesn’t matter, Tina. Come to the hospital’s Block A’s seventh floor now. I’m at the elevator.”

“That’s great, I’ll see you baby.” After she finished saying so, the call was hung up so Zhang Lisheng put the phone away and explained to Harvey whose expression had turned grave. “My girlfriend’s grandfather is a neurosurgery professor at Harvard Medical School. This is why I asked her to help Professor Effiny to find several authoritative doctors. As a result, after she learned about this incident, she insisted on coming for a visit…”

“Mr. Lisheng, before the case of the laboratory attack is clear, Professor Effiny will still be at a restricted visitation state so she should not receive too many visitors. Besides, the New York Medical Research Association Affiliated Hospital also has the best neurosurgeon in New York so there’s absolutely no need for…” The young naval officer interrupted Zhang’s words and said very seriously.

“I’m sorry, Lieutenant. I didn’t know that Professor Effiny is under restricted visitation before I came to the hospital. Moreover, I feel that in order to prevent any bad sequelae caused by this attack, it’s better to ask for the diagnosis of the best neurosurgeons in the entire US, heck, even the entire world, to treat a distinguished scientist like her.” As Zhang Lisheng was speaking, the elevator door behind him suddenly opened gently and three tall, young and beautiful girls walked out of the elevator.

When they saw Zhang Lisheng’s back, the girls’ eyes lit up as they walked up to him. One of them went to the young man’s back and gave him and a hug right away. “Baby, I’ve contacted Dr. Quecna from the Los Angeles’s Institute of Neurosurgery, Dr. Jenny from the Royal College of Physicians and Dr. Spring from the Swiss Academies of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Quecna will be able to rush to New York in the afternoon at the latest and will hold a group consultation with Dr. Spring and Dr. Jenny via the Internet. Then, he’ll rest for one night if it’s necessary, he’ll be able to perform a surgery by tomorrow morning.”

“Thank you Tina, I think this is perfect for now,” Zhang Lisheng turned to look at the girl with a smile before pointing at his supervisor and the NCIS agent beside him. “This is my supervisor, Professor Steven, and this is Lieutenant Harvey from the NCIS, or the Naval Criminal Investigative Service. He’s in charge of the case of the attack on Professor Effiny.”

“Nice to meet you, Professor Steven, I’m Lisheng’s girlfriend, Tina. These two are my best friends, Trish and Sheila. They’re also very close with Lisheng. We were having lunch together when we heard about Professor Effiny’s misfortune so that’s why we rushed over to pay a visit. Nice to meet you too, Lieutenant Harvey. I’ve seen the graceful demeanor of the NCIS from TV before so I hope that you all are equally good in real life and can capture the criminal who attacked Professor Effiny. ”

Tina’s words were in good taste and had a strong human touch. When Steven was just about to express his gratitude, Harvey had already stepped in and said with a difficult expression. “Don’t worry, Miss Tina. We’ll definitely do our utmost to seize the criminal who robbed the laboratory. However, due to the need of solving the case, Professor Effiny is now in a restricted visitation state. For this reason, you may not be able to visit her, I’m sorry.” Despite the slightly rude content of his words, his tone was very gentle.

“Oh, this is a pity, but I can understand your difficulty.” Tina was stunned for a moment before smiling politely. “In that case, we’ll not bother anymore and will take our leave first. Professor Steven, please don’t worry too much. I’m sure Professor Effiny will be fine.”

“Thank you, Miss Tina.” Steven’s exhausted face showed a grateful smile. It seemed like a man’s attitude would be much more amiable in front of an elegant, refined and beautiful girl. “Lisheng, since there is a restricted visitation, let us not make things difficult for Lieutenant Harvey. Why don’t you leave together with Miss Tina? Thank you very much for your help, child.”

“Oh Professor Steven, Mr. Lisheng may not be able to leave right now. I have a few questions to ask him about the attack.” When Harvey heard Steven saying so, he quickly stopped him.

“You have questions to ask him? But my student has already long returned to New York before the attack on the lab! Lieutenant Harvey, unlike Justin, Lisheng is a true biologist genius. He has hundreds of millions of net worth and extensive contacts! He can achieve academic success with extreme ease so he’ll definitely not be that stupid to become a spy…”

“Professor Steven, what you are talking about is very confidential. I have already reminded you to not mention it in front of anyone. Don’t tell me that you’ve forgotten about it already?” Harvey suddenly interrupted Steven’s words with a grave expression.

He looked around and noticed that even though there were quite a few people around, basically no one had paid attention to what they were talking so he secretly sighed and said, “I just want to ask Mr. Zhang Lisheng a few questions, not to list him as a suspect. This is merely a routine inquiry. After all, the theoretical speculation of the missing mysterious material was first proposed by Mr. Zhang Lisheng. Ever since then, he has always been an insider and it’s impossible for him to detach himself from this.”

The NCIS agent’s reply was very reasonable but was useless in the face of Steven. “When you guys used me as a bait for the fish, you didn’t even get my consent at all! Damn all these confidential stuff! It’s not me who wants to know about it anyway, so why should I keep it a secret…”

Zhang Lisheng was much more reasonable than his supervisor. After sending the three girls, Tina, Sheila, and Trish into the elevator with a smile, he faced Harvey and raised both of his palms while saying, “Alright, Lieutenant. Just ask me any question you want.”

“Let us find a quiet place first, Mr. Lisheng.” Harvey looked much relaxed now as he walked deep into the ward corridor.

Zhang Lisheng and Steven walked together behind him but when they had only taken a few steps, the supervisor could not help but lower his voice to tell the young man, “Lisheng, it would never cross your mind that just now, a few agents from the NCIS has set up a sudden trick to deceive Justin and actually got him to confess that he was an accomplice of the laboratory attackers. What’s even more amazing is that until now, this poor idiot didn’t even know who his accomplices are! he only mentioned that he knows them through the internet…”

“Professor Steven, I shall remind you again that some words must be kept secret.” Harvey, who was in front of him, suddenly turned back and said while gritting his teeth.

“Just like you said, Lieutenant, Lisheng is already an insider so how can he help you if we keep too much secrets from him?”