The Great Worm Lich

Faced with the invitation from his Senior Sisters, Zhang Lisheng nodded with a smile. Walking to the cafe next to the road, he explained to his girlfriend before hanging up the phone.

Pushing open the brown glass door, a gush of warmth enveloped them right away. At the same time, the cold breeze blew at the several wind chimes hanging on the door frame and gave off a relaxing sound.

At the door, holding a tablet with him, the young man glanced around at this simple, warm, but empty shop and could not help but lament the emptiness on the campus.

The wind chimes jingling sound reminded the young slightly plump waitress wearing a checkered shirt who was still managing the cafe that a customer had come in. The girl who originally was sleeping on the counter on her arms immediately stood up with a smile. “Welcome to Wonderful Mill Cafe! What do you like to order?”

“Give me a cup of iced Coke, thank you. Senior Sisters, what do you two want to drink?” Zhang Lisheng habitually sat down in the seat by the cafe’s window and said.

“A Blue Mountain Coffee and a Cappuccino, thank you!” Guo Caiying ordered and sat in front of the young man with Ai Chuhe. The three of them sat gazing at each other without a sound until they served Coke and coffees. After taking a huge sip of thick black coffee, Guo Caiying finally said solemnly, “Junior Brother, do you know that you’re very dangerous now?”

It had never crossed Zhang Lisheng’s mind that Guo Caiying would start with such an opening. Stunned, he said, “I don’t know what you mean by ‘dangerous’, but if you mean the accomplices of those robbers, well to be honest, Senior Sister, those people are merely mongrels who harm the weak but fear the strong. They have long been scared out of their wits…”

“I didn’t mean this!” Guo Caiying shook her head hard and hesitated, before pointing to her own head. “I mean, your mind. Your mind is very dangerous.”

“Oh, you mean that!” Zhang Lisheng finally understood and shrugged. Without being bothered, he said, “Perhaps. I should be indeed strange and dangerous in the eyes of ordinary people. So what?”

Guo Caiying looked dumbfounded after what she heard. Solemnly, she advised, “Junio Brother, since you understand the defects of your character, you should try to change it, otherwise you will definitely create a major disaster in the future. This is for your own good! Just like this time, it’s obvious that you’ve already subdued the gangsters, so why did you still need to… to take their lives? And seven lives on top of that! If it’s not for the prosecutor’s decision to drop the case, then it’d have become a sensational case in the US!”

“Senior Sister, I understand your kindness,” Zhang Lisheng’s gaze had a hint of pleasant surprise in his eyes as he looked out of the window. Casually, he replied, “How should I put this? I-I know how a normal young person should live. He should drink coffee when he comes to a cafe; he should psychologically need to pursue a beautiful girl he sees; he should dress up nicely on dates, dance, drink, and enjoy his youth when he has earned his money; he should also go for a fight on impulses when encountering a provocative person or a bad thing, but no matter if he can beat the opponent, he should know how far to go and where to stop no matter what. Everyone would find such a normal person, and he would also be well-adored by everyone. Unfortunately, I’m not such a likable man and have never thought of getting other people’s approval. I like to drink iced Coke on all occasions; I never pay attention to whether there are beautiful girls around; I believe that wealth is only a means to achieve my goal and will rarely stop to enjoy my life that has been very successful in the eyes of others; when I come across a provocative person or a bad thing, like seeing the horrified tears of a lady friend of mine, I’d calmly do my best to send the ‘mongrel’ who brings tears to her eyes to hell. This is my character. I can’t help it even when I know that others would hate such a stubbornly biased and cold personality of mine. This is because ever since I was born and raised, I’ve always done things for myself. Be it the past, present, or future, it’ll always be only me, Zhang Lisheng…”

“That is enough already, my dear baby. To me, this is the most important thing after all!” Somehow, a tall and lanky blonde girl with exquisite facial features who had a body not inferior to a super model walked into the Wonderful Mill Cafe. At that moment when the young man’s words left his mouth, she walked up to him gracefully and spoke with a kiss.

“The Boeing business BBJ737 finally arrived. I’m having its first test flight, so I wanted to give you a surprise. Not only that, how I can possibly not discover how you used your relationship in Washington to prevent the spread of the ‘news’? Of course I’d have to come see you! I was already at Stanford when we were on the phone just now. It has taken me quite some time to find this Wonderful Mill Cafe through the location function of the campus electronic map. Why? I’m not bothering you right?”

“Bother? Of course not!” Zhang Lisheng was stunned. Suddenly, he saw Tina looked at Guo Caiying and Ai Chuhe, who were sitting opposite him in a well mannered way. Immediately, he introduced, “Tina, this are Guo Caiying and Ai Chuhe; they are Chinese students who are studying abroad here in Stanford. According to Chinese’s custom, they are my Senior Sister. Senior Sister Caiying, Senior Sister Chuhe, she’s Tina Douglin, my girlfriend.”

“Nice to meet you, Miss Guo Caiying, Miss Ai Chuhe!” After listening to her boyfriend’s introduction, Tina said with a polite and cold attitude.

“Hello, Miss Tina Douglin,” Guo Caiying looked at the blonde girl who was a completely different type from her, but who was obviously more charming than her and suddenly felt agitated. Frowning, she said, “Junior Brother, since your girlfriend came to see you today, we’ll leave first.”

Then, she pulled Ai Chuhe up and strode out of the cafe.

Cold wind caressed them outside. Sensing the huge difference in temperature, she suddenly sneezed and snapped agitatedly, “He’s a yellow-skinned Chinese, but he actually looks for foreign chicks? I really don’t know what he’s thinking!”

Upon hearing her best friend’s word, Ai Chuhe became stunned and could not help but said in shock, “Hey, Caiying, stop spouting nonsense. Since when have you become so racist? I keep feeling that you’ve been acting strange these few days; don’t tell me you have… erm…”

“I’ve what?” Guo Caiying’s expression changed right away as she nervously added, “I just feel that as a Chinese, having a relationship with those white and black people are not reliable! Look at that Old Wei, see how terrible he has been treated by that Lisa? Oh, and that Su Qi, she was not acting herself ever since she knew that Kunawa! In the end, she ended up dropping out from school, didn’t she? Aren’t these all good precedented lessons?”

“I mean, you have a point, but a relationship is not something that other people can interfere with! Besides, Miss Tina looks like the cover model of a fashion magazine, so I think Junior Brother Lisheng must really loves her a lot…”

“Everyone else may love this kind of sexy and beautiful ‘cream girl’ to death but a dumb papaya like Zhang Lisheng may not! Look at how passive he is! I think we can still save him!”

“Sigh, Guo Caiying! What do you mean ‘save’! It’s not like he’s drowning or hit by a car that he needs you to save him!”

“Chuhe, as humans, we need to have a conscience! Although Zhang Lisheng looks like a stubborn ‘professional killer’, he’s just an impulsive young man and easily angered by nature. Look at him chattering about how cold and how philosophical he is but in truth, he has been carrying out too much research all day long until he has gone dumb! What does he even know!? Usually, if this kind of person encounters some emotional trauma, they’ll break down right away. Who knows what he’ll do! He has saved you once, so I have to save him, understood?”

“But he killed 7 people! 7 living people…” Ai Chuhe suddenly shook and said as colors drained from her face.

“He killed 7 murderers, robbers, rapists… well even though they didn’t succeed but like he said, those people were mongrels! They deserve their death! It’s only called a massacre like how my grandfather was involved in the Greater Bay Area Revolution last time… Er, I mean, in short, he has a valid reason…”

The two Asian girls whispered about Zhang Lisheng and his relationship outside the cafe; when their hasty backs disappeared, Tina stroke her boyfriend’s cheek and said, depressed, “Baby, the reason those unlucky robbers died is because of these two Chinese Senior Sisters of yours, right? When you’re in front of them, the topic and tone of your speech differ completely from when you’re with a US citizen. How I envy all of you for having the same culture.”

The girl’s inadvertent sentence entered Zhang Lisheng’s ears but like a loud bell resonating in his ears, it caused him to shudder right away. Abruptly, he realized from the rainy night until now that he seemed to have often changed to become unintentionally straightforward and open and when he communicated with others.

When Tina saw her boyfriend’s face suddenly changed, she asked nervously, “Lisheng, what’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing. I think it’s because my power has risen too fast recently, so there’s a little psychological problem.” Zhang Lisheng was silent for a while before saying with a wry smile, “It’s fortunate that you’ve reminded me just now. It should be okay if I pay more attention to it.”

“So the reason you talked to Miss Guo and Miss Ai like that is because of psychological…” This stunned Tina for a moment. Then, a wide smile spread across his face. “No wonder they don’t seem to be thankful for what you have done. To think that you actually treat them so sincerely.”

Zhang Lisheng touched his head that started to have a thin, scarce short hair growing out and joked, “Other than you and my mother, my sick look is soon reaching a stage where I’m hated by other women. It’s understandable even if they don’t thank me.”

When Tina heard it, she carefully studied her boyfriend’s face and said with a depressingly low voice, “Baby, you do look paler than before. Do you really have to use this terrible way to improve your strength?”

“The Resurrection process in witchcraft cultivation is a stage where I must pass through. Only after I’ve passed through can I be reborn into a baby. Erm, it’s like I’ll be born again in a mother’s womb and will be back to the stage of infancy where life is just getting started.”

“Oh, that’s amazing!”

“Yeah, it’s amazing to think about.” Zhang Lisheng sipped his iced Coke and nodded.

“What’s even more amazing is that now, I can make love with a strong and young you now, baby! Not only that, I would be able to make love to you who is equally strong but younger, wouldn’t I?”