The Great Worm Lich

The situation in the first-class cabin was very chaotic. The commotion caused by one flight attendant did not cause much reaction at first when most of the passengers saw it.

However, when Zhang Lisheng saw it, his heart shuddered inexplicably at once. Hastily, he looked out of the window and saw that the sea of ​​clouds that was originally dark outside the cabin was dyed red by a boundless fire. Flickering slowly outside the plane, it looked similar to the constant tumbling of an ocean of magma.

“Clouds of burning fire at two, three o’clock in the morning. What a wonder…” The young man mumbled as he looked at the head of the mighty fire. He saw that a huge crack that seemed to be linking up the sky and the ground has split the entire night sky open above the starry sky far away. Other than having a flaming banquet billow the sky in the crack, a flat yellow mottled scroll painting would spurt out from time to time as well.

The strange phenomenon outside the place was becoming obvious, and very soon, the other passengers began to take notice. A few seconds later, cries of shock filled Zhang Lisheng’s ears.

However, at this time, these cries did not seem to have affected the young man at all. Without blinking, he stared at the scroll painting that would spurt out from the crack, connecting the sky and ground outside the window from time to time and muttered to himself, “One, two, three…”

When he counted to 22, the span it took for the scroll paintings to spurt out was getting longer and longer. While he was waiting anxiously, he suddenly sensed somebody was approaching him. Turning his head around, he realized that it was the flight attendant who had come to his service when he pressed the service bell just now.

Secretly praising the professionalism of the American Airlines, he blurted out, “Madam, the professional qualities you show are very admirable. Please give me a whole nine-inch spicy beef pizza, two beef burgers, and salmon sandwiches. Oh yeah, give me two cans of iced Coke as well. Thank you.”

Upon hearing that the skinny Asian young man in front still wanted beef pizza and iced Coke, the flight attendant gave him a stunned expression for quite some time before snapping back to reality and realizing that the young man had misunderstood her. With a wry smile, she said, “Sir, I’m not here to take your order but to give you a pen and pencil. If you have any words to write to your loved ones, please write it now. Of course, this is just to prepare in the event of emergencies.”

“You mean a dying note?” At this time, Zhang Lisheng finally saw several A4 white papers and a marker pen in the flight attendant’s hand. His eyes widened in shock, but he shook his head before turning his head to the window again. “Madam, I don’t think the situation is as bad as you think. Besides, I don’t need to leave behind any dying note if an accident happened either. Can you just send me food? I’m hungry.”

“Alright, sir. Please wait for a while.” The flight attendant was unsure whether this young passenger who was wearing a dirty pair of shorts and sweatshirts who could actually spend several thousands of dollars to take an international flight was a strong person who could control his emotions and had no fear in the verge of death or just an idiot who had been scared to insanity.

However, the young man’s calm demeanor had magically brought great support to the flight attendant. After giving out all the papers and pens to the other passengers, she actually sent the food and drinks to Zhang Lisheng.

“Thank you. It smells good!” They kept the pizza and burgers in an oven to preserve its heat, so it was very aromatic. When Zhang Lisheng expressed his gratitude, he began to chow down to his satisfaction while continuing to count the scroll paintings that were shooting out of the crack in the horizon, in the cabin that had fallen into wretched circumstances.

Over ten minutes later, when he counted to 47, the crack in the horizon suddenly shrank. In three to five seconds, the giant crack disappeared without a sight. After several minutes later, just when the passengers in the cabin embraced each other while thinking that they had escaped this calamity, the crack gradually appeared again on the horizon, repeating this incident six to seven times before it finally disappeared for good.

The strange phenomenon continued to last for nearly two hours. Even though it did not have any effect on the navigation of the aircraft, every minute and second that they stood so close to such an unexplainable and horrifying scene in the air was a great torment to the passengers.

For this reason, when the crack finally disappeared for good, some passengers, who were already on the verge of breaking down, had long started to pray to God while wishing that He would not torture his devout believers like this and just cast Judgement Day straightforwardly if He wanted to destroy this world.

The crack splitting the sky had disappeared, but the fear and anxiety in the humans’ hearts lingered for a long time.

The long night finally passed by. When the sun slowly rose from the east, the captain’s comforting words suddenly broadcasted across the plane. “Dear distinguished passengers, I’m McGrath West, your flight captain here at American Airlines for flight AU2901. We’ve encountered some strange atmospheric phenomena during yesterday’s voyage and has caused great panic to everyone. Hereby, I would like to extend my sincere apologies to all of you on behalf of all my colleagues on board. However, the difficult time has passed, and I’m pleased to announce that our flight has resumed normal sailing for five hours already. We’re now within the US territory and will arrive at our destination, JFK International Airport in New York, in about four to five hours more. Now, the flight attendants will immediately send breakfast and hot drinks to everyone. Please get some rest and wait for the landing after having your breakfast. Finally, I wish all of you a happy voyage and may God be with us, Amen.”

“May God be with us, Amen…” After the plane broadcasted the captain’s last sentence, most of the Westerners among the passengers could not help but repeat the prayer. After that, cheers and sobs gradually filled the cabin.

The passengers finally vented out their long-suppressed emotions. In this atmosphere of mixed shock and joy, the exhausted flight attendants began to push the dining carts and served breakfast to the passengers with a smile.

At this time, very few people had the appetite to eat but the emotional comfort brought by the serving of breakfast on time was very huge. Many people began to feel soothed after drinking hot soup and hot drinks.

Seeing that their works could have some true aid to the passengers, the smiles on the flight attendants’ faces became wider unconsciously. Soon, the sumptuous first-class dining cart began to reach Zhang Lisheng’s seat. “What would you like to have for breakfast, Sir? We have pizza, muffins, omelets, pies…”

When the young man saw that it was still the same old face from yesterday, he contemplated for a while and shrugged. “Just give me the same meal as yesterday’s dinner.”

“Alright, Sir! Looks like your appetite and your courage is equally amazing. I wish you a happy meal.” The flight attendant looked at Zhang Lisheng with curiosity and put the beef pizza, burger, and a sandwich on the table before saying hesitantly, “And, thank you for your calmness last night. It made me feel calmer as well.”

“I also want to thank you for continuing to serve me in that kind of circumstance, Madam.” When Zhang Lisheng heard those words of gratitude, he smiled back politely. Right now, nobody could feel any trace of coldness and a sense of cruelty from him any longer.

Just like this, putting on his outer shell of a ‘civilized’ person, the young man returned to the most prosperous, civilized, dirty, and foul city in the human world, New York, after a few hours.

Zhang Lisheng was only away for a short period of less than two months, but when he walked out of the JFK International Airport, he involuntarily took a long deep breath of the moist air, a result of the passing of heavy rain, mixed with the hustle and bustle of New York City.

Sitting on the yellow taxi driven by an Indian man, he still felt as though he had cut himself off from the outside world for a long time.

There were too many unexpected things that happened in his less than 50 day trip from China. When he finally exited the place of influence of the Gate of Dao and Gate of Witchcraft for real, he could not help but feel a bit dazed. At this moment, he heard the driver asking him in English that had a heavy Indian accent, “Sir, where do you want to go?”

“The LS slaughterhouse in the suburbs.” Zhang Lisheng snapped back to reality and replied casually.

“Oh, getting back to work immediately after you got off the place? Did you just come back from an overseas holiday, Sir?” The driver started the car and entered the long traffic flow while he looked at Zhang Lisheng from the rearview mirror.

“I just came back from my hometown, China, where I stayed for almost two months.”

“Hometown? Your accent sounds very New Yorker-ish but from your working attitude, I can tell that you’re Chinese. Then again, who knows? I was still working in a software company in Mumbai five years ago, and now I’ve become a New Yorker as well. The Earth is originally a village, anyway. Ah, this is not important. What’s more important was if you were on the flight or at the airport yesterday midnight?”

“On the flight.” Zhang Lisheng would stop the Indian’s incoherent clamoring, but when he suddenly asked this question, Zhang Lisheng felt a jolt in his heart. He then replied.

“On the flight? Oh, then did you witness that sky gutter, Sir?”

“Sky gutter? Oh, if you’re talking about the big crack appearing in the sky in the early morning, then yes, I saw it! I saw it very clearly.”

“Yes, that one! The ERT called it a sky gutter and so the entire US is using this term now, but hey, did you really see it? Oh, that’s so lucky for you! I heard that the sight of that phenomenon is very spectacular, very unforgettable as well!”

“It’s indeed very spectacular.” Zhang Lisheng nodded. “The entire US? Mister, you mean everyone already knows about this?”

“Everyone? Of course! The TV reported that the sky gutter could be seen from everywhere in the world and everyone would know about such a strange thing…well, except for me who had been busy the entire day yesterday and had slept through the whole night, not hearing my phone ringing!” the driver answered in a regrettable tone.

“Is that so? Well, I guess it can be a good thing too. Finding it out earlier would give you time for a psychological buffer.” Zhang Lisheng sighed out of the blue and answered. Then, he became silent and said nothing more, all the way until the taxi drove out of the city and came to the suburban LS slaughterhouse.

Zhang Lisheng returned to his office that he had not seen for many days just before the busy noon hours of the factory. He took out a mobile phone from the drawer of the solid wood desk, walked towards the glass wall, and looked at the countless trucks carrying livestock while driving on the spacious road of the huge slaughterhouse that was as large as a town. Then, he shifted his gaze onto the vast ocean in the distance and began to dial Tina’s number.

The phone rang for a while but nobody picked up, so the young man sent a text to the girl informing her that he had returned to the country. After that, he gave his mother a call to tell her that he had arrived safely and proceeded to turn on the computer to search for pieces of information about ‘sky gutter’ on the Internet.