The Great Worm Lich

“Remember your promise, also remember that if you offend a descendant of god from the Eastern continent, the consequence will be so serious that even god can’t help you.”

Maddie nodded continuously.

“Alright, I remember you told me that your family lives around Chinatown. So do you know any Chinese chiropractor around there?”

“Yes I do, my dad and uncle sprained their body when they worked at a construction site. They’ve always been going to Dr. Song but he’s not a licensed doctor.”

“Doesn’t matter, could you bring me to him?”

“Are you hurt?” Maddie who had just relieved a little just realized that Zhang Lisheng’s face was deadly pale, there was no color on his face at all.

“Yea, Dr. Fracture broke the joints on my shoulder blade.”

“I’ll bring you to Dr. Song right away,” Maddie was shocked, she started the car engine and drove towards Chinatown’s direction.

Chinese was a special race. As the only ancient race which generations had been passed down for thousands of years, they had extreme pride of their race whereby they lived in the same area no matter which country they lived in, forming a community which lifestyle was very similar to their own kind in China. In Chinese history, there was a dynasty called the Tang dynasty that had a close business relationship with the Western countries. That was why the westerners usually call those community Tang people’s street.

Zhang Lisheng had been busy with cultivation and founding his own business ever since he moved to America. He had yet to have the chance to visit New York’s Chinatown. However, as a Chinese, he researched a little bit about New York’s Chinatown. He knew that New York’s Chinatown occupied a vast area including tens of streets with 700,000 to 800,000 Chinese living in the area. It was like a medium scaled Chinese city mounted in New York’s metropolis and existed in its own system. There were many business owners who mastered various unique Chinese skills such as Chinese medicine practitioner, pedicurist and so on. They did not need to learn English to live a smooth-sailing life.

The fear in Maddie faded away as they were on their way to Chinatown. She even initiated the conversation with Zhang Lisheng, “Did you really kill Dr. Fracture, the scariest serial killer in New York’s history? Why did he attack you? How did he make you his target? How did you ‘hit the jackpot’ for no reason or do you guys know each other before…”

“I’m in pain now, I don’t feel like talking. Can you just drive?”

“Okay, okay,” Maddie fell into silence for a moment and spoke again all of the sudden, “Oh yea, let me ask you one last question. Are you like a superhero with a dark power like Venom in the movie? Now that I thought about it, I think you might’ve appeared idiotic earlier. I’ve seen so many superhero comic books, I should’ve known that you’re the kind who possess power and look evil, terrifying but in reality, you’re honest and introverted. You despise those law enforcers who follow the rules and release all those wealthy, powerful criminals, you weigh things with the scale that you have in you…”

“Shut up,” Feeling the pain on his shoulder that was getting more intense, Zhang Lisheng curled up in the seat and said while shaking a little bit. Noticing that his condition was serious after peeping at him, Maddie stopped talking and stepped on the accelerator.

The girl’s driving skill was much better than Zhang Lisheng. The 7-seater SUV drove fast and agilely on the highway. It passed through the underground tunnel like a lightning and arrived at Chinatown after turning here and there. There were two civilizations on the street, there was a building written with Manhattan Jinling Office in neon lights while there was another building written with Authentic Yunnan Mountain Product in blinking lights on a sign on the other side. The buildings on both sides had a completely different style. The business owners on Chinatown seemed to like spending money installing cornices outside and stone lions at the entrance, making the entire street looked Chinese.

Maddie turned here and there in Chinatown that she was familiar with. Eventually, she pulled over at a white three-story building. There was a sign on the building with Spicy Chicken Restaurant written on it.

Zhang Lisheng got off the car while panting, he spoke while frowning after looking at the sign at the building, “This is a restaurant.”

“Dr. Song’s wife Aunt Tian is a chef while Dr. Song cooks well himself. They run a restaurant for a living, “Maddie held Zhang Lisheng and said, “Let’s go up now.”

There was a round table with square benches, the table cloth was embroidered with a big peony The hanging lamps on the ceiling were Chinese lanterns; The floor had tiles modeled after bricks; The cashier counter was the old-fashioned Chinese wooden counter, this restaurant was filled with Chinese ambiance.

There was a Chinese old man wearing glasses, short and plump with thinning hair standing behind the counter. He stood in an odd way while shaking, he was flipping the newspaper looking bored. Nobody would actually come to the restaurant in such chilly weather. However, he was stubborn and insisted to open for business as long as it was not the official closing time yet.

Hearing that the door was opened, the Chinese old man stood up straight immediately and looked at the door after putting down the newspaper. He said loudly, “Maddie, why are you here so late? Is it your dad or your uncle who’s hurt again? I’ve told them that they shouldn’t work so hard anymore… Kid, why are you so filthy? What happened?”

“Nothing Dr. Song, I slipped and fell at the entrance just now. My dad and uncle are doing fine, I’m bringing a new friend to see you tonight.”

The Chinese old man was relieved hearing the girl’s explanation. He spoke while shaking his head, “Maddie, I’m not a doctor in America, I can’t be treating people. I usually treat the neighbors around because their injuries are minor, it’s just out of convenience…”

Hearing Dr. Song’s rejection, Zhang Lisheng spoke in Chinese with heavy Sichuan accent, “Uncle, I’m Chinese too. The bones on my shoulder are off since you’re good with fixing this, why not fix me?”

“You’re from Sichuan?” Dr. Song was stunned for a moment and took a good look at Zhang Lisheng as he replied in Sichuan accent. He realized that the skinny young man before him looked worrying as he observed and said quickly, “Sit down slowly, kid. Don’t hurt yourself any further, let me take a look at you.”

“Thanks, uncle,” Zhang Lisheng walked to the bench closest to him slowly and sat down. Dr. Song walked out of the counter and arrived behind the young man. He rubbed his palm on Zhang Lisheng’s cold neck and massaged both sides of his shoulders a few times.

“Tss…” Dr. Song looked much serious as he inhaled sharply, “The dislocation on your left shoulder blade’s pretty bad, kid. You dislocated four joints – first joint in front, the third one on the back, first right and second left. Sorry that you have to bear the pain all the way here.”

“Can you fix it, uncle?”

“I can but if you want it to be done well, I can’t be giving you a pain reliever with acupuncture. You might be able to bear it if it’s just one or two joints but there are four…”

“I’m not scared of pain.”

“Pain is minor, most importantly, it’s better that you rest in your bed for at least ten days after your treatment. You’ll have to sleep on your right side, otherwise, it’ll be big trouble as soon as it became a habitual dislocation if the joints get dislocated for a few more times.”

“I understand that, uncle. I’ll be as careful as I can these few days.”

“Great, please be careful kid. Also, I’ll have to cut open your shirt. Your injury will get worse if it touches your shirt,” The old man nagged out of care.

“I’ll listen to you, uncle.”

Dr. Song nodded and ran to the counter. He took out a pair of scissors and a bottle of medicine wine from the drawer and ran back to Zhang Lisheng. He helped Zhang Lisheng in taking off his jacket carefully, then he cut open his shirt. After warming up his palms by rubbing it together with medicine wine, he began massaging Zhang Lisheng’s shoulder sometimes gently like a dragonfly skimming the surface of the water while sometimes hard like a bear plunging itself to a tree.

‘Papapa…’ After a moment of pain and cracking sound, Zhang Lisheng felt his left shoulder was loosening now. He could move it again. He attempted to move his fingers lightly. Although there was still some piercing pain in his muscle, his shoulder was completely fine now.

“Uncle, your chiropractic skill’s are amazing!”

“Of course! I was one of the first term Practical Chinese Massage Therapy graduates from Southwest Medical University. Learning from the remarkable Mr. Liu Mocheng and Mr. Song Jinfa… I remember back then… I’ll stop talking, I’ll stop talking. I don’t even have the right to practice medicine in this Caucasian land, I can’t be boasting. If not for our son who moved to America, my wife and I need to work to make money for our grandson, only idiots would come here. Oh, yea, how did you get hurt so bad?”

“I slipped in the snow and fell on my butt then suddenly I could no longer move my shoulder…”

“That can’t be. You would hit your caudal if you fell, it should be your pelvis that should be dislocated… Oh, I know it now. Your shoulder must’ve hit something when you fell…” Dr. Song looked like he had just realized something as he mumbled.

“I hit the tree,” Zhang Lisheng smiled and said, “Uncle, how much do I owe you?”

“It’s rare that we met in New York since we’re from the same hometown. It’s free this time,” Dr. Song waved and said frankly.