The Great Worm Lich

Zhang Lisheng wore a hopeless expression as he looked on the venomous worm that he had sacrificed so much to nurture but had yet come to fruition. He could not carry on with the incantation that he had been forced to chant since the beginning. His mouth would be torn apart if he continued.

As soon as he stopped, a tremendous and unexpected backfire spread across his body. His face distorted, and his teeth started bleeding from clenching them too much. However, this physical pain was nothing compared to the disappointment that had been building up within Zhang Lisheng for years. It was 10 times more unbearable.

Watching the curling of the centipede’s body as it crawled toward him, the young man’s face erupted into an expression of heart-breaking tyranny as he shouted, “A hundred drops of blood! You’ve taken a hundred drops of my blood today, but you’re still not listening to me! You want to kill me. You want to kill me, don’t you?!”

“Everyone else has a mother but not me. Everyone else’s father loves them but my father has never once said anything kind to me. Everyone else can have fun in town but all I can do is stay in this old house feeding this venomous worm three times a day…”

The more he spoke, the more depressed he became. Eventually, he lost his mind and held the centipede. He pulled it madly and bit it to release the indescribable sadness that he was feeling inside of him. He kept doing that until a fervent banging on the door pulled him back from the madness that was consuming him.

Shocked by the sudden snap back to reality, he looked at the dying centipede in his hand. However, before he had time to truly consider the venomous worm’s condition, he was interrupted once again by the banging on the door, this time followed by a voice saying, “Zhang Lisheng, quick! Open the door you damn kid! Something terrible has happened..”

He tossed the centipede unceremoniously behind the door and came face to face with the middle-aged, square-faced hunk that was the deputy village chief of Guawo Village, Tao Lielin.

Although he was only the deputy village chief, the way Tao Lielin communicated with the Zhang family was completely different from the other villagers. As a retired soldier who had seen more than his fair share of battles, Tao Lielin was not afraid of gods and monsters.

Looking at the young man covered in mud standing in front of him, Tao Lielin shouted, “Were you taking a bath in a mud pool? Quick! Something terrible happened to your father. He’s at the hospital in the county town, follow me right now!”

He immediately pulled the young man along with him and ran out of the house. Zhang Lisheng only had the chance to react after being pulled by Tao Lielin, and as he ran, he stammeringly spoke, “Uncle Ah Lie.. I-I-I need to lock the door.”

Giving Zhang Lisheng a look of disbelief as he pulled him along, Tao Lielin shouted, “Why are you still thinking about locking the freaking door? Is there anything valuable at home? Who in the village would dare to steal from the Zhang family? Kid, your father was hit by a car in the county town. Police called our village and asked us to get to the hospital without further delay!”

The two arrived at Guawo Village entrance as they spoke, and there they saw a crowd of villagers. Seeing Zhang Lisheng, the villagers wasted no time squeezing him into the front of the green Wuzheng four-wheeled pick-up truck clumsily.

Moments later, twenty to thirty prying young villagers shouted, “Damn their ancestors! Does the Central National Policy still matter? How dare they hit the people of Guawo Village?!”

“That’s right, it can’t be. If they don’t give us a reasonable explanation, we will bring this to Beijing.” The villagers got up to the back of the truck one by one, and soon it was packed like a sardine can.

The young driver looked into his rear-view mirror, watching the excited people cram together in the back of the truck. Then, he looked toward Zhang Lisheng and Tao Lielin, who were both equally crammed in the passenger seat beside him. He stammered as he spoke, “Uncle Ah Lie, I’m driving a truck. I can’t pick up people on the back of the truck, I’ll be summoned, and my truck will be towed in the county town.

Tao Lielin knew that even though these young kids were only going into town to make trouble out of nothing, irritate people, and find short-term gain, now was not the time to stop them. Even the village chief and the secretary would not dare to offend these bad kids. Giving the young driver a gloomy expression, Tao Lielin said, “The country would not be at peace if the traffic officer dares to investigate you for this.”

“You must go right now, quick, you can’t delay any further.”

The driver thought about it and agreed with what Tao Lielin said. He helplessly glanced at the skinny young man and started his truck’s engine after letting out a sigh. He noticed that there were hidden meanings within what Uncle Ah Lie said. It seemed like Sir Zhang’s condition was critical. They were living in the same village, so he should not be calculative even though he was fearful of Sir Zhang. Perhaps bringing the father and son together and making them see each other would be a virtue.

Caught up in his thoughts, the driver unknowingly stepped on the accelerator harder. Although the solid asphalt road was old and a little bumpy, the journey toward the county town was considered smooth on the truck.

Traffic conditions in Guawo Village had seen major improvements with the passage of time. One of the reasons why was because there was a legendary Sichuan general who fixed the roads for his hometown during the war at the time of the founding of the Chinese County.

Secondly, the roads were being expanded—single-lane roads were changed into double-lane as a result of the provincial government’s ‘Connecting Villages’ project.

Moreover, it was said that they were going to build a new tourism route that connected the county town straight into Guawo Village since it had been approved as the Natural Ecology Cultural Tourism Zone.

Sitting in the passenger seat at the front of the truck, Zhang Lisheng felt numb as he watched the lush ancient jungle flash past him outside the window. Without him realizing it, the sceneries outside the car window had changed from that of a dense jungle to the busy streets in the county town.

The driver pulled the handbrake as he arrived at the adjacent intersection of the People’s Hospital entrance in the central county town. He pressed on the car horn a couple of times and realized that his effort was to no avail as the pedestrians who were occupying the car lane ignored him. However, he had gotten the attention of the traffic officer who was directing the traffic flow.

The fat traffic officer, who wore a police uniform and a white and green neon jacket, ran to the truck driver’s window after whispering into his colleague’s ear who was on duty with him. He bowed cowardly and knocked on the window. Speaking in Mandarin with a Sichuan accent while curling his tongue, he said, “Show me your driving license and permit. How dare you use your truck as a coach, what audacity you have?”

The driver murmured ‘how unlucky’ in his heart. He then showed a habitual smiley face and passed his driving license and permit that he had prepared earlier. He also gave the officer a cigarette. Just when he was about to explain himself, somebody from Guawo Village sitting at the back of the truck yelled, “Our Guawo Village’s Sir Zhang got hit by a car in town. People from the village are here to see him. What audacity are you talking about?”

“We don’t like the way this traffic officer is talking to us, do you think that you can bully us Miaowei people? Are you trying to cover things up?”

One had to be smart when he was on duty in the area where minorities gathered. The villagers would be obedient and easy to handle when they were here on their own, but they were not to be offended when there were more than ten of them together, especially when it was about a car accident which could implicate a conflict among races.

Putting aside the unlucky deputy commander of the county traffic officer team, perhaps even the county chief or mayor would be unfortunate enough to encounter such a situation.

The fat traffic officer saw the commercial billboard on the wholesale department store next to him by instinct as he let his thoughts roam. Printed on the billboard: ‘Developing ecotourism, benefiting the country, the people and the county; Promoting racial harmony, for you, for me and for them’. The officer barely glanced at the driver’s driving license and permit before returning them to the driver.

He smiled forcefully and gently said in a local dialect, “I did this for your safety. We’ve been living in this county town for generations, so stop speaking as if we’re not living as one. Since you’re in a hurry, I’ll direct the traffic for you. Quick, go now.” The officer then turned around and began to clear the path for the truck in high spirits.

“Tsk, tsk, the police quality in this tourism area is really going up fast.” Although Tao Lielin who was sitting in the front passenger seat looked worried, his voice was full of gratitude as he looked at the back of the fat officer.

“Forget about it, Uncle Ah Lie. That guy let us go because there’re so many of us, and it’s an emergency. If I were picking up customers with this truck, I’m sure he would’ve taken away my truck together with my pants.”

“We’re dealing with a critical condition here, stop talking nonsense. The doctor is performing first aid to Sir Zhang.”

As they spoke to each other, the traffic officer had cleared a narrow path for the truck. The driver who made the indiscreet remark did not dare to talk nonsense anymore. He then drove his truck in a relaxed and careful manner as he passed through the junction and arrived at the entrance of Qu County’s People’s Hospital.

Theoretically, the Central People’s Hospital that was responsible for first aid in the region should have been built somewhere where the traffic was convenient. However, due to the backward economy back then, the convenience for the people to receive treatment took priority, hence most of the Central People’s Hospitals were built in the center of the city, far away from major cities, China Counties, and the municipal level Central People’s Hospitals.

The hospital entrance was even more crowded. Tao Lielin said, “Wait here, Ermu.” He then pulled Zhang Lisheng who looked like he was sleepwalking and leaped off the truck. They rushed between people and ran toward the emergency hall.

Following the rapid economic development, the emergency hall in the Qu County’s People’s Hospital was usually filled with people. Making their way to the hall, Tao Lielin ran straight to the closest emergency room and pushed opened the door. He asked the doctor on duty right away, “Doctor, I’m Zhang Daowu’s relative from Damu Village. This is his son, I received a call that he had been hit by a car, where is he?”

The young emergency doctor had gotten used to the anxious behavior of a patient’s family and friends long ago. Looking at the admission record on the table, he then spoke calmly in Mandarin with a heavy Sichuan accent, “You’re here for Zhang Daowu, am I right? He was admitted at 12:22, he’s on the hospital bed in there. The patient is in critical condition, it’s best that you sign to authorize the surgery.”

“Family members, please be prepared as the possibility to save him isn’t that high.”

The middle-aged hunk’s expression dimmed as the ominous feeling he had turned into reality. “Mountain Worm, go see your father quickly and authorize the surgery later.”

Ignoring the doctor on duty, he pulled Zhang Lisheng into the emergency room.