The Great Worm Lich

After listening to the report of the camp Logistic Director, Yao Biwu nodded again. “Excellent! You’re indeed our great butler who fixes all the leakages and drains in the troops and who thinks greatly ahead before we do!”

Then, he turned his attention to the Grand Wizards who had the positions of Inspectors in the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. “Inspector Li, Inspector Wang. the environment here is tough. Other than fully guaranteeing the quality of life of those researchers who use their brains, even Commander Hua and I would only take a shower once every two weeks. The living environment here is not that ideal so I hope all of you can understand.”

In the Mountain Gate, the Deacons had a status inferior to the elders but outside the Gate of Witchcraft, it was still the eminent people among the elders who had a nominal post in the Chinese government research institutions who had more authority.

After hearing Yao Biwu’s words, Li Hanquan, an elder from the Gate of Sacrifice, who looked like a retired veteran cadre wearing a gray tunic suit, patted his chest and said loudly, “Political Commissar Yao, we’re here to support the troops and not burden you. We’ll live according to the living conditions undergone by the 7875th Regiment. There’s no need to do anything special for us. You also know that even though we came here as experts from the Chinese Academy of Social Science, we’re actually wild and rough people. We’ve endured all kinds of hardships before so we can stand any kind of harsh environment. We’re determined not to add trouble to the troops.”

No matter how arrogant the rest of the elders and the Deacons usually were in the troops, they also knew that it was not the time to be arrogant now. One after another, they nodded in agreement.

“B-But all of you are our guests so this wouldn’t be nice, would it?” Yao Biwu waved his hand and asked.

Guo Huaihai smiled and said by the side, “Political Commissar Yao, Inspector Li and the rest were also commissioned by the central leaders to contribute to the exploration of this Oasis World and are not here to tour the southern wilderness. How about this, I have one suggestion and you can see whether it works or not. Inspector Li and the rest have only arrived today and since they have come from so far away, why don’t we make them feel more comfortable today. Tomorrow, starting from tomorrow, everyone will become the comrades of war who will fight in this battle together and will be treated alike. What do you think?”

“Okay, this proposal is good!” Li Hanquan stepped in and answered first. “Political Commissar Yao, let us do so!”

Yao Biwu pondered over it a while and sighed. “Sigh, we really have limited conditions here so I’d like to apologize to all of you from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Nanxing, bring Inspector Li, Inspector Wang and the rests to wash up first so that they can change into clean clothes. Then, arrange for the kitchen to cook a few dishes to be sent to the leaders of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. Inspector Li, Inspector Wang, Director Chen, all of you must be exhausted from the long journey today. Please rest well to recharge yourself and let us talk about work tomorrow, okay?”

Under such circumstances, how could the elders in the Gate of Witchcraft say no? They could only nod to show their gratitude and followed Song Nanxing and Guo Huaihai out of the command center.

After watching this group of so-called experts and rising stars from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences that appeared to be neither fish nor fowl left, Hua Chaowu, who had been silent and staring coldly from aside ever since Yao Biwu opened his mouth, finally felt that this show had ended and coldly said with a frown, “At least that Inspector Li is a little self-aware and knows his own place.”

At this moment, Yao Biwu’s expression also turned grave. Waving a hand to his old partner, he said, “Everyone, you may go out to take a stroll and eat something to replenish your brain!”

After sending all of the staff officers and odd-job soldiers in the room away, he strode up to the long table placed in the middle of the command center and touched the bottom of the table, before pressing a button with his fingers.

In an instant, the wall and the floor of the entire room began to show a flash of faint electrical current. After it had crossed over each other to form a dense electrical grid, it gradually disappeared without a trace.

“Old Yao, these fellows are asking favors from us so how could they possibly play some tricks?” Upon seeing Yao Biwu’s cautious action, Hua Chaowu, who had been standing for a long time, stretched his shoulders and asked.

“Old Hua, there have been many people who like to play petty tricks since ancient times, let alone these mysterious mystical people.” Yao Biwu shook his head and sat down on a chair in front of the long table.

“Mysterious mystical people? mysterious mystical people…” Hua Chaowu sighed and muttered as he sat down beside Yao Biwu. “Old Yao, why is this world going against us now? We’ve been educated by the Party for several dozens of years and half of our life is about materialism and socialism but suddenly, we have to explore this foreign world or something with a group of ‘spirit mediums’! This is really… really… sigh!”

“Old Hua, when I hear these strange things that had never crossed my mind before, I’m even more perplexed than you are! But despite so, we still have to execute the orders. It’s said that Vice Chairman Yan of the Military Commission Committee has even slammed his hand on the table because of this matter. Until now, they have yet to arrive at a common decision. ”

“I’ve heard about this too. Didn’t they say that this matter is even related to the mortal rivals of these ‘spirit mediums’, like what orthodox Gate of Dao, or Buddhism or something. Say, this is not even a historical martial arts novel so why are all these Cow Gods, Snake Gods and so on appearing after the emergence of the foreign world? During the Cultural Revolution, all the Taoist and Buddhist temples of different sizes in the entire country have been smashed and burnt by the Red soldiers so why didn’t they come out to fight if they’re so powerful?”

“Old Hua! You’re a top student from the National Defense University and you’re good when it comes to war but you don’t read the historical records and understand these ancient knacks. Do you think those Taoists and Buddhists take those wretched temples and shrines as their foundations? If you want to mention the Cultural Revolution, you should also ask them why didn’t they come out to fight during the Second Sino-Japanese War and the Warlord Era. If we were to go further back, why didn’t they come out to fight when the Manchu conquered China and when the Mongols conquered the Song dynasty?” Yao Biwu continued to jabber on.

“Ok stop, stop, stop! Yao Biwu, you only know how to deliberately mystify everything in front of me all the time. Anyways, I’d like to know what sort of ridiculous argument you have to say about this matter.”

“It’s not a ridiculous argument but a statement of thought. If you really want to hear it, I’ll tell you then,” Yao Biwu answered in a genteel manner.

“Don’t keep me guessing. Talk away but don’t turn it into a long-winded argument!” Hua Chaowu did not show the ‘cold general’ look that he had put on just now as he urged his old partner, who had been his comrade-in-arms for several decades.

“There’s nothing worthy to talk about to turn it into a long-winded argument anyway. It’s just that even though the Taoist and Buddhist scriptures always talk about helping others out of good will, they actually don’t give a damn about the life and death of the mortals. If their temple is smashed, they can always build a new one. It’s the same for them anyway no matter who becomes the Emperor. As long as it’s not somebody from the devilish outer sect, then be it the Mongol, Manchu or the Japanese, it doesn’t matter to them anyway…”

“How can it not matter to them?” When Hua Chaowu heard this, he flew into a rage right away. “Even though this feudal word may undermine national unity, I’ll still say that only a Chinese can become China! Those Japanese…”

“Aren’t those Japanese Chinese too if we were to look at their roots? it’s stated in the book ‘The Qin and Han Analects’ before that Xu Fu, the shaman from the Qin dynasty has brought with him 500 underage boys to cross the ocean and begat Japan. Also, tell me, which of the Four Barbarians, including the ancient Mongolian and Manchu tribe, are not the descendants of China? It’s stated in ‘The River Chronicle’ that the people who used to take care of the Emperor’s royal horse was granted the northern land by the Emperor when they received the name ‘Mongol’…”

“Enough! Enough! Stop hurling those at me. All of these took place several hundreds or even thousands of years ago so how could we possibly take them into account right now?”

“Well, to us ordinary people who’ll only live for decades, of course we won’t take them into account at all. But, in the eyes of those Taoists and Buddhists that have lived on for thousands of years, they may regard the Mongolians, Manchus and even Japanese as Chinese. No matter who rules China, it’s still within the cyclic succession of the five elements that indicates dynastic transitions so it’s just a natural thing.”

“Yao Biwu, you can really make up wild tales and even say that the Japanese is Chinese! In that case, we shouldn’t have fought them and just let them rule China, should we?” Hua Chaowu smacked the table and howled.

“Of course we should fight them! From the perspective of the current Chinese, if somebody really has to conquer, of course it should be us who conquer the Japanese! On top of that, if a new dynasty was established, our calendar system would have to be promulgated by the new emperor so of course we have to fight! Just now, I was merely voicing out the perspective of the Taoists and Buddhists so please don’t confuse the logic.”

“Oh Yao Biwu, you only know how to use sophistry to quibble while I only know how to confuse the logic? Do you think of me as illiterate or something? It’s true that I don’t understand Buddhism but does Taoism have a history of tens of thousands of years?”

“Religious Taoism is not the same with Philosophy Taoism. In the ancient mythology, Hongjun Laozu obtained Taoism during the primeval chaos and it has been several thousands of years already since then.”

“Alright fine! In that case, why don’t you tell me more according to your theory? Why didn’t those great immortals from the Philosophy Taoism make their move during the Eight-Nation Alliance. Don’t tell me that those foreigners with red hair and blue eyes are Chinese descendants too?” Hua Chaowu became even angrier as he refuted. He had long forgotten that he was listening to Yao Biwu telling him history as he began to argue loudly.

“Old Hua, since when did those foreigners say they want to destroy China?” Yao Biwu asked back instead. When he saw Hua Chaowu’s veins twitching violently as he was rendered speechless, he sighed and said, “Old Hua, how many times have I told you already? You need to tame down this fiery temper of yours. I originally wanted to tell you that we must toughen ourselves if we want to harden iron and that all those mystical things of ‘gods’ or ‘ghosts’ are all unreliable. In the end, you flew into a rage and kept barraging me all sorts of questions, causing me to talk so much and have even derailed from the main topic.”

Hua Chaowu was stunned for a while. After he slowly calmed himself down, he carefully pondered his old partner’s words and finally, a pang of realization hit him. “Yao Biwu, you’re really… You’ve been involved in political and ideological work for a long time so you always like to show off and speak in a zigzagging manner. I’d understand if you had told me earlier! You mean, we should make a joint report for the higher up…”

“Old Hua, oh Old Hua! You actually said that I like to show off? Okay, I’ve shown off everything I have now so why do you still not understand what I mean? Writing a report now would be purely chaotic. Why don’t you think about it. We only have slightly over two million troops in the country, three million if you include the armed police as well. It’s still enough now but do you think it will be enough if several more foreign worlds appear? Now that we have these able-bodied men, why don’t we use them instead of going against the Central Military Commission’s decision by pushing them out? Come on man, what are you thinking?”

Hua Chaowu frowned and thought about it. “You want to let the donkeys push the cart but starve them at the same time?”

“A starving donkey will not do any work but if we keep forcing it to work and deplete its strength, it won’t be able to override us if we hold a whip behind it and maintain our strength.”

“Wouldn’t this have been settled a long time ago if you just told me this earlier?”

“If I hadn’t made it clear enough to you, do you think your bad temper would have even listened to me?”

“Of course I would have! I’m skilled in training the troops and carrying an actual combat exercise but I’ve always been convinced of your human interactions and mind-reading skills!” Hua Chaowu laughed out loud. “But then again, Old Yao. The more I ponder about your words, the more I find them to be interesting. I think it’s better for us to write a report and poke the higher ups using the analysis you made just now.”

“Alright, let’s do as you say but let’s do away with that report as the commotion it would cause would be too huge. I’ll shorten my wording and put it on the internal reference reports!” Yao Biwu pondered about it for a while and gave the final word.