The Great Worm Lich

Upon seeing Joyes open his eyes and slowly recover his consciousness, as the brilliance that continuously flashed on the silver ring on his right index finger continued to flow, Senroy, who was completely drenched in sweat as though he was about to collapse, finally showed a relaxed expression before saying in concern, “Brother Joyes, you’re finally awake.”

“Brother Senroy…” After seeing clearly that the face, which was continuously swaying in front of him was actually Senroy through his muddy mind, the black man exclaimed in shock weakly, as though he was in a lot of fear. However, as he slowly regained his consciousness, he recalled his current important position and at once, the reverence and fear on his face disappeared without a trace.

Noting the changes in Joyes’s expression, a wave of faint anger glimpsed in Senroy’s eyes, but it did not explode. Instead, with a soft voice, he whispered, “Brother Joyes, we cannot attract any attention right now no matter what. Otherwise, if an accident happens and affects tomorrow’s Descending Ritual, I believe you also know just how serious the consequences would be, right? I’ve come up with an idea of using asthma as an excuse, so you can just randomly express your gratitude and then we can leave right away.”

Joyes could ignore Senroy’s suggestion and act as unruly as he liked because of how special his case was, but he had no choice but to think about the ‘belief’ in his heart.

When he thought about how he would be subjected to punishment if the gods were enraged, the short black man could not help but shiver coldly. He struggled from his companions’ support and resisted the discomfort his body felt as he stood up straight. After taking a deep breath, he threw his head forcefully at the onlooking crowds and shouted loudly, “Thank you! Thank you guys for helping me. I had an asthma attack just now, but I’m fine. Thank you guys, thank you very much!”

The people wandering around the university campus before the football game were all young people. Upon seeing Joyes recover from his state of emergency, their worries vanished right away. The crowds then quickly dispersed.

When Senroy saw that this incident ended easily, he breathed a sigh of relief. “Let’s go, brothers. Tomorrow is the most crucial day of our life. If we succeed, God will bless us and may even turn us into an immortal like Saint Moses. If we fail, we’ll become a laughingstock and be ridiculed for a lifetime and the Gods may even curse us into doom forever. For this reason, I think it’s better for us to just stay in the hotel room to not mess things up.”

“Yes, Brother Senroy!” Upon hearing Senroy’s words, his companions lowered their heads and answered. Even Joyes, who created the trouble, nodded without objection.

When Senroy saw that everyone answered unanimously, he heaved a sigh of relief and turned around to walk back in the direction they came from. The other Yale Truth Society’s members followed closely behind him, and soon, they disappeared without a sight. Right at this moment, the two girls that Zhang Lisheng was pulling from different sides of their bodies to the wooden door of the low-rise building gradually recovered their consciousness.

“T-Those few students from the Yale Truth Society a-are weird, baby!” Even though Tina could not control her consciousness just now, she could still vaguely remember her memory. When she snapped back to reality, she exclaimed in lingering fear right away.

“Don’t be scared, Tina. It’s only a few people who know how to hypnotize using some small sorcery tricks. An ordinary person can prevent oneself from being controlled by their sorcery by staying more alert. Besides, I have already driven them away. Don’t worry.” Zhang Lisheng extended a hand and awkwardly caressed the girl’s hair as he comforted her in a whisper.

“Oh baby, it’s a good thing that you’re here!” Soaking in her boyfriend’s clumsy consolation, the panic in Tina’s heart quickly changed into nothing but tenderness, prompting her to kiss the young man on his mouth.

The kiss soon turned into a deep kiss which subsequently evolved to become a passionate kiss. Just as the fiery passion gradually became fiercer, a doubtful woman’s voice, that was getting more emotional, resonated by their sides. “I-I’m sorry! Excuse me, Tina! Tina! Hey Tina… I don’t mean to disturb your good time but can somebody please tell me what’s going on? Where are those students from the Yale Truth Society? Wasn’t I giving them a tour around campus? Where have they gone…”

“Baby, wait a moment. Let’s continue later at the dorm…” With a flushed face, the girl released herself and panted for a few seconds with her mind surging with multiple thoughts like the tide before turning to look at Olivia. “Dear sister Olivia, it’s hard for me to explain to you what happened, but if you just calm down and try to recall it carefully, you’d be able to understand it naturally…”

“Recall? But my mind is blank! I’m feeling awful. It’s like my alcohol addiction is starting again… Erm I mean, it’s like those people who are addicted to alcohol in the soap operas.” Olivia took a few deep breaths and tried to recall it with all she might. With a frown, she said out loud.

“Calm down, Olivia. Continue your breathing, and I’ll give you some hints. You were giving a tour to those Yale Truth Society’s members, and you asked for my help when you came across me. Then I had no choice but to reject you because my boyfriend is here. You were understanding and when you began to leave, a short black man suddenly came up to talk to us…”

“Talk? Oh, yes, he was talking, talking…’It’s only a short tour and it won’t take too much time. It’s only a short tour’…’” With the hints that Tina gave, Olivia’s chaotic memory gradually began to clear bit by bit, and suddenly, she finally shouted, “Sh*t! A psychological hint! Wait! No! it’s hypnotism, strong hypnotism! Those damn Yale people want to hypnotize us! ”

“Something like that! It’s a good thing that my boyfriend has a very resolute consciousness, and their hypnotism didn’t affect him. Instead, he scared those people away.”

“You mean, your boyfriend saved us?” Olivia shifted her gaze to Zhang Lisheng by the side, who had been silent all this while. “Thank you so much, Mr. Zhang. You’re a hero! I can’t imagine what they would do to us when those damn Yales hypnotized us!”

“Things were not as scary as you said, Miss Olivia. Those Yales might just be joking around…”

“Joking around? Oh, no! Mr. Zhang, hypnotizing me without my consent is a crime and not a joke!” Olivia interrupted the youth with a serious expression, and turned her gaze back to Tina. “Tina, we should call the police. Although there’s no direct evidence, the police will still definitely investigate those scoundrels if they have three testimonies!”

“Call the police?” This shocked Tina. She looked at Zhang Lisheng and asked, “What do you think, baby?”

“I don’t think there’s a need for something like that at all.” Zhang Lisheng shrugged at his girlfriend before persuading Olivia, “Miss Olivia, like what I’ve told Tina just now, this kind of hypnotism will not work if you’re mentally guarded. If you raise your vigilance, those Yale people will fail again even if they have malicious intent.”

“But most people can’t guard against them. We should call the police even if it’s just to give a warning to those scoundrels!” Olivia insisted.

“Baby, I think Olivia is right. They’re scared away by you but maybe they’d still go hurt other people next. We can’t speculate the minds of those criminals…”

“Oh, Tina, what do you think of me? An angel?” Zhang Lisheng sighed and had no choice but to whisper the truth to his girlfriend’s ear, “Those little clowns wanted to harm you in front of me, so what do you think I’d do?”

While the young man was speaking, he looked around and realized that those Yale Truth Society’s members had already disappeared from his sight. Without warning, a ferocious smile crept upon his face.

Over ten seconds later, a loud sound of horror resonated from the distance, with the vague, audible sound of sentences repeatedly mentioning, “Worm! Oh, dear Lord! It’s a human-eating worm…”

“I really hadn’t recovered from their hypnotism just now. To think that I’d actually be worried about those people harming somebody else…” Upon hearing the shouts of horror, Tina became silent for a while. With a strange expression, he muttered and looked at Olivia. “Olivia, forget this matter. I’m sure those Yale scoundrels have received their karma already. Alright. I want to enjoy my time with my boyfriend now. See you, lady!”

After saying so, she took Zhang Lisheng’s arm and walked away. Pushing the door, she entered the low-rise building covered with moss.

Behind the wooden door was an elegantly furnished hall with mahogany floors, with vivid landscape paintings hanging on the walls and crystal candlesticks hanging from the ceiling, lit by beige-colored electric lamps that acted as candles.

When Zhang Lisheng saw that there was no one in the hall, and recalled how there was nobody entering or leaving during the seven to eight minutes of him standing in front of the low-rise building, he asked in a whisper, “Tina, are you really living in this old, empty, and horrifying haunted castle?”

“Of course not. The girls who stay here are all good-natured Harvard girls. The reason nobody is here is all because of the special occasion today. Most of them have gone out on a date!” The girl took her boyfriend’s hand and walked upstairs briskly. “Walk lightly, baby. Miss Jenlin, who looks after the dorm, has been working here for over sixty years. She’s almost as old as this building. She usually sleeps during the day and keeps guard at night but her ears are very sharp. We must be careful not to have her catch us. ”

“Why would she catch us?” Zhang Lisheng carefully walked up the solid wooden staircase and asked with a dumbstruck expression, “I remember that Harvard doesn’t have a rule forbidding boys from entering the girls’ dormitory.”

“There’s no such rule now, but there was when Miss Jenlin first came to work at Harvard. I don’t want to have a debate with an old lady in her eighties whether the boys can enter the girls’ dormitory freely or not,” Tina answered as she led the young man up to the second floor.

When they came to the second wooden door on the right side of the corridor, the girl pressed her thumb on the classical unique door handle and opened the door.

“Fingerprint lock…” Tina pushed Zhang Lisheng into the room and shrugged as he looked around. “And there’s even a big water bed, large LCD TV, a jacuzzi… Wow! This really perfectly combines a medieval living style and modern civilization.”

“Since you have to spend millions to live in such a dormitory, of course, you’d have the right to decorate your own room. Stop changing topics now, baby. These things are not important at all. The important thing now is that I will eat you slowly, eat you with both of my mouths…” While Tina was speaking, her fiery lips had already pressed onto Zhang Lisheng’s mouth. Her small hand reached into the young man’s shorts and not long after, the room began to be filled with passionate fire.