The Great Worm Lich

As they got close to landing, the air stewardesses in the first class cabin politely asked each and every passenger to fasten their seatbelt to prepare for landing.

As the crew chief who had given Lili and Zhang Lisheng an upgrade from business to first class arrived at their seats, she smiled and said while bending over, “Ma’am, the plane is going to land soon, please fasten your seatbelt.”

“I’m very curious, young man. Could you tell me what were you looking at throughout the journey after fastening your seatbelt?”

Zhang Lisheng was in a great mood so his eyes lit up. He then said, “I’m trying to see if there’s any one of the same kind as me flying in the air and I was also memorizing the flight route so that I could fly back to China myself when I already have enough strength.”

He seemed to have a little change in him after witnessing the magnificence of the sky with his own eyes. He had gained much confidence and determination.

“Then you’re in the right place. Superman lives in the city that we’re landing.” The crew chief helped Zhang Lisheng to fasten his seatbelt and said with a smile, “Welcome to New York.”

The plane landed slowly then it dashed on the runway before decelerating to stop.

The passengers released a sigh of relief while feeling tired then they left the plane one after another after the air stewardess’ gentle announcement.

“Are you tired, baby? There’s a time difference in Chengdu and New York, you can eat once we got to our place so you rest early. We had already prepared your room.”

“I’m not tired, mother.” Zhang Lisheng smiled and stood up from his seat. He then got off the plane together with Lili.

Standing at the check-in baggage carousel, Lili switched on her mobile phone that had been switched off for three days so she could call her lover, “Sullo, I’m back.”

“Darling, I’m back in New York with my child…” As she was talking, this woman who had been finally relieved suddenly began to cry again.

However, Zhang Lisheng who was beside her didn’t notice that his mother’s emotions had collapsed again because he was feeling anxious as he waited for his paper box containing the wizard worm to appear on the conveyor belt.

All of the luggage had been taken away one by one before his eyes. Finally, a fragile paper box that had ‘folk art pieces’ written on it appeared on the conveyor belt.

Zhang Lisheng picked up the box immediately while a strange sound that goes like ‘pst shh…’ came out of his mouth softly.

The paper box moved softly, everything was fine.

Zhang Lisheng let out a sigh of relief. He tore the box open then he put his wizard worm into his backpack together with the grimace stone mask and sculptures. He carried his backpack and began to look around JFK Airport with a peace of mind.

The airport was much bigger than Shuangliu Airport, there were also tourists and staff of different colors. However, that was about it. Zhang Lisheng was not as amazed as he was when he first arrived at the Shuangliu Airport a day ago.

As he turned around, he noticed tears on his mother’s face so he asked in shock, “Mother, what happened to you?”

Lili wiped the tears pouring from her red eyes away and said while smiling, “Nothing, Sullo has prepared a welcome party for you. Let’s go home quickly.”

Facing his mother whose emotions were like a fragile piece of glass, the only thing Zhang Lisheng could do was to nod while forcing out a smile. He walked out of the airport together with his mother.

Lili’s house was located at the Lowbige community in Brooklyn, New York. It was only less than twenty kilometers away from JFK Airport. They got into a yellow cab outside of the airport that was driven by an Indian. In less than half an hour, the mother and son arrived at their destination.

Brooklyn was filled with fresh air, streets that could contain four cars in a row just nicely, big and tall trees on both sides of the streets and wide pedestrian lanes, lush green neat grass fields and single houses of various styles that seemed to be structured.

As they got off the cab, Zhang Lisheng felt that the things he was looking at were perfectly describing the American Dream.

Lili who was beside her son asked, “What do you think about this place, baby?”

“Quiet, peaceful.”

“Mother, the environment here isn’t bad. They’re just like the things I saw in American soap operas.”

“Really? It’s great that you like it.”

“But as a child who is going to live in New York of America, I would like to warn you about something. Baby, please remember to never take the tram and subway anywhere you want. Especially going to the major regions, never do that.”

“Also, don’t trust strangers or friends that you’ve just met.”

Zhang Lisheng found it odd, so he asked, “Why mother?”

“You’ll understand it once you grow up. Baby, let’s go home now.”

Zhang Lisheng’s new house was on No.86 on Lowbige Street, New York.

It looked like a classic American middle-class residence but in reality, it was a residence with its own unique characteristics. There was a living room, open-style dining room and kitchen, garage and the kids’ game room in between the first floor.

Naturally, Sullo unwittingly turned the game room into an exclusive room for him to use. He often went to the room to smoke whenever he was feeling immense stress, sometimes he would just simply go there to rest and think.

The second floor was the mister and mistress’ bedroom as well as the kids’ bedrooms. As they had too many kids, only the boys were staying on the second floor. Meanwhile, the girls who were going through puberty and needed more private space for their clothes, dresses, and make-up products were staying in the loft on the third floor.

Since there were people who were staying in the loft, it was specially made to be higher than the normal residence while the shortest part of the slanted roof was over one meter high. They could use the space at full capacity with a slight bend at the waist.

Meanwhile, all of the family stuff was kept in the basement.

To welcome the new family member who came from far away, they decorated the first-floor’s ceiling with ribbons, they also cleaned and tidied up the place.

At the living room entrance, the man of the house Sullo D. Lavin clapped then said loudly, “Kids, get ready. We should look happier, Lili is bringing your new brother home soon.”

“We didn’t have enough time to prepare the cake and a feast. To show our apology, the only thing that we can do is to show a smile on our faces.”

“The kid came from China which was far and poor. He used to live a life that’s more…”

“The far and poor China. Father, are you talking about China that had almost taken all of our job opportunity away? I heard there are some cities over there where a street’s value could buy the entire Manhattan?”

The youngest daughter of the house, Michelle who had features that were as sharp as a sculpture and a classic latina beauty. She pouted as she said, “If they’re poor, then what are we?”

Sullo D. Lavin was stunned and replied forcefully, “There’re poor and rich areas in that country, do you know…”

“Poor and rich, oh god, can the gap between the rich and the poor be bigger than the city that we’re stepping on? I’m not sure if those black people at Queens had already gotten so fat from eating rats.”

Sullo D. Lavin who was out of words yelled while pointing at his second daughter who was always a troublemaker, “Shut up, Michelle. As a woman with a good upbringing, you shouldn’t say things that are racist.”

“Forget about it, dad. My brother and sister of the same father and different mother are both biracial. You should ask them whether what I said just now was racist.”

Harry whose skin was more yellowish took the initiative to say something quickly imitating an adult’s tone of voice while holding his chin, “I don’t think so.”

“Michelle must be mad because our new brother will be occupying the big room that Brother Stephen left. Thus, Brother Randy can’t be moving into the biggest room that Brother Stephen left, while I won’t be able to move into Brother Randy’s rather big room. In that case, she won’t be able to use my room as a storeroom to put her endless amount of clothes.”

“Harry, what a great talk show you’ve presented to us today, because of that I’ll be taking half of your allowance this week.” Sullo D. Lavin yelled while pointing at them in all seriousness, “Listen, I know some of you here don’t want to hear any more advice from a parent like me because you’ve gotten enough allowance from work. But I must remind you here that before any of you become adults, whether you would like to go on a date or vacation, all of you would need the permission from me and Lili as both of your guardians.”

“There’s a great saying that goes like this ‘It’s best to maintain sufficient respect to people that have a great advantage for you.’”

“Now show your teeth and welcome our new family member with a smile.”

Hearing their father’s tough words, all of the kids showed an awkward smile even if they wanted to or not. The only one who was not doing that was the family’s second son Randy who was already a grown-up. He jiggled his strong muscles and said loudly and arrogantly, “But father, I’m a grown-up now. Whatever I do, I don’t need to…”

The eldest daughter of the family, Riley who had not spoken a word reminded Randy with a soft voice, “Randy, you need to practice football. Do you have time to work?”

“Okay, Riley. Okay look, I’ve shown my sincerest smile.”

Just as the entire family finally smiled in unison, the door was pushed open by someone. Lili brought Zhang Lisheng into the house.

It was clear that Sullo D. Lavin didn’t expect his lover’s sixteen-year-old child to be so small and skinny. After hugging Lili, he was dazed for a while but snapped out of it immediately. He then stammered as he spoke Mandarin enthusiastically, “So you are… you’re Lisheng, I’m glad to…”

Looking at the troubled Sullo D. Lavin, Zhang Lisheng smiled and said, “Hello Uncle Lavin, my name is Zhang Lisheng. Nice to meet you.”

Sullo D. Lavin looked at Zhang Lisheng in surprise while Lili who was beside him couldn’t help but laugh out loud, “I forgot to tell you, Sullo. Zhang Lisheng has an amazing talent in learning different languages, his English is superb.”

“Oh, that’s great. I registered English oral class especially for him, seems like there’s no need for that.”

“Hi, nice meeting you Lisheng. Welcome to our big family. Come, meet your brothers!” Sullo D. Lavin said while he was patting Zhang Lisheng’s shoulder.

Zhang Lisheng nodded and said to the other kids in the house courteously, “Hi everyone, my name is Zhang Lisheng. I’m from Western Sichuan, China.”

Sometimes being weak was easier in order to be accepted by others compared to being tough. The young man of the mountain village who had hidden his ruthless and cold wizardry in his skinny body couldn’t trigger the slightest irritation out of the American kids in the house.