The Great Worm Lich

The ten to twenty young people unconsciously split into groups of three as they walked and formed small teams. They strolled to the end of the party crowd and entered the ski resort.

 The round arch above their head was like a border. One side was a hot hell, while the other was a comfortable paradise. When one stepped across it, one would feel that the surrounding summer heat dissipated right away.

 “Oh, I’m finally alive again!” Randy sighed with exaggeration after walking along with the crowds for a while before exclaiming aloud. “Ladies and gentlemen, are we going directly to the snow mountain or to try our luck at the hockey stadium?”

 “Well, we might as well try our luck first since we’re already here! Who knows, maybe there’d be somebody who returns the tickets or some scalpers who are crazy enough to sell the tickets cheap,” Even though Amy was pessimistic in the parking lot, she still said with a hint of a fluke now that she had entered the Winter Fantasy.

 As the only ball game secretly allowed extremely rough brawls, ice hockey was also called as one of the three major sports of the United States, along with basketball and rugby. It was trendy among young people.

 Because of this, nobody else objected after the girl’s words left her mouth. They began to walk in groups of two and three toward a magnificent snow-white ring gym in the distance.

 On the way, the guys raised money to buy headgear such as crowns, antlers, and bear ears for themselves and the girls, adding a slightly relaxed and casual atmosphere to the group.

 “Do you like ice hockey?” The tall Asian girl with a cartoon iced princess’ crown on her head who had been following beside Zhang Lisheng asked with a smile.

 “I never watch ice hockey games, and I don’t like all kinds of sports. I never exercise either, and I can be a very lazy person,” The young man replied expressionlessly and tried to make himself sound terrible.

 “Really? I’ve never heard such an answer from the mouth of a young guy before,” The tall girl blinked curiously and started to guess wildly. “What do you like then? Video games, gambling, drawing, or you just love staring blankly like now the most?”

 “I’m not staring blankly but contemplating instead. I have two hobbies, thinking and conquering.” Zhang Lisheng remained silent for a while before looking at the girl coldly. “I’m definitely a different kind of person from your imagination. It’s a waste of your effort no matter what you do or say.”

 Looking into the dark pupils of the black-haired young man in front, the Asian girl suddenly trembled and said a few seconds later: “Whether you’re playing pretense or putting on airs, you’ve successfully aroused my curiosity and desire for challenge. Since you said that you’re definitely not the kind of person I imagine, can you enlighten me then, what kind of person have I imagined you as?”

 

Even though Zhang Lisheng had slept with three women before, his experience in the dating field was still very scarce. He who was playing the identity of a human whose EQ was not high did not know how to answer the girl who kept sticking close to him like a gum babbling nonstop, so with no other choice, he could only frown and increased his pace without a word.

 “Why don’t you say anything…” The tall girl followed the young man at the same pace, “Oh, if you don’t want to answer this question, I’ll change to a simpler new one then. Are you currently studying in college, or are you working now?”

 While the girl was talking, some of them followed the crowd to the stadium.

 There was still about an hour and a half before the start of the game at this time. However, the ice hockey rink that covered an area of ​​at least 100,000 square meters with its exterior decoration entirely clad in silver had already been filled with enthusiastic spectators.

 In the United States, many popular sport games would only provide a small number of tickets for online bookings. Most of the ticket sources must be purchased on-site at the ticket office of the stadium, and most of the time, a person would only be allowed to buy two tickets at most.

 Upon seeing the surging crowds, Robert said in despair with a long face, “Oh my god! There are more people than I thought!”

 Even so, he still ran to the ticket office to try his luck, but he was naturally met with disappointment.

 Running back to his companions dejectedly, Joey family’s second son shook his head and said, “Nobody refunds the ticket at all. Looks like we can only go find the scalpers to try our luck.”

 “I knew this would happen. What are we waiting for then? Let’s go find the scalpers and ask the price,” A tall black man next to him shrugged and looked around.

 In the nation, increasing ticket prices on the black market to earn money was not something an ordinary man could do. It was usually monopolized by gangsters. Other than them, only those students who worked hard to make some pocket money were allowed to do according to some agreed hidden rules.

 Such a rule naturally divided the scalpers into two categories—the group of gangster underlings who gathered many people to queue and had many entrance tickets in their hands and the young students or young people disguised as students, who only had three to five tickets in their hands at most. The former had sufficient ticket supplies, but the price they set was high, while the latter ones asked for a lower price, but they had insufficient ticket supplies.

 There were more than 20 pax in Zhang Lisheng’s group, so they had no choice but to go to find the gangster scalpers. When they finally had their eyes locked on a short unsightly looking fellow whose head was wrapped in a colorful turban, they found out that the price of the ticket had been raised fivefold, costing an average of 400 dollars for each of them for a ticket at the ‘common zone.’

 “Oh, this price is absurd! It’s extortion! Do you wanna go to jail? If we were in the New Washington A, I’d have long cuffed you up and arrested you!” Randy blurted out upon hearing such an outrageous price.

 That gangster underling had a neutral and unperturbed expression on while facing a large group of young men and women all by himself and even grinned sinisterly like the way a gangster would usually have when he heard Lavin family’s second son said the word ‘jail.’ However, when he was about to curse rudely, he was immediately choked by Randy’s last sentence.

 Quietly and carefully reexamining the burly, muscular white man in front of him, he began to clearly sense that familiar police aura. Right away, his ferocious expression changed and was replaced with a mischievous grin as he spoke frivolously, “Mr. Police Officer, your law enforcement authority in New Washington A doesn’t extend to the new New York C City. The United States is a free and democratic country with a legal system. As a law enforcer who guards the social order, you must not intimidate a law-abiding citizen.”

 

“You? Law-abiding citizen?” Out of the habit of a federal patrol officer, Randy placed his right hand on the position where his gun would usually be when he was on duty, like how he would do when he was faced with a gangster with unpredictable behavior. Pointing at the gangster underling with his left hand, he said, “If you’re a law-abiding citizen, then I’m the President of the United States. Don’t be sneaky with me, boy…”

 “I think it’s you who should not throw your weight around, buddy,” In the face of the repeated provocation of the outer city police’s, the short scalper’s expression changed again as he revealed a fierce look. “I’d like to remind you again, this is new New York C, not the New Washington A, where you have authority in. Also, you better watch out, you don’t have a gun and a police badge with you now…”

 “Watch out? Ha, so what if I don’t have a gun and a police badge with me now, huh?!” Randy, who was always impulsive, glared with widened eyes as he yelled in a low voice, making the atmosphere suddenly tense.

 “Randy, don’t get angry. We’re on holiday now, so let’s spend it happily. You don’t like ice hockey anyway, right? Let’s just go do something else if we can’t watch the game. Y’know, like skiing, making ice sculptures, or swimming in the artificial ice lake. There are many interesting things to do in Winter Fantasy…”

 “That’s right, Randy! You’re here for a holiday so you should relax. Don’t be so pissed…”

 “Let’s go, buddy. Let’s take the cable car and head to the top of the snow mountain to breathe the cold air. You’d be able to cool down right away…”

 Most of the ordinary people had no courage to fight against the gang members, so the surrounding companions began to intervene when they felt the changing atmosphere.

 At the same time, more than ten men with an uneven height of short and tall, body shape of fat and thin, skin color of black and white, oozing a kind of fierce ‘gangster’ aura from their gaze wearing the same leather suddenly appeared behind the short scalper out of nowhere.

 “What should we do? What should we do? Are we going to fight against the scalper gang now? Are we?” Looking at the group of arrogant people opposite who looked like they’re the fighter in the gang, the Asian girl who had been following Zhang Lisheng since the very start no longer cared about bothering Zhang Lisheng. Instead, she spoke in fear as she grabbed his arm that was like a life-saving straw when one was drowning.

 “Don’t be nervous, miss. It’s just a trivial matter.” Zhang Lisheng shook his head with a smile and pulled his hand away from the girl. He walked up to Randy and patted him on the shoulder before saying, “Randy, no wonder you’re still on patrolling duty after being a police officer for two years. Don’t be so impulsive and get yourself and others into trouble.”

 When Lavin family’s second son, who was unmoved by the other people’s persuasion, heard the young man’s words, his tensed body relaxed right away. All of a sudden, he heard the ‘tu-tu-tu…’ sound of propeller spinning that was getting too close to them from a distance above the ski resort.

 Tens of thousands of tourists looked up in the direction of the sound. Several helicopters that were so absurdly large began to slowly land on the Winter Fantasy Ski Resort.

 By the time the helicopters descended to a certain height, several dozens of burly men wearing black suits, black shoes, and black sunglasses—whom everybody knew were federal agents but who still insisted that they were casually-clothes—leaped out of the cabin.

 When they were about to land amid alarming exclamation of countless people, the ejectors on their wrists that looked almost similar to a watch suddenly ejected silver-white cold flame. This caused their bodies to hover in the air for a moment like they were supported on-air before finally landing on the ground firmly.

 After a while, the federal agents began to disperse the crowds. Within just a few moments, several open spaces where large helicopters could land managed to open.

 “Looks like there’ll be some good shows again…” Zhang Lisheng raised his head against the blowing wind set off by the propeller and muttered as he took a few steps back. Without warning, a curious female voice resonated at his ears, “What the f*ck? Three most advanced DTU98 armed helicopters are actually landing in Winter Fantasy? This is really bizarre…”