The Great Worm Lich

Chapter 261: Pulling Chestnuts Out of the Fire

Since the cost of the setup was low, no less than five ‘ore acquisition points’ of major mining companies had sprung up like mushrooms in the last two to three months on Shrimp B1 Island.

The companies determined these acquisitions based on the reserves of known mineral deposits on the island and the use of unknown minerals. For this reason, the purchase price for rare and unknown minerals was quite high.

There was only one long counter at Dubo Brothers Mining Company. Four to five ore appraisers having gray hair, wearing blue working uniforms were sitting in front of the spotlight. There were a few clerks also wearing blue uniforms at the simple ‘ore acquisition point’. Zhang Lisheng counted the banknotes in his hand and nodded at the clerk in front who was taller than him by a whole head. “It’s correct, it’s 7000 USD in total. I guess we’re done here.”

He mimicked the increasing ‘new cowboy’ in the gathering place remarkably well.

“You can rest a.s.sured, sir. Our Dubo Brothers Mining Company has always carried out a fair trade. Please do come again next time if you have any more good harvests!” Upon hearing the young man’s words, the clerk smiled politely, despite the busy business. By doing this, he fully demonstrated the quality of a large company’s employee.

“Okay.” Zhang Lisheng shrugged and patted the stack of banknotes in his hand. Then, he squeezed his way out of the mineral acquisition point and asked Min Lan who was closely following him, “We have money now! What do you want to eat, my dear sister?”

“I didn’t expect you to be so useful.” The witch knitted her brows and studied the young man from top to bottom a few times. “I’ll teach you something. We’re the juniors, so what we want to eat is not important! What is more important is what our seniors like. Senior Uncle Ouyang likes soft fresh meat while my Master loves the strong flavor of barbecue. Junior Uncle Heyun, on the other hand…”

“Stop right there, sis! We’re on a foreign world’s barren island and not some Michelin restaurant in the Upper West Side of New York.” Zhang Lisheng spread out his hands and interrupted Min Lan’s words. He looked around and pointed at a shop with a signboard with the words ‘Island’s Unique Pizza’ before saying, “Okay that shop it is then! Let’s take away some pizza, it should have a variety of flavor.”

Even though the witch made a lot of verbal demands, because of the language barrier and the fact that she was not familiar with the island’s environment, she could not insist on her idea; therefore, she could only follow Zhang Lisheng’s idea and bought over ten 13-inch pizzas with various flavors.

Both of them carried the pizza boxes back to the cement room on their shoulders and backs. They then noticed that someone had already switched a dim light on in the room. They put together a few wooden tables under the lamp as the great wizards were sitting on them around the table while they had their discussions.

The moment they both entered the room, Yang Tianyun, who was the most straightforward person in the group, immediately scrunched up his nose and muttered, “What a nice smell! What a nice smell! I’ve not smelled such a nice smell for a long time now!” Watching around, he stood up.

Upon seeing his greedy manner, Zhang Lisheng quickly replied, “Seniors, I’ve bought back the dinner for tonight. Where should I put all these pizzas…?”

“Pizza? This pizza is a really good meal! Put it right here! Place it right here! Young man, can’t you see for yourself that the tables have already been set nicely?” Yang Tianyun’s eyes lit up as he tapped on the table.

“Wow, you guys really make do with whatever is available and a.s.semble them into something like this…” It stunned Zhang Lisheng for a moment before muttering and placing the pizzas on the wooden table.

Ouyang Boxiong watched Yang Tianyun tear the paper box open and fold the hot 13-inch pizza into half before opening his mouth widely. He then swallowed it completely in a few mouthfuls. Frowning, he said, “Brother Tianyun, when will you act like a senior in front of our juniors?”

Yang Tianyun did not retort although an old man had scolded him. He merely chuckled foolishly before tearing open another box of pizza.

Ouyang Boxiong was rendered helpless, too, as he looked at his careless manner. Turning his head around, he looked at Zhang Lisheng and said, “Young man, you’re pretty good. To think you sold those ores and bought us food in such a short amount of time. However, the amount of food is not enough, so why don’t you go to the corner and pick more of those ores to buy a few more portions back.”

“Senior Ouyang, I’ve got 7000 USD for those ores and I’ve only spent 350 USD for the pizza. I still have a lot of money left right here,” Zhang Lisheng was stunned as he replied. “However, if all of you great wizards satiate your hunger in such a way, I’m afraid it wouldn’t be enough even if I finish all the stocks from three to five pizza shops combined. Wouldn’t such an appet.i.te be too suspicious to the public…?”

“Good fellow! Did you get 7000 USD for those few broken stones? You really have a way! All right, stop talking nonsense! Hurry and go! Buy more of these pizzas! If you fear being suspicious, then make more trips to different stores!” Yang Tianyun laughed out loud as he swallowed the third pizza like a whale. “If the situation affects you so much, you can always tell me if you see someone getting suspicious of you! I can swallow him altogether with these pizzas!”

Zhang Lisheng’s eyes widened, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, as what his senior said rendered him speechless. At this moment, Min Lan, who was by his side, whispered to him, “Didn’t you hear what Senior Yang said? Let’s go!” Then, she pulled him away from the cement house.

During the next few days, Zhang Lisheng was busy doing nothing but two things: first, to know what the new policies on Shrimp B1 Island were and if there were any big shot people coming to the island; second, going around in the gathering place to buy food for their meals three times a day. He did so to serve those great wizards and their disciples who came from the Three Great Mountain Gates. He did so as they spent every coming day having empty conversations in the cement house.

One could not blame these great wizards for their lack of activity on the island. The ‘Old G.o.ds’ had heavily constrained them in their sect, so they could not let themselves loose at all.

With no conditions for them to display their brutal means, this group of great wizards looked as if they reverted to their mortal state. The things they could do right now was really limited.

However, it was not a good plan for them to just eat and wait for their death like that. Finally, one day after lunch, the burly man with the surname Han, who was two meters tall and had impressive facial features, hesitated for a moment with a series of complex emotions flas.h.i.+ng on his face before saying out loud, “Seniors, we can’t just keep staying on this island like this. If there’s really nothing we can do now, shall we return to our Mountain Gate first and make our plan there?”

Zhang Lisheng had been mingling with these witchcraft guardians and disciples for many days. He was standing by the side; he had known for a long time that this burly man called Xu Longguo was a guardian for the Witchcraft’s Gate of Sacrifice.

He did not expect this guy who seemed capable and composed to be the first person to come forward and help others at his own expense at such a crucial moment.

As expected, upon hearing Xu Longguo saying so, Ouyang Boxiong immediately replied, “Brother Xu, did you really mean what you say or were you merely making a remark to vent your displeasure?”

“Of course it’s only a remark to vent his displeasure…” Xu Longguo’s comrade of the same sect immediately covered it up for him. However, to their surprise, when the burly man heard this answer, he became even more infuriated and began to take on the responsibility. “Senior Brother Liu, you don’t have to cover it up for me. If we don’t leave, don’t tell me we would all just age and die here? Zhang Lisheng, let me ask you, a few days ago you said you can buy a s.h.i.+p ticket that sails straight to New York. Is that true?”

Zhang Lisheng nodded and responded, “Of course, Senior Xu! Right now, the civil s.h.i.+p has a direct ticket to New York, and it’s much easier to travel to and fro from the island already.”

“That’s good.” Xu Longguo smacked the table with all his might while a grim expression permeated on his face and said loudly, “I’ll make it clear now, I will leave! You only have one chance, are you guys leaving or not?”

Upon hearing his arrogant words, it enraged the great wizards around him till their expressions contorted into a grimace. However, when they thought of the risk this burly man who was over two meters tall had to bear when he uttered those words, they could only temporarily suppress their anger and smiled.

“Since Brother Xu said he’s leaving, let us leave then! However, we must prepare something to answer to the Old G.o.ds later!” Ouyang Boxiong rubbed his forehead and covered his embarra.s.sed face as he replied. “Why don’t we pick a few more nests of those aborigines and kill more of those demons tonight, so we can bring a Gold Core back?”

“Old Brother Ouyang, that’s easy for you to say. Do you think it’s so easy to pick the aborigines’ nest? I almost died there last time!” The fattest old man among the great wizards who looked like the Laughing Buddha smiled wryly as he chimed in. “Speaking of which, enjoy having a group of ants biting an elephant to death! Being surrounded by a few demons and being attacked by thousands, or even ten thousands, of aborigines at the same time, would really make it easy for us to fall miserably in the task! Ugh…”

“For this reason, we won’t divide our force and advance rashly, not mentioning those big ones that have a population of over 100,000! We’ll look for those small aborigine nests that the demons protected and join forces to kill the monsters to take their Gold Core! We’ll leave without engaging in any fight with those aborigines as well! What do you think about this then?” Ouyang Boxiong said sinisterly.

“This sounds doable! However, if we have to guard against the surveillance of those US devils and leave the city far away and find a suitable aborigine’s nest to retreat, I don’t think just one night would be enough…”

At this moment, Zhang Lisheng, who finally learned that these great wizards had already engaged in a conflict with the aborigines on Shrimp B1 Island and had even annihilated some tribes, felt a jolt in his heart. After hesitating for a while, he chimed in and said, “Senior, I heard somebody is selling the map of the aborigine district in the alley market on Shrimp B1 Island. It seems like it’s quite accurate as well…”

“There’s actually such a thing? Isn’t this settled then?” Yang Tianyun slapped his thigh and exclaimed in delight. “Go! Lisheng, go and buy it! Go buy the s.h.i.+p tickets first and then buy a map of those aborigines’ nest district for us! Go now! Go now!”

“This…” Zhang Lisheng looked at Ouyang Boxiong and stuttered, only to see the old man ponder in silence for a moment before waving his hand. “Didn’t you hear what your Senior Yang told you? Hurry and go!”

“Yes!” Zhang Lisheng cupped both of his hands in front of his chest in an ancient style and turned to run out of the cement house. He first went to the ticket office at the beach and looked for those beautiful blondes to buy 19 tickets before strolling on the street.

“Is there even such a thing? I’m sorry, I know nothing about this buddy!”

“What a pity! My boss will spend 3000 USD to buy this map in cash. He would also generously give 200 USD as information fee.” Zhang Lisheng sighed and walked towards the other new cowboy.

Just like this, after asking fewer than ten people, he finally got a piece of good news from a fair young man who had thick brows and big eyes. Not to mention, he also looked sincere and kind-hearted.