Leaving his burden behind, Zhang Lisheng walked quickly on the flat and straight road alone for two to three hours. Feeling that his luck had become very bad again as he did not meet any kind-hearted person who wanted to give him a lift, he finally set foot on the streets of Johannesburg.
At this time, the sky was already bright. Buses full of commuting workers had begun to travel on the streets.
The young man stopped a taxi and sat in the back seat, deliberately restoring his accent to a New York accent. He pleaded to the driver whose skin was so dark that it was flushed, "Mr. Driver, please go to the Antelope's Nest Apartment on Eighth Street. I can give you an extra tip of ten dollars, but I'll have to go into the apartment to get the money. Is that alright?"
"Of course! You must be drunk and had your wallet stolen, right, young man? Do you need to call the police?" The driver started the car and asked kindly.
"Thank you, there's no need for that. It's only several tens of dollars, isn't it worth a trip to the police station to make a statement?" Zhang Lisheng said with a smile.
Upon hearing the young man's words, the driver smiled noncommittally and drove the taxi through the spacious streets of Johannesburg. After a while, when he saw that the young man was silent, he inadvertently turned on the radio.
"It's reported that the western city of Cape Town has been completely destroyed and the number of casualties has reached more than 500,000. The authorities have confirmed that the attacking troops are invaders from the supernatural realm and have officially requested for the intervention of the world's military powers …"
"Invaders from the supernatural realm have killed 500,000 people in Cape Town and the government has even requested for the intervention of foreigners? Is today April Fool's Day?" The taxi driver was stunned and asked while scratching his head.
Zhang Lisheng, who was sitting in the back seat, muttered to himself, "Cape Town has indeed suffered a heavy loss. However, it seems like the land forces of those supernatural realm's people are not strong enough so they haven't conquered Cape Town yet.
The South African government has confirmed that they're invaders from the supernatural realm and has even requested for the intervention of the world's military powers. This situation is really confusing now … "
As the young man was pondering, the taxi stopped in front of the Antelope's Nest Apartment more than ten minutes later.
Zhang Lisheng got off the car and ran into the apartment building. He bypassed the front desk and knocked on the manager's room. "Lu Mandi, I've lost my room card. Can you please open the door for me?"
"Of course, Mr. Skinny. Don't forget to pay me ten dollars for a room card later." The fat black apartment manager chuckled as he opened the drawer and found Zhang Lisheng's room card from a pile of room cards before handing it over.
"Alright." The young man took the key card and went into the house to withdraw some cash. After paying the fare, he randomly found a nearby breakfast shop and had a sumptuous breakfast. Using the shop owner's phone, he called Charlie's cell phone.
"Hello, I am …"
"It's me, Charlie."
"When I saw the number from South Africa, I guessed that it might be your boss. What can I do for you?"
"Yes, I'll send a letter of authorization in a few days to distribute 0.5% of the LS Group's shares to you and Edward …"
"Oh my God, you are so generous, boss, this is really …"
"Alright, Charlie, stop expressing your emotions. I have something else to tell you, which is to leave 51% of the shares for me and then sell the remaining 49% shares of LS at a suitable price in the US private equity market."
"You should've done this a long time ago, boss. Don't worry, I'll get you a good price.
Just do a mental calculation and you'll roughly know the price. According to our current reputation, assets, and the profit after monopolizing the New York market, you'll get at least … Erm, more than four billion dollars in cash.
Oh, I've never thought about it before. It turns out that I'm actually managing a large enterprise worth close to ten billion dollars now. The speed at which you're making money is even faster than those famous dot-com bubble companies … "Charlie said excitedly.
"I don't care how much money I get. I only care about how many people I can tie onto this big ship called LS."
"Oh, I understand, boss! I understand now!"
"It's good that you understand. Goodbye, Charlie." Zhang Lisheng hung up the phone and returned to the apartment building. After paying the manager ten dollars in change, he took another room card and walked into his room. Sitting by the bed, he took out the True Book of Witchcraft that he obtained from Old Man Xu and the bone book that Consultant Zheng gave him.
First, he instilled his wizard power into the True Book of Witchcraft, causing the pictures and words on it to appear clearly. The young man realized that he could only understand two-thirds of the words, and these two-thirds completely recorded a refining method of a Corpse Puppet.
Witchcraft was different from the witchcraft formula or incantation. The witchcraft formula and incantation were the foundation of a wizard's growth. When one became a wizard or made a breakthrough before Rank-6 Wizard, they would be taught by the Heaven and Earth. It was self-taught and everyone was different.
Witchcraft, on the other hand, was a kind of spell that could be learned and mastered by relying on wizard power. It was created by the powerhouses in the ancient witchcraft who had at least reached the Shedding and Restoring Restoration Stage based on the foundation of their own witchcraft formula and incantation.
This made it sound as if witchcraft was inferior to the witchcraft formula and incantation, but in fact, it was not.
After all, it was difficult even for the ancient almighty to change the witchcraft formula and incantation given by the heavens into a witchcraft that could be learned by everyone.
The witchcraft formula and incantation that they could choose was naturally very powerful and practical. Even though it was slightly weakened, it was still stronger than the witchcraft formula given by the Junior Wizards that relied on luck.
The Flesh Corpse Puppet Refining Method that Zhang Lisheng obtained was different from ordinary witchcraft. It was not simplified from the witchcraft formula, but it was a weakened version of the Living Corpse Refining Method that the Grand Wizard who cultivated the Gate of Death and made a breakthrough to Rank-12 Wizard had obtained after achieving the Resurrection from Death.
According to the method recorded in the True Book, a Rank-1 Wizard who cultivated the Witchcraft's Gate of Death and a Rank-6 Wizard who cultivated the Witchcraft's Gate of Sacrifice and Gate of Life would be able to refine a Corpse Puppet.
The Living Corpse Refining Method and the Transformation Method were the turning points for a wizard to undergo six qualitative changes. It sounded like it was worth it to be able to refine a Corpse Puppet in advance, but in fact, it was not. There was also an egg in a dragon's egg, and there was also an egg in a chicken's egg. How could the hatched creatures be compared with each other?
Not only that, it was not easy to refine a Corpse Puppet using tricks. One could say that this Corpse Puppet refining method was quite useful to a wizard who was ruthless and was willing to take risks to improve his strength but did not have much chance to continue to make a breakthrough. However, to Zhang Lisheng, who could rely on the witchcraft formula and a massive amount of blood to cultivate an ancient strange worm, it was of little value.
For this reason, what the young man valued was not the power of the Corpse Puppet, but the enlightenment effect of the Corpse Refining Method contained in it on him when he made a breakthrough to Rank-12 Wizard in the future.
However, one could tell from one look that it was not something that could be done in a day. Combining the vivid pictures of the cutting and refining corpses on the True Book, Zhang Lisheng read through the Corpse Puppet refining method with relish. Then, he looked at the remaining one-third of the book that seemed to be written with dried blood in a twisted and flamboyant manner.
"I have the Eternal Comprehension Spell so I'll be able to understand the meaning of these words sooner or later. I hope that I won't be disappointed when that time comes …" He muttered to himself as he put down the True Book and picked up the bone book.
The content of this bone book that Consultant Zheng made from a living corpse at the last minute was actually the opposite of the True Book. It did not have any illusory enlightenment effect and was purely able to help Zhang Lisheng fully understand the various mysteries of his body after the transformation.
These mysteries actually existed without him understanding them. Sooner or later, the young man would slowly learn about them, but the time it would take was hard to estimate.
In the next few months, Zhang Lisheng relied on studying these two Witchcraft True Books and hid in the apartment to kill time.
During this period, due to the exposure of the supernatural realm's invasion, it caused an uproar that shocked the world. The situation in South Africa went through three stages: the stalemate in the early stage, the rapid deterioration of the war situation in the middle stage, and the strong intervention of the global military powers in the late stage. Finally, they recaptured Cape Town and regained temporary peace.
On the other side of the distant ocean, the election day of the world's most powerful country, the US, had arrived as scheduled. Due to the fact that the domestic people generally believed that the ruling party did not respond well to the supernatural realm's invasion, the international reputation of the US had plummeted. The Democratic candidate, Hilary, was unexpectedly defeated and lost the best opportunity to become the first female president in the history of the US.
On the second day after the US election results were announced, Zhang Lisheng received a text message with only two letters' OK 'from his chief legal officer, Edward, in the Antelope's Nest apartment in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Looking at the 'OK' on the phone screen, the young man stared blankly for a while before breathing a long sigh of relief. Without even packing his luggage, he walked out of the room directly.
When the girl on duty at the front desk of the apartment building saw Zhang Lisheng, who had lived here for more than half a year and was very familiar with each other, pushing the door to leave the apartment, she asked with a chuckle, "Are you going out?"
"Yeah, I'm going back to the US. Goodbye!" The young man turned around and smiled. Waving his hand, he walked away under the girl's dumbfounded gaze.
After the war situation in South Africa regained its balance, the evacuation tide in Johannesburg gradually cooled down. Even though the ordinary flights were often full, some flights that had restored their first-class seats could already be bought on the same day.
After being lucky enough to buy a first-class ticket that would depart at 2 o 'clock in the afternoon at the York International Airport, Zhang Lisheng left South Africa, where he had lived for eight months. After a long flight, he finally returned to JFK Airport that he had not seen for a long time.
After getting off the plane and breathing the warm and humid air of August in the US, the young man, who walked quickly into the airport bus, dialed Tina's number.
"Who is it?" The phone was quickly connected. Then, Tina's cold voice resonated.
"It's me."
"Who are you? I can't recognize your voice."
"Oh Tina, I really didn't have a choice. That's why I didn't contact you for such a long time."
"But you've contacted Edward, you've contacted Charlie, and you've even talked to my dad on the phone. The only thing that you've contacted me is just a few short messages …"
"It's not just you, I've only contacted my mom through short messages too. This is because I think that once I send the message, you guys will keep looking at it for a long time, just like me …"
Tina became silent on the phone for a while. "Zhang Lisheng, if you're lying, I'll drive your car into the Atlantic Ocean when you come back."
"I've already returned to the US, Tina."
"Oh my god! Y-You're at JFK Airport?" The girl's scream resonated from the phone.
"Yes."
After another long silence, Tina suddenly said, "Then, are you willing to accept my punishment today?"
"Punishment? Why?" Zhang Lisheng was stunned.
"Of course, I want to punish you! No matter what the reason is, you've left me for eight months and you didn't even tell me your address so that I could look for you …"
"Okay, stop talking. I'm willing to accept the punishment."
"Alright then, I'll pick you up at the airport, baby. Don't resist later, don't struggle. You're mine. I've waited for eight months. Today, you belong to me completely …" Tina's breathing suddenly quickened as she said gently before hanging up the phone.
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