Chapter 33: Halloween Night's Odd Jobs

Two days passed, and Ma Ma Zhaodi still went to work at the restaurant, but this time he followed the supervisor's suggestion and bought a second modified wheelchair for work.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, he could feel his colleagues breathe a collective sigh of relief upon noticing he hadn't arrived in that car.

Seeing him arrive for work, Santos and the others immediately waved at him: "Ma Ma Zhaodi, have you seen the news?"

Looking at the newspaper in Santos's hand, he instinctively asked: "What's wrong? Did Richard Daniel's case break?"

Santos's expression, which had been full of excitement, immediately drooped: "Huh? You already know?"

"On my way home from practicing shooting over the weekend, I ran into a unlucky guy who was shot full of holes; I was dragged into the Gotham Police Department in the middle of the night to give a statement for hours, and I also happened to learn that unlucky ghost's name—the Gotham Bank president."

"Wow, as expected of you." Santos immediately became interested again: "You managed to stumble upon something like that on the spot? What did you see?"

"I'd rather not have stumbled upon it. No, besides half a gun barrel sticking out of a window and a black car without license plates but with reflective film, I saw nothing." Ma Ma Zhaodi shook his head: "That person is a ruthless character who dares to kill in broad daylight; curiosity kills the cat, and I don't have nine lives."

"Oh, that's true."

Castro joined the topic right at this moment: "Instead of thinking about that, how about considering something else, like how to spend Halloween?"

"Oh, speaking of that." Rick immediately became interested: "Does anyone want to come to my Halloween party? The kind without the supervisor or Donald attending."

Castro immediately responded: "Yay!"

Ma Ma Zhaodi had never attended an American-style party, but he knew very well that no good people would likely show up at a gang member's party, and the refreshments would probably not just be beer and pizza, but likely also an orgiastic gathering and drug-fueled revelry.

"No need at all." He shook his head: "As you can see, I'm dirt poor, so I still have work to do on Halloween night."

"Hey, don't be such a killjoy!" Rick called out in dissatisfaction: "We finally have a bit of holiday time, and yet someone would voluntarily take on odd jobs at a time like this?"

"Have to make a living." Ma Ma Zhaodi sighed: "You all know I just bought a car recently."

"Alright, alright." Castro immediately surrendered; Ma Ma Zhaodi was very certain that these three had shivered collectively when he mentioned that car.

Laughing to death; just moments ago they were discussing the Halloween night party, but the moment he mentioned driving the Death Car to their door, they all chickened out—typical Ye Gong loving dragons.

However, saying he had work to do wasn't purely a lie; the system had indeed given him three odd jobs.

"Halloween Night's Pumpkin Lantern"

Mission Description: Don't overthink it; simply, a client needs a pumpkin lantern. Do well and get a reward; do poorly and face no punishment.

Note: Low risk, high reward; this job is reserved specifically for you.

Status: Pending Completion (0/1)

Reward: A portable small pumpkin lantern that will not extinguish; carrying it can scare away some weak demons—don't worry, it is not a Magical Item of this world and requires no price to be paid."

"Halloween Night's Heart-Setter on Fire"

Mission Description: Mr. Harvey has some work outside his plans tonight, which leaves him no time to accompany his family; perhaps you could do this job on his behalf?

Note: In Gotham City, some jobs are paid for with courage. Mr. Ma, do you want to be an unknown nobody, or make a name for yourself?

Status: Uncompleted (0%)

Reward: Settlement based on mission completion; every one percent converts to 200 USD Asset Points."

"Halloween Night's Delivery Service"

Mission Description: You might not believe it, but in Gotham City, there are indeed some people living worse than Gordon, Harvey, or even Batman; for such pitiful people, a super-sized Burger King delivery is like celebrating the New Year.

Note: Born on Monday, baptized on Tuesday, married on Wednesday, infected on Thursday, critically ill on Friday, deceased on Saturday, buried in the ground on Sunday—this life journey to the end—remember to bring a gas mask.

Status: Uncompleted (0/1)

Reward: Intermediate Cooking Mastery, and the client's friendship."

Working three jobs in one night; even the King of Hell would praise my physical condition.

But the mission rewards were indeed excellent: an unextinguishable demon-slaying small pumpkin lantern, up to a full 20,000 USD Asset Points, and Intermediate Cooking Mastery—the Intermediate Cooking Mastery in Shangcheng costs a full 3,000 USD Asset Points, which is 500 more Asset Points than needed for Intermediate Car Driving Mastery.

"One delivery mission equals half a month of hard labor—sigh, there is a gap even among workers."

Just do it; anyone who can resist not doing this deal is a god.

Thus, during the break for the work meal, the colleagues in the restaurant noticed someone holding a pumpkin and a carving knife, constantly gesturing and carving.

"Hey, Ma Ma Zhaodi, where did you get that pumpkin?" Santos, holding an apple, sat next to him: "You didn't take it from the kitchen, did you?"

"This is my own; isn't the rule that you can't take ingredients from the kitchen?" Ma Ma Zhaodi replied casually, his carving knife flipping up and down, peeling off pieces of skin and flesh from the small pumpkin.

"Are you making a pumpkin lantern?"

"Yes, it's Halloween today; maybe if I make some pumpkin lanterns to sell, someone will buy them."

"Uh..."

"What's wrong?"

Rick, passing by, glanced at the pumpkin Ma Ma Zhaodi was holding; as the carving knife continued to sculpt, a grimacing, awkward face slowly appeared on it.

"Is this... your first time carving a pumpkin lantern?"

"Doesn't it look good? I think I carved it quite well?"

Ma Ma Zhaodi looked at the small pumpkin in his hand; amidst the twisted, painful expression, there seemed to be a peculiar artistic atmosphere, with a hint of Millet's classical school, a touch of Monet's Impressionism, Matisse's Fauvism, Munch's Expressionism, Balla's Futurism, Picasso's Cubism, and Dalí's Surrealism all seemingly embodied on this tiny pumpkin; in a word...

"What an ugly pumpkin lantern..." Rick ruthlessly criticized: "It's simply the ugliest pumpkin lantern I've ever seen in my life."

Ma Ma Zhaodi shrugged: "Anyway, it's just a pumpkin lantern; carving it to look funny might attract even more buyers; after all, there are so many good-looking pumpkin lanterns, but few that are this ugly; taking an unconventional path is the only way to have some recognizability."

"Alright, anyway, Gotham isn't short of weirdos; maybe there really is someone who likes this kind of pumpkin lantern. Speaking of which, have you considered carving a big pumpkin? A pumpkin head this ugly would surely be terrifying."

"Good idea; when the time comes, I'll wear this pumpkin head and rob children of their candy."

(End of Chapter)