Chapter 35: Heart-Set Fire Arsonist

The person in the trench coat hesitated at the scene for a full three minutes.

It wasn't to confirm the fat man's death; looking at the bathtub completely soaked in blood, with the water level even risen by a centimeter or two, He could be absolutely certain that this person had fully become a dead fat man.

What troubled Him was another matter.

He looked at the small pumpkin lantern in His hand; amidst the twisted, painful expression, there seemed to be a distinct artistic aura, with hints 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 reflected on this tiny pumpkin. In a word—

"This pumpkin is so ugly."

He stared at this pumpkin lantern with hesitation for a long time, unable to figure out why He had gone crazy and bought such a thing on the street. After placing it at a murder scene, the police officer might notice the dead fat man in the bathtub even less than this.

However, this thing was indeed bought on a nearby street, and the person wearing the abstract pumpkin head didn't talk much to Him, so there was actually no need to worry about exposure.

But this pumpkin is really so ugly.

Why didn't I go to the convenience store on the street corner to buy a pumpkin lantern? Although the road was a bit longer, at least that thing wouldn't be so conspicuous when placed at a murder scene.

Moreover, wouldn't this thing definitely lower the class of a perverted killer? Absolutely, right? Would this make everyone think the killer is just an ordinary goofball rather than a special person?

After hesitating for quite a while, He finally sighed and placed this ugly pumpkin lantern on the ground, along with a handgun and a broken pacifier.

Let it be; there's no way to go out and buy a new pumpkin lantern and come back.

Ma Zhaodi walked through the dark alley, feeling slightly complicated.

He put away his eye-catching pumpkin costume. To be honest, he was gradually starting to understand those superheroes or super-villains who always wear masks. Although it seemed like just putting on a pumpkin head, once his face was covered, he realized he could do anything he normally wouldn't dare to do at that moment, without consequences.

It looked like he put on a mask, but actually, he took one off.

Anyway, at that moment, Ma Zhaodi inevitably felt a sense of liberation thinking, "I can do whatever I want," and even seriously considered robbing a group of children of their candy—but he held back, because bullying children was simply too low-class.

Besides, he had tasted that brand of candy, and it wasn't good.

In short, this pumpkin head was too recognizable, which was unfavorable for the next part-time job he needed to do.

He identified the most common types of cosplay on the street, bought a pure black robe from the system, and put a white ghost-face mask on his face. With so many "monsters" on the street, his outfit allowed him to easily blend into the crowd.

Ma Zhaodi wove through the crowd on the street. When he arrived near a warehouse in the Burnley District, he saw the system notify him that he had reached the location of his second part-time job.

The warehouse door was locked tight, but that wasn't a big problem. Ma Zhaodi spent one hundred dollar asset points to find another unconventional route to climb over the wall from the system. This route also required some climbing ability, so he purchased a primary climbing skill worth one thousand asset points.

Looking at the winding, complex route, he couldn't help but sigh. If it weren't for the generous tips he had earned in the last few days, he really couldn't afford these points.

"Let's see what's inside first."

Following the route given by the system, he wound around the warehouse for a long time. Fortunately, after removing the white mask, the black robe provided by the system was sufficiently concealed in the night, so people on the street didn't see a slender ghost figure climbing the warehouse in a crooked manner.

The climbing skill worked well. Although the posture was a bit ugly, it was sufficiently concealed and quiet. Combined with Ma Zhaodi's relatively slender build, he could climb up many places directly.

"Thud"

A sound of a heavy object hitting the ground. Ma Zhaodi, upon landing, rolled over with the momentum, executing a decent landing. Except for a slight pain in his back and legs, the only thing that worried him was the sound.

He quietly held his breath and observed the spot for quite a while. It seemed no one was guarding this warehouse. Even though his landing sound was somewhat loud in the empty warehouse, he indeed didn't hear anyone approaching from that direction.

"No one is best; no one is fine."

Muttering words to comfort himself, Ma Zhaodi's eyes finally gradually adapted to the darkness. Relying on the dim, faint starlight filtering into the warehouse, he could vaguely see what appeared to be a small black mountain in the center of the warehouse.

"Damn, why is it so big?" He couldn't help but widen his eyes: "Holy crap, what kind of mission is this? Isn't it supposed to be 'Heart-Set Fire Arsonist'?"

He turned on his old mobile phone. This phone didn't even have a flashlight function, so he could only use the weak light from the screen to search for the light bulb switch in the warehouse. He had already observed while climbing down that there were electric lights on the warehouse ceiling.

"Where is it, where is it?" He walked carefully through the warehouse, afraid that something strange would jump out from the darkness or that he would trip over something on the ground and smash his head open. Finally, in a corner of the warehouse, he found the large knife switch he had been longing for.

"Let me see what's going on first."

"Click"

The switch was pulled down, and the warehouse lights instantly turned on. Ma Zhaodi's vision, which had already adapted to the dark environment, was suddenly blurred by the stimulation of the glaring light.

"Whoa, so the warehouse lights can be this bright."

By the time he clearly saw the small mountain in the warehouse, the system's explanation also popped up from the top of the mountain.

"Heart-Set Fire Arsonist: Please burn all illegal currency in the warehouse. For every 1% burned, you will receive a reward of two hundred dollar asset points."

"Whoa! Why does 'Heart-Set Fire Arsonist' actually mean setting fire?! Why would Harvey Dent do this extra job at night?! Was he already this crazy even before he became Two-Face?!"

Ma Zhaodi vented his shock with three consecutive complaints; the scene before his eyes truly exceeded his shallow knowledge and life experience.

Green hundred-dollar bills were stacked neatly in piles, densely packed without gaps, forming a small green mountain directly in the warehouse. Scattered on the ground were bits and pieces of banknotes; picking up just a few could equal a day's income for Ma Zhaodi.

"Damn, so much counterfeit money—Batman doesn't even care about this?"

Looking at the huge reward on the mission prompt, Ma Zhaodi's heart began to struggle intensely.

(End of Chapter)