Chapter 4125: When the Pumpkins Ripen (18)

When the fireplace burned vigorously, the atmosphere in the house began to become more and more enthusiastic. The children kept stuffing cake into their mouths while chattering and exchanging information about the cartoon characters they were dressed as. Sometimes they were talking at cross-purposes, but they didn't care. Even if one person was talking to themselves, they could talk for a long time.

Arrogance gave Aisha a look, wanting her to steer the topic to the surrounding natural environment. But just at this moment, the door was knocked again.

Arrogance raised his eyebrows; he didn't think there was anyone else who would come to ask for candy at this time. After opening the door, an exceptionally burly figure stood outside the door, and it was indeed Jason Todd.

"God, you look like a genuine Englishman." Arrogance looked him over and said.

When Jason was still in Gotham, he especially liked to wear those biker-style clothes, either leather jackets or hoodies, which was completely inconsistent with his literary youth essence. After going to England for study, he actually started wearing sweaters and trench coats, and even wore a plaid scarf, and even wore glasses.

He wore a light brown sweater, paired with dark gray jeans, and then a long, slim-fit black trench coat, wearing a Scottish plaid scarf, and even wearing glasses.

"God, stop making fun of me, Professor. Selina has been laughing at me for half an hour." Jason shook his head somewhat helplessly and walked into the door.

"You haven't lost too much weight, that's not bad." Arrogance closed the door and said, "How come you thought of coming over at this time?"

"Actually, I should have landed yesterday, but flights in London were delayed on a large scale yesterday, so I had to change my ticket, so I just arrived." Jason sighed, shook his head, and said helplessly.

"I thought you came back specifically to see if I had prepared candy." Arrogance grabbed a handful of candy from the basket next to him and placed it in his hand. Jason looked carefully and said: "God, what flavor is this? What the hell is lemon sour bean?"

"If you don't like eating these new-style candies, there are classic flavors over there. This seems to be a new product launched by the food factory where Harley works..."

Arrogance said while Jason peeled the candy wrapper and threw the candy into his mouth, and then his entire facial features wrinkled together.

"God, why is it so sour?!"

"When you read the name, you should have known." Arrogance smiled and said.

The children ran to the backyard to see the pumpkins, and they sat down by the fireplace. Arrogance served him a piece of pumpkin pie, and Jason ate it ravenously.

"How is England?"

"Terrible." Jason said bluntly, "Cloudy, cloudy, cloudy. Rain, rain, rain. Fish and chips, blood pudding, shepherd's pie. I'm really fed up."

"What about the teaching level?"

"Not that great either. I feel like I'm attending the Queen's knighting ceremony of the last century, spending half the time listening to them give speeches."

"I think this has the atmosphere of classical literature."

"I don't deny it, but if every one of your mornings is in gloomy weather, listening to those sleepy speeches, you won't have any high enthusiasm for learning either. I can persist until now, purely because their tuition is too expensive."

"Yes, especially when that tuition is earned by yourself. Do you have holidays for Halloween too?"

"Yes, we have three days off, but because the old professor is sick, we can actually have half a month off, as long as we pass the exam at the end."

"That's quite good, have you thought about where to go to play?"

"No, I don't have time to play, I must go to work." Jason sighed again and said, "The cost of living in Oxfordshire is not cheap, my points were not enough to use, and there are many places where cash is needed, I must find a job that can cover my cash living expenses."

"Have you applied to Brainiac?"

"Yes, but you also know, this major of classical literature, besides becoming a classical literature scholar, has no other way out. I am already prepared to do some manual labor."

"Don't be too pessimistic, Brainiac might just not know your talents well enough. If you don't mind, perhaps you can ask Barry if he is short of manpower there."

"Isn't he working in Los Angeles?"

"No, he returned to Gotham, their office—the Behavioral Science Analysis Unit, has set up an office on Green Street, and across the street is Amanda's Federal Shield."

"Shit." Jason evaluated truthfully, "If I have to choose to be neighbors with Amanda, then I would rather endure the high cost of living in Los Angeles."

"Do you know what they are doing?"

"Aren't they all doing odd jobs for Brainiac?" Jason thought for a moment and said, "What behavioral science analysis expert can compare to Brainiac?"

"Actually, there is one; they have encountered some trouble recently." Arrogance paused slightly and said, "Someone used a mysterious device to deceive Brainiac's surveillance cameras, thereby creating four child kidnapping cases. Although there are currently no children harmed, this is not a way to go on like this."

Jason was slightly interested, he leaned his body forward, rested his elbows on his knees, and said: "Someone can deceive Brainiac?"

"Yes, we initially suspect it might be alien technology, but before getting real evidence, no one can say for sure. In this situation, they should be very short of people. After all, because of Brainiac's existence, the FBI laid off more than 60% of ordinary employees, and these employees were arranged by Brainiac to other organizational positions, and they can't be transferred back for a while."

Jason's eyes turned, he seemed a bit tempted. So he opened his mobile phone, and before he could ask Brainiac, Brainiac popped up a salary report on the screen for him.

Jason immediately widened his eyes, coughed, and said: "Ahem, the culprits of these child kidnapping cases are really too much. Although I am not any professional, if I can make a contribution to this case, I will not refuse."

Then he chatted with Brainiac on his mobile phone, seeming to be asking about the specific progress of the case. Just like that, he finished a whole piece of pumpkin pie, let out a satisfied sigh, and said: "I really can't get used to English food, whether it's a famous restaurant in London or a village restaurant in Oxfordshire, I can't find a delicious dish."

"Then you can look forward to the Halloween banquet later." Arrogance glanced at his watch, "It's not even seven o'clock in the evening, and the banquet doesn't start until eight o'clock, they can still wait a while."

At this time, a group of children ran in from the backyard. Fortunately, Greed didn't let them step on the mud, their shoes were clean, so they ran from the backyard to the front yard in one go, and no one came to stop them.

Aisha led the way, followed by Billy, and Paul was still the last one in the team. Just as the children all ran to the front door, Paul slowed down, walked to Arrogance's side and said: "Thank you, Professor, you are a good person. That is the best cake I have ever eaten."

"You're welcome, Mr. Austin, do you want to take some candy with you?"

A look of hesitation appeared on Paul's face, but he still beckoned to Arrogance. Arrogance squatted down, and then Paul whispered a few words. Arrogance nodded and took another handful of candy from the basket next to him.

Paul ran to the front door, waved at him, and then ran out to chase the children in front.

"What did he say?"

Arrogance shook his head, just pointing at Jason and saying: "A person who drinks and gambles has no bottom line; if there is a chance to exchange things around him for money, morality cannot restrain them."

Jason seemed to understand something too. He turned his head to look out the window. The children hadn't run far yet, seeming to be studying the newly trimmed hedge in Schiller's courtyard. The light from the porch flowed over their faces, flowing over their light golden hair and eyelashes, blue, green, brown eyes, like spring streams, summer evening winds, not seeing a trace of sadness and haze, as if out of place with this city, and as if dancing with it.

This made Jason think of the days when he was a child, but it wasn't a bad feeling. He was surprised to find that those days of running around in the mud, barely eating enough in leaky basements, walking between muddy houses, with ice and grass clippings on the edges of his shoes, also showed a bit of cuteness under the erosion of time. Compared to the total sweetness tasted by these carefree children today, finding joy in bitterness is another kind of fun.

However, he was still very happy that the children no longer had to run around for food, no longer had to walk the streets like a group of little mice, widening their eyes, tightening their nerves, and guarding against stray bullets at all times.

They walked in the night with smiles, counting the differences in every family's fence, noisy knocking on every family's door, getting so much candy that they piled their baskets into a small mountain, turning this festival that originally carried a bit of horror into something as bright as the lake surface in the afternoon, like honey in April, wheat fields in June, chestnuts and pumpkins in September.

Arrogance walked over to pull the curtains, took the souvenir that had been prepared before, and looked down at his watch. If they set off now, they should just happen to catch the start of the banquet.

"Let's go," he said to Jason, "Everyone hasn't seen you for a long time; seeing your changes, they will be very surprised."

Jason laughed, put on his hat, and walked into the car. On the way to the manor, almost every household lit up their porch, some filled with big pumpkins, some with witch hats and scarecrows, some with small pumpkin and bat light decorations, and some even painted their front doors in yellow and purple.

One team after another of children ran wildly on the street, sometimes going to knock on this family's door, sometimes going to study that family's pumpkin. Social workers and pastors followed helplessly behind them, helping them pick up the candy that fell out.

However, near the manor, it wasn't that lively. Most of the residents here had moved away, but because most of the houses were old and belonged to protected buildings, Brainiac seemed

Then they began to cut the cake. It should have been Aisha, as she was the leader of the children, but she deliberately said, "No, the shape of this cake is a bit strange, and I don't want cream getting on my hands. Paul, you do it. That iron shell of yours can protect you quite well."

Paul seemed a bit surprised, but he took the cake knife and cut the cake, then divided it into small portions. He portioned them very precisely; the size and amount of cream for everyone were about the same, so everyone was very satisfied.

This made Pride realize that Paul was a very smart child; he knew how to seize opportunities to secure his status within the group. No wonder he was able to lure the kidnappers into making mistakes.

"You're so amazing," Billy said, "If it were me, maybe one person's plate wouldn't have any cream, and then another person's plate would have a mountain of cream..."

Everyone laughed. Although Paul was wearing that paper shell mask with a few holes poked in it, one could see that he was laughing too.

Greed gave Pride a look. Pride nodded, then whispered, "If that device really fell into the lake, it must have been intentional on his part."