Two days later, Ma Zhaodi still went to work at the restaurant, but this time he followed his supervisor's advice and bought a second modified wheelchair to bring to work.
When he arrived at the restaurant, he could tell that his coworkers had noticed he hadn't driven that car to work. Sure enough, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
When Santos and the others saw him come in, they immediately waved at him. "Ma Zhaodi, did you see the news?"
Looking at the newspaper in Santos's hand, he instinctively asked, "What happened? Did Richard Daniel's business come to light?"
Santos's originally animated expression drooped at once. "Huh? You already knew?"
"On my way home from target practice over the weekend, I ran into some poor bastard who'd been shot full of holes. Then, in the middle of the night, I got dragged to the Gotham Police Department to give half a day's worth of statements. I even found out the unlucky guy's name—the president of Gotham Bank."
"Wow, that's so like you." Santos immediately perked up again. "You actually happened to run into something like that? Did you see anything?"
"I'd rather I hadn't. No—apart from half a gun barrel sticking out of a window and a black car with no license plate and reflective film, I didn't see anything." Ma Zhaodi shook his head. "Those people are ruthless enough to kill someone in broad daylight. Curiosity kills cats, and I don't have nine lives."
"Oh, that's true."
Castro took the opportunity to join the conversation. "Instead of worrying about that, how about thinking about something else? Like what to do for Halloween?"
"Oh, speaking of that." Rick immediately grew interested. "Does anyone want to come to my Halloween party? The kind where the supervisor and Donald won't be attending."
Castro immediately cheered, "Hell yeah!"
Ma Zhaodi had never attended an American-style party, but he knew perfectly well that a party attended by gang members probably wouldn't have many upstanding guests. The refreshments would most likely consist of more than just beer and pizza. There would probably be naked revelry and drug-fueled excess too.
"Hard pass." He shook his head. "As you can see, I'm dirt-poor, so I still have to work on Halloween night."
"Hey, don't be such a buzzkill!" Rick shouted unhappily. "We finally get a little time off. Why would anyone voluntarily pick up a side job at a time like this?"
"A man's got to make a living." Ma Zhaodi sighed. "You know I only recently bought a car—"
"Okay, okay." Castro immediately surrendered. Ma Zhaodi was certain that the three of them had shuddered in unison when he mentioned that car.
It was hilarious. They'd just been discussing a Halloween party, but the moment he mentioned driving the Death Car to their homes, they all chickened out. Typical Ye Gong loving dragons.
Still, saying he had work to do wasn't entirely a lie. The system really had given him three odd jobs.
Halloween Pumpkin Lantern Quest Description: Don't overthink it. A customer simply needs a pumpkin lantern. Do a good job and you'll be rewarded; do a bad job and there's no punishment. Note: Low risk, high reward. This job was specially reserved for you. Status: Incomplete (0/1) Reward: A small portable pumpkin lantern that will never go out. Carrying it can scare away some weak demons—don't worry, it isn't a magical item from this world, so no price needs to be paid. Halloween Heart Arsonist Quest Description: Mr. Harvey needs to do some unscheduled work tonight, which means he has no time to accompany his family. Perhaps you can take care of this job for him? Note: In Gotham City, some jobs make money through courage. Mr. Ma, do you want to remain an unknown nobody, or do you want to make a name for yourself? Status: Incomplete (0%) Reward: Calculated according to quest completion. Every percentage point converts into 200 dollars' worth of Asset Points. Halloween Delivery Service Quest Description: You might not believe it, but in Gotham City, there really are people living even worse lives than Gordon, Harvey, and even Batman. To such unfortunate people, an extra-large Burger King delivery is like celebrating the New Year. Note: Born on Monday, baptized on Tuesday, married on Wednesday, fell ill on Thursday, critically ill on Friday, died on Saturday, buried in the ground on Sunday—their whole life carried through to the end. Remember to bring a gas mask. Status: Incomplete (0/1) Reward: Intermediate Cooking Mastery, plus the customer's friendship.
Working three jobs in one night—even the King of Hell would have to praise my excellent health.
But the quests' rewards really were excellent: a little demon-repelling pumpkin lantern that would never go out, up to twenty thousand dollars' worth of Asset Points, and Intermediate Cooking Mastery. Intermediate Cooking Mastery cost a full three thousand Asset Points in the shop—five hundred more than Intermediate Driving Mastery.
"One delivery quest is worth half a month of hard labor. Sigh... Even odd jobs have their differences."
Of course I'm doing them. Anyone who could resist this opportunity would have to be a god.
Thus, during the break for the staff meal, the restaurant workers discovered that someone was holding a pumpkin and a carving knife, constantly gesturing and measuring.
"Hey, Ma Zhaodi, where'd you get that pumpkin?" Santos sat down beside him with an apple in hand. "You didn't take it from the kitchen, did you?"
"This is mine. Aren't we forbidden from taking ingredients from the kitchen?" Ma Zhaodi answered casually. The carving knife flashed up and down in his hand, shaving off pieces of skin and flesh from the small pumpkin.
"You're making a pumpkin lantern?"
"Yeah. It's Halloween today. Maybe someone will buy a few pumpkin lanterns if I make them to sell."
"Uh..."
"What is it?"
Rick happened to walk by and glanced at the pumpkin in Ma Zhaodi's hands. As the carving knife continued to work, a grimacing, awkward face slowly emerged on its surface.
"Is this... your first time carving a pumpkin lantern?"
"Is it ugly? I think I did a pretty good job."
Ma Zhaodi examined the little pumpkin in his hands. Its twisted, pained expression seemed to contain a distinctive artistic quality: a trace of Miller's classical style, a hint of Monet's Impressionism, the Fauvism of Matisse, the Expressionism of Munch, the Futurism of Balla, the Cubism of Picasso, and the Surrealism of Dalí all seemed to have found expression in that tiny pumpkin. In short—
"What an ugly pumpkin lantern." Rick ruthlessly criticized it. "It's easily the ugliest pumpkin lantern I've ever seen in my life."
Ma Zhaodi shrugged. "It's just a pumpkin lantern. If I carve it to be funny-looking, maybe more people will come buy it. There are already plenty of good-looking pumpkin lanterns, but very few this ugly. You have to take an unconventional approach to stand out."
"Fine. Gotham isn't short on weirdos anyway. Maybe someone really will like a pumpkin lantern like this. Speaking of which, have you considered carving a giant pumpkin? A Pumpkin Head this ugly would probably be terrifying."
"Good idea. When the time comes, I'll wear this Pumpkin Head and steal candy from children."
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