Halloween's First Job

"Knock knock knock, knock knock knock."

An urgent, disordered pounding sounded at the door.

"Who's there?"

Footsteps thudded closer. The old woman called out as she walked to the room's door, but no one outside answered.

So she reached out and opened the door, asking again,

"Who is it?"

"Argh!"

A small white shadow suddenly drifted past the doorway. It had no limbs, no body, and not even any facial features. It was an agile ghostly figure with nothing visible but a pair of eyes.

Before she could let out a scream, the white shadow pounced forward and barreled straight into her arms.

Then it hugged her.

"Trick or treat!"

Small shadows swarmed in from every direction. Some wore huge witch hats and carried broomsticks; some wore black robes and held scythes; some had little devil horns and carried pitchforks; there was even one wearing blue clothes and a red cape.

"Oh, darling, Superman doesn't count as a ghost."

Tonight was Halloween. Besides the adults dressed as monsters wandering the streets, children also put on strange costumes and turned themselves into little devils, going door to door to ask for candy. If they were denied, they would cause trouble.

The old woman smiled and took out some candy, turning in a circle as she handed it to the children around her. At that moment, she happened to glance outside and see someone with a pumpkin on his head standing in the street. He was holding another small pumpkin lantern in his hand.

"What an ugly pumpkin." She muttered unconsciously, "Has anyone ever worn such an ugly pumpkin on Halloween before?"

Ma Zhaodi felt a little flustered.

He had merely followed the system's instructions and used the navigation to reach the delivery location. But to be honest, he had never expected the customer to choose this place to receive the pumpkin.

This was Gotham City's Diamond District. It stretched across nearly the entire city from the East End. Just as its name suggested, it was where Gotham's wealthy gathered.

Across Gotham City, the crime rate decreased step by step from north to south. The upper district where the East End lay was the most chaotic and crime-ridden area in all of Gotham, essentially accounting for most of the city's criminal cases.

A little farther south was the area containing Audisburg District and Burnley District, a relatively stable middle district. It was wealthier than the East End, and its crime rate was much lower. Only criminals seeking to pull off something major would usually come here to cause trouble. The crimes committed here were generally major cases capable of affecting the entire city, with bank robberies being the least serious.

At the very southern end of Gotham City was the lower district, where the wealthy Diamond District was located. It had the best public order. The people living there were essentially in a different world from the rest of Gotham. If one looked only at the lower district, perhaps Gotham City might have hope of becoming the city with the lowest crime rate in the world.

But ironically, the biggest gang godfather in all of Gotham, Falcone, and its second-biggest gang leader, Maroni, both lived openly in the Diamond District. So rather than saying that the crime rate here was low, it was more accurate to say that the criminals here were never held accountable.

By now, groups of Halloween revelers dressed as ghosts and monsters were already roaming the dim streets: hulking men wearing hockey masks, knife-wielding masked figures in black robes, clowns with eerie makeup and red balloons, paper-bag heads brandishing chainsaws, zombies with rotting skin, and more.

Each one looked more realistic and terrifying than the last, making him shudder several times despite himself.

He looked at the abstract little pumpkin lantern in his hand. Eerie light shone from the pumpkin's dead-fish eyes, while its snarling mouth had a slightly crooked cut along the corner, as if it were still drooling.

"Would some rich guy really want to buy a pumpkin like this? Can this thing actually scare anyone?"

Just then, a person appeared before him wearing a black bowler hat, a loose trench coat, and rough men's gloves. His face was indistinct. He looked just like the kind of killer from television who would draw a gun at the slightest disagreement, making him one of the many "monsters and demons" on the Halloween streets.

He walked silently to Ma Zhaodi's side and pointed at the little pumpkin lantern in his hand. After paying and taking the pumpkin, he immediately left the district. He did not say a word the entire time, nor did he make any unnecessary sound.

"How can there be such an abstract Halloween cosplay?"

Ma Zhaodi scratched his head, but when he saw the "Mission Complete" prompt on the system, he did not think much more of it. He still had two more jobs to do and had no time to investigate what this mysterious customer wanted.

And so, on that Halloween, an absurdly ugly pumpkin-headed stranger appeared. Wearing a cheap overcoat and oversized men's gloves, he wandered aimlessly through the streets of the Diamond District, looking exactly like one of those nonsensical killers from television and drawing curious onlookers to stop and stare.

"How can there be such an abstract Halloween cosplay?"

The trench-coat man could not help remembering the person who had sold him the pumpkin on the street.

No. This isn't the time to think about that.

His footsteps were light as he quietly climbed the narrow staircase. It was already late at night. Most of the lights in the luxurious mansion had gone out, with only a few scattered rays shining down the second-floor hallway.

He passed through the corridor and groped his way inward. Most of the people in the mansion were already asleep, but loud splashing could faintly be heard from a room upstairs.

The trench-coat man drifted silently toward the source of the sound, like a shark that had caught the scent of blood.

"Creak~"

A hand twisted the faucet beside the bathtub. The water, which had nearly filled the tub, stopped rising. Amid the billowing steam, a figure hummed as he settled into the bath.

The bathroom lights were extremely dim, because the person in the bathtub had recently stopped liking bright light. It made him feel uncomfortable.

"Hmph, that idiot Daniel." He submerged his entire body in the water and could not help humming softly. The warmth seeped through him, enveloping him like darkness, reminding him of how it had felt to shoot that former bank president in the street.

Back then, he had likewise been sheltered by the night and the shadows inside the car. The feeling had been so secure that he had almost become addicted to it.

Of course, he was not always like this. He only enjoyed such darkness after killing someone. Normally, he preferred lavish banquets filled with clinking glasses, beautiful socialites, and the satisfaction of being the center of everyone's attention.

"Creak~"

A sliver of light suddenly fell across his face, making him squint as his eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness.

How did the door open?

The instant the thought appeared, his pupils contracted. He realized what the answer was.

"No—"

"Bang! Bang!"