Heart Arsonist

The Trench Coat Man agonized at the scene for a full three minutes.

It wasn't that he wanted to confirm the fat man's death. Looking at the bathtub completely soaked in blood, with even the water level having risen by an inch or two, he could be absolutely certain that the man had become a dead fat man.

What troubled him was something else.

He looked at the little pumpkin lantern in his hand. The twisted, pained expression seemed to contain a distinct artistic quality, with traces of Millet's classical style, a hint of Monet's Impressionism, Matisse's Fauvism, Munch's Expressionism, Balla's Futurism, Picasso's Cubism, and even Dalí's Surrealism all seemingly represented on the tiny pumpkin. In short—

"This pumpkin is so ugly."

He stared at the pumpkin lantern in conflicted silence for a long while, unable to understand why he had impulsively gone out onto the street and bought such a thing. Once it was left at a murder scene, the first thing the police noticed might not even be the dead fat man in the bathtub.

Still, the thing had indeed been bought on a nearby street, and the person wearing the abstract pumpkin head hadn't exchanged many words with him, so there was no real need to worry about being exposed.

But this pumpkin really was so ugly.

Why hadn't he gone to the convenience store by the roadside to buy a pumpkin lantern? It would have been a little farther away, but at least that thing wouldn't have drawn so much attention at a murder scene.

Besides, this thing was definitely going to lower the style of a deranged killer, right? Absolutely, right? Would it make everyone think the killer was just an ordinary idiot instead of someone special?

After agonizing over it for quite some time, he eventually sighed and placed the ugly pumpkin lantern on the ground, along with a pistol and a broken pacifier.

Whatever. He couldn't exactly go back out to buy another pumpkin lantern and then return.

Ma Zhaodi walked through the dark alley, feeling somewhat conflicted.

He put away his eye-catching Pumpkin Suit. To be honest, he was gradually beginning to understand those superheroes and supervillains who always wore masks. Although it seemed like they were merely putting on a pumpkin head, once their faces were covered, they would realize that they could do anything they normally wouldn't dare to do—and suffer no consequences for it.

It looked like they had put on a mask, but in reality, they had taken one off.

At any rate, Ma Zhaodi had inevitably felt a rush of abandon in that moment—I can do whatever the hell I want—and had even seriously considered snatching candy from a group of children. But he had held himself back, because bullying children was simply too classless.

Besides, he had tried that brand of candy before. It tasted terrible.

In any case, the Pumpkin Head was far too recognizable, which wasn't conducive to the next odd job he had to do.

He picked out the types of cosplay that were most common on the streets, bought a pure-black robe from the system, and put a white ghost-face mask over his face. With countless "monsters and ghosts" roaming the streets, he easily blended into the crowd in this outfit.

Ma Zhaodi threaded his way through the crowds along the street. When he reached the vicinity of a warehouse in Burnley District, he saw the system prompt him that he had arrived at the worksite for his second odd job.

The warehouse doors were tightly locked, but that wasn't a major problem. Ma Zhaodi spent a hundred dollars' worth of Asset Points to find another unconventional route into the warehouse by climbing over the wall. That route also required a certain degree of climbing ability, so he bought a Beginner Climbing skill for one thousand Asset Points.

Looking at the complicated route that twisted and turned, he couldn't help sighing. If he hadn't made so much in tips over the past few days, he really wouldn't have been able to afford those points.

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

Following the route provided by the system, he circled around the warehouse, making turn after turn for quite a while. Fortunately, after removing the white mask, the black robe provided enough concealment at night. As a result, no one on the street saw a long, thin ghostly figure writhing and twisting its way up the warehouse.

The climbing skill was very useful. The posture was a little ugly, but it was sufficiently stealthy and quiet. On top of that, Ma Zhaodi's relatively slender build let him haul himself up directly in quite a few places.

"Bang."

There was a thud as something heavy hit the ground. Ma Zhaodi rolled with the impact and managed a reasonably decent landing. Aside from his back and legs hurting a little, the only thing that worried him was the noise.

He quietly held his breath and observed the area for a long while. The warehouse didn't seem to have anyone stationed there. Even though his landing had sounded rather loud in the empty warehouse, he genuinely couldn't hear anyone approaching from that direction.

"It's best if there's no one. As long as there's no one."

Muttering words to reassure himself, Ma Zhaodi's eyes gradually adapted to the darkness. By the faint starlight filtering dimly into the warehouse, he could vaguely make out what seemed to be a small black mountain in the very center.

"Holy crap, why is it so big?" His eyes widened. "What the hell kind of mission is this? Isn't it supposed to be Heart Arsonist?"

He took out his old phone. It didn't even have a flashlight function, so he could only use the weak glow of its screen to search the warehouse for the light switch and circuit breaker. He had already noticed 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 might suddenly dart out of the darkness, or that he might trip over something and crack his head open. At last, in one corner of the warehouse, he found the large switch he had been searching for.

"Let me see what this is all about first."

"Click."

He pulled down the circuit breaker, and the warehouse's overhead lights immediately blazed to life. Ma Zhaodi's eyes had already adjusted to the darkness, so the sudden, glaring light left his vision a blur.

"Holy crap, the warehouse lights can be this bright?"

When he finally saw the small mountain inside the warehouse clearly, the system's explanatory message also popped up from atop the mountain.

"Heart Arsonist: Please burn all the illegal currency in the warehouse. For every 1% burned, you will receive a reward of two hundred dollars in Asset Points."

"Holy crap! Why does Heart Arsonist actually mean setting things on fire? Why would Harvey Dent come out at night to do this extra work? Was he already this insane before he became Two-Face? Hey!"

Ma Zhaodi fired off three complaints in a row to vent his shock. The sight before him had completely exceeded his shallow knowledge and life experience.

Stacks upon stacks of green hundred-dollar bills had been neatly arranged, packed together so tightly that they formed a small green mountain inside the warehouse. Loose bills were scattered across the floor as well. Picking up just a few would be enough to match Ma Zhaodi's earnings from a full day's work.

"Good lord, there are so many counterfeit bills—is Batman not going to do a damn thing about them?"

Looking at the enormous reward displayed in the mission prompt, Ma Zhaodi's heart began to struggle violently.