Happy Halloween, Grundy

"Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday!"

Was Solomon Grundy born on a Monday? Nobody knew.

All Ma Zhaodi could confirm was that he had died in the 19th century, specifically in 1894. A century had passed since his corpse was dumped in the swamp, and now this monster had resurrected from the swamp with a new name.

"Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday!"

He sang the nursery rhyme he'd heard as a child, seeing himself as Solomon Grundy from the story, because it was the only name he could recall from his few remaining memories.

His pale body was like that of a corpse, his tattered clothes reeking of foul odor. Powerful muscles bulged, veins surfacing on them. His ferocious, square face bore a natural malevolence. A terrifying living dead had descended upon the world.

Watching the nearly three-meter-tall behemoth charging through the sewer, Ma Zhaodi's heart began to pound. The half-ton monster running created a terrifying pressure with its vibrations and thunderous noise, like a speeding truck, and its destination was Ma Zhaodi himself.

"I stumbled and ran to you~"

The familiar melody involuntarily echoed in Ma Zhaodi's mind.

"Damn it, now is not the time for voice acting!"

He immediately began frantically searching the shop. Upon finding Rapid Life Recovery, he immediately chose to use it on Solomon.

"Apologies, the target's life form is too unusual. Rapid Life Recovery can only restore it to a normal state for a limited time. The duration for the current target is twenty-four hours. Confirm purchase?"

What a joke! Twenty-four hours, ten thousand asset points, are you trying to rob me?

Besides, "normal state" probably means the state of a corpse, right? How would he eat burgers then? Would I have to force them into a corpse's mouth?

Ma Zhaodi had to find another solution. The opponent possessed superhuman strength, endurance, and immortality. He was impervious to blades and bullets, and healed rapidly—perhaps it was superhuman-level ability, or perhaps it was beyond normal human levels, but it made no difference to Ma Zhaodi.

Either way, he'd die in one punch.

"What should I do? Is there anything that can control Solomon, or anything that can make him temporarily abandon his hostility towards me?"

Solomon's footsteps grew closer. His massive size gave him a large stride, resulting in a not-slow straight-line running speed. In just over ten seconds, he had already entered the range of the jack-o'-lantern's light.

"Damn it, hurry! Hurry!"

Ma Zhaodi frantically searched the retrieval system. Suddenly, he spotted an item, and his eyes lit up.

"Halloween Pumpkin Head

Price: $200

Description: Trick or treat!

Description 2: This product is suitable for all ages. Children can wear it to ask for candy, and adults can wear it to ask children for candy.

Description 3: Adults? What a loser!

Special Effect: This service can be purchased using a homemade pumpkin. The carving effect of the pumpkin provides a bonus to the effectiveness of this product."

Ma Zhaodi immediately clicked to purchase. The pumpkin headgear he had originally received from the system suddenly lit up with inspiration—items bought from the system store could be stored in the system. This pumpkin was something he had bought from the system, and he had made it into a headgear. He hadn't expected that, perhaps because it was ugly enough, it could still be recognized as a system item after being processed and could be stored directly.

After Ma Zhaodi bought the "Halloween Pumpkin Head," the item's name immediately changed.

When he first bought it, its name was "Pumpkin." After carving and processing, its name became "Ugly Pumpkin Headgear," and now, its name was "Sanity-Dropping Ugly Pumpkin Headgear."

The word "ugly" was apparently fixed.

Solomon Grundy was originally charging towards the intruder within his territory, but just as he was about to collide with him, he suddenly saw him turn his head.

No, that wasn't a head. It was a ferocious, terrifying, ugly pumpkin monster, letting out a ghostly, sinister laugh at the charging Grundy.

It turned out the person holding the pumpkin had no facial features, not even a head. Only several hollowed-out cavities replaced the eyes, nose, and mouth. A strange light shone from the cavities on its head, staring directly at Grundy.

Its features seemed alive, making various expressions and movements. Its huge pumpkin mouth stretched into a wide grin, and its round eyes narrowed slightly, as if mocking Grundy for falling into its trap.

"No head! No head! Pumpkin man!"

Grundy immediately slammed on the brakes with all his might. His memory was almost completely lost, and his reason and intelligence had followed suit. His IQ and thinking ability were almost equivalent to that of a young child. He didn't understand what was good or bad, but similarly, it was difficult for most people to persuade him with complex logic and considerations of gain and loss—but today, his luck was bad.

Because he happened to encounter a scoundrel who was very good at bullying children.

"Grundy! Grundy! Solomon Grundy!"

The pumpkin man's voice was eerie and terrifying, just like the monsters in fairy tales that specialized in eating children. It walked towards Grundy step by step. The light from the jack-o'-lantern it held suddenly turned a cold, eerie green, as if burning with a ghostly flame.

"Born on Monday, baptized on Tuesday!"

"No, no! Grundy doesn't want to! Pumpkin man, don't come near!"

"Married on Wednesday, sick on Thursday!"

Its voice grew louder and louder, almost deafening. Fear immediately filled the big guy's heart. He watched Ma Zhaodi, who was walking towards him unhurriedly, his eyes wide open, his whole body trembling. His body stiffened, and he turned to flee.

"Died on Friday, passed on Saturday!"

A thudding sound rang out. The big guy, with his back to the terrifying pumpkin man behind him, turned and began to run at full speed. At this moment, he just wanted to escape the eerie green light and the terrifying guy chanting his name.

"Buried on Sunday, to walk the earth forever!"

"Solomon Grundy! Buried on Sunday, to walk the earth forever!"

"No--!"

"Bang!"

Fear made his already zombie-like legs even stiffer and more numb. Grundy fell to the ground with a thud. When he looked back, the pumpkin man holding the lantern had already reached him.

He trembled, closed his eyes, and curled himself up, but he didn't wait for the pumpkin head's gaping maw.

"Huh?"

When he opened his eyes, he found that the pumpkin head had just placed a bag on the ground. An enticing aroma wafted from the bag, smelling better than the rats and garbage he had eaten.

"Solomon Grundy, Happy Halloween."