*Chapter 35: Arsonist of Hearts*

The figure in the trench coat just stood there at the scene, wrestling with something for a good three minutes.

It wasn't about confirming the big guy was dead. Looking at the bathtub completely filled with blood, with the water level even rising an inch or two, they were absolutely sure this dude was stone-cold dead.

Something else was bugging them.

They stared at the little jack-o'-lantern in their hand. The twisted, pained expression carved into it seemed to have some weird artistic vibe mixed in. A bit of Millet's classicism, maybe a touch of Monet's impressionism, hints of Matisse's fauvism, Munch's expressionism, Balla's futurism, and Picasso's cubism seemed to all be crammed onto this little pumpkin. To put it mildly—

"This pumpkin is seriously ugly..."

They stared at the jack-o'-lantern, genuinely confused, for ages, trying to figure out why they had a brain-fade moment and bought this thing on the street. If they left this at a murder scene, the cops might even notice the ugly pumpkin before the dead guy in the tub.

But yeah, they did buy it on a nearby street, and the person wearing an abstract pumpkin head didn't give them any grief, so there wasn't really any worry about getting traced.

Still, this pumpkin was really ugly.

Why didn't I just swing by a corner store and grab a jack-o'-lantern? It would've been a bit out of the way, sure, but at least that thing wouldn't stick out like a sore thumb at a murder scene.

Plus, this thing has gotta lower a twisted killer's street cred, right? Absolutely, right? Is this gonna make everyone think the killer is just some random goofball instead of someone special?

After struggling with it for a good while, they finally sighed. They ended up placing the ugly jack-o'-lantern, along with a handgun and a broken pacifier, on the ground anyway.

Guess this is how it's gotta be. Can't exactly step out to buy a new jack-o'-lantern and come back.

***

Cody walked through the dark alley, feeling a little weirded out.

He'd packed away his eye-catching pumpkin getup. Honestly, he was starting to get why those superheroes or supervillains always wore masks. Even though he just had a pumpkin head on, once his face was covered, he realized he could do anything he wouldn't normally dare to do, and there'd be no consequences.

It seemed like he was putting on a mask, but really, he was taking one off.

Anyway, Cody couldn't help but feel that "I can bleeping do whatever I want" kind of freedom in that moment. He seriously considered going to snatch candy from a bunch of kids—but he held back. Bullying kids felt way too low.

Besides, he'd tried that brand of candy before; it wasn't good.

Bottom line, that pumpkin head was way too recognizable for his next gig.

He scoped out the most common types of cosplay on the street and bought a pure black robe from the system. He also put on a white ghost-face mask. With so many "freaks and monsters" out on the street tonight, he blended right into the crowd easily in this getup.

Cody weaved his way through the crowds on the street. When he got near a warehouse in the Burnley district, he saw the system notify him that he'd arrived at the location for his second gig.

The warehouse door was locked tight, but that wasn't a huge deal. Cody spent a hundred asset points from the system to find another unconventional route – climbing over the wall. This route also required a certain level of climbing ability, so he bought a basic climbing skill for a thousand asset points.

Looking at the winding, complicated route, he couldn't help but sigh. If he hadn't earned so much in tips over the past few days, he really couldn't have afforded these points.

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

He followed the route the system gave him, circling the warehouse, making a bunch of turns for a while. Luckily, after taking off the white mask, the black robe the system gave him was enough to stay hidden in the dark. This meant folks on the street didn't see a thin, ghostly figure awkwardly scaling the warehouse wall.

The climbing skill worked great. His climbing posture might've been kinda ugly, but it was super hidden and quiet. Plus, with Cody's relatively slender build, he could just pull himself up in a lot of spots.

Bang

A heavy thud echoed. Cody rolled as he landed, pulling off a pretty decent fall. Besides his back and legs hurting a little, the only thing that worried him was the noise.

He quietly held his breath and listened for a while, but the warehouse didn't seem to have anyone guarding it. Even though his landing sounded pretty loud in the empty space, he definitely didn't hear anyone moving towards his location.

"Nobody here is best, nobody here is fine..."

Muttering reassurances to himself, Cody's eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness. Using the faint, scattered starlight that seeped into the warehouse, he could vaguely make out what looked like a small black mountain in the center of the room.

"Holy cow, why is it so big?" His eyes widened involuntarily. "What the heck is this mission? Isn't this supposed to be 'Arsonist of Hearts'?"

He pulled out his old cell phone. This phone didn't even have a flashlight function. He could only use the screen's weak light to search for the light switch in the warehouse. He'd noticed the lights on the ceiling when he climbed down.

"Where is it, where is it..." He walked carefully through the warehouse, afraid of something weird jumping out in the dark or tripping over something and busting his head open. Finally, he found the main power switch he was looking for in a corner of the warehouse.

"Let me just see what the deal is first."

Click

He pulled the switch down, and the main lights in the warehouse immediately flickered on. Cody's eyes had adjusted to the dark, and now they were blurred by the sudden, blinding light.

"Whoa, I seriously... I didn't know warehouse lights could be this bright."

As he finally got a clear look at the 'small mountain' in the warehouse, the system's explanation conveniently popped up from it.

*"Arsonist of Hearts: Please burn all illegal currency in the warehouse. For every 1% burned, you will receive a two hundred dollar asset point reward."*

"Holy cow! Why the heck is 'Arsonist of Hearts' literally about setting fires?! Why would Harvey Dent be doing this kind of side hustle at night?! Was he already this crazy before he became Two-Face, seriously?!"

Cody rattled off three complaints in a row to vent his shock. The scene in front of him was way beyond his limited knowledge and life experience.

Stacks and stacks of green hundred-dollar bills were neatly piled together, dense and tightly packed, forming a solid green mountain right there in the warehouse. Scattered loose bills lay on the ground; picking up just a few would equal Cody's entire day's earnings.

"Seriously? This much counterfeit cash—is Batman even doing anything about this?!"

Looking at the massive reward shown in the mission prompt, Cody's inner struggle began intensely.