bookbashuk Chapter 4135 When the Pumpkin Ripens (7)
Chapter 4135 When the Pumpkin Ripens (7)
Chapter 4135 When the Pumpkins Ripen (Seventeen)
Greed was still working on the field, while Pride and Barry were carving pumpkins inside the house. The work was actually quite simple: just draw the basic shape with a knife, then scoop out all the pumpkin flesh. However, since they were going to eat the scooped-out parts, they had to wear gloves and keep them very clean.
Because the pumpkin was a bit too big, the two worked together: Barry stood on the table and carved the eyes of the pumpkin face, while Pride carved the mouth underneath. Then they started talking about the lake.
“I completely understand why you want to move here, Professor. The old manor was indeed nice, very large, and had a beautiful garden, but artificial scenery can’t compare to nature. The lake must be beautiful at sunset.”
"Yes, it's not a simple warm color, it's completely different from the sunset on the west coast. It's not so intense, but rather has a Gotham-like desolation. You've seen those old buildings on Green Street, right? They're like they've poured hundreds of years of history, from when the Irish first set foot on this land until now, into the lake."
"It really didn't collapse?" Barry muttered to himself.
"what?"
"It's nothing, I mean, it's a very apt description. It's a very cold lake. I heard the streams flow into the Gotham River, or even directly into the sea?"
“They will all flow into the river and then into the sea.” Arrogance paused for a moment before saying, “A long, long time ago, there was a factory here that produced gold mining equipment, but it moved away quickly and was then developed into a community.”
"A factory producing gold mining equipment? Could it be from the gold rush era?"
"It seems so. But that was just a temporary craze, it didn't last long, so the factory was gone soon."
Will they discharge sewage here?
"I'm not entirely sure. But there's always some wastewater from industrial production, especially gold mining, which involves some chemical treatment. You should know more about this than I do."
“Sewage will pollute the water, right?” Barry seemed to be asking himself. “Well, considering the pollution level in Gotham, this place should be relatively light, otherwise it wouldn’t have been developed into a residential community.”
"Yes, because it was a long time ago, and compared to other chemical plants, the gold mining equipment plant existed for a very short time and caused little pollution."
“Well…” Barry sighed, “have you seen anything strange, Professor?”
"On the lake? No, of course not. Otherwise, why would I have moved here?"
Barry realized he was thinking wrong: if the lake already had a monster from the beginning, the professor would never have moved there, because he hates trouble; therefore, if the monster appeared after he moved there, it couldn't be unrelated to him.
“Alright, Professor, I’ll get straight to the point.” Barry paused for a moment before continuing, “There’s a rumor that there’s a monster in this lake. So, suppose some very important equipment fell in, and we might need an entire underwater operation to retrieve it, which will inevitably cause some disruption. And you…”
Before he could finish speaking, Arrogance turned and shouted towards the back door, "Greed!"
Greed walked in carrying a shovel and said, "As long as the compensation is right, everything is negotiable. What methods do you plan to use to retrieve the items? Pumping water, or hiring divers?"
“If the water in this lake flows into the Gotham River, then pumping water might be impossible, as it could affect the Gotham River’s flow rate. However, divers might not be able to defeat the monsters beneath the lake, so we might need to call in an engineering team to create an underwater working space…”
“This is a huge project,” Greed said. “Give me your detailed project plan, and I will find a professional testing agency to evaluate it, but you will need to bear the testing fees.”
“No problem.” Barry breathed a sigh of relief. “We can discuss the details of compensation after the engineering plan and assessment results are available. As long as the project can proceed smoothly, that’s fine.”
Greed smiled and said, "In fact, if I weren't here, he probably wouldn't even accept the compensation. He might have chosen to go on vacation somewhere else for a few weeks, thus perfectly avoiding the construction period."
“Oh, believe me,” Barry quickly said to Arrogance, “whoever it is, I will definitely fight for compensation for him. Because this could be a big project, and the noise and light pollution it generates will have a certain impact on the surrounding residents, so compensation is due.”
"You should consider how you plan to pass environmental regulations if there is such significant pollution. Although I won't sue you, there are other residents in this community, and the church and various environmental committees will definitely be involved in this project. If you can't convince them, everything else is pointless."
Barry's head started throbbing again at the thought: what they were trying to salvage was important, but they didn't know exactly what it was; persuading these departments to proceed with the project was an impossible task.
“It’s all up to Brainiac,” Barry said. “If he can give us a detailed analysis, maybe he can convince them. Hopefully, we can learn more from the killer and the victim.”
“I can meet with the victim,” Arrogant said. “If I endorse his testimony, it might be more helpful for you to prove the importance of the device. But such a meeting must be unofficial, otherwise I risk violating child protection regulations.”
Barry's eyes lit up immediately. He was well aware of Schiller's capabilities, of course, and the reason he hadn't done so before wasn't because he'd forgotten, but because it was the holidays, and he couldn't expect someone to work overtime for free; moreover, as Arrogance had said, contacting child victims was a very sensitive matter, and if defined as illegal interrogation, they would all be in deep trouble. Barry didn't want to drag anyone else into it.
“Paul isn’t valued by his family, but in our investigation, he got along well with a few kids in the neighborhood, and he doesn’t live far from here. We can persuade the local church to organize them to go trick-or-treating in the surrounding community, so they’ll come to your house, and you can give them candy, or invite them into your room to rest for a while and chat about the lake monster.”
“That’s a good idea,” Greed nodded, “but it would be best to have one of your own in the group of children.”
Arrogance pulled out his phone and said, "I need to call and ask Elsa. She's having a blast in Italy with Zatanna, it's time for her to come back to school."
"She went to Italy?"
"Yes, she didn't participate in the multiverse war, and then went on vacation to Italy with Zatanna, who also didn't participate. But they were supposed to be back before Halloween, and I don't know why they haven't returned yet."
Arrogance quickly received a reply, then looked up and said, "They've landed. If they hurry, they might still make it in time to dress up for Halloween. Selena can use the crew's makeup to do Aisha's makeup."
Barry immediately said, "Driving is too slow, I'll go pick them up. It would be even better if Aisha could bring Paul and the others to ask for candy."
After he left, Arrogance thought for a moment and said, "Alberto is back, and Zatanna and Aisha's return has also been delayed. Has something happened in Italy?"
It was past 1 p.m. when Arrogance finally finished carving the pumpkin. Because it was too late to cook, they had to eat at the community restaurant.
The neighborhood restaurant wasn't crowded, but thankfully it was still serving. Arrogance ordered lamb ribs, while Greed ordered steak with mashed potatoes. They ate their meal and then started preparing dinner.
Because the children might come over, they needed to prepare some food, specifically food that the children would love, to make it easier to chat and get information out of them. So they decided to make some pumpkin-themed desserts, adding a lethal amount of sugar, to give the children an overly sweet Halloween.
“First up is the pumpkin pie,” Greed said as he started the blender. “We can make two flavors: one is a creamy and sweet pumpkin pie, and the other is an English pumpkin pie with raspberry jam and blackcurrant.”
"I think we could make a pumpkin cream, would that affect the whipping process?"
“Most pumpkin cream uses flavoring. If you use fresh pumpkin, you must make sure it is completely fiber-free, otherwise it will be very difficult to whip. We can make a little bit to try first.”
They began preparations. The methods for making these desserts were all similar: the pumpkin definitely had to be pureed, especially this type of pumpkin, which had more fiber than regular young pumpkins, so it had to be pureed repeatedly and sieved to ensure that there was no fiber left, otherwise it wouldn't taste good.
Creamy pumpkin pie is the easiest to make: just mix pumpkin, heavy cream, sugar, and a little cream cheese to enhance the aroma, then bake it in the oven.
The experiment with pumpkin cream was a success: not only did I make a very fluffy pumpkin cream, but I also made pumpkin-flavored custard and buttercream. Both pumpkin and cream have a strong aroma, so theoretically, there should be a more palatable cake base, such as ginger cake or Earl Grey cake. However, children don't like these flavors; they prefer cakes that are sweeter and richer than sweet. So, I greedily chose a melon-flavored cake, added raisins, and then layered cake, custard, cake, and pumpkin cream, finally topping it with small sculptures made of meringue.
Arrogance unpacked all the Halloween candies he had bought. These candies were specially prepared for Halloween, with Halloween colors on the packaging, plus some small patterns, and some were deliberately made into pumpkin shapes or had glow-in-the-dark ghost faces or something like that.
He took a basket, lined it with a yellow and purple cloth, poured all the sugar into it, and placed it at the entrance. He also wanted to hang LED strips on the porch, put pumpkins on it, and ideally write signs like "Sugar Here" or "Witch's House" or "Zombies Await Your Visit."
According to custom, children will only go trick-or-treating to houses whose doors are decorated; if the lights are turned off early and it's pitch black, children won't knock on the door. So if you don't want to celebrate Halloween, just turn off the lights early.
By the time they had prepared the desserts and candies, it was already dark. The two of them thought they would have to wait a while longer before anyone came, but unsurprisingly, someone assumed Schiller hadn't prepared any candy, so they sent someone to knock on the door early on.
"Trick or treat!" came a shout from outside.
Schiller went over and opened the door, only to find Billy standing there.