"Darn, Victor must think I haven't prepared any candy!" Arrogant couldn't help but roll his eyes.
Billy was dressed up as Master Yoda from Star Wars. Recently, after a period of treatment, he had grown a lot taller. But after all, he still looked like a little kid, wearing that Yoda costume, he was really adorable, especially with those two big, flickering ears.
"The Force, pays tribute to you!" Billy waved a fake lightsaber and then said, "Hurry, trick or treat!"
"Come in," Arrogant said, "there's going to be a children's party later. Aisha might also come. You can have some cake together. Pumpkin flavor."
"Awesome, I love cake!" Billy rushed right in and then said, "My Dad also has a big pumpkin, but they don't even know how to make pumpkin pie, they just roast and eat it. If I had known, I would have dressed up as Darth Vader so I could steal the recipe!"
Arrogant closed the door. Billy kept sniffing his nose, "Wow, I smell a strong cream scent! Is the cake almost done baking? How long before they arrive?!"
"Where did your Dad find this costume?" Arrogant couldn't help asking, "Is he also a Star Wars fan?"
"Of course not, I'm the Star Wars fan! I got two A's in the exams, and he finally agreed to buy it for me! I originally wanted the Jedi Knight outfit, but it was sold out, so only this one was left..."
Billy babbled on and sat on the sofa. Arrogant first gave him some candy to eat slowly. He had originally intended to check how the cake was baking in the kitchen, but in this short time, someone else came for candy.
"Trick or treat... trick or treat..."
Arrogant opened the door and found Ron's daughter Jenny dressed in "My Little Pony" attire or what would later be known as a "Rainbow Dash" outfit. It's a toy series launched by Hasbro in 1983, very popular with kids, and later adapted into movies and animation series.
Arrogant wasn't familiar with this IP, and couldn't tell which specific pony she was dressed as. She wore a light pink outfit with deep pink curly hair on top of her head and seemed to have some blue patterns on her body, looking very cute and it suited her well.
Arrogant walked over and picked her up. Jenny never managed to say the phrase "Trick or treat" because she was actually a very introverted and gentle girl, even just for a festive phrase, she wouldn't threaten others.
Arrogant brought her into the house. Billy perked up as soon as he saw a familiar face. The two of them chattered away eating candy.
Arrogant could feel that Ron must be nearby, maybe secretly protecting Jenny. But he didn't mind; after trimming the hedges, it was easy to see the scene in the living room from outside.
"Trick or treat!" A somewhat familiar voice sounded outside the door. Arrogant opened the door, somewhat helplessly looking at Harley and said, "Miss Quizzer, how old are you?"
"Ha! I traveled miles to bring you candy, and you don't appreciate it." Harley said very unsatisfied, "Do you know how disappointed those kids would be if they didn't get any candy?!"
"You think I didn't prepare any candy?"
"Of course. And even if you did prepare some, it's probably those old-fashioned flavors. Did you buy them from the community store? Those aren't popular with the kids. They like the new flavored candies launched by the food factory where I work the most."
Harley pulled out a basket from behind her and said, "Look, it has Cola chocolate filling, Pop Toffee, Crunchy Gummies, and Sour Worms..."
As soon as she carried the basket in, Billy cheered and rushed over. He said, "It's Skopie candy! This is so delicious!"
"Alright, since you don't welcome me, I'll leave." Harley pretended to be dissatisfied, stomped her foot, and walked out; but when she got to the door, she added, "Just kidding, I have to deliver candy to other old-timers. I suspect James still keeps candies from WWII; I won't let him poison the kids!"
Harley skipped away. Arrogant smiled wryly. He walked over to rummage through the basket Harley brought and couldn't help but admit that they were indeed trendier than the candy he prepared.
The candy wrappers weren't in traditional Halloween colors; some were in iridescent colors, some were made into boxes with ghost patterns, and some even shaped vividly like spiders, and there were more flavors too.
The candies Arrogant had bought were either chocolate or toffee, with the most novel flavor being coffee candies. Although kids like any candy, they probably were tired of these compared to those novel flavors.
"Alright, kids, you can't eat these new flavored candies yet, wait until the other friends arrive." Arrogant took the basket away. Billy seemed a bit dissatisfied, but Jenny apparently preferred the traditional flavors, slowly unwrapping the candy. So Billy quieted down, and the two of them quietly talked about things at school.
Not long after, it was as if a tractor came from the street corner, a mass of noise and a group of bizarre creatures swept down the street. The Schiller's house door was knocked rattling.
"Trick or treat! Open up!!!"
"Trick or treat! The witch is going to cause trouble!!"
"I'm a zombie, I'm a zombie! Hahaha!!"
Arrogant walked over to open the door, and when he saw the leader, he was stunned. That face was quite familiar, it was Aisha, the problem was she was dressed in a Batman costume.
Arrogant couldn't help but hold his forehead. He originally thought Aisha would hastily return, and her costume might be a bit careless, but to his surprise, Bruce and Selina had prepared long in advance. This children's version of the bat suit couldn't have been created in just a day or two.
"Oh my gosh." Arrogant squatted down, carefully observing Aisha, and then realized this bat suit was actually from the Arkham Batman version, the one with lots of metallic accessories, looking extremely cool and shiny. And the lantern she was carrying was a Batmobile, which meant Bruce also knew whose bat suit was the coolest.
"Professor!" Aisha rushed into Arrogant's arms like a cannonball.
"Alright, alright." Arrogant quickly let them in. Once inside the house, he finally got a clear view of the children's costumes.
There were costumes of the King of Seagulls, zombies, and vampires. His main target today was Paul, whose costume wasn't shabby but felt slightly plain. He dressed up as the Iron Man from "The Wizard of Oz," but that outfit wasn't made of iron; it was made from cardboard, on which he had drawn some patterns. It actually looked quite decent, though obviously not as refined as the other children's costumes.
"Ah, Billy, you're here too." Aisha spotted a familiar face and said, "Oh my, new-flavored candies! I want some too!"
Arrogant put down the basket, and the children swarmed around, rummaging through the candies. Arrogant noticed Paul standing at the outermost, clearly unable to squeeze in.
"Alright, you can fill up on candies, and leave the pumpkin, cream cake, and the two flavors of pumpkin pie for others..."
"What? There's cake too?!"
"I want cake!"
"Me too, my mom doesn't let me eat cake!"
"Me too, she wants to pack away all the candies I collected today. She said I'd get cavities!"
"Well, I want cake too!"
They immediately scattered from the table. Arrogant patted the back of the sofa and said, "Everyone sit properly, or there won't be any cake."
They obediently complied and sat down. Paul still sat at the edge, with his head covered by the cardboard, so his expression couldn't be seen, but Arrogant could sense he was quite happy.
Aisha deliberately sat next to him and then said, "Hey, Tin Man, didn't I tell you? This family is the most generous around. I've never had pumpkin cake either."
"You haven't had it either?" Paul's voice sounded muffled.
"That's right, our butler is a British gentleman, although he might be the best old chef in all of England, his taste is too outdated. Can you imagine? Tea cakes. Oh, gosh, they all say it's delicious, but I tasted only bitterness..."
"I don't like tea cakes either," another child said, "I don't know why adults like bitter cakes. And coffee cakes, they don't even bother to add more sugar."
"I bet you haven't tried my grandmother's ginger cake, the ginger flavor could poison my dog..."
They chattered away, and soon, a huge pumpkin-shaped cake was brought to the table. The entire room erupted with excitement as the children started cheering and clapping, asking how it was made.
Greed stood by and slowly explained, "First, we need to bake the cake base, then spread the sauce and cream on it, and finally cover it. As long as you shape it while covering, you can make a pumpkin-shaped cake..."
"Oh, my goodness, you two look so alike." One child took off his mask and looked at them, saying, "Are you twins? My neighbors are twin brothers, and they might look more alike than you two."
"You could think of it that way," Arrogant said.
"Hurry and cut the cake." Aisha's eyes were glued to the cake, and she said, "I've been eating Tiramisu for nearly half a month, darn it, does Italy only have Tiramisu as a dessert?!"
Then they started cutting the cake. It should have been Aisha cutting it, as she was the King of Children, but she deliberately said, "No, this cake's shape is a bit strange, and I don't want cream on my hands, Paul, you do it. Your iron shell can protect you well."
Paul seemed a bit surprised, but he took the cake knife to cut the cake anyway, dividing it into small portions. He shared them very precisely, each person's piece and cream amount nearly identical, so everyone was quite satisfied.
This made Arrogant realize that Paul was a very clever child; he knew how to seize opportunities to secure his position within the group, no wonder he could lure kidnappers into mistakes.
"You're amazing," Billy said, "If it was me, perhaps one person's plate would have no cream, while another's would have a mountain of cream..."
Everyone burst out laughing. Even though Paul was wearing that cardboard mask with holes, you could see he was laughing too.
Greed gave Arrogant a glance. Arrogant nodded and then whispered, "If the device really fell into the lake, it must have been his doing."