Greed was still working on that piece of land, while Arrogant and Barry were carving pumpkins inside the house. The task was actually quite simple: first, use a knife to sketch out the basic shape, then scoop out all the pumpkin guts from inside the shape. However, since they intended to eat the scooped-out part, they had to wear gloves and make sure the inside was clean.
Because the pumpkin was a bit large, the two of them worked together: Barry stood on the table to carve the eyes of the pumpkin's ghostly face, while Arrogant carved the mouth from below. Then, they started talking about the matter of the lake.
"I can completely understand why you want to move here, Professor. The original estate was indeed nice, with lots of space and a beautiful garden, but man-made scenery still can't compare to the natural. At sunset, that lake must be stunning."
"Yes, it's not the kind of simple warm tones you see on the West Coast sunsets. It's not so intense, but carries a sort of Gotham-like desolation. You've seen the old buildings on Green Street, right? They're like hundreds of years of time since the Irish set foot on this land poured into the lake."
"Did they really not pour it in?" Barry mumbled.
"What?"
"Nothing, I mean, it's a very fitting description. It's a very cold lake. I heard the streams flow into the Gotham River, or is it directly into the sea?"
"They flow into the river, then go into the sea together," Arrogant paused before saying. "Long, long ago, there was a factory producing gold mining equipment here, but it soon moved away, and then it was developed into a community."
"A gold mining equipment factory? Could it be from the gold rush era?"
"It seems so. But after all, it was just a temporary boom that couldn't last long, so the factory soon disappeared."
"Did they dump waste here?"
"It's not very clear. But producing industrial equipment always generates some wastewater, especially gold mining, which involves some chemical processing. You should know more about this than I do."
"The wastewater would pollute the water body, right?" Barry seemed to be asking himself, he said, "Given Gotham's pollution situation, this place should be relatively light, or it wouldn't have been developed into a residential community."
"Yes, because it was so long ago, and compared to other chemical plants, the gold mining equipment factory existed for a very short time, so the pollution wasn't significant."
"So..." Barry sighed and said, "Have you ever seen anything strange, Professor?"
"On the lake? No, of course not. Otherwise, why would I move here?"
Barry felt his line of reasoning was wrong: if this lake had a monster from the beginning, the Professor would never have moved here, because he's very afraid of trouble; then if this monster only appeared after he moved here, it couldn't be unrelated to him.
"Alright, Professor, I'll be straightforward," Barry paused before continuing, "There's a rumor that there's a monster in this lake. So, let's say some important equipment was dropped in, and we might need an entire underwater operation project to retrieve it, which would inevitably have some impact. And you..."
Before he finished speaking, Arrogant turned to the back door and shouted, "Greed!"
Greed came in with a shovel, then said, "As long as the compensation is right, everything can be discussed. What method are you planning to use to get the stuff up? Pumping the water, or finding divers?"
"If the water from this lake flows into the Gotham River, then draining might not be possible, as it might affect the river's flow. But divers might not be able to deal with the monster under the lake, so we might mobilize an engineering team to create a working space underwater..."
"That's a big project," Greed said. "Give me your detailed engineering plan, I'll find a professional testing agency for assessment, but you'll need to cover the certification costs."
"No problem," Barry said with relief, "The details regarding compensation can be discussed once the engineering plan and appraisal results are available. As long as the project can proceed smoothly, that's the main thing."
Greed gave a smile and said, "In fact, if I weren't here, he might not even want compensation, and might choose to go vacation somewhere else for a few weeks, perfectly avoiding the construction period."
"Oh, believe me," Barry quickly looked at Arrogant and said, "No matter who it is, I will definitely fight for compensation for them. Because this could be a big project, and the resulting noise and light pollution will have some impact on the surrounding residents, compensation is justified."
"You might as well consider how you will comply with environmental regulations given such large pollution. Although I won't sue you, this community has other residents, and churches and various environmental committees will certainly ask about this project. Without persuading them, everything's just talk."
The thought made Barry feel a headache coming on again: the item they needed to retrieve was very important, but they didn't even know what exactly they were trying to retrieve; trying to persuade these departments to carry out the project seemed nearly impossible.
"We can only rely on Brainiac," Barry said. "If he can provide us with a detailed analysis report, there might be a way to persuade them. Hopefully, we can learn more from both the murderer and the victim."
"I can meet the victim," Arrogant said. "If I endorse his testimony, it might be more advantageous for you to prove the importance of that device. But this meeting has to be unofficial, otherwise, I risk violating child protection regulations."
Barry's eyes immediately lit up. Of course, he was well aware of Shiller's abilities, and the reason he hadn't done so before wasn't because he forgot, but because it was a holiday and he couldn't ask others to work overtime for free; moreover, as Arrogant said, interacting with child victims was a very sensitive action, and if defined as an illegal interrogation, it would spell big trouble for all of them. Barry didn't want to drag anyone else into this.
"Paul is not valued by his family, but in our investigation, he seems to get along quite well with a few kids in the neighborhood, and he doesn't live too far from here. We can persuade the local church to organize them to go trick-or-treating in the surrounding community, so they would come to your house. You could give them candy or invite them inside to rest for a while and talk about the story of the lake monster."
"That's actually a good idea," Greed nodded and said, "but it would be best if there was one of their own in the group of children."
Arrogant took out his phone, saying, "I need to call Aisha. She's been going wild in Italy with Zatanna; it's time she came back for school."
"She went to Italy?"
"Yes, she didn't participate in the Multiverse war and then went to Italy for vacation with Zatanna, who also didn't participate. But they should have been back before Halloween; I don't know why they aren't back yet."
Arrogant quickly received a reply, then looked up and said, "They've landed, and if they hurry, they might make it in time to dress up for Halloween. Selina can use the makeup from the crew to dress Aisha up."
Barry immediately said, "Driving is too slow; I'll go pick them up. If Aisha can bring Paul and the others for trick-or-treating, that would be perfect."
After he left, Arrogant thought for a moment and said, "Alberto's back, and the return of Zatanna and Aisha is delayed, is something going on in Italy?"
It wasn't until after 1 PM that Arrogant finally finished carving the pumpkins. Because it was so late, there wasn't time to cook, so they had to go to the community restaurant to handle it.
The community restaurant wasn't crowded, but thankfully, they were still providing service. Arrogant ordered a small rack of lamb, while Greed ordered a steak with mashed potatoes. The two made do with a meal and then started preparing for dinner in advance.
Since children might come over as guests, they needed to prepare some food, especially the kind that children love, as it would make interactions and information gathering easier. So they decided to make some pumpkin-themed desserts, loaded with a deadly amount of sugar, to give the kids an overly sweet Halloween.
"First is the pumpkin pie," Greed said while starting the mixer, "We can make two flavors: one is a fragrant and sweet cream pumpkin pie, and the other is an English-style pumpkin pie with raspberry jam and blackcurrant."
"I think we can make a pumpkin cream; would that affect the whipping?"
"General pumpkin cream uses flavoring. If we use fresh pumpkin, we have to ensure there are no fibers, or it will be hard to whip. We can start by trying a little."
They began the preparations. The process for making these desserts was mostly the same: the pumpkin had to be pureed, especially this type of pumpkin, which had more fibers than the usual tender pumpkins, so it had to be beaten repeatedly and sieved to ensure there were no fibers for a good texture.
The cream pumpkin pie was the easiest to make: pumpkin, light cream, sugar, and a bit of cream cheese for aroma, all mixed together and baked in the oven.
The attempt at pumpkin cream was very successful: not only did they make fluffy pumpkin cream, but they also made pumpkin-flavored custard and cream frosting. The pumpkin and cream flavors were rich, and theoretically, it should have a relief base cake like a ginger cake or Earl Grey cake. But since kids don't like those flavors and prefer sweetness upon sweetness, Greed chose a cantaloupe-flavored cake, raisins added, then a layer of cake, a layer of custard, another layer of cake, and a layer of pumpkin cream, topped with miniature sculptures of meringue.
Arrogant unwrapped the Halloween candies he bought. These candies were specifically prepared for Halloween, all with Halloween-themed packaging, some deliberately shaped like pumpkins, or glow-in-the-dark ghost faces, etc.
He grabbed a basket, lined it with yellow and purple cloth, dumped all the candy inside, and placed it at the entrance; then he needed to hang lights on the porch, set up pumpkins, and maybe write "Candy Here" or "Witch's Home" or "Zombies Await" signs.
According to customary rules, only houses with carefully decorated entrances would the kids go trick-or-treating; if lights are turned off early and the place is pitch-dark, kids won't knock. So if you don't want to participate in Halloween, just turn off the lights early.
By the time they had finished preparing the desserts and candy, it was already dark. They both thought they'd have to wait a bit longer for someone to come, but unsurprisingly, someone thought Shiller definitely hadn't prepared candy, so they sent someone to knock on the door early.
"Trick or treat!" came a shout from outside.
Shiller walked over to open the door, and it was Billy.