Chapter 45: Halloween Eve

After that, Wuming and Serena arranged to meet up with Crosti, and the three of them headed to the market together to pick out pumpkins.

They spent two whole hours carefully selecting, and in the end they returned home loaded down with pumpkins they were all satisfied with.

Besides the pumpkins, Serena enthusiastically took charge of decorating the house for the holiday and ended up buying another huge bag of decorations to set everything up.

Of course, the bill was silently footed by Wuming once again.

Watching his wallet shrink dramatically yet again, Wuming felt his heart literally bleeding inside.

That’s all my money—!!!

Still, when he saw how delighted Serena and Crosti looked, Wuming decided the expense was worth it. 

At least the two of them were really happy.

Now the heavy responsibility of decorating the house fell squarely on Serena’s shoulders. 

Wuming still had to head downstairs to work in the afternoon, so he could only leave the decorations to Serena and Crosti.

He silently prayed that what he came home to would be a pleasant surprise rather than a scare. 

As long as those two little ancestors didn’t turn the place into a total mess, he would be grateful!

“Heave-ho—”

They set the bought pumpkins on the table, rolled up their sleeves, and prepared to transform the entire house with a rich holiday atmosphere.

“You two go ahead and have fun. I’m off to work,” Wuming said at the doorway.

“Have a smooth workday, Doctor Wuming,” Crosti called with a wave.

“Just wait until you come back and see our masterpiece, Wuming!” Serena promised confidently that they would make everything look gorgeous!

Once Wuming went downstairs, Crosti and Serena immediately fetched knives from the kitchen and got busy.

The first step was carving the pumpkins.

The process was straightforward: draw the outline on the pumpkin, cut open the top, hollow out the insides, and then carefully carve a spooky face for the jack-o’-lantern.

It looked simple enough, and anyone with hands could manage it.

For someone like Serena, it was a piece of cake.

Serena took charge of carving the first pumpkin.

When she finished, she admired her handiwork with satisfaction, feeling a surge of accomplishment.

Hehe—

My skills haven’t gotten rusty at all!

When Wuming comes back, he’s definitely going to be impressed! He’ll see what real talent looks like!

Serena planted her hands on her hips, a smug grin on her face.

Just as Serena was about to toss away the scooped-out pumpkin seeds, Crosti stopped her.

“Don’t throw those away, Serena. These seeds are delicious.”

“—?”

Serena looked utterly confused. She had never eaten pumpkin seeds before and had no idea they could even be eaten, let alone what they tasted like.

Under Serena’s astonished gaze, Crosti picked one up, popped it into her mouth, chewed, and gave a firm nod.

“Wash them, dry them, then roast them—they’ll taste great!”

“Are they really that good?” 

Serena asked doubtfully.

“Mm… it’s hard to describe…”

Crosti looked a little troubled. Explaining the flavor of pumpkin seeds to Serena was no easy task.

She could hardly say they taste like pumpkin seeds, could she?

“They’re pretty mild, but they’re addictive once you start eating them. You really have to try them yourself to understand.”

Crosti suggested Serena give it a go instead of asking for a description—provided she could actually taste anything.

“…”

Serena’s gaze fell on the seeds. She picked one up and examined it carefully.

Then, copying Crosti, she put the seed in her mouth and chewed seriously, trying to detect any flavor.

“…”

Pfft—

Seeing Serena’s lack of reaction, Crosti smiled. 

As a pureblood blood clan, it was only natural she couldn’t taste anything.

“No flavor, right?”

Crosti said with certainty, watching as Serena picked up a second seed to try again.

“I… don’t know.”

“That’s the helplessness of being a pureblood blood clan.” Crosti nodded in understanding. “Let’s keep going, Serena.”

“Oh…”

What Crosti didn’t know was that during that first taste, Serena had seemed to catch a faint aftertaste from the seed. 

Because she couldn’t believe it, she had grabbed a second one to double-check, but unfortunately she couldn’t detect anything more.

She could only chalk that brief hint of flavor up to an illusion.

Besides making the jack-o’-lanterns, Serena also started decorating the house, hanging up all kinds of ornaments to amp up the festive mood.

When she got tired of decorating, she would play games with Crosti for a bit, rest, then go right back to decorating and cleaning.

They kept busy like that until six in the evening, when Wuming finally came back upstairs. 

The moment he stepped through the door he collapsed wearily onto the living-room sofa.

“I’m exhausted…”

Wuming rubbed his throbbing temples. 

Just listening to the patients’ complicated life stories was enough to give him a headache, never mind having to come up with solutions for them.

“Have some seeds, Wuming.”

Crosti thoughtfully brought over the freshly roasted pumpkin seeds and offered them to him.

After thanking Crosti, Wuming munched on the seeds while looking over the results of Serena and Crosti’s hard work.

The house really had been transformed. 

It was filled with a rich Halloween atmosphere. 

Wuming was already thinking about taking one of the jack-o’-lanterns downstairs tomorrow, filling it with candy, and handing it out to the patients who came for appointments.

“You two did a really great job.”

Wuming praised them both.

“It was mostly Serena’s work,” Crosti said, glancing at Serena, who was currently sipping a blood bag. “I just helped out here and there.”

“You’re pretty amazing, Serena. I’m honestly impressed,” Wuming said, praising her again.

Hearing Wuming’s praise, Serena’s nose practically tilted toward the ceiling. 

She looked thoroughly pleased with herself.

“Of course! Who do you think I am!”

Right then, Crosti suddenly walked around in front of the two of them, her expression turning serious. 

It was obvious she had something important to say.

The moment Wuming saw her face, he understood. 

What she was about to tell them definitely concerned him and Serena—just like last time.

“Since you’re both here, I’ll get straight to the point.”

Crosti cleared her throat lightly, then spoke gravely. 

“Serena had better not go out for a while. Something big happened with the Scarlet side, and they’re probably going to make some moves.”

“What happened?” Wuming asked, brows slightly furrowed.

“I don’t have the exact details, but it seems a much larger organization has taken control of Scarlet’s operations. They won’t be running as wild as before.”

“Isn’t that good news?” Serena asked, puzzled.

“Good in what way…” Crosti looked at Serena speechlessly. 

“This is completely bad news. How could it possibly be good?!”

“I swear, how are you always half a beat slow when it comes to danger?”

“This time it’s not just Scarlet that’s affected. Other organizations have been brought together under one umbrella too. They might even start working together at some point.”

“Whoa, whoa—hold on, Crosti.”

Wuming quickly cut her off. There was only one question that mattered to him right now.

“These organizations you mentioned—they’re all…”

“Assassins,” Crosti answered shortly.

Those two words sent a chill straight through Wuming’s heart. 

An organization that commanded assassins, and it would most likely keep Serena on their bounty list.

It reminded him of a movie he had once watched—one about the world of assassins and a dog.

This can’t be right?!

How could an organization like that even exist here?!

Does that mean we might actually see that guy show up?!

This isn’t some Mercury world at all—it’s clearly the assassin world! (Certain)

“So Wuming, you two need to be extra careful these days,” Crosti reminded them again. “I don’t know what kind of changes this will bring, but better safe than sorry.”

She really didn’t want anything to happen to Wuming or Serena because of this shift.

Then Crosti looked at Serena. The girl was fidgeting uneasily on the sofa; Crosti’s words had clearly shaken her, and even the blood bag in her hand no longer tasted good.

“I feel like I picked the wrong time to say all this…”

Crosti murmured. As soon as she spoke, the festive mood had been ruined. 

Wuming and Serena were clearly worried now; they probably had no heart left for celebrating Halloween.

“It’s fine, Crosti.”

Sensing the heavy atmosphere, Wuming smiled at her, trying to lighten things. 

“We’ll be careful these next few days. Don’t worry about us, Crosti. We’ll take good care of ourselves.”

As he spoke, his gaze turned to Serena and he gave her a reassuring smile.

“I’ll protect you too, Serena.”

“Wuming…” Serena looked at that smile and felt some of the dark clouds in her heart scatter.

“If they really come looking for trouble,” Wuming said, half-joking and half-serious, “then I’ll just turn into John Wick to protect you.”

“Pfft…” Crosti knew exactly which movie he meant and couldn’t hold back a laugh.

“Don’t worry too much, you two,” Crosti continued. “If there are any new developments, I’ll keep reporting them to you, Wuming.”

“You be careful too, Crosti.”

“Relax,” Crosti waved a hand. 

“You can put a hundred percent of your mind at ease, Wuming! To be honest, I’m actually really enjoying this!”

Being a spy was just that thrilling! Plus she got to help Wuming out—she couldn’t ask for more.

“Are you hungry, Crosti?”

Wuming changed the subject. “Let’s order takeout.” He was too tired to cook, so ordering in sounded perfect.

“Sure,” Crosti agreed cheerfully. “I know a hotel that does really good food. We can try that, Wuming.”

“Then I’ll leave it to you, Crosti.”