On the Ark.

So Lin Ye took the vendor's pumpkin lantern, removed the wick, and then poked a few holes in it with a knife.

“Come here, Ifrit,” he called to Ifrit, “see if this size is right?”

Ifrit immediately jumped back a step, looking at Lin Ye warily: "What are you going to do?"

"Didn't you want a unique mask? This is it, I guarantee no one will have the same one as you," Lin Ye said confidently. "Trust me."

"Huh?" Ifrit's eyes widened. "You don't mean to... umm... umm..."

Lin Ye was too lazy to explain anything to Ifrit, so he simply shoved the pumpkin down onto Ifrit's head. Surprisingly, the size was just right, and soon Ifrit's head was replaced by a large pumpkin.

"Hey! You bastard!" Ifrit was furious at being inexplicably given a pumpkin head. She yelled, "How dare you treat me like this? Do you want me to burn you alive?!"

Ifrit's original threats were somewhat frightening, but after putting on the pumpkin head mask, they became utterly ridiculous. Her threatening words came out in a muffled, guttural voice from inside the pumpkin head, and her movements became quite comical. Those around her couldn't help but burst into laughter.

Seeing that people were still laughing made her even angrier.

"Laugh?! You're still laughing!" Ifrit gritted her teeth, about to say something harsh, when she suddenly felt something was wrong and seemed to smell something burning.

"Ah! The pumpkin is smoking!" Lappland was the first to notice and shouted loudly.

"It looks like it's about to catch fire!"

"It's not just 'seems like,' it's already on fire!"

Seeing white smoke billowing from the pumpkin, everyone was startled, then rushed forward and, after a flurry of activity, successfully removed the pumpkin from Ifrit's head. Once freed, Ifrit readily grabbed Lin Ye's hand and took a bite.

"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" Lin Ye exclaimed in surprise, "Why are you biting people now?! You're not a Lupo!"

Lappland, who was listening nearby, was very unhappy: "Quack doctor, what are you saying? We Rupo never bite people!"

Ifrit mumbled, "Who told you you wanted to hurt me?"

"Who wanted to hurt you? I was just making you a mask!" Lin Ye said. "Who knew it would catch fire? By the way, you're not hurt, are you?"

Ifrit released her mouth, shook her head, and snorted in a disdainful tone, "How could a temperature of this level burn me? I did this on purpose to scare you."

Lin Ye then remembered that Ifrit's Originium Arts were about controlling fire! How could she be afraid of fire? He had clearly been tricked.

Although he had been ripped off, Lin Ye wasn't angry when he saw Ifrit's slightly smug smile. Just then, a vendor watching nearby suddenly exclaimed excitedly, "This is really interesting!"

Everyone turned to look at him: "What's so interesting?"

“This is it!” the vendor said. “Wear the pumpkin on your head and you can scare people at night.”

Ifrit curled her lip: "What's so scary about pumpkins?"

"Pumpkins aren't scary, but you, little girl, wearing a pumpkin is scary," the vendor said with a smile. "Just imagine, at night, a pumpkin head blazing on fire walks towards you. Wouldn't that be thrilling?"

Lin Ye and Ifrit were both stunned for a moment. They exchanged glances, thought of the scene, and realized that it did seem quite interesting.

"Ha!" Ifrit immediately hugged the pumpkin she had just tossed to her, and said happily, "You're right! This will be my mask! I'm going to use it to scare people tonight!"

Tsk, they were so resistant just now, but now they've accepted it.

Is this what women are like? How ridiculous.

Lin Ye thought this to himself, but of course he didn't dare say it aloud. After all, the four women standing next to him, except for Nightingale, could easily beat him to a pulp.

Oh, maybe a nightingale would work too.

Ifrit's mask was done, so next came the clothes. Clothes weren't particularly difficult for Ifrit, since she mainly relied on her fiery pumpkin head to scare people. Lin Ye inquired with the vendors again and it seemed there was indeed an unspoken rule that the "scariest ghost costumed person each Halloween" was the "most evil ghost," at least the "ghost hunter" would take that into account.

Since that's the case, then we should treat it well.

After thinking for a moment, Lin Ye finally bought a tattered robe and draped it over Ifrit's shoulders.

"Huh?" Ifrit naturally bristled again. "Why do I have to wear such tattered clothes?"

Lin Ye patiently explained, "It's because it has to match your pumpkin head. If you wear clothes that are too eye-catching, won't you steal the spotlight? Then everyone will look at your clothes, and who will look at your pumpkin head?"

Ifrit thought about it and realized it made sense, so she pouted and reluctantly accepted the dirty robe. Thus, Lin Ye solved Ifrit's entire "Halloween costume" problem with minimal expense. A pumpkin head and a tattered robe only cost a few hundred LMD, and the effect was so good, it couldn't be more cost-effective.

Lin Ye nodded in satisfaction, then felt something was amiss.

Wait, why is he paying for Ifrit's clothes? Strictly speaking, isn't he babysitting for Himer and Saria? But those two haven't offered any thanks, except for White Owl giving him a few bottles of calcium tablets, not for him, but for Ifrit.

Thinking this way, Lin Ye felt he was truly a kind person. Offering to babysit a naughty kid for free—wasn't asking for the title of "Old Lin Next Door" (a term of endearment for a neighbor) reasonable?

After dealing with Ifrit's outfits, it was Nightingale's turn. Although Nightingale remained silent, Lin Ye could sense her keen interest in the clothing, her gaze constantly shifting between the passersby and the clothes. Everything here was new and exciting to her; after all, she had spent her childhood in a dark dungeon, and most of her adult life on Rhodes Island, only occasionally venturing out to complete missions. This time, however, was a completely unplanned trip, purely for relaxation.

Therefore, Lin Ye cared a lot about Nightingale's experience. He also knew that Nightingale was definitely not like Ifrit, who could be dealt with simply by putting on a pumpkin head and wearing a tattered robe.

Lin Ye decided to pick the best item, but the items in this shop were clearly unsuitable for Nightingale. So, Lin Ye symbolically bought a demon mask for each person, put them on to match the atmosphere, and then left the shop to head to the next one.

How should he choose clothes for Nightingale? And Skadi? Although Skadi says she doesn't want them, she probably means it too, but since she's already here, Lin Ye won't leave without giving her something to do. As for Lappland, well, whatever. Lin Ye feels she's terrifying enough already.

As Lin Ye walked to the next shop, he spotted a very attractive fox mask, somewhat resembling the kind sold at comic conventions in his previous life, which gave him a sense of familiarity. So he stopped and reached out to take the mask off, but unexpectedly, his hand bumped into another hand mid-air.

He paused for a moment, then turned his head and met another mask.

Surprisingly, someone else had also taken a liking to the fox mask. Both of them withdrew their hands, as they were both wearing masks and couldn't see each other's faces clearly. The other person's mask was larger than Lin Ye's, so Lin Ye couldn't even tell their gender.

"Um..." Lin Ye spoke first, asking, "Do you want this too?"

The man nodded without saying anything.

Tsk, I really don't want to give in.

Lin Ye was finally able to see something in this world that felt familiar to him. It was because in his previous life, his room also had a nearly identical mask hanging there, which he had bought at a comic convention. Although he didn't particularly love it, having it hanging in his room as a decoration for so long had gradually created a sense of familiarity. Lin Ye had been separated from his past life for several years, and he couldn't remember many of the things he used to like, so he really wanted to hold onto this rare feeling of familiarity.

So Lin Ye asked directly, "Can I have this mask? I really like it."

At this moment, the others also came over and happened to hear Lin Ye's words. Ifrit looked at the mask hanging on the shelf with some doubt: "Huh? Why do you like this kind of mask? It doesn't look like something a man would wear."

Lin Ye couldn't help but roll his eyes at Ifrit: "Mind your own business, I just like it."

Then he asked the other person again, "Can you give it to me? As payment, I can buy you another mask, either one or the other."

Lin Ye originally thought that the conditions he had offered were already quite generous, after all, it was one pair in exchange for two pairs, and the other party should have no reason to refuse. But to Lin Ye's surprise, the other party slowly shook his head.

He paused, then asked, "You still won't give it to me?"

The other person nodded.

This left Lin Ye somewhat disappointed, but there was nothing he could do. Since the other party was unwilling to give it up, he couldn't just steal it; it was just a mask, he could try looking at the next stall. However, Skadi noticed his change in expression and, as he was about to leave, asked him, "Do you really want that mask?"

"Huh?" Lin Ye hadn't quite reacted yet, and subconsciously nodded, saying in a regretful tone, "I really liked that mask, but if the other person isn't willing to give it up..."

Skadi nodded slightly: "I can make him give it up."

Lin Ye was taken aback, then watched as Skadi slowly reached for the greatsword behind her back. He was shocked and immediately stopped Skadi: "Hey, hey, hey, there's no need! It's just a mask. Great hero, please put away your sword!"

Skadi looked at Lin Ye, her brows furrowing slightly: "You said you wanted it."

"I want it... but I don't have to steal it."

Skadi said calmly, "I wanted to reason with her."

"You're clearly not being reasonable!" Lin Ye was genuinely frightened by Skadi's actions. "I'm not a child like Ifrit, who can just throw away a mask if she doesn't want it."

Lin Ye's words displeased Ifrit: "Hey, who are you calling a child? This is clearly your own business, why do you have to drag me into it?"

Ignoring Ifrit, Lin Ye managed to calm Skadi down after much persuasion. After all, in Skadi's mind, if someone wanted the same thing as another, she should defeat them and take it from them—a classic example of deep-sea logic that left Lin Ye somewhat helpless, yet also inexplicably touched.

The person who bought the mask was clearly unaware that he had almost ended up reasoning with the most powerful deep-sea hunter. He simply took the mask down from the shelf, and then the shopkeeper came over to collect the money. The shopkeeper had also seen Lin Ye and this person wanting to buy the fox mask, and muttered, "Strange, it's actually quite peculiar that someone likes this kind of mask."

Lin Ye quickly asked, "Are there any more of this style?"

"There aren't any left, only this one," the shop owner said. "Because this style of mask doesn't scare people at all, and it doesn't look like a ghost when worn, so nobody buys it. I've had it on the shelf for years, and it's covered in dust."

"Alright." Lin Ye had no choice but to accept reality, and then watched helplessly as the person who bought the mask walked past him. But what he didn't expect was that the person stopped after taking two steps and then slowly spoke. It was a woman's voice.

“I’m sorry, this mask is also very important to me.”

Lin Ye was completely taken aback when he heard that the other person was a woman. After a moment of surprise, he smiled and said, "You like it too, right?"

"No, I don't like it," the woman said softly. "It's just an important memory."

After saying that, she walked past Lin Ye and quickly disappeared into the crowd.

……

……

Author's note: It's been a while since I recommended this book. This is the captain's new book, which is about Red Alert 3, which is quite rare, to be honest. If you're interested, you can check it out.

Synopsis: The mundane daily life of ordinary people comes to an end with the arrival of the Red Alert 3 system.

Not only that, the world will also face its end in two months, and in the two months before that, as a trial, he will experience different worlds to change himself.

This is a journey from the ordinary to the extraordinary...

(First World: Resident Evil (1 & 2, teammate Rachel) — Even if you haven't played Red Alert, you can still check this out)

Red Alert, Doomsday, and Infinity

Chapter 367 Hanged Ghosts, Starving Ghosts

This little incident left Lin Ye with a slight sense of regret, but it didn't affect his mood, so he continued shopping, since it was just a mask after all. However, he still hoped to find the same mask in the shops behind him.

Nightingale seemed to sense Lin Ye's thoughts, and walked beside him, asking, "Do you really want that mask?"

Lin Ye originally wanted to tell the truth, but he was afraid that Nightingale would cause trouble for that woman like Skadi had done earlier. Although Nightingale's personality was very different from Skadi's and it was unlikely that she would do such a thing, Lin Ye still pretended to be relaxed and said, "No, I just think that mask is pretty. I want it a little, but not really."

"I kind of want it, but I don't really want it?" Ifrit overheard this, and Charmander tilted his head, saying, "That sounds really rude, so tell me, do you want it or not?"

Lin Ye couldn't help but roll his eyes and said to Ifrit, "Children shouldn't interrupt when adults are talking."

Ifrit immediately became angry: "Who are you calling a child?!"

When she gets angry, she can't help but use her power. As soon as she uses her power, her pumpkin head starts to smoke, which adds a lot of humor to her anger and... the smell of roasted pumpkin.

With her keen sense of smell, Lappland immediately sensed something was wrong. She glanced at Ifrit and said, "Ifrit, is your head cooked yet?"

Upon hearing this, Ifrit became even angrier: "Your head is the one that's cooked!"

"My brain isn't cooked yet, but yours is about to burn!"

Seeing this, Lin Ye couldn't help but sigh inwardly. He figured this pumpkin probably wouldn't last until Halloween. He should have bought more so he could have roasted pumpkin every day. But if he did that, he'd most likely be punched to death by Saria when he got back to Rhodes Island.

Ah, my mind is wandering to some random places again.

After helping Ifrit remove the half-cooked pumpkin from her head, Lin Ye asked Nightingale, "What kind of clothes do you want to wear on Halloween? Or rather, what kind of ghost do you want to dress up as?"

Nightingale thought for a moment, then shook her head: "I don't know."