012 Halloween Night
Bang bang!
Richard held up his revolver and fired repeatedly at the soda cans on the tree stump. Two cans were knocked flying one after another by the high-speed bullets, falling to the ground with bullet holes piercing their aluminum bodies.
[Ding! Your [Shooting] has been upgraded to D-rank!]
[Shooting (D-rank) - Oh, not bad. You actually managed to reach this level in such a short time without relying on the system.]
Receiving this system prompt, Richard was overjoyed, a wide grin spreading across his face. A month of hard practice with his marksmanship hadn't been in vain.
"Your pistol shooting skills are no longer inferior to mine. I have nothing left to teach you. Shooting other firearms is essentially the same principle, just with different methods of use, and I can't help you with that," said the bearded middle-aged man standing nearby, nodding slightly as he watched.
The bearded man was tall and lean, with a shotgun slung over his shoulder. He was a relatively well-known hunter in town with outstanding marksmanship. Richard had been learning shooting from him for the past month.
"Thanks." Richard nodded in acknowledgment. After raising his [Culinary Arts] skill to A-rank, his five senses had been enhanced to a superhuman level, giving him a huge advantage in learning how to shoot. He only needed a teacher to get him started, and his marksmanship would improve rapidly. At the same time, this helped him quickly master the use of his enhanced senses outside of cooking.
"Don't thank me. I didn't spend much time guiding you." The bearded man lit a cigarette, puffing out a cloud of smoke, and looked at Richard with a questioning gaze. "I don't know what you're planning to hunt, but I hope it's not people. That would weigh less on my conscience."
Richard smiled. "Aside from self-defense, I don't think I'll ever point a gun at anyone."
"I hope so, but then again, it's not my business." The bearded man stood up and left, puffing on his cigarette with slow, somewhat cool strides.
A large part of the reason for learning to shoot was, of course, to deal with the creatures from The Upside Down. Although gunfire had limited lethal effects on the monsters, it wasn't useless. From his previous experience fighting an adult Demogorgon, he knew that no matter how cold and hard a monster looked, its insides were vulnerable... Despite their incredibly tough exteriors and high-speed regeneration, the insides of their mouths and throats were fragile. As long as he could cause penetrating wounds, he could counter their regeneration to some extent. Moreover, a monster's regenerative capacity had its limits; the more it regenerated in a short period, the harder it became to recover. When dealing with a single monster, one person could eventually wear it down.
Of course, the best weapons against Upside Down creatures were fire and high temperatures.
He had already prepared such homemade weapons and kept them at home.
After tidying up a bit, Richard grabbed his backpack and prepared to head back. From tomorrow on, he wouldn't need to come here for training anymore.
"After all, bullets are pretty expensive."
Tomorrow was Halloween. Everyone in town was starting to prepare for their Halloween activities. People began decorating with lights and decorations, though the spooky style seemed a bit morbid to Richard.
"Good evening, Benny." Richard walked into the burger joint and called out to Benny, who was busy in the kitchen preparing for opening.
"Good evening, Chade. I'm giving you tomorrow off for Halloween. Do you have any plans?" Benny replied, turning to see that Richard had already put on his uniform and rolled up his sleeves to enter the kitchen.
Richard: "Just eating and drinking at home with a friend, and maybe watching a movie."
"Hahaha, I thought you'd be attending some high school party or something. I didn't expect it to be so low-key." Benny couldn't help but laugh.
"Yeah. If there were no classes the day after Halloween, maybe I'd think about partying all night. But I don't want to be drowsy in class the next day. You know I have Spanish class on Wednesday, and my Spanish is very... weak. I'm one of Ms. Margaret's 'special attention' students. If she sees me showing up to her class looking hungover, she'll lecture me until I'm completely demoralized." Richard shook his head, looking helpless.
In his past life, learning English had taken him years before he finally became proficient.
But after arriving here, English became the primary language, while Spanish became the mandatory foreign language. But what the hell was Spanish? He had arrived in his own body and didn't have any memories of a counterpart in this world. He knew nothing! He was starting from zero!
It wasn't that he was intentionally slacking off; he wanted to claim innocence, but he couldn't tell the truth to his stern Spanish teacher.
Benny doubled over with laughter again. For him, listening to Richard joke about his own school mishaps had become his daily entertainment.
"What about you, Benny? How are the preparations for the Halloween specials going?" Richard changed the subject.
"Thanks to your suggestions, everyone in town is really looking forward to this. Bloody Mary mocktails, Monster Burgers, and Finger Fries... I don't know how you came up with these things, but they fit the Halloween atmosphere perfectly." Benny looked excited as he spoke. "So many people have pre-ordered the Halloween sets. The revenue for the next two days will definitely far exceed the usual."
"Then I'll wish you big sales in advance. If you make a fortune and have too much money, I wouldn't mind if you gave me a bonus, haha. Just kidding." Richard teased.
Hearing this, Benny turned serious and smiled. "No, no, no, I wasn't planning on joking. I really do intend to give you a bonus."
Richard was stunned for a moment. "If you're really giving one, I'll actually take it."
"I'm serious." Benny's tone was firm.
"Then I won't be polite." Richard accepted readily.
"Consider it your final bonus before you leave." Benny smiled slightly, feeling a bit sentimental and reluctant.
Three days ago, Richard had submitted his resignation, saying he would stop working after this week because he had new plans for making money.
Benny supported this. He could tell that with Richard's talent, working for him was only temporary; he would leave sooner or later. It was just that Benny had grown used to having Richard as an assistant, and once he left, Benny would probably be out of sorts for quite a while.
Richard just smiled and didn't respond.
On Halloween Night, Richard and Robin were each wrapped in a blanket, bundled up like cocoons, watching Alien, a movie Richard had seen countless times in his past life. The coffee table in front of them was piled with food—a mix of cuisines: pizza, BBQ skewers, nachos, and more. The two of them watched the videotape intently, occasionally picking up a piece of food to enjoy.
"No matter how many times I see it, I still think the Facehugger is a truly twisted monster." Robin frowned as she saw a character in the movie being attacked by a creature resembling a giant scorpion, which then parasitized their face.
"Well, it's a monster movie. They're designed to scare people, so of course, the more twisted the design, the better." Richard grabbed a BBQ skewer and slid the meat off in one go.
Robin smiled slightly. "Sometimes, I worry that I'm living in a movie. Seeing a monster like the Alien makes me worry that it might actually exist."
You've accidentally stumbled upon the truth, sister.
Richard looked at Robin in surprise, realizing she was probably thinking about The Upside Down. He smiled and said, "Don't worry too much. We've teamed up to deal with them more than once. Have some confidence in yourself."
"Maybe I'm just being paranoid." Robin picked up the Coke from the table and shrugged. "Let's not talk about that. It's rare to have a relaxing Halloween; we shouldn't keep thinking about those things."
"Cheers." Richard didn't disagree. The two clinked their cups, using Coke instead of alcohol, letting the carbonation and sugar bring them stimulation and joy.
Knock, knock, knock!
Just as the two were enjoying their food and the movie, there was a knock on Richard's door.
Richard and Robin smiled at each other. They both stood up, each grabbing a pumpkin basket filled with various candies. As they walked toward the door, they said in unison, "Coming!"
The door opened to reveal four young boys of similar height wearing various classic Halloween monster masks. In mock-menacing voices, though barely able to contain their laughter, they cried out, "Whoa! Trick or treat!"
"Alright, boys. A vampire, a werewolf, Frankenstein's monster, and a ghost. Very good costumes," Richard commented, handing out candy to each of the four kids.
"I like this Frankenstein. It has a bit of a classic vibe. Of course, the others are great too." Robin also handed out her candies.
Hearing this, the four boys were pleasantly surprised. Those with masks took them off, all feeling that these two unfamiliar young adults, Richard and Robin, were very friendly.
"Man, you're the only—no, the only two people tonight who could identify every character we're playing. That's even better than getting candy," the boy with long, curly black hair said happily.
The curly-haired boy playing the vampire grinned, showing his gums. He was missing his upper front teeth, which looked rather comical. He was polite and acted very much like a gentleman, saying, "Thank you very much for the candy."
"I unilaterally declare you the best candy-givers of the night," the black kid playing Frankenstein's monster said, flashing two rows of healthy white teeth.
"Hi, Lee." Finally, the bowl-cut boy taking off his white sheet ghost costume revealed a pale, thin, and youthful face. He greeted Richard shyly.
Richard's grin widened. His gaze toward the four boys gradually filled with the excitement of meeting important people. He smiled back and said, "I figured it was you, Will. We just met last time I went to your house."
Will nodded, indicating he remembered.
"Will, you know this guy?" Will's three friends asked curiously.
Will nodded. "He's a friend of my brother Jonathan's. He came to my house last time to hang out with Jonathan."
Will's three friends suddenly realized the connection.
Richard looked at the boy with long curly black hair and said with a smile, "You must be Nancy's brother, Mike. I'm a friend of your sister's too. She occasionally mentions you. Oh, don't worry, I'm a D&D player as well."
"Ugh, that annoying sister, talking about me like that," Mike said, suddenly looking very annoyed.
Upon hearing that Richard was a D&D player, the others' eyes lit up. It was like finding a fellow enthusiast; they wished they could grow up sooner so they could hang out with Richard right then.
Facing the enthusiastic kids, Richard remained composed. He chatted with them about D&D and even told them he had developed his own D&D campaigns and new ways to play, which immediately made the four boys look at him with admiration.
Robin leaned against the doorframe, watching the five of them with amusement. She was already used to Richard's unique "social skills," but she hadn't expected that Richard, who could strike up a conversation with anyone, would be the same with kids.
[Established a relationship with core plot character [Will Byers], Plot Points +10]
[Established a relationship with core plot character [Mike Wheeler], Plot Points +10]
[Established a relationship with core plot character [Lucas Sinclair], Plot Points +10]
[Established a relationship with core plot character [Dustin Henderson], Plot Points +10]
...Thud.
After chatting for about ten minutes, Richard finally saw off the enthusiastic little guys.
"Yo, Pied Piper, you seem to be quite enjoying yourself," Robin teased.
Richard gave a brilliant smile. "Because today is a good day."
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