The community isn't entirely without amenities; basic community hospitals and shops are still available. The shop Shiller visited is the only community shop here. During wartime, it was responsible for distributing all daily necessities and food. It's now changed to a points-based purchasing system.
As he pushed the door open, he noticed the entire layout was brand new: pumpkins were piled at the entrance, bat decorations hung from the ceiling, and the mannequin had changed into a yellow and purple outfit, topped with a wizard hat. A long row of candy shelves lined the entrance.
"Good morning," Shiller said, "I'm here to buy candy."
"Oh, it's Professor Rodriguez," the clerk smiled and said, "I didn't expect you to still be sticking around here. When are you moving to the inner world?"
"I'm not going," Shiller replied, "I still need to work at Gotham University..."
"Isn't that perfect? I heard there's an entrance that leads directly to Gotham University," the clerk laughed and said, "If the property prices weren't so high there, I'd want to move too. I've heard commuting is much more convenient there than outside."
"You're right, the property prices are too high," Shiller shook his head and said, "My current house is quite good; I'm not planning to move. Do you have any candy recommendations?"
"A few kinds over there are pretty good, but since our community has fewer people, not many kids, probably no one will come trick-or-treating. If you don't like eating candy yourself, you might want to buy less."
Shiller nodded and went to pick out some candy. Although there weren't many kids in his community, he believed that many people would prefer to travel halfway across the city quite a long way just to try and get candy from him, betting that he hadn't prepared any candy—he wasn't going to let them win.
Shiller picked up quite a bit of candy, chocolates, and caramels. When he went to check out, he said, "Do you have carving knives? I'd like a set."
"Oh gosh, are you planning to carve the pumpkins yourself?" the clerk said in surprise, "That's not an easy task."
"Yes, I grew some pumpkins myself..."
"You can grow pumpkins?!"
Shiller felt a bit guilty. It wouldn't exactly count as him growing them: aside from digging the holes for the seeds himself and throwing the seeds in, everything else was left to the pumpkins. He hadn't even watered them. Nonetheless, miraculously, three pumpkins had grown.
The clerk gave him a set of carving knives, and Shiller put them in his candy bag and took everything home.
After putting everything down, he went to the backyard. It had rained all night yesterday and the wind howled all morning. The yard looked a bit messy, but the three large pumpkins remained unmoved, bright yellow, round, perfectly standard like the ones in textbooks.
However, Shiller didn't go to pick them right away. He first went to the tool shed to get a spade and garden shears, holding one in each hand as he approached the patch.
Sure enough, as he walked over, one of the pumpkins bounced up intending to hit him. Shiller, quick on the draw, knocked it back with a spade, then clipped the vines off the pumpkin's head with the shears, and it stayed put on the ground.
He knew it; how could Pamela be so kind to suggest growing pumpkins and even give him a bunch of seeds? Not watering them was the right choice—without care, three had survived. Had he tended to them, watering daily, this place would have been crawling with pumpkins now.
Following the same method, he knocked down the remaining two pumpkins and checked on them, discovering they were not sentient; they were just ordinary pumpkins. The jump must have been due to the strength Pamela deliberately left in the vines.
Shiller shook his head, fetched a small cart, and placed the three large pumpkins on it. One was enough for him; he planned to give the other two away. Pumpkins this large and perfectly shaped weren't common.
Shiller then went back into the house to make some phone calls, starting with Victor. Victor was skilled at carving and had also adopted a child—time to pass on that craft and hand him a big pumpkin.
The other one was for Killer Croc because he helped with the move before and often loaned his car when Shiller needed it for buying furniture. Plus, he had a company that had recently resumed operations—a large pumpkin would look nice at the company's entrance.
"Hello, Victor? Do you have some time recently? I grew three big pumpkins, and you can take one back with Billy to carve. What? Billy's school also planted pumpkins? Okay, I'll come over later..."
"Hello? Waylon? No, it's nothing. I grew some pumpkins, maybe you'll want to carve one. Harley gave you some already? He grew some too? Got it, I'll swing by another day."
Shiller hung up and sighed. He wondered how these people developed a fondness for farming, with everyone having pumpkins now. Pamela casting a wide net and catching many people to plant sure increased the odds of some falling for it.
Just as he was turning back, the phone rang again.
"Hello? Doc, I tried calling earlier, but the line was busy. Was something up?"
"No, nothing," Shiller shook his head and said, "Did you manage to book the hotel?"
"Well, I was just about to mention that," Primary Universe Batman's tone had a hint of embarrassment, "I wasn't aware you changed currencies here. What's this stuff about points and credits? Can't I book a room with US Dollars?"
Shiller was taken aback, then said, "Which hotel did you book? Some hotels do accept cash..."
"Wayne Hotel."
"Oh, that one's not possible, that one requires Points. You should be able to use cash if you switch to another hotel. If you don't want to switch, I can lend you some Points, I still have quite a few."
"Alright, thank you, Doctor, it seems there's still much for me to explore about your world."
"But it's okay if you don't explore," Shiller said earnestly. At times like these, warning someone not to delve into certain secrets is often out of concern for their safety, but if one party is Batman, perhaps the real worry should be for whatever he's exploring—in short, Shiller was more worried about Brainiac.
After hanging up the phone, Shiller thought about it, but he figured Brainiac surely knew that the Primary Universe Batman had arrived. Since Brainiac wasn't trying to disguise it, he probably had a plan, and there was no need for him to worry unnecessarily.
To be fair, Shiller was quite content with his current life. Compared to the restrictions brought by Brainiac, the benefits were actually greater, especially since many aspects had been relaxed, life was remarkably peaceful, almost without any waves. Although it's slightly monotonous, compared to Gotham's previous thrills, this monotony can be seen as a rare blessing.
Victor hadn't finished work yet, so Shiller first returned to the study to begin working on the final exam questions. Aside from his subject, all other subjects' final exams were prepared by Brainiac. And the reason he's setting his own exam is because Brainiac also realized the content he taught in class differed significantly from what he wanted his students to grasp, more like mysticism than learning, and Brainiac didn't get it either, so he just left it to Shiller.
After brainstorming a few questions, it was already noon. Victor didn't have any classes in the afternoon, hence he should be home by now, so Shiller drove to Victor's house.
He and Victor arrived almost simultaneously. Victor took out the keys to open the door, and as he pushed the door open, he said, "You won't believe the size of the pumpkin Billy brought back, oh my God, I've never seen such a big pumpkin in my life..."
Thinking Victor was exaggerating, Shiller found out differently when he stepped into the backyard and saw a gigantic pumpkin, several times bigger than the largest one he had ever grown.
"Is this really a pumpkin?" Shiller couldn't help but ask, "It looks like a Beetle car released a new Halloween edition."
"Regrettably, it is a pumpkin," Victor said, "And Billy used Shazam's Strength to bring this thing back. Before it landed, Nora and I were warning him not to just move other people's cars..."
"I guess Pamela gave the school the seeds."
"Probably, no one else could have developed a pumpkin this large," Victor thought for a moment, then said, "I heard Brainiac organized a project group, besides pumpkins, I think there are potatoes and corn as well."
"All oversized?"
"Not sure, but I suppose the yield should be good. What do you think these pumpkins taste like?"
"And you're a science professor, you know the larger the pumpkin, the coarser the fiber, the worse it tastes, isn't this common knowledge?"
"But this is different from those competition-sized pumpkins I've seen. Those oversized ones have their color changed, sound hard when tapped, and don't have much pumpkin aroma, this one's different, it looks edible."
Both of them looked at the gigantic pumpkin. Shiller considered and asked, "Are you and Billy planning on carving it?"
"Don't joke around, you might need a chainsaw to carve this thing? I can't engage the kids in such a dangerous activity, and Nora wouldn't agree either."
"I have something appropriately sized, I'll bring it over tomorrow. We can try cutting this open to see, if it's edible, it'll be our lunch."
"Then let's give it a try," Victor turned to find some tools, but after searching for a while, all he found were ice cones and a kitchen knife. They carved a chunk from the massive pumpkin.
Even though the piece they carved out weighed over ten pounds, the pumpkin appeared to have only suffered a superficial wound, so slight you couldn't see the cut from a distance, and they hadn't even reached the hollow inside.
Halfway through carving, they realized it might actually be edible, unlike previous gigantic pumpkins which felt like wood, this one looked more like a vegetable, filled with a rich pumpkin fragrance, and even had some juice, promising a tasty treat.
Since it was just for tasting, they didn't bother with any fancy techniques: one large half was steamed, while the other half was mixed with sugar and butter in a blender to make pumpkin puree, layered on a pre-mixed base, and baked into a pumpkin pie in the oven.
When they finished, the entire house was filled with a rich pumpkin aroma. Shiller tasted a bite of the steamed pumpkin, finding its flavor decent, just a natural pumpkin taste, a bit fibrous but not uneatable. The pumpkin pie tasted much better, since the fibers were pulverized, with added sugar and butter, giving it a smooth texture and quite a good flavor.
"Pamela finally did something good," Shiller said.
"You should say Brainiac did something good, without him, Pamela wouldn't have given up her carnivorous plant project," Victor clearly enjoyed the pumpkin pie too, devouring one in a few bites, then said, "or maybe not entirely gave up, I heard from Billy about how their planting group battled the gigantic pumpkin for three days—this is their trophy."