Abstract Two recent extremely fast coronal mass ejections (CMEs) are of particular interest. The first one originated from the southern hemisphere on 2021 October 28 and caused strong solar energetic particle (SEP) events over a wide longitude range from Earth, STEREO-A, to Mars. However, the other one, originating from the center of the Earth-viewed solar disk 5 days later, left weak SEP signatures in the heliosphere. Based on the white-light images of the CMEs from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the Ahead Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO-A), in combination with the observations of the corresponding solar flares, radio bursts, and in situ magnetic fields and particles, we try to analyze the series of solar eruptions during October 28–November 2 as well as their correspondences with the in situ features. It is found that the difference in SEP features between the two CMEs is mainly due to (1) the seed particles probably supplied by associated flares and (2) the magnetic connection influenced by the preceding solar wind speed.