Chapter 4816: Little Ghost in Charge (Fourteen)

Coulson and Natasha both nodded, apparently more accepting of this explanation than any regional curse. But in fact, Stark and Dracula were saying the same thing.

Simply put, the ancestors' spirits had issues, and then they brought the social atmosphere here downhill. Later, people born here couldn't change it, so the longer they lived, the more miserable they became, and their mental problems worsened.

Many affluent areas in Europe and America have community atmospheres like large mental institutions, and they formed this way. During the golden era, the cake was big enough that some people could come in without suits or ties, sneak a bite, and no one cared. But once the cake shrank, strict dress codes and etiquette became necessary to divide it.

This led to upper-class communities having even more of those damn rules. Even if resources became scarce to a certain degree, these things would trickle down to middle-class communities, prompting a bunch of middle-class people to use all sorts of rule bundles to protect their resources. Eventually, they'd even trickle down to the civilian class, wishing every community would impose etiquette rules to warn outsiders to stay away.

"But if that's the case, it shouldn't affect us, right?" Coulson asked, "Superpowered beings shouldn't be affected by collective unconsciousness. Probably. At least Shiler definitely isn't affected by this."

Coulson looked toward Greed, but Greed didn't seem very certain. He then looked at Dracula and said, "If it's merely hallucinations from collective unconsciousness, that also couldn't stop you from selling this house to aliens, after all, they don't use the same collective unconsciousness as us, and they can't see those hallucinations."

"That's the problem. This phenomenon is no longer mere hallucination, but hallucination combined with matter." Dracula explained, "You can understand it as humanity's hallucinations imparting spirit to everything here, making them take on strange forms."

"Solving only the material problem is useless, because as long as humans remain, hallucinations will keep appearing and continue to impart spirit. And solving only the spiritual problem is also useless, because things already imparted with spirit exist independently and will still cause trouble."

"So, as long as Hampton still has human inhabitants following the old ways, these supernatural phenomena won't disappear. However, this house has no ghosts, and poltergeists, aside from being a bit annoying, cause no substantial harm."

"But if I sold such a house to those people of the Shi'a Empire and then immigrated there myself, they wouldn't let me off. So I hope you can take it over; for that, I can even sell it for less money."

"Ah, that's how it is." Greed relaxed a bit and asked, "You said mages couldn't completely expel these things, so what about the Supreme Mage?"

"How would I know?" Dracula said somewhat helplessly, "Am I supposed to go to Kamar-Taj and report my haunted house, asking the Supreme Mage to come catch ghosts?"

Then he produced a large bunch of keys from somewhere unknown, handed them to Greed, and said, "If you buy this house, you can indeed call him over to check it out, but I advise you not to get your hopes up. The price I just told you is my bottom line; if you want it, we can close the deal immediately, and then you can move in. By then, whoever you invite over has nothing to do with me."

"Come on, it's not the 18th century anymore," Greed said, "Buying and selling houses requires signing contracts."

Dracula shook his head again and said, "We do indeed need to sign a contract, but not the kind those modern people drafted, but this."

Dracula then produced a sheepskin scroll from somewhere unknown; Greed was truly speechless. Dracula waved his hand and said, "It's not you and me signing, but you and the other existences inside the house signing a contract, so you can move in smoothly; otherwise, they'll definitely cause trouble."

Greed furrowed his brow slightly. Dracula continued, "This house's hardware conditions are nearly flawless; if it weren't for the special guardians, it would surely attract many people's envy, and now it would fall into the hands of those secretive great families, wouldn't it?"

Actually, Stark had wanted to ask earlier: this house is so good, how did Dracula get hold of it? Don't look at Dracula indeed being the ancestor of vampires, but his combat ability really isn't much to look at. America's wealthy aren't pushovers; although they're ordinary people without superpowers, as long as they're willing to spend money, they can absolutely hire capable superpowered beings. Not to mention, Blade Warriors are always short on cash. If they hired Blade Warriors to harass Dracula, he'd have to move out, and this house would definitely end up in those wealthy people's hands.

Hampton people would definitely not hesitate to do that. After all, Stark merely made the house ugly, doesn't live here often, and won't disturb their lives; they already have that much hostility. Dracula is obviously a day-sleeping night-walking oddball, still occupying such a fine place; if it weren't for this house's strangeness, those people would definitely swarm up and insist on driving Dracula away.

"The fact is, you simply can't live here without signing the contract." Dracula coldly snorted and said, "There have been disbelieving unlucky eggs who had designs on this house, but in the end they still ran away, pants full of piss and shit."

"That's actually good for you," Natasha said, looking at Greed, "When you're not around, ghosts can help you watch the house, and also prevent some people from sneaking in."

"Are you crazy?" Stark said, "Who would be foolish enough to sneak into Shiler's house?"

"People who know Shiler certainly wouldn't. But you also can't demand that all neighbors, or even an entire community, understand him. There are so many mentally ill people here; who knows if someone won't suddenly snap."

Greed also felt Natasha made sense. His housekeeper went to find Zero One Ultron to visit relatives and hasn't returned yet, and he doesn't want to hire another full-time housekeeper. But normally he still has to go to the sanatorium for work, and having no one at home really won't do.

Especially, this community might later see many aliens move in. Although they fear human superheroes and won't cause big trouble, privately they'll definitely make plenty of small moves. Maybe on their first day they'll come and turn this place upside down; Greed doesn't want them to bumble into his house.

"Well," Greed still made a decision, he said, "I'll first open a universal currency account for you, transfer the house payment into it, then we'll sign the contract. As for the purchase procedures—Phil, can you help?"

"No problem, Real Estate Manager Coulson at your service." Coulson showed a professional smile, "I've brought all those procedures; I just need to adjust the house and transacting parties' information."

"Then let's do that." Several people returned together to the hall, sat on the sofa, and prepared to sign the procedures.

While Greed was signing, Stark strolled around the hall. He first looked at the dining room, then looked up at the chandelier, and said, "We've been here this long, yet we haven't seen any haunting?"

"Poltergeists like to be active at night," Dracula said without lifting his head, "This house has excellent soundproofing; as long as they don't make noise in the bedroom, there's no problem."

"What if they go to the bedroom?"

"Shout loudly to drive them out." Dracula said, "Though I usually sleep in a coffin, they definitely wouldn't dare come make noise in my coffin. The coffin in the bedroom is left for you; if the commotion is really too loud, you can also sleep there."

"Thank you for your kindness," Greed said sincerely. Having dealt with aliens for a long time, he can accept any custom. Not to mention sleeping in a coffin—there are ethnic groups who sleep in stellar cores. People kindly offer you their super-comfortable double bed; you shouldn't be too surprised, like you've never seen the world.

The procedures were quickly completed. And after finally signing that sheepskin scroll contract, Greed felt some sounds inside the house, whispering to him in a rustling manner. But what they said wasn't human language, and Greed couldn't hear it clearly; he could only feel they had no ill intent, more like curiosity.

The sheepskin scroll was taken by Greed; Dracula exhaled deeply, then said, "When can the Shi'a Empire matter be settled?"

"If you're in a hurry, you can leave now. But I warn you, if you cause trouble there, no one will bail you out."

Dracula seemed thoughtful, but soon left. Natasha surveyed the house, then said, "Although this house is fairly clean, it's still best to have someone come clean it and do a thorough disinfection. However, if it's haunted, it's inconvenient to hire cleaners from outside; how about hiring SHIELD people?"

"Is Nick short on funds again?" Greed asked casually, "Well, let him send people over; I'll give him an invoice."

Thus, several people first left the new house. Greed said, "The movie is about to start filming; Stephen is busy tidying up the school. After the cleaners finish cleaning, I'll find him to take a look; if we can resolve the supernatural phenomena, even better."

Soon they all dispersed. Stark seemed to have made up his mind to be neighbors with Greed, so he wanted to move back into his old house for a while, go back to get household items. Natasha and Coulson went to find the cleaners. Greed returned to the sanatorium, intending to meet with Pride to check out the house.

When he returned to the sanatorium, Pride was already in the office. Greed pushed the door open and entered, asking, "Where did you go?"

"To talk with some other people," Pride said, "Like a few doctors."

Greed showed an expression of understanding. Pride prefers dealing with intellectuals, especially these professors and scientists. After all, most of the time his surroundings are people like that, and Pride also prefers listening to their opinions.

"What did they say?" Greed asked.

"They said East Hampton isn't a good place." Pride paused after saying that, "The people there aren't very friendly, the community atmosphere is also bad. If you want to buy a house there, you need to consider carefully."

"I already bought a house there."

"Exactly to my liking."

Pride smiled and said, "If your home were surrounded by enthusiastic, friendly neighbors who'd greet you even just passing by, and hold gatherings every weekend, then I definitely wouldn't come visit."

"Yeah, you'd rather live among a bunch of enemies." Greed still couldn't understand Pride? For Pride, facing enemies, he's more at ease, able to more freely unleash his nature. But if he's with friends, he must try to control himself as much as possible.

Greed is different. When with friends, he freely unleashes his nature; when with enemies, he frees his nature even more.

An unfriendly community atmosphere is, for Pride, a good thing. He'd prefer to live in a community where nobody likes him, so that no matter what he does, he won't harm his friends or potential friends, and he can just do whatever he wants.

"That house is really quite good," Greed said, "You'll definitely like it. Let's go check it out now."