Chapter 4823

However, Pride didn't voice it, merely helping to tidy up. Greed's stuff took the whole morning to pack, and they'd only gotten halfway done. By noon, everyone was starving, and cooking would've taken too long, so they decided to find a nearby restaurant.

Fortunately, Hampton had many upscale restaurants. They couldn't care less about reservations anymore and headed straight for the closest one. At the restaurant entrance, Stark stepped forward directly to use his face. It was clear the restaurant manager didn't really want to let them in, but having this bunch standing at the restaurant entrance would do more damage to the restaurant.

The Avengers were the absolute center of attention. Whether as individuals or as a group, they were insanely popular. Every extra second they spent on the street outside could generate hundreds more marketing-account fabricated press releases. Things like "Restaurant Refuses to Serve Superheroes," "Avengers Investigate Unscrupulous Restaurant," "Avengers Civil War Location Turns Out to Be a Hampton Restaurant"...

So, even though this was an upscale restaurant requiring reservations, and the owner really didn't care for Stark, under public opinion pressure they could only politely usher everyone in and wait for them to order.

"Don't just stare at the menu, this one's on me," Greed said.

Everyone cheered and started ordering heavily. The main reason they hadn't ordered immediately was that this place was genuinely expensive; because Western dining uses individual plating, group meals basically defaulted to going Dutch, and besides Stark and Greed, no one here could really order whatever they wanted.

But since someone was treating, they didn't stand on ceremony. After ordering, Greed also ordered some drinks. While waiting for the food, Steve said somewhat hesitantly, "I saw a figure in the mirror at the Rodriguez estate..."

Unexpectedly, the others didn't show much surprise, especially Greed and Pride. Greed explained, "This house is haunted."

That stunned Steve: "So you bought a murder house?"

"It's nothing to me," Greed said, "Living alone in such a big house is a bit boring anyway; a ghost making some noise isn't bad."

But Bucky, Hawkeye, Banner, and Coulson all looked puzzled. Bucky looked at Steve and spoke up: "Where's the ghost? How come I didn't see it?"

"You didn't see it at all?" Steve was also strange, "Didn't see any figure or anything..."

"I didn't see it either," Hawkeye spoke up, "I actually thought this house was pretty good. You guys talking like this is giving me the creeps."

"I didn't see anything either," Coulson said, and with that everyone believed it, because he'd been to this house once before. If he said there wasn't, then there truly wasn't.

Greed was also stunned, but he quickly realized that since the ghosts in the house were illusions, naturally everyone had their own illusions, and it was also possible some people had no illusions at all.

"I saw it," Natasha said, "I felt someone following me. There were footsteps and very faint breathing. When I turned my head, it was gone. Occasionally I could still hear a rhythm."

"What rhythm?" Pride asked.

"Ballet rhythm," Natasha said, "The tips of ballet shoes are hard, they make sounds on wooden floors; through the rhythm of such sounds, you can tell which piece is being danced. I heard 'Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy,' and there seemed to be a short segment of 'Romeo and Juliet'..."

"I saw a mother and daughter," Stark said, "Just standing quietly by the window, a very blurry phantom, couldn't see their faces..."

"A ghost face in the water's reflection," Strange said, "Looked like it had been burned, expression also somewhat twisted."

"You can see it too?" Bucky was somewhat shocked, "What kind of ghost can affect the Sorcerer Supreme?"

Strange didn't speak, just silently took a sip of the pre-dinner wine. And Pride realized that everyone experiencing hallucinations were people connected to Hampton. Or rather, people who knew or were aware of what had once happened in this place.

Like Coulson and Hawkeye, outsiders who'd basically never been to Hampton; even if they occasionally passed by, it was just a fleeting glance, they fundamentally didn't know what this place was about.

Bucky had worked here, but he'd always just dipped his toes in, his attention never on this kind of place, so he didn't know either.

Among the rest, Stark and Greed had lived here, Steve had worked here for not a short time, Natasha and Strange had both attended banquets here, so they all had hallucinations.

But Pride had no connection to this place, hadn't lived here, hadn't witnessed anything firsthand. Him seeing hallucinations might purely be because he's a Gothamite, and perfectly resonated with this house's temperament.

Everyone fell somewhat silent. Right then the food was served, and evaluations of the food covered up the previous topic. But right at this moment, the restaurant owner came out. Stark looked up and saw yet another acquaintance.

"Well if it isn't Young Master Mason?" Stark looked him up and down, "You finally got the scab off the top of your head, dared to come out?"

The man called Mason froze, saying through gritted teeth: "Haven't seen you in years, you're still this annoying, Little Stark."

"Being annoying to you doesn't matter, as long as money likes me," Stark laughed, "Really didn't expect you'd fallen so far as to open a restaurant. I'll order takeout from Stark Tower and have you personally deliver it to support business."

Steve nudged him lightly with his elbow; you could see how much resentment Stark held for this place and these old friends, practically full firepower.

"Then your taste is truly terrible," Strange lightly wiped his mouth, glanced at the food on the table, "Even adding the segment of having your old rival deliver takeout to vent anger, this stuff can still be called unpalatable."

Bucky also turned to look at Strange; seems this one's resentment isn't small either.

Mason acted as if he only just noticed Strange, but he merely glanced at Strange once, not putting any attention on him at all. Clearly, the identity of God's Hand wasn't enough to make Mason, born of a great family, look at him differently.

Or rather, in the eyes of such a person, only Stark at this table was qualified to converse with him; the others didn't even count as a side dish.

"What do you want?" Stark asked directly, "Group photo's out of the question, publicity even more so. And you have to give me a discount, otherwise I'll have everyone in the Avengers give this restaurant bad reviews on their personal accounts."

Mason's expression cracked directly; he said almost frantically: "Anthony, how can you be so shameless?!"

"Can't compare to you," Stark didn't yield, "Already fallen so far as to guard a broken restaurant for a living, yet still want to provoke me. Has the tidal force the moon's gravity created in your brain not receded yet?"

Mason was so angry his whole face went red. Bucky gloated on the side; Stark's mouth was still very useful when needed.

But clearly, Mason had some reason he had to stay; even spoken to like this, he didn't just leave in a huff. This drew everyone's attention. Natasha spoke: "Sir, we're just here for a simple meal, not looking for any socializing. Could you let us have some quiet?"

Following the "gentlemanly demeanor" observed by high society, the only woman at the table had spoken; not leaving now would be truly impolite, bordering on harassment. But Mason still didn't leave.

"I just want to ask," Mason finally said, "Do you know where Dracula went?"

"He moved out," Stark told the truth, "The house has been sold to Rodriguez, now it's called Rodriguez Manor. What's up?"

Mason acted like he'd been struck heavily: "How is that possible? How could he leave? He left, then... then..."

Natasha narrowed her eyes, but fortunately Mason wasn't that stupid; he made a random excuse and left in a fluster.

"Looks like this house still has many secrets," Steve said. He looked at Greed in a seeming reminder, "Maybe should ask Dracula more. If it's his leftover problem, he should be responsible for solving it."

"I don't think it's necessary," Stark said, "This isn't any big deal for Shiler. We should just hurry up and finish organizing the house, prepare for the housewarming party."

Greed and Pride's expressions didn't change, letting Steve know they likely knew the inside story; this was part of their plan. Since the party involved had no objections, there was no need to stop it.

Everyone hurriedly finished eating — this restaurant truly couldn't be called tasty, no wonder even at mealtime there was basically no one — then continued back to the manor to organize things.

Busy the whole day, they finally got everything sorted. But this was actually just the first step, because they still had to select furniture, replenish consumables, and prepare for the housewarming party.

A bit later, Strange and Natasha went to attend a wedding. Strange wore that same suit, Natasha just bought a spaghetti-strap dress at a nearby store. Anyway, with her looks and figure, nothing she wore looked perfunctory.

In the evening, they rested a bit, sitting in the living room chatting. But not about this community and house; they talked about the Interstellar Council's side of things, then about aliens buying houses in New York.

"Policy's tightening," Coulson said, "Aside from those with genuine practical needs, some people see this opportunity and want to flip properties. Both Earthlings and aliens. This isn't good for New York's housing market."

"How come?" Bucky said somewhat surprised, "Don't financiers love real estate bubbles the most?"

"But I don't like it," Stark said coldly, "They don't just speculate on high-end properties; if they drive prices up, everyone's housing burden increases. I won't allow them to do that."

"The Director does indeed have this consideration," Coulson paused, then continued, "But mainly it's still to guard against aliens using financial means to manipulate Earth's political situation. The federal government's annoying enough already; if you swap their backing for those Interstellar Council politicians, that'd really be..."

"Throwing cow dung into a latrine?" Bucky was amused by his own metaphor.

"More like pushing dung balls into a cow pen," Steve also laughed and clinked glasses with him.

Coulson was about to say something more when suddenly the manor door opened, and Strange and Natasha surged in together with the cold from outside.

"How come you're back?" Greed looked at the time in surprise, "It's been less than half an hour since you left; the wedding ended that fast?"

Everyone looked at them. Strange walked to the kitchen island and poured a glass of water, downing it in one go. Arrogant sniffed lightly, his gaze settling on the two of them.

The moment Natasha turned around, everyone saw the gun gripped in her hand, and the shocking crimson bloodstains on the silver-white silk hem of her skirt.

?? Happy Dragon Boat Festival, everyone!