Chapter 838: The “New” House
After watching the live telecast of Iron Man’s real ident.i.ty, Luke and Selina said goodbye to their families.
The two people and one dog hitched a ride with the ranch vet, Ferreira, to Dallas, where they took a flight to New York.
After exiting LaGuardia Airport in Queens, the two of them took a taxi to their new home in Clinton, New York.
Standing in front of their new place, Selina murmured, “Is this the surprise you were talking about?”
Laughing, Luke hugged her and said consolingly, “See that? It’s a five-story building. You can choose any of the four floors except the first. Of course, if you want, you can choose two floors and sleep on a different floor every half a month.”
Selina rolled her eyes. “Even if I were a moron, I would only change rooms every half a month.”
The two of them weren’t in a hurry to go in. Instead, they looked around the five-story building.
Luke had carefully selected this place; he had even a.n.a.lyzed information provided by Damon.
Calling it small was in comparison with a skysc.r.a.per.
The truth was that it had been used as a processing plant for a long time. It wasn’t an apartment with many units, so every floor was s.p.a.cious.
The five floors added up to more than 1,500 square meters, not including the bas.e.m.e.nt and the roof.
That was why Luke had spent so much money on the building.
The small house in Los Angeles wasn’t bad, but it was too small. In the end, he had to secretly build a bas.e.m.e.nt.
Now that they were in New York, their new place naturally had to be s.p.a.cious.
However, he still had to do some illegal renovations.
According to the law, the buildings in Manhattan couldn’t be renovated w.i.l.l.y-nilly. The building owners had to register with the relevant departments and get permission before they could start.
But probably n.o.body in the Clinton area would check for illegal renovations.
The main bulk of the building had old and mottled red brick walls and wide, rusting window frames. The gla.s.s windows were covered in thick dust; it was clear that n.o.body had lived here for a long time.
Selina couldn’t help but click her tongue. “Our new place is really ‘new.’ It was built a hundred years ago, right?”
Luke smiled. “Sorry; according to records, it isn’t that old. It’s only been 64 years, and can’t be considered a historical relic.”
Selina’s face twitched. “It’s older than my grandmother.”
Luke was lost for words.
Selina’s mother, Sandra, had given birth to her when she was sixteen, and her grandmother had given birth to Sandra when she was seventeen.
“However, I quite like it.” Selina changed the topic. “From the outside, it looks like it’s in that loft style you mentioned before. Is it the same inside?”
Luke chuckled. “You’ll see.”
Selina didn’t think much of it. She continued, “It’s just that the environment around here doesn’t seem great?”
Luke said, “If law and order in Clinton is good, then there aren’t many places in New York that are safe.”
Selina’s eyes glittered. “Then, we can… hehehe.”
Looking at her, Luke chuckled as well.
At that moment, they returned to the entrance after doing one round of the place. They opened the front door and went in.
Looking at the inside, Selina was gobsmacked once again. “What the h.e.l.l!”
Gold Nugget’s jaw almost hit the ground. It was in despair. I don’t want to live in a haunted place like this!
It was mostly empty inside, but there was junk and rubbish everywhere. A thick layer of dust covered everything and spiderwebs hung in every corner, making the place look eerie and rundown.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that this place was haunted.
It looked a lot like those haunted factories in horror movies.
Luke patted Selina’s shoulder and the dog head next to him. “There are no cleaning or interior decorating services here. Also, we can’t leave our place to someone else, so we’ll have to do it ourselves.”
Selina and Gold Nugget immediately understood.
Luke had set up a lot of new equipment and defense mechanisms in their L.A. home, turning it into a completely different place.
Even if it was a new place, it would still be a dump if it was installed with only the standard stuff.
Thinking that, Selina and the dog put away their shock and continued to examine the building with Luke.
After completing their inspection on the fifth floor twenty minutes later, Luke nodded in satisfaction. “The basic structure is fine, and there actually isn’t much trash in here. We can save on a lot. Let’s have lunch first and then get the tools and materials before we get to work.”
They didn’t need to look for a car. They quickly went down a few lanes, and arrived at a Shake Shack in Times Square ten minutes later.
It was already past the peak lunch period, but Luke and Selina waited in line for almost twenty minutes before they walked out of the fast food restaurant with their gains under the gazes of the staff and customers.
No matter how delicious Shake Shack was, few people would buy over a hundred hamburgers and a lot of dessert and fries in one go.
They ordered their food separately and pretended that they didn’t know each other, or they would have been surrounded by even more people.
More than two hundred hamburgers was enough to feed a regular gathering of office staff.
When they came out, Gold Nugget jumped around them, not forgetting to whine like crazy.
Its nose could easily pick out that this absolutely wasn’t rotten fast food; this didn’t lose out to In-N-Out.
It smelled so good. The meat patties would absolutely be juicy, and the dessert very sweet.
As a carnivore with a sweet tooth, it was very satisfied with the smell.
Luke ignored the dog.
If he didn’t, the guy would know that Luke didn’t object.
If Luke didn’t object, some dog head would open its big mouth and gorge itself.
This was a main street; Luke didn’t want people to stand around and watch a dog eat dozens of kilograms in one go.
Those who didn’t know might think that he was abusing the dog.
That wasn’t a joke.
It wasn’t rare for owners to be punished under the law for overfeeding their pets until they became obese.
It was Selina who loved the dog head the most. She knew why Luke didn’t turn around.
She secretly fed Gold Nugget two hamburgers and a milkshake before she stopped and said in a low voice, “That’s all for now. If you finish your share now, you’ll only be able to watch us eat later.”
Gold Nugget decisively restrained itself.
It didn’t want to watch them eat. That would make it feel inferior.
They took a taxi to Central Park and found a more secluded corner in which to enjoy their lunch.