The lockdown in Hampton hasn’t been lifted, but that doesn’t stop the Scarlet Witch. Although she knows nothing about the affairs here and should be kept out like Peter Parker, she entered the estate through a teleportation portal without any trouble. The ghosts certainly couldn’t do anything to her, and she didn’t notice any anomalies, happily touring the house.

"I really like it here," Wanda said happily, "In the future, we’ll have another gathering spot in New York. But I noticed that the pool on the west side hasn’t been cleaned yet. I know a great pool cleaning team; would you like me to introduce them to you?"

"This is really a troublesome matter," Greed replied, "For some reasons, Hampton is inaccessible, so we’ll probably have to clean the pool ourselves."

"That’s not difficult, but do you have the necessary chemicals?" Wanda asked, "A pool isn’t just about changing the water; some disinfecting, anti-algae, and sterilizing agents are essential."

"People can’t come in, but supplies can. Could you contact that team to provide the materials? We can handle the work ourselves. The price is negotiable."

Wanda nodded. Despite it being winter now, normally, no one would swim in the pool, but the estate’s pool has an impressive feature: it’s an outdoor heated pool. Compared to the winter temperature, it’s almost like a hot spring.

Of course, maintaining this heating system costs quite a bit. If it weren’t connected to Stark’s energy supply, the electricity meter would run like crazy.

"I think we can build a pavilion here," Wanda said as she stood on a patch of empty garden space, "Then extend a flower corridor over there. This way, you wouldn’t be exposed to the scorching sun, and you could sit here to have afternoon tea and chat."

Greed nodded and said, "That sounds good. Madam, your life wisdom constantly amazes me."

Wanda smiled at him. Then they walked to the eastern cliff. As they walked, Wanda asked, "So, this house was built by my teacher?"

"Yes, to suppress supernatural phenomena," Greed replied, looking out at the sea, "But now it’s getting out of control; we’ll probably have to invite her over again."

Wanda shook her head and said, "Considering what I know about Agatha, it’s unlikely that she built this house just to suppress supernatural phenomena, because she deeply despises the wealthy and privileged."

Greed looked at her, puzzled, and Wanda said, "Lady Harkness is not only a witch but also a revolutionary leader. She led witch guerrilla warfare in the Massachusetts forests and taught them to fight against persecutors for hundreds of years. If she knew about Hampton’s situation, she certainly wouldn’t side with the residents."

Greed paused in his actions. He hadn’t realized that this witch was so radical. Now it seems she might have built this house not to suppress supernatural phenomena, but perhaps to amplify them.

Because a very apparent flaw is: if this estate is the focal point for suppressing supernatural phenomena or even just an alert system, then it shouldn’t have such severe haunting issues; it should be a tranquil place instead.

This aligns with some concepts in eastern mysticism. Proper tools naturally suppress ghosts. If you use an evil-expelling array, then malevolent spirits won’t be able to approach within a few hundred meters; conversely, it’s the same with dark arts formations, which attract evil spirits, turning a location into a filthy area.

If Harkness intended to help the Hampton people by thoroughly suppressing the supernatural phenomena, then the estate, as a key location, should be a shelter. How has it become haunted?

Now it seems that the witch’s formations set in the estate might be more inclined towards the ghosts’ side. This entire setup might have been created by her to punish the Hampton people. However, the Hampton residents are left with no choice; they have no other way but to endure this.

In other words, from the beginning, no one truly wanted to solve the problem here. The mages or spiritual ability users hired by the residents might be powerless; more often, they acknowledge the issue without addressing it, and some have even exacerbated the situation. Hampton’s outbreak of supernatural phenomena was inevitable.

"It’s becoming troublesome here, isn’t it?" Wanda said, somewhat worried. "We can’t keep going on like this; after all, nobody knows if this phenomenon might spread or cause a bigger accident, affecting innocent people. I’ll contact New Salem to see if they know the teacher’s whereabouts."

"I’m not sure I can persuade her," Greed said. "If she’s truly a radical grassroots revolutionary, she might not be willing to cooperate with us."

"No need to worry. If she knows how you’ve helped me, she’ll definitely be willing to assist," Wanda said with a smile. "My relationship with Agatha is good; she loves me like a daughter."

"Then why did you eventually separate?" Greed asked, "I thought you would settle down among the witches."

Wanda shook her head and said, "No, I actually don’t get along with the witches, and my teacher has already parted ways with them."

"Why?" Greed asked with some curiosity.

"Witches are always fleeing," Wanda sighed, "They don’t want to be persecuted, they want a peaceful life, but their way isn’t to try to protect themselves or stand up against injustice, but to retreat and seclude themselves. As long as they avoid ordinary society and hide away in a corner, they can gain temporary peace. But both my teacher and I believe this doesn’t work."

"I thought you would agree," Greed said, a little surprised, "After all, you greatly admire family life and want to live stably."

"Before I met all of you, I did think that way." Wanda sighed again, "But later I realized that I could maintain this belief without change because I was naturally strong enough. I inherently possessed the ability to defend my peaceful life. I can hide, or I can stand up, living like an ordinary person is my choice, not because I have no other choice."

"But most witches aren’t like that. In the struggle against ordinary people, they’re generally at a disadvantage, most witches can only be said to have mastered a few tricks like ordinary people, some are even just ordinary people who have been falsely accused. They have no ability to defend their lives; they simply can’t stay behind. They have to keep running and hiding until they never come down from the mountains."

Wanda paused, seeming to think of something, and said: "The situation in New Salem isn’t good. Perhaps when it was first established, it barely counted as a shelter for witches, but after so many years, a huge gap has opened up between the witches who truly master magic and spiritual abilities and those who are not strong enough, they could almost be described as two different species. Ordinary witches aren’t doing well; they can barely make ends meet."

"Aren’t you planning to help them?"

"That’s the crux of the problem," Wanda frowned slightly, "They fled up the mountain because of persecution from ordinary people. All these years, those witches who originally fled have been depicting how terrifying the ordinary people’s society is, how everyone outside is bad. They simply do not trust outsiders, even though I’m a student of their teacher."

Wanda also gazed at the sea and then said: "I also figured it out. Back then, they refused to follow the teacher to resist and chose the seemingly easier path. This current situation, though can’t be said to be self-inflicted, since even my teacher couldn’t reverse the situation back then, I fear doing more would only add to the troubles."

"Do you think I’m...umm, somewhat unambitious?" Wanda looked at him and asked.

"You simply love your current life too much," Greed smiled as he looked at her and said, "Being content with the present is a good thing. If everyone were like you, I wouldn’t have anything to do."

When the two returned to the hall, the meal was already ready, and the room was filled with fragrance. The children had all been pressed into the dining table, and Steve was tying bibs for each of them.

Although it was said that here sat a row of cosmos-destroying engines, with endless mischief ideas, they were still very polite and well-mannered, obediently sitting in their chairs waiting for the meal to start. Though they kept making faces at each other, no one touched the food first, or whispered, or spoke loudly.

Of course, this was more likely because Arrogant was sitting opposite them.

Arrogant was looking at old newspapers. In fact, in such a wealthy community, newspapers were still quite popular. Although they didn’t reject new media, traditional media is the mouthpiece of different forces, and some subtle attitudes can only be conveyed through newspaper texts, so many families have the habit of reading newspapers and also teach their children how to discern information from them.

Arrogant was reading the newspaper Frank brought back, which reported information about the water pollution incident at Violet Resort Village back then, very likely provided by the old man at the time.

Arrogant read with great concentration, as if he were looking at academic materials, thus frowning slightly, automatically creating a no-man’s land a few meters around him, with only Dr. Banner able to converse with him a bit.

Banner came over and sat beside Arrogant, glanced at the newspaper in Arrogant’s hand, and while arranging the cutlery in front of him, asked, "Is this news of that incident back then? Do you think it might be useful?"

Arrogant nodded lightly and then said, "In Eastern culture, there is a belief in cause and effect. If Violet Resort Village was the first large-scale outbreak location of supernatural phenomena, then to solve the supernatural phenomena at its root, we must resolve what happened back then."

Banner nodded and said: "Indeed, there are too many innocent souls who died unjustly in that resort. If we can’t appease the souls of these victims, they won’t be willing to leave."

But what the kids heard was—

"Supernatural phenomena?"

"Ghosts?"

"This place is haunted???"