"Stay still and behave yourself." Steve patted Little Thomas’s shoulder, "It’s almost tied up, but you move and it falls apart again."

Little Thomas squirmed in his seat but still looked at his companions. The elder of the twins had his mouth wide open. Franklin crossed his arms and said, "I told you there’s something fishy about this place. I didn’t expect it to be haunted."

"Wait a minute," Little Morgan extended her hand, "did you guys see the shadow at the door just now?"

"Oh, don’t start with that." The younger twin said, "You must be trying to scare us again, Miss Stark. We’re not falling for it this time!"

"I’m not joking," Little Morgan frowned, speaking very seriously, "I thought it was Aunt Wanda. But if the two of them are back, then who was outside the door?"

Billy shivered. He stammered, "Is there really a ghost? I, I haven’t harmed them... Please don’t come for me..."

Franklin was speechless. "You’re Shazam. You can wield the power of the Olympian Gods, yet you’re afraid of ghosts?"

Unexpectedly, Billy shook his head and said, "Before coming here, my dad warned me not to use my superpowers recklessly. I can’t cause trouble for this cosmos."

The twin brothers exchanged a glance. The elder gave Franklin a look, and the younger shot a glance at Little Thomas. Then they were caught red-handed by Wanda.

"I’m warning you, don’t cause any trouble on Earth. If I find out that you sneak out..."

"We won’t, Mom!" the twin brothers immediately shouted, "We’ll video call Dad tonight!"

"That’s right, I’ll read stories to my little sister! Promise we won’t run around!"

This was surely unconvincing. Wanda didn’t believe them at all. But she was very confident in her power. Except for Franklin, who could open a teleportation portal and escape, everyone else was within her grasp.

Once Wanda left, the two brothers immediately wore bitter expressions. Little Thomas had nothing to say. They all knew there was no chance of sneaking out under the Scarlet Witch’s watchful eyes. Their only hope lay with Franklin.

"Don’t look at me," Franklin telepathically communicated with them, "Recently, my dad and I wandered through the cosmos. My mom is really mad and plans to hire a tutor for me. I won’t have much time for fun in the future..."

"Oh! No!!!" the children screamed miserably, knowing that they relied heavily on Franklin’s teleportation portal to travel freely through the cosmos. If he stays home, the team might just have to disband.

The dishes were served one after another. Most of them were made by Natasha, Coulson, and Bucky. Their cooking skills were quite impressive. Frank also made some mashed potatoes. While his cooking wasn’t remarkable, the dish was simple enough that it couldn’t taste bad.

The children’s meals were kids’ specials: grilled ribs with vegetables, along with a clam chowder, and mashed potatoes as the main dish. The adults shared leg of lamb, roast chicken, and Hungarian beef soup. These days, meals are especially soup-rich because there’s nothing more satisfying than a hot bowl of soup on a snowy day.

Greed quickly received information on his phone from JARVIS’s internet search about the old Violet Resort. But when the Violet Resort incident happened, even Captain America and Winter Soldier hadn’t undergone their transformations. During their youth, there was hardly any internet, and traces on the web are scarce.

Moreover, back then, so many wealthy individuals jointly blocked the news. There were no traces in traditional media. Only a few small TV stations reported the resort’s closure and overhaul, without mentioning the reason.

The only voices currently found are from some of the victims’ families. The official explanation was that these people went to the beach together and were drowned by a rising tide. Such a bizarre reason was forcibly rewritten into fact. Autopsy reports and the police’s investigation results were all uniform. These victims’ families had no recourse.

"How did you know it was tap water pollution back then?" Greed curiously looked at Steve. Steve paused in cutting the meat and then said, "I worked there for a long time and had a few friends I got along with. They told me."

"How did they know? If so many people knew, it shouldn’t have been possible to keep it a secret."

"Because not everyone in that resort died." Steve thought for a moment and said, "Tap water issues aren’t like fires or tsunamis that can kill everyone instantly. There are always some lucky ones who survive. They probably spread the word."

"Back then, it was not like now, where a message can spread worldwide with a phone. If a radio station didn’t interview you, you had no chance to express yourself to the public. And the people covering up the news definitely wouldn’t give anyone such an opportunity."

Greed nodded. In the internet age, there’s no such thing as "internal information" anymore. Or rather, a lot of information circulating online now would have been top-secret in the past, something most people would never have access to in their lifetime.

But in the past, when voices could only be heard through traditional media, covering up news was always simple. Just don’t let people appear on TV stations for interviews. Yet, Greed still felt something was off.

It’s known that America’s media are notoriously bad, but it’s not entirely targeted at ordinary people. Even celebrities dislike them. Because many times, American media hold the greatest power of supervision and can easily manipulate stock prices through opinion. Even those tycoons have to bow to them.

The matter of the Violet Resort Village is not trivial, and precisely because of this, reporting it would garner substantial benefits. There’s no reason for TV stations to not be interested. Moreover, the owner of this resort does have competitors. Though openly they can’t tear each other apart for Hampton’s tourism business, behind the scenes, small maneuvers are still possible. How could it be covered up so perfectly?

Greed felt that there must be some hidden truth in it. This matter was indeed not that easy to resolve.

At the dining table, Little Morgan was fussing about not wanting to eat vegetables again. She insisted that Stark’s parsley was bitter. Stark had to coax her, barely getting her to finish the carrots and broccoli.

The twin brothers, on the other hand, just didn’t like sweet peppers at all. With one bite, their whole faces scrunched up. Wanda coaxed for a long time too, eventually getting half down.

Conversely, the youngest, Franklin, was not picky at all. Whatever he was given, he ate it, and he had a big appetite. Steve wanted to praise him, but as he turned his head, he found Franklin had opened a Teleportation Portal in his mouth. Anything he didn’t like, he just discarded through the portal.

Little Thomas was also imitating, breaking down food he didn’t like into Dark Matter, dispersing it into the cosmos. Steve thought that when he grew up, the universe’s Dark Matter would increase significantly.

All the kids were somewhat picky with food. This might be because children’s taste buds are more sensitive. However, in this estate, their tendency to be picky had weakened. They all preferred to finish quickly, then explore the estate, seeing if they could really find any ghosts.

After struggling through their meals, the kids dashed outside. Wanda didn’t mind but started to chat on the phone with an old friend. The conversation seemed to be about New Salem. Greed listened vaguely from inside the house; it seemed that the Witch community had an unexpected event. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

The Colorado Plateau is barren and desolate. The major issue there is not the elevation but its barrenness. The vicinity of the Colorado Grand Canyon is full of barren rock hills. That place hasn’t been touched by human civilization, not because human civilization can’t reach but because it’s genuinely unsuitable for habitation.

You could say the Witches being sent there was no different from exile. Massachusetts is remote too, but at least its climate and vegetation coverage are decent. The Colorado Plateau is far, hot, and barren. Anyone with a bit of skill wouldn’t be banished there.

Of course, Greed could recognize that the Scarlet Witch had romanticized the history a bit. Beautifying it as a journey of seclusion, eventually finding a quiet place to settle. But to put it plainly, it was a matter of being unable to resolve it, resulting in exile to a barren corner to barely survive.

In such circumstances, there must be internal conflict within the Witch group. Even if that generation was united, by the second generation, it certainly wouldn’t be. Hanix ignored it, and Wanda seemed reluctant to intervene as well. One wonders what they would do.

After about an hour, Wanda returned with a solemn expression. She pursed her lips, unsure of how to begin. Steve quickly approached her, saying, "What’s the matter, ma’am? Any trouble? Tell us, and we can figure out a solution together."

Wanda shook her head, saying, "It’s nothing, it’s not related to me."

Then she looked towards Greed, saying, "My teacher has a son, named Nicholas Scok. This guy is a born bad seed, still hasn’t awakened from the witch hunt, and has been dedicated to eradicating all Witches in the world."

"Recently, he and his partners infiltrated New Salem, attempting to incite the Witches to hunt down his mother. Some Witches fell into his trap, but they are no match for Mrs. Hanix. My teacher is pursuing them, heading north. If she reaches New York, I should sense it. Then I’ll go find her."

"Thank you so much, ma’am," Greed said. "But if it’s just these matters, you probably wouldn’t be talking on the phone for so long. If there’s anything troubling you, speak up. We can give you some advice but certainly won’t make decisions for you."

Rarely, Wanda showed some negativity—a bit unusual indeed, as most of the time she was full of energy, presenting herself as someone who loved life. Never seen her show fatigue. Even during the most challenging period of raising kids, she never complained impatiently but was always engaged and enjoyed it.

But now she pressed her brow and sat in the sofa. Sitting dumbly for dozens of seconds, before she spoke, "The Witches want to migrate north."

Greed raised an eyebrow and said, "Didn’t they just migrate there from the north?"

"Yes, they want to return to Massachusetts," Wanda sighed deeply. "Due to Nicholas’s arrival and destruction, a war erupted internally among the Witches, resulting in many deaths. The leader is fed up with New Salem, thinking Massachusetts is better. So they decided to move back."

"That’s a good thing, right?" Steve said. "No one will persecute Witches now. Massachusetts’s natural environment is nice. Life for Witches there should be good."

"You are oversimplifying it," Wanda turned to look at the group and said. "Iphamoni is still in Massachusetts."