CHAPTER 60: CHAPTER 60: BUYING THE BUILDING (VOTE AND FOLLOW PLEASE!)

Having not contacted Melinda for so long, Chu Feng felt a peculiar sense of guilt. He stared at the number on his cell phone, hesitating to dial it.

"Hey! Melinda, are you doing okay?"

After a long pause, Chu Feng finally mustered the courage to press the call button. As soon as the call connected, before the person on the other end could speak, he greeted her right away.

"Mr. Chu, is that Mr. Chu!"

Unexpectedly, two tinkling, pleasant voices came from the other end—it was Melinda’s two lovely daughters.

"Danni, Daisy, how are you two! Did you miss me?" Hearing the voices of the two cute little girls, Chu Feng was overjoyed, his face unconsciously wreathed in a smile.

"Mr. Chu, you haven’t visited our home in such a long time!" The voices of the two little darlings were filled with complaint.

"Er... I’ll come see you more often from now on, I promise!" After comforting the two little ones, Chu Feng remembered the purpose of his call.

"Right, where’s your mom, Melinda?"

"Mom is taking a bath! I’ll go call her!"

"I’ll go too!"

The pitter-patter of two pairs of small feet running quickly faded into the distance.

Soon, a set of light footsteps gradually approached the phone.

"Chu Feng?" Melinda’s voice carried a faint hint of inquiry.

"It’s me! Melinda."

"Come to my house right away! BEEP. BEEP. BEEP."

After confirming it was Chu Feng, Melinda tersely left just that one sentence and hung up the phone.

Uh... Looking at the disconnected call, Chu Feng was momentarily at a loss for words.

「An hour later, the sky had completely darkened.」

To avoid the chaotic crowds on the streets of New York, Chu Feng took a big detour before finally arriving outside Melinda’s villa.

DING-DONG. DING-DONG.

After two crisp doorbell rings, the door in front of Chu Feng instantly opened.

"Hi, Melinda, long time no see!"

"I thought you wouldn’t come!"

Melinda, dressed in a silk nightgown, a complex shine in her eyes, pulled Chu Feng inside.

「Three days later,」

Melinda, her fair face gleaming with a dewy radiance, and a somewhat haggard Chu Feng appeared before an office building in the western part of Queens.

The building’s location wasn’t too far from both Brooklyn and Manhattan, making transportation quite convenient.

Moreover, the distance between the surrounding buildings and this one was neither too close nor too far—just right.

Ten floors above ground plus two basement levels, with an attached parking lot outside.

Everything perfectly met Chu Feng’s requirements.

As for the decor! Well, it indeed looked as if it had been abandoned for some time. There was even a thick layer of dust on the floor.

"The owner of this building went abroad for a trip and then vanished without a trace. After the loan defaulted, it was repossessed by the bank," Melinda explained to Chu Feng in a flat tone while handing the building keys to her assistant, Pasha. "The entire building has a total of one hundred sixty thousand square feet above ground, approximately just under 15,000 square meters in area."

Pasha, the round-faced girl with faint freckles, took the keys and hurried to the building’s main entrance to unlock it.

Noticing her assistant’s attention was elsewhere, Melinda quickly pulled Chu Feng to her side.

"Chu Feng," she began, "this building was completed less than five years ago. The bank will let you have it for just fifty million US dollars. After that, there are just the costs for renovation, utilities, property management, and so on. It should be the best fit for your requirements. What do you think?"

"OK! I am very satisfied with the conditions here. Let’s settle on this building! COUGH, COUGH."

Seeing Pasha run back, Chu Feng quickly gave Melinda a light pat, prompting her to create a little distance between them.

"Pasha, let’s go! We’ll leave Mr. Chu to look around, and we’ll go back and prepare the contract!"

After speaking to her assistant, Melinda swayed her slender hips as she walked towards her car.

"Ah? Oh... oh!"

The young assistant froze for a moment, then, realizing, quickly trotted after them.

After waiting for the two to leave, Chu Feng pushed open the long-sealed door of the building by himself.

The interior of the building had noticeably less dust than the outside, only a thin layer.

On the wall of the first-floor lobby, a huge logo of the previous company still hung.

Hmm, this can later be replaced with the logo of my own Exorcism Agency, and below that, I’ll partition off a space for the reception area, like this...

Chu Feng walked around the building, silently planning its decoration and layout.

After looking around the entire first floor, Chu Feng headed towards the building’s rooftop.

Since the whole building was completely without power, Chu Feng had no choice but to walk step by step up the stairwell to the rooftop.

However, Chu Feng’s current attributes were completely non-human; climbing ten floors was nothing to him.

In a short while, Chu Feng had already opened the door leading to the rooftop.

His shoe soles lightly touched the dusty rooftop. Yet, influenced by his "Traces Without Snow" passive, no footprints were left on the ground behind him.

Standing atop the rooftop, although the building wasn’t the tallest, there were no other high structures nearby. This offered a feeling of looking down upon all lesser peaks.

Gazing at the unobstructed view around him, a surge of exhilaration instantly rose in Chu Feng’s heart.

This is where I start!

Recalling how a fake New York Police Department chief could intimidate and coerce him, Chu Feng’s longing for power grew even more intense.

Back then, a vague idea had formed in his mind: How could an Exorcist seize control of America?

So, let everything begin from New York!

「After an indeterminate time, Chu Feng’s phone suddenly vibrated.」

BUZZ. BUZZ. BUZZ.

"Chu Feng, where are you? I’ve brought the contract!" Melinda’s soft voice came from the other end of the phone.

"I’m upstairs. Wait a moment, I’ll be right down!"

After another look around the rooftop, Chu Feng turned and descended the stairs briskly.

Upon reaching the first floor, Chu Feng immediately saw Melinda, standing alone and looking around.

"Let’s go! Once you sign, we can proceed with the formalities!" Melinda waved the documents in her hand at Chu Feng, flashing a bright smile.

With Melinda, the bank executive, leading the way, Chu Feng quickly completed the entire process.

When fifty million US dollars were transferred from his account, Chu Feng felt such a pang that he even momentarily clutched his chest.

The thought of the upcoming renovation costs and other miscellaneous expenses made Chu Feng’s head ache even more.

After bidding farewell to Melinda, who already had a pile of work accumulated, Chu Feng and his beloved car set off on the journey home.

「Half an hour later, Chu Feng finally returned to his home, which he had been away from for three days.」

Having just enjoyed a delicious dinner and lying on his comfortable bed, the system’s crisp notification tone suddenly chimed in his mind.

DING! "Host, please be advised: Your reward has been temporarily stored in the system space for several days. Please retrieve it promptly!"