The Extraordinary Life of a Certain American Comic...

work?

What a joke.

Going to work is nothing compared to picking up my wife.

John F. Kennedy International Airport.

Locke opened the car door, got out, lit a cigarette, and checked the time on his watch.

11:15.

Thankfully, we made it in time.

If Walter hadn't reminded him, he would have almost forgotten that his wife had returned from out of town today.

Sometimes Locke had the illusion that the marriage was like it hadn't happened at all.

but……

He still had no intention of getting his wife to quit her job at the airline.

First, his wife Esme didn't have this idea either.

Secondly, he also loves freedom.

after awhile.

Locke's eyes lit up when he saw a blonde beauty in a flight attendant uniform pulling a suitcase appearing not far away.

They went to greet them.

Locke opened his arms wide, beaming with enthusiasm.

"Honey."

The blonde flight attendant, seeing Locke approaching, unpacked her luggage, a smile appearing on her lips as she hugged him: "Darling, you missed me, didn't you?"

The woman was Locke's wife.

Esme Underwood.

Ok.

After Locke married Esme, Esme took his surname.

At the time, Locke lamented how such a fine tradition had mysteriously disappeared in the Eastern Kingdom.

I think about it every day.

Locke smiled as he spoke, then took his wife's luggage, looked at her, and suddenly raised an eyebrow.

Esme laughed and asked, "What's wrong?"

Locke smiled and shook his head: "It's nothing, it's just that your demeanor seems to have changed again."

Strange to say.

This wasn't the first time Locke had felt this way.

When Esme returned from out of town last time, he felt that his wife's demeanor seemed to have changed.

But he couldn't explain exactly how the changes occurred.

After all, temperament is a very mysterious thing.

Moreover, Esme didn't suddenly transform from a mature woman to a cute girl; the change wasn't that drastic.

He just felt that something had changed.

Upon hearing this, Esme looked down and examined himself.

Muttering to himself.

"Things have changed. Aren't we all exactly the same?"

"Haha, maybe I was wrong. It's your fault for being gone for ten days."

"Why."

Esme sighed, took Locke's arm, and walked together toward the Audi A8 parked not far away, saying as they walked, "There's nothing we can do, it's peak tourist season, the company added a few flights, but my salary this month will definitely be higher than yours."

Locke chuckled and said, "When have you ever earned less than me?"

Again.

If Esme hadn't used part of her salary to help Locke pay off his student loans after they got married, Locke would have been living paycheck to paycheck.

But that was in the past.

He made a lot of extra money this time.

Dickon gave him two million.

But this money also needs to be split with Debbie and Deacon. However, if we include the vampire fangs, he will still get a million.

You might consider buying a house.

After getting on the bus.

Locke fastened his seatbelt, drove out of the airport, and, thinking about his current assets, looked at Esme sitting in the passenger seat: "Shall we look for a decent house in the next few days?"

He is currently renting a house.

The rent is low, but ultimately it's not yours to own.

Locke felt that now that he was married, it wasn't right to keep renting; he needed to buy a house of his own.

However, Manhattan is definitely out of the question.

A million sounds like a lot, but compared to the housing prices in Manhattan, it's still nothing.

Moreover, federal houses are not purchased outright.

Even if you buy a house, and the house is yours in perpetuity, you still have to pay property tax every year.

What?

Not paying?

Ha ha.

I've never heard of the only things that are unavoidable in America: death and paying taxes.

Moreover, the annual property tax is not calculated based on the purchase price of the property, but on its current value.

The more expensive the house, the higher the property tax.

Take the Star Tower on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, for example. It's an ultra-luxury apartment building with one unit per floor, and its market value is now around 60 million US dollars. The annual property tax is 1.2 million US dollars.

That's simply outrageous.

To put it bluntly, 80% of the people in New York City probably couldn't earn as much as the property taxes that a wealthy person pays in a year, even if they worked hard for five years without eating or drinking.

Not to mention that wealthy people definitely own more than one house.

Esme, sitting in the passenger seat, smoothed her hair as Locke mentioned the house and asked curiously, "Didn't you say you weren't considering it before 2013?"

Locke smiled. "That's exactly the idea I had in mind."

He said that because the Chitauri were going to descend on Manhattan in 2012, and who knows how many buildings would be destroyed by the Chitauri army.

So Locke didn't plan to buy a house before the Chitauri army arrived.

but……

The root cause was that he didn't have any money on hand before.

at the moment?

He never intended to buy a house in Manhattan anyway, so the Chitauri army loved to come.

Esme blinked, rested her chin on her right hand, and looked at Locke with a beaming smile.

"Wow, you've got money now."

"Um."

He didn't intend to hide it from Esme, after all, they were his wife, and now their salaries were paid through a joint marital account, which made it easier to file taxes each quarter.

"Where's the money?"

"what?"

Esme took out her phone and glanced at the balance in their joint account: "Nothing's changed."

Locke shook his head and chuckled, "Not so fast."

The payment for Vampire Fangs hasn't arrived yet. We'll split the profits when it does.

However, Esme seems to have misunderstood.

"You got promoted?"

"no."

"...Where would the money come from?"

"vampire."

The Sentinel Special Operations Service targets mutants, who are considered superhuman beings. Therefore, the families of Sentinel Special Operations officers generally know more about the truth of the world than ordinary people.

There is no explicit prohibition from the bureau regarding this kind of thing.

They were sentries, not CIA agents, and certainly not spies.

Over the past month, Esme has called occasionally, telling her that Locke and Brown are fighting vampires, without hiding it from Esme.

Locke briefly explained the situation to Esme, then said, "It's simpler to divide the spoils after Debbie sells the vampire fangs. We might even make some money in the meantime. Buying a set in Brooklyn shouldn't be a problem then."

There are plenty of vampires in New York City.

The business of fighting vampires can continue.

They have both money and extraordinary points.

You couldn't find this kind of business even with a lantern.

Mutants?

The poor rely on mutation; this statement leads to the conclusion that the poor rely on change.

Mutants are equal to poor people.

Esme listened to Locke's explanation, nodded with a somewhat enlightened expression, and then said with a smile, "I thought you got promoted and went to William Stryker's mutant lab, which you've always wanted to go to."

Locke: "..."