"Please come in, Sir and Madam." After the bell was rung, a fit youth opened the door, immediately greeting the middle-aged couple that stood before him.
"Are you Rhizen?" The middle-aged man asked. Though, he already guessed it based on the boy's voice. It was the same voice as the person that conversed with him on phone.
"Yes, please take a seat." The youth addressed as Rhizen said while pointing at the sofa in the living room.
As the middle-aged couple sat there, he entered the kitchen, seemingly preparing something. In the meantime, the middle-aged couple looked around the house, whispering to one another.
"This place is pretty nice." The Middle-aged man whispered.
"Right!" His wife whispered back, "It doesn't even look like this house is thirty years old."
"It seems they have maintained it well." The middle-aged man said, "I've seen some of the houses in this apartment along the way, and it is apparent that they have renovated this house just recently."
"Yes, and this locality is really pleasant. You'll never be troubled by construction and other stuff that happens everywhere in our city these days." His wife said, already pleased with the place.
"There are good schools nearby, a couple of universities, and anything we need. Everything is within a 10-minute reach by bike." The man nodded.
"A couple of my friends are living here. And yes, it is more peaceful here due to the higher number of senior citizens among the residents."
As they continued to converse, Rhizen soon walked out, holding a tray as he set it on the table in the living room, handing out plates of sweets to the two guests.
"Please, you didn't have to do this much." The middle-aged man said, spurred by formality.
"This is just basic manners as a host." Rhizen smiled, taking a seat opposite to them.
After sipping the coffee once, the middle-aged man liked the taste, praising it mentally before asking, "Was this house renovated recently?"
"Yes, it was done three years ago." Rhizen said, "As this apartment is around thirty years old now, its appearance wasn't that good anymore. So, a lot of willing houses joined hands to invite a contractor to renovate all our houses at the same time."
"Only some weren't willing to do so." He continued, "So, all the remaining houses would more or less look like this."
"Well," He smiled a bit after that, "We also maintained our house better. So, the condition here is great."
"I didn't get the chance to ask this before…" The middle-aged lady took a closer glance at his face, noticing that he was suffering from a mild lack of sleep and was somewhat thin for his age, asking hesitantly, "Why…are you selling this house?"
"Well," Rhizen sighed, "I lost my family a year ago during an accident."
"I'm sorry to hear that." The lady said in shock, placing her hands on her mouth while her eyes widened. She seemed to be an emotional person as her eyes turned moist automatically. But, the greater part of the reason was due to how well-mannered Rhizen was.
She had seen how the youths his age behaved daily, so she knew that the person before her had been hurt so much that he had matured too quickly.
"This house has too many memories." Rhizen said, smiling wryly, "And, it is hard for me to bear living here. That's why I am selling the house."
"What do you plan to do after that? Where will you live?" The middle-aged man asked.
"I'm planning to pursue higher studies. I already got a scholarship from the National Institute of Engineering and Technology. So, for the next two years, I'll be staying in a dorm there. And after that, I'll head to wherever I get a job next." Rhizen said, getting up before he brought over a file, showing them the certificates he had obtained, his admission letter for his masters, etc.
The middle-aged couple appreciated his sincerity and transparent way of doing things.
He then showed them around the house, honestly telling them the pros and cons of the place. Rather, he gave them more information than what they could ever dig up through their contacts.
"My friend didn't even know about this." The middle-aged lady said in surprise.
"It's because they aren't knowledgeable in this field. The association president here is my uncle. And, I was the one who helped him with all the related works. So, only we know these things." Rhizen said, continuing, "But, the good thing here is the water."
"The water supplied here is from the Ahtic Dam. Very few places get water from there. Since this locality is one of the oldest, the pipelines running through this are connected to the administration sector of the city." Rhizen said, "So, there would never be any water deficit here. It's the same for electricity, and other municipality needs."
After they talked for some more time, the middle-aged couple were convinced.
The middle-aged man shook hands with Rhizen, "We are pretty much satisfied with the property. The day after tomorrow is a good day for registration. So, we'll do it then."
"It's my pleasure." Rhizen nodded. After that, they conversed a bit more as the middle-aged couple tried to bargain.
Rhizen conceded at a couple of places, eventually settling with a price before he bode farewell to them, watching the middle-aged couple leave.
As the middle-aged couple had already done a fair deal of digging into his background, the locality's background, and all news related to the place, they were convinced once they came to like the house.
And in their opinion, Rhizen had actually sold the house to them at a rate a bit below the market price. So, it was a profit for them.
Now that he was alone in his house, he sighed, muttering, "Mom, dad, am I doing the right thing?"
He then approached his computer, switching on the monitor as he looked at the image that hovered on the screen, "But, based on the rumours I am getting, the world is changing. If it was just fiction, there shouldn't be so many clues."
There were countless pictures forming a collage. And, even though most of them were blurry images, he had clubbed them, using the various poses to reprocess them before creating 3D models of each based on the various accounts, forums, flash cam images, drawing, etc. that he had collected over the months.
And now, hovering at the front was the 3D figure of a dog, with brown fur resembling flexible needles, a broader head, and an elongated nose. On its legs were extra muscular folds, like they formed springs, allowing it to run faster.
"This isn't fake…" He muttered, clenching his hand into a fist, firming himself.
Observing everything from within him, the Coincidental Luck System laughed, "No matter how many times I see this scene, it still gives me goosebumps. This is the reason I love this guy!"
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