Moving

Once Lin Hai had settled on the house, Foggy, whom he had asked Matt to bring in, helped him complete the closing formalities. The deed was soon in his hands.

Next came moving, the part most people dreaded. For Lin Hai, though, it was remarkably simple.

The morning after receiving the deed, Lin Hai opened Portals from his bedroom above the clinic and the bedroom at Los Angeles Cottage to his new bedroom in Brooklyn Heights.

Gwen and Harry packed and carried smaller things: books, ornaments, electronics, potted plants, documents, and the like.

With their strength far beyond that of ordinary people, Lin Hai and Peter naturally took on the heavy lifting. Desks, chairs, bookshelves, beds, and even laboratory equipment from the basement of Los Angeles Cottage seemed weightless in their hands.

Lin Hai could lift a solid-wood bookcase that normally took two or three people to carry with one hand. Peter could shoulder several heavy, packed boxes at once.

In less than half a day, all of Lin Hai's personal belongings from the room above the clinic had passed through the Portal and reached their places in his new home in Brooklyn Heights.

He had bought a well-maintained secondhand house, not a brand-new unfinished one, so there was no need to leave it empty for ages while odors faded and formaldehyde dissipated.

By noon, the move was largely done. Looking around the new home, still a little messy but already taking shape, Lin Hai suggested, "Let's eat here today to celebrate moving in. I'll bring my master over, and we can all make something simple together."

Everyone agreed. Lin Hai opened a Portal and invited Chen Bing over from the clinic, where he had just finished work.

Chen Bing stepped into the townhouse and looked it over from top