Chapter 1: Family Problems in a New Life.
"Ah!" A piercing scream instantly sent the still-groggy young man rolling spectacularly off the bed, landing with a thud on the floor.
Anyone startled awake from a pleasant dream like that would find it hard to maintain peaceful sleep. The young man, Zhou Yi, simply rolled up the sleeves of his pajamas, determined to teach the culprit who had disturbed his rare holiday a lesson.
"Ah!" The ear-splitting scream continued. Zhou Yi had already pushed open his bedroom door and walked to another door adorned with a teddy bear. He knocked fiercely and shouted loudly, "Charisse Ferguson, if you can't give me a good reason, believe me, I'll let God know how serious a mistake it is to disturb my sleep!"
"Don't come in, go away!" A girl's sobbing cry came from inside the room, and this cry immediately blew a fragile fuse in Zhou Yi's brain.
"What on earth happened, Charisse? Open the door quickly! I'm your brother, I need to know what's wrong with you!"
"No, no, go away, I don't want you to see me!" The crying from inside the door instantly intensified, then became muffled, clearly the girl had covered herself with a blanket.
Zhou Yi, not knowing what had happened, grew increasingly anxious. The adults in the house were probably already at work, leaving only him, the older brother, and Charisse, the younger sister. So, no matter what, Zhou Yi felt he had to see what was wrong with his sister.
In his frantic state, Zhou Yi disregarded any notion of protecting private property. He gripped the doorknob with both hands and pulled forcefully, instantly tearing open the tightly locked door.
Inside the room was a typical girl's bedroom, filled with dolls and plush toys, but at this moment, their owner, who usually cherished them, had thrown them haphazardly across the floor. Charisse, the instigator, was huddled like a frightened hamster, buried firmly under the covers.
"Darling, what happened, Charisse, tell me quickly." Zhou Yi strode to the bed, abruptly pulled back his sister's blanket, then stared in shock and exclaimed, "Damn it, what in the World is going on?"
The familiar sister from his memories under the blanket had completely transformed. Her brown hair had turned entirely wine-red, her blue eyes had become a strange emerald green, and peculiar patterns had appeared around her eyes. Zhou Yi was certain these were not man-made, but naturally grown markings.
And that wasn't the most terrifying part. What surprised Zhou Yi the most was that Charisse's ears had become pointed like an elf's. His half-sister was an elf! God, you must be kidding me. At this moment, Zhou Yi could only comfort himself with such a sarcastic thought. But he knew in his heart that something big had happened.
"We must believe that Mutants, this species lurking among us humans, pose a potential threat to all humans across the World. Their superpowers not only disrupt the balance of nature but also present a huge potential risk to our public order and social stability. We call upon every citizen of America to remain vigilant against the Mutants around them."
On television, a Military spokesperson delivering a Mutant threat theory spoke passionately to countless reporters. Zhou Yi, who had previously been indifferent to such rhetoric, now found the Military spokesperson utterly repulsive.
Mutants? How could they be a threat? Zhou Yi comforted his sister, who was trembling in his arms. He looked at his visibly panicked mother with a firm gaze and said, "The situation is that even if Charisse is a Mutant, she is still our most important family member. For her sake, I think we should move to New York."
Zhou Yi's mother, Zhou Lan, was a U.S.-born Chinese woman who looked very young and beautiful. In her youth, she fell in love with a Chinese Military officer and had Zhou Yi. Unfortunately, like all those who make grand declarations, Zhou Yi's biological father, before a mission, famously declared, "After completing this mission, I'll return home and get married," and never came back. Thus, Zhou Yi and Zhou Lan became a single-parent family.
This situation continued for eight years. When Zhou Yi was eight, Zhou Lan fell in love with Anthony Ferguson, a banker from Los Angeles. They quickly married, and less than a year later, Charisse Ferguson was born.
Sadly, Anthony Ferguson met an unfortunate end in a plane crash. This led Zhou Yi, who had once been very unaccustomed to the surname Ferguson, to revert to his original name. Similarly, Zhou Yi, Zhou Lan, and Charisse, who was not yet a year old, once again formed a single-parent family.
However, compared to other single-parent families, Zhou Yi's family lived a much more affluent life, as Zhou Lan herself was engaged in a high-paying fashion career, coupled with the substantial inheritance left by Mr. Ferguson and the huge compensation from the insurance company.
Especially after Zhou Yi's advice on stock investments yielded huge returns, the Zhou Yi family basically never worried about money again.
Since money was not an issue, Zhou Lan did not seem particularly concerned about the idea of moving. She just looked at her son with some confusion, while comforting her unfortunate little daughter, and asked, "I know moving is necessary for Charisse's safety, but why New York? We have many other choices."
"I know what you mean." Zhou Yi sighed. "If we go to the West, it might be safer, but we can't let Charisse stay in such a rural place her whole life. Relatively, I prefer Charisse to be accepted by normal people, so I hope to take her to Professor Charles's Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, so she can learn how to get along with normal people there."
Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, this name was just told to his mother by Zhou Yi. In his explanation, this school was specially established for various Mutant teenagers, with the core mission of cultivating Mutants who can integrate into society. For the current family, it was undoubtedly a clear direction.
"Okay, if that's what you think. For you and Charisse, I agree to do this." Zhou Lan spread her hands, picked up Charisse, and said with some heartache, "Oh! My poor little darling, you must be terrified. Don't worry. Mommy and big brother will protect you. Come on! Let's go to sleep. Everything will be fine when you wake up."
After speaking, Zhou Lan took Charisse into her bedroom.
She trusted her son to handle things well. In fact, ever since Charisse was born, Zhou Yi had always played the role of both brother and father. Although he was only eight years older than Charisse, in Zhou Lan's eyes, her son was in no way inferior to successful adults; he was even more outstanding.
To put it bluntly, in this family, the one with more influence was the sixteen-year-old Zhou Yi, not Zhou Lan, who was already a mother of two children. Zhou Yi's mature thoughts and meticulous thinking since childhood made him play a more important role in this family. He not only helped Zhou Lan organize this single-parent family in an orderly manner but also, as the only man in the family, shielded it from many storms.
Zhou Lan knew this well, so she had nothing but immense pride and trust in her son.
Watching Zhou Lan close the door with Charisse, Zhou Yi impatiently turned off the incessantly chattering television. He clenched his hand, and the TV remote control shattered into countless fragments on the carpet. Zhou Yi paid no attention to this, merely gazing at the dark television screen, muttering softly to himself, "Mutants, X-Men, and the Brotherhood. It seems I have no choice but to interact with you all."
At this moment, his eyes seemed to burn with Fire. In this life, things that were lost and then regained would never be allowed to be destroyed by anyone.
With financial arrangements, Zhou Yi quickly divested some of his properties. Then, through a familiar agent, he purchased two rather nice apartments in the Upper East Side of New York. Although these Advanced apartments near Central Park were astonishingly expensive, for Zhou Yi, who had sold off quite a few IT stocks, they were still within his affordable range.
Zhou Yi did not place great importance on the stocks he held, especially tech stocks. Aside from some shares in Stark Industries and a portion of Osborn Company stocks, he had almost completely sold off his tech holdings. Of course, this was also a good way to mitigate risk.
After arranging the asset issues, Zhou Yi began to plan the itinerary. Although he wanted to take Charisse to Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as soon as possible, Zhou Yi also knew that a Mutant with exposed physical traits could easily become a target for certain individuals.
In his memories, there were quite a few Mutants imprisoned by the Military for experimentation, and Zhou Yi didn't believe all of them were brought out of prison.
Therefore, air travel became impossible. Without a private jet, strict security checks would fully expose Charisse's identity.
After much thought, Zhou Yi decided to buy an RV to solve this problem. It might be a bit slow, but it was safe and private enough, and those two points were sufficient.
Once the most difficult problem was solved, the rest were no longer issues.
Charisse's current situation wasn't suitable for saying goodbye to friends; of course, Zhou Yi didn't think much of her friends anyway. Zhou Lan, working in fashion, was essentially in a casual profession, and without any particularly close friends, there was naturally nothing she couldn't let go of.
As for Zhou Yi, one could only say that with memories of his previous life, he was completely out of sync with his age. The social circle he had cultivated now held no regret for him even if discarded, as he hadn't invested anything of value into it anyway.
So, the only thing left was to depart. When the Sun rises tomorrow, the people here might be very surprised to find that their long-time neighbors have disappeared.
This was not a big deal. Perhaps for some, it was even a good thing. At least for some young delinquents, having one less Child from a family to constantly be compared to was actually quite nice.