Chapter 2

"Aah..." A piercing scream instantly jolted the drowsy young man, who rolled out of bed in a round, clumsy manner and then thudded heavily onto the floor.

Anyone woken from a comfortable sleep by such a shock would find it hard to return to a peaceful slumber. The young man, Zhou Yi, rolled up the sleeves of his pajamas and decided to give the person who disturbed his rare holiday a piece of his mind.

"Aah..." The shrill scream continued. Zhou Yi pushed open the door to his bedroom and walked to another door adorned with a teddy bear. He knocked on it fiercely and shouted loudly.

"Xia Rui Si Ferguson, if you can't give me a good reason, believe me, I will make God know how serious a mistake it is to disturb my sleep."

"Don't come in, go away!" The girl's sobbing cry immediately snapped the fragile fuse in Zhou Yi's brain.

"What happened, Xia Rui Si, 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 cries inside the room immediately rose and then turned into muffled sobs, clearly the girl had covered herself with a blanket.

Not knowing what had happened, Zhou Yi became increasingly anxious. The adults in the house had probably already gone to work, leaving only himself as the brother and Xia Rui Si as the sister. So no matter what, Zhou Yi felt he had to see what was wrong with his sister.

In this urgent state of mind, Zhou Yi didn't care about respecting privacy. He gripped the doorknob and with a sudden force, pulled the tightly locked door open.

Inside the room, which was a typical girl's bedroom filled with dolls and stuffed animals, the owner, who usually cherished these items, had thrown them haphazardly on the floor. Xia Rui Si, the culprit, was huddled in her blanket like a frightened hamster.

"Darling, what happened, Xia Rui Si, tell me quickly." Zhou Yi strode to the bed and yanked off his sister's blanket. He then stared in shock and said, "Damn it, what the hell is going on?"

The sister he remembered, with her familiar brown hair and blue eyes, had completely changed. Her hair had turned a deep wine red, her blue eyes had become an odd emerald green, and strange patterns had appeared around her eyes. Zhou Yi was certain these were not artificial but had grown naturally.

And that wasn't the most terrifying part. What shocked Zhou Yi the most was that Xia Rui Si's ears had turned into elf-like pointed ears. His half-sister was an elf. "God, you must be kidding me." At this moment, Zhou Yi could only vent his frustration this way. But deep down, he knew something big had happened.

"We must believe that mutants, a species lurking among us humans, pose a potential threat to all of humanity. Their superpowers not only disrupt the natural balance but also pose a significant risk to our security and social stability. We call on every citizen of America to remain vigilant about the mutants in their midst..."

On the TV, a military spokesperson for the mutant threat theory was addressing numerous journalists with great passion. Zhou Yi, who had previously been indifferent to such rhetoric, now found the spokesperson extremely repulsive.

Mutants, how could they be a threat? Zhou Yi comforted his trembling sister in his arms and looked at his clearly panicked mother with a determined gaze. "The current situation is that even if Xia Rui Si 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 young and beautiful Chinese-American. In her youth, she had a passionate romance with a Chinese-American officer and had Zhou Yi. Unfortunately, like all those who make grand declarations, Zhou Yi's biological father said he would return home to get married after completing a mission and never came back. So Zhou Yi and Zhou Lan formed a single-parent family.

This situation lasted for eight years until Zhou Yi was eight years old. Zhou Lan fell in love with a banker from Los Angeles, Anthony Ferguson, and they quickly married. Within a year, they had Xia Rui Si Ferguson.

Tragically, Anthony Ferguson died in a plane accident, which made Zhou Yi, who had never been comfortable with the Ferguson surname, revert to his original name. Similarly, Zhou Yi, Zhou Lan, and the then one-year-old Xia Rui Si formed a single-parent family again.

However, compared to other single-parent families, Zhou Lan's high-paying job in the fashion industry, along with the substantial inheritance and insurance payout from Mr. Ferguson, allowed the family to live a relatively wealthy life.

Especially after Zhou Yi's stock investment advice brought significant returns, the family no longer had to worry about money.

Since money was not an issue, Zhou Lan was not particularly concerned about the idea of moving. She just looked at her son with some confusion while comforting her unfortunate youngest daughter and asked, "I know moving is necessary for Xia Rui Si's safety, but why New York? We have many other options."

"I understand what you mean," Zhou Yi sighed. "If we move to the West, it might be safer, but we can't let Xia Rui Si live in the countryside for the rest of her life. I want her to be accepted by normal people, so I hope to take her to Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, where she can learn how to interact with normal people."

Professor Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, a name Zhou Yi had just told his mother, was a school specifically designed for mutant teenagers to help them integrate into society. For their current family, it was a clear and definite choice.

"Alright, if that's what you think, for you and Xia Rui Si, I agree." Zhou Lan shrugged and picked up Xia Rui Si, saying with a touch of pain, "Oh! My poor little darling, you must be terrified. Don't worry, Mom and big brother will protect you. Come, let's go to sleep, and everything will be better when we wake up."

With that, Zhou Lan took Xia Rui Si into her bedroom. She trusted her son to handle the situation. In fact, since Xia Rui Si's arrival, Zhou Yi had always played the role of both brother and father, despite being only eight years older than Xia Rui Si. In Zhou Lan's eyes, her son was as capable as any successful adult, if not more so.

To be frank, in this household, the one with the most authority was the sixteen-year-old Zhou Yi, not the mother of two, Zhou Lan. Zhou Yi's mature thinking and meticulous mind made him a crucial figure in the family, not only helping Zhou Lan manage the single-parent household but also shielding the family from many storms as the only man in the house.

Zhou Lan was well aware of this, so she had nothing but pride and trust in her son.

Watching Zhou Lan close the door with Xia Rui Si, Zhou Yi impatiently turned off the TV, and the remote control in his hand shattered into countless pieces on the carpet. He paid no attention to it, only staring at the dark TV screen and muttering to himself, "Mutants, X-Men, and the Brotherhood, it seems I have to deal with you."

At that moment, his eyes seemed to burn with a flame. In this life and the previous one, he would not allow anyone to destroy what he had regained.

With the financial arrangements in place, Zhou Yi quickly sold some of his assets and, through a familiar broker, bought two excellent apartments in the Upper East Side of New York. These high-end apartments near Central Park, despite their exorbitant prices, were still within Zhou Yi's means after selling a significant portion of his IT stocks.

Zhou Yi did not place much importance on his stock portfolio, especially the tech stocks. Apart from some shares in Stark Industries and Osborn Corporation, he had sold almost all his tech stocks, which was also a good way to mitigate risks.

After settling the asset issues, Zhou Yi began to plan the journey. Although he wanted to take Xia Rui Si to Professor Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters as soon as possible, he knew that a mutant with visible features could easily become a target.

In his memory, the military had many mutants who were used as test subjects, and Zhou Yi did not believe they were all taken from prisons.

Therefore, air travel was not an option. Without a private plane, the strict security checks would expose Xia Rui Si's identity.

After much thought, Zhou Yi decided to buy a motorhome to solve this problem. Although it would be slower, it would be safe and discreet, and these two factors were enough.

With the most pressing issue resolved, the rest were not problems.

Xia Rui Si's current condition made it unsuitable for her to say goodbye to her friends, and Zhou Yi didn't think much of her friends anyway. Zhou Lan's job in fashion was already a side gig, and she had no particularly close friends, so there was nothing to be left behind.

As for Zhou Yi, with his memories from his previous life, he was completely out of sync with his age. The social circle he had created was not something he would miss, as he had not invested anything valuable in it.

So, the only thing left to do was to set off. When the sun rose the next day, the neighbors might be surprised to find that the family they had known for years had disappeared.

This was not a big deal. For some, it might even be a good thing. At least for some delinquent youths, the absence of a child they used to compare themselves to was quite a relief.