In the blink of an eye, three days had passed, and Zhou Yi stayed comfortably at home, beginning to enjoy his rare leisure time.
After two months of hard work in Huiyao City, Zhou Yi finally returned to his peaceful little home and had a thought of not wanting to move. Especially after he found that there was nothing he could do, this lazy mentality grew even stronger.
As the chairman of the Corona Group, everything in the Corona Group and Huiyao City had already entered a normal track, requiring only Ada's control to maintain steady development. The newly established Mutant department also had Director Stacy at the helm, and they themselves were eager to achieve something substantial. So Zhou Yi didn't need to worry at all.
Now, his public identity could completely serve as a decoration for a while, allowing him to retreat behind the scenes. Therefore, the only way to find something to do was through his identity as the Dawn Knight.
However, the World had truly changed a lot. So much so that Zhou Yi himself felt he was falling behind the times. Because he just went out for a stroll one night out of boredom and found many unfamiliar figures had appeared in New York City. And these unfamiliar figures were doing his original job.
Among them, a grid-headed person wearing a red and blue bodysuit was particularly conspicuous, because this fellow was extremely active. So active that Zhou Yi couldn't help but pay attention to him.
In just one night, he used a spider-silk-like substance to travel from Queens to Manhattan, and then made a big circle in Manhattan before returning. Along the way, whether it was theft or robbery, he got involved. He even stopped a drunk man from assaulting another man.
This work ethic made Zhou Yi feel ashamed. One must know that even when he was working most diligently, he never took care of every single thing, big or small, like this fellow. No wonder Director Stacy couldn't help but issue a warrant for this fellow's arrest throughout New York; this fellow was practically slapping the Police in the face.
But that was something Director Stacy needed to worry about, not him. Zhou Yi just watched this newcomer busy himself for an entire night with great interest, then quietly returned to his residence.
Without needing to see the newcomer's true face beneath the mask, Zhou Yi had already guessed his identity. Spider-Man, Peter Parker, a man destined to embark on the path of a Superhero.
This was one of the few fellows Zhou Yi could remember. Unlike Tony Stark, Zhou Yi remembered him because he was a relatively pure fellow; everything he did stemmed from a single teaching: With great power comes great responsibility.
This was a problem that was simple to say but very difficult to implement. In his remaining memories, there were only two heroes who could achieve this level: Captain America and Spider-Man.
The others, whether the future Iron Man or the various Mutants he had already met, were actually just fighting for their own interests.
Even he himself was no exception; although he was a globally recognized hero, he knew he hadn't reached that level of nobility.
With Spider-Man, Peter Parker, and a group of Mutant Police led by Rogue in New York City, there was no room for Zhou Yi to intervene in many matters. However, he was very happy to see this happen. Because at his level, doing such small things felt like using a butcher's cleaver to kill a chicken.
Not only did he feel awkward, but even those fellows secretly watching him would probably feel something was off. And these Little fellows wouldn't have this concern at all; they needed to constantly train themselves with such small matters and gain prestige and honor from them.
Just as Zhou Yi taught them before, the turnaround for Mutants must begin with reputation. This concept had been instilled in the hearts of these young people, so they worked very hard.
The public security situation in New York suddenly took a turn for the better, and Zhou Yi could only honestly become a stay-at-home man. Since becoming a father, he no longer liked to wander around parties and dances as he used to. Without these special hobbies, he could only find a normal hobby to fill his free time.
The hobby he found was books, all kinds of ancient books from all over the World. As long as they were documents or books containing myths, legends, or epic tales, he tried every possible method, through various legal or illegal channels, to get them into his home.
Just looking at the list of these books and documents, one knows that this is not simply a matter of passing the time. Especially when a lot of manpower and material resources were spent. However, what his ultimate goal was, it would be difficult for anyone to guess.
The people at S.H.I.E.L.D. were still racking their brains, and Ada Wong, who was handling this matter, was also completely confused. Even Zhou Yi, who gave the instructions, didn't actually know what he was looking for.
He just had a conjecture: he hoped to find some clues about gods from ancient documents, thereby finding a more controllable method for his almost stagnant Divine Ability.
The power of divinity was constantly growing within him, and he felt like a chick that had just hatched from an egg, changing every day. And the problem brought by this change was that he had no means to control this increasingly powerful force.
Power that cannot be fully controlled by oneself cannot be called one's own power. Zhou Yi was very clear about this, and he did not want to be inexplicably controlled by power and that indescribable consciousness again one day, just like that time in the Abyss.
He could destroy half of the Abyss, so it was very possible for him to cause irreversible damage to the Earth. The Abyss was a dead place, but the Earth was not. Once his Divine Ability went out of control, the number of living beings harmed might be incalculable.
So he must find a way to control this power, just as a chick must learn to fly. However, finding such a method of control was not easy.
The talk of gods had disappeared from this World for too long, so long that it was almost impossible to verify it through documents alone. Although the texts Zhou Yi held were almost the most precious in this World, he had not gained anything useful from them.
Aside from absurd stories, there were only unverifiable legends. Fang Cun Mountain, Penglai Island, Valhalla, the Tower of Babel—the Holy Lands in myths from ancient and modern times, from various regions, have now become stories recorded on scrolls. Even if these rare books describe these mythical places as real, Zhou Yi cannot find them in any corner of the Earth.
Mythology seems to have completely left the World of humans, leaving behind only such books that can only serve as stories. And now they can only be storybooks.
"The flood submerged the World, and Noah gathered his crew.
He shouted, 'My lads, my sailors, I am a man who will rush to the end of the World!'"
With an ancient book about noahs ark open in his hand, Zhou Yi was now wide-eyed, talking nonsense to his two daughters. He had miraculously woven the Smurfs and Puss in Boots into Noah's crew, and Noah himself had become a pirate king determined to reach the end of the World.
Anyone with a bit of common sense would know that Zhou Yi was spouting nonsense, which could be partly guessed just by looking at Ada's strange expression and Serana, who was trying to suppress her laughter.
But no matter how many thoughts these two had, they could only hold them in now, because their audience was not them, but a pair of Little Girls only eleven or twelve years old. At this moment, as the only two listeners, Shirley and Airesha couldn't distinguish between genuine and pirated. They listened intently, even at one point thinking this myth was the most interesting one they had ever heard.
Reaching this level of fabrication was already Zhou Yi's limit. After finally finishing the story, he wiped his cold sweat and said to the two Children.
"Alright, Children. The story is almost over here. You should go to bed. Don't forget tomorrow is Friday, and you still have school!"
"Dad, can you tell another one? I can't sleep at all right now!" The two girls were very energetic, and their antics were endless. However, facing such daughters, Zhou Yi couldn't bear to refuse. He thought for a moment and said.
"Then I'll tell one more story. After this one, you must honestly go to sleep, okay!"
The two girls nodded obediently, putting on a serious listening expression. And looking at the cute faces of these two girls, Zhou Yi could only rack his brains and once again make up a story.
"Once upon a time, a lonely old man in the mountains received a god-given seed. With utmost piety, he planted this seed. A day later, the seed grew seven gourds. And from the gourds jumped out seven Little fellows!"
"The seven Little fellows had great Divine Ability, with powers as magical as Mutants. They became the old man's Children until one day they met a Little Girl named Little Red Riding Hood, who was being chased by a demonic wolf named Fenrir."
..."Finally, Little Red Riding Hood became Snow White and lived a happy life with the old man."
Another string of fabrications, and Zhou Yi finally sent off these two clingy Little fellows. Serana, who had already begun to transform into a housekeeper, had taken the two girls to wash up, while Ada thoughtfully poured a cup of tea for Zhou Yi.
As Chinese descendants, both of them had the habit of drinking tea. And tea time often became their free time for chatting.
"Boss, honestly, I really admire your ability. You read so many books, yet what you say is still a chaotic mess of nonsense!"
Ada finally expressed what she had been holding in for a long time. For her, listening to Zhou Yi tell stories was simply a pleasure, just like watching a comedy.
"Myths are inherently made-up things; I merely condensed the complex material."
"I think, Boss, you should publish a collection of stories or something. It would definitely have a market."
"I'll try when I have time. Do you want to ghostwrite? I can add your name to the author list."
"I'd rather not!"