Esper X Family – Chapter 403 – Is This Even Human?

Lou Wei didn’t think this was Ye Tong pretending to be Ye Yao to mess with him.

This couldn’t be Ye Tong.

Based on his understanding of Ye Tong, there was no way she would naturally address him as “Father”.

Ye Tong would call Xiao Jing “Mom”, Fu Qi “Uncle”, and even Chen Wan Ting earned the intimate title of “Auntie”.

But he was the only one she would never use any familial term for.

Lou Wei was aware of this.

If Ye Tong were to actually call him “Father”, Lou Wei would suspect that it was Ye Yao in disguise instead.

In short, Ye Yao was not Ye Tong.

To tell them apart, he just needed to listen to how they addressed him.

“It might be a coincidence.”

Lou Wei could only force himself to calm down for now.

He couldn’t admit it yet, at least not now.

Ye Yao nodded thoughtfully.

“I think so too. Father is definitely better than that so-called ‘Strongest of the Current Era’. Let me tell you, that Strongest once hurt my sister. Once you become stronger, we can go together and help her get justice! What do you think, Father?”

Each sweet “Father” from Ye Yao’s lips left Lou Wei completely bewildered.

In the past, his emotions had been so detached that he wouldn’t be easily swayed.

But now, after going through everything with Ye Yao and Ye Tong, he could no longer maintain his ironclad emotional fortitude.

Just like how a certain black hole-loving monster ¹ Evolt from Kamen Rider Build. had been punched into developing emotions ² Episode 49 of Kamen Rider Build. , Lou Wei was on the verge of being pressured into developing emotions by the two sisters.

However, the richer his emotions, the more likely things were to go wrong.

Lou Wei carried a significant responsibility on his shoulders, and he saw himself as the final line of defense, determined to hold the line should things take a turn for the worst.

But the question was… did he still have the qualifications to be that final line of defense?

Perhaps not anymore.

His strength had never reached the level where he could single-handedly resolve a world-ending crisis.

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Even Ye Tong’s help was required to raise his own limits.

Lou Wei sank into self-reflection.

【Lou Wei is reassessing what he is capable of.】

Ye Yao blinked.

Was the pressure on the Dayun Truck about to max out?

If it exploded, what would she have left to play with?

“Ah! I didn’t say anything just now! I knew it, Father is way too serious, he’d take even a joke seriously.

It’s still too much to ask Father to go up against the Strongest of the Current Era. It’ll just add unnecessary pressure. All Father needs to do is support me!”

Lou Wei’s thoughts were interrupted by Ye Yao’s little outburst. Catching the concern in her gaze, he took a deep breath.

“Alright. I’ll support you.”

Setting aside her identity as a future world destroyer, Ye Yao was indeed a likable girl.

No wonder Xiao Jing liked her so much.

Having such an understanding daughter would make any normal parent feel truly happy.

It was just that Lou Wei wasn’t ready to be a father, nor was it easy for him to become one.

Dinnertime had passed.

Ye Yao and Luo Jianhua had returned to their room.

Xiao Jing was cleaning up the dishes. Seeing Lou Wei still deep in thought, she couldn’t help but let out a soft sigh.

“Still haven’t realized what you need to do?”

“Your top priority now is to learn how to be a proper father.”

“I’ll look up some materials for reference.”

“It’s not about playing a role, it’s about genuine feelings!”

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“…”

Seeing Lou Wei sink back into contemplation, Xiao Jing felt her fist clench in frustration again.

This… is this even human?

Xiao Jing took a deep breath, as if trying to suppress the turbulent emotions within her, but it didn’t work.

She looked directly at Lou Wei, her gaze razor-sharp.

“Lou Wei, listen carefully… I’m only saying this once. Your top priority right now is not to worry about any world-ending crisis, and it’s certainly not playing the role of a father.

It’s to do something, to learn how to be a real father!

Use your heart to feel, to respond to the child calling you ‘Father’!

Do you understand what genuine feelings mean? It’s not about referencing examples, not about completing a task! It’s about truly treating her as your own daughter and cherishing her!”

Xiao Jing truly didn’t understand what was going through Lou Wei’s mind.

This guy seemed to think that he could protect everything with sheer strength alone, completely incapable of seeing things from another perspective.

Didn’t he know what “taking the long way” meant?

Saving the world didn’t have to be done through only one method.

He wasn’t defined solely by his identity as “the Strongest Esper of the Current Era”.

Xiao Jing herself had turned the facade of “Ye Yao’s mother” into something genuine, so why couldn’t Lou Wei?

Times had changed.

Lou Wei’s undefeated legend had already been shattered.

If he had truly been able to overcome both the “Vengeful Spirit” and “Tong Yao” back then, perhaps he wouldn’t need to be considering this now.

But in the end, it was “Tong Yao” who had saved everyone, including him.

That meant Lou Wei had to find another way.

“I didn’t have parents.”

Lou Wei replied flatly.

Xiao Jing was momentarily speechless.

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Although she knew that, given Lou Wei’s personality, he wasn’t trying to evoke pity but was simply stating that he lacked a proper reference, Xiao Jing still felt an overwhelming sense of helplessness.

That lion-like way of speaking… It really was asking a lot to expect him to become a proper father.

She wanted to say something but hesitated.

“Forget it. Talking to you about this is useless anyway. Just express yourself through your actions.

And remember. No matter what, just make her happy!”

After saying that, Xiao Jing added another line.

“Oh, and you can’t be too cold to Ye Tong either. You have to treat her like your real daughter too.”

Lou Wei: “?”

Not just Ye Yao, he had to make Ye Tong happy as well?

What did that mean?

Inside the room.

Ye Yao had no idea that Xiao Jing was helping her pile pressure onto Lou Wei.

She was thinking about something far more serious.

When should she challenge the Dayun Truck?

She was itching for a fight.

The last time she entered the Apotheosis Mode, she had basically been borrowing Lou Wei’s stats to cheat. It wasn’t her real strength, but merely a way to get past the Vengeful Spirit and Fu Qi.

This time, Ye Yao had to reclaim her pride!

But there was one very serious issue to consider.

A three-hundred stat value didn’t seem enough to take on Lou Wei.

Thinking about it carefully.

During the Apotheosis Mode, in order to stay on the sidelines and keep out of trouble, Ye Yao had raised the upper limits of several family members.

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Simply put, she had powered up the Dayun Truck, making someone who was already strong even stronger.

When Ye Yao checked Lou Wei’s stat panel earlier, she saw that his mental power had already reached a staggering twenty thousand!

What did twenty thousand in base form even mean?

It was inhuman!

His ability didn’t come with all sorts of complex mechanics. It was just pure, raw stats!

Who knew how strong he would become once he activated his other form skills.

“Not enough. Three hundred is definitely not enough. Looks like I need to allocate some stats right away.”

Ye Yao glanced at the system, which showed the unallocated attribute points.

A full one hundred.

Originally, she only had ninety, but thanks to the Countermeasures Bureau’s efforts, Sequence Zero’s reputation had spread overseas, and the system had rewarded her with an additional ten points.

She now had a full one hundred points to allocate.

Ye Yao was debating whether to use all of them to crash the Dayun Truck to death.

Adding another hundred to three hundred would mean a full one hundred sixty thousand points of mental power. Surely that was enough to go toe-to-toe with a fully powered Lou Wei, right?

She would decide based on the situation!

Just then, Ye Yao recalled something else.

There was still one last family member left for Sequence Zero to retrieve.

Author Note

Kids, happy April Fool’s Day, although there’s nothing to be happy about.

Text: Hope this makes you happy, friend.

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