Esper X Family – Chapter 673 – Father, I Want to Advance to S-Rank

After the meal.

Lou Wei sat on the sofa.

Xiao Jing was in the kitchen cleaning up.

Originally, Lou Wei had planned to head off to work after eating.

After all, Ye Yao was never short of company. As long as there were no special circumstances, Lou Wei would prioritize his work at the Countermeasures Bureau.

He had finally figured it out.

If Ye Yao needed something, she would come find him herself. Unlike before, she no longer held back with shyness or hesitation. Now, she would simply barge straight into his workspace, finally daring to express what was on her mind.

Lou Wei was fairly reassured by this.

Perhaps the memory sharing with Ye Tong had, to some extent, strengthened Ye Yao’s inner self.

He could only say that it wasn’t entirely a bad thing.

In Lou Wei’s eyes, Ye Yao had already entered the initial stage of independence. It would be a bit off to keep treating her like a pure little girl.

Lou Wei took this upcoming conversation very seriously.

No matter what the topic was, he would treat it with sincerity.

Even if it meant… becoming “Lou Weiwei” again, he would accept it.

Lou Wei turned his gaze to Ye Yao beside him. Perched on her lap was the bird-winged girl, who was half a head shorter, currently licking her ice cream with utter contentment, not worried in the least about getting a stomach ache.

If anything, it seemed that she could convert everything she ate directly into mental power.

Truly worthy of being the incarnation of the world-destroying ability.

Luo Jianhua sat on Ye Yao’s other side, her expression looking somewhat resigned.

Clearly, Xing Lan monopolizing Ye Yao’s lap made her a little resentful.

But she didn’t seem to be able to say anything about it.

Xing Lan’s public identity was Ye Yao’s “daughter”. Facing a junior, Luo Jianhua could only tolerate her behavior to the greatest extent.

It was only reasonable to give way to Xing Lan!

Although Luo Jianhua wasn’t much older herself, she habitually placed herself in a more mature position.

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“What did you want to talk to me about?” Lou Wei took the initiative to ask.

Ye Yao blinked her eyes and decided to get straight to the point.

“Father, I want to advance to S-Rank.”

“?”

Lou Wei felt his breath catch for a split second, but he quickly calmed down.

Right.

This was no longer those earlier, unstable times.

If Ye Yao had said something like this before, Lou Wei’s stress would have skyrocketed, and the other higher-ups at the Countermeasures Bureau would have lost sleep over it too.

But that didn’t matter anymore.

Since it was Ye Yao’s decision, all he needed to do was support her.

“S-Rank, is it?”

Lou Wei sensed Ye Yao’s mental power again after a long time. It was only around a thousand, which, normally speaking, was still far from S-Rank.

At least in her normal state.

Although she could unleash power far beyond S-Rank, in terms of her everyday baseline, she still hadn’t reached true S-Rank.

To be precise, Ye Yao was probably considered a new A-Rank Esper right now.

Her base mental power had stagnated for a long time, with no increase ever since.

From past observations, raising Ye Yao’s mental power was both simple and difficult.

Simple, because it required no training at all. She could suddenly gain several hundred points just by eating, drinking, or having fun.

Difficult, because she hadn’t made any progress in so long and had now hit a bottleneck.

So, when Ye Yao suddenly said she wanted to advance to S-Rank, Lou Wei couldn’t help but fall into deep thought.

“What can I do to help?”

“Actually, I’ve been suppressing my mental power. If I wanted, I could raise my normal mental power to around 3,500. I’m only 1,500 short of reaching five thousand.”

Ye Yao revealed a small secret of hers.

This seemed to be the first time she had ever had a heart-to-heart talk with her old man.

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The Dayun Truck had long since sheathed its edge, having evolved from a pseudo-human into a true human, with no need to scheme anymore.

Besides, the resentment from being flattened into a cat pancake back then had long been purified by “Lou Weiwei’s” world-class fame.

Considering how much he had sacrificed, Ye Yao still subconsciously viewed him as a reliable father figure.

After all, he was a member of the original Found Family.

Now that Ye Yao needed her family’s cooperation to break through to S-Rank all at once, these important family members deserved to know.

She couldn’t let their investment go to waste.

Lou Wei indeed paused for a moment, taking several seconds to process the news.

He had originally thought that Ye Yao’s talk of advancing to S-Rank would take at least a few years, only to find out she was so close.

It had caught Lou Wei somewhat off guard.

Fortunately, he was no longer the man he used to be.

Since Ye Yao was making this decision, she must be confident that there wouldn’t be any mishaps.

Her love for the world was plain for all to see, and she also placed great importance on her family’s safety.

Therefore, there was only one possibility: advancing to S-Rank might resolve the threat of world destruction.

If she weren’t thoroughly confident, she wouldn’t take such a risk.

“Only 1500 short… Do the usual methods of raising an Esper’s mental power work on you?”

Lou Wei began brainstorming ways to help her.

Ye Yao blinked: “It doesn’t seem to work.”

She wasn’t sure if it was the system’s doing, but it felt like it was deliberately suppressing stat inflation.

Ye Yao’s mental power was hard to raise naturally, and even stimulating it through other means had little effect.

In the end, her only option was to go all in on adding attribute points through the system.

It definitely wasn’t because Ye Yao wanted to slack off!

Just 1500 short.

Actually, after deducting the attribute points needed to activate【Cause and Effect MAX】, she would still be a little short.

Anyway, a few hundred points here or there wasn’t a big deal.

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Lou Wei realized from Ye Yao’s answer that she probably had other ways to raise her mental power.

Just like the sudden surges from before, and what Ye Yao now called her “accumulated foundation”, that clearly wasn’t via ordinary methods.

Ye Yao obviously still had quite a few little secrets.

Lou Wei wouldn’t pry or question her further.

All he needed to be sure of was that Ye Yao wouldn’t go down the wrong path and wouldn’t let herself get hurt. That was enough.

In the end, secrets are the least important thing.

“It seems that you already have a plan. Just tell me directly what you need me to do. I, Fu Qi, and everyone else at the Countermeasures Bureau will help you.”

Lou Wei’s mindset had undergone a world-shaking change compared to before.

At the very least, he no longer kept using that lion-like way of speaking.

It was a massive improvement!

Even without talking about being a reliable adult, his ability to learn was nothing to scoff at.

Ye Yao took a deep breath, her expression turning deadly serious.

“Father, do you still remember the Vengeful Spirits?”

At those words, Lou Wei’s mouth twitched, clearly recalling some unpleasant memories.

In the parallel world, his counterpart had apparently colluded with the Vengeful Spirit, and he couldn’t exactly dissociate himself from that counterpart. From another angle, it was pure dark history.

Luckily, not many people knew about it.

As for Ye Yao’s question, of course Lou Wei could answer that he would never forget.

But he chose the most efficient reply instead.

“Does your promotion to S-Rank have something to do with the Vengeful Spirits?”

“Mmhm! That’s right, Father, you’re so quick!”

Ye Yao gave a thumbs up.

There was no need to beat around the bush anymore.

“Actually, I have a way to pull all the Vengeful Spirits wandering across countless time and space here at once. Father, are you interested in activating Musou ¹ Reference to Musou type games like Dynasty Warriors where you play as a heroic figure and mow down a bazillion enemies with each basic attack. and mowing down mobs?”

Lou Wei: “?”

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To be honest, even though Lou Wei had already mentally prepared himself, he was still deeply shaken by Ye Yao’s words.

Author Note

Now that things have come to this, let’s post a meme made by a reader.

Text: (Ordered from left to right, top to bottom)

Lou Wei

No mechanism

Prophet

Big backlash

Gu Wenxin

Rely on targeting ² 吃对策 is slang for specific playstyles that rely on targeting the opponent’s pick. Very strong under that specific circumstances but average or below average otherwise.

Mo Qiuli

No targeting

Ye Yao

Need to develop

Wu Mi

No stats

Jiang Huashen

Rely on feeling

Mu Luo

Low damage

Fang Tang

Low lower limit