Esper X Family – Chapter 705 – Bring Everything Forward

Ye Yao leaned close to Lou Wei, staring intently at the newspaper with him, her expression exceedingly serious.

“Which section are you looking at, Father?”

“…?”

Lou Wei was a bit bewildered.

Why did Ye Yao have no sense of personal boundaries?

Wasn’t she just adopted?

Lou Wei had already braced himself to play the role of a taciturn father, yet Ye Yao showed no signs of being intimidated by his aura.

Instead, there was an illusion of her closing in step by step.

“Just browsing.”

Although Lou Wei planned to wait and see, he couldn’t outright refuse to interact.

No matter how abnormal Ye Yao’s behavior was, giving her the cold shoulder was an absolute taboo.

If it were anyone else, they might have managed to say a few words.

But Lou Wei was the classic strong, silent type, and also the king of awkward silences at the Countermeasures Bureau.

Ye Yao didn’t press further.

“Oh. Father, what do you do for a living?”

“I can’t reveal that.”

“Huh? Is it one of those super confidential jobs that you can’t even tell your family about?”

“…Mm.”

“That sounds impressive.”

Ye Yao paused.

“Come to think of it, why would someone like you suddenly want to adopt a child, Father?”

“You can ask Xiao Jing.”

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Lou Wei truly couldn’t answer, so he deflected the question to Xiao Jing.

He had never been so tense in his life. Even combat was easier than handling this situation.

Lou Wei couldn’t see through Ye Yao’s motives.

Although her tone was innocent and light, there was a hint of an unknown emotion buried deep beneath the surface.

It was as suffocating as a python coiling around his waist!

Lou Wei even suspected that Ye Yao might know something.

But if she really did know some of the truth, how could she have the audacity to plunge ahead?

It was incomprehensible.

Lou Wei had never been so confused in his life.

Fortunately, Xiao Jing’s voice broke the stalemate.

“Time to eat, Little Yao. Come see if the food I made suits your taste.”

“Coming!”

Ye Yao dashed off, leaving Lou Wei alone with his troubles.

Dinner time.

Ye Yao’s hearty appetite put Xiao Jing at ease.

Xiao Jing had worried that Ye Yao wouldn’t adjust to the new environment so quickly, but unexpectedly, her mentality was more relaxed than anyone’s.

An outsider might think it was Ye Yao who had adopted Xiao Jing and Lou Wei.

“I’m full!”

Ye Yao finally set down her chopsticks and bowl.

Turning her head, she saw Lou Wei, who had long finished his meal, standing on the balcony with his back to the living room. It looked like he wanted to smoke, but he didn’t seem to have that habit at all.

Ye Yao figured that she must’ve displayed enough conspicuous abnormalities to cause Lou Wei’s behavior pattern to deviate slightly from the first playthrough.

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She recalled that in the first playthrough, Lou Wei hadn’t even eaten dinner that day, making up an excuse about work and heading next door.

Now, in the second playthrough, he had grown suspicious and hesitant, wavering in many decisions.

What Ye Yao was after was this thrill of dancing on the blade’s edge.

Not for attribute points, but simply to toy with the robotic human.

A while later.

Ye Yao excused herself and returned to her room, waiting for nightfall.

“Checking the time… It’s about right.”

Ye Yao immediately recreated the iconic scene.

The next moment.

On the rooftop of a nearby building, a mysterious figure wreathed in black mist materialized.

Even the black mist skill, which had long been relegated to the sidelines, finally saw the light of day again!

In the first playthrough, Ye Yao had wanted to complain about the black mist’s overpowered mechanic, and how even a powerhouse like Lou Wei couldn’t see through it.

Now, it was clear that this was part of the Heavenly Dao’s power of laws, more than adequate for concealing one’s identity.

The moment Ye Yao appeared, the man quickly entered her field of vision, clearly drawn by the deliberately exposed aura.

“Who are you?”

Ye Yao didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she went through some symbolic warm-up movements.

However, shrouded by the black mist, her motions looked like a mysterious black, misty ribbon writhing about.

Lou Wei quietly watched as if she were performing some kind of occult ritual.

The reason he didn’t act rashly was that he couldn’t see through her.

It was too strange.

Where did all these sudden incidents come from?

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First, Ye Yao’s personality didn’t match the intelligence. It was as if her very disposition had changed.

Then, this mysterious black shadow appeared nearby, one that even mental power exceeding 10,000 couldn’t see through.

The two might even be connected!

Terrible conjectures had already begun forming in Lou Wei’s mind.

He hoped that it was just his imagination.

At that moment, Ye Yao finally finished her symbolic warm-up.

She had initially expected Lou Wei to attack immediately, giving her a chance to display effortless counterattacks.

But he was surprisingly cautious.

Fair enough.

In the first playthrough, Lou Wei had only become agitated after Ye Yao uttered the words ‘Sequence 001’.

Now, Ye Yao hadn’t revealed any of that information yet, making her look more like an eccentric performance artist.

Then, Lou Wei finally heard the mysterious figure speak.

“Sequence 001 is here, right?”

The next second, Ye Yao indeed felt Lou Wei’s intense hostility and killing intent.

Yet, Ye Yao seemed oblivious to the oppressive pressure.

“The power to destroy the world sounds quite exaggerated. They say you’re the Strongest of the Current Era. If Sequence 001 really intends to destroy the world, do you think you’re actually capable of stopping it?”

Lou Wei didn’t answer.

Arguing with an adversary of unknown allegiance was foolish.

The most efficient approach was always to subdue them by force first, then extract information.

In an instant, a gale erupted!

Lou Wei struck without hesitation!

“Heh.”

Ye Yao let out a soft laugh and waved her hand casually.

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The howling wind on the rooftop abruptly calmed, as if the surging mental power had slammed into an invisible wall.

Before Lou Wei could react, he felt an incomprehensible force hurl him through the air like a shooting star across the sky.

BOOM!!!

His small figure tore through the clouds.

The battlefield shifted in the blink of an eye.

Lou Wei steadied himself midair, disbelief flickering in his eyes.

There, suspended between heaven and earth, was the black-mist-shrouded figure, arms outstretched as if sensing the shifting of the cosmos.

Clouds and mist converged, rotating around the shadowy silhouette.

Wind howled, and lightning crackled among the clouds.

If anyone on the ground looked up, they would see a scene no different from the apocalypse!

“How is this possible?”

Lou Wei suddenly realized that the shifting of wind and clouds was beyond his control, as if his authority had been forcibly revoked… or rather, there was another entity whose will took precedence!

Lou Wei stared fixedly at the figure enshrouded in black mist, his composure completely shattered.

“Who the hell are you!?”

“Heh heh~”

The black mist around Ye Yao gradually faded, revealing the core hidden within.

First came the long silver-white hair, untouched by the gale.

Then, a petite frame, coupled with a face that Lou Wei found all too familiar.

The innocent look the girl had worn earlier had vanished, replaced by an inscrutable smile.

“Father, haven’t you already simulated fighting me many times in your mind?”

“Now, let’s bring everything forward. I’ll destroy the world, and you can try to destroy me.”

Author Note

After reading the readers’ clever little ideas, I’m eager to copy them!