The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 101

Jiang Momo’s gaze shifted to E Mingjun’s mask and she understood.

So the news about fighting over control of the interstellar pirate groups that day wasn’t wrong. The one piloting the mecha was E Mingjun himself.

Jiang Momo didn’t really mind that E Mingjun had tried to hide it. Everyone has secrets and she had one too.

To this day, E Mingjun still didn’t know that she was the interstellar pirate hunter.

Behind the mask, E Mingjun’s stare at the vice-captain grew colder.

E Mingjun took a deep breath. The downside of having a blunt idiot as a subordinate was showing. Thankfully, when he saw Jiang Momo watching the news that day, he had told her he sold the super A-grade mecha.

Still, now there was one more thing he had to hide from her, which made him feel less confident standing by her side.

Jiang Momo stared at E Mingjun.

The vice-captain also stared at him, even winking to cue him to speak.

E Mingjun instinctively placed a hand on his forehead, unable to meet Jiang Momo’s clear gaze. “First time meeting you. I’m the captain of the Freedom Group, Peacock.”

Jiang Momo: ? Did E Mingjun really think that poor disguise was enough to fool her?

She glanced again at the vice-captain beside her who was glowing with gossip.

Or maybe E Mingjun was trying to hide his identity for safety?

Her thoughts turned quickly. She stepped back half a pace, arms crossed protectively in front of her. “Why do you have my pictures? What did you bring me here for?”

“Brought her here?!” E Mingjun turned sharply to the vice-captain. His fist clenched on the table, veins bulging.

The vice-captain froze.

Huh? Didn’t she happily follow me here?

“I didn’t think you two didn’t know each other!” the vice-captain turned to his captain, full of grievance.

Back on the ship, she agreed to everything. Before entering the house, she even asked if they were catching that guy to get revenge for her. When she saw the captain, she smiled naturally and asked if he was the captain. The vice-captain thought their relationship just hadn’t gone public yet! But from her point of view, the captain might as well be a stalker!

All the things he said earlier like ‘sent people to protect you’ and ‘got tons of photos of you from all sorts of angles’ were now playing in the vice-captain’s head like a horror loop. He instantly regretted not slapping his own mouth shut.

Face twisted in anguish, he muttered, “Why do I always say too much…”

Who would’ve thought that the almighty and ruthless captain of the Freedom Group in the Chaos Star System would end up simping so hard?

If the captain had spoken up earlier, the girl would’ve recognized him, right? There wouldn’t be all this mess now.

Shoving all the blame on his captain made the vice-captain feel slightly better. He then lowered his eyes and asked humbly, “Captain, this is all a misunderstanding. Should I take her out now?”

“Take her out,” E Mingjun said with a wave, stepping around the man lying on the floor and pressing a button near the door to leave.

Jiang Momo had a moment of clarity. So the answer was the first one. E Mingjun really believed she wouldn’t recognize him!

“Wait!” Jiang Momo called out.

E Mingjun stopped with his back to the hall.

Jiang Momo placed one hand on the back of a chair.

“Well, I guess there’s been a misunderstanding. I haven’t introduced myself yet. I’m Jiang—”

“Third, step outside,” E Mingjun interrupted her.

Although Jiang Momo’s reputation was well known in the Federation, it was still safer to keep her real identity a secret in the Chaos Star System.

The vice-captain didn’t understand but did his job, dragging the man he’d brought along and leaving the room.

E Mingjun still stood with his back to Jiang Momo, not knowing how to face her.

The more he did, the more mistakes he made. He didn’t even dare imagine how Jiang Momo would react if she found out the truth later. Even his hair color was fake.

While various thoughts churned in E Mingjun’s head, Jiang Momo had already walked over and stood beside him of her own accord.

Jiang Momo looked up at E Mingjun’s shoulder-length black hair, silently thinking, ‘Actually, black hair doesn’t look bad. To be fair, E Mingjun’s hair quality is really nice…’

“What’s wrong?” Jiang Momo saw that E Mingjun hadn’t moved for a while and slapped him on the shoulder.

E Mingjun wasn’t paying attention and stumbled from the slap.

Jiang Momo: ?

She lifted her hand and stared at it for a while. “My strength’s gotten this strong now?”

She had clearly held back her strength, hadn’t she?

E Mingjun was also shocked. He finally understood just how ‘gentle’ Jiang Momo had been when hitting him in the past.

‘If only my identity were as simple as just being a student,’ E Mingjun thought to himself.

Jiang Momo’s gaze fixed on E Mingjun’s tense jawline. “Are you taking me to see the super S-grade mecha now?”

“Yeah.” E Mingjun lowered his voice, touched his collar with one hand to make sure the voice changer was still in place and then started walking inside. “Follow me.”

Jiang Momo followed but after a few steps, her eyes drifted sideways uncontrollably. She couldn’t help it since E Mingjun’s current presence was overwhelming. He was already nearly two meters tall and now with that muscle mass, he looked like a walking mountain. Jiang Momo even felt like her own figure was unusually petite in comparison.

She glanced at the bulging muscles on his arm and marveled inwardly.

This is ridiculous! There’s no aesthetic left. Is it even possible to revert this?

Caught up in her thoughts, Jiang Momo absentmindedly placed her right hand on E Mingjun’s arm, causing E Mingjun to instantly tense up.

But the muscle suit didn’t change.

“This is fake muscle?” Jiang Momo saw through it immediately and breathed a sigh of relief. “Well, that makes sense. The Chaos Star System is too dangerous, so you have to look intimidating to better protect yourself. Honestly, if someone actually worked out to this point, it wouldn’t look good at all.”

E Mingjun silently noted down that last sentence in his mental notebook and decisively removed his original muscle-gain plan.

Soon, E Mingjun brought Jiang Momo to the underground battle hall where the super S-grade mecha sat quietly in the center of the room.

“When did you buy this mecha?” Jiang Momo walked around it once and asked.

“Recently,” E Mingjun added. “I bought it from a student on a trading planet at the outer ring of the Central Star System. I’m not sure why he was in such a hurry to sell it but the price wasn’t high. At first, he claimed it was a super A-grade mecha. I had someone repair it.”

Jiang Momo rarely heard E Mingjun speak so many words. She smiled. “And after the repair, it turned into a super S-grade mecha? Where’s that repairman from? That’s amazing!”

“He’s also from the Chaos Star System and he’s hard to book. He said it’s because this mecha uses a special energy source, which is why it could reach super S-grade,” E Mingjun mixed truth with fiction.

“Special energy source?” Jiang Momo was genuinely intrigued now. Seeing E Mingjun open the cockpit door, she darted up in three quick steps.

The mecha powered on quickly.

This time, the piloting experience was incredible. The moment the mecha started, Jiang Momo felt a rush of heat surge through her limbs and bones. She could clearly feel the energy flowing through her body. When she tried raising her hand, the uncontrollable inertia she felt before was significantly reduced. With the aid of her mental power, she could fully move at normal speed and strength.

She was shocked and couldn’t help but go through a full set of military combat moves on the spot before stopping.

It was an unprecedentedly smooth and exhilarating experience. The only flaw was that according to the circulation path, energy should’ve been flowing through the entire mecha and then back in a continuous loop. But in reality, it only flowed between her body and the energy core.

Jiang Momo removed her helmet and jumped down from the cockpit, her cerebral cortex abuzz with excitement. “This is amazing! Can I take it apart and study it?”

Then she froze.

She had forgotten that from E Mingjun’s perspective, she wasn’t supposed to know him.

Jiang Momo: “Sorry, I was joking…”

“You can,” E Mingjun said directly.

“Really?” Jiang Momo double-checked.

“Of course.” E Mingjun nodded.

“Thank you!” Jiang Momo excitedly patted E Mingjun on the back and got ready to dismantle the mecha, only to realize she didn’t have any tools. She asked sheepishly, “Do you have disassembly tools?”

“Yes. I’ll get someone to bring them,” E Mingjun replied.

Soon, the vice-captain came in carrying a huge toolbox and he panted as he set it down. He greeted E Mingjun, “Captain, is there something wrong with the mecha? Should I book a repair technician for you?”

After being told no, the vice-captain tiptoed over to Jiang Momo, full of curiosity, and whispered, “Did you see the captain pilot the mecha? Wasn’t it amazing? Normally, he won’t even let anyone touch that beloved mecha of his. He guards it like it’s his eyeball. If you ever get the chance to pilot it in the future, tell me what it feels like, okay?”

“It felt great,” Jiang Momo replied.

The vice-captain paused for a second, then saw his captain hand the disassembly tools to Jiang Momo, signaling for her to go ahead and take the mecha apart.

The vice-captain’s worldview collapsed. His eyes filled with disbelief as he watched Jiang Momo pry off a piece of the outer shell with her tools. His emotions were a mix of awe and confusion, and he quietly backed away.

Jiang Momo noticed the look on the vice-captain’s face as he left but after confirming there was no threat, she didn’t care. She focused on dismantling the mecha.

The energy core soon came into view. In the original spot for the energy unit, a crystal the size of a fingernail had replaced the original half-cubic energy box.

“Rumor has it this came from a lab once run by a now-destroyed interstellar pirate group. They developed technology that could convert human energy into an energy source for piloting mechas. Unfortunately, the prototype was later stolen and the group was wiped out. Only this tiny shard was hidden away,” E Mingjun said.

After hearing about the Jiang family’s industry from Jiang Momo and Yan Chang, he noticed something suspicious. Whoever stole the interstellar pirate group’s treasure was likely someone from the Jiang family. He was now unifying the interstellar pirate to investigate the matter further.

Jiang Momo heard familiar keywords in E Mingjun’s story. A crucial piece of the puzzle clicked into place. She sorted through the chain of events in her mind and was startled.

Based on the known information, she could deduce something.

The interstellar pirate group had created a treasure capable of extracting and converting human energy into mecha fuel. That treasure could greatly boost mecha quality, potentially even enabling the creation of legendary mechas.

To protect it, they hired E Mingjun’s family who worked as mercenaries. Later, the interstellar pirate group captured some passing traders. Jiang Momo heard a distress call and came to help.

During the ensuing chaos, while she was fighting E Mingjun in the dark, the Jiang family stole the treasure. The interstellar pirate group then killed E Mingjun’s family for failing their duty.

“It still has something to do with me,” Jiang Momo murmured silently.

She suddenly didn’t dare to look at E Mingjun.

E/N: The vice-captain, the ever-present light bulb.