The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 114

Jiang Momo let go of her hand, her gaze sweeping over the obvious bloody handprint on E Mingjun’s shoulder, feeling a bit guilty. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine.” E Mingjun was still somewhat dazed.

He couldn’t help but wonder if he was still half asleep. Weren’t alien beasts supposed to be vicious, relentless creatures that hunted their prey to death? Why did this one just run off on its own? From the look in its eyes, it almost seemed… scared.

E Mingjun quickly turned around and saw Jiang Momo behind him, covered in blood. He hurried forward and looked her up and down with concern. “Are you hurt?”

“No.” Jiang Momo casually waved her sleeve. “It’s just been too long since I last fought, so I got the angle wrong and ended up splattered. Put away the mecha and let’s head back to the cave. I’ll roast some alien beast meat for you.”

The moment Jiang Momo mentioned the word ‘mecha,’ the tension that had been gripping E Mingjun’s mind since deploying the mecha snapped, as if a guillotine that had been hanging over his head finally fell. Resigned, he said, “Momo, let me explain.”

“No need, I already know.” Jiang Momo turned and walked toward the cave.

“You already know?” E Mingjun retracted the mecha and quickly caught up.

“Yeah, since you sold the mecha to the interstellar pirate group’s leader, you must have kept some way to contact him. It shouldn’t be too hard to borrow it back,” Jiang Momo joked.

E Mingjun stared blankly at Jiang Momo who looked back with a sly smile. Hesitantly, he asked, “You figured it out earlier?”

From Jiang Momo’s teasing expression, it was obvious that she wasn’t actually mad.

Jiang Momo put away her smile and turned forward again. “It would be weird if I hadn’t. Honestly, your disguise was really bad.”

E Mingjun walked faster to keep pace with her, still feeling a bit incredulous. “You’re not angry that I kept it from you?”

“You didn’t really manage to keep it from me, did you?” Jiang Momo scratched her face and started giving E Mingjun a bit of a warning. “Everyone has secrets. If one day you found out I was keeping something from you, would you be mad?”

“Of course not,” E Mingjun replied without thinking.

Jiang Momo nodded firmly. “Exactly. We’re friends, so we have to trust each other.”

“You’re right.” E Mingjun started to reflect on himself.

Jiang Momo noticed that E Mingjun had stopped talking and she didn’t think too much about his tangled thoughts. She strode to the cave he had tidied up earlier.

Inside the cave, the stone table was piled high with a small mountain of meat. It was the alien beast meat that Jiang Momo had just hunted and roughly processed.

E Mingjun raised his head slightly, somewhat shocked as he stared at the meat. Already skinned, drained, and cut into small pieces, it was unrecognizable from its original shape. His lips quivered. “This… is alien beast meat?”

“This is the most tender alien beast meat on this desolate planet. You have no idea how lucky we are, I found it on my first try,” Jiang Momo cheerfully introduced their food. “Whether it’s steamed, roasted, or made into jerky, it tastes great.”

Back when she was traveling to the Capital Star for the first time, she had shared the jerky made from the very same alien beast with the butler.

In the corner of the cave, a pile of firewood collected by Jiang Momo was stacked neatly. Seeing E Mingjun still staring at the alien beast meat, Jiang Momo assumed he was hungry. She quickly lit a fire in the empty corner, grabbed a few pieces of meat from the pile, skewered them, and started roasting.

E Mingjun, his eyes dull, moved his gaze to Jiang Momo’s crouching figure and gently reminded her, “There aren’t any seasonings on the spaceship.”

“There are some here.” Jiang Momo walked deeper into the cave.

E Mingjun followed her curiously.

When he had previously cleaned the cave, he had checked thoroughly and found nothing but a few pieces of old furniture.

Jiang Momo stopped at the far end of the cave, looked down at the ground, and found a partially buried vine. After roughly determining its position, she squatted, raised her right arm, and punched the ground.

With a cracking sound, a two-person-wide hole appeared.

E Mingjun stepped closer to look inside but all he saw was darkness and a half-exposed metal ladder.

“This is my storage. There was too much stuff to bring to the Capital Star and they didn’t fit in the spaceship, so I left some here.” Jiang Momo patted the dust off her hands.

By now, E Mingjun had become somewhat desensitized to Jiang Momo’s superhuman strength since arriving on the desolate planet. His mind was still full of her barehanded alien beast fights, so when he saw her jump into the hole, he didn’t think twice and followed suit.

A small lamp was lit and its faint light revealed the dim surroundings of the storage room.

Jiang Momo handed the lamp to E Mingjun to hold and walked toward the far corner where she kept daily necessities.

Actually, if E Mingjun hadn’t jumped down as well, Jiang Momo wouldn’t have bothered with the lamp, as she could see just fine without it.

Oblivious to that fact, E Mingjun hurried after her, holding up the lamp to light the way.

Suddenly, something massive caught his attention.

When Jiang Momo turned around with the seasonings, she saw E Mingjun standing right behind her but his head and gaze were fixed in the opposite direction.

She followed his line of sight.

Not far away, a huge metal device stood prominently, about three people tall, and its shape almost cubic. On the front, at eye level, was a display screen about the size of two palms.

“This is the device I use to study the composition and properties of various materials. I built it from salvaged parts.” Jiang Momo walked over, flipped the switch, and stroked the device as she explained to E Mingjun, “It’s a bit slow to warm up. Once it’s on, it takes about 10 hours to function properly. Then we can test the energy core.”

“Alright.” E Mingjun shifted his gaze away from the somewhat antiquated device and followed Jiang Momo up the ladder.

To E Mingjun’s surprise, the roasted meat Jiang Momo made was exceptionally delicious. The alien beast meat was firm, chewy, and free of any strange odors, with just the right amount of seasoning. It made E Mingjun even more eager to try the jerky that Jiang Momo promised would be explosively good.

“It takes a bit longer to make jerky. You go rest on the spaceship. I’ll handle the remaining meat,” Jiang Momo said.

But E Mingjun didn’t leave. Instead, he stayed to help.

Within that time, Jiang Momo placed the energy core into the device for testing. Since the internal structure and function of the energy core were too complex, the device hadn’t produced any results for a while. Taking advantage of the downtime, Jiang Momo drove all the alien beasts from the planet’s bright side to the dark and even brought back a few more tasty ones to add to E Mingjun’s meals.

Perhaps because he trusted Jiang Momo’s combat abilities so much, E Mingjun hardly activated his mecha over the past few days and instead followed Jiang Momo around, helping with miscellaneous tasks.

It made it easier for Jiang Momo, who had been struggling without the mechanical arm support from the warship, to quickly adapt and return to her usual routine.

By noon on the third day on the desolate planet, Jiang Momo returned with another captured alien beast. E Mingjun was waiting at the cave entrance with a clean coat. When he saw her, he immediately approached, took her bloodstained coat, draped the clean one over her shoulders, and handed her a container of warm water that had been prepared and set on the stone table.

Jiang Momo took it and drank it all in one go before dragging the alien beast to a corner to process it.

E Mingjun sat nearby, adding firewood to the stove.

The cave’s storage room actually had an energy stove but after some comparison, they both agreed that meat roasted over a wood fire tasted better. So, while Jiang Momo went out hunting for tasty alien beasts, E Mingjun took on the task of keeping the fire going.

Just as E Mingjun got the fire going and was about to take Jiang Momo’s coat to the spaceship for washing, a message from Yan Chang popped up.

[Mecha Queen Fan Group Leader]: Tutor E, urgent help is needed! When are you coming back? The Capital Star’s Mecha Competition is about to start and I need an A-grade mecha.

[Stay Away from Me]: When does the competition start?

[Mecha Queen Fan Group Leader]: The day after tomorrow afternoon.

“Momo.” E Mingjun turned to look at Jiang Momo’s back. “When are we going back?”

“No rush. I’ve already taken leave from Professor Ge,” Jiang Momo replied without looking back. “Do you have something to do?”

After realizing that the energy core test results wouldn’t be ready before her leave ended, she promptly took leave from Ge Qing.

“Yan Chang wants his mecha. He has a match the day after tomorrow. If I leave now, I might barely make it,” E Mingjun calculated.

“Alright, go ahead,” Jiang Momo said.

[Stay Away from Me]: I’m heading back now. I should make it in time.

[Mecha Queen Fan Group Leader]: That’s great! Thank you, Tutor E! I didn’t want to bother you and was planning to use my old mecha since this competition isn’t that high level. But then I heard that the first-place winner from the last Federal Mecha Competition, who defeated me twice, is also participating! I must take my revenge this time!

[Stay Away from Me]: Got it. I’ll hurry back.

[Mecha Queen Fan Group Leader]: The Mecha Queen blesses you!

[Stay Away from Me]: What kind of weird slogan is that?

After sending the message, E Mingjun was about to formally say goodbye to Jiang Momo when his light brain suddenly vibrated several times.

[Mecha Queen Fan Group Leader]: Mecha Queen! You really don’t know about the hotshot that’s been trending lately?!

[Mecha Queen Fan Group Leader]: Haven’t you logged into the academy’s simulation pod even once?! How can you hold back like this?!

[Mecha Queen Fan Group Leader]: [Video] Look, look! This is it. I can only share a short clip, though. You’ll have to buy the full version yourself.

E Mingjun clicked on it and immediately heard a familiar voice.

He frowned slightly, his fingers twitching.

[Stay Away from Me]: If you like Jiang Momo’s combat techniques, why not just spar with her directly?

[Mecha Queen Fan Group Leader]: Huh? The master? Don’t joke around. Master can’t even pilot a mecha, right?

[Stay Away from Me]: Who says she can’t?

E Mingjun thought Yan Chang was acting odd but before he could think too much, Yan Chang’s call came through.

E Mingjun answered.

A head of short red hair filled the screen. It was Yan Chang who looked anxious. “Tutor E, what’s going on? Did you just say that the Mecha Queen is Master?”

E Mingjun nodded with a puzzled expression.

At that moment, Jiang Momo dragged the alien beast past E Mingjun. “Aren’t you going to deliver the mecha to Yan Chang? Go on.”

Jiang Momo’s image and voice appeared on Yan Chang’s projection screen. Due to transmission through the light brain, her voice sounded slightly distorted but still eerily familiar.

Yan Chang froze as if struck by lightning.