The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 115

The call abruptly ended. In the last second before Yan Chang’s projection disappeared, E Mingjun caught a glimpse of his utterly shocked and blank expression.

“What just happened?” E Mingjun mumbled.

“Were you talking to Yan Chang just now? What’s wrong with him?” Jiang Momo asked, curious.

Due to the light brain’s privacy protection system, third parties couldn’t see the projection or hear the audio. Jiang Momo had guessed they were communicating from E Mingjun’s gestures but since he hadn’t spoken much, she didn’t know the details. She only felt the atmosphere had suddenly grown tense.

E Mingjun stiffly turned to Jiang Momo, looking guilty. He said, “Just now, Yan Chang recommended the Mecha Queen to me.”

Jiang Momo casually nodded. “Lately, he’s been really into the female mecha pilot in the recently popular combat video. He has asked me a lot about her, trying to figure out who she is.”

E Mingjun’s mind went blank.

It’s over.

Those two words echoed in his head.

Jiang Momo must have had a reason to keep it a secret from Yan Chang and now he had messed up.

“Yan Chang seems… more than just interested,” E Mingjun said with a dry throat.

Jiang Momo didn’t know what to say to that. After some thought, she just nodded. “That’s true.”

“I’m sorry,” E Mingjun immediately bowed his head and apologized. “I didn’t know.”

A sense of foreboding crept up on Jiang Momo. Her movements froze. “Did you recognize me?”

E Mingjun nodded with difficulty. “I’m sorry.”

“And you told Yan Chang?” Jiang Momo continued to ask.

E Mingjun kept nodding, looking like he was ready to accept his fate.

“How… did you recognize me?” Jiang Momo couldn’t believe it.

E Mingjun didn’t understand. “It’s quite obvious. Your combat skills and speaking style didn’t change at all…”

Jiang Momo took a deep breath, comforting herself like an ostrich burying its head in the sand. “It’s fine, it’s fine. Yan Chang seems to be more interested in the drill commander recently. Even if he finds out, it probably won’t be a big deal.”

E Mingjun blinked, trying to make amends. “I’ll remember this and definitely keep it a secret.”

“You recognized me there too?” Jiang Momo was a bit incredulous.

She had only shown her hands!

“It’s… still pretty recognizable.” E Mingjun lowered his head slightly, his tall and strong body slightly hunched as he hesitated. “Momo, maybe you should scold me a bit.”

Jiang Momo’s emotions were too stable and he was a little worried.

“Huh? Why? Did you tell Yan Chang on purpose? Did you know I was hiding it from him before?” Jiang Momo instinctively fired off a series of questions.

“Of course not,” E Mingjun quickly denied.

“Then it’s fine.” Jiang Momo patted E Mingjun’s back, making a loud thumping sound. “Paper can’t cover fire forever.”

E Mingjun raised his head and looked at Jiang Momo’s completely calm face, a hint of doubt flashing in his eyes.

It’s not like he had a masochistic tendency or anything, but based on normal human emotions, the first reaction to such a situation would be anger toward the person who messed up, and only after calming down would rational thinking return. Some people take longer to calm down, some shorter.

However, Jiang Momo was different. When something happened, she seemed to make logical judgments right away, completely ignoring her emotions. Thinking carefully, he realized he had never seen Jiang Momo display negative emotions. It seemed like a kind of trauma-related personality.

E Mingjun’s eyes showed concern. “Did you spend a lot of time alone as a child?”

Jiang Momo didn’t expect such a sudden change of topic and was momentarily stunned. “Why are you suddenly talking about my childhood?”

She was never really alone. Since she could remember, Little Eight had always been with her. If not for Little Eight repeatedly stressing not to reveal its existence to others, she would have shown it off proudly.

Hearing her defensive response, E Mingjun was almost certain that Jiang Momo’s childhood might have involved trauma, leading to emotional impairment that made her isolate her feelings like a robot. However, since he only had a superficial understanding of psychology, he couldn’t make a deeper judgment. He just felt sorry for her.

Seeing E Mingjun not respond and suddenly looking at her ‘affectionately,’ Jiang Momo couldn’t help but shiver.

Where did this guy’s thoughts wander off to? Why does he look so weird?

She waved her hand in front of E Mingjun’s face. “Are you okay? Isn’t Yan Chang still waiting for you? Are you not planning to go?”

Only then did E Mingjun remember and he hesitated a bit. He didn’t want to leave Jiang Momo alone at that moment.

“Go on, go on. If you’re late and Yan Chang complains, you’ll have to comfort him yourself,” Jiang Momo joked.

E Mingjun nodded silently and walked out.

Watching his back disappear, Jiang Momo clicked her tongue and pulled Little Eight out to complain. “His back looked so heavy. Could he be spaceship-sick?”

[Based on the previous physical data of E Mingjun, he’s not.] Little Eight stuck its head out, tilting its cat-like head to look at Jiang Momo.

“Then why did he seem so weird?” Jiang Momo didn’t understand.

[He’s probably surprised that you didn’t get angry.]

“Huh?” Jiang Momo couldn’t understand. “So he wanted me to be angry?”

[Probably not. Human thoughts and emotions are very complicated. I can’t figure it out either,] Little Eight answered cautiously.

“Alright.” Jiang Momo put the alien beast she had on her shoulder onto the fire, thoughtfully preparing her lunch while quickly planning how to explain and make amends with Yan Chang.

Hiding the matter from Yan Chang would inevitably affect their relationship but given the situation at the time, she really didn’t have a better solution. She could only let it sit for a while. She just didn’t expect it to be exposed so soon.

“When I see Yan Chang again, I’ll apologize properly,” Jiang Momo sighed deeply.

***

On the other side, when E Mingjun arrived at Yan Chang’s villa on the Capital Star to meet him, he was startled by Yan Chang’s appearance.

E Mingjun was so shocked that he took half a step back, looked at the door number, and confirmed he hadn’t gone to the wrong place.

Yan Chang was wearing a loose outfit, his hair unkempt like a bird’s nest, with stubble on his face and dark circles so heavy they almost reached his chin. Holding the doorknob with one hand, he listlessly gestured for E Mingjun to enter, looking completely drained.

“Are you okay?” E Mingjun asked cautiously, taking the tea Yan Chang handed him as he sat on the sofa.

Yan Chang sighed and sat beside him. “Tutor E, I can’t figure it out…”

Before E Mingjun could think of how to comfort him, Yan Chang started talking to himself.

“I’ve been so upset these past few days. Before I knew Jiang Momo was the Mecha Queen, I didn’t feel anything for her. But after you told me the truth, I can’t stop thinking about her with a fluttering heart. We spent so much time together before and I reviewed the battle record countless times, but I just couldn’t recognize her… You saw her once and knew right away…”

He scratched his head, not knowing what he was saying, then looked seriously at E Mingjun. “Do you think this counts as liking her?”

E Mingjun was at a loss.

Out of selfishness, he wanted to say no and make Yan Chang give up on Jiang Momo, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“I feel like I did her wrong,” Yan Chang sighed. “I kept saying I liked the Mecha Queen in front of her…”

The most painful part was that Jiang Momo knew he was looking for the Mecha Queen but never revealed the truth. It clearly showed her stance. Whether out of disappointment that he didn’t recognize her or disinterest because she didn’t like him, he had missed his best chance to start anything.

He messed up everything.

“It’s okay. Momo probably doesn’t care,” E Mingjun comforted him sincerely while taking out a space button containing the A-grade mecha and handing it over.

His words were indeed the truth. After all, he just realized that Jiang Momo could be so calm facing any situation, making even E Mingjun feel surreal.

Yan Chang’s face fell further from the unexpected blow. “Right… she probably doesn’t care…”

He fell in love for the first time in his life and it ended just like that, making Yan Chang feel a bit unwilling.

E Mingjun felt helpless. He had never seen Yan Chang like this.

“When does your match start?” E Mingjun awkwardly changed the topic.

He really didn’t know how to comfort others.

“It doesn’t matter. I withdrew from the competition,” Yan Chang said, picking up the teacup and downing his tea in one gulp.

E Mingjun: ?

“What? You’re not participating? Then why did I come all the way here?” E Mingjun was puzzled.

Yan Chang didn’t respond. He just blinked and muttered with dazed eyes, “I want to see Jiang Momo.”

E Mingjun pulled up a photo and showed it to Yan Chang. “Look, I just took this before coming back.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Yan Chang shifted his eyes sluggishly but when he glanced at the photo, he was drawn to the scene. “What’s that on the wall?”

The photo was clearly taken from a stealthy angle. Jiang Momo, occupying a small portion of the picture, was crouched with her back to the camera, roasting meat by a fire in a corner. Next to her was a large stone wall covered with irregular, carved patterns.

Since the previous communication projection only displayed people, Yan Chang hadn’t seen their surroundings. Now, his attention was entirely on the markings on the wall.

Those shapes look like the ancient script!

“It’s a cave,” E Mingjun explained. “Jiang Momo’s hometown is on a desolate planet. This cave is her house.”

“She’s still there?” Yan Chang’s mind was in turmoil.

On one hand, he felt guilty for not recognizing Jiang Momo and for his conflicted feelings. On the other, he was frustrated over his love life, which seemed doomed before it even started. He was torn from the inside out.

“Yeah.” E Mingjun nodded. “But it’s in the Chaos Star System, pretty dangerous.”

“Dangerous or not, I’m going. I have to figure this out!” Yan Chang made up his mind and stood up. “Wait here. I’ll go to the Yan family’s old estate to pick up a few things and then we’ll go find Master together.”

Since he couldn’t make sense of his feelings alone, Yan Chang decided it was better to confront the situation directly. Out of respect for his first crush and intrigued by Jiang Momo’s possible knowledge of ancient script, he wanted to bring her a small gift, some ancient books passed down from his ancestor, the creator of legendary mecha and the first president after the Alien Beast War.

“Hopefully, these things will distract Master from the fact that I didn’t recognize her earlier,” Yan Chang muttered.