The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 130

Jiang Momo waited for Lu Feng at the First Military District all day, but he never returned. Naturally, she couldn’t find out whether the military had other projects involving expelled researchers.

In the meantime, due to the furtive and overly intense gazes around her, combined with the fact that no one really dared to speak to her, she got bored and found a secluded corner to run a few rounds of simulation battles on the game.

This time, she noticed something completely different from before.

Everyone’s battle skills had improved dramatically, especially the civilian players.

Probably because of the common habit of obsessively looking up strategies, plus gaming pros live streaming tutorials, and thanks to their cunning tactics and swarm strategy, the civilian players were far ahead in the newly updated battle system rankings, which now combined scores from the military, schools, and the general public.

The second place was the military, while the third place was schools.

Take Jiang Momo’s matches that day, for example. In every match, at least two-thirds of the players were civilians and they could be clearly divided into several types.

One type would charge forward the moment they loaded in, not even steady on their feet, either dominating the field or getting eliminated immediately. Those players all had similar opening moves, indicating that someone had already figured out which alien beasts were most likely to appear in each match, and they used that knowledge to grab kill points quickly and trade them for high-level weapons.

Another type was the steady-output type. They were players who clearly had memorized all the alien beasts’ weaknesses and traits. Although their movement and form were clumsy, their kill rates were high.

Then there were the ambushers; the players who’d spawn, immediately find good cover, then camp and snipe weakened alien beasts with one shot to steal points.

And finally, the survivalists. The players stayed on the very edge of the battlefield, hiding during every alien-beast-versus-teammate clash and hoping to earn points just by being the last to get eliminated.

“This combat simulation game is even hotter among civilians than I expected.”

That night, Jiang Momo lay flat on her bed, watching a ‘technical’ streamer explain combat tactics while sipping milk tea delivered by a mechanical arm.

[Extremely popular. Tons of people have quit their jobs to focus on this full-time. It pays well.] Little Eight had already scanned the StarNet for data earlier that afternoon while Jiang Momo was battling.

“Pays well? How exactly?” Jiang Momo sat up, instantly interested. “Isn’t the system set up so you can’t spend money except on buying videos?”

[Exactly. Because you can’t pay to win directly, all the in-game gear becomes more valuable,] Little Eight explained.

[That gave rise to the power-leveling profession. Rich players wanting points or limited-edition skins hire up to hundreds of people at a time to enter matches with them. Those who participate can earn between 5,000 to 30,000 per job, depending on their contribution.]

“What do they get out of it?” Jiang Momo couldn’t quite understand.

[Status. In today’s elite social circles, limited-edition skins from the combat simulation game are luxury items, symbols of both strength and wealth.]

Jiang Momo scratched her head. “Huh. I never thought about it like that. I’d been hoping this system would help the military screen candidates for the possible alien beast war in the future. But turns out, the top scorers are mostly cash-burners?”

[If that day really comes, the military will have methods to sift out the right people.]

“Fair point.” Jiang Momo lay back down and continued watching the stream, where a sneaky mecha was darting between covers while boldly teaching viewers how to survive to the end.

Since she’d tipped the streamer so much upon entering, the gift animations had nearly flooded the entire screen. She had turned off both the chat and the reward effects in advance, so now all she could see was a bulky mecha sticking its rear up while scuttling from one hiding spot to another without even using its thrusters.

In the center of the battlefield, several mechas and alien beasts were clashing, sparks flying.

Meanwhile, the streamer was calmly explaining, “See? Same rule as always. As long as you pick the right boss to follow at the start, you’re already 80% of the way to survival. Stick behind the strongest guy, just outside the splash damage range, and he’ll draw all the fire for us.”

[People like this should never be on a real battlefield. In a crisis, they’d definitely betray their teammates.]

Little Eight curled its lip.

[It’s hard to believe someone like that has so many fans.]

Jiang Momo took a sip of her milk tea.

“It’s just a simulation. Die and you respawn. To his fans, this is the lowest-effort playstyle. And he’s already ranked tenth on the individual leaderboard.”

As she spoke, she casually switched the stream to one Little Eight preferred, a tough-guy type.

Suddenly the room filled with alien beasts’ roars and weapons’ fire. Little Eight was pleased, curled its paws, sat upright, and wrapped its tail around itself to watch attentively.

Seeing Little Eight so engrossed, Jiang Momo plugged her ears and crawled under the blanket to sleep.

***

The next morning, Jiang Momo opened her eyes and saw that Little Eight was still watching the stream. Rubbing her eyes in surprise, she asked, “Has this streamer not rested?”

[He did. He just got back online.] The Siamese cat didn’t even turn its head.

[By the way, your students were released. Since there’s no class this morning, you can go see them.]

“Released?” Jiang Momo repeated. “Where are they?”

[Downstairs at the Presidential Palace. Public opinion around Shi Qin had mostly quieted after Lu Feng’s battle went viral but this morning at six, it surged back into the trending charts.]

[And thanks to student Xiang Jiuming fanning the flames, a massive protest rally was successfully launched.]