The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 145

Half an hour later, Jiang Momo stood on the open ground, staring blankly at the crowd in front of her. There were so many people that they almost filled the entire space in front of the warehouse.

She leaned in toward Xiang Jiuming and whispered, “Did you rope in every B-grade mecha manufacturer on the entire Capital Star? How did you manage that?!”

Xiang Jiuming also leaned closer and whispered back, “I told them there’s a free opportunity to learn how to make legendary mechas. As long as they have a B-grade or higher certification, they could join.”

Free?!

Jiang Momo whipped her head around to stare at Xiang Jiuming.

No wonder he had insisted earlier on confirming whether the money was going directly to him!

Xiang Jiuming blinked. “I submitted a confidentiality agreement request to the Security Department online and had them all sign it. No one will leak anything.”

After his explanation, Jiang Momo gave him an even stranger look, which made him uneasy.

“Teacher, don’t tell me you didn’t bring the core materials for the legendary mechas?”

“I did bring them.” Jiang Momo mentally recorded Xiang Jiuming’s ‘recruitment’ method and then pulled out a person-sized box from a newly purchased portable storage unit. “Inside are isolation suits and over two hundred energy cores.”

“Over two hundred?” Xiang Jiuming was astonished.

“I emptied out all the cores from the research lab. Originally, I planned to pick and choose once I got here, but now it looks like we might actually use them all.” Jiang Momo handed the box to Xiang Jiuming, whose eyes were practically glued to it, then pulled the warehouse key housing the time-manipulation device from her pocket and opened the hatch.

She addressed the crowd outside, “Fellow manufacturers, you should already know the precautions, but I must emphasize this. We’ll be working at a time ratio of 6 hours to 20 days. The entire production process must be conducted under professional supervision. Do not touch the key materials without permission. If you object, you may leave now.”

As Jiang Momo spoke, all eyes turned toward her. Everyone present was in the mecha manufacturing industry and most had heard of Jiang Momo, the rising ‘online star.’ But now was not the time for fan behavior. Upon hearing her words, they all nodded in unison and lined up to enter under Xiang Jiuming’s direction.

Jiang Momo had never been inside the warehouse herself and only now did she realize it wasn’t just equipped with a time-manipulation device, but also a spatial-expanding device. From the outside, the warehouse looked to be around 200 square meters but inside, it stretched as far as the eye could see. At the rear were materials urgently delivered by Ling Yelin after her call, with new supplies scheduled to arrive every half hour.

After scanning the area, Jiang Momo noticed everyone was staring at her. She cleared her throat, took the box from Xiang Jiuming, and said loudly, “Everyone, please step back at least ten meters. The radiation from these key materials is intense.”

Everyone immediately stepped back in unison.

Jiang Momo then pulled out an isolation suit from the box and shut it. “This suit will block the effects. Once you’ve finished creating a B-grade mecha prototype, come here individually, and I’ll explain how to install the energy core.”

“A B-grade mecha? So it really is B-grade!” someone in the crowd exclaimed.

Others were confused. “What B-grade mecha? Weren’t we here to learn about legendary mechas? What does B-grade have to do with it? Isn’t B-grade just the entry requirement?”

“Right! The military’s been buying up B-grade mechas in bulk recently! So that’s what this is about!”

A wave of chatter broke out.

Jiang Momo patted Xiang Jiuming on the shoulder. “It’s all yours now.”

Then she turned and carried the isolation suit and box to the farthest corner from the crowd.

Once she had everything set up, the previously noisy crowd had already started working frantically on mecha manufacturing.

Watching Xiang Jiuming stride over eagerly, Jiang Momo teased, “You’d make a great leader.”

“I told them the most important core installation step would be done in sequence. First come, first served,” Xiang Jiuming said, lowering his gaze with a grin. “So, Teacher Momo, given our relationship, can I cut in line and learn first?”

“Of course.” Jiang Momo pulled one of the mechas she brought from the military out of the storage box and motioned for Xiang Jiuming to put on the isolation suit.

He had already been studying the suit during the trip and with Jiang Momo’s approval, he quickly slipped into it. His eyes lit up. “And then?”

“Then, replace the mecha core with this energy core.” Jiang Momo casually pulled out a glowing core and handed it to him.

“That’s it?” Xiang Jiuming asked in disbelief.

“That’s it.” Jiang Momo nodded firmly.

***

At noon, the Federal Military’s auction site listed 213 units of low-level legendary mechas. Watching the crowd disperse from his window, the President finally let out a sigh of relief.

“These people never do anything productive. Always sitting outside my door over the smallest damn issue,” he muttered, sipping the tea prepared by his secretary. “And those old farts in the military too, why didn’t they release all those mechas earlier? Keeping them hidden like treasure, that’s how the government loses credibility.”

Having vented, he turned toward E Mingjun who had been sitting in his office all morning, and his headache returned. He slumped down beside him and started complaining, “It’s not that I don’t want to help you but the timing is really bad. You’ve seen it yourself, these people show up at the drop of a hat. If I make any move now, I’ll end up caught between both sides…”

Meanwhile, Jiang Momo was having both of her hands shaken vigorously by two marshals.

“You’re truly gifted for your age to produce so many legendary mechas in such a short time. When Lu Feng recruited you, he clearly knew talent when he saw one.”

Lu Feng stood nearby, wearing a look of smug pride.

Jiang Momo accepted the three-minute-long praise session with slight embarrassment and then reminded them, “About that payment… When can I receive it? I’m still covering the manufacturing and material costs.”

The two marshals exchanged a look, gave a dry laugh, and explained, “Well, you see, we didn’t expect you to actually produce so many in one go.”

Time was tight back then. They had originally just wanted to make a small batch to pacify the public and avoid the President’s wrath. Sure, they expected some grumbling, but that was better than doing nothing.

They didn’t anticipate that Jiang Momo’s results would be so overwhelmingly good. Now the public was satisfied and the President was off their backs, but they had no funds ready to pay her.

Jiang Momo didn’t respond, simply stared calmly at the two men.

After a long silence, the marshals finally caved. “We can only give you half for now. The rest will have to wait until the auction funds come in.”

They were already feeling guilty. If they hadn’t paid lip service and actually prepared properly, they wouldn’t be in this mess.

For a while, they even suspected Jiang Momo had leaked the news herself, but after checking her browser and sleep records, they found she was just as surprised and curious as everyone else, and she had no opportunity to leak anything. So, they had to let it go.