The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 16

Jiang Momo had always wanted to pilot a mecha. When E Mingjun invited her, she eagerly agreed. However, before they could leave the cafeteria, the loudspeaker sounded.

[Attention all exam participants. The written exam results are now posted on the bulletin panel in Building B. Those who have passed the written exam must go to B512 for the next round of testing within thirty minutes. The next round will last for two hours. Those who did not pass must collect their light brains and follow the guide robot to leave the academy.]

“Thirty minutes?! That’s a little tight!” Yan Chang quickly grabbed Jiang Momo’s arm and dashed toward Building B. “Master, let’s go! We’ll go with you to see the results!”

Jiang Momo glanced at E Mingjun, feeling a little hesitant. “Actually, I can go by myself.”

“How can you do that? You don’t even have a light brain and I’ll have to waste so much time looking for you later…” Yan Chang paused mid-sentence and changed his approach. “What I mean is, you don’t have a light brain, so what will you eat later if we leave?”

“Shouldn’t I get my light brain after this round?” Jiang Momo asked.

“You’re thinking too much,” Yan Chang said. “The whole exam period is confidential and light brains won’t be handed out.”

E Mingjun noticed that Jiang Momo seemed off and asked, “Are you worried about something if we go with you?”

Jiang Momo was unusually shy, feeling embarrassed for being illiterate. “I might not pass the exam.”

“If you fail the exam, just try again next year. What’s the big deal?” Yan Chang said nonchalantly.

“It’s embarrassing!” Jiang Momo blurted out, meeting Yan Chang’s clear eyes that were free of any cloud or hesitation.

She had already accepted the possibility that she might fail the exam and get kicked out and even made plans for what job she would take afterward. But now that the two of them insisted on tagging along to watch the show, she felt a little embarrassed.

“It’s fine, Master. When the time comes, we’ll cover our eyes! We won’t laugh at you!” Yan Chang said. “Exams are like this now, something that should be simple is turned into a bunch of convoluted concepts that no one understands and hard to memorize. I handed in a blank paper during the last semester’s finals and I didn’t fail in the end.”

“A blank paper and you didn’t fail?” E Mingjun suddenly spoke.

“Yeah. My family donated a building to the academy, so I was exempt from that subject,” Yan Chang replied nonchalantly. “I’m only interested in mecha piloting, so I really can’t memorize all those concepts. No choice.”

“…Can you even say that?” Jiang Momo was stunned, completely uncomforted by his words.

“What’s the big deal? We’re all in the same group. Come on, Master, let’s go. Building B’s a bit far, we’ll be late if we don’t hurry,” Yan Chang said as he pulled Jiang Momo’s arm, feeling like he was tugging at a stubborn weight. “Such a shame the academy doesn’t allow us to use a spaceship or we wouldn’t have to run all the way.”

Yan Chang dragged Jiang Momo to the base of Building B.

They were a bit late and most of the others had probably already seen their results and gone off to report. Only a few people who hadn’t passed were still standing by the robot, picking up their light brains. When they saw more people arrive, they all turned to look.

In front of the announcement panel, Yan Chang patted E Mingjun’s shoulder and assigned him a task, “You look from the front to the back and I’ll look from the back to the front.”

“No need to search. I see it,” Jiang Momo said, pointing to the name at the very top.

This time, the results were quite interesting. Each person’s name had four categories listed after it. Multiple choice questions, judgment questions, essay responses, and total scores. They were sorted by each category’s score and Jiang Momo ranked first due to having perfect scores in the multiple choice and judgment sections.

“I told you, Master, you were just being too modest! I knew you’d have no problem!” Yan Chang exclaimed, then paused to look at Jiang Momo’s full score distribution. After a moment, he opened his mouth with a flood of praise, “See, Master is a true genius. You have such a unique style, perfect in the multiple choice and judgment questions but no answers in the essay ones. Haha, just playing around! If I had even a tenth of your theoretical knowledge, I’d never have to attend class, I’d spare my family several buildings! Why is life so unfair? One person gets both talent and luck…”

Having been on the desolate planet for so many years, Jiang Momo wasn’t used to that kind of flattery. She felt her head swell from it and forgot that she was technically illiterate. She proudly accepted Yan Chang’s praise. “What can I say? I’m just a bit more talented.”

E Mingjun, overhearing, couldn’t help but chuckle. “Enough with the jokes, we’ve got five minutes before the next exam starts.”

“Master, hurry up, we’ll wait for you downstairs,” Yan Chang quickly stopped talking and urged.

Hearing they only had five minutes left, Jiang Momo quickly wiped the smile from her face, waved to the two of them, and hurried into the building.

At that moment, she felt confident again!

She took the elevator up to the 512th floor, where the exam hall was a vast, empty space. Last time, there were tables set up in the middle of the room but now it was completely empty. It was so quiet she could hear her own echo.

The familiar invigilators and robots stood in the corner with a black curtain behind them.

The other candidates were gathered in small groups, whispering among themselves, a stark contrast to the earlier silence.

“Strange, right? I thought so too,” Peng Ji said, standing next to Jiang Momo with arms crossed and speaking calmly. “The invigilators don’t care if we talk, which probably means this exam tests personal ability. I suspect it’s for energy pathway carving.”

Peng Ji had been chatting with a group of people but quickly squeezed his way out and stood by Jiang Momo’s side. He had seen her registration form when he stood behind her and now he remembered her name.

He knew that only he knew ‘Jiang Momo is the one who ranked first in the written exam even with empty answers in the essay questions,’ which was useful to him.

“This exam is short. If we want to ensure the energy pathway carving is accurate, we should start familiarizing ourselves with the mental energy fluctuations now,” Peng Ji said.

Energy pathways are the straight lines that are most in sync with mental energy fluctuations. If prepared in advance, one could find at least one more line in the first twenty minutes.

Jiang Momo had never heard the term ‘mental energy fluctuations’ in all her mecha manufacturing studies but she didn’t show confusion. Instead, she looked at Peng Ji curiously and asked, “Are they discussing this too?”

Peng Ji smiled mysteriously. “Of course not. I set up some obstacles for them.”

He had told some people that he thought the exam was about group work, so they were discussing how to divide tasks. Others, he told them it was a competition and they were discussing the order of play.

As for which theory was true? It didn’t matter. After all, he had a part in it.

Jiang Momo found it amusing how Peng Ji was clearly hiding something but he couldn’t keep it from showing. “Are you telling me this so I can help you with the exam later?”

“Eh, eh, eh! I never said that!” Peng Ji, clearly flustered, swung his hands around as if to cover Jiang Momo’s mouth but realizing it would be suspicious, he just stood there anxiously. “How could I say something like that? The invigilators are right there!”

“But didn’t you say they don’t care?” Jiang Momo shrugged and moved a few steps closer to the invigilators.

Peng Ji followed her and Jiang Momo noticed faint dark lines appearing on the floor.

Just then, the two moved past the boundary line.

The mechanical voice suddenly rang, [Group allocation complete. The exam starts now.]

As the mechanical voice echoed, the floor trembled slightly and four walls rose around them, each lined with different materials.

[The exam rules are as follows. The hall is divided into three equal-sized areas, each containing 1024 material panels. Members in one area automatically form a group. The group that etches the most energy pathways within two hours will gain two points for each member. The second-place group will gain one point for each member. The last group will not receive any points.]

[There will be no eliminations during this exam.]

[The exam begins.]

“It’s over,” Peng Ji muttered, nearly in tears.

Good news: He guessed right.

Bad news: He just dug his own grave.

“How many people are there in the other areas?” Jiang Momo, seeing his expression, felt something wasn’t right.

“The largest group has 42 people, and the second largest has 36 people,” Peng Ji’s lips trembled.

Jiang Momo: “…So, this is how they select people for the groups?”

Wait, wasn’t it said that the Mecha Piloting Department recruits nearly a thousand students each year?

Jiang Momo felt something was off.

Peng Ji sighed heavily and sat down on the floor, suddenly calm. He carefully explained to Jiang Momo, “This building uses the latest spatial technology. People coming up from different time slots on the elevators enter different spaces. We’re just in one of the exam rooms.”

Jiang Momo understood. “Oh, I see. Then let’s begin. Are you starting from the bottom? I’ll start from the top.”

“No.” Peng Ji leaned against the material wall with an attitude of resignation. “I’m just going to lie down. The number of people is several times ours. This task is impossible to complete.”

“Do whatever you want.”

Jiang Momo took a carving knife from the wall, swiftly made a mark on the material panels, and a carved groove appeared.

Peng Ji jumped up in shock. “Wait, what? Sister, you’re too reckless! Even if we can’t win, there’s no need to deliberately ruin the material panels. It’s a waste. If we take it slow, we might still manage to carve out a few…”

“Taking it slow won’t work. Didn’t they explain the rules earlier? It’s all about the final number, not accuracy.” Jiang Momo made another mark on the nearby material.

“You mean, just carve randomly and see if we get lucky? If someone’s that lucky, they might as well quit their job, buy a lottery ticket and become rich instantly. It’s not even worth it. These materials are expensive. Even if we don’t get points, practicing is good for the hand…”

Peng Ji continued grumbling, while the nearby inspection robot slowly rolled over to the material panel Jiang Momo had carved and released energy to detect the energy pathway port.

[Detection passed. Energy pathway established. Number of energy pathways carved: 1.]

Peng Ji instantly fell silent.

“No, no way, is it really that lucky?! Your choice and judgment can’t just be pure luck, can it?!”

“Pretty much, I’ve always been lucky.” Jiang Momo shrugged, not explaining much and continuing her work.

She had always felt that carving the energy pathway wasn’t difficult. The hard part was connecting the pathways throughout the entire mecha.

The exam, however, didn’t test for connectivity, so it was the perfect opportunity to test whether her observational skills had declined.

Under Little Eight’s constant guidance, her method of identifying mecha material structures had always relied on vision and feeling, so carving energy pathways was no different. She could quickly find the correct pathway through the material’s patterns and texture.

“But luck is unreliable. No one can rely on luck forever. Other manufacturers take at least five minutes to observe before carving an energy pathway. You, on the other hand…”

“Five minutes?” Jiang Momo interrupted, taking a new panel off the wall. “Why would it take that long? Isn’t it just about carving the most obvious pathway?”

Isn’t it something you can spot with a glance? Even more easily than the energy ports at the edges.

“You have to observe carefully. The material has interferences. Though it might look like a pathway, if you carve it, there may be blockages that ruin the whole material. You have to be very cautious!” Peng Ji explained forcefully. “You don’t even know this? How did you learn the theory?”

He was starting to doubt Jiang Momo’s real ability.

“Do you think that’s an interference?”

Peng Ji sighed and started lecturing, “What else would it be? You can’t rush carving energy pathways. There’s no shortcut. Only careful observation and experience accumulation…”

[Detection passed. Energy pathway established. Number of energy pathways carved: 2.]

[Detection passed. Energy pathway established. Number of energy pathways carved: 3.]

[Detection passed. Energy pathway established. Number of energy pathways carved: 4.]