The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 163

[Yes. It’s just one part of their individual schemes playing out.]

Hearing the definite answer, Jiang Momo’s expression grew complicated. She lowered her head, thinking for a while and then sent a message to E Mingjun. There was no reply, but another email came through.

“I have to take up the post so fast?!” Jiang Momo stared at the words ‘assume post immediately’ in the email, raised her hand, and bit her knuckle, guessing, “The President plans to ambush me on the way.”

[Correct.] Little Eight’s cat-like face twisted. [The President plans to blame the crime on the high-level fugitives who ‘snuck in.’]

“Huh?” Jiang Momo tried to understand. “E Mingjun and the President made a deal, brought in a group of people as illegal immigrants to boost the President’s image, and now the President is secretly using that to shift the blame for my assassination attempt?”

Little Eight froze for a second.

[Is that how you understand their deal?]

“Isn’t it?” Jiang Momo reviewed the known information again and didn’t feel like anything was missing.

[No. The deal between E Mingjun and the President was to allow over 800 interstellar pirates to enter the Capital Star legally,] Little Eight said.

Jiang Momo froze. “Then the President is unilaterally breaking the agreement? No wonder E Mingjun isn’t answering my calls.”

[He is indeed busy.]

Little Eight glanced at the surveillance footage, its tone complicated. [The air shuttle to take you to your post has arrived at the entrance of Central Mecha Academy.]

“What’s it doing there?” Jiang Momo blurted out and then realized that her whereabouts couldn’t be officially tracked. She shot to her feet. “I’ll go now.”

[Put on your exoskeleton,] Little Eight reminded her.

Jiang Momo understood instantly. She quickly put on her exoskeleton and had the spatial transfer device send her into the spaceship Yan Chang had given her, heading straight to the academy gates.

At the entrance, Ge Qing was having a polite meeting with the people who came to pick her up. When Jiang Momo stepped off the spaceship, she overheard Ge Qing saying cheerfully, “We truly don’t know where she is. You couldn’t reach her either?”

The man opposite Ge Qing had an unpleasant expression, his demeanor stern and subtly oppressive. Behind him, his ‘guards’ were pushing back students trying to take photos. Their swift, precise movements clearly showed special training and there were almost no flaws in their posture.

Jiang Momo scanned them all, confirming the approximate location of their weapons, and then calmly dropped herself down.

She landed lightly, startling the man who had been facing off with Ge Qing. After recognizing her, his face relaxed into a businesslike smile tinged with disdain. He subtly looked her up and down before saying, “Teacher Jiang Momo, there you are. We were about to go fetch you from your dorm, but unfortunately, your administration wouldn’t let us in.”

“Air shuttles aren’t allowed into the academy,” Jiang Momo replied casually. “Let’s go.”

Ge Qing watched as Jiang Momo stepped protectively in front of him and felt a bit puzzled. He leaned forward slightly to look at her profile.

“Are you alright?” Ge Qing asked in a whisper. He had a nagging feeling something was off about her.

“I’m fine. You should go back to the academy,” Jiang Momo quickly turned and replied softly, then looked toward the man sizing them up. “Let’s go.”

“Teacher Momo, please.” The man stepped back and gestured with his hand.

Jiang Momo gave a slight nod, walked directly onto the air shuttle, and took a seat in the center. She tilted her head, silently sizing up the group following her at a measured pace, and asked Little Eight,
“Live broadcast?”

[Yes.]

Little Eight silently activated the live stream.

[Be mindful of the limits of legitimate self-defense.]

“I know.” Jiang Momo flexed her wrist slightly.

When Little Eight told her to put on the exoskeleton, she had already understood what it meant. With its analysis of the ‘assassins,’ she was confident she could get out unscathed. Clearly, the President’s hirelings weren’t as formidable as she’d feared.

The air shuttle took off quickly. A group of people gathered tightly around Jiang Momo. At the same time, the live stream window popped up on the light brains of many Federation citizens. Under the President’s surveillance, the viewership exploded without raising any red flags.

Jiang Momo glanced at the screen filled with greetings and endless flowery praise in the comment feed. A smile crept onto her face. Then she looked out the window and immediately noticed the view was different from that of regular low-altitude flights.

“Where are we going? Aren’t we supposed to report to the research institute?” Her expression visibly tensed.

“Report? Forget about that for now. Hand over everything you brought with you.”

A cold cylinder pressed against her forehead. Jiang Momo looked at the weapons that had suddenly appeared in their hands and exclaimed, “You’re not from the Federation?!”

The comment feed exploded.

[?????]

[What’s going on? Is she being kidnapped? Is this related to the news about the high-level fugitives caught just now?]

[It shouldn’t be the same group, right? The news said all the fugitives had already been caught.]

[No no no no no, I’ve seen one of those people before. He’s one of our law enforcement officers! The notoriously infamous kind! Why would the Federation stream this? If they knew these people were this shady, why didn’t they take action sooner?]

[Is this one of those infamous ‘entrapment’ operations? But Director Momo doesn’t look like she was in on it.]

Inside the air shuttle, no one answered Jiang Momo’s question. All of them began to close in on her in unison, enclosing her tightly at the center.

Jiang Momo glanced around at their formation, estimating their capabilities. Then, just as the person in front of her made a move, she lunged forward without hesitation.

Her judgment had been correct. The man behind her didn’t dare use any compact explosive weapon in such a confined space like the air shuttle.

The comments on the stream moved even faster.

[Whoa! One versus seven, total domination!!!]

[Holy crap, Director Momo’s got hands?! She’s got them totally suppressed?! Although her strength seems lacking, she hits too soft.]

[What the hell?! They’re really pulling guns?!]

With a loud boom, the air shuttle shook violently.

As she held someone down during the chaos, Jiang Momo subtly slipped her hand into a gap and pulled the trigger using the assailant’s hand, aiming toward empty space. A faint, hidden smile flashed across her face, just outside the camera’s frame.

Her right to unlimited self-defense had officially begun.

***

On the Federation’s Capital Star, the Third Vice-Captain stared at the live stream’s now-black screen, forcibly shut down for containing excessive violence and gore. He looked at E Mingjun with an awkward expression and forced a couple of dry laughs.

“She’s… she’s pretty fierce, huh.”

E Mingjun lifted his eyes and shot him a cold glance. “What about the data? Don’t tell me you’re slacking off again.”

“It’s almost done.” The Third Vice-Captain looked a little confused.

What’s going on? Did they get into another fight? E Mingjun had been acting like a lovesick fool earlier and now, with the massive event trending on everyone’s light brains, he’s not even watching?

As he thought this, he couldn’t hold it in and blurted out part of the thought. He didn’t dare say the rest, though. He valued his life.

“Who?” E Mingjun caught the odd tone in the vice-captain’s voice and looked up from the vast backend database.

“You know, her,” the vice-captain said and then quickly corrected himself when E Mingjun frowned, “the Madam.”

“She’s live streaming?” E Mingjun searched but couldn’t find it. He immediately shut his light brain and took two steps toward the vice-captain, placing one hand on his shoulder. “Let me see.”

The vice-captain wiped cold sweat from his forehead. “It’s already been shut down.”

E Mingjun: “? What was she doing?”

E/N: She beat the assassins.