The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 169

“I’ve arranged a dinner in your honor. You must attend, no excuses.”

Jiang Momo stared at the President’s tight grip on her hand, her expression stiff for a second before she quickly recovered. Clearly, the President didn’t know she was aware the assassins had been sent by him.

“I’ll definitely be making excuses,” Jiang Momo said flatly, not bothering to pull her hand back.

Jiang Xian stealthily jabbed her in the lower back and Jiang He sternly interjected, “Momo, is that any way to speak to the President? Where are your manners?”

The President glanced at the troublesome Jiang family members, his fawning expression vanishing. He was well aware of Jiang Momo’s history with them. If he were her, there’s no way he’d associate with them either. But family ties are unpredictable, so he wasn’t quite sure of her stance.

“They’re with you?” the President asked directly.

“I barely know them,” Jiang Momo replied before the others could speak, cutting Jiang He off.

“Jiang Momo!” Jiang He snapped, but with the President there, he could only keep his tone low and restrained. Then he turned to the President. “Mr. President, I—”

The President didn’t even look at him. He raised a hand to silence him and waved to the security guards by the entrance.

“I said this venue is reserved today. What are these irrelevant people still doing here? Clear them out!” he snapped.

He could put on a humble act in front of Jiang Momo if needed since he needed her. But the Jiang family? They weren’t worth a thing to him.

The moment the Jiang family was escorted out and disappeared through the doors, the President’s bright smile returned. “What a coincidence. Maybe the heavens decided we were meant to work together. After all that circling, we still met again.”

“So you approached Yan Yunkui not just to find me?” Jiang Momo asked, knowing full well the answer. She had already lip-read their earlier conversation and guessed his purpose.

“It’s not a good place to talk. Shall we discuss over dinner?” the President gestured behind him in invitation.

Jiang Momo didn’t move.

The President subtly raised an eyebrow. “Momo, during our last negotiation, I was too impulsive and spoke harshly. I didn’t expect you to take it so seriously. I apologize.”

“That’s not what I’m upset about,” Jiang Momo said, hands in her pockets. “You ordered the textbooks rewritten, didn’t you? And the interview too?”

The President reflexively started to deny it, but one look at Jiang Momo’s confident face told him she already knew. He lowered his eyes and apologized directly, “Sorry.”

“Let’s go upstairs first,” Jiang Momo said, taking a few steps forward and clapping a hand on Yan Yunkui’s shoulder, who had been trying to quietly slip away. She herded him toward the elevator.

The President immediately followed.

The three of them quickly entered the private room. Inside, a massive rotating round table sat in the center. The President guided Jiang Momo to the main seat and invited her to sit. Jiang Momo didn’t decline and sat down directly. The three exchanged small talk with their own hidden agendas for a while before the President suddenly stood up and raised his glass.

“Momo, I truly failed to recognize your worth before. I apologize. Here, I’ll punish myself with three shots first.”

As the President downed the alcohol in one go, Little Eight suddenly jumped out. [Momo, that liquor is quite strong. Don’t drink it.]

Jiang Momo nodded slightly.

“I still don’t know why I was asked to come here,” Jiang Momo said, watching the President finish his drinks. Her gaze instinctively swept across the floating light screen in front of her.

She had no intention of ‘reminiscing’ with the President, but just moments ago, E Mingjun had sent back a message saying they had reached the designated points around the production line and were ready to release the information on the Star Network. She was very curious, what expression would the President make when he saw that news break online?

“To be honest, I’m sure you’ve already heard that I’ve been in a rough spot lately. Those troublemakers won’t let go of those baseless scandals about me. Now that the Federation is in such a critical state, even though the public doesn’t understand the truth, I can’t abandon them. Changing presidents at this moment would cause chaos!” The President downed another drink angrily.

“The Yan family has always been politically adept, right? So I thought I’d see if you could help make a connection. I want to use the Yan family’s influence to get reelected, not because I crave power, but for the sake of the Federation’s people. They deserve a good life. At the very least, we must avoid repeating the Alien Beast War. That war devastated the Federation and we still haven’t fully recovered.”

[Pfft, what a load of crap! He just wants to stay in power! Hypocrite! Beast in human clothing!] Little Eight bristled with anger.

Jiang Momo glanced at Yan Yunkui, whose eyes were now filled with fervent admiration after being moved by the President’s speech. She silently asked Little Eight, “Has the news been released?”

[They were released. The Jiang family and the assassination, both news together. I’m currently pushing it across the entire Federation.]

Little Eight was sweating metaphorical bullets.

To ensure everyone in the Federation received the push notification simultaneously and avoid interception by official agencies due to time discrepancies, Little Eight was executing the release in carefully timed batches, an effort that was almost overloading its system.

Soon, light brain screens popped up in front of all three of them.

“What’s going on? Why won’t the privacy settings open?!” Yan Yunkui looked at the three floating screens that suddenly appeared in the room and hurriedly checked his privacy settings, only to find that he couldn’t turn them off.

[Heh~ Still some flaws in the system. I’ll go investigate more.] Little Eight vanished from view.

Jiang Momo took a quick glance at the ‘super simplified’ evidence report she’d painstakingly edited over the past few days, so simple even preschoolers could understand it. Then she looked at Yan Yunkui and the President, both of whose faces had turned pale.

She suddenly grabbed the President’s arm, who was sitting just half a meter away, and loudly said, “Is what this news says true? You really sent someone to assassinate me?!”

The President went ghostly pale, partly from the shock of the news, and partly from how hard Jiang Momo was squeezing him.

“Let go! I can explain!”

“No! Explain it right now!” Jiang Momo demanded even louder.

“Momo, we can’t confirm if it’s real yet…” Yan Yunkui hesitated for a long moment before offering a soft word of advice. He stood frozen in place, making no unnecessary movement.

Suddenly, on the President’s light screen, large text appeared.

[Current Public Sentiment Risk Level: Critical. Initiating Final Protocol. Please board the escape ship to the external star systems within two minutes.]

Due to the strange failure of the privacy system, what was meant to be visible only to the President was clearly seen by everyone present.

Yan Yunkui immediately dashed over and forcefully pinned the President’s other shoulder, just in time to stop the weapon he’d half-drawn.

“Didn’t you rage against that former research institute’s director who tried to flee just a while ago? And now you’re planning to run yourself?!” After saying that, Yan Yunkui swiftly operated his light brain and launched a live stream.

A privacy system crash like this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Even judicial institutions couldn’t usually access such data. If they didn’t record this now, there might be no evidence later!