The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 17 Part 1

A series of mechanical sounds rang out.

Peng Ji was stunned.

The next second, he suddenly realized what happened and quickly apologized, “I was wrong, just pretend I was joking earlier.”

“No problem,” Jiang Momo replied.

She suddenly remembered that Little Eight had mentioned that the official method for creating energy pathways seemed to be as Peng Ji had described where they only recognized one correct pathway.

Peng Ji carefully observed Jiang Momo’s expression, confirming she wasn’t angry, and circled around her twice.

Looking at Jiang Momo who was calmly and carelessly carving on the material panels, Peng Ji couldn’t help but test the waters, “Boss, can you teach me? How do you do it so fast?”

“Sure,” Jiang Momo, with a little pride, accepted the title of ‘boss’ but didn’t show it on the surface. She pointed at the material panel and began teaching seriously, “You see, there are many energy pathway ports along the edges of the material panel. Just imagine an energy line entering through the port, flowing smoothly without obstruction and exiting. That’s the energy pathway.”

Peng Ji was confused. “I know that but then what?”

“Then, pay attention and you’ll find it soon,” Jiang Momo continued to teach earnestly.

Peng Ji: “…Boss, maybe you should get back to your work? I don’t really need to learn.”

Not learning anymore?

Jiang Momo scratched her head and quickly carved a straight line on the material panel in her hand, passing it to the waiting detection robot.

[Detection passed. Energy pathway established. Number of energy pathways carved: 6.]

The mechanical sound echoed again and Peng Ji’s face went blank as he crouched against the wall, resigned to being a salted fish.

He was muttering softly, “If you don’t want to teach, then don’t. This ‘feeling’ stuff… if anyone could learn that way, they wouldn’t be human.”

Jiang Momo heard Peng Ji grumbling but didn’t catch what he was saying. She instinctively turned her head. “What? What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I’m feeling it, Boss. You’re teaching so well, I feel enlightened and like I’ve gained so much!” Peng Ji forced a smile.

Jiang Momo saw through his insincerity but didn’t think there was anything wrong with what he said. She turned back, still confused.

‘This teaching method is actually pretty good. Little Eight taught me the same way!’ Jiang Momo was certain.

[Detection passed. Energy pathway established. Number of energy pathways carved: 7.]

Peng Ji covered his ears as the detection sounds continued to ring in his head, feeling like a pile of bricks was weighing him down.

Before today, he had thought that although he was only slightly talented in mecha manufacturing, his hard work had always been enough to make up for his lack of natural talent. After all those years of experience, the exam wouldn’t be too difficult.

But now, in just the second round, reality had struck him hard.

Seven pathways in one minute, is that even humanly possible?!

After a short while, Jiang Momo finished carving about ten panels but she didn’t see any movement from Peng Ji. She turned around to check on his progress, only to find him slumped in the corner, looking despondent. His dark skin seemed to show signs of exhaustion and his full beard had thinned out noticeably.

“Are you okay? Do you feel unwell?” Jiang Momo observed the materials in her hand while walking over to him, looking concerned.

“Boss, you go ahead, don’t mind me,” Peng Ji said weakly.

Jiang Momo didn’t move. “But I need you right now. I can’t do it alone. I’ve calculated it. According to your method, the first group will be able to carve 1,008 pathways in five minutes and 864 in the second group. The fastest I can do is seven per minute and we’ll still be last.”

The exam was based on mecha manufacturing knowledge, which was her specialty. Given how comprehensive her previous written exam was, there would certainly be more challenges ahead, especially in mecha piloting, so she needed to score points here.

Peng Ji weakly looked up. “You mean I’m still useful?” s

Jiang Momo seriously replied, “You’re extremely important! Without you, we’re guaranteed to lose this competition!”

Peng Ji instantly perked up, sitting up straight. “I’m important?”

“Yes!” Jiang Momo didn’t understand why he suddenly seemed so insecure but the reason didn’t matter.

Jiang Momo handed him the carving knife and said firmly, “You’re amazing, you guessed all the rules correctly earlier!”

“This is just a bit of cleverness and it’s not really useful,” Peng Ji gripped the carving knife, coughed lightly, feeling a bitter taste in his throat, then said seriously, “I’ll give it my all.”

Jiang Momo patted his shoulder. “Good luck,” she said, standing up and continuing her work. Soon, she noticed that Peng Ji had started to act as well.

She turned with a satisfied smile, ready to say a few more words of encouragement, but saw Peng Ji jumping around, as if injected with adrenaline.

Jiang Momo was confused.

This guy changes emotions so quickly? He was just half-dead a moment ago.

Not needing to spend more time on morale-boosting, Jiang Momo felt relieved to continue her task.

After carving two more, she heard Peng Ji’s respectful voice behind her, “Boss, can you please give me some advice? My speed is too slow.”

‘Just feel it carefully.’

The four words turned in Jiang Momo’s mind for a moment but she switched to another four, “Be bold but careful.”

Before Peng Ji could ask another question, she found herself repeatedly reviewing the earlier teaching scenario in her mind. She realized that Peng Ji seemed to really not be able to understand.
Little Eight had once told her that if someone asked her a question and her sincere answer didn’t help, she could use ambiguous words to brush them off.

Peng Ji seemed to understand. “I get it. Your point is that there’s so much material here that even if I’m wrong half the time, it’s not a big waste. And since the other groups are cautious, their speed will naturally be low, so I can skip some observations, be bold, and focus on increasing speed?”

Jiang Momo: “…Yes.”

Although it wasn’t exactly what she meant, it sounded strangely plausible.

With his affirmation, Peng Ji became even busier. He quickly grabbed a panel from the wall, observed it briefly like Jiang Momo, squinted, and then carved a line with reckless abandon before passing it to the detection robot.

[Detection failed. The material panel has been retrieved.]

When the robot spoke, Peng Ji’s face showed the ‘I knew it’ expression and the spiky hair that had been standing up earlier fell back down. “I knew it wouldn’t work. What should I do, Boss?”

Jiang Momo watched the entire process and asked, “Were you confident when you made the carving?”

Peng Ji shook his head. “Not at all.”

“Then why did you engrave it?” Jiang Momo asked. “Why do something you’re not confident about?”

Hearing the question, Peng Ji seemed as if he had been struck by lightning. He stood still, muttering to himself, “Why do something you’re not confident about? Bold and careful, bold and careful, bold and careful, I understand now!”

Jiang Momo didn’t know what he had understood but she knew they only had two hours and couldn’t afford to delay any longer. “Keep going, good luck.” She turned around and continued carving her own panels.

Two minutes later, Peng Ji let out a cheer. “Boss, I succeeded!”

“Congratulations.” Jiang Momo didn’t even look up.

It took less than ten seconds to carve out a material, which meant she barely had time to catch her breath. The tension kept her mentally focused and vaguely, Jiang Momo felt a strange air current flowing from her forehead toward her fingertips.

It was an odd feeling. Instinctively, she raised her hand and rubbed her forehead with her wrist, and the sensation disappeared.

In a daze, Jiang Momo felt like something was watching her. She looked up, only to see the wall covered with material panels.

On the other side, in the evaluation room, Ge Qing made eye contact with Jiang Momo and the other invigilators were watching her as well. Upon seeing this, they started discussing it among themselves.

“Is her mental strength that high? Did Dean Ge just get noticed when he got close?”

“Impossible, you’re overthinking it. She just happened to look up.”

“No, although it hasn’t been tested, her mental strength must be very high. Only someone with SS-rank mental strength can achieve the feat of seven pathways in one minute.”

“But the mental strength threads projected in the exam room aren’t very dense.”

There were eleven invigilators in the evaluation room, each holding the applicants’ data. At this moment, everyone’s screen had coincidentally adjusted to Jiang Momo’s page, including Ge Qing’s.

The evaluation room appeared like another exam room but with eleven additional people. It was a projection from a micron camera, displaying physical images of mental strength threads that couldn’t be seen with the naked eye.

Mental strength threads were white, semi-transparent substances observed through special instruments after mental energy was emitted. The density of these threads indicated the strength of the mental power.

From the density of the threads in Jiang Momo’s exam room, the two people in the room were at most S-rank.

At that moment, the third exam room where Jiang Momo was located was crowded.

The cameras had been turned on before the exam started and the projection was bidirectional. So, when Jiang Momo and the others saw it, they were only seeing the invigilators’ projections. Due to technical reasons, being too close could expose flaws, so the invigilators could only observe from a distance before the exam began and couldn’t interfere with the applicants’ actions.

According to Dean Ge Qing, when hiring teachers, they not only look at technical skills but also competence and character.

At first, most of their attention was on Peng Ji since he was so active and seemed to be full of clever ideas. However, after listening carefully, they realized that several of their backup exam plans were accurately guessed by him. According to Peng Ji’s arrangements, no matter how the exam was conducted, he could exploit loopholes. Fortunately, Ge Qing decisively changed the exam method on the spot.

Unfortunately, it ended up backfiring on Jiang Momo.

Ge Qing stood still, smiling in satisfaction after Jiang Momo glanced at him and then quickly buried her head to continue her work.

In general, people with high mental strength are particularly sensitive to visual perception and can easily be disturbed. Therefore, most mecha manufacturing masters have to stay in completely isolated environments to avoid mistakes during their work. “Her mental resilience is impressive.”

Upon hearing Ge Qing praise Jiang Momo, the other invigilators began to offer their opinions.

“Of course. If it were someone else, they would probably give up in this situation. The gap in the number of people is so huge and she even has a troublesome groupmate.”

“Don’t say that. I think that Peng Ji is improving quickly.”

“I originally thought that a rare genius like her wouldn’t be able to teach others but it turns out she teaches really well.”

“According to the data, Peng Ji was able to carve an energy pathway in 4 minutes and 36 seconds before the exam but this time, on average, he can carve one in about 2 minutes and 57 seconds.”

“By last year’s hiring standards, Peng Ji’s abilities are quite good. It’s a shame.”

“But his success rate isn’t high, only 50%.”

“Wait, what’s Jiang Momo’s success rate?”

“Looks like… 100%?!”

Indeed, up until now, Jiang Momo hadn’t made a single mistake in carving an energy pathway.

Realizing this, Peng Ji finally accepted the harsh reality that sometimes the gap between people can be even larger than the gap between a person and a pig.

“Boss, are you really human?” Peng Ji sighed.

Jiang Momo casually replied, “Of course, robots can’t carve energy pathways.”

“Don’t you think this result is too absurd?”

“It’s not absurd. The Federation’s top record is 15 pathways in one minute, with a 100% success rate.”

That was the data that Little Eight had given her when she was learning. She had never really understood the difficulty until now.

Jiang Momo turned her head and noticed Peng Ji looking as if he had been struck by lightning.

“What’s wrong with you?” Jiang Momo shouted from a distance. “Pull yourself together!”

“I’m just amazed. There are so many geniuses in this world, why can’t there be one more like me?” Peng Ji looked dejected.

Just now, he had been proudly boasting that he could carve one energy pathway in three minutes.

The invigilators exchanged glances before looking at Ge Qing who seemed to realize something.

“Isn’t this an internal secret? I remember that after the academy tested this, they didn’t report it to the Federation.”

“Ge Qing, you still say she’s not your student? This is great, someone will inherit your legacy in the future.”

Ge Qing didn’t respond. Amid the noise, he gazed at Jiang Momo with deep eyes, his pupils dark.

After a long time, he raised his hand to signal for quiet.

“I was wrong earlier,” Ge Qing suddenly said.

The invigilators were stunned.

They had worked with Ge Qing for more than ten years and had never heard him admit to being wrong.

“Where did you go wrong, Dean Ge?” one of the teachers asked.

Ge Qing stared at Jiang Momo for a long time before saying, “Separate the space within a one-and-a-half-meter radius around Jiang Momo from the rest.”

The teachers were confused but began to use the room’s robots to isolate Jiang Momo from the others.

Soon, the entire room fell silent.

Everyone realized something was wrong.

There were no mental strength threads around Jiang Momo!

It meant that, during the process of carving the energy pathways, she had not used any mental strength at all!

“Very interesting.” Ge Qing suddenly smiled as the other invigilators were too stunned to speak. He stood next to Jiang Momo, his eyes full of admiration. “Did you all notice? Everyone has been talking about observing but they rely on mental strength fluctuations to sense the pathways. However, Jiang Momo kept saying ‘feel’ and was relying on observation.”

All the invigilators’ eyes turned to Ge Qing. That was the first time he seemed to be trying to teach them something.

Ge Qing was the only one in the academy who could manufacture S-grade mechas. Anyone who could learn a little from him would benefit greatly. It was evident from how easily his direct disciples entered the Military Research Institute.

However, Ge Qing didn’t intend to continue his explanation. He stroked his graying beard and sighed, “Don’t rush. You’ll understand in time.”

***

Two hours later, Jiang Momo handed the last panel to the robot and vigorously shook her hand.

Peng Ji had already collapsed, slumped against the wall like a pile of mud, with bloodshot eyes. “62. I actually made 62, I’m so awesome.”

He was beaming with pride. “I wonder if there’s a recording. I’ll make sure to boast about it when I get back.”

Jiang Momo was also surprised by his progress. Throughout the exam, Peng Ji’s speed had been increasing. By the end, he was carving one in under a minute but his success rate remained stubbornly at 50%.

“Not bad,” Jiang Momo said. “Thanks to you, we managed to use all the materials within the allotted time.”

“You didn’t think I slowed you down, did you?” Peng Ji asked.

Jiang Momo assured him, “Of course not. You were a huge help!”

[The exam is over. The results will now be announced.]

[Within two hours, Group 1 successfully carved 958 pathways and Group 2 successfully carved 838 pathways.]

“This result is a bit lower than we expected?” Jiang Momo noticed the issue.

Peng Ji placed both hands behind his head, not feeling anything was wrong. “It’s normal. There’s always some energy loss when depicting energy pathways. No one can guarantee 100% accuracy.

“I’m talking about normal people,” Peng Ji added.

[Group 3 successfully carved 962 pathways. Announcing rankings: Group 3 is ranked first, all members get 2 points. Group 1 is ranked second, all members get 1 point. Group 2 is ranked third, no points are awarded.]

[Results announced. Please arrive at B12 by 16:00 today for the next exam. The exam will last 72 hours. You may finish early based on individual completion. Be prepared.]

“The wall on this side hasn’t come down yet. Boss, let’s run before we get surrounded and can’t leave.” Peng Ji flipped up from the ground and pushed Jiang Momo toward the lift.

As they moved, the wall came down.

The other two groups stood in place and quickly locked onto Jiang Momo.

“Their group only has two people. How could they get first place? This is cheating! I demand to see the exam recording!”

“Yeah, this has to be cheating! Stop right there!”

Seeing the crowd rush forward, Peng Ji shoved Jiang Momo into the lift and stood outside with his back to her, quickly pressing the close door button.

“I thought we’d just be stared at in awe, didn’t expect this situation. Boss, you run first, I’ll block them. Don’t forget to prepare nutrient solutions before the next round.

“Boss, you’re a good teacher. My name’s Peng Ji. If…” Peng Ji turned to look at Jiang Momo with determination, only to be yanked into the lift by her without hesitation.

Jiang Momo quickly slammed the door shut.

People outside pulled at it wildly but it didn’t budge.

The lift started moving.