The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 179

“You’ve already done more than enough for the Federation.”

Not to mention…

Yan Chang looked down slightly.

He didn’t believe that a single military ship alone could turn the tide. During the Alien Beast War, the Federation possessed abundant weapons and equipment, yet the war still dragged on for years.

Jiang Momo’s eyes grew hot. She sat down heavily on a nearby seat, feeling drained. She let out a long breath. Their reactions showed her they were even more trustworthy than she had imagined. Maybe Little Eight’s plan could work after all. “If the war really reaches a critical point…”

E Mingjun grabbed her wrist, stopping her from finishing. “Momo, even if we seem trustworthy, don’t put too much trust in us.”

“Right.” Yan Chang lifted his head from deep thought. “Also, I just remembered, you couldn’t make legendary mechas before, right? Wasn’t it only after reading the books I gave you that you created one of the key weapons from the late stage of the Alien Beast War?”

Jiang Momo’s mind went briefly blank, thoughts swirling chaotically. Something flickered in her mind, although she couldn’t quite grasp it. She nodded vaguely. “Yes. Before that, I didn’t even know how to make the Federation’s most basic mecha.”

Yan Chang placed a hand on her shoulder. “So there’s no rush. If that self-aware system was really so powerful, then the Alien Beast War wouldn’t have lasted that long in the first place.”

At those words, the fog in Jiang Momo’s mind seemed to lift. She suddenly remembered a past conversation with Yan Chang in the Yan family’s ancestral residence’s library. She looked up at him.

Taking advantage of being on his own turf where no one could monitor them, Yan Chang said, “Remember the rumor I told you about back then?”

“What rumor?” E Mingjun noticed the spark in Jiang Momo’s eyes but saw she didn’t respond, so he quickly jumped in to prompt her.

Yan Chang glanced at E Mingjun and explained with a raised chin, “After the Alien Beast War, the second president of the Federation destroyed all outdated mecha manufacturing techniques by using light brain ports to wipe the public’s reading and writing segments. They started teaching a new written language to the next generation.”

“But we suspect that was just a failed monopoly. It was meant to be a technology monopoly, but it backfired and led to massive technological loss,” Jiang Momo continued. “When I was reading Ye Fei’s Diary, the ancient books Yan Chang gave me, it mentioned that the legendary mecha cores were originally developed to treat mental power overload. In other words, when a person’s mental power exceeds the limit their body can bear, the core would…”

She paused and grappled with a term to describe, “…harmonize it.”

E Mingjun nodded. “That’s a good term. I recently learned from Ling Yelin the actual function of that production line. It is meant to extract and dilute energy. The energy is quite special. When someone’s mental power is strong, it enhances their physical constitution.”

“But if their mental power is weak, it instead absorbs their energy,” Yan Chang disagreed slightly.

“That’s because, as a type of medicine, the effect is potent,” E Mingjun explained. “For someone like Jiang Momo, with extremely strong mental power, it immediately enhances the body. For people like you, it boosts mental power first, then the body, and back and forth until balance is achieved. But most people don’t have balanced energy reserves or high thresholds. They get over-augmented and end up losing more instead.”

“The diluted energy fluid, however, can be used gently. It first boosts physical endurance. Clinical data shows it pairs well with a mecha core’s function.”

Yan Chang caught the key point. “So it’s possible that after a round of battle, the more they fight, the more energized and stimulated they become?”

E Mingjun paused and then nodded. “That’s within the realm of possibility.”

Yan Chang pinched the bridge of his nose. “If that state doesn’t fade over time, then people will start resembling humanoid weapons. No wonder the whole thing was banned, it’d be impossible to manage them.”

He only realized what he had said after the words left his mouth and immediately fell silent.

“But all of this is only enough to deal with the alien beasts currently visible to us. We still have no way to handle the spatial-type alien beasts responsible for teleporting them. We don’t even know where those alien beasts are,” Jiang Momo added. She wasn’t blindly optimistic, but now that she knew the Federation wasn’t in immediate danger, she could finally breathe a little easier.

Silence fell over the spaceship.

The problem circled back to the beginning.

Yan Chang stared at the crown of Jiang Momo’s head, trying hard to hypnotize himself into forgetting what the AI calling itself Little Eight had said about being able to counter spatial-type alien beasts.

Jiang Momo stood up, bounced on her feet, stretched her slightly numb wrists, and said, “I’ll have the research institute speed up development when I return.” She glanced at her light brain. “It’s still working hours, how about we get dinner another day?”

“Sounds good.” Yan Chang turned and disembarked from the spaceship.

E Mingjun sat in the co-pilot seat. “Drop me off at the Central Plaza.”

Jiang Momo looked at him without speaking. Once Yan Chang exited the spaceship, she entered the destination and lifted off. As the spaceship rose higher above the ground, Jiang Momo stared blankly at the data on the console panel.

E Mingjun suddenly said, “Don’t go back to the desolate planet. The current president is your fanatic fan. He’s planning to build a ‘God of Mecha Manufacturing’ theme park on your planet. He’s already installed a lot of hidden surveillance equipment.”

“How do you know?” Jiang Momo turned to look at him. “Did you team up with the President now?”

E Mingjun rubbed his nose. “No. It’s just… I noticed the President looks at you strangely, so I started paying attention to his movements.”

Jiang Momo nodded in agreement. “He does seem like he’s been testing me.”

E Mingjun gave a self-deprecating smile. Of course, that wasn’t the real reason he had been watching the President. He paused before saying, “I know how important Little Eight is to you. For all this time, none of us even knew it existed. You’ve protected it very well.”

Jiang Momo stared at him calmly for a moment and then said with certainty, “You have a base in the Chaos Star System that can’t be detected.”

E Mingjun was momentarily stunned, caught off guard, especially since just ten minutes ago he had righteously told Jiang Momo not to put too much trust in them.

And ‘them’ clearly didn’t just mean Yan Chang. Just as he didn’t trust anyone, he didn’t trust himself either.

“The underground room across from Wu Yue’s place?” Jiang Momo asked. Little Eight wasn’t with her now. All her decisions had to be made on her own. She just hoped her judgment was right.

E Mingjun shook his head. “It’s even more hidden than that.”

“Take me there.”