The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 18

“Alright then, I’ll try to dig up more info later.”

Yan Chang stared eagerly at the hand E Mingjun had used to hold the mecha, eyes full of longing. His gaze was so intense it gave E Mingjun goosebumps and he subtly stepped closer to Jiang Momo.

Jiang Momo, deep in thought, instinctively took two steps back when she sensed someone getting close.

“What’s wrong?” E Mingjun asked.

Jiang Momo had never backed away from him before.

She looked up with a slightly dazed expression, her eyes glancing over E Mingjun’s now-bare neck. She didn’t notice her own movement just now. “Nothing.”

She was thinking that the description of the interstellar pirate hunter sounded oddly familiar but she couldn’t recall where she’d heard it.

Could it be that Little Eight had mentioned that person to her before?

Jiang Momo was baffled. That shouldn’t be it. She had a good memory. If she had heard of that person, she wouldn’t have forgotten.

Following Jiang Momo’s line of sight, Yan Chang suddenly realized something was off. His eyes widened. “Tutor E, why didn’t you put the mecha spatial button back around your neck?”

Spatial buttons for mechas were extremely expensive, much pricier than regular storage boxes, because they could absorb and harness the spiritual energy floating around a mecha pilot to maintain the mecha. And the area with the highest spiritual energy concentration in the body was the forehead, followed by the area near the heart.

He himself wore his spatial button on his forehead when he slept.

“Don’t tell me you’re disgusted because I piloted it for a bit?!” Yan Chang ignored E Mingjun’s darkened expression and blurted it out.

“No.” E Mingjun lowered his gaze, sounding a little listless.

“Good.” Yan Chang perked up, throwing an arm around E Mingjun’s shoulder with a grin. “I knew it, Tutor E, you wouldn’t look down on a student as awesome as me. Oh right, can we have a mecha battle sometime? I’ve never sparred with you! Please?”

“I’m busy,” E Mingjun said as he glanced at his light brain.

“Hmph, every time I mention a match, you’re suddenly busy. Fine, go be busy,” Yan Chang said with a resentful look. “Then I’ll accompany Master during all the exams!”

“It’s not that urgent. Let’s get Momo to her test site first. It’s 15:16 already,” E Mingjun said.

Jiang Momo was startled. “It’s that late already?”

“Our school is too big. We waste all our time just walking around. If I were the Student Council’s president, I’d propose that students be allowed to fly ships on campus!” Yan Chang looked at E Mingjun multiple times, nudging him to take a stand as the current president.

E Mingjun acted like he didn’t hear it. “Wasn’t this rule made because someone crashed a ship into the teaching building?”

“I paid for that!” Yan Chang muttered in protest. “School hadn’t even started yet. What’s wrong with speeding a little? The school didn’t have a speed limit back then.”

“And that’s why the school later banned flying ships,” E Mingjun nodded.

“Hmph, I’m done playing with Tutor E. He doesn’t understand the struggles of the common folk,” Yan Chang said, grabbing Jiang Momo to head out.

But she didn’t move.

Yan Chang turned to see Jiang Momo still standing there, waiting for E Mingjun.

“Let’s go,” E Mingjun said, blinking toward the air, likely just turning off his light brain.

“Let’s grab some nutrient solutions first. I’m telling you, Master, the one I have tasted amazing. You’re going to love it,” Yan Chang said excitedly, pulling Jiang Momo along like a kid about to share a treat with a friend.

***

Half an hour later, Jiang Momo arrived at B12 with her nutrient drink. To her surprise, unlike previous exam rooms, this was a small room of about 100 square meters. Fewer than a hundred people stood inside, all familiar faces.

They were the same people who had taken the last exam with her.

That group had caused a huge commotion after the previous test, demanding answers from the academy before they reluctantly backed down.

Now, upon seeing Jiang Momo arrive, all eyes turned to her. Their eyes were so red they almost glowed.

“It’s her! Finally!”

Jiang Momo instinctively stepped back.

The crowd surged forward… and then passed right through her.

Everyone was stunned.

“What’s going on?”

“Why can’t we touch anyone?”

“I just noticed that we can’t touch each other either!”

“What kind of tech is this? No wonder the room’s so small. Is it one person per testing field? Then why can we see each other?”

“Boss! I’ve been waiting for you forever!”

A familiar voice called out behind her.

Jiang Momo naturally turned around. “Peng—huh?!”

…Who is this handsome guy?!

“Boss, I have a new theory about this exam! I think they might test mecha manufacturing this time. And since the exam isn’t that long, it could be low-grade mechas, like C or D-grade. Plus, since we can see each other, it’s likely we’ll have to compete for materials. What do you think? Does my theory make sense?”

The familiar voice and tone came from the man in front of her. It really was Peng Ji.

Jiang Momo’s brain stalled. She stared at his face in shock for a long time before finally seeing traces of the old him in his dark brown eyes.

“You shaved your beard… You actually look… pretty.”

Although Little Eight had warned her not to call men ‘pretty,’ she really couldn’t think of a better word.

Peng Ji’s features were delicate and refined, an androgynous kind of beauty. His nose was tall, his lips small and thin, and his eyes sparkled with liveliness. He looked like a clever little fox.

His skin was still dark but it now looked more like a beautiful deep bronze, radiating a healthy charm.

He looked at least twenty years younger than before!

“My looks are on the softer side. My family told me to keep a beard when I’m out and about, it makes me look more reliable.” Peng Ji, thinking the Boss didn’t want others overhearing their strategy, swallowed the rest of his thoughts and lowered his head in embarrassment. His long, thick lashes cast shadows on his face. “I didn’t expect the free light bath here to come with a hair removal service. I didn’t scare you, did I?”

“Soft where? You’re super easy on the eyes!” Jiang Momo, caught up in the moment, slapped Peng Ji’s back.

Her hand went right through his image and hit a nearby low cabinet with a loud bang. The entire hall went silent.

Peng Ji glanced at the low cabinet, then at Jiang Momo’s calloused hands and secretly felt lucky that the exam was in projection mode. Otherwise, he might have been injured even before it started.

“Sorry, I get like this when I’m excited. I’ll be more careful in the future and try not to hit you.” Jiang Momo knew her own strength. At full force, she could dent the surface of a mecha. She had always thought Peng Ji was a rough guy, so she hadn’t held back. After all, that’s how she slapped E Mingjun and he didn’t even flinch.

But looking more closely now, she realized Peng Ji was actually quite lean, with a waist that could rival Jiang Yingying’s. Still, he had a good figure, long arms and legs…

Stop!

Jiang Momo slapped herself in the face twice to wake up.

Little Eight was right. Being overly obsessed with looks is a disease. It needs treatment.

“What did you just say? Competition?” Jiang Momo recalled their earlier conversation and asked.

Peng Ji leaned close and whispered his guess into her ear, “At first I thought we’d have to fight over raw materials but then I noticed people can’t physically interact with each other here, so I ruled that out. Now it looks like the materials might be distributed through auctions or based on previous points. What do you think?”

“I think you’re absolutely right!” Jiang Momo said directly. “You’re so smart, there’s no way you’d guess wrong!”

Hearing her affirmation, Peng Ji relaxed a bit and subconsciously touched his overly smooth chin.

Soon, a vibration came from the wall. The wall to the east rose up, revealing a mountain-like pile of materials in front of the group.

Jiang Momo looked down and saw a small box with her name on it and a few burlap sacks had appeared by her feet.

“Is this a storage box?” Peng Ji squatted down and tried to lift it but the box didn’t budge. “I can’t pick it up. I scanned it, there’s about 8 cubic meters of space inside. This test is probably about manufacturing a D-grade mecha.”

Someone nearby overheard him and immediately objected, even pushing Peng Ji instinctively, “No way! For an exam like this? They wouldn’t test us on D-grade mechas, at least C-grade, right?”

Peng Ji wasn’t ready for the shove and fell to the ground.

“Huh? We can touch each other?” The person then reached out to Jiang Momo, who slapped his hand away. A crisp smacking sound echoed across the venue.

Everyone turned toward Jiang Momo in unison.

Before anyone could react, a mechanical voice rang out.

[The exam begins now. Countdown: five minutes. After the countdown, each person may use materials from their storage box to build a D-grade mecha.]

[Final exam scores will be based on build time, completion level, and mecha performance. The top 20 receive +2 points. 21st to 50th place get +1 point. Below 50th get no points.]

[Please begin selecting materials.]

“So what, we have to fight for them?” someone in the crowd shouted.

Instantly, everyone rushed toward the material pile.

Jiang Momo glanced at Peng Ji still sitting on the ground with his slender wrists, then turned, and dashed toward the materials.

Peng Ji watched her agile figure disappear like a cheetah and clenched his teeth, hurrying to get up. But because of his lack of strength, he was stuck at the back of the crowd and could only scavenge low-quality leftovers.

“Hey! Why are you grabbing so much for yourself?!”

“Don’t push, don’t push! Who is this? So strong!”

Complaints erupted in the crowd.

Peng Ji looked inside enviously.

A second later, Jiang Momo emerged, carrying several bulging sacks. Clearly, she’d made a good haul. She casually grabbed Peng Ji by the collar and dragged him to the box with her name on it.

She placed three sacks from her left shoulder into her storage box and put the other two at Peng Ji’s feet.

“For me?” Peng Ji was in disbelief. His deep brown eyes immediately welled up with tears. He stared at Jiang Momo with admiration.

Jiang Momo instinctively straightened her back under his adoring gaze.

No wonder everyone liked Jiang Yingying. This fragile, delicate type… it really did feel nice.

[Beep beep. Cheating detected. One red card issued. Time penalty: 12 hours. Future violations will double the penalty. Materials must be collected with one’s own strength within designated zones. Sharing materials outside the zone counts as cheating for both parties.]

[Since this rule was not previously stated, please return the materials. Watch your belongings.]

In the next second, all the sacks returned to Jiang Momo’s shoulder.

She immediately felt the weight and tilted her head to inspect them. “How does this work? So strange.”

[Countdown: 30 seconds.]

Jiang Momo wasn’t bothered. If the rules say no, then fine. Even though she and Peng Ji were good friends, they still had to follow the exam rules.

More importantly, if she lost more time, she wouldn’t be able to finish a mecha in 36 hours. She’d never built one of the Federation’s so-called D-grade mechas before.

At that moment, as the countdown ticked down, most people were hurriedly wrapping up.

“You should go pick up more materials. I saw some left over there,” Jiang Momo said to Peng Ji who had his head down, seemingly lost in thought.

“No need to worry about me, Big Boss. You must be tired from carrying all that. Why not put them down for now?” Peng Ji looked up, smiling and reached out toward the sacks on her shoulder, seemingly eager to help.

[Countdown: 10 seconds.]

Jiang Momo followed his lead and lowered the sacks. Suddenly, a strong pull came from the other side.

Jiang Momo looked up and felt a sharp pain in her wrist. She reflexively let go.

Peng Ji quickly stuffed the sacks into his storage box, shut it, and ran off, turning back to shout, “Sorry, Boss! I have to pass this year!”

He had discovered earlier that once the box was closed, it couldn’t be reopened but it could be picked up.

His talent wasn’t great, so he had worked his way up from low-grade mechas. With 36 hours, he could just manage to build a D-grade mecha.

[Beep beep. Cheating was detected again. One red card issued. Time penalty: 24 hours.]

[Countdown ended.]

The mechanical voice fell silent. Everything around them vanished, leaving only an empty room and the storage box by their feet.

Jiang Momo raised her wrist. A deep bite mark remained.