The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 184

E Mingjun followed closely behind Jiang Momo. He stood at the research institute’s entrance, watching her take off in her spaceship before summoning a public air shuttle.

Jiang Momo glanced out the window in the direction E Mingjun had gone and then manually shut down the autonomous flight system of her spaceship once again. After confirming that Little Eight was shut down, she took control of the console herself and flew toward the Presidential Palace.

Just like Vice Director Liu had said, the area around the Presidential Palace was packed. The ground and the air were both completely blocked by swarms of spaceships. Not even a mosquito could get through.

Jiang Momo circled the area and confirmed there was no way to enter, so she parked the spaceship in place.

The protest wasn’t like the previous ones. There was no passionate energy building up toward an eruption. Instead, it was solemn, still, and filled with a kind of hopeless determination, like they were ready to die with the entire Federation.

Jiang Momo couldn’t help but ask aloud, “Other than waiting to die with the Federation, what’s the point of this demonstration?”

No reply came. The area was silent and empty. Jiang Momo lowered her gaze and glanced at the light brain on her wrist, remembering that she’d shut down every device that could communicate with Little Eight.

After a pause, she answered her own question, “Maybe… this is what the people want, fairness.”

When alive, people had different statuses and identities. But death is equal. Maybe what they’re doing now is just trying to trap the so-called elites there until they die too.

Lowering her head, she looked at both her wrists, paused in thought, and then activated the light brain Yan Chang had given her.

Yan Chang’s contact was the only thing on the device.

[Jiang Momo]: Can you reach the President right now?

Yan Chang replied instantly.

[Yan Chang]: He’s with me.

Jiang Momo blinked, backed out of the screen, reread the message, and looked up at the dense, silent crowd outside. Taking a deep breath, she took off.

***

At the Yan family’s ancestral residence.

When Jiang Momo arrived, Yan Chang and the President were sitting across from each other. A cold cup of tea sat on the table in front of Yan Chang, while the President had nothing before him. Hearing the spaceship land, they both turned toward the door.

“Director Jiang,” the President greeted her without standing, offering a bitter smile.

Jiang Momo approached quickly, accepted the tea from Yan Chang, and sat a meter away from him. “The Presidential Palace was surrounded. I thought you were still inside.”

“There’s a secret tunnel there built by the former president. Yan Yunkui told me where it led. I sent someone to retrieve him and he only arrived recently,” Yan Chang explained. “He’ll be working from here for now.”

Jiang Momo immediately recalled the time Yan Yunkui had invited her to a meal with the former president. She nodded in understanding. “So that’s how it is.”

Then she turned to the President and pulled a hard drive from her pocket, sliding it across the table toward him.

“What’s this?” the President asked, picking it up.

“The list of people from the combat simulation system that is suitable to join the military,” Jiang Momo paused and then explained the whole sequence of events in full detail.

After hearing her out, the President drew in a sharp breath. “If I had known about this earlier, things wouldn’t have gotten this far. Is there still a chance to fix it?”

“There is,” Jiang Momo said firmly.

“How?” the President asked anxiously.

“Wait,” Jiang Momo replied.

Over the next two days, Jiang Momo and the President stayed at the Yan family’s ancestral residence. During this time, the President continued probing subtly, trying to find out more about Jiang Momo’s background, but she deflected all his attempts with ease.

On the third day at noon, StarNet’s system upgrade and maintenance concluded. The trending section reopened and one headline surged to the top with thunderous momentum.

[In the Face of Universal Crisis, the Interstellar Pirates from the Chaos Star System Join the Federal Army.]

“This is the redemption?” The President, dark circles under his eyes, read aloud from the comments beneath the headline, “—Oh my god, even the interstellar pirates have joined the military. What hope is left for us poor damned civilians…”

“That’s enough,” Jiang Momo interrupted him with a raised hand from across the table.

She was reading the trending posts herself. The comments were increasingly dramatic, not like those from hired bots, but rather like genuine, furious outcries from the Federation’s people.

Recently, under the relentless complaints of mecha pilots who felt they were being ‘called to their deaths by the King of Hell,’ public sentiment had veered far more strongly than Jiang Momo had anticipated.

“I still think we should start from the Alien Beast War era’s archives,” the President said.

Jiang Momo looked up at his calm, relaxed face. The man didn’t seem the least bit anxious the past few days. Was he certain she had something up her sleeve? Why was he so confident?

“Where’s Yan Chang?” Jiang Momo asked, referring to the person who hadn’t appeared in days. She didn’t believe Yan Chang would betray her and reveal Little Eight’s existence to the President.

“Busy, probably,” the President said. “There’s only a few days left. Honestly, if all else fails, we should just start packing and plan our escape.”

“Escape to where?” Jiang Momo asked.

“To the external star systems,” the President replied, completely unfazed. Then he glanced at his light brain and suddenly sat up in surprise. “These interstellar pirates are more capable than expected. The research institute just released a report saying the tide of the war might be turning. Unfortunately, they’ve only just joined the battle, so it’s too soon to make accurate forecasts.”

***

Elsewhere, at the military’s frontline mecha maintenance site.

Shi Qin was carefully polishing a sculpture with a cleaning cloth. Behind him, a group of interstellar pirates who seemed to have lost their minds and inexplicably enlisted were squatting in the repair zone, watching the progress of their mecha repairs.

It wasn’t just Shi Qin’s bias against the interstellar pirates that led him to say they’d gone mad. The group clearly didn’t seem like they’d joined the military of their own volition.

“What the hell?! You guys fix mecha this fast? I smashed mine to pieces this morning and now it’s ready?”

“Hey, buddy, there’s still a scratch here. It might affect my battlefield performance, give it another polish.”

“Don’t give me someone else’s mecha! I can only operate my own. The others don’t feel right. Just let mine stay broken if you’re gonna take your time.”

“I think your soldiers really lack combat spirit. No drive at all. This is your turf, yet we’re the ones being sent to the frontlines as cannon fodder. I even got injured, look.”

Shi Qin turned to glance at the noisy crowd behind him. His eyes landed on the so-called ‘injury,’ a chipped fingernail, before he rolled his eyes and looked away. Then he was startled by the presence of someone leaning beside him, curiously watching the sculpture in his hands.

The Third Vice-Captain tilted his chin at the familiar figure in Shi Qin’s hands and asked, “Who’s that?”

“Our guild leader’s sculpture,” Shi Qin replied, placing the cleaned sculpture back on the table.

The vice-captain shook his head with mock regret. “So young and already…”

“She’s not dead,” Shi Qin replied instantly.

The vice-captain glanced at the ‘Mo’ word on Shi Qin’s chest and slung an arm around his shoulder. “Is that your guild emblem?”

Shi Qin struggled to shake him off, to no avail. “It means I’m a direct student of our guild leader, Jiang Momo.”

“Oh~ Jiang Momo,” the vice-captain muttered under his breath. “So she really is the boss’s madam. No wonder he sent us here.”

“What madam?” Shi Qin clearly heard him.

“What madam? I said the cafeteria’s serving dumplings today,” the vice-captain denied flatly. “Your carving skills are crude. Let me fix that.”

Before Shi Qin could stop him, the vice-captain grabbed the sculpture off the table, pulled out a small knife, and bolted.

“Catch him!” Shi Qin shouted immediately.

“He took our guild leader’s sculpture!” Xiang Jiuming, who had been keeping an eye on the situation, joined the chase without hesitation.

The other interstellar pirates didn’t know what kind of stunt their Third Vice-Captain was pulling this time, but they understood the principle of always backing their own, so they jumped into action at once.

The entire maintenance site descended into chaos.

A few minutes later, Shi Qin cornered the interstellar pirate in a corner.

The Third Vice-Captain grinned and shoved the modified sculpture back into Shi Qin’s arms. “Here, lifelike, isn’t it?”

Shi Qin looked down instinctively and fell silent. The sculpture was more accurate than the one he carved.

“Alright, that’s enough fighting,” the Third Vice-Captain called out to the interstellar pirates who had already gained the upper hand. “If the mechas are just about repaired, bring them back. We’re heading back to the battlefield soon.”

He slung an arm over Shi Qin’s shoulder casually. “You got more of these uniforms? Give me one.”

“Nope.” Shi Qin had learned by now, so he ducked away before the arm landed.

“Fine, whatever.” The Third Vice-Captain didn’t press and marched off with the interstellar pirates in tow.

Xiang Jiuming and the other repair technicians, battered and bruised, came crowding over. “What just happened?”

“He insisted on helping us fix the sculpture,” Shi Qin said, showing them the result.

“Whoa, not bad craftsmanship,” Xiang Jiuming admitted honestly, then caught the angry glares from the others and quickly changed his tone, “Of course, skills mean nothing if the person’s a mess.”

At the mecha maintenance site’s entrance, the Third Vice-Captain beckoned his group over and whispered, “Spread the word that this whole joining-the-army thing is just to help our captain chase after his madam. We’ve got a bad reputation, so give it everything you’ve got against the alien beasts. Don’t embarrass the captain.

“And don’t let anyone else find out,” he added as a final warning.

***

Two more days passed.

“The interstellar pirates are starting to show their teeth.” In the backyard of the Yan family’s ancestral residence, the President sprawled across a hammock like he owned the place, gnawing an apple like a chipmunk. “The public opinion is still garbage, but the situation’s not so dire anymore. The research institute says we’ve probably gained at least two extra months, which gives us more time to refine the evacuation plan. Damn, if I’d been president earlier…”

“Last I checked, the military has several times more troops than the interstellar pirates. Not to mention, their weapons are the most advanced,” Jiang Momo said coolly. Lately, she’d seen plenty of live streams from the frontlines where most of the interstellar pirates were using outdated mechas and gear.

“Which is why it’s totally reasonable the military couldn’t deal with the interstellar pirates for so long.” The President nodded earnestly and glanced at her sideways. “I still think the evacuation plan is the only thing we can truly rely on. The Federation has zero leftover weapons from the Alien Beast War and I’ve made peace with that. That war lasted for years, it wasn’t any single weapon that turned the tide. You can’t say the fifth bun filled your stomach and the first four didn’t help.”

Jiang Momo didn’t respond. The past few days, with Yan Chang’s authorization, she had searched every corner of the Yan family’s ancestral residence and yet, she hadn’t found anything remotely helpful for the war.

This meant if Yan Chang didn’t have anything either… then her Little Eight might really be the Federation’s only remaining trump card.

Jiang Momo looked down at the scrolling live comments on the Federation’s official media platform. Over time, public perception had shifted slightly. Compared to the military’s conservative tactics, the interstellar pirates clearly fought with more desperation and more willingness to die. But awareness didn’t mean support. Their attitudes toward the interstellar pirates had only barely softened and at the current pace, things were moving far too slowly.

“The interstellar pirates don’t make good role models.” Jiang Momo glanced at her light brain on her wrist and whispered silently, “Little Eight, I’ll protect you… until the very end.” With that, she turned and strode away.

“Where are you going?” the President asked.

“To the front lines. I’m enlisting,” Jiang Momo said with a wave.

“Enlisting? I get it! You’re going to use your notoriety to lure people to the front lines to confront you, so they’ll directly experience the horrors of war and that’ll spark a sense of crisis, pushing them to join the fight against the alien beasts?! That’s brilliant. Count me in. I’ve got way more haters than you.”

He hurriedly folded up his lounge chair and table, trailing behind her like a puppy. Once aboard the spaceship, he slumped onto the sofa, watching Jiang Momo’s back in the cockpit.

“Honestly, I never thought being president would make me this hated. The last guy was constantly getting mobbed, I thought it was because he was a terrible person.”

“You weren’t wrong,” Jiang Momo said without turning around.

The President chuckled. “Once I get to the front lines, I’m going live. My reach is way bigger than the official media’s right now, so we’ll draw in more people. You know, there’s this old saying in showbiz that’s absolutely true.”

“What saying?” Jiang Momo asked as she adjusted their destination coordinates.

“Bad publicity is still publicity,” the President said confidently.