The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 188

Yan Chang removed the sensory helmet and exited the conversation with the President. He glanced down at the light brain screen where Jiang Momo was currently live streaming with Qin Chu. A faint smile appeared on his face, but he quickly reined it in. He tapped the desk lightly with his knuckle.

“A self-aware AI… produced during the Alien Beast War, huh?” Yan Chang muttered to himself and then pulled up the simulation pod system’s backend. “This part needs to be deleted.”

It had been Yan Chang’s idea to lock the President inside the simulation pod. The explanation he gave Jiang Momo was that they’d keep the President in there until the war ended and only then release him. But his real intentions weren’t nearly that simple. He wasn’t about to give the President a chance to harm Jiang Momo. The moment the man started rambling about finding Jiang Momo’s hidden ‘secret’ and proposed cooperating, Yan Chang knew he’d made the wrong choice by supporting him for president.

Ever since receiving Jiang Momo’s message a few days ago, Yan Chang had been busy circulating among the upper echelons of society, feeding them optimistic propaganda about guaranteed victory in the war. His efforts had successfully stalled their escape plans. Everything had gone smoothly until the President, usually so subtle and restrained, suddenly proved to be sharp… and utterly foolish.

“Blame yourself for not being smart in the right ways,” Yan Chang muttered, sent a message to one of his confidants, and walked away.

A few minutes later, the President crawled out of the simulation pod, struggling to his feet. He scanned his surroundings and then gritted his teeth viciously. “A simulation pod, huh? Ha! You think this cheap trick can fool me? Jiang Momo, just wait. I’m going to expose you…”

He didn’t get to finish his threat before several messages popped up on his light brain, which had just reconnected to the Star Network.

[Little Cousin]: The people have gone mad! They’re going to destroy our escape ship! They haven’t found the real location yet, so we need to leave now. This is our last chance!

[Little Cousin]: Where are you? You’re the only one left!

[Little Cousin]: The fact that you organized the escape ships fleet has been exposed. Your light brain has been hacked, they can track your location! Don’t use it, don’t reply! Hurry, we have to go!

[Little Cousin]: Hurry!

But he hadn’t actually organized that fleet. Or… wait. Those spaceships had been purchased under his name.

His mind buzzed like it had been struck with a sledgehammer. He froze for a long moment, staring at his light brain like it was possessed, before finally biting his nails and forcefully shutting it down. Then he climbed out a window, pried open a small spaceship, and fled.

Meanwhile, Jiang Momo stood beside Qin Chu, facing a barrage of cameras like a wall of rifles and cannons. Between the crisscrossing lenses, she saw Yan Chang approaching with a casual air.

Qin Chu was still speaking, publicly admitting her mistakes, “I’m very sorry. While I was involved in the development of the combat simulation system, I didn’t design the core principles or content. I only offered technical support. That’s why I mishandled the data export… it was my mistake.”

Before the stream began, Jiang Momo and Qin Chu had a long 20-minute conversation. It started with Jiang Momo’s apology and ended with Qin Chu crying.

“I’m sorry… I was really desperate for money. At the time, I had no choice. I know our research institute and the military never got along…”

At that point, Jiang Momo raised her hand to interrupt her and then glanced at Lu Feng who stood not far away. Lu Feng turned his head, pretending not to hear.

Sniffling, Qin Chu continued, “I know you once provided them with a list of names. I even asked them why. They said back then the situation wasn’t urgent and the list you gave was too narrow. That’s why they needed more names. But now I realize the truth. It’s because the people on your list had high enough mental power and unfortunately, in the Federation, mental power almost always correlates with wealth and status. Since the system was released under the guise of a game, it became a trend among the elite…”

So, most of the people on Jiang Momo’s original list were privileged elites. Qin Chu trailed off, but Jiang Momo had already inferred the truth.

At that moment, the military brass sat in a reserved row of seats. As Yan Chang walked over, they all stood and gave him the central spot.

“What’s the situation?” Yan Chang sat at the end and asked without looking at Jiang Momo.

“Everything has been arranged. No one will go off-script. If any banned terms are spoken, the stream will auto-terminate.”

Satisfied with the answer, Yan Chang glanced toward Jiang Momo. When she looked back, he gave a barely perceptible shake of the head.

Out of the camera’s view, Jiang Momo gave him a subtle hand signal of reassurance before turning back to the stream and reading the scrolling comments. Surprisingly, amidst all the war-related outrage, there were actually quite a few praising the President.

[The President was pretty brave, actually, to risk himself. If he hadn’t shown up on the front lines, we’d still be in the dark.]

[Yeah, honestly, the President wasn’t so bad in hindsight.]

Jiang Momo looked to Vice Director Liu standing in the corner and gave her a look to manage the comments. Then she took the microphone from in front of Qin Chu. “Everyone, I’m very sorry. Let me introduce myself. I’m Jiang Momo, the creator of the combat simulation system, as well as the provider of its content and data. Due to a number of issues, the original conscription list contained errors. We are now releasing a new list. Going forward, all recruitment will follow this new list. I want to thank you in advance for your support on the Federation’s front line. Thank you.”

As she spoke, a new list appeared on the screen.

The military officers had already felt uneasy when Jiang Momo picked up the mic. But when they saw the names she revealed, their vision went dark.

“That’s wrong!”

“No, it’s not right,” Qin Chu muttered. She quickly reached over, grabbed Jiang Momo’s wrist, and swapped in another list.

The comments exploded instantly.

[What’s going on? Weren’t there way more names on that last list? Now it’s just a few?]

[Yeah, what the hell? Good thing I recorded it… huh? Wait. Why didn’t it save? Was the stream blocking recordings?]

[It was! But I recognize those names from the earlier list. When I was working my way through noble school on scholarship, those same people bullied me all the time!]

[Damn! I thought they finally admitted their mistakes, but nope, they’re still using us as cannon fodder!]

The comments were instantly flooded with outrage. Many viewers still didn’t understand what was happening but that didn’t stop them from spreading the information. Soon, the real story began to surface.

Public opinion was reaching a boiling point.

Jiang Momo kept a low profile and claimed ignorance when facing questioning from the military high command.

“Weren’t you the ones who said we needed to re-release the conscription list? No one told me it was supposed to be an edited version.”

“I honestly didn’t know. If I had known, I wouldn’t have released it.”

“Why would I do it on purpose? None of you consulted me beforehand.”

“Also, I saw on the trending feed that people are heading here to demand answers from the President. Don’t you think you should prepare for that?”

After a great deal of effort dismissing the relentless military officials, Jiang Momo let out a long breath and looked up to see Yan Chang walking over. She raised her eyebrows. “You look like you’re in a good mood?”

“Here, check this out.” Yan Chang tapped his light brain and shared his screen. A hot-blooded, perfectly timed highlight video popped up, revealing a montage of Jiang Momo taking down the alien beasts on the battlefield, edited with flair to make her look incredibly badass and decisive.

Jiang Momo had never seen herself from that perspective before. She clicked her tongue. “Damn, I do look pretty cool. But seriously, you made me look way too awesome. Aren’t you worried the public might give another backlash? Just send it to me privately so I can enjoy it alone.”

“We didn’t make it.” Yan Chang closed the shared screen. “Which proves the crowd’s eyes are sharp. They can spot real effort from fake hype instantly. They’ve already edited several videos of you like this and even set up a ranking board. That one’s only number ten. I’ll send you more when we’re back.”

“Not everyone sees it that way.” Jiang Momo shook her head. “I just saw a bunch of comments praising the President.”

“Let them,” Yan Chang said automatically, then caught himself and switched gears quickly. “Let them praise him. With that position, even if he screws up royally, someone will still kiss his *ss.”

Jiang Momo didn’t miss the sudden change in his expression. She stared at his face for a long moment and then asked, “What did you do to the President? Exiled him to the void?”

“No,” Yan Chang denied immediately.

“But the location on that screenshot you gave the President doesn’t match the coordinates on these ship tickets.” Jiang Momo pulled out three spaceship tickets from her pocket and patted them in her palm. She’d gotten them from the director.

The smile vanished from Yan Chang’s face. He really shouldn’t have let Jiang Momo see the screenshot he prepared for the President.

That image had listed the wrong location but it was very close to the real one. The bullet comments at the time had suggested many fake addresses. He picked one deliberately to build urgency and push the President to flee without thinking. As long as he boarded an escape ship, it would initiate an endless interstellar drift.

Yan Chang had never denied being a bad person, but this time, he was genuinely unsure how Jiang Momo would see him.

“Well done!” Jiang Momo slapped him hard on the back, making him stumble forward. “His reputation was still decent, but he chose to run. It shows he had no faith in the outcome of this war. Good riddance.”

Pain shot through Yan Chang’s back, but his heart relaxed. He didn’t mention anything about his manipulation, only nodded repeatedly. “Exactly.”

E/N: Ehehehehe I really like the idea of the president wandering aimlessly in space.

Anyway, good news: we caught up with the raws!
Bad news: we caught up with the raws!
Worse news: the author updates very sporadically, so idk when the next chapter gonna drop…

In the meantime, I picked up a new BL project I’ll focus on in the future, if you’re interested, Accidentally Having a Baby with the Future Emperor.