The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 24

Jiang Momo also looked over. There were people coming and going at the entrance of the Mecha Maintenance Center but there was no sign of Ling Yelin, nor was he inside the center.

She turned her head back, intending to ask the person to pass a message to Ling Yelin, only to catch a glimpse of his back disappearing quickly around the corner.

“He runs pretty fast,” Jiang Momo commented.

***

Seeing Jiang Momo, who had already entered the repair room, reappear in front of him so quickly, the receptionist immediately put on a bright smile. “Is there anything I can help you with, Miss Jiang?”

He could already foresee that with her skills, she would definitely become a goldmine for the maintenance center in the future, so it was best to build a good relationship early.

“I just wanted to ask, is it normal for anyone to be able to enter the repair rooms here?” Jiang Momo asked.

She had just gone around and tried to push open all the nearby repair rooms and none of them could be opened.

“Of course not,” the receptionist immediately denied it. “All repair rooms can only be opened by the repair technicians themselves and only after their information is bound to the room.”

“No chance someone else could open them? But when I went in earlier, there was someone inside.”

The receptionist was shocked. “H-how is that possible?”

“But there really was someone,” Jiang Momo said. “Do you have surveillance here?”

“No, because surveillance interferes with the mental energy use of mecha manufacturers, so we don’t have any. But don’t worry, our security system is the most advanced. You don’t need to worry about safety,” the receptionist said, then suddenly clapped his hands as if remembering something.

“Right, I just remembered that due to the system design, when a repair technician’s identity is being bound to a room, the door automatically unlocks for one second for the information to update. Since it never caused problems before, we didn’t change the setup.”

One second was too brief. Even if someone happened to be nearby, it would be difficult to open the door at that moment.

“I’ll take you to check the lock on Room 4004 first.”

Still uneasy, the receptionist led Jiang Momo to the door of Room 4004. He bent down to carefully inspect the lock, then looked up and said, “The lock is working properly. If any of your property is damaged due to our security issues, our maintenance center will reimburse you in full.”

“No losses for now,” Jiang Momo said. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome. Let me know if you need anything.” The receptionist left cheerfully.

Jiang Momo turned and went back into the room.

After closing the door, she looked toward the massive mecha that had just been placed in the center of the room by the assistant repair robot.

It was a very battered-looking B-grade mecha. Most of the outer shell was pitted and dented, as if it had just come out of a brutal battle.

Jiang Momo circled around the mecha and found that although it looked terribly damaged, in terms of repair difficulty, it wasn’t any more complicated than Yan Chang’s mecha.

“I’ll fix this one first since it’s more urgent. Once I get paid, I’ll go pick the right materials for Yan Chang’s mecha. Yes, let’s go with that.” Jiang Momo clapped her hands, made up her mind, and quickly instructed the assistant repair robot to remove the outer shell from the mecha lying on the ground.

Building from scratch, in her opinion, was the most efficient method.

And sure enough, it turned out just as she expected. Jiang Momo only needed to locate the energy connection ports and connect them. The rest was just engraving the energy pathways, easily the simplest step.

She worked quickly. Since the materials had a certain degree of similarity and the general areas of the energy ports were fairly fixed, the whole process of identifying parts and assembling them took her only two hours. Only a little more time was spent on the final few panels for finishing touches.

Then, she had the assistant repair robot scan and record the position of each panel, remove them one by one, and begin engraving the energy pathways.

Jiang Momo squatted on the floor, the hem of her long white dress carelessly gathered around her. For a moment, she felt like she was back on that warship on the desolate planet.

That was where she had grown up. For as long as she could remember, she had been there, surrounded by materials, with her only entertainment being piecing together mechas from leftover parts in the warehouse.

Gradually, her expression became serious, her brows solemn, her entire aura calming; she was fully focused.

For a moment, she felt a breeze brush past her forehead again.

This time, she ignored it and concentrated on carving the energy pathways with her engraver.

Due to how hidden and complex the energy pathways were, red veins slowly crept into her eyes.

The breeze at her forehead grew stronger.

It soon shifted downward, blowing into her eyes. A sharp pain spread from her eyeballs to the back of her head and Jiang Momo squeezed her eyes shut to relieve the pain.

That didn’t make sense. Back on the desolate planet, even after staying up for days assembling mechas, her eyes never hurt. Could engraving energy pathways really be so harsh on the eyes?

Jiang Momo shook her head vigorously and opened her eyes again.

“What is this?” Jiang Momo stared at the material panel in her hand in shock. It was an ordinary panel used for assembling a mecha’s outer shell. Just a moment ago, she had engraved half of a pathway on it.

But now, several faint curved light lines were neatly glowing on the panel, along with one straighter, brighter line.

Among the curved light lines, one matched perfectly with the half-pathway she had already carved, standing out with a unique presence.

Jiang Momo stared in stunned silence for a whole minute.

The scene was way too eerie.

A sudden flash of inspiration struck her and she raised her hand to touch the center of her forehead. “Could this be the effect of the mental energy fluctuations that Peng Ji mentioned?”

Amazing!

She could actually see the location of the energy pathways without having to figure them out manually!

“But this doesn’t make sense,” Jiang Momo’s expression changed again. “If I can clearly see multiple energy pathways like this, then why does the Federation insist there’s only one correct path without being questioned?”

Jiang Momo couldn’t figure it out, so she decided to drop it and went back to work.

That said, now that she could see the pathways clearly, her engraving went much faster. What once required simultaneous observation and carving could now be done by simply tracing the lines.

Before long, a high pile of material panels had formed by her feet. The assistant repair robot was trying to assemble the outer shell on the skeleton as she worked but it could never keep up with her engraving speed and was running around frantically.

Once everything was done, Jiang Momo sat in a chair in the center of the room, watching with interest as the robot fully assembled the mecha. She glanced at the time and noticed that it was still early, so she decided to repair Yan Chang’s mecha as well.

She pulled out the nutrient solution Yan Chang had given her from her small bag, drank it in one gulp, wiped her mouth, and prepared to head to the materials warehouse to pick out suitable components for Yan Chang.

Just then, the doorbell rang twice, very softly and barely audible.

Surprised, Jiang Momo walked over.

Under her gaze, a miniature projection of Ge Qing appeared in midair at the doorway. He was dressed extremely formally today, looking spirited, with even his graying beard glistening as if it had been meticulously groomed.

The one who could answer her questions had arrived!

Jiang Momo flung the door open.

Outside, Ge Qing, who had rushed over immediately after being notified by the receptionist, had just cleared his throat to leave a message when the door opened abruptly.

His star pupil was standing in the middle of the repair room, holding a material panel and looking at him expectantly.

The receptionist had just turned to leave after bringing Ge Qing over but hearing the door open again, he quickly returned and peeked in. “Miss Jiang, the client for the job you took just submitted a new request. They want the mecha’s outer shell to have a unified color scheme. In other words, all the panels need to be replaced… Wait—this mecha’s already fixed?! So fast?!”

The receptionist looked completely shaken.

“There’s a new request? Are they offering extra pay?” Jiang Momo asked immediately.

“Yes,” the receptionist said, still dazed.

“Alright, I’ll have the assistant repair robot move this mecha to the warehouse for you!” Jiang Momo didn’t expect the bonus and grinned from ear to ear. “Professor Ge! Perfect timing. I’ve got something I want to ask you!”

“Hold on. I’ve got something even more important to tell you,” Ge Qing followed her into the repair room and got straight to the point. “During the exam, I noticed you didn’t use any mental energy. I’m here to say that using mental energy can make finding pathways much more efficient. If you want to learn, I can teach you.”

After discovering Jiang Momo’s trait, Ge Qing was excited for two days. In his mind, he had simulated countless times how to demonstrate his abilities to her upon meeting. In the end, he had finally and painstakingly decided on this approach.

Ge Qing looked at Jiang Momo with anticipation, hoping to see some expression of curiosity on her face.

“It gave twice the result with half the effort! I just felt it! I can see all the energy pathways on the panels! So it really is mental energy? That’s amazing!” Jiang Momo beamed brightly.

“You can see the energy pathways?! All of them?! Wait, you comprehended mental energy all on your own, just like that?!” Ge Qing faced a huge shock and didn’t know which thing to be more surprised about first.

“It just suddenly appeared. I don’t know how,” Jiang Momo scratched the back of her head. “Is that hard to do?”

“Of course it is! Most people need at least a year of meditation from adulthood just to barely sense their mental energy. And you just…” Ge Qing, who had been working in mecha manufacturing for so many years, felt a sense of defeat for the first time.

“Those curving energy pathways are so clear. Why has no one ever questioned the idea that there’s only one pathway?” Jiang Momo asked.

“Because normal people can’t see the energy pathways. They determine their positions by observing the resonance response caused by the collision of mental fluctuations with materials,” Ge Qing explained, snapping himself back to focus.

No matter how gifted Jiang Momo was, she still had questions that needed answering. He could absolutely be the one to help her understand.

“Oh, no wonder Peng Ji told me to get a feel for the energy fluctuations in advance,” Jiang Momo suddenly understood. “Wait, so I’m not normal?!”

“According to records, only people with extremely powerful mental strength can see the manifested energy pathways directly. And even then, they can only see the simplest one,” Ge Qing said.

Jiang Momo was stunned for a long moment. “Not even one?”

“Since records began, not even one,” Ge Qing replied. “Of course, just because it’s not in the records doesn’t mean it never existed, maybe they just hid it. That’s why I suggest you don’t expose this ability. I’ll keep your secret too.”