The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 30

Jiang Momo had actually finished making her mecha the day before the exam ended. At the time, with nothing left to do, she had the robot confirm that the energy pathways were all connected, then immediately collapsed and fell asleep.

When she woke up, she found herself lying in a large hall, surrounded by a sea of people. Jiang Momo was dazed for a moment, then quickly flipped over and stood up.

“What’s going on?” she muttered to herself. “Why are there so many people?”

Beside her, a girl with long wavy purple hair answered her question, “Looks like the academy controlled the time flow. I checked the time on the wall and it’s only been five days. But I was inside for a full twenty-five.”

Jiang Momo turned her head to look and was stunned.

Such beautiful purple eyes! Sparkling like stars!

She stared at the girl for quite a while, until the girl waved a hand in front of her face, snapping her out of it.

“Sorry, sorry, you’re just too pretty. I couldn’t help it,” Jiang Momo said with an awkward smile. “I’ve never seen purple eyes before.”

“You like these contacts?” The girl beamed and pointed to her eyes openly. “They’re the newest type of contact lens solution. One drop lasts a month and you don’t feel a thing. Super convenient.”

“Huh? Contacts?”

“Yeah! Latest model. I brought them from my home planet,” the girl said, offering her right hand. “I’m Wu Yue, from the Chaos Star System. I moonlight as a reseller. I’ve also got hair dye cream. Look at my hair. Can you tell it’s dyed?”

“Wow, really? That’s amazing~” Encouraged by Wu Yue, Jiang Momo touched her hair, full of admiration. “Do you have green dye? I want to dye mine green.”

She’d been jealous of E Mingjun’s green hair for a long time. Green was a great color. It would increase her success rate when ambushing alien beasts in grassy fields!

“I do! 600 star coins. The color stays for three months and if you don’t want it anymore, you can wash it out anytime,” Wu Yue eagerly promoted. “If you’re sure, I’ll take you to get it after this.”

[Attention everyone, exam rankings will now be announced. First place: Jiang Momo. Second place: Wu Yue. Third place: Peng Ji…] The mechanical voice continued, listing names until it stopped at the thirtieth.

Wu Yue nudged Jiang Momo with her elbow. “Did they call your name? What rank are you?”

“They did. I’m Jiang Momo,” she replied.

“Oh~ First place, huh? Looks like we’ll be colleagues. No wonder I felt a connection with you at first glance. That’s the mutual recognition between strong individuals!” Wu Yue joked.

“Colleagues?” Jiang Momo was stunned by the word. Something felt off. She looked around and spotted Peng Ji in the corner of the crowd, his face twisted in frustration.

“How many people are they hiring this year?” she asked, her heart sinking.

“Two. Lucky, right? They just expanded the intake this year. It used to be only one,” Wu Yue whispered in her ear. “I thought the first place was a sure thing for me. I didn’t expect you to show up out of nowhere.”

[Please take your staff ID. Proceed to the Medical Department for a physical exam in three hours. Late arrivals will be considered as forfeiting the position and the next candidate will be chosen.]

A little robot quickly slid over, shoved staff IDs into the hands of Jiang Momo and Wu Yue, and then left just as quickly.

Thanks to her last-minute cramming before the exam, Jiang Momo had graduated from near illiteracy and could now clearly read the large characters on her ID. [Mecha Manufacturing Instructor, Jiang Momo]

She stared blankly at it. “Wait, I came to learn how to pilot mechas, not to teach people how to make them!”

“This ID is made of pure energy crystal. It’s not cheap.” Wu Yue didn’t hear a word Jiang Momo said. She held up her ID under the light, excited. “Once I upload my info into the light brain, I’m selling this thing!”

Jiang Momo stood frozen, shell-shocked.

She finally realized where the vague sense of wrongness had been coming from all this time. All her conversations with others had been completely out of sync!

No wonder the exam only focused on mecha manufacturing!

“Teacher Jiang Momo, why did you choose to hold onto one point instead of spending it all? Weren’t you worried it might go to waste?” As the crowd began to thin out, Shou Tao rushed up to her with a giant camera.

Because of equipment issues, there wasn’t enough footage of the exam, so they had to grab some interviews quickly.

“I was in a hurry,” Jiang Momo said, leaning back from the camera that was almost poking her in the face.

She had promised Yan Chang she’d finish early and go with him to the mecha competition. Most importantly, she wanted to see Little Eight sooner.

“Then may I ask, when did you start being able to build a super B-grade mecha? From what we know, you have no recorded training in mecha manufacturing.”

“Not long ago.” Jiang Momo looked at the robots returning light brains to everyone. The one holding hers was stuck behind Shou Tao and she grew anxious. “Can I get my light brain first?”

“After the interview,” Shou Tao said, taking the device from the robot and stuffing it into his pocket. “I only have four more questions.”

“I want my light brain,” Jiang Momo repeated.

“It won’t take long, just answer quickly,” Shou Tao said urgently.

Dean Ge Qing had only given him two days to finish editing the video. He couldn’t afford to waste more time.

Jiang Momo stared at him, expression cold and unyielding.

Shou Tao met her gaze for a few seconds, then gave in and handed over the light brain. “Just answer a few questions. If you’re in a rush, you can give short replies.”

After all, no matter what she said, people would believe it. Nothing could be more unbelievable than someone building a super B-grade mecha in just over ten days.

“Go ahead,” Jiang Momo said, strapping the light brain to her wrist. “But only four questions.”

“Who taught you mecha manufacturing?”

“Self-taught. The desolate planet I lived on used to get a lot of space junk falling from orbit. I’d go scavenge and over time I pieced together a mecha.” Jiang Momo’s expression was calm.

Shou Tao gave a couple of dry chuckles and moved to the next question. “Due to equipment limitations, we couldn’t monitor your activity during the assessment. About how many hours per day were you working to build that mecha?”

“Twenty-four hours,” Jiang Momo answered seriously. “I’ve had body modifications. My two brain hemispheres can rest in shifts.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little… ridiculous?” Shou Tao asked, feeling somewhere between exasperated and amused.

“Does that count as the third question?” Jiang Momo countered.

“No.” Shou Tao took a deep breath, glanced at his carefully prepared script, and tried to stay calm. “I heard the planet you lived on had a lot of alien beasts. How did you coexist with them?”

“We didn’t coexist. They tried to eat me every day. And I ate a little bit of them every day too,” Jiang Momo said.

Shou Tao: “…If I remember correctly, those beasts aren’t exactly considered edible. Can you even digest them?”

“They’re digestible, it’s just the meat is tough and a bit hard on the teeth,” Jiang Momo said with a straight face.

“Did you use your mecha to kill them?” Shou Tao finally gave up on his script and went straight to the point.

Jiang Momo: “That was your fifth question.”

“So you did use the mecha to kill them.” Shou Tao was sure of it now.

“Nope. I slapped them to death with my bare hands,” Jiang Momo answered without pause.

Shou Tao: “…”

“To my knowledge, you haven’t registered as a certified mecha manufacturer, so piloting one isn’t illegal. You can tell the truth.” He glanced at Jiang Momo’s muscular arms and the defined abs under her vest, trying to hint gently. This could’ve been such a great highlight moment!

Jiang Momo: “?”

Wait, what? Mecha manufacturers piloting their own mechas is a crime now?

Little Eight had only mentioned it was strictly forbidden but never said anything about it being illegal…

“Anyway, I slapped them to death.” Jiang Momo stuck to her story.

Shou Tao scratched his head, confused, glancing at the recording drone.

He’d miscalculated. He’d totally underestimated the abstract level of Jiang Momo’s thinking. When the interview aired, their entire academy might become the butt of Federation jokes for years.

“Are we done?” Jiang Momo asked.

“We’re done.” Shou Tao shut off the recording, looking like he’d lost all will to live. “I’ll figure out the rest of the footage myself. You go ahead and do your thing.”

As Shou Tao walked away, Jiang Momo activated her light brain.

Soon, a familiar Siamese cat appeared in front of her.

It was lying on its back, hugging a tub of digital popcorn, watching a comedy. It laughed so hard it was practically rolling over with joy.

[Momo, you came to pick me up? I’ve been waiting forever! Congrats on becoming a teacher!]

[I watched all your exams. You were amazing! Just as I expected from my child!]

[But hey, didn’t you want to learn mecha piloting when you first got here? Why the sudden change?]

Little Eight didn’t even turn around, its round little head facing away as it rattled off concern after concern.

“I can’t read. I signed up for the wrong thing by mistake,” Jiang Momo replied. “But it’s fine. I already figured out why I can’t pilot a mecha.”

[So what now? Planning to build one that you can pilot?]

“Not really. I’m just taking things one step at a time. I think things are pretty good right now.” Jiang Momo looked at her new work ID badge and finally felt the happiness settle in. “You used to teach me how to build mechas. Now I can teach other people. That’s so cool, right? Out of all those people, I ranked first!”

Little Eight finally turned its head and saw Jiang Momo smiling without the slightest hint of reluctance. Its expression softened.

Momo had always been that way, super adaptable. Even if what she ended up with wasn’t what she wanted, she could quickly accept it, reframe it in her mind, and genuinely feel happy about it.

[Yeah, our Teacher Momo is totally awesome.]

“Of course. I had the best teacher in the universe,” Jiang Momo said smugly, lifting her chin like a proud ragdoll cat.

[But why didn’t you cooperate with that teacher’s interview just now? He was prepping a promo video for you. Boosting your name would’ve been good for your career and your future.]

“Huh?” Jiang Momo tilted her head, puzzled. “But I felt like he had it out for me. Like, he gave off the vibe of someone who’s already secretly cursed me out ten times behind my back. That guy’s a teacher? I thought he was one of those media people you warned me about.”

Little Eight had told her before that after arriving on the Capital Star, she should steer clear of media. They liked to manipulate footage for views. If she couldn’t avoid them, she should just say things that sounded absurd, so if it aired, people would just think it was a joke and not take it seriously.

Jiang Momo hadn’t fully understood the logic but she did as she was told. Little Eight was never wrong.

[I know your gut instincts are good. However, humans often have conflicting thoughts and actions based on their roles. You have to consider the full picture,] Little Eight sighed.

“Too complicated. My brain can’t juggle that much stuff,” Jiang Momo whispered, a little whiny. “That’s why I’ve got you~”

[You can’t rely on me completely. I don’t have human emotions, so I can’t predict behavior driven by them.]

[Yan Chang is on his way over right now, he’ll be here in about ten minutes. Want to meet him?]

Hearing the name Yan Chang reminded Jiang Momo of E Mingjun who still hadn’t approved her friend request. She quickly opened her contacts list. Only E Mingjun was there. His status was gray, indicating that he was offline.

[E Mingjun hasn’t logged in for a week,] Little Eight noted.

“Oh.” Jiang Momo tapped into her account page. The balance was fine but that little translucent square was gone. It seemed to be tied to the device Yan Chang had originally given her, just like his contact.

[Momo? Are you avoiding the topic of Yan Chang? Why?]

Jiang Momo hesitated. “Because you once said I should stay away from him. And… I don’t want to make you upset.”

[I also said the final decision is yours. I’ll support you no matter what.]

[Momo, I raised you but you’re totally free. You have an independent mind. You can do anything you believe in.]

[My job is only to provide analysis and support.]

Little Eight rarely spoke so seriously. Most of the time, it acted more like a child than Jiang Momo did.

Hearing that made Jiang Momo a little lost. She couldn’t help her curiosity and asked, “So what’s your analysis of Yan Chang?”

[Yan Chang is someone who trades benefits for power. He never blindly follows authority and isn’t bound by rules. As an AI governed by code, I can’t understand that kind of behavior. But based on the data, he could actually have a positive impact on you.]

“Hey, Momo, are you on a call with someone from home?”

Wu Yue suddenly popped up next to Jiang Momo. She couldn’t see the light brain interface but only saw Jiang Momo’s lips moving. “I’m gonna run back real quick to grab the contacts and dye kit. I’ll hand them to you before the physical exam. It’ll be 1,000 star coins, just transfer it later.”

“You’re going now?” Jiang Momo checked the time. “Will you make it back?”

“Of course! I live nearby.” Wu Yue grinned. “I’m staying in a hotel next to the academy. It’s crazy expensive but everything else is great. There are also free private aircraft to take you anywhere. I’ll be back fast. Meet you at the Medical Department!”

“Alright. See you in a bit.” Jiang Momo added her as a friend and watched her bounce away.