The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 32

“The second place got caught in an aircraft accident on the way here and was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment, so I was the replacement. We’re colleagues now. Let’s get to know each other again. My name is Peng Ji.”

Jiang Momo ignored him. She turned to the little robot and retrieved Wu Yue’s badge, then left directly.

“What happened with the accident? Little Eight, can you check the surveillance?” she asked quietly, standing in a corner of the building where others couldn’t see her.

[I checked. The surveillance was sabotaged in advance. Official reports say it was a vehicle malfunction but most people on the Star Network believe it was a terrorist attack. That kind of discussion is currently being heavily censored. Wu Yue is in the hospital and no longer in critical condition.]

“Anything suspicious on Peng Ji’s side?” Jiang Momo continued.

[Three hours ago, a distant relative of Peng Ji had a large cash transaction with a consulting firm. There’s surveillance of the deal. Later, that consulting firm transferred a large amount of money to a holding account in the Chaos Star System. The recipient is untraceable.]

“So the accident was orchestrated by Peng Ji?” Jiang Momo rubbed her chin.

[We don’t have concrete evidence to prove that yet.]

[A lot of reporters are on their way here. Do you want to give yourself some publicity?]

“Wait, I thought interviews weren’t allowed?” Jiang Momo asked curiously.

[As a regular person, doing interviews can disrupt your daily life. But teachers at the academy are different. Every year, the academy publishes the faculty list and lets students vote. The more votes you get, the better classes and resources you’ll receive.]

[If you become a star teacher, you can use all academy materials and equipment for free the whole year and have full ownership of anything you produce.]

[The last star teacher made millions selling mechas built from academy resources.]

“Got it!” With that, Jiang Momo sped out of the building.

By now, several reporters had already set up their cameras. The moment someone emerged, they started filming.

Jiang Momo waved at each of the cameras in turn.

When the reporters realized she wasn’t the person they were waiting for, they immediately turned their cameras away.

“Move, move, it’s live!”

The Federation had strict media regulations and recording someone’s image without written consent could lead to legal consequences.

They were there because Peng Ji had publicly authorized all media outlets to record his image and publish his schedule.

Seeing that all the cameras were pointed away, Jiang Momo looked around, and then quickly checked her light brain to confirm that aside from the aircraft accident, there were no other hot news topics.

“Is there some big news going on here?” she asked, walking up to the first reporter who had turned his camera. “Is it about the aircraft accident? Were they brought here?”

The reporter looked at her several times, his expression cold.

Unfazed, Jiang Momo kept chatting. “Is it confidential? Which platform are you live-streaming on? I’ll follow it.”

“Feihang Media,” the reporter answered. Seeing that she still wasn’t leaving and seemed to be searching for something on her light brain, he asked, “Today is the Central Mecha Academy’s new teacher medical exam. We’re here for Peng Ji. Since you just came out, are you one of the new teachers?”

“Yup,” Jiang Momo nodded. “Do you want to interview me?”

The reporter and his assistant exchanged a look and politely declined. “No thanks.”

They had left in such a hurry, they hadn’t brought physical consent forms, so they couldn’t include unrelated people in the footage.

“Alright then.” Jiang Momo stepped back, looked around, and shrugged at Little Eight. “He said no.”

[Go find Yan Chang. He’s still waiting for you.] Little Eight covered its face in exasperation.

This unlucky kid. If she had just searched a little deeper, she would’ve known about the authorization letter and what was going on with Peng Ji.

‘She relies on me too much. That’s not a good thing.’

Jiang Momo quickened her pace toward the spaceship docking area.

[Momo, why did you talk to that reporter just now? He wasn’t the closest to you,] Little Eight asked casually.

“Because he moved the camera the fastest and followed the rules the most. That means he’s probably the easiest to deal with,” Jiang Momo answered without hesitation.

Besides, he turned the camera so quickly and without a second thought. He definitely didn’t have the authorization letter on him!

[So you actually knew the interview rules?] Little Eight was stunned.

It took back what it had just thought. Its human cub was actually quite clever.

“After the teacher finished interviewing me and on my way to the Medical Department, I took a moment to look it up,” Jiang Momo explained earnestly. “Even though you said there were benefits to being interviewed, I tried it and didn’t really like the feeling. So I decided not to go through with it. But I didn’t want to disappoint you either. You’re just looking out for me.”

[Then you probably know about Peng Ji too?]

Little Eight could feel that ever since leaving the desolate planet, Jiang Momo was starting to think for herself instead of blindly following its instructions. That made it very pleased.

“What about Peng Ji?” Jiang Momo genuinely had no clue. She had clicked ‘Not Interested’ the moment she saw the news about him on StarNet, so it hadn’t shown her anything since.

[He publicly released his portrait rights across all media platforms and revealed his upcoming schedule. It looks like he’s trying to build a star teacher persona.]

“He really goes all in,” Jiang Momo muttered, rubbing her brow. “When I was in front of the camera just now, I felt this itchy pressure between my eyebrows. It was really uncomfortable.”

[Your mental power is too high, so you’re sensitive to being watched. That’s perfectly normal.]

“So that’s what it is.” Jiang Momo suddenly understood.

Soon, she arrived at the spaceship, pulled open the door with a whoosh, and saw Yan Chang sitting on the couch with a familiar livestream playing on the screen in front of him.

“Wow! Are you watching the livestream, Yan Chang? Did you see me? I was on camera just now!”

“I saw,” Yan Chang replied.

Even though it was just a two-second clip, he saw her waving confidently at the camera, completely unafraid.

“If you want to build your public profile, I can talk to some media friends and set up a column for you.”

“No need for that,” Jiang Momo sat across from him and chugged the juice he handed her. “There’ll be a livestream of Peng Ji later. I want to watch. Do you want to join?”

“Sure, let’s watch together.” Yan Chang tapped the table.

Jiang Momo blinked and suddenly found herself back at the entrance of the Medical Department. She looked around. “What’s going on?”

“New projection tech. It creates a fully immersive experience,” Yan Chang explained.

“It really feels immersive,” Jiang Momo commented.

Aside from the reporters being missing, everything looked exactly the same as it had at the Medical Department’s entrance.

She looked toward the main entrance, where Peng Ji strolled out at a leisurely pace.

“Teacher Peng Ji, we heard that in the second round, you and your teammate engraved over 900 energy pathways within two hours. Is that true?” a voice appeared out of thin air. It was the reporter’s question.

Peng Ji smiled, the dimples at the corners of his mouth giving him an innocent, harmless appearance. “To be exact, it was 962.”

“We heard you weren’t the top-ranked candidate. What do you have to say about that?”

Peng Ji kept smiling. “Rank doesn’t mean much to me. Top-tier mecha manufacturers produce roughly the same quality. I think the top candidate and I probably tied. It’s likely just alphabetical order that put me after her.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the projection disappeared.

Jiang Momo had been watching intently, wanting to see what other nonsense he’d come up with. But then the scene around her changed back to the interior of the spaceship and she immediately looked over at Yan Chang.

“What happened?” Jiang Momo asked.

“I didn’t want to watch him anymore. He pisses me off,” Yan Chang’s expression looked like he’d just swallowed a fly. “He’s only running his mouth because he knows the academy won’t speak up.”

“Why won’t the academy respond?” Jiang Momo was curious.

But Little Eight had said the academy was going to make a promo video for her!

“Because the academy’s motto is ‘Mechas Speak No Words,’” Yan Chang replied. “Everything about mechas is classified. So no matter what happens outside, the academy never comments. The official StarNet account hasn’t even updated since it was registered ten years ago.”

Jiang Momo scratched her head. “That motto sure carries a lot of weight.”

“If the academy ever speaks up, you can bet the Dean’s lost it,” Yan Chang rolled up his sleeves. “So, Master, we’ve got to find our own way to take back the spotlight. We can’t let that green tea boy keep showing off. I’m off to find someone to suppress the hype.”

While Yan Chang was busy fighting the fire, Jiang Momo was racking her brains trying to recall the knowledge Little Eight had taught her before they left the desolate planet.

Little Eight usually only explained things once and never repeated them. Before they left, it had stayed up all night teaching her a whole set of military strategies in case she got bullied on the Capital Star. But she hadn’t really understood most of it, so now she didn’t know which tactic to use.

Just how could she find the connection between Peng Ji and that accident?

As she frowned in thought, she opened the top trending post.

[Peng Ji: The Hidden Pain Behind the Genius Mecha Manufacturer]

Jiang Momo admitted that she clicked on it because of the title.

She thought maybe after the livestream, Peng Ji had said something shocking again. But once she opened it, she realized it wasn’t that at all.

[Peng Ji is basically the perfect mix of beauty, strength, and tragedy, okay? I just want to protect him. He grew up living with his mom and little sister, their family was so poor, and he kept getting rejected from jobs!]

[He’s such a talented mecha manufacturer. Why didn’t he get hired in past years? Isn’t it obvious? Surname discrimination! Just because his last name starts with a later letter, he keeps getting pushed down the list even when he scores the same as others. It’s so unfair!]

[Protest! Say no to surname discrimination!]

[Protest! I’m going to march! Sit-in! Anyone coming with me?]

Jiang Momo looked at the comments inside, her brows furrowing tightly.

The people on the Star Network… why do they all seem kind of stupid?

Especially under that protest post, there were actually quite a few people agreeing and they looked emotionally agitated, their words becoming more and more extreme.

“Master, what are you looking at? What’s with that expression?” Yan Chang had finished finding help and looked up to see Jiang Momo’s complicated expression, asking curiously.

Jiang Momo looked up, turned on the light screen’s setting to allow others to see, and then turned it toward Yan Chang. “They’re just joking, right?”

“Probably not. People on the Capital Star usually have too much work stress and not much entertainment. They love going on strike and protesting. Most of the time, it’s not for any particular reason. If there’s a protest, they’ll join.” Yan Chang paused for a moment. “Looks like we can save money on hiring online trolls.”

Jiang Momo was a bit confused. “Why?”

“Look out the window,” Yan Chang said.

Jiang Momo leaned over to look out.

On the Capital Star’s ground, a small group of people had gathered and were starting to move toward a location from different directions. Soon, more people joined their ranks. Occasionally, aircraft hovered in the air or on building rooftops. A large number of people poured out of buildings, holding up signs or their own clothes, moving in a neat, unified direction. The crowd visibly grew larger and larger. Then, several groups gathered in front of a tall building.

The city had come to a halt.

“That’s the Presidential Palace,” Yan Chang said, having already paused the spaceship. Seeing the scene, he laughed mockingly. “Peng Ji is done for. With things getting this big, the authorities will likely step in. If a spark appears now, it could crush him instantly. The one who started the protest is a real genius.”

Jiang Momo felt a thought flash through her mind and muttered, “Yes, that person really is a genius.”

[Thanks for the compliment.]

The Siamese cat flipped over in front of Jiang Momo, turned off the screen sharing on its own, and then sat up. Its furry belly looked soft and inviting to pet.

“Little Eight? It was you?!” Jiang Momo mouthed.

[Yes. Do you remember the knowledge I taught you before we left the desolate planet?] The Siamese cat furrowed its brows.

“You said, when a problem can’t be solved, learn to intensify the conflict,” Jiang Momo took a deep breath.

Back then, when she listened to Little Eight’s lessons, she thought the knowledge was too abstract. Only now did she suddenly understand what those words meant.

Yan Chang sat on the sofa, watching Jiang Momo silently move her mouth, and he knew she was talking via voice chat. Bored, he looked up the person who first posted the protest message.

Then, he abruptly looked up at Jiang Momo.

He had been wrong. The big shot didn’t seem to need his help at all.

Not just the protest, but even the concept of surname discrimination was made up by the big shot. No one had ever brought it up before.

Yan Chang quickly and secretly added a few more layers of protection to the message sent by Jiang Momo’s light brain.

“Yan Chang, I have a lead here. Can you help me?” Jiang Momo looked at him.

Yan Chang was busy and not really focused, so he reflexively asked, “What?”

“Wu Yue’s incident wasn’t just an accident.”

“I got it. I’ll find someone to investigate.” Yan Chang nodded.

“No. Don’t investigate. Give this lead to the authorities, let them look into it.” Jiang Momo pressed his hand. “You can make sure this clue reaches the authorities immediately, right?”

“I understand what you mean now.” Yan Chang smiled. “Master, you’re actually very suited for politics.”

His own speed at gathering intel wasn’t any slower than the authorities but the official channels had more authority and their results were more serious.

Plus, if he passed on what he found after investigating himself, the authorities might not trust it as much as if it came from their own sources.

Push the conflict to an uncontrollable state, make the instigator the focal point, and at that moment, a tiny lead, even a fabricated one, could be enough for the authorities to dig deeper.

“So from the start, what you really wanted to deal with wasn’t Peng Ji stealing your thunder but Wu Yue’s incident,” Yan Chang said firmly.

Jiang Momo looked down. “Yes.”

Little Eight was a good teacher in all respects.

Watching how Jiang Momo handled things afterward, Little Eight felt a bit gratified.

It knew its little cub was smart and she just needed a hint to understand.

“Huh? Why is the academy’s official account posting a video? ‘Highlights from the Mecha Manufacturing Department Recruitment Exam (Part 1)’?” Yan Chang suddenly sat up straight, flipping the account over to double-check, confused. “What’s going on? Did the Dean lose it?”

Jiang Momo heard Yan Chang and immediately searched for the Central Mecha Academy’s official account. Before she found it, she received a message from Ge Qing.

[Ge Qing]: Momo, I heard about the situation regarding Peng Ji. The video was edited quickly as an emergency response, so the content isn’t very polished. Consider it the academy’s reply. Please don’t speak out in the media yourself. It wouldn’t be good for your reputation.

[Ge Qing]: We also included your creation of the super B-grade mecha in this video. We’re not sure why but you’ve never registered as a mecha manufacturer. Maybe it’s because you don’t want to be restricted by the official association. I understand. I hope this video doesn’t cause you any trouble.

[Ge Qing]: If you have any difficulties, contact me anytime.

“Wait, Master, why are your eyes red?” Yan Chang saw Jiang Momo suddenly clench her fists and her eyes turned red, and he asked in a panic.