The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 53

Jiang Momo was startled by the loud crash.

“You promised earlier that I wouldn’t have to pay for damages!” She immediately took off the sensory helmet and turned to look at Lu Feng.

Lu Feng was completely stunned. He stared at the collapsed wall, then at Jiang Momo’s clearly muscular arm, and nodded with difficulty. “…Of course.”

Now he finally understood why the alien beast didn’t attack Jiang Momo back then. It must have sensed that she could actually kill it and ran off in fear.

A sudden realization hit Lu Feng and he froze for a moment.

“So what now? My movement got distorted again just now,” Jiang Momo asked.

“Keep practicing,” Lu Feng said. “You need to find a suitable limit, one where you can unleash power but still maintain standard form.”

“Got it.” Jiang Momo nodded, put the sensory helmet back on, and resumed her warm-up exercises.

Lu Feng stopped her. “Hold on. Let me get down first. Watching your movements from inside gives me a skewed perspective.”

Jiang Momo paused and opened the mecha’s cockpit.

Lu Feng jumped down.

After making sure he was at a safe distance, Jiang Momo resumed her training with focused movements.

The mecha’s actions became visibly more precise and standard.

However, Lu Feng frowned. If she kept training like that, although the power she exerted in the standard state would meet the norm, it was only a tenth of what she had shown before.

He frowned and gave instructions via the intercom, “Use a little more strength.”

The next second, the mecha’s movement deformed slightly.

“Keep the same strength as before but increase your mental power input a bit,” Lu Feng said, still frowning.

The next second, the mecha’s movement deformed significantly.

“Just a little,” Lu Feng said.

Inside the cockpit, Jiang Momo shouted, “It really was just a little!”

“Forget it.” Lu Feng gave up.

Jiang Momo trained until midnight when Lu Feng finally called it a day. Within that time, all her movements were textbook-perfect but they had one thing in common; the power output only reached the average level of a regular S-grade mecha pilot.

“Come early tomorrow.” Lu Feng glanced at the time. “You can’t rush mecha training. Your top priority now is to continue exploring how to unleash maximum power from the mecha.”

Jiang Momo removed the sensory helmet and leaped down from the mecha.

She looked great. Her face was flushed with healthy color from the exercise but she hadn’t broken a sweat and her eyes sparkled.

“I think I did okay. If I practice fine control of my mental power a bit more, I should be able to get a little more output.”

Although the power felt similar to wearing a powered exoskeleton, piloting the mecha was way less tiring! Since she didn’t need to exert force herself, she had trained for hours without even sweating!

Lu Feng was obviously surprised. “You’re not tired?”

Why was it that with the same intensity, his subordinates ended up exhausted like dead dogs?

“I’m fine,” Jiang Momo said. “The mecha cockpit is temperature-controlled and on the cooler side, so I didn’t sweat.”

“You’re actually more suited for piloting mechas,” Lu Feng said. “Working in manufacturing is a waste of your talent.”

Ever since Jiang Momo punched down the wall, Lu Feng had become noticeably gentler in tone. Hearing kind words come from that sharp, cold face, she felt unaccustomed.

Jiang Momo hesitated to speak.

Was it that she didn’t want to? She just never got the chance! If only Little Eight’s database had included mecha piloting methods, she’d be flying around in one already!

“I misspoke. Actually, it’s not a waste of talent.” Lu Feng looked at Jiang Momo’s expression and suddenly remembered her achievements in mecha manufacturing, so he corrected himself. “You’re also top-tier in manufacturing.”

Why were some people able to be the best in every field? Lu Feng couldn’t understand it.

“Top-tier is a bit of an overstatement,” Jiang Momo said.

And she meant it. She hadn’t even successfully made an A-grade mecha yet, let alone an S-grade.

Jiang Momo rubbed her chin in thought. Since she wasn’t a registered mecha manufacturer yet, would it be possible to build an S-grade mecha just for herself to pilot?

“Don’t underestimate yourself. Even if your current mecha output is only at the average level, that’s already impressive. A regular person would need years to reach this level,” Lu Feng said, then paused before continuing, “I have an idea. If your power output during standard piloting really can’t go higher, then you could just stay as you are. That way, you can mislead opponents with your ‘average’ performance during battle and then hit them with a surprise fatal blow like you did to that wall.”

Jiang Momo’s eyes lit up. “That’s a great tactic!”

No wonder he’d become a major general at such a young age!

He was sharp and strategic!

With her impression of Lu Feng now leaning positive, Jiang Momo took her first real look at his face. People from the Capital Star always looked young, so she hadn’t really examined him before. Now, ignoring his cold and serious expression, she realized Lu Feng actually had a surprisingly approachable look.

“Why are you staring at me like that? Do I have something on my face?” Lu Feng asked.

Jiang Momo shook her head. “No, I just suddenly realized you’re not as serious as I thought.”

Lu Feng didn’t respond to that. Instead, he looked at the time again. “Head back early. I’ll find you a new coach tomorrow.”

Jiang Momo beamed. “Thanks! I’ll come by at noon tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Lu Feng said. “Remember to eat before training. My card works at the base cafeteria and it’s free.”

“Great! Then I’ll come at eleven!” Jiang Momo’s eyes lit up. “Is the food good at our cafeteria?”

Lu Feng: “…It’s filling.”

***

The next morning, Jiang Momo woke up and opened her light brain first thing.

Her contact list was quiet. Her conversations with Yan Chang and E Mingjun hadn’t moved since the last time.

“Yan Chang hasn’t come back from the first-tier planet yet?” Jiang Momo asked.

[Nope.] Little Eight poked out his fluffy head from the bottom of the screen.

“Do you know what he’s doing?” Jiang Momo asked again.

[It’s hard to explain in a sentence or two. You’ll probably find out soon.] Little Eight licked its paw.

[Do you know what the Jiang family’s core industry is now?]

“Energy.” Jiang Momo scratched her head. “Is what Yan Chang doing related to the Jiang family? I thought he went to the first-tier planet because of Peng Ji.”

[Someone like him wouldn’t waste effort on a minor underling.]

Jiang Momo picked up on a bit of emotion in Little Eight’s tone and asked, amused, “You really dislike Yan Chang, huh?”

Little Eight gave Jiang Momo a look.

[You only think his actions are fine now because you’re currently at odds with the Jiang family.]

Jiang Momo shrugged and got up to find clothes. “Isn’t that convenient, then?”

[Not really. You’ll understand in time.]

Little Eight said no more.

No matter what happened next, it was confident it could protect Jiang Momo from getting hurt.

“It’s still early. I can grab breakfast, then take the shuttle to the Mecha Arena to teach, and after that head to the Special Forces base for mecha training.”

Jiang Momo mentally went over her schedule to make sure she hadn’t missed anything and then suddenly clapped her hands. “I remember Zhu Qian told me last week to remind E Mingjun about some Student Council stuff if I saw him. I totally forgot!”

She immediately opened her light brain and began messaging E Mingjun.

[Jiang Momo]: The head of the Student Council’s Disciplinary Committee, Zhu Qian, asked me to contact you. She said the Student Council needs you for something.

There was no immediate reply from E Mingjun. Who knows what he was busy with.

Jiang Momo sat at the edge of the bed and supported her head, full of doubt. “That can’t be right. I’ve never forgotten something before.”

[It’s very normal. People forget things easily.]

“Really?” Jiang Momo asked.

[Of course. For example, do you still remember E Mingjun’s light brain ID?]

“256987935,” Jiang Momo said.

[…What about Shi Qin’s?]

“Eh?” Jiang Momo touched her head but couldn’t remember.

[See? The human brain automatically forgets things every day. People who remember every detail are called hyperthymesiacs. In medicine, it’s actually considered a painful condition.]

“I see.”

Jiang Momo relaxed and headed out to find breakfast.

***

When Jiang Momo arrived at the material warehouse in the Mecha Arena after breakfast, she froze in place at the sight before her.

Her fifty students probably hadn’t slept all night. Each of them looked like they’d been drained of all energy and were sprawling on the ground surrounded by piles of discarded design sketches. Judging by the mess, they must’ve been working on the homework she had assigned earlier.

Jiang Momo walked past the crowd and stopped next to Shi Qin who was sitting on the ground, frowning with unfocused eyes. She stared at his bloodshot eyes and asked, “What’s going on? You guys didn’t go back all night?

“Yeah, they’ve probably overdrawn their mental power to the limit. A bit of rest and they should bounce back.” Shi Qin’s eyes focused instantly.

“Teacher Momo, we had a long discussion yesterday and felt we had to base our sketches on the materials currently stored in the warehouse. So we numbered each material panel according to its placement and then tried to trace out all the possible energy pathways to record them on draft paper. From there, we’d sort the pathways and design the sketches.”

“So you pulled an all-nighter for that?” Jiang Momo asked. “How much have you mapped?”

“About a third, I think,” Shi Qin said uncertainly, then lowered his head in guilt. “Teacher, we didn’t finish the homework you gave us. I’m sorry. Please give us two more days.”

A third?! That huge material warehouse and they’ve already mapped a third of it?! Even at a pace of three minutes per scan, fifty people would have to work nonstop until morning. No wonder everyone looked like the life had been sucked out of them. The level of mental exhaustion was worse than what she had gone through herself.

“Forget the homework for now! I have to criticize you for this kind of attitude. You can’t learn by draining the pond to catch fish! If you break your bodies this fast, how will you ever become top-tier mecha manufacturers? In this field, going far is more important than going fast. Don’t you understand that?”

Jiang Momo was genuinely angry. What kind of devil teacher did they think she was? It was just a simple assignment, so why go so hard?!

Little Eight poked its fluffy head out from the light brain and silently grumbled, ‘Look who’s talking. Aren’t you the same when it comes to your own work?!’

“Teacher.” Shi Qin lifted his head, staring at Jiang Momo’s face. He spoke in a low voice that only the two of them could hear, “Back then you said each material has multiple pathway ports. I joked that if they were all truly connectable, it’d make designing mechas way easier. But after studying for a long time and finding no other pathways, I thought I’d just imagined it.”

He paused. “But this morning, during my fifth time overdrawing my mental power, I sensed the presence of other pathways. They were very faint but definitely there.”

Jiang Momo’s anger vanished instantly, replaced by joy. But she wasn’t sure if outright praise would be considered leaking secrets, so she just patted Shi Qin on the shoulder and said, “Those extra pathways are interference nodes. Carving through them directly with the carving knife will be met with interference points. However, being able to perceive them is a sign of high mental power sensitivity. Great job, I knew you had it in you!”

As expected of her most promising student! So proud!

Shi Qin instantly understood from her expression. If you can’t carve through directly, then does that mean you have to make multiple carvings or maybe curve around the interference points?

Suppressing the thoughts swirling in his head, Shi Qin lowered his voice again, “It’s not just me. Several other classmates told me they also sensed something, around seven of them. I think this number will increase over time.”

Jiang Momo froze, eyes full of disbelief.

Just what kind of treasure trove of students had she picked up?! With teaching results like that, she could boast in front of Ge Qing for years!