The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 56

“Thank you. Sorry to trouble you.” Jiang Momo lowered her eyes slightly, hesitating to speak further.

“No need to be polite.” The old soldier took the empty nutrient solution from her hand and, noticing her expression, asked directly, “You got any other requests?”

Jiang Momo thought about it and cautiously asked, “If possible… could you call more people?”

She wanted to try group battles.

Back on the desolate planet, she often fought hordes of alien beasts one-on-many and those moments pushed her power to the limit.

Jiang Momo continued, “I might also need a slightly bigger space. If it’s not convenient, then never mind.”

The old soldier nodded. “Got it.”

If too many people showed up, a larger area would indeed be needed or there wouldn’t be enough room. But since training would start late tomorrow, she couldn’t possibly be planning to go all night… right? That intense?

The old soldier pondered silently, then respectfully invited Jiang Momo onto the warship and personally dropped her off at the academy gate.

Jiang Momo said goodbye and walked inside.

It was already late at night and there were barely any students around. The lights had dimmed, the wind was chilly, and the bulletin board at the entrance wasn’t lit anymore, probably because there were no new announcements.

On the way back to her dorm, Jiang Momo passed a corner and happened to hear familiar voices. She instantly perked up and pulled back her steps, leaning against the wall at the turn.

Those voices sounded like Jiang Yingying and Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yingying’s voice was tinged with fear like something had frightened her. “Second Brother, we’re family and still listed under the same household register. I know when you said you liked me, you meant it as a brother’s affection. Don’t bring it up again.”

Jiang Yuan actually confessed?!

Jiang Momo perked her ears to listen.

Jiang Yuan gave a couple of awkward chuckles. “Haha, I just saw you’ve been in a bad mood lately, so I was teasing you. Don’t take it seriously.”

“Well, if there’s nothing else, I’ll head back to the dorm” Then Jiang Yingying’s footsteps were heard.

Crap! She’s headed this way!

Jiang Momo glanced around, ready to turn back.

“Actually, I don’t think going to the Single Combat Department means you should give up on yourself. Doesn’t our bath lotion have whitening ingredients?” Jiang Yuan spoke again, “Look, your waist’s gotten thick.” |4|

Jiang Yingying stopped walking.

Tension filled the air. Jiang Momo gave up on retreating.

“Thick waist?!” Jiang Yingying let out a cold laugh.

“Yeah, Mom said you don’t have that graceful vibe when you wear dresses anymore,” Jiang Yuan said bluntly.

“Then I guess not.” Jiang Yingying’s voice trembled. “Do you know how jealous I am of Jiang Momo right now?”

Jiang Momo froze.

What’s this got to do with her?! How did the topic jump to her all of a sudden?

“She’s independent, mentally free, doesn’t rely on the Jiang family, and is not bound by the Capital Star’s beauty standards. She’s healthy, positive, and sunny. Even her arms are thicker than my waist!”

Jiang Momo: “…”

That’s a bit of an exaggeration.

“But no one ever comments on her body. Everyone praises her skills.” Jiang Yingying’s voice was choked. “I want to be capable too! I’ll transfer to the Mecha Manufacturing Department on my own. You all don’t need to worry about it.”

She had gone home last weekend and saw her mother’s eyes when she noticed she had gotten a little tanner and a little more muscular. It was the same look she used to give Jiang Momo, cold and assessing.

That was when she realized she wasn’t the one loved. She was just the one their mother approved of the most. And in that moment, she fully empathized with the once-isolated Jiang Momo.

How long does it take to accept that your parents don’t love you?

Maybe just a single look is enough.

She had once feared that Jiang Momo would steal her parents’ love but now she realized that maybe that love never existed in the first place.

“Jiang Momo really is capable.” Jiang Yuan scoffed. “Dad said our core industry is about to be restructured. Take a guess who’s been whispering in somebody’s ear.”

“That sounds a bit nasty.” Jiang Yingying paused. “We don’t have proof.”

“Are you in your rebellious phase now?” Jiang Yuan’s voice returned. “Just because the family didn’t help you transfer to another department? Didn’t we say things are tight right now?”

Jiang Yingying fell silent again. A long moment later, she spoke, “If that’s what you think, then I have nothing more to say.”

Sensing the conversation was over, Jiang Momo quickly slipped away.

***

She couldn’t sleep. No matter how she tossed and turned, she couldn’t fall asleep.

Lying in bed with her eyes wide open staring at the ceiling, Jiang Momo began pestering Little Eight. “Little Eight, Little Eight, what should I do? I can’t sleep. Can you tell me a bedtime story?”

The Siamese cat was lounging on the interface, casually sipping soda while watching a horror movie. Without turning its head, it replied to Jiang Momo, [Are you sure you’re not bothered by what you just overheard?]

“Nope,” Jiang Momo said without hesitation. “I just can’t sleep. I feel super energized.”

[Oh, that’s probably a side effect from extreme compression of your mental power. No big deal.]

[If you really can’t sleep, go do something. Bedtime stories aren’t likely to help.]

“You mean I won’t be able to sleep tonight?!” Jiang Momo was stunned.

The Siamese cat nodded.

[According to the Academy of Sciences’ research, that’s correct.]

“Then I’ll go back to working on my mecha!” Jiang Momo leaped up, yanked down a set of clothes from her closet, quickly changed, and rushed to the Mecha Arena’s material warehouse.

The Capital Star had advanced public transit. No matter the hour, as long as you entered a destination into the light brain, a self-driving aircraft would appear within a minute.

Soon, Jiang Momo arrived at the Mecha Arena.

It was open 24 hours and currently, it was its busiest time. The place was bustling and all thirty-some sparring stages were in use. The manager hadn’t gone to rest either. When he saw Jiang Momo, he immediately came up.

“Teacher Momo! You’re here. Your students have been in the material warehouse for a long while now and they haven’t come out. Do you think something went wrong?”

“Probably not. I’ll check in a bit,” Jiang Momo said, eyeing the sparring arenas. “It’s pretty lively here at night.”

“Yeah, everyone’s at work during the day, so no one comes then,” the manager explained simply, then looked at her with eager eyes. “Sorry if it’s rude to ask but how’s the mecha building going?”

“Making a mecha takes about 30 days on average in the Federation. No need to rush,” Jiang Momo casually explained, then quickly said goodbye to the manager and headed for the material warehouse.

***

The moment she pushed open the material warehouse’s door, Jiang Momo was stunned.

The warehouse was a mess, even worse than the last time she saw it. Students were sprawled all over the floor with parts and materials scattered everywhere.

“What happened here?” Jiang Momo carefully stepped over the students and squatted in front of Shi Qin who was lying on his back with vacant eyes. She waved her hand in front of him.

Shi Qin slowly moved his gaze to Jiang Momo’s face and weakly said, “Teacher, after tireless effort, all the students have reached a new level in their mental power but more than half still can’t see the patterns. A small portion is too afraid of damaging the materials and paying the compensation, so they don’t dare to attempt carving.”

“Got it. I’ll find someone to take you all back in a bit.”

Jiang Momo took a deep breath. She had truly underestimated the top students’ enthusiasm for learning. Thankfully, she couldn’t sleep that night and came to check. If she had waited until the morning after tomorrow, they might have all collapsed in there.

“Starting next class, let’s go back to the academy’s practical base.”

Shi Qin struggled to get up. “Teacher, we were wrong, we really were. Please don’t…”

“It’s not your fault. At your current learning stage, it’s better to return to school.” Jiang Momo pressed him back down. “Did you forget? At school, materials are free to use! No cost!”

Shi Qin immediately stopped struggling. He blinked his still-unfocused eyes and came to a sudden realization. “Oh, right.”

Seeing him lie back down like a ragdoll, Jiang Momo opened the door with a headache.

The manager was waiting outside with a squad of transport robots.

Jiang Momo looked back at the chaos in the warehouse and apologized guiltily, “I’m really sorry. I didn’t instruct the kids beforehand and made such a mess here. I’ll clean it up in a bit.”

The manager was shocked by the scene inside. “They… are they okay?”

“They’re fine,” Jiang Momo said. “I’m going to take them back to the academy now.”

“As long as they’re okay, that’s fine. We’ll clean up here ourselves, no need to trouble you. If you need to take the students back, we’ve got ships and transport robots you can use,” the manager said, then cautiously leaned closer and whispered, “Teacher Momo, tell me honestly, the mecha you’ve got in the manufacturing area doesn’t look like a B-grade, right? A B-grade mecha manufacturer came by earlier asking to take a look but the moment he got close, he was warned off.”

Jiang Momo glanced at him. “It’s A-grade.”

The manager’s guess was confirmed. His eyes instantly lit up. “When will it be finished?!”

“Around three months,” Jiang Momo thought for a moment and answered.

“I’m looking forward to the good news! I’ll go revise our ads now!” The manager ran off, brimming with excitement.

Watching him run away, Jiang Momo began directing the robots to carry the students.

***

Jiang Momo had always known the Central Mecha Academy was big but she never truly understood how big it was. Just walking from the gate to the student dorms took half an hour!

By the time she got all the students to the dorm building, the sky was already bright.

And even so, most of the students had regained a bit of strength around dawn and helped each other walk back.

“No doing anything for the next two days. Stay in bed until the next class. No getting out of bed!” Jiang Momo gave each student a strict instruction. Only after they all nodded seriously did she let them go.

Once everyone was back in the dorms, Jiang Momo finally had time to reflect on what Shi Qin had said earlier. The excitement hit her all at once.

As it turned out, all the students could now sense multiple pathways with their mental power!!!

“There’s still time before class.” Jiang Momo checked the time and went straight to her office.

She had to share her feelings with someone!

She pushed the door open. Sure enough, Ge Qing was there.

He was standing at the desk, painting with a brush.

Jiang Momo’s eyes lit up. With a mischievous grin, she grabbed a stool and sat in front of Ge Qing, staring up at him silently.

Ge Qing: “…”

What happened to this kid?

“You’re up early today?” Ge Qing put down the brush and asked.

“I didn’t sleep.” Jiang Momo continued to look at him expectantly.

Ge Qing thought for a moment. “Are you worried about teaching? Your last online class went really well, you actually don’t need to worry.”

“I am worried about teaching.” Jiang Momo grinned and then started bragging, “The graduating class I’m teaching can now all use their mental power to sense multiple pathways. But when I tried to teach them how to observe the patterns, some just couldn’t see them and it really stressed me out.”

Ge Qing: “Huh???”

Was that still Federation standard language? Why did he barely understand a thing?!

He’d taught for so many years and seen all kinds of situations but never anything like that! Wasn’t it just the second week of the semester?!

I might have overcomplicated things when I separate the mecha manufacturer’s level and the mecha’s grade. I think it should be: the students made C-grade mecha, passed the C-Grade Mecha Certification Exam, were considered as C-grade mecha manufacturers, and then started learning B-grade mecha.
That’s so simple, idk why I got confused.