The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 68

Halfway through the meal, Shi Qin came over again. “Teacher, there’s one more thing I forgot to tell you.”

Jiang Momo looked up at him with her cheeks puffed out, then swallowed the meat in her mouth, and asked, “What is it?”

“Just now, the manager asked if we wanted to advertise. We refused,” Shi Qin said.

Jiang Momo blinked.

She remembered Shi Qin had told her that Ge Qing wanted them to keep a low profile. So refusing the manager didn’t seem like a big deal. Then why did Shi Qin look so nervous?

Shi Qin continued, “But the manager said they had already invested some money in early-stage advertising, so he said the ads would still go out with you as the focus.”

Jiang Momo put down her chopsticks, a sense of foreboding creeping up. “What does ‘with me as the focus’ mean?”

Shi Qin lowered his head as if he wanted to bury himself in the ground. “I didn’t know either at first but just now… you made it onto the trending topics.”

Trending? The manager wouldn’t increase their payment but he sure was quick to buy trending spots!

Jiang Momo quickly opened the trending page on StarNet. In the tenth spot, her name was glaringly displayed.

[Master Jiang Momo assists in manufacturing a B-grade mecha over eight days]

“Tenth place. Not bad, not too high.” Jiang Momo sipped a cold drink to calm herself down.

She’d been in the top five of trending topics for the past two days and had gotten used to seeing her name every time she opened the feed.

“Before I came to find you, it was at number twenty.” Shi Qin’s expression grew heavier.

Seeing Shi Qin’s face, Jiang Momo’s smile faded. She started flipping through the feed seriously. “With that face… don’t tell me it’s all negative comments?”

She had just skimmed the entry. It didn’t mention that she had fifty assistants. Anyone unfamiliar with the facts would assume she was the main person behind the mecha’s creation, which could easily stir public opinion.

“They’re saying the Mecha Arena is faking things for attention and demanding the full video be released.” Shi Qin scratched his head. “But the eight-day figure isn’t really accurate. If we include the time spent learning beforehand, it should be thirteen days.”

Jiang Momo thought for a moment. “The Mecha Arena probably can’t release the video right now. The method you guys used to engrave the pathways isn’t allowed to be broadcast.”

Ever since she was taken in by the Federal Security Department, online regulations had been tightened. Videos like those were now completely banned.

“Teacher, aren’t you angry?” Shi Qin asked, confused.

Jiang Momo didn’t get it. “Angry about what? I didn’t see anyone criticizing me.”

“Most people would get emotional if they ended up trending for no reason, right?” Shi Qin looked uneasy.

Jiang Momo gave him a surprised look and then suddenly laughed. “Have you guys not been checking the StarNet lately? I’ve been trending for quite a while now, so it’s no big deal. No one cares anymore.”

Shi Qin scratched his head, the serious expression still stuck to his face. “Yeah… it’s been a while since we looked.”

Jiang Momo patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Just focus on building good mechas. Graduate early so I can show off in front of Professor Ge.”

“We will.” Shi Qin hadn’t expected encouragement when he came over nervously. He turned to leave in a daze but Jiang Momo called him back.

“I heard the military invited the manufacturers to test pilot some mechas. Did you go?” Jiang Momo asked.

Shi Qin nodded. “We did. We could activate them but our physical strength wasn’t enough to actually fight in them.”

When he saw Jiang Momo didn’t respond, he quickly apologized. “Sorry, Teacher. We lost a day because of that. Otherwise, we could have finished the mecha sooner.”

Jiang Momo snapped out of her thoughts and waved it off. “No need to apologize. You guys did great. Go eat.”

Shi Qin bowed and left.

Jiang Momo watched his back, quietly took a sharp breath, and then opened the trending post again to scroll further.

Once she confirmed there really weren’t any negative comments about her, she closed her light brain.

By now, the students had all finished eating. Full of food and drink, they began bragging and chatting.

The restaurant was noisy again. All the human servers poked their heads out to watch.

Jiang Momo scanned the room again but still didn’t spot E Mingjun, so she gave up and quickly gathered the students to take them all back to the academy.

***

After watching all the students enter the academy gates, Jiang Momo turned her spaceship toward the training base of the First Military District.

At the base gate, Jiang Momo swiped her card skillfully and then sat in the shadow of the guard to wait for the old soldier to pick her up.

This time, it wasn’t just the old soldier but some Special Forces soldiers who had gone with her to eliminate the alien beasts came too.

“I thought you weren’t coming.” The old soldier still had a stern face. His eyes swept over Jiang Momo’s strange outfit. She was wearing a black tank top and cargo pants today with all the pockets bulging. Who knew what she’d stuffed in them.

The Special Forces soldiers had been talking her up so much the past few days that the old soldier was already sick of hearing about how awesome she was. Now, seeing her in person, their exaggerated praise echoed in his ears again in 360-degree surround sound.

The Special Forces squad was directly under Major General Lu, transferred back with him and directly managed by him. They usually handled alien beasts in the Central Star System. In the military base, they were arrogant and looked down on everyone. They normally wouldn’t even greet the old soldier.

But ever since they found out he had taught Jiang Momo some mecha piloting skills, their revolutionary friendship had suddenly been created. They practically camped in his dorm waiting for her to come train.

Sure enough, now they had completely surrounded her.

“Momo! That weak-point targeting trick you taught us last time was amazing! We used it in our review later and really found its weak point!”

“Seriously! How did no one notice that before?”

Jiang Momo was crowded in by tall soldiers and could barely breathe. She reached out and pushed them back a bit.

“Maybe because your weapons are too powerful, so you never needed those tricks.”

After returning, she had watched a bunch of military documentaries on alien beast eradication and discovered that in recent years, the army mainly used massively destructive thermal weapons outside the Central Star System, big enough to wipe out an entire planet in a few hits.

Sure, as long as the population on the planet isn’t too large, they could evacuate everyone in advance and lure the alien beasts to open fields with no buildings.

It also explains why the military hasn’t discovered the alien beasts’ fatal weaknesses after all those years. It is because they’re focused on area damage and rarely fight the alien beasts in close combat. So, they never needed to know their weaknesses.

But the Central Star System is different. Every planet in the Central Star System is densely populated. Evacuation isn’t an option and large-scale thermal weapons can’t be used. So the only choice is to fight using mechas. And with the current spike in alien beasts’ numbers, even if ten appear in a year, dozens or even hundreds of mechas can gang up on one alien beast. There’s no need to find weak points, they can just wear it down.

Upon hearing Jiang Momo’s explanation, the squad members sighed in frustration.

“Unless an alien beast shows up in the ocean or deep mountains, there’s almost no chance to use heavy weapons in the Central Star System.”

“There are just too many people. When an alien beast appears, there’s no warning. Sometimes we receive a distress call from another planet and by the time we get there, the alien beast’s already full. Ever seen a full alien beast? They’re insanely tough to fight. One of my comrades died at their hands.”

“Yeah, seriously. Thank god you saved Little Liu back then. Otherwise, we’d have one more martyr in the squad.”

The tone of the Special Forces soldiers was casual, as if they had no idea how grim their stories sounded. Even Little Liu didn’t feel anything was off. He just nodded nervously, still a little shaken.

“So, did you come to the base today to see us?” someone asked.

“Of course not. I came to learn mecha piloting,” Jiang Momo replied.

The squad froze.

“With your strength, there’s really no need. An S-grade mecha might not even be more powerful than your exoskeleton.”

“But mecha piloting is fun,” Jiang Momo said.

She still thought the reason she struggled with piloting before was that she hadn’t tapped into the full potential of the mecha. After all, she’d once severed her wrist in a fight against one, so logically, a mecha should be stronger than an exoskeleton.

“But don’t you feel like the S-grade mecha limits your capabilities?” asked the squad member at the front.

After asking the old soldier, they learned Jiang Momo was the same person who chased down and thrashed dozens from the Third Military District in an S-grade mecha.

When they first heard someone could overload an S-grade mecha, they thought it was exaggerated. But once they found out it was Jiang Momo, they believed it. She did seem capable of such things.

Jiang Momo shook her head. “I think I just haven’t found the trick to piloting mechas yet.”

At first, she couldn’t control the mecha at all. Captain Jiang was so frustrated, that he left in a rage. But with Lu Feng’s guidance, didn’t she eventually get the hang of it?

There must be something she still didn’t know!

Of course, that was only part of the reason.

Seeing her determined look, the old soldier gave up trying to persuade her and turned to lead her into the training ground. The squad immediately gathered around, enthusiastically offering to spar with her.

Jiang Momo agreed.

Soon, she realized how right that decision was.

She thought that day’s session would be similar to last time’s group skirmish but just ten minutes in, she noticed a clear difference between one military troop and another.

Major General Lu was right. Fighting people is a completely different game from fighting alien beasts. Don’t be fooled by how they act around the alien beasts. When fighting her, they were more than capable.

For a full ten minutes, more than a dozen mechas moved in a tight 20-meter radius and she couldn’t even touch them. Of course, she didn’t let them touch her either, barely dodging every time.

But over time, dodging became more difficult. After all, she had an extra step compared to others: constantly compressing her mental power and controlling her strength.

The squad was stunned too. Even they didn’t expect to last so long against her. Jiang Momo had an impressive track record, whether against alien beasts or mechas.

Turned out they were that good?! The squad could hardly believe it.

Their coordination was flawless.

As she dodged, Jiang Momo carefully watched for openings. She realized that any potential weakness was completely covered by their teamwork and mutual support.

“You’ve been fighting together a long time, haven’t you? That’s really tight coordination,” Jiang Momo remarked, sensing some of her compressed mental power started to slip. She thought for a moment and opened the comm channel in her mecha.

“Almost ten years,” came a voice through the channel.

“Incredible. If the alien beasts had this kind of coordination, we’d be in real trouble,” Jiang Momo praised coolly. “No wonder you’re Major General Lu’s direct squad. You’re way stronger than the others. If that alien beast back then wasn’t a king-level one and just a regular alien beast, you guys would’ve taken it down fast.”

“We’re not that amazing,” said the same voice again, a hint of pride in his tone. He was the only one distracted enough to respond.

Jiang Momo quickly locked onto the source of the voice in the group. Since mechas mimic human movements, that one had slightly lifted its head.

She continued, “Have you ever fought Major General Lu? I bet if he went up against you guys, he’d be the one at a disadvantage.”

The voice responded again, hesitating, “No, Major General Lu would never…”

There it was. A flaw.

Jiang Momo shot toward that mecha. Once she confirmed it was within range and couldn’t dodge, she braced herself against incoming attacks and powered up her strike. Her movement deformed under the force.

That mecha was hit and fell straight down.

Jiang Momo took a few hits herself but she’d avoided her energy core being targeted, so the damage didn’t greatly impact her combat capability.

With one mecha down, the squad’s formation lost its perfection. They needed time to readjust and before they could, Jiang Momo had her opening.

Before long, mechas were sprawled all over the ground.

Jiang Momo jumped out of the only one still standing and wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“How are the mechas? Are they still usable?” she asked.

She’d held back this time, so it was just enough to stop the energy core and not damage the components.

Still in defeat mode, the squad shook their heads instinctively. “Not sure. We’ll have to send them to the Maintenance Department of the Military Research Institute to find out how badly they’re damaged.”

“How long to fix them?” Jiang Momo asked.

“Around a week.”

“I was hoping we could go another round later… My bad,” Jiang Momo sighed, a little regretfully, and then casually brought up her real reason for coming, “Maybe the damages are not that bad and could be fixed soon.”

“There’s a queue. The soonest would be five days.”

“I mean… can I help fix them?”

Jiang Momo pulled a full set of tools out from her bulging pockets and smiled.

If the army can bend the rules to let mecha manufacturers pilot mechas, then bending the rules to let her take apart an S-grade one should be fair game, right?