The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 77

Jiang Momo was silent for a moment. “They don’t have reproductive isolation?”

The planet’s governor, Eli, spread his hands. “As you can see, no.”

“Isn’t that strange?” Jiang Momo looked puzzled. “Logically, all living creatures should have reproductive isolation.”

Even alien beasts can’t breed freely between species. Otherwise, the desolate planet would’ve created an all-powerful alien beast king by now.

Eli didn’t seem to mind. “It’s fine, I never looked into it deeply. I bought them from an abandoned lab. Maybe our science made a breakthrough or something!”

[Never heard of it!] Little Eight popped up decisively.

[There’s no such technology in the current Federation records!]

“The Federation doesn’t have this kind of tech yet,” Jiang Momo said.

Eli laughed. “Maybe it just hasn’t been made public! These little creatures are super affectionate and have brought me quite a bit of profit. Every one of them is precious.”

“Are they all this size?” Jiang Momo asked.

Eli nodded. “After reproducing, the adults all pass away. They reach maturity in about a year and then give birth to five or six pups before dying. It’s been five years and there’s no exceptions.”

Eli spoke very fast, his words tumbling out like stir-fry in his mouth, barely understandable.

A flash of suspicion crossed Jiang Momo’s eyes. She turned her face slightly and silently mouthed a few words, “Doesn’t seem dangerous.”

[Yeah, it seems fine for now. Let’s just keep watching,] Little Eight said.

“Teacher Momo?” Just as Jiang Momo and Little Eight were discussing, Eli suddenly tapped her shoulder urgently. “Can we take a photo together? I’ve got other matters to attend to and may need to head off now.”

“Oh, okay.”

Jiang Momo agreed quickly and was just about to pose when Eli rushed to say, “Thank you so much, Teacher Momo! You’re welcome anytime!”

Her smile froze halfway. “That’s it? You’re not taking another shot?”

No way that photo was going to look good, right?! Was it going to be the first blackmail shot of her life?

“All good, all good.” Eli nodded repeatedly, then quickly said goodbye to the academy staff, and sprinted off, jumping into a nearby aircraft.

Jiang Momo shifted her gaze from his disappearing figure and looked at Ge Qing in surprise. “Is he always like that?”

Ge Qing scratched his head. “No, he didn’t used to talk that fast. Maybe he really is busy.”

Jiang Momo nodded and then looked to the side. The students had already started assembling mecha under Li Yu’s direction.

Li Yu, having a free moment, walked over to Ge Qing. “Professor Ge, these students are really talented. Only someone like you could teach such excellent students.”

“Their teacher is Momo,” Ge Qing said.

Li Yu smiled and nodded. “I know.”

He knew. With Jiang Momo’s ‘abilities’ that even Major General Lu takes seriously, asking Ge Qing to teach in her place and then claiming credit was probably no trouble at all.

Ge Qing frowned slightly, feeling something off about Li Yu’s expression, but didn’t press the matter. He turned to Jiang Momo. “The rest of the students will arrive two hours later, so we need to finish assembling here and head to the next area before that.”

Jiang Momo already knew the schedule from yesterday. Only the soon-to-graduate students would be hands-on with the assembly, while the rest would observe. If Li Yu hadn’t shown up, all 3,000 students would be there, not split into groups, which would’ve given them much more time.

She thought for a moment and asked, “What’s the standard for ending this assembly?”

Yesterday, the goal was to finish assembling one mecha but two hours is really tight, so the standard must’ve changed.

“If Teacher Li Yu thinks they’ve demonstrated enough skill to graduate early, then it can end. No need to finish completely,” Ge Qing replied.

Li Yu gave a reassuring gesture. “Leave it to me, Professor Ge. You don’t need to worry about this part.”

“Thanks for your hard work.” Ge Qing patted his shoulder and turned to leave.

As soon as Ge Qing was out of sight, Li Yu subtly looked Jiang Momo up and down.

Jiang Momo noticed the look and asked, puzzled, “What is it?”

Li Yu forced a smile. “Your perception ability is pretty good. Your mental power rank must be high, right?”

“S-rank,” Jiang Momo said.

Li Yu’s smile dropped instantly. “It’s really S-rank?”

His first thought was that she was just bluffing as an S-rank mental power could, at most, maintain an A-grade mecha. Even touching an S-grade mecha would be impossible. The mecha manufacturing field is brutal and talent decides everything.

“Truly S-rank.” Jiang Momo nodded.

Her most recent employment physical examination showed that result.

Li Yu sneered, his eyes turning sharp. “Then how did someone like you get Major General Lu’s personal endorsement and sign into the First Military District as a repair technician?”

Li Yu’s mind was spinning with thoughts. Such low mental power? Such poor aptitude? Major General Lu wasn’t the kind of person to be forced by power, so there had to be more to it!

Suddenly, a light bulb went off in Li Yu’s head. He got it! No wonder Major General Lu had called him over for the study tour right after signing the contract. It must’ve been a hint.

Even someone like this made it. If you’re willing, you could join too!

Without Major General Lu, would the research institute really punish him just because of some random complaint? Of course not!

This was his chance. Major General Lu had extended an olive branch, so he had to seize it. As soon as they got back, he’d go straight to Major General Lu to volunteer!

“How do you know about the contract?” Jiang Momo asked.

“Verbal agreements at the upper levels of the military are public, especially if they involve military budget allocations,” Li Yu said, arms crossed. He added provocatively under her puzzled gaze, “But never mind that. What do you think of your so-called students’ performance? Can we wrap this up now?”

“What do you mean by ‘so-called’ students?” Jiang Momo frowned.

“Exactly what it sounds like,” Li Yu said, still with his arms crossed. “Don’t tell me you’re claiming you trained them yourself?”

“Of course I did,” Jiang Momo replied directly.

“Not even a little help from Professor Ge Qing?” Li Yu asked, smirking.

Jiang Momo hesitated. “I wouldn’t say no help at all. Professor Ge did…” …helped her teach one class.

“Then what’s there to argue about?” Li Yu cut her off flatly.

Jiang Momo took a deep breath. “You…”

Not giving her a chance to speak, Li Yu rolled his eyes and turned to leave.

Jiang Momo was full of question marks. What was with the guy? His attitude changed so fast?!

***

Because Li Yu never called for a break, Shi Qin had to lead the students through assembling the entire mecha within two hours just to complete the current task.

Li Yu didn’t spare Jiang Momo a single glance. Once the mecha was assembled, he dropped off the pre-recorded lesson and took the lead to leave.

Jiang Momo brought up the rear of the group, making sure all her students were accounted for.

The path ahead grew wider and they soon emerged from the forest. A range of stone-pile-like hills stretched out before them.

When Jiang Momo stood atop the first hill and looked back, she saw that Ge Qing had already brought the newly arrived students to the spot they had just been. Around them, the little animals they’d seen earlier were scampering through the woods in groups, rushing toward the crowd.

Xiang Jiuming, who had been walking a few meters ahead of Jiang Momo, turned around when he noticed she’d stopped. He looked around and walked back to stand beside her.

“Teacher Momo, are you looking at the animals? I’ve been here before and they’re this tourist planet’s main attraction. Tickets are super expensive just because of them. Usually, you’re only allowed to stay one night and two days maximum and you have to leave by six in the evening on the second day,” Xiang Jiuming said. “Professor Ge is really amazing, his students go into all kinds of fields. I can kind of understand why the class monitor wants to stay.”

Jiang Momo looked at him in slight surprise. “You want to stay too?”

“Of course not. After hearing Teacher Li Yu’s talk, I want to go to the research institute even more. I think with my abilities, I can definitely reform the bad culture there,” Xiang Jiuming said confidently. “There’s no way I’d give up on my dream of becoming an S-grade mecha manufacturer just because of a few obstacles!”

Jiang Momo patted his shoulder in encouragement. “Good luck.”

“Thanks, Teacher. But you don’t have to feel bad. The wild animals are really alert. Once we check into the theme hotel tonight, each room will have two or three of them to keep you company,” Xiang Jiuming said to comfort her.

Jiang Momo wasn’t actually disappointed but she still accepted the comfort graciously. “Thanks. Let’s go, don’t fall too far behind the others.”

***

Over the next two days, under Li Yu’s relentless effort, the graduating class’s mecha assembly speed improved dramatically. They could now build complete mechas quickly and with full concentration in almost any environment.

Meanwhile, Jiang Momo still hadn’t seen a single small animal up close. Even on the day they checked into the theme hotel, the little critters placed in her room bolted through the glass as soon as they saw her.

That went on for three days.

On the evening of the third day, Jiang Momo happened to walk past Li Yu’s room and, to her surprise, noticed the door was open. She peeked in and saw him working on a half-damaged S-grade mecha shell, his expression serious and sweat beading on his forehead. He seemed to be in the middle of repairing the metal neural fibers.

Knowing she shouldn’t interrupt at a time like that, Jiang Momo started to quietly back away, even though Li Yu had always treated her with zero politeness.

“Agh, failed again!” Li Yu suddenly let go of the part, sighed, and collapsed onto the carpet beside him. Spotting her, he called out, “Hey, where’re you going? Are you afraid of getting caught watching high-grade mecha repairs?”

“Of course not. Didn’t you hear I’ve already signed my contract? I can fix S-grade mechas,” Jiang Momo replied, giving him a strange look. “Your research institute lets you bring mechas out like this? So you’ve been at this since dinner? That’s intense.”

“No, I just started.” Li Yu chuckled. “See, you know nothing. You can’t work on mechas right after eating. It messes with your mental power.”

Jiang Momo had never heard that before. “But you’ve just started and you’re already exhausted?”

“What do you know? Repairing the metal neural fibers is the hardest and most energy-draining part of the entire mecha repair process. Normally, we take turns with two people per part,” Li Yu said proudly, lifting his chin like a general surveying the battlefield. “Even if you’ve somehow learned the theory, it takes at least three to five years of practice to actually pull it off.”

Jiang Momo blinked and her smile faded. “Is it really that hard?”

“Why don’t you try? I’ll give you my spot!” Li Yu stood up and stepped aside, motioning for her to take over.

Jiang Momo didn’t move. “Why should I do your work while you get paid? On what basis?”

She suddenly realized what was going on. It was clearly a provocation. He wanted to slack off and trick her into doing his work, so he kept pushing her buttons. Now the trap was obvious.

Too cunning!

“If you can’t do it, just admit you can’t. If you can install that panel, I’ll get on my knees and bow to you!” Li Yu scoffed.

Jiang Momo gave him a disdainful glance. “Trying to get out of work by kneeling? No way.”

Li Yu: “???”

What kind of twisted logic was that?

“I’ll add two more pieces of S-grade mecha shell material.” Li Yu proudly held up two fingers.

As researchers, they had a monthly quota for material panels if damaged. If they didn’t use it, they could pick two material panels to take home.

“Deal.”

Jiang Momo walked over, crouched down, and looked Li Yu in the eye. About ten seconds later, she stood up with a calm face.

“Why are you looking at me? Start fixing it!” Li Yu saw her movements and grinned victoriously. “What? Are you going to say there was no agreed price to delay things? Forget it, I’m telling you—”

Jiang Momo cut him off. “It’s fixed.”

She dusted off her pants, though there was no dust, and turned to leave. “I’ll collect the two material panels later when I need them.”

Li Yu immediately lifted the material panel. “Did you even try to make that lie believable? What did you even fix?”

That short amount of time wasn’t even enough to tune mental power frequency.

Jiang Momo ignored him, leaving behind a cool silhouette and even closed the door for him. Just before the door shut, she heard Li Yu’s clearly shocked yell.

***

The next morning, Jiang Momo arrived at the cafeteria and everyone eating breakfast were familiar faces. They were all her own students and not a single student from the other grades was present.

“Am I late?” Jiang Momo sat down beside Ge Qing, tapping her wrist on the table to bring up the floating menu and started ordering.

Ge Qing put down his chopsticks. “No, the other students and teachers haven’t gotten up yet. They looked really tired when they got back last night, so I told them they could gather a bit later.”

Jiang Momo frowned. “Weren’t they not involved in the mecha assembly these past three days?”

She’d been with her graduating class the whole time and barely saw the others. Did they have another project?

“I thought it was strange too but they really didn’t look like they were faking it.” Ge Qing furrowed his brows.

“They didn’t. Their teachers’ dark circles were practically hanging off their cheekbones,” a soft, well-mannered voice rang beside Jiang Momo, slightly embarrassed.

She turned and saw Li Yu awkwardly squirming as he sat down beside her.

Her hand, mid-order, paused. “What’s wrong with you?”

Why do you look like you’ve been possessed?

“It’s nothing. I just wanted to ask if you had time to discuss S-grade mecha repair techniques,” Li Yu said.

E/N:
Lu Feng: Momo, I asked the institute to send help.
Li Yu: He wants me uwu.