The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 78

“Huh?!” Ge Qing snapped his head toward Jiang Momo at Li Yu’s words, making an instinctive sound of confusion.

Jiang Momo, puzzled by his reaction, said, “I thought you already knew.”

Didn’t he look like he understood everything when she asked him for something that could finish three months’ worth of work in one day? Why was he acting so shocked now?

Ge Qing glanced at Li Yu who was now looking at Jiang Momo with total admiration and took a deep breath. “I did but I didn’t know you were so professional.”

Based on her past performance, Jiang Momo should’ve just recently learned how to make S-grade mechas and still be in the early stages, knowing a bit but not skilled.

But Li Yu’s expression crushed that theory. As a teacher, Ge Qing knew how arrogant Li Yu was. Unless someone could truly overwhelm him with ability, he wouldn’t even be civil. For him to act so deferentially meant Jiang Momo had surpassed most of the research institute’s mecha manufacturers.

Ge Qing looked at Jiang Momo with curiosity. “How did you manage it?”

Jiang Momo pointed to the center of her forehead.

Ge Qing immediately understood.

He certainly hadn’t forgotten Jiang Momo’s exceptionally strong mental power.

“So, Momo showed you the metal neural fibers embedding process?” Ge Qing asked Li Yu.

Li Yu nodded hard. “I’ve never seen a mecha manufacturer do it so effortlessly! I always suspected the research institute was hiding some secret technique from me and now I know I was right!”

Ge Qing wanted to say something but held back. “It might not just be about technique.”

“It has to be technique! I have SS-rank mental power!” Li Yu was fired up like he’d just taken a shot of adrenaline.

“SS-rank?” Jiang Momo repeated.

“At the research institute, that’s just middle to lower tier.” Ge Qing finally couldn’t help but burst his bubble.

Li Yu wasn’t discouraged at all. “But I work hard! I’m better than most of those SSS-rank repair techs! You know me, Professor Ge, I’ve always looked down on those talent-only freeloaders! For someone with S-rank mental power like Jiang Momo to reach this level, she must’ve worked ten times harder. That’s the goal I’m chasing!”

Ge Qing was visibly holding himself back, nearly choking on his words.

On one hand, he wanted to protect Jiang Momo’s secret. On the other, he didn’t want to leave his former student completely in the dark.

Sensing Ge Qing’s dilemma, Jiang Momo quickly stepped in. “There’s definitely technique involved. But I’m not telling you.”

“Why not?” Li Yu didn’t understand.

“Would you casually teach someone how to make an S-grade mecha?” Jiang Momo asked.

She emphasized the word ‘casually.’

You think you can learn everything from a single offhand request?

They weren’t even that close. If it had been E Mingjun, Yan Chang, Ling Yelin, or one of her students, she would’ve gladly taught them everything. As for Li Yu, he needed to show some sincerity at the very least.

Li Yu understood and grumbled, “I knew it. It’s all the Federation’s damn secrecy policy!”

With that, he got up and left, quickly disappearing from the cafeteria.

“Alas. Talent can’t be replaced by hard work. There’s no technique for making S-grade mechas,” Ge Qing sighed.

“That’s not necessarily true,” Jiang Momo replied flatly.

Ge Qing looked thoughtful. “So, there really is?”

“Yeah.” Jiang Momo nodded and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, “Keep your mental power at high frequency, focus on the outermost part of both sides of the cracks, and apply even pressure. Wrapping instead of squeezing will be faster.”

She discovered it through repeated experiments while repairing mechas at the military training base. As long as the metal neural fibers were evenly embedded into the material panels, they could function normally. But if you just compressed everything at once, the metal neural fibers would resist, costing more time and mental power.

Products made with those two different methods had subtle differences. If Li Yu observed carefully, he might even be able to tell.

Ge Qing was stunned, his pupils trembling rapidly in small ranges, as if deep in thought.

“Yes, that’s right, it really is…” Ge Qing murmured.

“Professor Ge, you never noticed this before?” Jiang Momo couldn’t quite understand.

It wasn’t even some advanced technique, right? Just now, she thought Professor Ge was pretending not to know as a test!

“Maintaining the mental power within half the thickness of the material panel requires extremely high precision. Most people already use up most of their focus just trying to apply even pressure. They have no energy left for variable control.” Ge Qing quickly grasped the key point. “I’m someone with decent talent but I still struggle when making S-grade mechas, let alone others.”

Jiang Momo understood. “So other people can’t use this method?”

“Probably not,” Ge Qing said directly. “But Li Yu might be able to. Because his mental power is low, he naturally controls it more strictly every time he uses it. His precision far exceeds most people.”

“What a shame.”

Jiang Momo automatically ignored the second half and shook her head. She picked up the breakfast brought by the robot and dug in.

After finishing breakfast, she was surprised to find that aside from her own students, no one else had come out.

“Professor Ge, when does today’s activity start?” Jiang Momo asked, glancing at Ge Qing who was watching the news.

“Another hour.” Ge Qing checked the time. “The teachers and students might not be adjusting well to the environment. They looked really tired these past two days.”

“Alright, I’ll wait in my room then.” Jiang Momo stood up and walked off. On the way, a student came out of their room and brushed past her like a ghost.

The student looked unusually exhausted, comparable to Shi Qin and the others when they overdrawn their mental power while trying to find the multiple energy pathways.

Feeling something was off, Jiang Momo quickly stepped back and grabbed his shoulder. The student trembled all over and collapsed backward.

Startled, Jiang Momo caught him instinctively.

Ge Qing had been following behind at a short distance and quickly stepped forward when he saw her move. “What happened?”

“Professor Ge, he fainted. Were all the other students like this too?” Jiang Momo asked.

Ge Qing was shocked. “No, how did it get this bad overnight?! Is there something wrong with this hotel?”

Jiang Momo didn’t think so. “But my students are all fine. Li Yu too.”

Ge Qing took the student from her and said anxiously, “It’s strange. Clearly, your students have been the most active these two days, yet the others look completely drained. How could this be?!”

Jiang Momo thought for a while, various possibilities flashing through her mind. “Looking at their condition, they probably won’t be able to join today’s activities. Should we return early?”

“We have to. They need a physical check-up.” Ge Qing made a quick decision and arranged check-out for everyone.

Soon, all the remaining teachers and students, along with their luggage, were packed up by service robots and transported to the spaceship.

This time, Jiang Momo didn’t ride the same ship she came on. She boarded the one carrying students from other grades along with Ge Qing.

Inside the cabin, the students were slumped and strapped to their seats, completely unconscious.

Ge Qing moved between seats, examining the students with a frown. “It’ll take four hours to get back to the Capital Star. I should’ve organized the return trip yesterday when I noticed something was wrong. It’s all my fault. If something really happens, I won’t be able to explain this to their families…”

“Don’t panic, Professor Ge. It probably isn’t anything serious.” Jiang Momo placed a hand on his shoulder to reassure him. “Maybe they’ll recover soon.”

Ge Qing shook his head. “I thought the same last night but now it’s clearly worse.”

Time passed slowly under Ge Qing’s guilt-ridden self-blame. But about ten minutes before landing, the students began waking up one after another.

“Huh? We’re on the way back? Isn’t there still one day left? Did I lose my memory?”

“Ow, my neck hurts. It feels like I slept funny.”

“It feels like I slept forever. By the way, how did we get on the ship? I don’t remember a thing.”

As the cabin filled with their chatter, Jiang Momo and Ge Qing exchanged a silent look from the back of the cabin.

“They seem to be fine now,” Jiang Momo whispered.

Ge Qing nodded. “You seem like you already have a theory about this?”

“I remember clearly that we were never around small animals,” Jiang Momo said.

Ge Qing hesitated. “But during rest times, they were in our rooms.”

“Then it’s likely a matter of exposure duration.” Jiang Momo lowered her head, rubbing her chin. “Xiang Jiuming once told me that no one should stay on that tourist planet longer than two days and one night.”

Ge Qing instantly realized and was overwhelmed by guilt. “It’s my fault. I should’ve looked into that earlier.”

“Take them for a full body check when we get back, just to be safe.” Jiang Momo leaned against the wall and exhaled.

Judging by how the planet governor Eli acted before, he probably knew the small animals had side effects. But clearly, instead of reporting it to the outside world, he chose to control visit durations to avoid exposure. Was that even legal?

[Of course not,] Little Eight’s calm voice replied.

[If you want to pursue legal action, Yan Chang has a 300-person legal team you can borrow.]

“Let’s wait for the test results first,” Jiang Momo muttered. “We need evidence. We need to understand what exactly happened to them.”

[Based on the analysis, the students’ condition was 68% likely caused by mental power loss, 30% by radiation, and 2% by an allergic reaction.]

“Mental power loss…” Jiang Momo fell silent for a moment. “So those little animals might have absorbed their mental power?”

[Not necessarily. It could be energy absorption instead. If the body runs out of energy, it can’t retain mental power. We don’t have enough data to confirm which it is,] Little Eight said.

“Energy absorption?” Jiang Momo was startled. “I remember a type of alien beast with that ability.”

The Federation no longer used the term ‘energy’ because everything was referred to as mental power nowadays. But she clearly remembered that word because when she was little, she had suffered badly at the hands of such a creature.

“I need to inform Major General Lu.” Jiang Momo made a quick decision and opened her light brain to start drafting a message.