The Real Daughter Just Wants to Pilot Mechas - Chapter 90

Lu Feng looked a bit regretful. “That’s a shame. I was hoping to see its full power.”

“Can’t you pilot it yourself?” Jiang Momo suggested.

By now, the rest of the squad had already joined the battlefield. Inside the warship, only Jiang Momo and Lu Feng remained.

Lu Feng stared at Jiang Momo for a while. “No leader would rush to the frontlines themselves during battle.”

“Is that a rule?” Jiang Momo asked.

Lu Feng shook his head. “It’s tradition.”

“Then you can be the first leader to do it,” Jiang Momo replied without hesitation. “With your ability, it must be suffocating to just sit back and watch them fight, right?”

Back when Little Eight gave her information, it said Lu Feng was a combat type. But after so many missions together, he’d never taken action himself. She was genuinely curious about his abilities.

Lu Feng, who opened his mouth but nothing came out: “…”

Of course he was suffocating. Every time he commanded from behind, he wanted nothing more than to rush out and join the fight.

But he couldn’t. No corps commander would do that, especially in the Central Star System. If word got out, the higher-ups would demand an explanation.

“Anyway, no one will know whether it’s you or me in the mecha. Just go fight and the credit will go under my name.” Jiang Momo patted his shoulder jokingly.

She didn’t expect Lu Feng to actually agree.

He casually took back the space button from her hand and brought her to the warship’s control room, pulling up a light screen for her. “This is the command panel. You can tap or draw lines directly to issue commands to the mecha.”

Lu Feng had used the command system before. The reason he could hand it over to Jiang Momo was because he had trained with it and knew that it relied primarily on the pilot’s judgment, with the system’s input as guidance.

Jiang Momo raised her chin slightly to look at the large light screen. It displayed a 50-kilometer terrain map, with red dots marking the positions of their squad’s mechas and black dots marking the alien beasts.

Above each red dot, the squad members’ names were shown, only about the size of a pinky nail.

Jiang Momo tapped one of the black dots. A high-resolution image of the alien beast appeared on the screen, so detailed she could see food remnants between its teeth.

She held the screen and dragged it left and right, rotating the alien beast in 360 degrees.

While Jiang Momo was having a great time playing with the system, Lu Feng piloted the mecha into battle. Like a shooting star, he dove into the fray. It had been a long time since he last fought alien beasts face-to-face and he was so thrilled he thought he could hear his heartbeat and the wind rushing past his ears.

Lu Feng’s entry drastically eased the pressure on the battlefield.

As he fought, familiar voices came through the communicator. They were his long-time comrades teasing him.

“Comrade Jiang Momo really is powerful. Judging by her fighting style, she must’ve learned directly from our Major General Lu!”

“Hey, don’t say that. Our Master Momo can crush alien beasts’ skulls with her bare hands. This is nothing!”

“True. Honestly, I think the mecha is holding her back. Her aura and energy feel totally different today.”

The super S-grade mecha paused for a second.

In the next moment, the pilots’ views shifted and a red dot appeared above one alien beast’s head.

“The command system activated? In the middle of such an intense battle and Major General Lu is pulling this trick again?!”

“What does this dot mean? A weak point?”

“Not necessarily. These command markers are always half-real, half-fake. The general says it’s to prevent the warship from being overrun…”

“What’s going on? Why did Master Momo charge in?”

Lu Feng really didn’t want to keep hearing their chatter. He accelerated and struck the red-marked point before his squad could get there.

The alien beast let out a scream and collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Cheers erupted instantly.

“Master Momo is amazing!”

“As expected of that woman. Cool.”

Lu Feng ignored the praise and scanned the surroundings. Other than his immediate squad, only a few others were just starting to catch on and rush over.

He sighed silently.

The soldiers from the Central Star System had terrible combat instincts.

“Another red dot appeared!” a startled voice rang out.

Lu Feng looked around.

One by one, red dots appeared on different parts of the alien beasts’ bodies, glowing with a sharp light.

Thanks to the earlier demonstration, the squad didn’t hesitate this time. They swarmed forward and began targeting the so-called ‘weak points.’

Lu Feng glanced at them and then turned his attention to the two nearby alien beast kings.

Jiang Momo sat in the command chair as she watched the little red dot labeled with her name move toward the two fiercest alien beasts. She quickly adjusted the camera to follow.

She had renamed that red dot herself. Since Lu Feng agreed the credit would go to her, she had to make the act convincing.

On-screen, the super S-grade mecha was stealthily closing in on the two alien beast kings. Strangely, the alien beasts that normally were hypersensitive to sound and movement didn’t seem to notice at all. They kept their eyes locked on another mecha nearby, ready to strike.

“This is insane. Why can’t the alien beasts sense him?” Jiang Momo jumped to her feet. “I want to learn that!”

The rest of the battle held no surprises. All the weak points Jiang Momo identified were accurate. After Lu Feng took down the two alien beast kings, he immediately returned to the warship before anyone else.

After jumping down from the mecha, he looked at Jiang Momo as she came out and silently dipped his fingers into purified water and flicked it onto her face.

Jiang Momo instinctively closed her eyes. “What’s that?”

“Sweat,” Lu Feng replied.

“This little bit of effort wouldn’t make me sweat that much.” Jiang Momo wiped her face. “You didn’t even sweat.”

Lu Feng realized what she meant and chuckled as he dried his hands. “It’s my first time doing something like this. I wasn’t prepared.”

Jiang Momo gave a mocking laugh and patted his shoulder to comfort him. “Don’t worry. You’ll have experience next time.”

Lu Feng paused. “Next time? I’m going out again?”

Jiang Momo thought for a moment. “If you feel like I’m taking credit for free, then I’ll go myself next time.”

Lu Feng lowered his eyes. “We’ll see next time.”

Even now, his blood was still boiling. Charging into battle again after so long had made him feel a flicker of the value and freedom he once held dear.

As they talked, the others finished their battles too. They didn’t bother with the mess on the ground. After confirming all the alien beasts were dead, they handed the area over to the local Federation garrison and returned to the warship in an orderly manner.

Once aboard, the members sat neatly in their original seats. If not for the gleaming eyes and grinning mouths, they would’ve looked perfectly disciplined.

The ship began its return journey.

Looking at everyone, Lu Feng noticed they seemed like they had something to say. Recalling his feat of killing two alien beast kings, he said, “Free talk. Say what you want.”

The ship instantly became lively.

“Major General Lu, you were amazing.”

“Yeah, yeah! We thought the command system was just another test. I didn’t expect it to be that accurate.”

“Right? This mission felt easier than our military simulation battles! All thanks to you.”

“I wonder when I’ll be able to develop eyesight like yours!”

Lu Feng who couldn’t bring himself to smile: “…”

Every single one of them was praising him, yet not a single word was actually praising him.

He forced a polite smile onto his face and then glanced at Jiang Momo who was hiding behind the others, grinning ear to ear, clearly soaking in all the compliments. He felt an itch in his teeth just looking at her.

Jiang Momo, meanwhile, was having the time of her life.

She loved her job! She didn’t even have to do the hard work, yet she got showered in praise. It felt way more rewarding than slaying the alien beasts herself!

The squad members kept surrounding Lu Feng and singing him praises all the way until the warship landed behind the Mecha Arena where it picked up Jiang Momo before. Even then, they wouldn’t shut up. The noise gave Lu Feng a headache, so he simply disembarked with Jiang Momo and told the others to return without him.

The warship took off.

Lu Feng looked at Jiang Momo, whose face was bright with joy, and tilted his head to ask, “Are you happy?”

“Of course. I love this mission.” Jiang Momo nodded.

No matter how powerful a person is, there’s a limit. If she’d faced those alien beasts alone, she could’ve handled them, but definitely not as easily. It felt like she suddenly had countless agile arms with the basic judgment that she could direct, freeing up her brain to process complex information without restraint in a short span of time.

Lu Feng looked at her. “Maybe you’re better suited to be a commander.”

Jiang Momo shrugged. “Maybe. But I don’t like doing just one thing for too long. My ideal life is being able to do anything I find interesting.”

Lu Feng didn’t comment on her ideal lifestyle. Instead, he turned toward the one-way door ahead. “Your friend has been waiting for a while, so I won’t intrude. See you next time.”

Jiang Momo said goodbye to Lu Feng and then waited a few more minutes until Yan Chang slowly walked out, face lighting up in surprise. “What a coincidence! I was just taking a stroll and opened the door to find you here.”

Jiang Momo nodded. “Yeah, what a coincidence.”

The door’s soundproofing was actually pretty decent.

Yan Chang had clearly seen her coming down from the warship but he didn’t ask, and she didn’t bring it up. Looking at Yan Chang’s clear eyes, Jiang Momo asked, “Are we going to the hospital now?”

“Let’s go.” Yan Chang started walking.

***

Sometime later, Jiang Momo stepped once again through the high-end-looking hospital’s entrance.

A guide robot came up with a scanner ready to scan but Yan Chang stopped it. “Take me to Yan Yunkui directly.”

The robot’s eyes blinked. Then it turned around. [Please follow me.]

Yan Chang led Jiang Momo after it.

Yan Yunkui was still waiting in his usual spot while wearing a not-so-serious smile. “Yo, you’re back again?”

“Give her a check-up,” Yan Chang said, loosely motioning toward Jiang Momo.

Yan Yunkui blinked. “Didn’t we just check her two months ago?”

Was his precious treasure so fragile?

“She says her body feels as exhausted as it did before she received the treatment agent,” Yan Chang replied. “Check her again and be thorough this time.”

“Got it.” Yan Yunkui sobered up, bringing Jiang Momo to the room she previously visited for the treatment. He opened the treatment pod’s lid and gestured for her to lie down.

Jiang Momo complied.

Yan Yunkui closed the pod, added the treatment agent to be delivered, then exited the room and shut the door.

Back in his office, Yan Yunkui sat in his chair, rubbing his brow as he watched Yan Chang pacing restlessly. “Sit down. Pacing won’t help. The more detailed the check, the slower the result.”

“I can’t sit still. If something happens to her, who’s going to build my mechas in the future?” Yan Chang was visibly anxious.

Yan Yunkui looked at him like he was hopeless. Then he propped his head up with one hand and closed his eyes for peace.

Another ten minutes later, the instrument on his desk beeped and a physical report was printed out.

Yan Chang snatched it up and glanced through it. When he couldn’t understand it, he passed it to Yan Yunkui with a frown.

Yan Yunkui read it carefully, his expression growing darker.

“Is it serious?” Yan Chang asked urgently.

“Overexhaustion,” Yan Yunkui said while comparing the data. “But the bigger problem is, her cellular activity isn’t right.”

“What do you mean?” Yan Chang asked.

“There’s something in her body constantly killing off her normal cells. But because her cell regeneration is fast, it only looks like her metabolism is accelerated,” Yan Yunkui said, frowning deeper.

“What is it?” Yan Chang pressed.

“That’s the problem. Everything in her body reads as normal,” Yan Yunkui replied. “There’s a theoretical explanation in our field that if someone’s mental power exceeds the human body’s limit, then the damage their body suffers during normal activities is equivalent to a normal person burning out mentally.”

He looked over the report again and asked, “Has she shown signs of forgetfulness lately?”

E/N: I’m wondering if Little Eight is watching them rn.