Chapter 755 - 35: The Second Option

What does Night City look like? Even Johnny himself isn’t sure anymore.

But as Lille had imagined, Johnny’s appearance, Johnny’s consciousness came from a method he can’t understand, which has been accompanying him since he awoke—the "system."

Events are bound to be recorded, and the records not only include Johnny’s verbose rants and low-rent jokes but also every time he appears, how Lille’s hardware changes, including how the spark source carries Johnny’s consciousness and binds him with Lille.

Tracing back to the source, if Lille has any way to "locate" another dimension, it would only be the energy characteristics of Johnny’s appearance and the energy changes when Johnny thinks.

Johnny was bewildered by Lille’s request, but he still sat honestly in front of Optimus Prime, frowning like a meditating monk, pressing his brow.

Night City, Free City, City of Decadence, City of Indulgence, City of Nothingness.

Their world... is a complete mess.

A stranger appeared, and Optimus Prime’s mind became somewhat clear:

"You... you’re not a Decepticon! Who are you!"

Sss!

Optimus Prime was so excited that his spark went into overload, but Lille immediately increased the charging specifications, almost filling the energy conduits!

[Warning!]

[Your hardware power is struggling to support the further power boost of the ark reactor!]

[If the current power is maintained, the spark energy may overflow!]

Lille ignored it entirely, directly boosting the frequency of the core computing module, overclocking to the hardware limit!

The thinking capability among silicon-based lifeforms accelerated increasingly, Lille controlling the engineering robot, pulling out a massive laser cutter:

[Lille: Who I am doesn’t matter; what’s important is... you need to help me calculate. Otherwise, I’ll make your ideals vanish into thin air.]

"I get it... you want to reach a special place, and this place’s coordinates... no... these data don’t comply with the fundamental laws of this universe.

It would cause the energy required for transport to rise sharply... The energy pillars in the spaceship are only enough to relocate Cybertron to any position in the Milky Way, if it’s the coordinates you provided...

I’ve never seen such coordinates, but it can be calculated, the energy requirement will conform to the ⟦Ɓ⸎ⵅᴚ⸮⭭ function...

You can calculate it yourself; it’s an impossible demand unless... another path is taken."

Optimus Prime obediently assisted Lille in the calculation, and surprisingly, he even communicated the calculation method and specific correction adjustments.

Once Lille completed the calculation as well, he immediately understood the implication of Optimus Prime’s actions:

Optimus Prime’s hoarse voice sounded.

"The answer you seek is just that." His voice was cold and emotionless, "Harvest the energy of this star, transform it into spark energy, for the energy that prospers mine is far more efficient in bridging space than any energy in this universe."

[You have learned a new technology]

[Space Bridge]

[Description: Utilizing the high-dimensional energy of the spark source to tear a rift outside dimensions, traversing space and time distances.]

[Note: Activating the space bridge will restore cross-dimensional material transmission functions and interdimensional communication.]

[Now you know how to use these energy pillars, what will you do?]

[Reward Technology Points: 3000]

[Current Technology Points: 26400]

Lille’s heart rippled, he obtained all the technology and methods.

But the answer left him... with mixed feelings.

Optimus Prime’s voice echoed again: "Help us harvest this star, and Cybertron will be grateful to you, I will help you return to the home you long for..."

[Johnny: What’s this guy saying? Does he mean we have to blow up the sun here?]

This time Johnny wasn’t being dumb.

...

Sam returned home, embraced his parents and girlfriend, watched the news together. Just like other ordinary people, he sat restlessly at home, waiting for new news.

But the network and communications were either controlled by Decepticons or Lille, plunged into supporting the battlefield control.

The only thing the world’s people knew was that aliens were waging war in their homeland...

If they looked up, they could see Decepticon paratroopers sweeping the atmosphere like meteors, along with busy planes and drones.

However, as the battlefield heated up intensely, the sky became clearer.

People’s hearts were heavy yet helpless, knowing nothing, feeling as if they were secretly voted on their life and death by others. At the moment the answer came out, only life and death remained as outcomes.

Sam couldn’t stand it, he felt his heart gripped wildly, impatience was suffocating him, and staying at home any longer, he feared going mad.

"Damn!"

Sam kicked his dog’s toy rolling ball flying.

Buzz––

Just then, a rickety old car drove down the empty street toward his house!

Sam suddenly felt a little disoriented: it was just like when he didn’t yet know Bumblebee was a Transformer, the way it came toward him in its old ragged secondhand car form...

But this time, it wasn’t a Transformer...

He saw a familiar face!

It was Simmons, the agent from the former Zone 7!

Even though Zone 7 was disbanded because of him, this person is definitely one of the humans who knows the most about Transformers on Earth.

Scree——

The car stopped at Sam’s house, Sam was dumbfounded, and Simmons glared at him, a mix of helplessness, estrangement, and also some... exasperation.

"Are you still going to keep watching? I think that Doctor Doom mesmerized all of you, get in the car!"

"For what?"

"Get in the car!" Simmons stuck his head out of the window irritably, his clothes snagged by the car’s edge, "That guy has been investigating our previous files, and also... I didn’t hear anything about an upcoming lunar mission from Mei Country, someone launched the Moon to Earth.

Did you know about this? Is it related to your alien friends?"

Sam shook his head blankly, and Simmons pulled his head back: "That’s right, Decepticons, or that Doctor Doom, someone is definitely interested in something on the Moon, details determine success, we need to know what’s being hidden!

Get in the car, lead the way!"

...

Boom!

Optimus Prime was sent flying by the immense force, Fallen Decepticon walked to the ruins of the Shattered Temple, striking the centuries-old relics with a scepter!

The metal scepter shook, rocks fell, revealing a metallic grave.

The corpses of other Primordial Transformers were clumped together, inside glowed faint blue light...

"No..."

The defensive line was being torn apart step by step, just like the hope within Optimus Prime.

Every inch of the battlefield crumbles under the fierce barrage of artillery fire, soldiers collapsing beside the ruins and corpses, the buzzing sound coming from the electromagnetic rifle in their hands.

Fallen Decepticon withdrew the scepter, and the grave shattered...

The leadership module was right here.

...

The leadership module, about to fall into Fallen Decepticon’s hands.

In the original story, when Sam came in contact with it, it turned into fragments, which tested the bearers with the lingering consciousness of those Primordial Transformers to see if they were worthy of using it. Sam embraced the powder of the leadership module, reached Optimus Prime’s side, and earned their recognition, obtaining the true leadership module.

But if the other Primordial Transformers’ consciousness disagreed, Fallen Decepticon wouldn’t be able to use it... why would they hide it otherwise?

[Johnny: You really want to blow up the Earth here?]

Johnny squatted by the Ark’s wreckage, using the sensor on the rocket, looking at Earth from the Moon.

He had never seen Earth from here, had never seen the stars from here.

Two completely different worlds, yet from this angle, they are almost identical.

He was also bewildered: he knew this was an asshole move, but he was an asshole himself, what right did he have to stop Lille?

Looking at that one who wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice himself, with the hope of returning home in sight, with the chance to save the homeland right here, yet still fighting like a fool, like a "Cybertron traitor," Optimus Prime...

He suddenly felt a bit ashamed.

But Johnny Silverhand had lived his whole life in shame and guilt, and he was accustomed to it.

[Johnny: This is good too, after all... our otherworldly compatriots and alien friends, seem destined to lose... this war never had anything to do with us anyway.]

The energy pillars beside him started to operate, Lille began to manipulate these energy pillars according to Optimus Prime’s instructions while extracting more spark energy from his body!

Johnny didn’t need to look back to know Lille was activating the Space Bridge, he just stared at this planet, speaking without turning around:

[Johnny: I guess we don’t have much of a choice, welcome to the asshole club.]

[Lille: Sorry, between the two of us, only you are the asshole.]

There are no perfect options in this world, but at life’s crossroads, there are never just one choice.

Never find an excuse for becoming an asshole.