Chapter 12: Crisis and Opportunity

Fear!

Fear from the bottom of his heart!

Even the boss of the 【Cassette Corps】—Soundwave—is incredibly wary of Starscream, and even warned him repeatedly not to get close to Starscream before sending Frenzy to Barricade.

Starscream is not only powerful, but also has a vicious and unpredictable personality; yet, he happens to be one of the premier scientists of the Decepticon Legion.

If he wanted to, breaking through the security protections of the 【Spy Template】 and browsing all the data in Sun Cheng's memory chip would be nothing more than a breeze.

At the thought that his identity as a transmigrator might be exposed because of this, Sun Cheng's unease intensified, but since Starscream was right beside him, he couldn't run even if he wanted to; he could only secretly heighten his vigilance, standing there stiffly while watching Starscream and carefully keeping guard.

Starscream looked down at him from a high vantage point, the smile on his face growing thicker, and the killing intent in his red electronic eyes becoming increasingly clear.

He still said to Sun Cheng with a beaming smile: "It seems our little friend doesn't seem to trust me very much..."

Barricade walked over slowly and bowed respectfully to him, "That is because he does not yet know of your greatness, Lord Starscream!"

After finishing his words, he turned his face to look at Sun Cheng, his ferocious face also packed with a smile.

"Crawl, offer your loyalty to the great Leader!"

"No, no, no... Barricade, there is no need to intimidate our little friend like that..." Starscream smiled and also walked toward Sun Cheng, not expecting a Worker who was moving equipment to accidentally bump into his leg, then fall down with a 'clatter', the machine parts he was holding scattering all over the ground.

Starscream looked down at the Worker, the smile on his face not fading, but he bent down slightly, picked him up, and ignoring the Worker's struggle, tore him into two halves with a single pull of his hands, then carelessly threw him onto the open ground next to Sun Cheng, making two loud 'thuds'.

The sound made Sun Cheng's chassis tremble slightly, yet he still dared not move, only able to stand honestly where he was, watching uneasily as Starscream slowly walked to his side, then leaned down, bringing his head as close as possible to him, and still smilingly revealing a mouth full of ferocious teeth, saying to him unhurriedly: "I want you to do two things for me..."

As soon as he said this, Sun Cheng felt that his heart, which had been in his throat, could finally be put back for the time being.

Since Starscream needed him to do things, he probably wouldn't take action against him, at least not before the tasks were completed.

However, what exactly the other party wanted him to do made Sun Cheng's inner unease grow a few points more.

Seeing that the other party kept his eyes fixed on him as soon as he finished speaking, it was clear he was waiting for his stance.

Concerning his own life, Sun Cheng dared not delay and hurriedly agreed, "Lord Starscream, it is my honor to serve you!"

Although he said this, he had made up his mind that after leaving this broken Base, he must find a way to return to his original world; it was simply too dangerous here!

As expected of Starscream, a deep-scheming overlord; seeing him agree so readily, the smile on his face suddenly vanished, and even the look in his eyes became cold.

"Do not try to fool me; if I want to kill you, Soundwave would never dare to say a word against it!" He warned Sun Cheng calmly, his tone flat but his killing intent fully exposed.

His body trembled violently; Sun Cheng truly believed this. He knew very well that with Soundwave's combat power and the strength of the 【Cassette Corps】, it was impossible for them to fight Starscream for the sake of a low-level spy like himself, because there was no chance of winning.

Sun Cheng even suspected that perhaps even if Soundwave's pet and confidant—Laserbeak—were killed by Starscream, he might not dare to start a war with Starscream.

Unless Shockwave had also arrived on Earth, or the Leader he served—Megatron—returned.

After quickly recognizing his current dire situation, Sun Cheng completely dispelled some of the thoughts in his heart and immediately imitated Barricade, bowing respectfully to him, "Decepticon spy—Frenzy, is happy to serve you. Lord Starscream, what are your orders, please instruct..."

"Very good!"

Starscream's eyes rolled, and he suddenly asked, "First, tell me about the Task Soundwave sent you to Earth for!"

Sun Cheng's body jolted, blue light flickering in his eyes. Although he had long expected that Starscream could not be fooled by a few words of loyalty, he did not expect the other party to be so decisive, giving him no chance to report to Soundwave at all.

Sensing that Barricade beside him seemed to have moved, his sense of crisis deepened, and he immediately made a decision, not daring to hide anything and directly selling out Soundwave.

"Lord Soundwave sent me to follow Lord Barricade to Earth with two main tasks. First, to assist Lord Barricade in searching for any clues regarding Lord Megatron and the 【AllSpark】; second, to investigate the reason why you suddenly left Cybertron and came to Earth decades ago!"

A brilliant smile bloomed on Starscream's face again, a pair of blood-red eyes emitting ominous light staring fixedly at him, still pursuing the question: "When will Blackout arrive in the Solar System? Did Shockwave come too?"

Blackout is also one of the Elite Warriors of the Decepticon Legion; he is a die-hard supporter of Megatron, and his relationship with both Starscream and Barricade is somewhat tense.

However, Sun Cheng felt that what Starscream wanted to know might not be information about Blackout, but about Shockwave.

The disappearance of the Leader Megatron clearly caused the Decepticon Legion, accustomed to his autocratic rule, to be filled with various factions and infighting; among them, the two largest forces were undoubtedly Starscream and Shockwave.

Both of these men were Megatron's right-hand men. The former had repeatedly launched rebellions before Megatron disappeared, and his ambition went without saying. After he suddenly left the planet Cybertron and came to the Solar System decades ago, he built a Moon Base; if one were to say it was truly to find Megatron, even Starscream himself probably wouldn't believe it.

Strictly speaking, Shockwave cannot be counted as a single force, because this interim Commander of the Decepticon Legion, like Blackout and Soundwave, is a supporter of Megatron. The reason the Decepticon Legion was able to continue controlling Cybertron after Megatron disappeared is definitely due to Shockwave's contribution, and at the same time, he should be the person Starscream fears most after Megatron.

Without a doubt, these two questions from Starscream really stumped Sun Cheng.

Although he had once used Blackout to intimidate Barricade, Sun Cheng really didn't know when Blackout would arrive in the Solar System; he only knew from Frenzy's memory data that Soundwave had mentioned Blackout would arrive soon.

As for Shockwave, besides knowing the other party's identity, he didn't even know what he looked like.

Organizing his speech, Sun Cheng then replied: "Lord Blackout may arrive in the Solar System soon; as for Lord Shockwave, Lord Soundwave has never revealed any information about him!"

The implication was, 'My boss Soundwave might know, but he didn't tell me.'

Starscream clearly heard the meaning in his words immediately, or perhaps, he never expected a low-level Decepticon spy like Sun Cheng to possess such classified intelligence.

Therefore, there was no sign of impatience on his face; instead, Starscream groped from under his rib and tossed a gray crystal the size of a walnut to Sun Cheng's feet.

"The answer is satisfactory enough; this Tier 2 【Scout Template】 is your reward. After the matter is finished, I will reward you with a 【Spark】!"

"What?"

Sun Cheng's 【Core】 jumped wildly, instinctively thinking he had misheard.

But when he bent down and picked up the gray crystal Starscream had thrown from the ground, he immediately felt a scorching heat throughout his body, and his mind was filled with a sudden surge of excitement and thrill; it was as if a voice was constantly prompting him to quickly accept this gray crystal, as it was the key that could allow him to evolve into something stronger.

In an instant, Sun Cheng fell into ecstasy.

PS: Considering the acceptance of all you readers, this book is based on the movie version of "Transformers".

Only when I really started writing did I realize that while Hollywood screenwriters are professional, they left too many plot holes when adapting from anime to commercial films. To avoid being unable to connect with the plots of the following major movies, I had to use my own imagination to clean up their mess.