Chapter 29: Waiting for Action

The super-heavy truck that Onslaught had transformed into carried Sun Cheng forward, but after driving for only four or five minutes, he stopped again.

Sitting in the driver's seat, Sun Cheng could clearly see that, accompanied by a flash of earthy-yellow light, their vehicle seemed to be covered in a layer of camouflage, blending perfectly into the surrounding environment.

"Here they come again, these damn carbon-based lifeforms..."

Onslaught cursed; without needing a reminder, Sun Cheng had already captured the optical scanning frequency coming from outer space.

Evidently, Onslaught was a very steady individual; he was so steady that even after he felt the optical scanning frequency disappear, he waited another twenty or thirty seconds before continuing to drive Sun Cheng toward their destination. It was not until the two arrived at a location over a dozen kilometers away from the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in another direction that Sun Cheng felt the vehicle body suddenly experience a moment of weightlessness.

The next moment, he noticed that Onslaught had entered a tunnel.

"This is an emergency passage once opened by humans, likely built during the war era; it has been abandoned for a long time..." Onslaught explained to him: "After I discovered it, I modified it a bit, which allows me to sneak into the interior of the base!"

Sun Cheng nodded. He had also found information on Onslaught from Frenzy's Memory Data, though unfortunately, the original owner did not know him very well either, only knowing that Onslaught was once an operations strategist for the Decepticon Legion, and as a bit of a perfectionist, he always liked to draft a perfect plan before a war broke out.

Unfortunately, he encountered a group of Decepticon Warriors who would never seriously execute according to his plans, so following the rise of Ramjet and his becoming the strategist of the Decepticon Legion, Onslaught gradually faded into obscurity.

However, in Sun Cheng's view, Onslaught should be an outlier among the Decepticons; if it were Barricade, there would be no need to even think about it—he would definitely charge in head-on.

Seeing that Onslaught seemed quite easy to talk to, he couldn't help but have some ideas, so he tentatively asked: "Lord Onslaught, is there really a stockpile of nuclear weapons in this base?"

"Yes!"

Onslaught's answer was very certain. "Starscream once sent the Camera Trio to scout it out. Although this is an aircraft graveyard, the base also has facilities for storing missiles. Among them are nuclear warheads that this country signed agreements with other human nations to destroy as required. Clearly, those cunning humans secretly kept a portion that was not destroyed, and this is one of the storage bases!"

At the mention of nuclear warheads, Onslaught's voice was full of wariness.

For powerful Mechanical Lifeforms like the Decepticons, there were indeed things that could threaten them. Compared to their mortal enemies—the Autobots—the nuclear weapons invented by humans on Earth might be an even greater threat.

Sun Cheng was speechless. He understood the agreement Onslaught spoke of; it was likely the "Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty" signed between the United States and Russia.

Clearly, Onslaught had specifically looked into this type of information, otherwise, he could never have known this.

"But wanting to seize human nuclear weapons is not that easy..." Onslaught reminded him, "Humans keep a twenty-four-hour watch on them. Not only is the defense here tight, but there is also a military base nearby that can arrive to provide support in the shortest possible time!"

The vehicle soon stopped in the abandoned tunnel. Onslaught did not continue driving forward; instead, he transformed into his humanoid form right there in the tunnel, sat down on the ground with a thud, and stared at Sun Cheng with great interest, saying: "You know, little one. When Starscream told me he needed nuclear weapons, but could only send the Camera Squad and Barricade to assist me, I racked my brains to barely formulate a plan for a quick victory. But not long after, he told me the Camera Squad couldn't come and that I had to swap in Bonecrusher... Damn it, doesn't he know that this guy Bonecrusher is far less useful than the Camera Trio?"

Sun Cheng's eyes flickered. He was actually quite curious as to why Starscream was unwilling to take action himself.

Otherwise, with Starscream's strength, combined with the assistance of Onslaught and Barricade, the probability of seizing the nuclear weapons would undoubtedly be much higher.

Unable to figure it out and not daring to ask, he had to take the initiative to change the subject: "How many aircraft with combat capability are in this military base?"

He felt that with the caution Onslaught possessed, which was different from other Decepticons, he should have investigated it clearly.

Sure enough, just as Sun Cheng asked, the other party immediately replied, "There are a total of 117 combat aircraft in the base capable of taking off; excluding early warning aircraft and transport planes, there are 79."

After finishing, he looked at Sun Cheng, his tone faintly carrying a hint of appreciation. "I have read your plan; it is very good. Even if it were me, upon learning that you would also be joining the Task, the plan I would have come up with would likely be just like this. What do you intend to do next?"

This seemed to be a test for him.

"I do not know when Lord Starscream intends to act, but before that, I hope Lord Onslaught will allow me to infiltrate the base first to take the opportunity to scout the situation, so as to ensure that after the Task begins, I can cut off the base's external communications at the first opportunity and assist everyone in destroying a portion of the aircraft's electronic equipment."

Onslaught considered for a moment, neither agreeing nor refusing. "Your Cassette Corps should be equipped with Insect Scouts, right? To ensure the plan is not exposed prematurely, release the Insect Scouts before the Task begins!"

"Yes!"

Sun Cheng was not disappointed. 'Frenzy' carried over a hundred sets of Insect Scouts. This type of ultra-micro spy equipment was not only easy to carry but also highly concealable. If one had to mention a drawback, it was probably that the scouting radius was only about ten kilometers, and the batteries equipped inside them could only last for half an hour.

Onslaught soon projected several sets of patterns on the ground, signaling him to come closer.

Sun Cheng leaned over to take a look; some were design drawings of the abandoned underground facilities, and some were aerial photographs of the interior of the Davis-Monthan Air Force Base. He had no idea where he had gotten them.

After looking carefully for a while and memorizing them, he immediately released several sets of Insect Scouts, which flew off in various directions along the abandoned underground tunnel.

Before long, clear information regarding the base's internal facilities, patrol situations, hangars, and ammunition depots was all fed back into his Spy Template one by one.

"There are 3,345 people in this military base, including 2,214 combat personnel. It is equipped with 64 F-15 Series Fighters, 15 MH-60 Pave Low helicopters, 18 M2A3 Infantry Fighting Vehicles... The four ammunition depots are located at coordinates XXXX, XXXX, XXXX, and XXXX respectively; bombs can be planted in advance to destroy them before the action. The missile storage depot is located at coordinate XXXX; the guards rotate every two hours, there is strong electromagnetic interference nearby, and trace amounts of radiation have been detected, making it impossible to approach..."

After releasing over a dozen sets of Insect Scouts in succession and spending several hours, Sun Cheng finally mastered the facilities and distribution coefficients within the base. Only then did he let out a long breath; his confidence in completing the Task had increased by a few points, and he was just waiting for the action to begin.