Chapter 344: The Approaching Conflict

Starscream stood quietly in a dim, empty space, looking slightly upward at the hundreds of azure light cocoons hanging above his head, his eyes narrowed.

"Snap..."

A light sound of footsteps came from not far away. One of Starscream's arms moved slightly, then returned to stillness.

"You've returned, Barricade. How is the situation?"

Even without turning his head, Starscream could guess who it was that would come here to see him at this time.

Barricade—it could only be him who would still stand silently by his side while everyone else was busy fawning over The Fallen to express their loyalty.

Starscream had indeed guessed correctly; the moment his question was asked, Barricade's sharp, mechanical voice, forever filled with unsuppressed malice, rang out behind him.

"As you expected, Starscream. Soundwave's injuries were far less severe than he had previously shown; he nearly caught him. It is a pity, he escaped again!"

Carrying a trace of frustration and regret, Barricade walked to a few meters behind Starscream and stopped.

Starscream slowly turned around, the red light in his eyes flickering at an extremely fast frequency.

"As expected!"

He sneered at Barricade, the ferocious expression on his face twisting, "Soundwave, that cunning guy. You can never imagine how many schemes and plots are hidden in his head. If Soundwave were truly that easy to kill, the Autobots would have already dug out his Spark!"

This was indeed true!

The Autobots and Decepticons had long been at odds, locked in a life-or-death struggle. If one were to list the Decepticons the Autobots most wanted to eliminate, the top three could only be Megatron, Shockwave, and Soundwave. Even he, Starscream, had a level of hatred from the Autobots that was slightly inferior to Soundwave's.

There was no helping it; as the intelligence commander of the Decepticon Legion, who also shouldered some assassination duties, too many Autobot Warriors and Commanders had fallen at Soundwave's hands.

Hearing this, Barricade's expression looked a little better, though it still remained somewhat unpleasant, "It's just a pity to lose such an opportunity. I fear it will be very difficult to catch him injured and alone again!"

Starscream nodded slightly, the red light in his eyes flickering.

He knew what Barricade meant; the injuries he had inflicted on Soundwave by catching him off guard would be completely healed before long.

And Soundwave also knew the identity of The Fallen. Once he arrived at the Moon, he would inevitably pledge his loyalty to The Fallen and receive that one's protection. In other words, they had completely lost the chance to eliminate him.

"A pity!"

He inwardly exclaimed that it was a pity, but although Starscream felt regret, he did not show it.

As for having completely offended Soundwave because of this, he did not take that matter to heart at all.

Just kidding, looking across the entire Decepticon Legion, Megatron and Shockwave's strength were above his.

Oh, and now there was one more, The Fallen.

Decepticons treated betrayal as a common occurrence, and internal impulses and strife were even more ordinary.

Take him, Starscream, for example; the public challenges he had launched against the Decepticon Legion Commander—Megatron—that were known to the outside world numbered two, and his betrayals were countless, but what was the result?

Wasn't he still living well, and hadn't his strength and influence grown stronger and stronger!

A ferocious, domineering face couldn't help but flash through his mind. Starscream's expression froze, and his ten fingers couldn't help but twitch.

"Let's stop worrying about Soundwave for now; I dare him not to come and seek revenge on me. As for Megatron, have you still not found him?"

Megatron was dead, having died in the Battle of Las Vegas, killed by the Autobots in alliance with humans.

This was actually not a secret. Starscream and the others had arrived on Earth decades ago, and for certain considerations, they had long since established a decent intelligence network in the human world.

Moreover, the commotion in Las Vegas had been so great that Starscream and the others had already confirmed this matter, which to him seemed almost absurd.

Barricade shook his head, his expression incomparably serious.

"Including Antarctica, we have our personnel checking several continents, but we have yet to discover Megatron. I suspect he is either still within the United States or has been hidden in the vast ocean."

He hesitated for a moment before asking: "I still cannot believe that he would fall on Earth!"

"Fall? Hmph..." Starscream sneered incessantly, his face filled with indescribable mockery, "We fought two wars against the Autobots on the planet Cybertron that nearly destroyed the entire civilization, and even Sentinel Prime couldn't solve Megatron. He would die at the hands of that weak and incompetent new Leader of the Autobots? How is that possible!"

Revealing a restless expression for the first time, he couldn't help but pace back and forth in place for a good while before saying irritably: "I am certain that this cunning guy is definitely hiding on Earth right now, hiding in some corner weaving his new schemes!"

Barricade fell silent, quietly watching Starscream, who rarely showed such an expression of extreme apprehension. He had been following Starscream for a long time, and although this was not the first time he had seen Starscream act this way, Barricade couldn't help but associate it with the fact that not long ago, after the other party had successfully completed the Awakening of The Fallen, even when facing this legendary, temperamental, and murderous Prime, he had never shown such an expression.

It was very clear that in the eyes of this Starscream, who had always been dedicated to challenging Megatron and had always believed himself more suitable than Megatron to serve as the Commander of the Decepticon Legion, The Fallen was far less daunting than the former.

The silence lasted for a good while, and not until he saw Starscream recover did Barricade take a step back and say: "I understand. I will continue to track down Megatron's whereabouts. However, the matter with Soundwave must stop; his recovery is much faster than I imagined. If we encounter him again, the one who dies might be me!"

"Hmm!"

Starscream waved his hand, "How is the investigation into the 【Matrix of Leadership】 going? The Fallen is still waiting for my good news..."

"Not a single clue..." Barricade shook his head: "It's terrible. We have already attracted the attention of the Autobots and humans. In the last few months, three groups of Decepticons have been killed by the Autobots, and some have lost contact."

Starscream narrowed his eyes, nodded, and said nothing.

Although it was unclear how the Autobots had gotten together with those carbon-based lifeforms, the Decepticons could also see that their old rivals had the intention of building Earth into a second home for the Autobots. After all, in the last few months, more and more Autobots had been rushing to Earth from every corner of the galaxy. Just yesterday, the surveillance system the Decepticons had built in the Asteroid Belt on the outskirts of the Solar System had captured the figures of a newly arrived team of Autobots.

Although Starscream did not fear the Autobots' young new Leader, as cunning as he was, he would not easily step out to go head-to-head with Optimus Prime, because the new commander of these Decepticons, including himself, was now The Fallen.

"I will relay this to The Fallen!"

Having calmly finished this sentence, Starscream was just about to leave to see that Prime—The Fallen—who had just awakened from a long slumber and was currently still recuperating and recovering.

The next moment, his body was stopped by Barricade's next sentence.

"By the way, a group of Decepticons captured strange Decepticon fluctuations in the Arctic Circle. They are very weak, and it is suspected that they might be Workers..."

"What did you say?"

Starscream's body suddenly froze, and he abruptly turned his body to look at Barricade.

He heard him give a firm, word-for-word reply: "I suspect that there are Decepticons currently in contact with humans!"

The next moment, Barricade saw a thought-provoking smile bloom on Starscream's face.