Chapter 372: Battling the Autobots Again 5

At the hour of dawn, the Severodvinsk Shipyard was bustling with activity.

The number of Russian soldiers on guard had doubled compared to usual; everywhere one looked, there were soldiers patrolling with loaded weapons, as well as densely packed temporary security checkpoints.

In the dead of night, a long convoy, led by four Russian Infantry Fighting Vehicles and escorted by several Black Shark armed helicopters overhead, slowly drove into the area where the shipyard was located.

This convoy was composed of dozens of Russian military Kamaz heavy trucks; the ten or so trucks near the front each appeared to be pulling two standard shipping containers behind them, while the rest were towing trailers covered with thick canvas, though anyone with a keen eye could easily guess what was underneath from the outlines of the canvas.

Tanks!

"Finally arrived!"

Stepping down from an imported Mercedes-Benz sedan, Yijinsai let out a long breath.

He had only been transferred from the Tactical Missile Weapons Corporation to serve as the president of Rosoboronexport at the end of last year.

Rosoboronexport was established under an order signed by President Vladimir in the year 2000 after he took office, and it was currently the only company in Russia with the privilege of arms exports.

The reason Yijinsai was able to achieve such a triple jump in his career was thanks to another identity he held: he was a fellow townsman of President Vladimir.

This was also one of the excuses most frequently thrown out by European and American media when satirizing Russia; Vladimir liked to promote his own fellow townsmen and classmates, from the Mayor of Saint Petersburg to the Defense Minister and then to the Prime Minister, and even the top management of Russia's railway, energy, and arms export corporations—many of Russia's high-level officials were members of this so-called "Vladimir Elite Circle."

It was no wonder that NN would satirize that "making friends with Vladimir is one of the best investments of this century."

Having risen to power due to special connections, Yijinsai naturally knew about the outside world's skepticism toward him.

Therefore, he was very conscientious about the first major order Rosoboronexport had secured since he took office, especially since this was a transaction the President had personally called him to emphasize must not be handled carelessly.

It took less than a week of rushing back and forth between numerous military manufacturing plants within Russia and even some of the Russian Army's reserve warehouses to finally gather the first batch of arms for the transaction, and he immediately notified the government.

Then, there was this journey he personally accompanied.

"It's just... why would the delivery location be Severodvinsk..."

For a transaction of this scale, as the commander of the Severodvinsk Base, Lieutenant General Vadronov could not afford not to attend.

As if sensing Yijinsai's confusion, he smiled and walked up to him, whispering, "Tovarishch, welcome to Severodvinsk!"

Tovarishch was one of the most commonly used Russian phrases during the former Soviet Union era, meaning "comrade."

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, its frequency of use had become very low, but within the military, or on the lips of those who had come from that era, it would pop up from time to time; now it was used more as a term to express closeness.

Yijinsai naturally would not refuse the goodwill of a high-ranking general, especially since, with his connections, he could naturally dig up some information about Lieutenant General Vadronov—this man was almost certainly the future commander of the Northern Fleet.

"General, we have disturbed you!"

"Please, Mr. President. After receiving the notification from Moscow, we have already arranged the handover matters; all you need to do is evaluate the value of the materials delivered by the other party in a moment..."

Yijinsai nodded; when it came to arms exports, except for a very small number of countries like the so-called "three dogs of the Middle East"—Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Jordan—other countries, even Russia's largest arms trade partner, India, would not entirely use foreign exchange for transactions.

More often than not, in addition to foreign exchange, they would frequently use precious metals, strategic materials, and some commodities and machinery that Russia could not produce to make payments.

Therefore, Rosoboronexport possessed a very mature evaluation team under its name, composed of professionals such as Senior Engineers, military industry experts, securities analysts, and asset appraisers, whose main responsibility was to evaluate the non-foreign exchange trade items paid by the transaction targets.

"Please rest assured, General, we are very professional in this regard!"

Yijinsai's reply was decisive and proud; before he had finished speaking, he was interrupted by the Lieutenant General, who kindly reminded him: "Regarding the precautions, I still need to remind you, Mr. President. In a moment, no matter what you see, please be sure to abide by the country's confidentiality principles. Also, don't be startled..."

Speaking to the end, he couldn't help but grin, as if he wanted to laugh but was holding it back.

Yijinsai was left confused by his reminder and was just about to ask again in curiosity.

Suddenly, he heard a commotion coming from ahead.

Yijinsai subconsciously looked toward the sound, and his eyes immediately widened the next moment.

"This... my God, Gen... General... what is that thing..."

At a semi-open dock entrance of the shipyard not far away, two burly mechanical warriors, like giants from Norse mythology, appeared abruptly; one had his arms crossed over his chest, and one stood behind the former.

When Yijinsai looked over, it just so happened that the two mechanical giants, radiating a metallic luster, seemed to notice him as well, and four eyes looked simultaneously toward his position.

The moment their six eyes met, Yijinsai felt his legs go weak, his body losing strength in an instant, and he nearly fell to the ground.

Lieutenant General Vadronov watched his performance with interest, smiled slightly at his words, and said in a low voice filled with unconcealable pride.

"Mr. President, what you are seeing now is the greatest secret of Severodvinsk and also of Russia. In any case, welcome to Severodvinsk!"

Sun Cheng scanned the heavy truck convoy that had just driven into the shipyard with satisfaction, then strode toward Lieutenant General Vadronov, whom he was already very familiar with.

The Lieutenant General nodded slightly at him, and seeing that Yijinsai had not yet recovered from the shock of seeing a Decepticon for the first time, he was not surprised.

His own performance back then was not necessarily any better than Yijinsai's.

However, a necessary explanation was still needed; he immediately nudged Yijinsai, signaling him to look at Sun Cheng.

Then, he first pointed to Yijinsai and introduced him to Sun Cheng: "Lord Frenzy, please allow me to introduce you. This is Mr. Yijinsai, the president of Rosoboronexport, our country's only company with the privilege of arms exports!"

Sun Cheng nodded upon hearing this, "Mr. President, hello!"

As the president of Rosoboronexport, his database contained the image of the person in front of him, so he recognized him immediately.

Although he had performed somewhat poorly at first, Yijinsai's ability to climb to the position of president of the world's largest arms trading company was not something that could be achieved just by being from the President's elite circle.

"Hello, my lord!"

Resisting the shock in his heart, the somewhat scalp-numb Yijinsai managed to squeeze out a smile and exchanged greetings with him.

Immediately, he turned his head to look at Lieutenant General Vadronov; needless to say, he was waiting for the other party's introduction.

He didn't have to wait long; the Lieutenant General immediately raised his hand to point at Sun Cheng and introduced him: "Mr. President, this is Lord Frenzy. He and his soldiers come from the planet Cybertron beyond Earth, and they currently have a cooperative relationship with our Russia! The batch of arms you brought is what they are purchasing."

Yijinsai looked at the Lieutenant General in surprise, and inevitably cast a puzzled gaze at Sun Cheng.

According to his common sense, how could an alien civilization capable of space travel still need to purchase arms from a country like Russia that had not yet entered the space age?

Unfortunately, Sun Cheng would obviously not answer his questions personally; he would have to wait for him to figure it out himself or wait for Moscow to provide an answer after he returned.

"Lord Frenzy, the goods are all here; do you need to inspect them?"

The Lieutenant General had been keeping a close eye on Sun Cheng, naturally noticing his gaze occasionally glancing at the neatly arranged heavy truck convoy, and seeing that Yijinsai had not yet fully entered his state, he had to ask on his behalf.

Sun Cheng nodded and immediately turned around to shout, "... you two, go and check..."

From behind the excavator, two Decepticon Workers immediately walked out and walked quickly toward the heavy truck convoy parked in the shipyard's open space.

Yijinsai finally came to his senses at this moment; even though his heart was full of doubts, he still ordered his subordinates to arrange for people to cooperate in inspecting the arms being traded.

At the same time, he braced himself and asked: "Mr. Frenzy, your subordinates are inspecting the goods we brought. We were notified when we came that the goods your side is using for the transaction are not all foreign exchange; could you let us also conduct an evaluation!"

"That is only natural!"

Sun Cheng naturally would not refuse, "Is it alright to leave the items here? Have your men pull back a bit and clear an open space for me."

The Lieutenant General understood and gave the order; the Russian Army soldiers stationed around the heavy trucks and nearby quickly retreated, clearing an open space for him.

Sun Cheng raised his hand and waved it forward, and accompanied by a series of dense sounds, several huge shipping containers quickly appeared on the open ground near them.

Several huge shipping containers appearing out of thin air before them not only gave Yijinsai and the others, who were seeing this for the first time, a fright, but even Excavator, who had been standing not far away like a doorpost, quietly observing the entire process of Sun Cheng trading with the Russians, also had an expression of shock and panic appear on his face the moment those containers appeared.

"Ap... appearing out of thin air? Could it be a projection... no, they are all real and exist..."

After his Core scanned them and immediately confirmed that the several shipping containers that had suddenly appeared not far from him were not some kind of projected virtual image.

In an instant, Excavator was dumbfounded.

PS:

My fault, I haven't sorted out how to write the subsequent content yet, sorry.