Chapter 381: The End

~13 min read 2,597 words

Don't rush to subscribe; I will revise this in half an hour.

……

"It's over!"

The drone, still circling above the front-line battlefield, faithfully transmitted everything it saw to the rear.

Witnessing with his own eyes hundreds of artillery shells and rockets, like a sudden downpour, mixed with the sound of death, crashing crazily into the small area where Ironhide and the other three were located.

In an instant, Sun Cheng understood there was no need to keep watching!

He waved his hand to cancel the virtual projection that had been cast in front of himself and Scrapper; his face still held a smile, but there was a bit more gravity in it.

"The Autobots have lost..."

Scrapper muttered from the side, his face appearing somewhat shocked as well.

"Hmm!"

Sun Cheng hummed softly, which served as his reply.

This guy had, not long ago, along with three other companions, successfully infiltrated Severodvinsk, and even caused significant losses to the Russian Army that night.

Although Sun Cheng had repeatedly protected him afterward, Moscow had never given up the intention of settling the score with him; the Russians are very vengeful.

"Now you know how lucky you were to succeed that night!"

After quickly digesting the shock brought to him by the simultaneous firing of hundreds of guns in modern warfare, Sun Cheng teased him with interest.

The Russian Army winning was already within his expectations.

Although he did not know if that Lieutenant General Vadronov, who commanded the Russian Army at North Port, was overconfident or merely employing a strategy when he initially used only a few dozen naval aircraft to probe the Autobots.

However, the opponent's final choice was just as Sun Cheng had planned.

Utilizing their own air superiority to restrict the opponent to a small area for a short time, and then using powerful long-range artillery for blanket strikes.

He could guess the final result without even looking!

The Russian Army's heavy artillery and rocket launchers might only cause light injuries at most to mechanical warriors of the level of himself, Ironhide, or Sideswipe, even if they hit the body directly.

But under the strike of over a hundred heavy artillery pieces and an equal number of multiple-launch rocket systems, let alone Ironhide and the others, even if Optimus Prime came, he would have to choose a tactical retreat.

The shock on Scrapper's face vanished immediately; he gave a cold snort, quite rudely, and his tone reverted to the arrogance and insolence typical of a Decepticon.

"Lord Frenzy, are you joking... Ironhide and the others did indeed get a lesson, but if they want to leave... can humans stop them?"

It was rare for Sun Cheng to be snapped at by him, yet the smile on his face did not diminish in the slightest.

He knew that Scrapper had stated a fact.

The Russian Army's fire coverage strike could indeed potentially severely injure Ironhide and the others, but the possibility of keeping these few Autobots there was almost zero.

Even if Ironhide and the others were injured, escaping from Russian territory was too simple.

The location where they were ambushed was less than thirty kilometers from the nearest coastline; with such a short distance, and the Russian Army having no ground combat troops arranged ahead, a few dozen fighter jets alone did not have the capability to stop Ironhide and the others who were determined to retreat.

And once the Autobots escaped to the seaside, with the structural integrity of Cybertronians, they could come and go freely even in the ten-thousand-meter deep sea.

Looking at humans, on the other hand, Russia's most advanced nuclear submarines still cannot break through the thousand-meter deep sea to this day.

Therefore, unless they used tactical nuclear warheads, the Russians had only the option of Electromagnetic Pulse Bombs to keep Ironhide and the others there.

Although Sun Cheng had only used Scrapper to verify the type of Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb he provided to the Russian Army twice, even the reduced-power version could severely injure Scrapper, and he even had to use a Medical Spider to repair Scrapper.

He believed that the full version of the Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb would definitely make Ironhide and the others completely lose the ability to evacuate.

However...

The smile at the corner of Sun Cheng's mouth turned cold again, and even his eyes became frigid.

He knew it, but why should he tell the Russians!

The reason he incited Lieutenant General Vadronov to use Electromagnetic Pulse Bombs to deal with the Autobots in the first place was that even he himself had underestimated the Russian Army's combat power, and he was unwilling to act easily, exposing the reality of his own weak and isolated situation to the Autobots, Starscream, and the Russians.

But now, the Russians had actually severely injured Ironhide and the others while only losing a few dozen fighter jets; the cost paid was far below his calculations.

Since the Russians were so strong, should he let them obtain a few more Autobot remains and thereby achieve explosive expansion!

Just kidding; otherwise, he wouldn't have stubbornly withheld the corpses of the three Decepticons who invaded Severodvinsk that night instead of leaving them to the Russians.

Arming Russia and letting the Polar Bear become a good card in his hand to help him contain the Americans is one thing.

But that doesn't mean he, Sun Cheng, would be stupid enough to foster an ally that could bite back at any time!

Therefore, facing Scrapper's rhetorical question, his voice remained full of laughter.

"Isn't it better for us if they run away... Alright, let the Russians handle the cleanup... Scrapper, help me contact Starscream and tell him that I have found the location of Megatron's remains!"

After speaking, ignoring the drastically changing expression of Scrapper, he turned and walked toward the shipyard.

He didn't expect that this time he would actually discover that Scrapper seemed to be hiding some things on his body as well.

This was an unexpected harvest!

However, since Starscream had placed Scrapper by his side, there would be plenty of time to dig slowly later; there was no need to rush.

Sun Cheng was now even more curious than about Scrapper's secrets: how much longer could the alliance between the Autobots and the Americans last?

Today, standing from the perspective of an observer, he seemed to have seen many things.

The Americans' satellites must have long detected the anomalies in Severodvinsk, but why did they only send people to attempt to infiltrate Severodvinsk today?

And why was it the Autobots instead of NEST?

"……It seems I really played a good move..."

Sun Cheng wanted to laugh, to laugh to his heart's content, to vent the repression of having to keep his nerves taut and think ten steps ahead for every one step he took while alone in the 【Transformers Multiverse】.

Today he finally saw it; he saw a good move played by his own wisdom.

"The Americans are wary..."

Yes, the Americans are wary.

But they are not wary of him; they are wary of Russia, wary of the nuclear arsenal they hold in their hands.

If it were any other country, even their NATO allies, Sun Cheng would have no doubt that the Americans would have dispatched NEST troops directly into that country without hesitation to wipe out the discovered Decepticons.

But Russia is different...

In the entire world, this is the only country that makes the Yankees unwilling to easily initiate a direct conflict with them.

"The Soviet Union, it really is quite something..."

The former Red Empire, in the end, still left its successor with too deep a foundation.

Although Russia's economy has now been left far behind by China, and its future potential is far inferior to this country that is currently overtaking on a curve, the Russian nuclear arsenal can at least continue to shelter the Polar Bear for another fifty years, and allow this country to continue enjoying the afterglow of a military power for the next few decades.

Today, what Sun Cheng saw was not just this one thing, but much more...

Because of their misgivings, the Americans did not choose to clash directly with the Russians, instead handing the heavy responsibility of spying on Severodvinsk to the Autobots.

If the Task succeeds, that is fine, but what if it fails again?

Can NEST, created jointly by the Autobots and the United States government, continue to be maintained?

Or even, will the fragile alliance between the two add a few more cracks?

He is very curious!

Drawing an analogy to the friction between himself and Russia, both sides distrust and guard against each other, while constantly probing the other's trump cards.

With this as a reference, it is not difficult for Sun Cheng to infer that the cooperation between the Yankees and the Autobots is not necessarily that harmonious.

The Autobots under the leadership of Optimus Prime appear very stubborn; they seem to respect their alliance with the Americans, but according to intelligence Sun Cheng obtained from various channels previously buried within the United States, the Autobots very domineeringly rejected all technical cooperation proposed by the United States government, especially the military.

The Autobots perhaps believe that their strict control over Cybertronian advanced technology to prevent it from flowing into Earth is to protect Earth's civilization from following their old path.

Unfortunately, they have underestimated human greed too much, especially the United States government, which has held Earth's hegemony for more than half a century, and the hundreds of capitalists and financial magnates standing behind the United States government.

As greedy as they are, they have long regarded the entire Earth as something in their own pockets, so the more advanced the technology the Autobots display, the more greedy the covetous gazes from these people will only become.

"How can humans establish true friendship with Mechanical Life? Contact between different species and civilizations brings nothing but war, except for enslavement!"

The Age of Discovery and the history of white colonialism are the lessons of the past; Sun Cheng does not believe that he is the only one who has understood such a simple truth.

Therefore, the United States government must have been guarding against the Autobots from the very beginning.

And as the Autobots fail again and again, their patience and distrust will also gradually increase.

Perhaps before long, they will force the issue and once again demand advanced technology from the planet Cybertron from the Autobots.

Perhaps, as the patience of those capitalists and financial magnates behind the United States government is exhausted bit by bit, greed might even make them crazy enough to urge the U. S. military to take action against the Autobots...

Thinking of this, Sun Cheng felt that his strategy, which had not been very clear, suddenly became clear.

"... Human greed is always endless; this might be a good choice..."

In an instant, he felt he had some new ideas.

On the outskirts of Severodvinsk, tens of kilometers away, when the overwhelming heavy artillery shells and Rocket fire descended from the sky like a forbidden-level magic spell from a magical world—a meteor shower—dragging long tails behind them, even Elite Warriors as strong as Ironhide and Sideswipe, who had experienced the Cybertronian Civil War, appeared dazed for a moment.

"... Is this the weapon of war invented by humans..."

The Russians' weapons are indeed not as precise as American weapons, but the accuracy can still be controlled within tens of meters.

Countless heavy artillery shells and Rocket barrages fell continuously from the sky, and the sounds of explosions followed one after another.

Fire soared into the sky, smoke and dust swirled, and the terrifying firepower coverage completely destroyed the sea of trees where Ironhide and the others were hiding in almost the first wave of strikes; countless trees were blown high into the air, and after landing, they were blown into pieces again, until they completely turned into wood chips.

The airflow raised by the explosions blew the hard ground of the entire Extreme Northern Ice Plains into fragments, mixed with ice crystals and mud scorched by the explosions, splashing everywhere.

"Retreat..."

Having been hit by several shells in succession, with cracks finally beginning to appear on his chassis, and having been blown away several times by the blast of the explosions, Ironhide was finally afraid and roared at the top of his lungs.

Then, hard-carrying a few incoming shells, he acted as if he had gone mad, quickly rushed to Chromia, and picked her up.

"Retreat... quickly retreat..."

Because he was carrying a wounded person, Ironhide could not transform back into his vehicle form.

Sideswipe and Mudflap, in order to cover him and Chromia, could only maintain their combat forms, and the three of them took steps, braving the artillery fire to retreat toward the seaside.

Soon, Russian military aircraft circling in the sky noticed their movements and hurriedly fired Missiles in an attempt to stop their actions.

However, Ironhide and the others did not want to get entangled at all.

"... We just keep rushing forward, don't pay attention to them... Only the kind of Missile that hit Chromia is a threat to us among human weapons..."

... On the outskirts of Severodvinsk, tens of kilometers away, when the overwhelming heavy artillery shells and Rocket fire descended from the sky like a forbidden-level magic spell from a magical world—a meteor shower—dragging long tails behind them, even Elite Warriors as strong as Ironhide and Sideswipe, who had experienced the Cybertronian Civil War, appeared dazed for a moment.