Chapter 481: Brought to Life

Megatron was hiding in the depths of the Mariana Trench, feigning death. Ever since discovering this secret, Sun Cheng had never ceased his vigilance toward him.

One of the Base's military satellites had originally been staring almost fixedly at this stretch of sea.

Therefore, when the United States military suddenly stopped dispatching warship formations to patrol the Mariana Trench region half a year ago, he was the first to know.

Not only that, Sun Cheng even knew clearly that the United States military had subsequently only been dispatching several tactical nuclear submarines from the 15th Submarine Squadron stationed in Guam to patrol in rotation.

Until a week ago, when they returned to Severodvinsk, the Yankees had only ever had one nuclear submarine on routine patrol in the Mariana Trench region.

Do not truly believe that nuclear submarines cannot be detected; on the contrary, navigating the high seas is not as easy as ordinary people imagine.

Maritime navigation is restricted by many factors such as weather, ocean currents, and hydrology, so if one studies it carefully, one will find that international shipping lanes are almost fixed and unchanging.

Nuclear submarines are not powerful enough to completely break free from the constraints of nature. Most importantly, although modern, constantly developing technology has given nuclear submarines the ability to produce oxygen in the deep sea, the price is the consumption of a massive amount of electricity.

Even something as powerful as a nuclear submarine cannot afford such consumption. Generally, unless it is for military exercises, intruding into another country's territorial waters to spy for intelligence, or tracking another country's warships/fleets, nuclear submarines will only lurk on the seabed for dozens of days at a time.

During routine patrols, nuclear submarines will also periodically surface to replenish oxygen. One of the jobs of the military spy satellites of various countries densely covering outer space is to capture nuclear submarines of other countries surfacing to replenish oxygen.

As it happened, the Base's satellites had captured the nuclear submarines of the 15th Submarine Squadron deployed by the United States military to patrol the Mariana Trench region surfacing to replenish oxygen. Combining this with a comprehensive analysis of the number of warships docked at the Guam Naval Base, Sun Cheng knew that until he, Pioneer, and Thunder returned to Severodvinsk, there was only one United States nuclear submarine responsible for patrol work in this sea area.

Previously, when he first saw the satellite photos brought back by Pioneer, he had been startled by himself.

Although Sun Cheng had only had a brief contact with Megatron at Sector 7 and Las Vegas a year ago, the cruelty and terror of this Decepticon Legion commander had left a deep impression on him.

Added to this was his knowledge that he had thoroughly offended this deep-scheming and unfathomable tyrant. Once the opponent "resurrected," he would certainly end up on Megatron's hit list, and at that time, what he would need to face would be a vast and invincible Decepticon Legion.

Because of this fear, Sun Cheng's thinking was clearly affected, and he had overlooked many things.

So much so that it was only at this moment that he reacted: how could a United States fleet suddenly appear in the Mariana Trench region?

Although the warships in the satellite images were captured somewhat blurrily, Sun Cheng still trusted his own eyesight and memory very much.

There might be many countries on Earth equipped with Perry-class frigates, but there was only one country with the capability to simultaneously equip Perry-class frigates, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruisers, and that was the United States.

But how could the United States fleet patrols, which had been terminated for a long time, suddenly start up again?

"... The Americans know that Megatron is buried in the Mariana Trench, and they suddenly resumed patrols; there should only be two possibilities... The intelligence leaked previously is correct, the Americans also have an AllSpark shard in their hands, and it was stolen by the Decepticons not long ago... Or, those rust-brained Autobots have finally believed the intelligence I sent over..."

At the thought of this, Sun Cheng could not help but become excited.

As long as the Autobots took it seriously, he believed that even if Soundwave and Starscream took action personally, it would not be so easy to take away Megatron, who was still feigning death in the trench.

Megatron had laid out his plans for so long, even going so far as to feign death once, all to scheme against his teacher, The Fallen, one of the Thirteen Primes.

Although for various reasons Sun Cheng had not been able to spy on it last time, based on his understanding of Megatron, since that guy had not immediately torn off the mask and hunted him down after being discovered, it meant he would not give up his meticulously prepared fake-death plan for a small fry like him whom he looked down upon.

Therefore, centering on Megatron, the Autobots and Decepticons would certainly have a fierce battle in the Mariana Trench.

Sun Cheng did not know exactly how many Decepticons and Autobots were lurking on Earth now, but just looking at the falling stars over the past year, they had almost never stopped. Astronomy enthusiasts on the internet had even specifically tallied them, and there had already been over one hundred and thirty.

Among these, if even half were Autobots who had come to Earth to provide support, it would be enough for Optimus Prime and the Decepticon Legion to fight a nation-destroying level battle.

Well, using the countries on Earth as the standard.

"Must confirm this matter as soon as possible!"

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he had to confirm as soon as possible whether the change in the Mariana Trench had anything to do with the Autobots.

Sun Cheng immediately notified Pioneer within the regional command network he was operating: "Pioneer, contact the Base through the dark web immediately. Tell Huan that I authorize it to wake up a satellite and confirm for me as soon as possible whether there are any Autobots participating in the battle over at the Mariana Trench! At the same time, send a message to Sam's phone again, telling him that we have obtained accurate intelligence that the Decepticons are plotting to resurrect Megatron."

He felt as if his whole body was about to boil over now, because once the Autobots and Decepticons truly started fighting, the pressure currently concentrated on him—including the attention and pressure from Starscream and Soundwave, and possibly the feigning-death Megatron—would be instantly drawn away by the Autobots.

The two races had been fighting ever since the fall of the Council of Ancients, and the conflict had lasted for millions of years; the hatred for each other had long since been etched into their bones.

The reason Sun Cheng had designed two battlefields to add pressure to himself in the first place was not something he had just thought up for no reason.

Pioneer quickly replied, "Understood. There are no subsequent photo updates from Yuri yet; I will contact the Base and Bumblebee immediately."

The phone they had gifted to Sam and Mikaela had indeed been passed on by the two to Bumblebee.

Pioneer saying he was contacting Bumblebee was quite appropriate.

This wait lasted for over an hour.

Just as Sun Cheng was becoming somewhat irritable from waiting and had begun to waver between hope and fear again, Pioneer appeared once more. On that ferocious face, where emotional fluctuations were rarely seen, one could see from afar that he was smiling, although it did look a bit ferocious.

"It's good news!"

Sun Cheng's heart steadied, and he listened as Pioneer, who had already arrived before him and Thunder, reported the good news in a voice a notch higher than usual.

"Master, it's confirmed. Ironhide, Sideswipe, and the others are fighting the Decepticons over at the Mariana Trench!"

This game of chess had finally been brought to life.