Chapter 554: Going Alone to the Meeting

North Africa, somewhere within the Sahara Desert.

Sun Cheng stood atop a sand dune, quietly watching the sky under the glare of the scorching sun.

He had suddenly invited the Autobot Leader Optimus Prime to meet, and for a face-to-face discussion at that.

He had made a risky move, but Sun Cheng felt it was very necessary.

The pressure from the Decepticon Legion was growing, and Soundwave had already been spotted in Russia for the third time.

One of those times, he had even briefly shown his face in Moscow.

Before he returned to the real world last time, he had already fought a battle with Soundwave.

Although the other party had retreated temporarily at the time, Sun Cheng did not believe Soundwave would let him off so easily.

This intelligence expert who was extremely skilled at playing schemes—if he were to make a move against him, the consequences would be very severe.

Although Sun Cheng believed that the "ally" relationship he had established with the Polar Bear a step ahead of time was more solid, he would not forget what the Decepticon Legion signified.

With the mindset of that group of war-mongers and lunatics, if they wanted to make a move against him, it would surely be an all-encompassing strike from all directions.

Sun Cheng believed in the "inherent evil of human nature" and had always measured human nature by its worst.

If the Decepticon Legion really wanted to make a move against him, there would likely be changes in Moscow as well; the Polar Bear was inherently profit-driven, so he had to be fully prepared.

Therefore, Sun Cheng needed more "allies."

After arranging the meeting with Optimus Prime, he had come to the appointment alone.

Optimus Prime likely had his reservations, but Sun Cheng had already extended his goodwill, allowing him to bring subordinates, though the meeting location had to be arranged by himself.

This was also an insurance policy he had set for his own personal safety; it was true that he had come to the meeting alone.

But if the Autobots really harbored malicious intentions, Sun Cheng would let them know what "regret" meant.

The scorching sun and yellow sand of the Sahara Desert turned Sun Cheng, who stood like a stone pillar atop the dune, into a mud statue in just one day.

He did not bother to clean it off.

Following a sudden, harsh alarm from his early warning system, Sun Cheng, who was still distracted by deducing the various situations he might encounter during the upcoming meeting with Optimus Prime, shook his body, shedding the thick layer of sand-coat that had been blown onto his chassis by the wind.

The person he was waiting for had arrived.

Twenty minutes later, in the boundless, desolate desert, five vehicles ignoring the loose sand of the desert and moving rapidly entered Sun Cheng's field of vision.

"Optimus Prime, Ratchet, Bumblebee, Arcee... and the Autobot who just arrived on Earth—Firetruck!"

Because Sun Cheng had deployed satellites in outer space a long time ago, he had established a database for all Autobots and Decepticons that had appeared on Earth.

So when he saw the five vehicles of different colors and forms appearing from afar, he quickly identified the other party's identities.

"It seems better than I imagined!"

The three Autobots with the most hostility toward him—Ironhide, Sideswipe, and Brake—were not on Optimus Prime's list of escorts.

It was evident that this Autobot Leader still had some expectations for the meeting with him.

The vehicles and motorcycle that the five Autobots had transformed into ignored the terrain and quickly arrived a few dozen meters away from Sun Cheng.

Clatter!

The five Autobots passed over a sloped sand dune one by one, then leaped into mid-air, successively transforming into five mechanical Warriors of different heights, builds, and even colors, standing in a circular arc not far from him.

Sun Cheng watched all this with an expressionless face, and feeling several electromagnetic waves sweep over him, he spoke calmly.

"No need to scan; there is only me here. I am inviting Lord Optimus Prime to talk with sincerity!"

After speaking, he looked calmly at Optimus Prime, who was nearly a head taller than him, while inwardly considering whether he should design his next-generation chassis.

"Frenzy..."

Optimus Prime stepped forward, his tone very serious, "We have dealt with each other several times over the past period. Although you have repeatedly stated that you have no intention of being our enemy, judging from our past contacts, we are very suspicious of your motives!"

"Hand over the fragment!"

Bumblebee, whose vocal system had been repaired at some point, issued a reproach in a sharp, thin voice.

Sun Cheng looked at him calmly; he did not feel too surprised that the Autobots knew the fragment had fallen into his hands.

If Soundwave could discover it, how could the Autobots not have figured it out after so long.

However, he had already prepared his rhetoric before coming.

His voice was very calm at the moment: "The fragment is no longer here; Starscream took the fragment to perform an Awakening on a Decepticon elder who arrived on Earth long before us!"

Optimus Prime's expression changed; the Autobots also knew the power of the AllSpark—even a single fragment possessed the ability to perform an Awakening on a dying Mechanical Life.

"Who is it?"

He asked solemnly, his voice also becoming heavy.

Seeing the hostility in the gazes of the several Autobots directed at him, Sun Cheng pondered for a moment, and only after the Autobots were about to lose patience did he spit out a name: "Jetfire!"

This Decepticon elder who was active during the Ancient Council period—it was clear that most of the Autobots present had never heard his name.

Because Jetfire left the planet Cybertron very early, and Optimus Prime was a generation of Autobots that rose after he left Cybertron, so although he was the new Leader of the Autobots, he had no memory of this Decepticon elder.

As soon as Sun Cheng saw their expressions, he knew what the situation was.

Regarding that dying Decepticon elder, he had actually been hesitating whether to perform an Awakening on him.

After peeking into the other party's memories many times, Sun Cheng was already very clear about what kind of Decepticon the other party was.

A typical scholar-type Cybertronian; although he was of Decepticon origin, he had received an excellent education during the Council of Ancients period and did not have a strong sense of identification with the Decepticon Legion, but rather agreed with the Autobot philosophy.

However, Sun Cheng was accustomed to using the greatest malice to speculate about others, and he did not believe he had the ability to win over Jetfire at the moment.

Therefore, he still had not made a decision on whether to perform an Awakening on Jetfire.

But this did not affect him pushing the other party to the forefront to bolster his own momentum.

Sun Cheng was just about to speak to introduce who Jetfire was to them.

He caught the appearance of encrypted communication data streams around him, and squinting, he noticed that the expressions of Optimus Prime and the only female Autobot among the five—Arcee—had both changed somewhat.

Just as he was pondering what the two Autobots were up to, Optimus Prime finally spoke again after a moment of silence.

"Lord Jetfire... if it is him, then we will not pursue the matter of the fragment!"