Chapter 588: Fishing

Without needing a signal from Sun Cheng, Pioneer took the initiative to step forward and transport the five Energy Pillars to their side.

Starscream just watched Sun Cheng and his group's caution with a sly smile, but did not express any stance.

This was his confidence; someone as strong and domineering as Megatron, he would defy even if he were unconvinced, let alone a mere Frenzy.

Did he really think Megatron was magnanimous, letting him off time and time again despite his multiple betrayals?

No, no, no; Starscream understood that tyrant better than anyone else.

The reason Megatron did not thoroughly settle accounts with him was simply because he held too many secrets and technologies of the Decepticon Legion in his hands, and he also had a group of followers within the legion.

Even if Megatron still had Shockwave, if the Decepticon Legion truly forced Starscream into a desperate fight, it would absolutely be a disaster for the Decepticon Legion.

The armor on his lower abdomen slowly opened, and a metal storage plate containing the location of the Nameless Temple popped out.

Sun Cheng threw it to Starscream, "The Matrix of Leadership was hidden by the six ancestors in a temple. Here are the coordinates of that temple... Please be careful. Jetfire, Onslaught, and I have already been there three times. We can confirm that the Matrix of Leadership is there, but because of the six ancestors' protective measures, we have been unable to find the Matrix of Leadership."

"So that is why you are selling this information to me?"

Starscream looked at Sun Cheng and asked with his signature sinister smile.

Answering him was silence; Sun Cheng did not deny it.

He knew that someone as clever as Starscream would easily think of this point.

As the holy relic of the former Cybertron, an existence even more omnipotent than the AllSpark, no Cybertronian who knew of it could possibly give it up.

Unless they could not obtain it!

A lie that is not easily debunked is always one that contains truth mixed with falsehood.

Sun Cheng tacitly accepted Starscream's speculation, which was another lie to cover for him—that Onslaught and Jetfire had also been there.

He knew there were many opponents now who wished they could kill him: Soundwave was one, Megatron was one, and the Starscream before him likely had the same thought.

Not long after the Mariana Trench Battle ended, Sun Cheng had released an unmanned deep-sea probe to dive into the Mariana Trench. As a result, besides a ground full of scattered Decepticon and Autobot corpses, he also found Megatron's body, which had been blown into a horrific state.

This was good news, but also bad news, because Sun Cheng discovered that Megatron's head was missing.

Cybertronians possess the technology to awaken deceased companions, provided the other party's Memory Chip still exists.

Without any surprises, Megatron's head should have been taken away by the victorious Decepticons. Perhaps before long, a brand new and even stronger Megatron would appear and then chase Sun Cheng across the world.

That was why he needed to continue to hold up a banner; being weak and isolated always makes one easy to be dealt with.

But if one wants to arm-wrestle with a power, all the opponents attempting to target him need to seriously consider whether they can afford the losses.

The transaction concluded, and Sun Cheng prepared to leave.

In front of Starscream, he first inspected the five Energy Pillars to ensure there were no control measures left behind by the other party.

This process was watched by Starscream, and the smile on his face grew thicker, making him, who already looked very sinister, appear even more ferocious.

After confirming there were no problems, Sun Cheng reached out and touched the five Energy Pillars in front of him.

Then, in an instant, the five Energy Pillars disappeared.

"Oh?"

Starscream's scarlet pupils stalled. When he looked at him again, his expression had lost some of its playfulness and gained some scrutiny, "It seems you have learned quite a lot from Jetfire!"

There are many technologies that can make items vanish into thin air, but considering they were expensive Energy Pillars, the first thing he thought of was Space Bridge technology.

This technology, which can transfer items and even armies across space to a designated location, is an out-and-out black technology even during the peak of Cybertronian civilization, mastered by only a handful.

Starscream had also attempted to research the Space Bridge, but this time, his progress was not as smooth as his cultivation of Decepticon Cannon Fodder warriors or his research into Combiners. To this day, he still needs to rely on Energy Pillars and some equipment and machines to barely achieve it.

As a Decepticon elder, Starscream had also experienced the Council of Ancients era. Although Jetfire had left Cybertron long before the civil war, as a half-student of Shockwave, Jetfire had once followed Shockwave to study the Space Bridge, and had gone much further in this field than his teacher.

So, upon seeing this move from Sun Cheng, Starscream was misled for a moment, truly believing it was the Space Bridge technology Sun Cheng had learned from Jetfire.

With a faint smile, Sun Cheng did not explain.

He bowed slightly to Starscream, "Then, Lord Starscream, I hope you have a fruitful harvest!"

"Let's go!"

After speaking, he and Pioneer leaped into mid-air, successively transforming into two fighter jets, and disappeared from Starscream's field of vision before long.

Starscream stood there quietly, and it was quite a while before a cold voice sounded behind him.

"Why did you suddenly change the plan?"

The person who arrived was Barricade; several hundred meters behind him was a long convoy in motion.

From the long trail of smoke and dust, it was not hard to see that the total number of vehicles in the convoy was definitely no less than a dozen.

"An interesting opponent!"

Starscream said with a smile. He walked to a sand dune not far away and suddenly exhaled a breath of air at it.

A strong wind blew past, and the low sand dune quickly turned into flat ground, exposing a huge, thorn-ball-shaped object underneath.

Barricade walked over to inspect it, "Electromagnetic Bomb?"

His expression changed slightly, but Starscream walked to another spot not far away and began digging into an inconspicuous patch of sand. Soon, another Electromagnetic Bomb was discovered.

"In this area, Frenzy and his group have deployed at least a hundred Electromagnetic Bombs..."

Starscream explained, "He is a very clever guy. He didn't mean to hide it at all; I felt those ticking countdowns the moment I arrived, and they only stopped after he left!"

Barricade stopped talking. If there were truly a hundred Electromagnetic Bombs in the nearby area, once detonated, apart from Starscream, he feared even he would be damaged here.

He did not know that Starscream still had one sentence he hadn't said.

"His methods don't stop there. I can feel that I have been locked onto by something. Truly a difficult opponent; perhaps I should have a good talk with Soundwave!"

"How many Decepticons were detected?"

Sun Cheng and his group flew all the way to the depths of the rainforest in Central Africa before stopping.

That desert where the transaction took place was an area they had selected in advance.

Because in previous tests, it was discovered that electromagnetic weapons caused more damage to Cybertronians than Normal Mode weapons, Base No. 2 had manufactured a large number of Electromagnetic Bombs, which were also used during this transaction.

At the same time, that location was also within the range of three nuclear submarines patrolling the Mediterranean Sea.

Nearby, Sun Cheng had also deployed some detectors, and the one responsible for controlling them was Pioneer.

He did not believe Starscream would be that honest; although the trade was successful and he had retreated safely, it did not mean he would not summarize the experience.

"Fourteen... detected Barricade, Scrapper, Hook, Mixmaster, Crusher, Sweep, and Payload..."

"Did he bring a Constructicon squad?"

Sun Cheng was somewhat stunned, and at the same time secretly rejoiced; it was fortunate he had made full preparations, making Starscream wary, otherwise if he had really let the Constructicons transform into Devastator, it would have been difficult for him and the Precursor to leave.

Having sold the intelligence on the Matrix of Leadership to the Decepticons, as for the Autobots, Sun Cheng was somewhat undecided.

He could not pass this intelligence directly to the Autobots; such a matter could not withstand scrutiny.

Sun Cheng was not afraid of offending Starscream, because the Decepticons were all selfish, treacherous, and self-serving people.

One only needed to look at this trade to know; if he had not made full preparations in advance, Sun Cheng did not doubt at all that Starscream would be very happy to rummage through his memories to find more detailed information himself.

Regarding the Autobots, Sun Cheng was more willing to use an open scheme, letting the other party jump in voluntarily, rather than being tricked into the field by him.

Otherwise, the Autobots would surely react afterwards, and the fragile cooperative relationship that had just been established with the Autobots would also be completely severed because of this.

This was a good card, and Sun Cheng was not prepared to give it up easily.

After thinking for a good while, he suddenly had a flash of inspiration.

"... NEST... Right, how could I have forgotten the Americans!"

Some time ago, because the Decepticon Legion suddenly launched a large-scale attack on various countries on Earth, their exposure, coupled with the Decepticons destroying the main force of the United States' Second Fleet to make an example of them, resulted in the deaths of thousands of U. S. troops.

Afterwards, the U. S. government, having been hurt and also frightened, unilaterally tore up the cooperation agreement with the Autobots, and even attempted to hand over the American boy Sam to the Decepticon Legion in exchange for peace through negotiations.

Because of this policy shift, the NEST unit, which had previously cooperated with the military and the Autobots, became a political sacrifice.

Galloway, who had always been hostile to the Autobots, temporarily took over NEST, and at the same time, this unit began to be organized and dismantled, with soldiers and equipment being sent in batches to other bases and units of the U. S. military.

Because he had been attacked twice by the Autobots and NEST in the past, Sun Cheng had once specifically sent people to keep a close watch on this unit, and his investigation into it could be considered detailed.

According to the intelligence he had collected, the daily operations commander of this special unit, which was under the command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, was Lieutenant Colonel William Lennox.

This U. S. Lieutenant Colonel was considered one of the few pro-Autobot figures in the United States; much of the data Sun Cheng received showed that NEST under his command took quite good care of the Autobots, and he had also pushed back against many requests issued by the Ministry of National Defense regarding the collection of data on the Autobots.

"He's the one!"

Sun Cheng did not intend to cooperate with the greedy U. S. government; heaven knows if those man-eating, heartless careerists would turn around and sell him out.

But this did not affect his going fishing, and while he was at it, probing just how deep the unknown Decepticon force he had discovered earlier had infiltrated the United States.