Chapter 656: New Ideas

Monitoring Swindle, whose face looked ugly, he personally sent a long-range communication to Lockdown, who was somewhere unknown.

Sun Cheng finally got his wish, and his expression immediately looked a bit better.

A carrot and a stick—he still understood this principle.

Looking at Pioneer and the others, Sun Cheng said: "I have always been clear about rewards and punishments, and you have all performed quite well recently. When I returned to Base No. 2 two days ago, I already ordered the engineers to start preparing materials... Once they finish the work at hand in a while, they will start working on upgrading your bodies..."

The number of usable Decepticon Warriors under Sun Cheng was not high, totaling no more than ten.

Among these warriors, apart from Pioneer and Thunder whose strength reached the level of Quasi-Elite Decepticon Warrior, the rest were just mediocre Advanced Warriors.

Using them to bully the Cannon Fodder warriors mass-produced by Starscream, or Autobots like the brothers Mudflap and Skids, was not difficult at all.

But when facing Decepticon and Autobot warriors like Barricade or Bumblebee, it would be very strenuous.

There were many reasons for this.

The main reason, without a doubt, was that when their new bodies were being manufactured, Base No. 2 had only just been built in South America, and Sun Cheng's secret trade with China and Russia was just starting; the resources he had on hand were limited, so naturally, he dared not invest too much.

Secondly, he was also worried that if all his Decepticons suddenly had their strength skyrocket after changing into new bodies, it would affect his control over them.

This was truly not Sun Cheng being overly anxious; after digesting all of Frenzy's memories, he had already realized that although the Decepticon Legion had a strict hierarchical system, Megatron, who came from humble beginnings, had deeply branded the will of "winner takes all" and "might makes right" into the interior of the Decepticon Legion.

Therefore, conspiracy and betrayal were also deeply branded into the bones of many Decepticons.

This point, perhaps even Starscream, who had always been committed to resisting Megatron, had not discovered; he had actually been influenced by Megatron from a very long time ago.

In the blink of an eye, nearly a year had passed since Sun Cheng finished changing into his new body.

A year might be just an instant for Cybertronians, who had nearly endless lifespans as long as they had sufficient energy, but for Base No. 2, which was developing with all its might, it looked different almost every day.

Sun Cheng, who suffered from a severe lack of a sense of security, left behind many seemingly cold and ruthless measures to ensure his control over Base No. 2.

This might leave behind some hidden dangers in the future, but judging from the development speed over the past year, the effect was very obvious.

Now, Base No. 2 had sufficient resources to remanufacture new bodies for Sun Cheng and a group of his warriors.

Coupled with the fact that his Decepticon Warriors had performed satisfactorily over the past year, and Sun Cheng was indeed lacking high-end combat power, upgrading the bodies was a natural progression.

Pioneer's eyes lit up; he had been by Sun Cheng's side the longest and had experienced the most combat scenes. Because he was often unable to share more pressure for his master during battles, although he had only just adapted to this new body not long ago, he indeed felt his strength was insufficient.

He was just about to open his mouth to thank him, but he didn't expect Swindle to be a step ahead, his face full of fawning smiles.

"Many thanks, Master Frenzy!"

This guy was cunning, hypocritical, and cowardly; having been tortured by Starscream and Megatron for so long, he had also grown quite a bit.

Swindle clearly noticed that Sun Cheng had not left him out, and seeing that he could obtain a new body soon, he was still very satisfied.

Sun Cheng did not believe this guy's loyalty; seeing him happy, his voice suddenly turned cold.

"Don't be happy too soon!" he said coldly: "In a while, I plan to make a deal with the Autobot Leader Optimus Prime, and I will need a batch of heavy weapons then..."

The smile on Swindle's face stiffened; he was once the munitions officer of the Decepticon Legion and had also sold arms on the Black Market for many years, so he was very familiar with the performance and data of various weapons.

"Are you asking me to manufacture a batch of weapons?" he asked, pretending to be unsure.

Sun Cheng gave a light hum, "Put away your little thoughts; I want heavy weapons, heavy weapons that can at least injure an Elite Warrior..."

Swindle's face darkened; he did indeed master the data of many weapons, but modifying weapons and manufacturing weapons were completely different concepts.

He could indeed manufacture weapons, but Swindle would not gain any benefits from it; no one would be willing to do this.

Sun Cheng had roughly figured out his thoughts and personality, and seeing him not respond, he immediately started with harsh words: "If you don't want to do it, get lost. Your usefulness ended after you contacted Lockdown!"

This guy was the type who only responded to force, not kindness. "I will have someone send the materials over. I'll give you one month; I want at least five weapons. If you can't do it, you don't have to stay on the island!"

After speaking, he stopped paying attention to this cunning and hypocritical guy.

"Pioneer, you take Hailishi and go back first. Thunder and I still need to stay on the island for a while; there are still some things that haven't been dealt with!"

Sun Cheng indeed had quite a few things to deal with; the Soul-Reaping Gun and the newly acquired Forge of Solus Prime were secondary.

What he was most curious about now was the fate of The Fallen, although he had vaguely had the answer in his heart when Optimus Prime led the Autobots to wreak havoc in the United States.

But that was only a guess after all; before seeing the corpse of The Fallen with his own eyes, or having his death confirmed, Sun Cheng dared not let his guard down for a moment.

And if possible, he also wanted to make contact with Optimus Prime to see if he could obtain some of the special energy contained in the 【Matrix of Leadership】 from him.

The Autobots who died in battle in Jordan not long ago had their corpses transported back to the country by the Americans one by one.

As a result, not long after, they were alive and kicking, following behind Optimus Prime and causing trouble in the United States.

To say that their resurrection from the dead and Optimus Prime's had nothing to do with the 【Matrix of Leadership】, Sun Cheng would not believe it even a hundred times.

Since this thing had fallen into the hands of Optimus Prime, he no longer held any expectations for the 【Matrix of Leadership】.

However, Sun Cheng was indeed full of curiosity and anticipation for the magical energy possessed by the 【Matrix of Leadership】; having this thing was simply like having a resurrection coin.

He was prepared to probe and see if that young Autobot Leader was willing to trade the magical energy in the 【Matrix of Leadership】.

As long as Optimus Prime agreed, this deal could be more than just limited to the energy in the 【Matrix of Leadership】; Sun Cheng wouldn't mind taking out the surplus minerals and energy from Base No. 2 to sell to the Autobots.

The premise was that they could put down their hostility and bring out goods that satisfied him.

……

Today's matter is my fault; I myself forgot that I had scheduled a dinner with the man's family today because of my younger sister's wedding last month.

That chapter at two o'clock was a draft I rushed out in the early morning and set to publish automatically; because there were too many things to discuss during the day, I couldn't touch the computer at all.

Tomorrow, there will be a minimum of three updates, and I will strive for four.