Chapter 657: Jack

Africa, northeastern region.

Accompanied by a meteor shower impact from beyond the stars, three deep craters immediately appeared on the soft Gobi desert.

A tall mechanical warrior, whose body was mostly white with only the chest and a few small areas being gray, was the first to stand up from the impact crater.

"Leader Optimus Prime, we have arrived on Earth... Hmm, let me see where we are now... Ethiopia? Fortunately, we haven't strayed too far..."

Not far from him, two other tall mechanical warriors also crawled out of the other two impact craters one after another.

Judging by the markings displayed on their chests and bodies, they were clearly Autobots, not Decepticons.

"Stay there, we'll be there soon!"

Ten-plus minutes later, accompanied by a swirl of smoke and sand over the Gobi, a long convoy appeared in the desert.

A red and blue heavy truck in the lead took the initiative. Upon discovering the three Autobots crouching in the Gobi, studying several types of venomous insects, lizards, and weathered rocks common to the African Gobi region, Optimus Prime quickly completed his transformation and walked briskly toward one of the Autobots who was studying a venomous snake.

"Wheeljack, welcome to Earth!"

The Autobot with a white and gray body, crouching on the ground studying the venomous snake, was none other than the Autobot—Wheeljack.

Wheeljack pulled the venomous snake that was furiously coiling around his finger off and placed it back on the ground.

He stood up and shook the right hand extended by Optimus Prime, "Is this a custom on Earth? Leader?"

"Yes, it represents a welcome!"

Optimus Prime smiled as he welcomed this great scientist of the Autobot faction; Wheeljack's arrival was of great significance to the Autobots on Earth.

Ironhide had already rebuilt an Autobot Base on Earth, and this matter had also received Optimus Prime's tacit approval.

He liked this azure planet very much; it was somewhat similar to Cybertron in his memories of his past life.

If possible, Optimus Prime very much wanted to rebuild a home for the Autobots on Earth and try his best to explore how to live in peace with the humans of Earth.

Of course, this was not an easy task, especially after they had a falling out with the strongest human nation on Earth, which made the Autobots' situation quite difficult.

The only fortunate thing was that the land Sun Cheng had chosen for them, although it did indeed hide some selfish motives behind it, was perfectly suited for the Autobots given the chaotic nature of Africa.

Africa was vast and sparsely populated, the situation was chaotic, and at the same time, mineral resources were extremely abundant.

The Autobots' temporary base had only been established for a short time, and they had already established more than a dozen small mines within a radius of less than one hundred kilometers centered around the base.

Recently, there had not been many conflicts between the Autobots and the Decepticons, so consumption had also decreased significantly, and they had gradually begun to accumulate some resources.

At this time, the arrival of a group of the most excellent scientists in the Autobot faction, like Wheeljack, meant the Autobot base on Earth would surely be able to enter a period of great development very soon.

Wheeljack did not think that much; he was among the first batch to respond to Optimus Prime's call and set off from the Centaurus Constellation to rush here.

Ever since the Autobots lost that crucial decisive battle over a hundred years ago, the Decepticon Legion, now under the command of the military commander—Shockwave, had completely occupied the entirety of Cybertron.

The main force of the Autobots had retreated to a moon of Cybertron. Although they still had some remnant resistance forces fighting guerrilla warfare on Cybertron, under Shockwave's sweeping operations, the guerrillas were suffering casualties and dwindling day by day.

The failure of the civil war, the loss of all territory on the planet Cybertron, and the disappearance of the former Leader, Sentinel Prime.

The current Autobot faction's morale was at an unprecedented low, and the Council, composed of surrenderists and the Old Aristocracy, was already about to seize most of the power institutions of the Autobots.

Even a new Leader like Optimus Prime was forced to leave the command center and go far away under the pretext of searching for the 【AllSpark】; the situation over there could be imagined.

Wheeljack looked around at the Autobot warriors following behind Optimus Prime, all of whom appeared high-spirited, and said with great emotion: "I haven't seen such vitality in a long time!"

Optimus Prime's expression turned stern, "What is the situation at Autobot City? Is the current temporary commander still Hot Rod?"

Over a hundred years ago, Sentinel Prime stepped down as the Leader of the Autobots and pushed his young student, the high-ranking commander—Optimus Prime, into the position of the new Leader.

Because he was not of the Prime Dynasty, many of the Old Aristocracy were unconvinced by this young Autobot Leader who had grown up as a Normal Mode Prime.

Not long after, Sentinel Prime's life or death became unknown during a Task, and the Autobots, under Optimus Prime's command, fought fiercely against the Decepticons for several more years. Ultimately, because the disparity in strength between the two sides was too great, the capital and final fortress—Iacon—fell.

Although Optimus Prime personally led his team to fight to the death, protecting a large number of Autobots to safely evacuate to a moon of Cybertron, he rebuilt a new capital, Autobot City, and continued to lead the Autobots in resisting the Decepticons.

However, losing the civil war, which led to heavy losses for the Autobots and the loss of the entire planet Cybertron, meant that someone had to take the blame for this massive failure.

A group of surrenderists and Old Aristocracy had a great say in the Council. In the name of Optimus Prime being too young and incapable of the heavy responsibility, they introduced a series of restrictive decrees and successfully seized from his hands a large amount of power that originally belonged only to the supreme Leader, including military command.

Optimus Prime knew well that having a falling out with the Council would likely lead to internal division among the Autobots, or even trigger a civil war. He ultimately made concessions, took the initiative to appoint the young Autobot he favored, Hot Rod, as the temporary commander, and then led several trusted adjutants to leave Autobot City and embark on a journey to find the 【AllSpark】.

Facing his question, Wheeljack frowned, "He was when I left, but now, who knows? After all, Shoutiancheng was already restless before you, Leader, left Autobot City..."

Hearing the name Shoutiancheng, Optimus Prime's face immediately darkened.

Like his teacher Sentinel Prime, Shoutiancheng was also a young commander from the Prime Dynasty.

Because of his special background, he had gained many opportunities to perform in past civil wars.

At one point, even Sentinel Prime had groomed him as his successor.

That was until this arrogant and conceited commander, who lacked much ability, sacrificed one of the Autobots' most elite units, which in turn caused the Decepticon Legion to invade in force, leading to the first time the Autobot capital, Iacon, had some of its streets briefly captured by the Decepticons.

After the war, a furious Sentinel Prime almost sent Shoutiancheng to a Military Tribunal; it was only thanks to the strong protection of a group of Old Aristocracy that he was not purged.

However, even so, Shoutiancheng was expelled from the military register from then on, changing from the most promising next Autobot Leader into a common internal affairs official who idled away his time all day.

After the Autobot Council was established, Shoutiancheng, with the support of many Old Aristocracy, became a vice-chairman, and after Sentinel Prime's life or death became unknown, he was pushed out by those Old Aristocracy in the Council to compete with Optimus Prime for the power of military commander.

If it weren't for the fact that Shoutiancheng's past defeats had deducted too many points, Optimus Prime would not have been able to push Hot Rod into the position of temporary commander before leaving.

However, Optimus Prime was actually very clear that Hot Rod was also not a qualified military commander; he was too young, self-centered, and lacked sufficient patience, and still needed more tempering.

But Hot Rod was already the most suitable successor he could think of; after all, in the second civil war, too many excellent commanders had died at the hands of the Decepticons due to the Autobots' successive defeats.

"I hope Hot Rod can grow up as soon as possible!"

Optimus Prime sighed inwardly, then looked at Wheeljack again.

PS:

Due to plot requirements, I have modified the era and background of some of the plot characters.

It's been a while since I watched the animated version. I spent some time today re-watching the few I could find. After all, many plot points had become blurred, which delayed the update time.