Chapter 67: The Arrival of the Autobots

Almost at the same time Sun Cheng was patiently waiting for the attack to install the Railgun, in the United States, Minnesota, Duluth.

Inside a factory area in the suburbs, a scarred Bumblebee held his Laser Cannon high, aiming it at his old rival—Barricade—who was lying on the ground, having clearly suffered heavy damage, his eyes full of contempt.

"... It seems defecting to the Decepticons hasn't improved your strength much, you shameless traitor..."

Looking down from above, Bumblebee used the Cybertronian language to mock this former Autobot Warrior with relish.

"... Don't get happy too soon, you bastard..." With his left leg severed at the root and pinned down miserably by one of his feet, the already ferocious face of Barricade grew even more vicious due to his humiliation and anger.

Scanning the Laser Cannon in Bumblebee's hand with his peripheral vision, Barricade could not help but feel a surge of panic in his heart.

Having been an Autobot himself, he understood this former clansman of his deeply; he was not bloodthirsty, but he showed no mercy to traitors. During the past Cybertronian Civil War, too many Autobots with wavering wills had, like Barricade, turned to join the Decepticons, and as the Autobots' best spy and intelligence master, one of Bumblebee's tasks was to wipe those traitors out one by one.

This was also one of the reasons why Barricade hated Bumblebee so much; when on the planet Cybertron, he had encountered Bumblebee's attacks several times, and had his nature not been as cunning as a ghost, he would have long since become a pile of rotting machinery.

With a roll of his eyes, he quickly made a decision, sneering as he warned: "You're protecting that human, aren't you? Let me guess, he has clues about the AllSpark on him?"

Bumblebee looked at him coldly, adding a bit more force to his foot, pressing heavily onto Barricade's chest.

However, this seemingly unmoved posture was the best answer in the eyes of the treacherous Barricade; he grinned and sneered, "Reflector has already chased after them. Why don't we make a bet: will I die at your hands first, or will they both die at Reflector's hands first?"

A few days ago, after Starscream learned from somewhere that Blackout had arrived on Earth, he sent him out again, and at the same time arranged for Reflector, the only one of the Camera Trio currently able to carry out missions, to be in his group to continue tracking clues to the AllSpark.

Because Sun Cheng had previously pointed out the direction of the mission for them, and he had invaded the internets of various countries several times—at least on the public web, no clues about the AllSpark could be found—Sun Cheng had applied to Barricade at the time to invade the national defense intranets and major military and research institutions of various countries.

Consequently, this time when he was sent out by Starscream to track clues to the AllSpark, Barricade simply arranged for Reflector to infiltrate the U. S. President's private plane—Air Force One—and then used the defense authorization on Air Force One to briefly invade the U. S. classified intranet, which was hidden behind layers of firewalls and restrictions.

Although compared to the Cassette Corps, the information-gathering ability of the Camera Trio was slightly lacking, that was only relative to the planet Cybertron.

On Earth, Reflector's intrusion capability was equally unsolvable and could not be blocked by the United States' network defense forces.

Therefore, they easily found some classified documents and locked onto a young man in Duluth named Sam Witwicky.

Unfortunately, when Barricade and the others arrived in Duluth, he discovered that his old rival—Bumblebee—had actually tracked Sam Witwicky down as well in such a short time after arriving on Earth, which led to a conflict.

Blue light flickered incessantly in Bumblebee's eyes, although his good psychological quality allowed him to refrain from revealing more emotional fluctuations.

But the one who knows you best is often your opponent; Barricade captured the fluctuations in his heart very keenly, and his face appeared even more insane.

Having been defeated by Bumblebee several times and realizing the gap in strength between the two, so what? The reason he had been able to live well all along was that he was crazier and more unscrupulous than Bumblebee.

At that moment, Barricade suddenly erupted with force, his hands grabbing Bumblebee violently, his face flashing with madness, "You want to get the AllSpark? I just won't let you have your way; come die with me!"

As he spoke, the chest armor of his chassis was suddenly opened, exposing the Spark inside.

Feeling the energy fluctuations suddenly erupting violently on Barricade, Bumblebee's expression changed drastically.

Self-destruction!

Realizing Barricade's intention in an instant, he grew anxious, hurriedly retracting his Laser Cannon to transform into a blade, stabbing it into Barricade's arm, and then picking him up and throwing him away violently.

The next second, he sped off in the direction where Reflector had just disappeared.

Not long after, Bumblebee saw Reflector in a corner of the factory.

This guy was currently playing with Sam and another young human girl with a defiant and smug look on his face; the Machine Gun in his palm kept strafing the ground under the two people's feet, and his mouth kept spitting out Cybertronian language: "Vile vermin, scream! Scream louder!"

"What a nasty character!"

Bumblebee cursed inwardly, transformed his Laser Cannon again, and fired a shot directly at Reflector.

This unlucky guy was clearly too smug; he took the shot head-on without reacting at all, his chassis immediately covered in cracks and wounds, and his whole body was blasted far away by the power of the shell, falling heavily onto an open space more than ten meters away.

Not having heard the sound of the Spark self-destructing from behind for a long time, Bumblebee had come to his senses by now, cursing him as despicable in his heart with some disdain; being proud, he had no intention of chasing Barricade anymore.

He walked straight to a spot not far in front of the young human man and woman, looking quietly at the two who were still in shock.

"What is this?" With unease mixed with a bit of stubbornness, the one who spoke in a low voice was the young human girl.

Bumblebee clearly saw a bit of fear in her eyes; he tried to smile to show goodwill, but unfortunately, humans seemed unable to understand the expressions of them, the Autobots.

"It's a robot... but it looks like another kind of super-advanced robot... it should be from Japan... yes, it must be made in Japan..."

Japan?

After arriving on Earth, Bumblebee had invaded and learned about the data of countries on Earth many times; he knew this was a country where the high-end robot manufacturing industry was extremely developed!

Although he was very unhappy to be contemptuously called a 'machine' by the fragile human before him, once he thought that according to his investigation, the holy relic of the planet Cybertron—the AllSpark—was hidden on Earth, and the human in front of him might hold the key to finding it, he suppressed the displeasure in his heart and took the initiative to communicate with the two, hoping that he could grasp more clues before the Leader and the others arrived on Earth.

"... Digital broadcast system... Columbia Broadcasting System... insect named wasp... this is a message from the star fleet commander of the vast universe... boy... we need your help..."