Chapter 753: A Familiar Face

In just a few months, Pioneer has grown very quickly.

After wandering around Trindade Island, Sun Cheng discovered that the changes here were indeed as they appeared—extremely massive.

There are already quite a few humans permanently stationed on the island now; the Black Market never had any intention of being hidden, so almost every country on Earth with even a little bit of power now knows of the existence of this magical island.

Many human countries and factions have now established liaison offices on the island.

These liaison offices range from five or six people to as many as several dozen or even a hundred; it is said that the total number of permanent human residents on the island has now surprisingly exceeded one thousand.

The reason those human countries and factions go to such lengths to establish long-term liaison offices on an island that cannot produce any supplies and requires all daily necessities to be purchased from the mainland is because of the rules of the Black Market.

The total amount of supplies available on the island for trade with humans is fixed; although it is refreshed at regular intervals, the quantity is not large.

Therefore, unless one purchases the goods the moment they appear in the Black Market Mall, one must wait until the next month, or wait for a faction that snatched the goods to default on their contract.

Because the minimum price for each piece of equipment can be tens of millions of US dollars, it is quite common for higher-priced items to sell for hundreds of millions of US dollars.

Trindade Island does not accept the currencies of any human nation, only bartering with various rare metals and minerals.

Sun Cheng set this rule initially to leave humans with sufficient preparation time, because whether they want to mine the minerals themselves or purchase them from the international market, the process requires time.

The reason the Black Market on Trindade Island was able to come into existence stems from two causes.

First, Sun Cheng hoped to utilize those human factions on Earth to help him collect enough resources as quickly as possible to accelerate the development of his own forces, as well as the construction of the Explorer-class starships.

The South America he originally chose for the development of Base No. 2 is indeed worthy of being called a land blessed by heaven; it is rich in minerals, and even selling just the mineral resources is enough for many South American countries to maintain a decent economy for a long time.

However, no matter how rich a blessed land is, it cannot have every single mineral resource in equal measure.

At the very least, within the borders of the several South American countries controlled by Base No. 2, the Decepticon Engineer under Sun Cheng have already mapped out detailed mineral vein charts, which include over a hundred types of minerals—such as uranium and rare earths—that are either in short supply or completely absent.

This is also why, after Base No. 2 gradually grew and strengthened, it has still been importing various minerals from the Far East and Russia in large quantities.

The second reason for the establishment of the Black Market was for Sun Cheng to avoid excessive attention from the various countries of Earth.

Since The Fallen suddenly ordered the Decepticons to invade Earth in a massive scale half a year ago, destroying the main force of the United States' Second Fleet while simultaneously openly hacking into the communication systems of countries across Earth and exposing the existence of the Decepticons, human nations have invested massive amounts of resources and manpower into exploring aliens out of national security and various other considerations.

Afterwards, there was the battle between the Decepticons and the US military in the Red Sea region, the fierce battle between the Autobots and Decepticons within Egypt, the battle between the Autobots, Decepticons, and humans in Jordan, and even the subsequent series of attacks on the laboratories of military industrial giants within the United States.

In the series of activities following the exposure of the Decepticons and Autobots, the role played by human nations was clearly that of being invaded at will, and even being unable to resist.

Haven't you seen how the Americans, who have run rampant on Earth for over half a century, were tossed around until they lost the vast majority of the main force of two carrier strike groups?

One must know that since World War II, carrier strike groups have always represented the military presence of the United States; whether for regional intervention or military coercion, the American carrier strike groups are almost everywhere.

However, although the total number of aircraft carriers equipped by the United States has always been maintained at around ten, because of routine maintenance and technical upgrades, under normal circumstances, the total number of carriers the US can simultaneously commit to battle is generally around three.

This is also the reason why, after their three carriers were heavily damaged, the Americans were still able to swallow that bitter pill while the Autobots were destroying the laboratories of military giants within their country.

Their most important conventional deterrent had been paralyzed by the previous Decepticon Legion, so naturally, even the most arrogant hawks had to bow their heads.

There are not many countries on Earth that possess aircraft carriers, and the Americans are undoubtedly the ones with the most carriers and the strongest carrier combat capability among them.

If even the United States is bullied so miserably by aliens, one can imagine the attitude of other countries when facing these uninvited extraterrestrials.

Sun Cheng was afraid of being watched by too many eyes, which is why he took the initiative to create the Black Market on Trindade Island, allowing all humans to personally come down and interact with them, the aliens.

The goods he brought out to trade with humans are all advanced mechanical equipment and Precision Instrument that conform to the current industrial level of Earth.

Such equipment can only be produced by a few countries on Earth; they are naturally sharp weapons in the hands of politicians used to suppress other countries, so the countries that truly need them cannot buy them even if they want to.

What's more, Sun Cheng originally wanted to sell more to obtain more resources.

He had a Decepticon Engineer, who specializes in producing various mechanical equipment for sale on the Black Market, control the technical content of the equipment sold to be about five to ten years ahead of Earth's current level—roughly a one-generation technical gap—which is attractive to the vast majority of countries.

Pioneer has managed the Black Market on the island in an orderly fashion, which makes Sun Cheng very satisfied.

Accompanied by several of his subordinates, he wandered around the island a little.

Pioneer has now completely learned and mastered the simple pointers Sun Cheng gave him earlier.

All humans stranded on the island are required to calculate their accommodation fees based on the number of people and the number of days they stay.

And since the island does not accept the currency of any human nation, those countries and factions that have established offices on the island can only pay with resources.

This includes the food, fresh water, and so on that they consume on the island; it is all the same.

This learning ability makes Sun Cheng very satisfied; if Pioneer can be trained on the island, once his own and Pioneer's New Body are both completed, he would not mind letting Pioneer become the first Commander under his command and begin to shoulder more command and combat Task.

The premise is that no embarrassing problems arise.

Several tall mechanical Warrior wandering around the island naturally attracted many gazes.

As it happened, just as Sun Cheng and his group arrived near the huge temple-like building on the island that had been simply and crudely named "Black Market," several humans in suits and leather shoes appeared and called out to Sun Cheng and his group.

"Excuse me, are you Lord Frenzy? Could you give us a few minutes? We would like to discuss a partnership with your side."

Sun Cheng looked at the humans who had called out to him in surprise, and red light flashed in his eyes instantly.

Among these few people, he recognized a familiar face!

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