Chapter 868: An Uneasy Discovery

"This is only the beginning!"

Sun Cheng looked toward the sky, his expression very calm.

Four Golden Eagle Fighters returned to Base No. 2 immediately after firing all the Temperature Difference Bombs they were carrying.

Over in the Arctic Circle, the task of monitoring the aftermath was handed over to the Pioneers.

With Sun Cheng no longer concerning himself with the situation there, it mattered not whether the Autobots wiped out the Decepticons or the Americans stirred up a massive disaster again.

Because this was merely a prologue; such conflicts would only become commonplace from here on out.

Rather than continuing to worry about that, it would be better to spend more time preparing for the day to come.

Mola had returned to Base No. 2 in person from the Republic of Bolivia, also arriving because of this abrupt incident in the Arctic Circle.

Along the way, he brought back first-hand intelligence obtained from the United States.

"... Commander, according to intelligence sent back by our spies within the United States, the reason the Decepticons suddenly attacked the Americans this time is that the Americans discovered a peculiar mineral vein in Niusheng, Canada!"

"A mineral vein?"

Sun Cheng was somewhat puzzled. "What kind of mineral vein on Earth could be coveted by the Decepticons? High-grade uranium ore?"

After this thought emerged, he was also half-doubting it.

If it were energy, the Moon had an abundance of Helium-3, which was far more efficient than uranium ore; even he was tempted by that stuff, as it was an excellent fuel for building new types of power stations.

A few months ago, the discovery of a small amount of Helium-3 on Mars Base had made Sun Cheng happy for several days, so he did not believe the Decepticons would set their sights on some high-grade uranium ore.

However, recalling that not long after he first transmigrated into the 【Transformers Universe】, he had once helped Starscream obtain some nuclear warheads from a U. S. military base under his orders.

Thinking of this, Sun Cheng became somewhat convinced again.

In the technology tree of the Cybertronian civilization, the branch for nuclear weapon manufacturing had not been unlocked.

In the past, they had indeed unlocked nuclear energy technology during the development of their civilization, but it was merely designing various devices to extract energy using the special properties of uranium.

If the Decepticons were now suddenly stealing the nuclear-weapon-related manufacturing technology invented by Earth's civilization and attempting to use it to build nuclear weapons to deal with their mortal enemies, the Autobots, or even humans, it was not impossible.

The extreme heat and radiation from a nuclear explosion were equally damaging to Cybertronians.

However, there were still many things Sun Cheng could not figure out.

"If it really was to seize high-grade uranium ore to manufacture nuclear weapons, the Decepticons shouldn't be acting now. Don't they know that once their tracks are exposed, the Autobots will definitely rush over to stop them?"

Carrying this doubt, Sun Cheng asked his Intelligence Chief: "Mola, can our personnel in the United States confirm the data on the ore the Decepticons are fighting over?"

Mola thought seriously for a moment before nodding.

"Although according to the intelligence gathered previously, the United States has imposed a relatively tight blockade on information regarding the mineral vein. However, our intelligence network has already infiltrated the interior of that country. If the Commander needs it, I can order people to dig deeper, and it is not impossible to even obtain some samples of the ore. But this will cause us to lose a portion of our intelligence personnel!"

Sun Cheng understood what he meant by intelligence personnel; they were nothing more than human spies they had developed in the United States through various means.

He felt no heartache at all for such spies.

So he agreed quite directly: "With hundreds of millions of dollars in funding every month, they have been well-fed and well-cared for for so long. Let those few spies over there who have always believed they were serving Moscow do it. Once you get more definitive intelligence and ore samples, copy them and intercept a small portion to send over. As for the rest, turn it over to our mole in the SVR!"

The SVR was one of the intelligence agencies of the Russians, its predecessor being the KGB First Chief Directorate, which was once as notorious as the CIA and specifically responsible for the Russians' overseas intelligence gathering work.

Mola understood immediately; Sun Cheng wanted to let Moscow take the blame once the matter was exposed.

However, the Russians were surely investigating this matter as well, after all, the commotion from the battle in the Arctic Circle was so great.

The United States had successively dispatched over a thousand sorties of fighter jets from its own territory and fired hundreds of Tomahawk Cruise Missiles; it would be difficult for the Polar Bear not to know.

Having their mole in the Russian intelligence agency quietly let the Russians take the fall was appropriate; in any case, they surely wanted to know the truth about the conflict in the Arctic Circle as well.

After Mola understood Sun Cheng's plan, he immediately went down to make arrangements.

It took only twenty-some hours for a piece of strange metal, only the size of a fingernail, to be sent to Base No. 2 by the intelligence agency under Mola from a certain materials research institute in the United States.

As for how many spies were lost in this process, Sun Cheng did not care at all.

Because the several Senior Engineers and Engineers under him who were specifically responsible for new material research had handed over an analysis report that made Sun Cheng feel incomparably heavy after conducting a very detailed study of this strange metal, which was only the size of a fingernail.

"Are you sure this is an alloy formed after acquired artificial modification? And it was modified at the atomic level? Its origin was very likely some kind of carbon-based life form?"

"Yes, Commander!"

Decepticon Senior Engineer Tuote respectfully introduced it to him.

Tuote was one of the first batch of over twenty Decepticon Workers who followed Sun Cheng; his name came from the god of wisdom in ancient Egyptian mythology.

From the time Sun Cheng designed his first body, Tuote had been responsible for the research and development of new metals, and by now, he had become the overall person in charge of material research under him.

"Although it is difficult to see differences in the molecular structure, if we continue to zoom in to the atomic or even smaller proton and neutron structures, we still discovered some anomalies in this alloy."

"It is so complex and yet weirdly perfect; this is undoubtedly a type of alloy manufacturing technology that exceeds imagination. It reminds me of a special metal in the base's database that was said to have been created by the Matter Transformation Technology unique to the Quintessa Civilization!"

The Memory Data of Jetfire, once a great scientist of Cybertron, had already been processed by Sun Cheng.

Much of the knowledge related to technology in his Memory Data had all been extracted by Sun Cheng and uploaded to the base's database for the Decepticon technical team under his command to study.

The benefits of doing this were enormous; over the past year or so, many Decepticon Engineers had benefited from it, bursting forth with creativity far higher than before.

But at this moment, Tuote's explanation also made Sun Cheng think of the Matter Transformation Technology unique to the Quintessa Civilization.

Because he had only uploaded a very small portion of Jetfire's Memory Data to the base's database.

So Sun Cheng knew far, far more than Tuote.

Linking this to the fact that a certain fleet of Quintessians had once appeared near the Solar System thousands of years ago.

Soon, the unease in Sun Cheng's heart grew a few shades thicker.

"I hope, I truly hope it is not as I imagine. Otherwise, before the Decepticon Legion is even dealt with, a much greater crisis may very well be coming!"

In his brain, the records regarding the former Quintessa Civilization from Jetfire's Memory Data surfaced uncontrollably, and Sun Cheng could not help but shiver.

After a long while, he slowly spat out a sentence, "Quintessians, a bunch of lunatics!"