Chapter 895: The Dilemma

As soon as this thought emerged, even Sun Cheng himself was startled.

But very quickly, his spirit became abnormally excited because of this abrupt idea.

"Yes, why don't I try to win over Optimus Prime and the Autobots of his faction?"

Strictly speaking, the relationship between the Autobots and the Decepticons is not irreconcilable.

Only in the very early stages of the Cybertronian Civil War did Megatron and Sentinel Prime both issue death orders, showing no mercy to prisoners and deserters from the opposing camp.

Later, as the war reached a stalemate and the manpower of both camps was continuously depleted, slowly, both the Decepticons and the Autobots began to find it unsustainable.

Thus, the Decepticons were the first to make changes, beginning to use various conspiracies, coercion, and inducements to lure Autobot soldiers surrounded by their heavy forces or civilians within base areas to defect to their side.

The Autobots subsequently began to retaliate in kind, utilizing the cruel factional struggles within the Decepticon Legion and the oppression of low-level Decepticons to successfully induce a group of peace-loving Decepticons to defect to the Autobots.

Although most of the Decepticons and Autobots who defected to the opposing camp did not receive fair treatment in their new camps.

But at least for the two Cybertronian camps, strictly speaking, there did not exist an insurmountable chasm.

And Sun Cheng is not lacking in resources now; after nearly three years of quiet development, the vast majority of newly discovered mineral veins in South America, as well as some state-owned mining companies previously monopolized by various countries, have now all fallen under the control of Base No. 2.

They are also not lacking in basic labor; new Decepticons are still being born in a steady stream, and Sun Cheng is confident that he can increase the number of Decepticons under his command by more than three times within the next year.

Moreover, he does not have the high-and-mighty arrogance of other Decepticons and Autobots; Base No. 2 has been operating behind the scenes in South America for these past few years, and some mines of former South American state-owned mining companies that they have already controlled are still being mined by local people, and they have even slightly increased their wages and benefits.

Now, the ore mined from those mines, except for a portion that is still being primary-smelted by local human smelting companies.

Through a series of means, Sun Cheng and his people have already tied the economies of various South American countries to their own war chariot.

His Intelligence Chief—Mola, is becoming more and more competent now.

In such a vast South America, there is naturally no shortage of "democratic" figures brainwashed by Western neoliberalism.

And Mola's current tasks, besides monitoring the entry of Decepticons and Autobots, also include eliminating intelligence personnel sent into the country by various nations and purging rebellious elements.

Relying on these means, Sun Cheng hides behind the scenes; if he needs to, he can completely use the names of various South American governments to easily mobilize millions of laborers by utilizing policies, inducements, and necessary violence.

The current Sun Cheng has resources when he needs resources, and manpower when he needs manpower.

What he lacks is that large group of high-level or even elite-level warriors like Optimus Prime and the Autobots, as well as top-tier Cybertronian scientists like Wheeljack.

That is why Sun Cheng suddenly had this thought, to try to win over Optimus Prime and see if he could pull him and the Autobots of his faction into one camp.

Although the hope is very slim, at least it is not non-existent.

The return of Sentinel Prime has made Optimus Prime's power and status in the Autobot camp increasingly awkward, especially with the conflict in their philosophies; once Optimus Prime chooses to concede, he and his followers will likely have to completely abandon the New Iacon they worked so hard to rebuild.

Either choose to wander again, or shamelessly continue to stay in New Iacon, and then they will likely be targeted in various ways by Sentinel Prime and his die-hard supporters.

"Perhaps I can offer a better choice, for Decepticons and Autobots to be indistinguishable from each other and unite once again..."

His Core spun rapidly, and Sun Cheng began to seriously consider the possibility of this idea.

He had never thought about completely eliminating the rift between the Decepticons and the Autobots; it is unrealistic and impossible in the short term.

And Sun Cheng does not have that intention; he prefers to realize a kind of federal-style alliance with Optimus Prime, where interests are not completely shared, and they can even govern their own territories in normal times.

But internally, they can have mutual economic, trade, and technological exchanges, and once there is an external invasion, they must be forced to join forces to deal with the outside world.

Of course, wanting to achieve this goal is not simple.

Just in terms of identity alone, many Autobots would not be willing.

A Decepticon Cannon Fodder from the Cassette Corps wanting to be on equal footing with the young Leader of the Autobots?

Even if he is a down-and-out Leader, Optimus Prime's followers would not agree.

Arrogance is also the original sin of the Autobots!

Thinking of his own Decepticon identity in this world, Sun Cheng also felt a sense of being unable to laugh or cry.

As a member of the Decepticon Legion, he has offended many high-ranking members of the Decepticon Legion terribly.

He has peeked into Megatron's memories and knows many of that hero's unknown secrets, and therefore has offended him to death.

Starscream has schemed against him, and has also been schemed against by Sun Cheng; the relationship between the two might be very bad, but it is also possible that it is not that terrible.

Soundwave wanted to kill him, but eventually fell at his hands; however, Cybertronians are quite special, and even today, Sun Cheng, who has repeatedly studied Soundwave's Memory Chip countless times, still dares not guarantee whether the other party has left behind any contingencies.

It is not strange that he has this worry, because Soundwave's Memory Chip contains a large amount of garbled code, gaps, and password-protected areas.

Clearly, this Intelligence Chief of the Decepticon Legion knew very well that he knew too many secrets, and therefore Soundwave protected or hid all the information he considered very important, dangerous, or confidential.

So even though Soundwave's remains are still in his collection vault, Sun Cheng still cannot be sure whether the other party has left behind any means of resurrection.

If one were to count the opponent that gives Sun Cheng the most headache, Shockwave, who is about to arrive in the Solar System, is likely even above Megatron.

This de facto military commander of the Decepticon Legion, although his methods are not as cruel as Megatron's, is even more ruthless and direct.

He will not be like Starscream, enjoying the pleasure of a cat catching a mouse; even if he accidentally let Sun Cheng slip through his hands for a moment, Starscream would not care much.

However, based on the intelligence Sun Cheng has collected regarding Shockwave, he has no doubt that once Megatron issues an order to kill him, Shockwave will do his utmost to deal with him.

Although it is still impossible to determine the scale of the Decepticon army that Shockwave is leading to the Solar System.

But with Shockwave's consistent caution, that army would definitely be enough to wipe out all opposition forces on Earth.

Now he has also completely torn his face with the Decepticons, and this large group of Decepticons is now like a Damocles sword hanging over Sun Cheng's head.

It makes him unable to eat or sleep in peace at any moment.

Therefore, whether it succeeds or not, Sun Cheng has decided to give it a try.