Chapter 918: Preparing for War

Optimus Prime did not remain silent for long; perhaps in his heart, he had already made a decision.

It was just that he needed a reason, or someone to persuade himself.

"Lord Frenzy!"

When he met Sun Cheng's gaze again, the struggle that had been on Optimus Prime's face was gone, replaced entirely by determination.

"The Autobots will never sit by and watch war repeat itself on Earth; we will do everything in our power to prevent war from happening again!"

Sun Cheng stared straight at him for a good while before nodding slowly.

"My lord, we are willing to believe your promise. At the same time, we will also honor our promise: in the future, not a single one of our Decepticons will enter Africa without your permission; this land shall serve as the Autobots' sphere of influence."

He reached out and tapped the armor on his chest; the armor opened instantly, and two extended metal joints ejected a metal disc.

Sun Cheng picked it up and handed it to Optimus Prime.

"This contains the locations of some mines we previously established in Africa, and none of the equipment inside has been removed. The Autobots only need to make minor modifications to use them directly; consider it a gesture of our sincerity!"

A few dozen small mines were nothing compared to completely binding an ally like Optimus Prime.

Sun Cheng was becoming increasingly accustomed to his identity as a politician, or rather, as a leader of a faction.

When to give up and when to bite down hard—he was becoming more and more adept at it.

Optimus Prime frowned slightly; as the former leader of the Autobots who had led this race through the end of the civil war and rebuilt their home on a satellite, he was perhaps still far behind his mentor, Sentinel Prime, in ruthlessness and politics.

But this did not mean he did not understand what accepting this disc implied!

His mentor, Sentinel Prime, was currently mobilizing his forces, preparing to annex all of Africa and even Earth.

In Africa at this time, there was no longer any room for Decepticons to survive, and the Autobots were still in the midst of a full-scale cleanup.

Once he accepted this disc, it meant he would immediately stand in opposition to his mentor.

The conflict between master and apprentice would then become irreconcilable!

Sun Cheng maintained his posture of offering the disc, neither arrogant nor impatient.

He knew that even if Optimus Prime had decided to interfere with Sentinel Prime's war plans, his first choice would inevitably be to persuade him.

And this was clearly not what Sun Cheng needed; he had to ensure the Autobots split, or at the very least, he could not let Sentinel Prime bring the coming flames of war to his own territory.

Time ticked away, second by second, amidst Optimus Prime's hesitation.

Sun Cheng was not in a hurry, and Optimus Prime was also repeatedly weighing the pros and cons.

The leaders of the two respective factions were engaged in a silent contest, but they clearly forgot that they were not the only ones here; there were also over a dozen Autobots.

The hot-tempered Ironhide pushed away the hand of his girlfriend, Lia, who was trying to pull him back. This clever female Autobot knew his temperament well, so she had grabbed him the moment he couldn't hold back.

Unfortunately, although Ironhide still hadn't realized the silent confrontation between Sun Cheng and Optimus Prime, he was very clear that Optimus Prime needed to build a new force, and a new force needed resources.

Thus, to Sun Cheng's surprise, Ironhide stepped forward quickly and took the metal disc on behalf of Optimus Prime.

"Thank you for your gift, my lord. We Autobots will never forget your friendship, nor will we ever betray a friend!"

It was Optimus Prime who spoke; in fact, the moment Ironhide took the initiative to accept the disc, he had already been forced to make a statement.

Sun Cheng smiled and nodded, then bowed slightly.

"Then, I look forward to your good news! I shall take my leave now, my Autobot friends."

After speaking, Sun Cheng leaped into the air, quickly completed his transformation, and once again turned into a small spacecraft the likes of which the Autobots had never seen, flying toward the distant sea.

As soon as he left, Ironhide's girlfriend, Lia, immediately began to complain to him.

"Ironhide, you were too reckless!"

Ironhide, however, was unconcerned. "We need resources!"

Two beams of azure light shot from his eyes, and after quickly scanning the information stored in the metal disc, he handed it to Optimus Prime: "Leader, there should be no problem with this data; we have already mastered the information on 7 of the mines within it."

After finishing, Ironhide added with some admiration: "Frenzy and his lot are very forward-thinking; at least on Earth, they have integrated faster and better than us and the Decepticon Legion!"

His apprentice, Yaohuang, disagreed and muttered 'quietly' on the side, "It's just using force and conspiracy to forcibly occupy the Earthlings' land and mineral resources!"

Lia glared at him, and Yaohuang immediately fell silent, looking embarrassed.

Optimus Prime frowned as he looked at the disc in his hand, sighing after a long while before accepting it. "You shouldn't have accepted it, Ironhide."

He still held a glimmer of fantasy regarding his mentor.

Leaving aside the internal struggle of the Autobots, Sun Cheng, who had flown away after ending his meeting with Optimus Prime, slowly descended over the sea about two hundred kilometers from the West African coastline, finally landing on a massive warship cruising on the sea surface.

This massive maritime killing machine looked sixty to seventy percent similar to the Polar Bear's Kirov-class nuclear-powered cruiser, except that the bridge, which looked like a huge tumor, was two-thirds smaller, replaced by more missile silos, close-in defensive weapons, and a very thick and long main gun.

And the moment he landed, a warship that looked like a frigate beside the massive warship quickly underwent a series of changes.

Not long after, a mechanical giant, taller even than Sun Cheng's Frenzy Body, climbed onto the warship from the side of the hull and bowed respectfully to pay his respects.

"Commander!"

"Hmm!"

Sun Cheng glanced at Hailishi and nodded at him with a smile.

His gaze quickly moved away from Hailishi and landed on the massive warship beneath his feet.

A Decepticon Warrior soon walked out from inside the bridge and saluted him: "Commander, shall we lift the Level 1 alert?"

"Lift it!"

Sun Cheng gave the order calmly, his gaze still fixed on the massive warship beneath his feet, a smile appearing and disappearing at the corners of his mouth.

This warship, which looked like a Polar Bear Kirov-class nuclear-powered cruiser on the outside, was precisely the weapon of war that the Decepticons at Base No. 2 had requested to build, in light of Hailishi's brilliant performance in several previous battles.

This behemoth, modeled after the Kirov-class nuclear-powered cruiser and later subjected to a series of modifications by several Decepticon Engineers, could now be said to have undergone a complete transformation.

The upgraded radar system, with its precise, blind-spot-free scanning, strong anti-interference capabilities, and the ability to track over 500 target units simultaneously, with a maximum detection range reaching 1300 kilometers, could well be called a mobile maritime radar base.

The increasingly mature small nuclear power system within the base allowed this warship to reach a top speed of 55 knots.

However, considering the waves on the ocean, it would only cruise at 35 knots under normal circumstances.

Besides that, this was also a giant Arsenal Ship.

With 64 missile silos each at the front and rear, the two launch systems could send 128 missiles into the sky to defend against enemies within 4.77 seconds, capable of both intercepting attacks from the sky and the sea, while also being sufficient to pour a massive volume of missiles onto a target area.

The 203mm 52-caliber naval gun at the bow can fire special Armor-Piercing Shells, Electromagnetic Pulse Bombs, and Temperature difference shells at a maximum rate of 12 rounds per minute toward target areas, capable of destroying all permanent fortifications built on islands and coastlines.

Moreover, because the gun barrel has been optimized and upgraded, the maximum range of the naval gun can reach 70 kilometers, and with the use of Extended-range shells, it can even reach about 110 kilometers at its furthest.

Although it cannot compare to Hailishi, this thing has quite a few advantages.

The huge tonnage of the warship means that more ammunition can be stored inside the ship.

The entire cruiser has a total of nine storage compartments—three large and six small—capable of storing up to over 1,900 missiles and shells of various types, providing ammunition for the naval gun, two missile launch systems, and six close-in weapon systems respectively.

Furthermore, its construction cost is relatively much cheaper.

With the extensive use of robots building it twenty-four hours a day without interruption, the average construction time for each ship is about 22 days, and the unit construction cost is less than 700 million US dollars.

The relatively cheaper cost means that it can be manufactured in large quantities.

Sun Cheng has currently approved and prepared to build 12 cruisers of this model.

If the value of this type of warship is further proven in the future, then more warships will be manufactured subsequently.

Even the improvement of subsequent models can be further put on the agenda.

Currently, two have been completed at Base No. 2, one is being fitted out, and nine more warships of this model are in full-swing production in several offshore shipyards in South America under the control of the Base.

It has another major advantage, which is that it only requires three to five Normal Mode Decepticon Warriors to operate.

Their powerful computing power is sufficient to satisfy the maintenance and combat of the warship.

Following an order from Sun Cheng, the three red warning lights flashing on the warship's bridge quickly extinguished.

The naval guns of the cruiser pointing at the West Africa coastline had their firing angles recalibrated, individual missiles were retracted from the launch silos by the control system and transported back to the ammunition storage compartments for safekeeping, and the launch ports for the small and medium-sized Combat Missiles opened by the close-in weapon systems closed once again.

Meanwhile, underwater, four Nuclear submarines also stood down from alert.

Sun Cheng gazed into the distance toward the West Africa coastline where he had just met with Optimus Prime, standing silently on the deck of the ship.

Just as the Autobots were wary of him, how could he, with his severe lack of a sense of security, have gone to meet Optimus Prime without any preparations at all?

Within the Spherical Space inside Sun Cheng's body, a legion of Combat Robots that has accumulated to over a thousand units is ready to enter battle at any time.

And on the sea surface, Hailishi, the improved Kirov-class nuclear-powered cruiser beneath his feet, and the four Nuclear submarines had also been dispatched to the South Atlantic Ocean as soon as he decided to meet with Optimus Prime.

Gazing at the horizon, Sun Cheng remained silent for a long time before murmuring to himself: "One can never rely on others for safety; we, too, should accelerate our war preparations!"