Chapter 997: The Autobots' Trouble

Time flew by, and more than half a year had passed since the Cairo Battle.

Over the past six months, the overall situation on Earth had been relatively calm.

At least that was how it appeared to many national powers; there were no more large-scale alien invasions, and even the conflicts between human nations seemed to have been pressed with a pause button.

Of course, in the eyes of some interested parties.

Earth was far from as quiet as it appeared on the surface, especially within Africa, which had remained exceptionally lively over the past few months.

In a conference room in New Iacon.

Ratchet's right hand had transformed into a welding torch, and he was currently welding the back of Hound.

Sparks constantly sputtered from his back, and Hound's face looked exceptionally twisted at this moment.

"Leader, we have been ambushed by humans once again... Don't these disgusting Earth natives understand that we are protecting them? By letting those Quintesson soldiers run wild in Africa, do they think the slaughter caused by those lunatics isn't enough?"

The foul-tempered Shake was off to the side, holding a shattered piece of metal armor plate against his own forehead, while incessantly complaining.

In the blink of an eye, more than half a year had passed since the end of the Cairo Battle. Over the past six months, the Autobots, under the personal leadership of Optimus Prime, had been constantly running across the African continent, hunting down those Decepticon clone warriors and Quintesson soldiers who might threaten human safety.

With almost the entire main force of the Autobots deployed, they had completed this task quite well.

As of now, over ninety-nine percent of the Quintesson soldiers and Decepticon clone warriors on the African continent had been eliminated by the Autobots.

But regarding this result, not a single Autobot present felt satisfied.

"Bang!"

Slamming a heavy blow onto the sturdy alloy table in the conference room, Ironhide looked at the group of Autobot brothers, almost all of whom were carrying injuries, his face full of anger.

"These damn humans, are they trying to start a war? It was one thing that they kept holding us back while we were clearing dangers for them. Now they have begun to show their hostility without any pretense, and have started sending troops to attack us!"

"Exactly, let's stop caring about them!"

"Humans don't trust us; they keep calling us machines... machines... machines..."

"Leader, humans cannot be trusted!"

Looking at the conference room, which was like a bustling market, Optimus Prime frowned and remained silent.

For some time now, he had never felt as tired as he did at this moment.

Even when the Cybertronian Civil War was nearing its end and he faced the Decepticon Legion main force surrounding Iacon, or when he was targeted by the Autobot Council and had to deal with them in a sorry state, Optimus Prime had never felt this kind of exhaustion.

"Humans, they really are complex creatures!"

Optimus Prime's ability and methods to serve as the leader of the Autobots were naturally beyond question.

Although he was very principled, he was not blindly pedantic.

Although he advocated for peace, he also knew the importance of force.

He might still not be considered a qualified leader yet, but Optimus Prime was improving every day.

At least some of the Autobots under his leadership had already emerged from the predicament of losing the civil war and had even begun to have a new home on Earth.

"Ironhide..." Optimus Prime's voice was not loud, but that voice, filled with exhaustion, caused the group of Autobots who were in the midst of indignation to stop their cursing the moment it rang out.

"Go notify the Autobots outside to all return!"

He tried his best to make his voice sound calmer, but unfortunately, Optimus Prime failed.

That wave of heart-wrenching exhaustion made him look very defeated right now.

In the conference room, even the few hot-tempered Autobots only opened their mouths for a moment, and said nothing more.

Ironhide was glared at fiercely by Arcee, and he looked a bit sheepish.

And as soon as he looked up, he saw Shake, who was still somewhat agitated, and immediately found a vent, hitting him on the head at once.

Shake was knocked staggering, but after seeing who had hit him, he could only sit there and stay silent, looking just as sheepish as the other.

The conference room fell into an unaccustomed silence for a time.

Except for the welding sounds that rang out from time to time as Ratchet treated the wounded, there were no other sounds.

How did it come to this? Optimus Prime was reflecting on it now!

Since the end of the Cairo Battle half a year ago, facing the mess left behind by Sentinel Prime and having taken back the position of Autobot leader, he had indeed thought that in the future, he and these Autobots would inevitably be viewed with hostility by humans because of Sentinel Prime.

But he still insisted on his principles and tried his best to use his actions to redeem the terrible impression the Autobots had left on humans.

And then!

Optimus Prime discovered that he seemed to have done something wrong.

Leading the main force of the Autobots, he had been striking everywhere on the African continent over the past six months, killing and annihilating countless Decepticon clone warriors and Quintesson soldiers.

But soon the Autobots discovered that humans had begun to attack them.

At first, the Autobots would choose to actively avoid them, because all Autobots knew what a heavy disaster their former leader, Sentinel Prime, had brought to humans, especially the human nations living on the African continent.

But although the Autobots chose to retreat time and again out of guilt!

What they got in return was increasingly unscrupulous, and even rampant, provocation from various African countries.

At first, the encounters the Autobots faced were only some tentative attacks.

At that time, the Autobots might have faced small numbers of tribal militants armed with weapons, or military and police forces in some cities.

Facing their repeated retreats, the attacks began to escalate.

First appeared modified armed off-road vehicles mounted with heavy machine guns, and anti-tank guns.

Subsequently, small numbers of armored vehicles, old-fashioned tanks, and armed helicopters began to appear.

Following that, mechanized units, fighter jets, fighter-bombers, and even rockets and ground-attack missiles all began to appear to greet the Autobots.

Although Cybertronians had individual combat power far exceeding that of individual humans due to their special racial attributes, they were not invincible.

The Autobots, who were not paying attention and even actively avoided further conflicts with humans, had their hands tied from the very beginning.

Thus, with the calculated preying on the uncalculating, they soon began to have wounded in the seemingly endless pursuit and ambushes by humans, and even Autobot squads that were scattered to search for Decepticon clone warriors and Quintesson soldiers began to suffer deaths.

Just as Sun Cheng had speculated, Optimus Prime and the Autobots he commanded were now encountering a big problem.