Chapter 734: Multiple Suspicions (Patreon)

Transformers Begin : Table of Content/Chapter List

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It seemed that due to Leader Optimus Prime's presence on Earth, Autobots were continuously arriving from various corners of the Milky Way to Earth.

Sun Cheng could roughly deduce some of the reasons!

Leader's identity undoubtedly added points to Optimus Prime, even though the Autobot parliament continued to blame him for the Civil War defeat. This young leader still had considerable charisma among the Autobots.

Furthermore, after their defeat and retreat to the Satellite, Autobots had suffered from a scarcity of various resources since they lost all their territories on the Cybertron Planet. Many Autobot civilians were forced to wander throughout the Milky Way in search of survival.

As Optimus Prime began rebuilding the new Iron Fortress on Earth, he would naturally call for more Autobots to join him, which was within Sun Cheng's expectations.

What concerned him more was the identity of the newly arrived Autobots on Earth.

Ordinary Autobot civilians and elite Autobot warriors had vastly different impacts on the Earth's situation.

Unfortunately, Thunder shook his head.

"We cannot determine their identities for now, but the numbers are confirmed. There are a total of five newly arrived Autobots."

"Five!" Sun Cheng furrowed his brow. He immediately thought of a particularly formidable and well-known Autobot team within the Autobot camp—the Aerialbots.

Aerialbots were the primary aerial combat force in the Autobot camp.

Their members numbered only five: team leader Silverbolt, deputy leader Air Raid, officer Fireflight, tactical expert Skydive, and support warrior Slingshot.

During the Cybertron Civil War, the Aerialbots were one of the Autobots that gave the Decepticons the most trouble.

Regarding the Aerialbots' origins, investigations by Soundwave and Frenzy of the Cassette Legion had not yielded ideal results.

Autobots kept their origins highly confidential. The only thing Sun Cheng could confirm was that the five members of the Aerialbots originated from an experiment.

It was later said that they had undergone modifications by Autobot scientists, allowing them to combine into a powerful giant Combiner—Defensor. This Combiner was even stronger than Skytiger Legion's First Generation giant Combiner—Hercules, with only Skytiger Legion's Second Generation giant Combiner—Predaking being its equal.

Frenzy's memory data showed that the Aerialbots were a highly enigmatic team.

In the past, they only followed direct orders from Autobot leaders, with only Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime able to command them into battle.

Although investigations by the Cassette Legion on the Aerialbots indicated that, like most Autobots, each of the five members had their individual character flaws, outsiders couldn't disregard them. The Aerialbots possessed tremendous combat power, and their combined giant Combiner—Defensor—had been referred to as the strongest combiner warrior for a long time.

Not only would the Skytiger Legion fear them, but Sun Cheng was no exception.

The Aerialbots represented a strategic power in the Autobot camp, and he needed to seriously consider the impact they would have on the fragile balance between various forces on Earth once they arrived.

Sun Cheng knew the location of the new Iron Fortress city, but the Satellite controlled by Base Two did not deliberately monitor that area.

When he visited, he noticed that the Autobot camp's prominent scientist, Jack, had arrived on Earth.

Given Jack's scientific capabilities, Sun Cheng estimated that the defenses of Autobot's new Iron Fortress city had probably been perfected by now.

Satellites on Earth were not difficult to spot because their orbits were fixed. So as long as the Autobots paid a little attention, the spy Satellites he had deployed would be easily discovered.

Sun Cheng had no intention of completely offending the Autobots, especially when the formidable Skytiger Legion was still a formidable adversary. Therefore, their knowledge of the Autobot's situation was rather limited at the moment.

After some contemplation, Sun Cheng temporarily put this matter aside. He planned to visit Optimus Prime in person shortly, hoping to acquire some more Leadership Module energy from him. At that time, Sun Cheng would pay close attention to the investigation of the five new Autobots.

Frenzy, Jazz, Soundwave, and other Decepticons had seen images of the Aerialbots in their memory data, so distinguishing them should not be difficult.

Just as he was about to inquire further about the situation in the Black Market, Thunder seemed to recall something and spoke with a hint of seriousness. "Master, shortly after your departure for Mars, Swindle began acting strangely."

"Swindle!" Sun Cheng tapped the armrest of his seat, and his eyes narrowed with keen interest as he looked at Thunder. "Tell me more."

Thunder nodded and continued, "His transformation began about seventeen days before you left for Mars. Afterward, he went out alone once, and I did not follow him. However, based on the monitoring by the Central Main Control AI, there were brief bursts of strong communication electromagnetic waves in the area where Swindle roamed. I had Mirage conduct a simulated assessment, and the magnitude was sufficient for long-distance interstellar communication."

"During the following period, Swindle's condition appeared to be rather lackluster, consistent with the signs of excessive energy consumption. He submitted a request to enter the Energon Depot for Spark energy replenishment, which I authorized. He refueled with over seventeen thousand units of energy."

"It can be confirmed that he indeed engaged in interstellar communication with an unknown party."

Sun Cheng continued to lightly tap his fingers on the armrest, his face devoid of any emotional change.

He had never placed trust in the loyalty of Decepticon Swindle. Therefore, it was not surprising to him that Swindle had been up to something after his departure.

He was also quite curious about whom Swindle had been in contact with.

Sun Cheng had two prime suspects in mind: the Bounty Hunter Lockdown and the Decepticon Onslaught.

His reasons for suspecting Lockdown were well-founded. Several months ago, he had coerced and bribed Swindle to establish contact with Lockdown. However, to this day, they had received no response. Sun Cheng wasn't sure whether Swindle was playing tricks in this, or perhaps Lockdown had already met his demise.

As for suspecting Onslaught, that was not entirely unexpected either.

Sun Cheng had introduced the notion of Onslaught, who had attracted a significant amount of fire for a long time, was one of the veteran Decepticons established during the formation of the Skytiger Legion. Onslaught had served as Megatron's staff officer during the Cybertron Civil War and had been the commander of the tank squadron. He held a high-ranking position within the Skytiger Legion.

If Swindle had believed Sun Cheng's falsehood, thinking that behind Base Two were the two veteran Decepticons, Skyfire and Onslaught, and that Sun Cheng was a stranger, it would not be surprising for Swindle to attempt to bypass Sun Cheng and contact his former colleague and superior, Onslaught.

The question that remained was, "Who had Swindle contacted?"

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Next Chapter >>Chapter 735: The Investigation