This Planet Bears the Decepticon Mark

"Wow, what is this? Are you really an immortal? Am I... am I flying through the clouds?"

This was probably the first time a human on this planet had ever flown in an airplane, so such astonishment was perfectly normal. If Starscream had performed a few more fancy aerial maneuvers, the little girl in the cockpit would probably have thrown up...

Thanks to the memory map he had obtained from the little girl, coupled with Starscream's powerful patrol capabilities, it took less than five minutes to locate Hani Lia's tribe. Then, ignoring the astonished stares of the people below, Starscream transformed directly into his robot form and landed in the middle of the tribe.

At that moment, the tribe seemed to be in turmoil. Some strange human warriors, bare-chested and armed with blades, appeared to be doing strange things to the villagers—for example, holding blades to their necks or tying up all the young and able-bodied people in the tribe.

Was this another act of banditry like the girl had described earlier? Why did humans on this planet enjoy fighting among themselves so much?

"Hey, little girl, find that elder you mentioned. I don't have time to meddle in the infighting of you lower lifeforms. Don't bother me with such boring matters!"

Starscream had never intended to stay on this planet for long. What he urgently wanted to know was whether there was anywhere on this planet where he could replenish his energy. As for these insignificant creatures fighting one another, it had absolutely nothing to do with him, the Cybertronian air force commander.

Yet for some reason, the armed human soldiers wearing crude leather armor and carrying blades all dropped to their knees around Starscream the moment they saw him, muttering incomprehensible words.

"It's a true god! The true god has revealed himself!"

"So the legend is true! The god's messenger has come to guide us!"

What was all this? What god's messenger? He had no idea what these people were talking about. Moreover, these armed soldiers dressed differently from the tribe's indigenous people, but their actions did not seem like those of bandits either. At the very least, they were not killing or burning anything!

"Host, I think I've found the answer. Look in the six o'clock direction. There seems to be a stone pillar there, one that was apparently just dug out of the ground. I suggest you go take a look at the mark on it!"

Just as Starscream felt like his mind was about to short-circuit, the Ever-Changing Steel System seemed to have scanned something—something Starscream would never have expected.

Perhaps because he had previously completed a highly difficult mission, the Ever-Changing Steel System had become more agile after unlocking 50% of its functions. Starscream felt as though he had acquired a cheat.

"This is..."

When he arrived before the object shaped like a millstone, Starscream was immediately startled by the mark on it.

Although many of its traces had become blurred, the shape of the mark could still roughly be made out: its sharp angles and distinctly mechanical lines—it was actually the Decepticon insignia!

Was this some kind of joke? Why was there a Decepticon mark on a planet with such a primitive civilization? And judging by isotope analysis, this thing seemed quite old. Could it be that Starscream was not the first Decepticon warrior to arrive on this planet?

Furthermore, judging from the mark, this large stone slab seemed to have fallen off some larger whole. Could it have been part of an abandoned Decepticon laboratory?

Though it was certainly unexpected, it was still possible that Decepticon pioneers had left this mark after arriving on the planet. But those human soldiers with blades had seemed very familiar with this symbol as well!

In other words, after seeing the obvious Decepticon insignia on Starscream's chest in robot form, they had reacted with such reverence, right?

But how could these low-level lifeforms possibly recognize the Decepticon insignia? Could these humans be biological test subjects created by the Decepticons?

"System boss, what exactly is going on? Why does this all feel more and more inexplicable? What secrets does this planet hold? Could it be that we Decepticons visited this place long ago? Don't tell me there are lots of prehistoric things on this planet, or I won't be able to find any explanation at all!"

Without the Ever-Changing Steel System assisting him, it was clearly unrealistic to expect Starscream's own computer to process all this information alone!

"Host, rather than standing here making wild guesses, I think we should ask these humans. It's obvious that they worship the Decepticon mark. I'm sure they'll be happy to answer our questions. I think this fellow will do nicely!"

Starscream might not have noticed, but the Ever-Changing Steel System had seen it: a man wearing fox fur on his head had followed Starscream over the entire way. From the attitude of the other human soldiers toward him, it was clear that they were all under his command.

"Human, what is your connection to this mark? And do you know what I am?"

After the system's reminder, Starscream did not stand on ceremony with the human. He pointed directly at the mark on his chest and turned to face him. The instant the man met Starscream's gaze, he was so terrified that he dropped to his knees again, mumbling incomprehensible incantations.

However, after kowtowing to Starscream several times, the human leader respectfully rose to his feet and, with his head lowered, explained his purpose to Starscream.

"Honored divine messenger, we are warriors of the grasslands. We are the Huns, and we came to this tribe to conscript slaves. Because we discovered the masters' mark on the pasture ahead, we need a great many people to help us search for the traces left behind by the masters. We never expected that you..."

All right! Although these humans' logic was rather confused, after Starscream's computer organized the information and the Ever-Changing Steel System made its deductions, they had basically figured out what was going on.

The real situation was likely that ancient humans regarded the Decepticons as the creators of this world, and that Decepticon mark had probably been deliberately left behind by some powerful figure. The man before him who called himself a Hun was likely searching for ancient Decepticon weapons, hoping to use those super weapons to fulfill their ambition of conquering the entire grassland. Hani Lia's fellow tribespeople were the laborers these Huns had forcibly conscripted. That was basically the situation.