Targeted

His premonition had been proven right in an instant. Over the next day, Sun Cheng finally got a taste of what it was like to be mindlessly targeted!

It seemed the [Camera Team] bore an extremely deep grudge against the [Cassette Corps]. The mockery and sarcasm were one thing, but Beam Splitter seemed to constantly be looking for ways to provoke him, hoping to find an excuse to attack him.

It was bad enough that this guy, who did not seem particularly bright, would suddenly send him invasive data. Rather than interfering with his defensive functions, it seemed more like he was trying to invade his [Core].

Even worse, whenever Beam Splitter took him on a tour of the base, Sun Cheng would lose track of him the moment he let his guard down. Before long, alarms would start blaring near wherever he was, eventually drawing some Decepticons over to give him trouble.

Fortunately, Beam Splitter still had some reservations about Barricade's warning. Besides, this base seemed to have only recently been built and had yet to install an armed defense system. Otherwise, things would have been much worse.

Even so, Sun Cheng was nearly driven to a nervous breakdown by him. Yet with his current strength, he had no way to resist Beam Splitter. He could only trail after him listlessly, carefully guarding against his provocations while observing the underground base where Starscream and the others were stationed.

He had to admit that the Decepticon engineers he had previously underestimated were practically the most qualified slaves and workers imaginable.

According to Beam Splitter, this base had only been established about a month ago.

Yet these diligent Decepticon engineers, capable of working around the clock without rest, had excavated dozens of kilometers deeper beneath an abandoned mine tunnel. They had completed, in an impossibly short time, a massive undertaking that humans might not have been able to finish even after years of labor.

Even more unimaginable was that, while handling the excavation work, the engineers could still spare some of their number to dismantle metal and manufacture machinery. And this enormous project had been completed entirely by the more than one hundred Decepticon engineers Starscream had brought from the lunar base.

From a human perspective, this base was undoubtedly still very crude.

But Decepticons were different from humans. Once Sun Cheng slightly adjusted his perspective and examined it through Decepticon eyes, he quickly realized that the base had already basically taken shape.

Starscream's base consisted primarily of three sections: supply rooms for storing energy; manufacturing plants responsible for assembling various machines and components; and numerous geothermal generator units, with passageways winding between them.

Unless they were trying to conserve energy, mechanical lifeforms like Decepticons did not need rest at all. No wonder they were so efficient.

The geothermal resources around Tucson were abundant, and the mountains were where the underground veins were most complex. The Decepticon engineers had directly found suitable locations deep underground and densely installed sets of geothermal generators from Cybertronian civilization. The electricity continuously converted from nature's power could be directly absorbed by the Decepticons to replenish their [Cores], or processed through complex conversion procedures into easily stored energy fluid or energy blocks.

Conservatively speaking, once all the geothermal generators began operating, this base could convert no fewer than a hundred units of energy per day—an efficiency comparable to a medium-sized thermal power plant.

Smack!

Kicked from behind without warning again, Sun Cheng slammed into the wall. After landing, he turned around and, sure enough, saw Beam Splitter standing in the distance without even trying to hide his intentions, looking down at him.

"...How boring. Have you become this weak after being revived? As expected, everyone in the [Cassette Corps] is trash..."

Silently climbing to his feet, Sun Cheng said nothing and continued toward the hall where he had first seen Starscream and the others upon arriving at the base.

After their brief contact, he had already realized there was definitely something wrong with Beam Splitter's head. Not only had he inherited the Decepticons' usual bad temper and lack of patience, but his memory also seemed rather poor.

At first, Beam Splitter merely targeted him in various ways without directly attacking him. Unfortunately, that did not last long before he could no longer resist getting physical.

Sun Cheng really had no way to deal with him.

If they fought, he could not win.

So after realizing Beam Splitter was serious, he did his best to avoid him.

But this guy apparently had nothing better to do. He had actually started tracking him down, and every time he found him, Sun Cheng would inevitably take a few hits. Worse still, the attacks were getting heavier and heavier.

Still, thanks to this guy apparently being a little slow-witted, Sun Cheng had managed to coax quite a bit of information he had not known from him.

After absorbing all of Frenzy's memory data, Sun Cheng had assumed that the unfortunate fellow whose body he had taken over was merely a newly born low-level Decepticon spy.

But Beam Splitter from the [Camera Team] seemed very familiar with him. During his repeated provocations, he had mentioned the [Cybertronian Civil War] more than once. From his tone, the original Frenzy seemed to have been a high-ranking Decepticon as well, though he had apparently died in battle for some reason and had only recently been revived.

Although these were merely deductions based on what he had heard from Beam Splitter, after putting it all together, Sun Cheng still felt there were many problems beneath the surface.

He wanted to find out more, but he currently wanted nothing more than to avoid Beam Splitter. Naturally, he was unwilling to have further contact with him, so he could only temporarily suppress the new doubts that had arisen in his heart.

Seeing him admit defeat and flee, Beam Splitter instead seemed to get even more excited, laughing wildly as he chased after him again.

Whoosh...

The moment he let his guard down, Sun Cheng saw a crater appear just two or three centimeters from his feet. Sensing trouble, he hurriedly looked back, then immediately took off running.

Damn it, is this guy trying to kill me?

During that brief glance back, Sun Cheng saw Beam Splitter raise his right arm, revealing the rapid-fire machine gun mounted there. His scalp went numb.

As far as he knew, the rapid-fire machine guns equipped by the Decepticon Corps all used caseless energy rounds. This was a nasty technology several eras beyond even the entry-level caseless bullets developed by humans. Not only did they have special effects against electronic equipment, but the heat generated when they exploded upon impact could easily destroy the memory alloy on his body.

And that was not even Beam Splitter's most terrifying weapon. He apparently also carried a chemical cannon capable of easily corroding the special alloy bodies of high-ranking Decepticons. If this guy went insane and gave him a shot, Sun Cheng truly could not say whether he would die from a single blast.

Smack!

A dense barrage of bullets kept firing in his direction. Sun Cheng ran and jumped, dodging in a miserable scramble, while the blue light in his eyes flared brighter and brighter.

"Hahahaha, run! Keep running..."

Beam Splitter continuously waved his right arm, laughing as if he were watching a clown. The clattering electronic voice was so grating it made one frown.

The [Spy Template] suddenly detected an electromagnetic fluctuation lurking nearby. Realizing it was Barricade, Sun Cheng became even more furious, grinding his teeth so hard that sparks nearly flew. He hurriedly shouted, "Lord Barricade, if you don't come out now, I'm afraid I'll die here before I ever get the chance to serve you!"

One after another, they were either lunatics or neurotics. Sun Cheng now deeply regretted returning to this world again!

What kind of people were in the Decepticon Corps?

From his brief encounters with them, not a single one was decent. They were either hiding somewhere and plotting against him, or openly plotting against him. Not one of them treated him like a person at all.

The more he thought about it, the more stifled he felt. Sun Cheng finally snapped. No matter what Starscream was planning against Soundwave, he was definitely going to get involved this time and screw over these bastards.