Interstellar Transmission

For some reason, perhaps because Sun Cheng had called out his identity and he could no longer keep hiding nearby.

Or perhaps he simply felt that Beam Splitter had gone a little too far.

In any case, after being exposed by Sun Cheng's shout, Barricade stopped hiding and walked out from nearby.

"Stop it, Beam Splitter!" He looked calmly at Beam Splitter, who had gotten overly excited from having too much fun.

"Lord Barricade, I haven't gone against Master Starscream's will..." Beam Splitter gave a sly smile, but his hands showed no intention of stopping as he continued firing at Sun Cheng. "See? I haven't hurt him!"

So he had been shooting at him all this time purely for fun!

Beam Splitter's words made Sun Cheng even angrier. He gritted his teeth as he glared at him, swearing that once he advanced, he would definitely make him pay.

Beam Splitter's attitude clearly displeased Barricade.

After glancing at the struggling Sun Cheng, he turned toward Beam Splitter with interest, dangerous red light flickering in his eyes. "So you mean my will can be defied at will?"

The moment those words came out, sly as Beam Splitter was, he immediately sensed trouble. His eyes darted around before he promptly stopped targeting Sun Cheng. "No, no, no, Lord Barricade. I was only joking around with an old friend..."

As he spoke, his right arm shifted, and the rapid-fire machine gun originally mounted on the back of his hand sank back into his joints.

Unfortunately, Barricade's temper was clearly even harder to predict than his.

Sun Cheng had not even had time to breathe a sigh of relief when his vision suddenly blurred. Before he could react, a thunderous smack rang out from the wall nearby.

When he came back to his senses and looked closely, he could not help feeling relieved.

Why?

Because Beam Splitter, who had clung to him like chewing gum and tormented him all day, was now embedded deep within the nearby wall.

And Barricade, standing where Beam Splitter had been moments ago with a ferocious gleam in his eyes, had clearly slapped him straight into it.

"Don't let there be a next time. Remember that, insect..."

After baring his teeth and viciously warning Beam Splitter, Barricade turned to look at Sun Cheng, who had obediently remained to one side. The savagery on his face gradually faded.

After his expression flickered for quite some time, Sun Cheng finally heard him say, "Come with me. Lord Starscream is waiting for you!"

Sun Cheng glanced at Beam Splitter. Although he had taken a slap from Barricade and cracks had appeared across his body, he did not dare show any dissatisfaction toward Barricade. After climbing out of the hole in the wall, he instead looked at Sun Cheng with an even fiercer gaze, apparently blaming this matter on him as well.

"Yes!" He immediately answered. Blue light flickered in his eyes as he resolved to gather enough resources and advance as soon as possible—preferably leaving this place for good.

Barricade did not waste words. After giving the order, he led Sun Cheng toward the hall where he had met Starscream when he first arrived yesterday.

Not long after reaching the hall, Sun Cheng could not conceal his surprise.

Apparently hearing footsteps behind him, Starscream remained in the middle of the hall without turning around. He lightly toyed with a deep-blue fruit-like object growing from a steel vine with his fingers and casually asked, "Have you finished looking around the base?"

"Y-Yes, Lord Starscream!"

Sun Cheng hurriedly answered, but his eyes could not stop drifting toward that strange vine.

Calling what grew on the vine a fruit was not quite accurate. A more fitting description was that it resembled an organ used to nurture a fetus. It was filled with sea-blue liquid and gave off an alluring pull.

"It's energon fluid—high-purity energon fluid!"

Prompted by the [Spy Template], Sun Cheng quickly realized what the sea-blue liquid was, but a new question immediately arose.

What exactly was this thing?

With his eyesight, he could easily see that within that deep-blue fruit-like organ, a palm-sized, still-unformed mechanical lifeform was sleeping. As the organ expanded and contracted, tiny metallic particles of various colors, nearly impossible to catch with the naked eye, were continuously transported into it and gradually gathered around the unformed mechanical lifeform inside.

"This is a [Newborn Egg]!" As though sensing that Sun Cheng would be suspicious of the fruit-like organ, Starscream, still facing away from him, gently stroked the outer wall of the [Newborn Egg]. After a long while, he spoke again with regret. "Unfortunately, there isn't enough life force. It will be difficult for it to develop into a true Decepticon!"

Sun Cheng's heart stirred. Frenzy's memory chip contained very little information about life force. He only knew that life force was crucial to the Decepticons; without it, there could be no [Core].

As for records of [Newborn Eggs], there were none at all.

Seeing that the opportunity was rare, he hesitated before carefully asking, "Lord Starscream, what are [Newborn Eggs] and life force?"

Starscream turned around and gave him a calm glance, yet Sun Cheng felt his scalp go numb. In that instant, he seemed to see a flash of hostility pass through the other's eyes.

"You don't need to know what life force is yet. As for [Newborn Eggs], this is the natural method Cybertron has passed down since the birth of its civilization for nurturing Decepticons. Unfortunately, it requires more time, energy, and life force!"

Having been warned by him, Sun Cheng still had countless questions in his heart, but he did not dare ask another word. Still, he firmly remembered these two new terms.

Seeing Starscream watching him the entire time, Sun Cheng did not dare meet his gaze. He pretended to look around the rest of the hall, and after a few glances, he became even more astonished.

When he had first arrived yesterday, he had also seen the many metal pillars and pipes in this hall, but he had not thought much of them at the time.

Yet in just one day, under the efforts of those Decepticon workers who needed neither rest nor sleep, all the metal pillars and pipes had been assembled into the vine-like structures nurturing [Newborn Eggs] before his eyes. At a glance, there were no fewer than twenty or thirty main trunks, and some of the vines already had one or several [Newborn Eggs] hanging from them.

"This is the [Nursery]!"

After Starscream explained once more, he suddenly seemed to grow impatient. In a cold tone, he directly ordered, "Since you've finished looking around the base, hurry up and send an interstellar transmission to Soundwave. Write whatever you want in it—I won't ask, and I can't be bothered to ask. But I already told you my requirement: tell him everything you saw in the base, without leaving out a single detail!"

After saying that, without waiting for Sun Cheng to answer, he looked at Barricade and gave him a signal with his eyes.

Barricade nodded, stepped forward, and grabbed Sun Cheng. Before he could react, Barricade transformed directly into a police car. After placing him in the front passenger seat, he drove straight out of the base.