Memory Unsealed

"Awake?"

When Sun Cheng opened his eyes again, before he could make out his surroundings, he heard a cold mechanical voice from beside him.

His body was filled with an unbearable sense of weakness.

He did not know whether it was an illusion, but ever since he had transmigrated and possessed the body of a mechanical lifeform, this was the first time he had felt as though his life were entering its twilight years.

God knew that when he woke up again, he actually had the illusion that his time was short and his life had entered old age.

"Is this what aging feels like for a mechanical lifeform like a Decepticon?"

Although he had received some warnings from Frenzy's memory data before and roughly understood the importance of energy to Decepticons, he had never experienced it firsthand.

Now that he had depleted most of the energy stored within his [Core] and been reduced to this half-dead state of weakness, he had finally learned his lesson. He secretly told himself that he absolutely could not make such a mistake again.

Sun Cheng was currently inside a moving police car. Without even looking, he recognized from the familiar interior that the one speaking to him was Barricade.

"I have completed the task Lord Starscream assigned!" He forced himself to endure the weakness as he replied, "As ordered, I relayed everything I saw inside the base to Soundwave!"

Perhaps understanding that Sun Cheng had not added an honorific after Soundwave's name, Barricade fell silent for a while before speaking again coldly. "Understood. Once we return, I will notify the [Supply Room] to replenish the energy you consumed."

"Then thank you, Lord Barricade!"

Sun Cheng breathed a small sigh of relief. This weakness from excessive energy consumption was utterly awful, like an elderly person in their twilight years falling seriously ill. Every second spent in this state was unbearable.

As they spoke, Barricade soon drove into the mine through another entrance. After twisting and turning through the tunnels for a while, the two finally returned to the underground base.

Barricade carried him directly into the [Cultivation Room] before stopping.

Clearly, in Starscream's eyes, this was the only place in the base worth caring about. Thus, he spent most of his time in the [Cultivation Room].

"My lord, we have returned!"

Barricade transformed back into his humanoid form. This time, however, he did not carelessly fling the weakened Sun Cheng away. Instead, as Sun Cheng was sent flying by the inertia of Barricade's transformation, Barricade reached out and caught him. Only after completing his transformation did he place the weakened Frenzy, still in cassette recorder form, beside him.

Starscream was standing before a thick, vine-like tree trunk, continuously inputting data into a projected screen on its main stem. He appeared to be debugging something.

"The task is complete?"

Only when he saw Barricade and the others return did Starscream pause his work and unhurriedly ask Sun Cheng.

But when Sun Cheng saw the glance Starscream cast toward Barricade, he silently counted himself lucky and realized his guess had been correct. Starscream must have instructed Barricade to keep a close watch on him earlier.

"The interstellar transmission has been sent, Lord Starscream. I am certain Soundwave has received it and should come to Earth soon to verify whether its contents are true!"

Being in cassette recorder form made him deeply uncomfortable. Sun Cheng could only endure the weakness in his body and forcibly transform back into humanoid form before answering honestly.

"No, you do not understand him." Starscream looked at him, a faint smile playing across his face. "You intelligence types are always highly suspicious. I understand him too well. If I am not mistaken, he will first send Laserbeak to verify the accuracy of the transmission's contents!"

Sun Cheng froze, then obediently stood to the side without saying anything.

He had no way to respond to that. As Starscream said, he truly did not understand Soundwave, the leader of the Cassette Corps he belonged to.

Perhaps because he had used Sun Cheng to complete some part of his scheme, Starscream seemed to be in a good mood and became unusually talkative. "How pitiful. As expected, after your resurrection, you have forgotten far too many things!"

Those baffling words made Sun Cheng's heart sink, and his gaze began to wander uneasily.

If he remembered correctly, Beam Splitter had mocked him with this more than once before. It seemed the Frenzy whose body he had possessed must have gone through an unusual experience before his resurrection. Otherwise, even someone as important as Starscream would not remember him.

It seemed Starscream noticed that Barricade wanted to say something. He gave Barricade a look, silencing him, before continuing to speak to Sun Cheng. "You should still remember what resurrection means, right?"

Starscream paused for a moment, as if giving him time to think.

Sun Cheng hesitated for a while before nodding. He knew what Starscream meant by resurrection.

For mechanical lifeforms like Decepticons, the most important part of their bodies was the [Core]. The [Core] was both a Decepticon's heart and brain, as well as the center of its life and energy reserves. Therefore, once the [Core] was destroyed, it meant the end of life.

Yet even humans, with the advancement of technology, could gain a second life of sorts through head-transplant surgery.

Decepticons, whose bodies were more convenient than those of humans and whose technology was even more advanced, had naturally long since achieved the legendary technology of "resurrection."

For Decepticons, even if their [Core] was destroyed, as long as the memory chip stored within it remained intact, they could reconstruct the [Core] and body around it, thereby achieving an almost perfect resurrection of a Decepticon who had once died.

Only after seeing him begin to think did Starscream continue. "After serving Soundwave for so many years, what did you receive in return? Nothing but the inheritance of the designation 'Frenzy'?"

Sun Cheng had only just come back to his senses when he heard Starscream utter those heavily provocative words, leaving him feeling bewildered.

Doubts rose in his heart. After thinking for a moment, he finally asked, "Lord Starscream, does my name hold some special meaning?"

The moment the words left his mouth, Sun Cheng felt his body grow light. When he came to his senses, he found himself clutched in Starscream's hand.

Then Starscream raised him until he was directly in front of his face.

Seeing Sun Cheng looking at him with a face full of unease, Starscream bared his teeth in a savage grin and said, "Soundwave must have tampered with your memory chip. Stop resisting now, and let me help you undo the seal..."

The moment he finished speaking, two red beams shot from his eyes. Before Sun Cheng could react, they plunged directly into his pupils.

In an instant, the [Core] within his body began to blare wildly.

Warning, warning. Unknown data intrusion detected... Active interception function activated... Defense system activated... Core data encryption... Misdirection data function activated...

Warning. Intruding data exceeds interception limit and has breached the active interception system... Warning. Unknown error occurred; defense system shut down... Misdirection data system is being read... Warning, warning. Core data is being read...

Boom!

It was as though a thunderclap had exploded inside his mind!

Amid the frenzied blare of warning alarms, Sun Cheng reacted at once and ordered [Core] to defend itself. Unfortunately, Starscream's sudden attack sent a terrifying flood of data surging into his [Core], instantly destroying his defense system. Soon after, the second memory storage area fell as well.

Under the mad assault of the invading data, Sun Cheng quickly felt himself lose all control over his body. His [Core] had been completely breached, and control of his body had been seized.

With [Core] breached, the memory chip was completely unprotected before Starscream.

"So there really was encryption? Soundwave is still as petty as ever..."

The next moment, Sun Cheng clearly felt a vast amount of information suddenly flood into his mind.

But the terrible part was that not only could he freely review it himself, so could Starscream, who had just removed the memory chip's encryption. Not only did Starscream show no intention of leaving Sun Cheng's [Core], he was openly going through every last piece of his memory data, line by line.

It was an utterly dreadful experience, like suddenly having another consciousness in your head, flipping through every one of your memories right in front of you.

Watching helplessly as all of his secrets were freely examined by this high-ranking Decepticon, whose allegiance he still could not determine, Sun Cheng felt nothing but despair and resentment.

He was afraid—afraid that his greatest secret as a transmigrator would be exposed. He was even more worried that, once Starscream learned that secret, he would immediately strike him down, leaving him with no chance of ever returning.

"No... I don't want to die... I don't want to die here..."

In an instant, his will to survive was fully ignited. Sun Cheng desperately tried to reactivate [Core] and reclaim control over his body.

Perhaps his efforts received an answer. Just as Starscream was about to finish reading all of his memory data, Sun Cheng suddenly felt a strange, icy sensation erupt from within [Core] for no apparent reason.

In an instant, Starscream's consciousness, which had been trying to read his memory data, was completely expelled from his [Core], and Sun Cheng regained control of his body.