He Wanted to Steal Nuclear Weapons

Starscream seemed quite pleased that Sun Cheng had taken the initiative to offer him advice. At any rate, when he left the [Incubation Chamber], Sun Cheng could already sense Barricade's friendlier attitude toward him.

Of course, it was also possible that the two old foxes were merely putting on an act.

Still, another discovery secretly delighted Sun Cheng.

"I knew mechanical lifeforms like the Decepticons couldn't possibly have evolved without flaws. Sure enough, they have weaknesses too..."

Although he had not encountered many Decepticons since arriving in this world, his brief interactions with them had made Sun Cheng feel that most of the Decepticons he had met had something wrong with their heads, more or less.

Perhaps the Decepticons relied too heavily on their [Cores] for analysis and processing. The lower-ranking Decepticons in particular were terrible at independent thought. Even high-ranking Decepticons like Barricade were somewhat difficult to deal with, but when it came to cunning and scheming, they probably still fell far short of humans.

For one thing, judging from the memory data Sun Cheng had taken over, Barricade had existed for at least several thousand years, while Cybertron's civil war had only ended a little over a century ago.

It could be said that a Decepticon warrior who had fought for thousands of years ought to have possessed abundant combat experience and been thoroughly versed in all kinds of military plans and strategies.

Yet he could not even manage something as simple as splitting his forces and making proper use of the troops at his disposal.

This alone was telling enough. The Decepticons—and even their mortal enemies, the Autobots—had likely focused too much on improving individual strength and gone astray on their path of evolution.

Night came faster than expected. After leaving Starscream's base through one of its exits, Sun Cheng quietly remained inside Barricade's police-car form, carefully recalling whether he had overlooked anything related to the mission.

But Barricade had driven for less than an hour before abruptly stopping in a desert region.

"We're here!"

Barricade swiftly transformed back into humanoid form and flung him out.

With so much experience behind him, although he had been caught off guard, Sun Cheng reacted quickly. He twisted and spun in midair before landing steadily on the sand not far from Barricade.

"Electromagnetic interference detected..."

The [Spy Template] had picked up some irritating signals. Sun Cheng frowned and gave Barricade a warning, only to see that he did not answer. It looked as though he was engaged in remote communication with someone.

Ever cautious, Sun Cheng immediately extended his right arm and released several fly-sized insect probes to investigate the source of the electromagnetic interference.

These small Cybertronian-made espionage tools were quite efficient and fast, but their resistance to electromagnetic interference was somewhat poor. The data recorded by the two pairs of electronic eyes on their heads and transmitted back to his [Spy Template] was always intermittent.

However, that did not affect Sun Cheng's assessment of the surrounding area. Before one insect probe completely lost its data feed, it captured a massive human military base seven kilometers to the southeast—far larger than he had imagined.

"That's Davis-Monthan Air Force Base?"

Sun Cheng's body jolted. He knew of this American military base.

In Sun Cheng's world, this military base, known as the "aircraft boneyard," managed and stored more than five thousand retired American military aircraft. It was one of the world's most famous air force bases.

According to the military data from various countries that he had specifically looked up during the day to complete his mission, Davis-Monthan Air Force Base was home year-round to the United States Air Force's 355th Wing.

Although the data showed that the 355th Wing had not yet been equipped with F-22 fighters and still operated F-15s, MH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters, C-130 Hercules transport aircraft, A-10 Thunderbolt II Warthog attack aircraft, and early warning aircraft, they were absolutely not an easy opponent to handle.

Especially since this was the United States mainland. If anything went wrong at any stage, what awaited them would likely be a war between the Decepticon Corps and Earth's foremost military power.

Barricade quickly ended his remote communication and asked with interest, "What did you find?"

"Lord Barricade, our mission target wouldn't happen to be Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, would it?" Sun Cheng asked irritably.

Intelligence on military bases throughout the United States was actually not difficult to obtain. Perhaps it was because of the Americans' "we're number one under heaven and earth" mentality—one could find piles of detailed information simply by searching online with Google. It might not all have been entirely accurate, but more than seventy percent of it was probably true.

Based on the data he had found, if Starscream truly intended to strike here, their mission would be no easy task. Sun Cheng had originally been about seventy percent confident; now, he estimated that it had fallen to only fifty percent.

"This is the place..."

The mission was about to begin, and Barricade clearly had no intention of concealing it from him any longer. He nodded readily. "What Lord Starscream wants is here..."

Before he finished speaking, Barricade suddenly raised his head and looked behind Sun Cheng.

Seeing this, Sun Cheng had no choice but to swallow the question on the tip of his tongue. Just as he was wondering what Barricade was looking at, around twenty or thirty seconds later, his [Spy Template] finally caught an unusual fluctuation, one that strongly resembled a Decepticon frequency.

"Is Onslaught here?"

He suddenly understood, and his heart sank at the same time.

Barricade was not a spy by trade, yet as a warrior, he had detected Onslaught's frequency before Sun Cheng did.

Clearly, although both belonged to the category of [Cores], the [Sparks] equipped by high-ranking Decepticons were far more powerful than his [Spy Template].

Two minutes later, amid the deep rumble of engines, a terrifying heavy truck resembling a Terex 33-11C dump truck slowly came to a stop before them.

"...You damn idiots! I told you not to get this close to a human military base!"

Accompanied by an enraged roar, the truck took another three or four seconds to complete its transformation, becoming a colossal warrior half a head taller than even Starscream.

"Lord Starscream asked me to bring him to you first..." Facing such a terrifying warrior, more than a third taller than himself, Barricade's voice noticeably lowered. "I'll contact you later regarding the specific mission arrangements!"

Onslaught snorted coldly. Watching Barricade immediately transform back into a police car and leave, he cursed under his breath, "Human military satellites scan this place once every twenty minutes. That idiot Barricade—I warned him!"

Unfortunately, by the time he finished cursing, Barricade was already long gone.

Seeing this, Onslaught could only kick the sand furiously. The flying yellow sand nearly buried Sun Cheng alive.

Sun Cheng could only brace himself and take the initiative to greet this seemingly powerful high-ranking Decepticon. "Lord Onslaught, since the military satellite is about to scan this area, we should move somewhere more concealed first!"

Onslaught ignored him and did not hurry to take him away.

When Sun Cheng saw him lower his head and inspect him with great interest, his heart tightened. Even now, he still had not figured out how to deal with these mechanical lifeforms.

Fortunately, Onslaught did not remain silent for long. After examining him for a while, he buzzed, "You're Frenzy? You were the one who suggested that battle plan Barricade sent over earlier?"

After seeing him nod, Onslaught seemed very pleased. Even his voice carried a trace of delight. "Not bad, not bad. The Decepticon Corps is full of idiots with engine oil in their heads. The moment a fight starts, they all charge in, like they're competing to see who can die faster. All idiots..."

He grabbed Sun Cheng in one hand, transformed back into the heavy truck amid a thunderous rumble, and drove into the distance. He kept muttering as he went, "Starscream wants to steal nuclear weapons, yet he only sent one fool to help me. It's driving me insane. Hah, I never should have been greedy in the first place. I actually believed that bastard had information about the AllSpark and hastily agreed to cooperate with him!"

That casual remark shocked Sun Cheng. Only then did he realize that Starscream, that cunning ambitious bastard, wanted to steal nuclear weapons!