Meeting Soundwave

The moment Sun Cheng saw that Laserbeak was the attacker, his mind raced for only an instant before he decisively retracted the two machine guns on his forelimbs, openly adopting a nonresistant stance.

"Laserbeak, why did you suddenly attack me... You seem to have misunderstood something about me..."

As he dodged Laserbeak's fire, Sun Cheng did not forget to call out to him.

There was no way he could beat Laserbeak in a fight.

Although he had acquired a new body, Sun Cheng had not become blindly overconfident because of it.

He knew very well that his combat strength had improved only slightly. While he had been fitted with two machine guns, he only had four hundred rounds in reserve. Leaving aside whether these standard human-made bullets could even damage Laserbeak's body, that amount alone was nowhere near enough for him to fight Laserbeak.

As for running away, Sun Cheng had considered it, but dismissed the thought as soon as it arose.

Laserbeak possessed exceptional flight speed. Though he was not as fast as Starscream or the [Aerial Team], he was still a Decepticon known for his speed. Flying at full throttle, he could make a round trip from Earth to the Moon in just over ten days.

Sun Cheng knew perfectly well that Laserbeak had him completely countered. He could neither defeat him nor escape, so he could only think of another way.

Clearly, Soundwave had not been entirely unprepared for Laserbeak after his revival either. Although Sun Cheng did not know whether, like the Frenzy whose body he had taken over, Laserbeak's memory chip had been tampered with, the combat power Laserbeak displayed should definitely not have been all he possessed.

"Rat-a-tat-tat..."

The two machine guns beneath Laserbeak's abdomen swept back and forth at Sun Cheng for quite some time. Perhaps finally realizing that his opponent had no intention of fighting back, Laserbeak reluctantly ceased firing.

Still looking down at him from above, Laserbeak circled in the air for a while before Sun Cheng finally heard his shrill electronic voice. "Frenzy, how dare you betray Master Soundwave!"

"I don't know how you came to that conclusion, Laserbeak!" Sun Cheng naturally denied it outright. "During the previous operation, I realized that my combat strength was severely lacking, insufficient to complete the mission Lord Soundwave assigned me. Onslaught happened to be skilled at enhancements, so I merely mentioned it in passing. If Onslaught had not happened to need someone's help, this would never have gone through..."

A cunning creature like Laserbeak would naturally not believe him so easily. Sure enough, his next words immediately frightened Sun Cheng.

"Oh? So you still dare to come with me to see Master Soundwave, then..."

At that, Sun Cheng fell silent for a moment.

To be honest, the thought of seeing Soundwave now genuinely made Sun Cheng uneasy.

A week ago, Laserbeak had mentioned that Soundwave was coming to Earth, but he had not contacted Sun Cheng at all afterward. That left Sun Cheng unable to stop himself from thinking about other possibilities.

After all, he knew very well that Starscream had long ago used him to set a trap for Soundwave.

A few days ago, when he had accompanied Onslaught in search of metal, Sun Cheng had paid special attention to recent news while hacking into the internet.

To his surprise, the United States government had completely covered up the intrusion at Lunfulan Base. As for Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, the commotion caused by him blowing up an ammunition depot had been too great to hide, but in the end, the United States government still blamed the explosion on improper handling by some American soldier.

Since someone else was taking the blame for him, Sun Cheng was quite pleased.

But besides that, Sun Cheng had also noticed some information that deeply unsettled him.

Certain online comments from Tucson that he had been watching closely indicated that two days after the attack, many locals had heard explosions and rumbling. Complaints of that sort soon vanished from the internet.

Sun Cheng could not yet determine whether the American military had followed the clues to Starscream's base and fought him fiercely.

Or whether Soundwave had fallen into the trap and been thoroughly beaten by Starscream.

Either way, he very much did not want to see Soundwave right now!

Yet after considering it for a moment, he still agreed. "No problem. As long as Lord Soundwave needs me, I'll be there at his call!"

With Laserbeak sticking to him, he could not leave even if he wanted to. Sun Cheng simply decided to risk it all. Perhaps Soundwave did not know about the bad blood between him and Starscream at all.

Laserbeak stared fixedly at Sun Cheng for a long while before finally saying in that shrill electronic voice, "All right. Come with me to see Lord Soundwave!"

With that, Laserbeak dove down and snatched him up.

Sun Cheng noticed that the two machine guns beneath Laserbeak's abdomen remained trained on him. It seemed that if he made even the slightest move, Laserbeak would riddle him with bullets.

But he obviously would not give him that chance. Obediently allowing himself to be seized, Sun Cheng watched as Laserbeak suddenly beat his wings and flew off into the distance at a terrifying speed.

They flew for three or four hours. Laserbeak constantly circled and changed direction during the flight, and since Sun Cheng was already unfamiliar with the terrain of the United States, he was soon thoroughly disoriented and could only give up trying to roughly pinpoint his location.

However, Laserbeak's excessive caution gave rise to certain thoughts in his mind. Sun Cheng could not yet be certain; he would have to see Soundwave with his own eyes before he could verify whether his guess was correct.

At last, after several hours of flight, with endless mountain ranges spreading out below them, Laserbeak finally began to slow down. Soon, carrying Sun Cheng with him, he landed in a secluded gorge deep within the mountains.

"Master, I've brought Frenzy!"

When they were still more than ten meters above the ground, Laserbeak suddenly reported toward some point in the gorge, then promptly hurled Sun Cheng down from midair.

Perhaps because he had received similar treatment too many times lately, Sun Cheng had grown used to it and felt no panic at all after being thrown. But just as he was about to adjust his posture for a smooth landing, waves of light suddenly flickered across the clearing below him. Then a massive mechanical arm shot out from the shimmering light and seized him in its palm.

"Well done, Laserbeak!"

Accompanied by a deep electronic voice, the flickering waves of light began to ripple violently.

Three to five seconds later, feeling his entire body tighten, Sun Cheng looked up and saw a mechanical warrior covered in horrifying wounds standing before him.

It was none other than Soundwave.

"Long time no see, traitor!"

Before his eyes was a savage smile that made no effort to conceal its murderous intent.

Feeling a wail of distress from his new body, Sun Cheng's heart sank. It had been only a little over half a month since Soundwave had sent him to accompany Barricade on a mission. He still clearly remembered that Soundwave's body had been whole and unscathed half a month ago.

Nothing like what he saw now: half of Soundwave's head was gone, and every part of his armor bore terrifying wounds.

Even though several tiny medical Decepticons crawled all over him, constantly repairing him.

But judging by Soundwave's injuries, their treatment was merely a drop in the bucket. He had no choice but to consider entering stasis, using the energy stored in his [core] to completely repair the damage to his body.

"Starscream made his move!"

In an instant, Sun Cheng understood. That treacherous, scheming conspirator had likely gotten what he wanted. The severely wounded Soundwave would have no choice but to enter stasis temporarily to recover, and for a long time to come, no one on Earth would likely be able to stop Starscream from monopolizing the [AllSpark].