Exposure

Starscream was too terrifying. He had finally connected every clue, and realization left Sun Cheng's heart ice-cold.

Yet he had no choice but to force himself to stay composed and deal with the enraged Soundwave.

"Lord Soundwave, Frenzy has always followed your orders and has never concealed anything!"

He tried to make himself sound calmer, though even Sun Cheng could hear the tremor in his voice. "Otherwise, when Laserbeak told me to come see you, I wouldn't have followed him immediately!"

"Oh?"

Irritably, Soundwave extended a finger and flicked away a tiny medical Decepticon that had accidentally crawled onto his eyeball.

When Soundwave turned to look at him, Laserbeak's eyes shifted, but in the end, he did not lie and answered truthfully, "Yes, Master. He is not lying."

"Hmph!"

Only then did Soundwave snort coldly and hurl him to the ground. Looking down at Sun Cheng from above, the fury in his eyes did not diminish in the slightest. "Now, repeat everything that happened to you from the time you arrived at Barricade's side until you came to see me!"

"Yes!"

After hitting the ground, Sun Cheng could not get back up at all. Soundwave had targeted him too viciously just now. Though his new body was sturdy enough, Soundwave's insane strength had still crushed it out of shape. It would take some time to recover.

He immediately recounted everything he had experienced after being assigned to Barricade. Naturally, Sun Cheng did not tell the complete truth and concealed some things as well, such as his deal with Starscream.

Soundwave quietly listened until he finished. The orange-red glow in his eyes flickered without pause as he stared fixedly at Sun Cheng. A dangerous aura continually assailed Sun Cheng's nerves.

"You're lying..." Soundwave bared his teeth, and the ferocity returned to his face.

He kicked Sun Cheng hard, sending him flying dozens of meters away.

"Laserbeak..."

At Soundwave's call, Laserbeak immediately spread his wings and flew off in tacit understanding. Before long, he grabbed the immobile Sun Cheng, brought him back, and tossed him before Soundwave.

"Lord Soundwave, not one word I said is a lie!"

Seeing the dangerous light in Soundwave's eyes grow ever stronger, Sun Cheng hurriedly defended himself.

"You still dare deceive me, insect..."

Furiously, Soundwave punched the ground beside him. The terrifying force instantly left a deep fist mark in the ground. "Why didn't Laserbeak come see him immediately after arriving on Earth?"

"I already told him!" Sun Cheng had considered this long ago and prepared an explanation, so he answered without the slightest hesitation. "That day, while Barricade went to meet Onslaught, I took the risk of sending you an interstellar transmission, trying to warn you that Starscream had arrived on Earth. Afterward, I fell into a brief sleep because I had expended too much energy. When I woke up, I was already in Barricade's vehicle. He and Starscream seemed to have discovered what I did. After that, Barricade immediately took me to Onslaught. I only found an opportunity to contact Laserbeak after the mission began!"

"Still trying to deceive me?"

Soundwave angrily grabbed him and lifted him up. His sharp fingertips scraped incessantly against Sun Cheng's brand-new body, throwing off sparks. "You didn't betray me? Where did your new body come from? Where did your new [Core] come from?"

"Onslaught helped design my new body. He isn't Starscream's man; I've already confirmed that. Laserbeak should have already told you that Starscream planned an operation to seize four nuclear warheads from the humans, and Onslaught took two of them!"

Sun Cheng said, "The reason Onslaught helped me obtain a new body was so that I could help him find several metals that are rare on Earth. He needs those metals to build a new turret and strengthen himself. Besides that, Onslaught also asked me to search for information about the [AllSpark]. As for my [Core], I'm still using the original one. Onslaught merely strengthened it a little!"

"Oh?"

Soundwave brought him before his face, and two red beams suddenly shot from his eyes into Sun Cheng's.

Before he could react, he immediately heard a dense series of alerts from his [Core].

Warning, warning. Unknown data intrusion detected... Active interception function activated... Defense function activated... Core data encryption... Misleading data function enabled... Ding, highest authority transferred... Core data being read...

This bastard...

Sun Cheng's heart sank. His [Core] had been able to resist for a while when facing Starscream last time, but before Soundwave, it had failed to mount any defense at all. The other party had seized the highest authority, completely holding his life in the palm of his hand.

Having stayed by Onslaught's side recently and gone through so much, how could he not understand? From the very beginning of Frenzy's resurrection, Soundwave had already tampered with his [Core].

He was being openly subjected to someone else browsing through his core memory data.

It was an utterly awful experience, like suddenly having another consciousness inside your head, flipping through all your memories right in front of you.

Sun Cheng had experienced it once before. The reason he had been so wary of Starscream—and had not dared to return to the base with Barricade to collect the AllSpark he had promised him after the operation—was that he had no idea how much of his memory the other party had seen.

Now that Soundwave had done the same thing, Sun Cheng was furious. He feared Soundwave had seen things he should not have, and feared even more that his greatest secret as a transmigrator would be exposed.

"Damn it... I swear... there will never be a next time..."

Driven by fury and unwillingness, his will to survive was completely ignited in an instant. Sun Cheng frantically tried to seize control of his [Core] and forcibly expel the data invading from Soundwave.

As though sensing his unwillingness, Sun Cheng soon felt a strange yet powerful stream of data suddenly surge from some unknown place within his body.

In an instant, all the invading data from Soundwave was driven out of his [Core] by that stream of data.

When Sun Cheng came to his senses and instinctively searched for that data again, he discovered that it had vanished into hiding somewhere unknown.

"Hm..."

The failure of the forced memory read made Soundwave utter a soft sound of surprise.

But he soon seemed to realize something. With a cold sneer, he threw Sun Cheng back onto the ground and mocked him from above. "I was wondering why you always felt somewhat off. So you've already undone my seal..."

Glancing at Laserbeak nearby, he frowned before ordering, "Keep watch around the area..."

"Yes, Master!"

Though Laserbeak was surprised by Soundwave's change in attitude, he still answered loyally and quickly disappeared from the two's view.

The moment Laserbeak left, Soundwave looked coldly at Sun Cheng and said in an even tone, "A few days ago, when Laserbeak suddenly told me you had betrayed me, I was still surprised. In your current state, it should have been impossible for you to undo my seal. Was it Starscream? Or Onslaught?"

Sun Cheng had realized it as well. He knew Soundwave had discovered that his seal had been removed.

But judging by his tone, he seemed not to have read much of Sun Cheng's memory data. Only then did Sun Cheng let out a sigh of relief. Maintaining his original tone, he answered calmly, "Does it make a difference? Lord Soundwave, for you now, crushing me to death is no more than a passing thought..."

"Looks like I underestimated you!"

Soundwave snorted coldly, but the next second, he fell into an eerie silence.

Just as Sun Cheng uneasily wondered whether Soundwave was thinking of how to deal with him, he heard the icy electronic voice again. "Since you've recovered your memories, we might as well speak openly. Thanks to your intelligence, I was lured into his base and walked into an ambush. Now I have no choice but to enter stasis to repair my injuries."

"But don't celebrate too soon. Who knows what Starscream is plotting again? He suddenly left Cybertron and came here decades ago. He must have obtained information about the [AllSpark] or the leader."

Making no effort to conceal the killing intent in his heart, Soundwave stared coldly at Sun Cheng. "I tampered with your [Core]. I won't kill you for now. Blackout will arrive on Earth in half a month. Before then, do everything in your power to find information on the leader and the [AllSpark]. When I awaken again, I'll consider whether to let you keep living based on your efforts!"

"Now, get the hell out of here and stay as far away from me as possible!"