Heading to Black Canyon (Begging for Recommendations, Favorites, and Tips)

After all, it was a sewer—a place where filth and grime gathered.

Although Decepticon bodies lacked human respiratory systems and could not smell any potentially pungent odors.

Sun Cheng still did not think a sewer crawling with rats and cockroaches could be a pleasant place, especially after a cockroach accidentally flew onto his face.

But escaping was the priority now. He immediately switched back to beast mode and raced toward the city center.

He chose to flee toward downtown rather than the outskirts because, although he was currently closer to the outskirts, the commotion and pursuit from earlier had undoubtedly drawn all of Tucson's security forces there.

Following normal human logic, they would surely assume that after entering the sewers, he would continue fleeing toward the outskirts.

So, by suddenly escaping in the opposite direction now, his chances of getting away were actually greater.

As for the detection devices the Americans had, he was not especially worried. Tucson's sewers might have been well built, but they were hardly luxurious enough for humans to chase him through them on motorcycles.

Thus, even if they had detection devices and eventually discovered the direction of his escape, catching up to him would already be difficult.

Sure enough, over forty minutes later, when Sun Cheng emerged from a sewer outlet on the outskirts from another direction, he did not encounter anyone trying to surround him again.

The harrowing trip through Tucson had nearly scared him out of his wits.

Fortunately, Sun Cheng was clever enough. After successfully escaping, he headed north at full speed, reaching Flagstaff, a city in northern Arizona, just a few hours later.

The [Baglin Meteor Crater] he was currently investigating was located in Flagstaff. Although so many years had passed, and even he did not believe any clues would still remain here, Sun Cheng still made the trip with the hope of leaving no stone unturned.

The [Baglin Meteor Crater] lay on a desert plateau southeast of Flagstaff. Like most of Arizona, the climate here was dry, desolate, and remote.

His experience in Tucson had undoubtedly made Sun Cheng more cautious. Before reaching the [Baglin Meteor Crater], he released two groups of insect scouts to investigate the surrounding area. Only after confirming there were no ambushes or other humans did he quickly approach the crater.

He had to admit that when he saw the [Baglin Meteor Crater] up close, Sun Cheng was startled for an instant.

"Two kilometers in diameter and 150 meters deep... Judging by the force of impact, this must have been caused by a massive meteorite at least thirty or forty meters across..."

Though he was shocked by the meteorite's power, after observing it at close range and quickly calculating some data, Sun Cheng could not help but feel a stir in his heart.

A massive meteorite that had fallen from the sky ten thousand years ago—even if it had shattered and weathered during its descent—could not have been small. Given the capabilities of American engineering machinery over ninety years ago, it would have been impossible to transport it any farther unless they used water transport.

As far as he knew, the two towns named Black Canyon in Wyoming and Colorado were both very far from here—one located on a plateau, the other at the foot of a mountain.

In comparison, the Black Canyon at the border between Nevada and Arizona was much closer.

Furthermore, there was an almost unobstructed waterway running from Flagstaff to Black Canyon.

If Sun Cheng had been the one choosing, he would definitely have chosen to transport the meteorite there over ninety years ago.

That was assuming the meteorite was the [AllSpark]. Otherwise, he simply could not understand why the Americans would spend so much money transporting a large rock from one place that was already difficult to discover to another place even harder to discover, even if it was a meteorite.

Sun Cheng circled the crater for a while and even descended into it to search carefully. As expected, he found no useful clues. He was not disappointed, though. After all, more than ninety years had passed since the meteorite had been moved away, and time had long since erased any clues that might have remained.

Flagstaff was not far from Onslaught's base in the Grand Canyon. For Sun Cheng, who had slowed down after the danger alert was lifted, the mere three or four hundred kilometers would only take two or three hours.

A few hours later, familiar with the route, he reached the Grand Canyon and returned to Onslaught's base.

"Lord Onslaught, sorry to disturb you!"

Standing on the platform outside the base, he first sent a transmission into the cave as a courtesy. Sun Cheng also knew that Onslaught had surveillance equipment placed on the platform. Its location was extremely well concealed, but it could not fool someone equipped with the [Spy Template].

After alerting him, Sun Cheng was just about to head inside when he suddenly received a transmission from the other party. "Did you find clues about the [AllSpark]?"

"No, I'm still investigating! I came this time because I've discovered some shortcomings in my body these past few days, and I'd like to ask Lord Onslaught to help me deal with them."

Since he had not yet confirmed whether the meteorite in the [Baglin Meteor Crater] was the [AllSpark], Sun Cheng did not mention it.

Yet he had barely sent the transmission when he quickly received a reply.

"Didn't find anything? Then don't come bothering me. Get lost..."

Onslaught's cold reply made Sun Cheng, who had just taken a few steps into the cave, stop and stand there in a daze. In that instant, it was as though he had fallen into an icy abyss, chilled to the core.

Although he had guessed before that Onslaught had only helped modify his body, like Starscream, because he wanted to use Sun Cheng's talent for gathering intelligence.

Still, compared to Barricade, Starscream, Soundwave, Beam Splitter, Laserbeak, and the others, Onslaught was the Decepticon Sun Cheng had spent the most time with since arriving in this world.

Previously, Onslaught had seemed fairly easy to talk to most of the time. As a result, Sun Cheng had selectively ignored the fact that, just like Barricade, Starscream, and Soundwave, he was a Decepticon—a mechanical life-form whose mind contained nothing but strengthening himself, conspiracies, schemes, and destruction. Their values and attitudes toward life were entirely different from those of humans.

The faint sense of closeness he had felt toward Onslaught vanished completely with that cold reply.

Was I thinking too much? In this world, I really can only rely on myself!

Sun Cheng stood silently at the cave entrance for quite a while before barely managing to compose himself. Then, without saying a word, he turned back. He leaped from the platform and sprinted through the canyon at full speed toward Black Canyon on the Nevada-Arizona border.

PS:

Although this author has always believed that even the protagonist should not start out invincible, and that only a gradually maturing mindset can make him stronger, some readers have recently kept saying that the protagonist is too weak and that the story lacks the straightforward thrill of [Transformers] battles. Therefore, this author has decided to speed up the protagonist's buffs.

Thanks to reader "Purple Enchanting Kui" for the tip.