Volume 17 - Chapter 7-3

Team China left Shelter 7 on the Sky Stick. They traveled through a desolate land. Occasionally, they would see small armies escorting civilians toward Shelter 7. The American government was exceptional in this respect for putting their citizens above everything. Corruption existed in the government but government workers still valued the citizens. Whether it was for the people’s support or they actually respected people was a different question. American government workers were better than those who couldn’t even be bothered to put on an act as they stepped over their citizens…

Anyway, Zheng was focused on controlling the Sky Stick. The map he obtained showed that the distance between Shelter 1 and Shelter 7 was a quarter the length from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. That was pretty far enough. They had to fly over several major cities.

“It looks like the cities aren’t safe anymore. I don’t know how many Decepticons came from space. But the AllSpark can create over a hundred thousand powerful big robots once its power spreads over a whole city. Smaller robots such as TVs, fridges, computers, washers might even reach millions… Where have these robots gone?” HongLu frowned.

Team China carefully approached a major city on the way. Lan easily obtained the information within the city via psyche scan. The whole city was in a silence. There was not a single living human, only several hundred robots of varying sizes and street animals. Interestingly, the robots did not wipe out the animals.

Xuan nodded. “In the original plot, the Transformers possessed a civilization much more advanced than the civilization of Earth. They can mask radar scans. They can cut off human connection and control to satellites and other mechanical objects. All they have to do is kill every human on the way and mask the satellites from humans, or even just send the first generation Transformers to destroy the satellites in order to conceal their traces while they migrate.”

HongLu and Xuan met eyes with each other. HongLu affirmed. “If we are right, the AllSpark is located within their gathering places. That is the only reason for the robots to gather and defend a place. Now, the key is how do we find this location? Furthermore, how do we face the tens of millions of robots there? I don’t believe our strength can rival an army of over a thousand robots. They are not the half orcs you fought in the previous movie.”

Zheng smiled. He knew HongLu had been asking Zero about Xuan’s past during these days. He did not look well after hearing Xuan’s plan in the Lord of the Rings. It wasn’t until after he entered Transformers did he calmed down… Or more precisely, after he saw Xuan again.

(I just hope they don’t get into any conflicts. But HongLu has been with the team for several movies. Xuan isn’t someone who gets mad. As long as he realizes HongLu will not do any harm for the team, he probably won’t scheme him. However, HongLu isn’t a weakling. He can probably deduce Xuan’s plan if it isn’t anything unimaginable.)

Xuan ignored the taunt in the last sentence. He frowned and muttered. “It looks like that thing is required to take care of the problem.”

“That thing?” Zheng’s ears stood up. He yelled without a second thought. “Xuan! I know you are thinking of something new. Speak it! Fuck. If I hear a no, I will smash the sword at you!” He drew Tiger’s Soul out of the Na Ring, and along with it came the white mist.

Zheng had grown a deep hatred to this tone of talking by Xuan. He didn’t feel much before. As long as the plan was good for the team, it didn’t matter that he became a piece of the plan. He would just curse Xuan after the fact. However, in the last movie, Xuan included his own death as part of the plan. It was a fake one but it could also be a real death… So Zheng was enraged and had to get Xuan make it clear.

HongLu sneered. “What else can it be? That thing can only be… nuclear weapons. You’re planning to get the password to the nuclear weapons from the American government, right?”

Xuan nodded. “The situation is pretty simple. Humans have nuclear weapons but are scared to use them. The robots have no fear of nuclear radiation. The AllSpark’s location hasn’t been confirmed. So even if they were to wipe off a large number of the robots, the AllSpark can create them back as long as it existed. Robots aren’t worried about the environment while humans feared for the destruction of the Earth. I am certain the U.S. hasn’t used nuclear weapons yet.

However, we are different. We don’t need to live in this world. So once we get the password to the nuclear weapons and find the location of the AllSpark, we can drop ten nuclear bombs before searching through an annihilated city. The Transformers possess intelligence and came from a higher level civilization so they are aware of the power of nuclear weapons. If the humans learned of the location of the AllSpark, they couldn’t be certain that humans will not use nuclear weapons. There’s definitely something that can defend against nuclear weapons, at least over the AllSpark…”

HongLu pulled a strand of hair and interrupted Xuan. “I get your plan. You are going to do this in Shelter 1. We know the habits of the American government. They will want to get their hands on our equipment. They can’t put us under house arrest since this is a time of crisis. However, they will find various reasons or straight up steal our equipment. During this time, you can steal the control over nuclear weapons through the computer or other methods. I know you are proficient with computers. So it isn’t difficult for you. What I am curious about is how are you going to find the AllSpark?”

Xuan wasn’t irritated at HongLu in the least bit. He turned to Gando instead. “Are you scared of dying?”

Gando lost his mind for a second. Then he shouted like when someone stepped on the tail of a cat. “How can I not be scared of dying!? Are you threatening me with one of your plans? Fuck! Don’t treat me like Zheng. Even if I have to risk my life, I, I… I can at least run.” Gando was going to talk back but he wasn’t Zheng. After struggling for words, he was scared of Xuan’s plans and could only say he was going to run.

HongLu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He could see that Xuan had deep influence over this team. It wasn’t possible for him to overthrow Xuan’s authority. Furthermore, Xuan did possess the skills, although slightly below him. He had thought of everything Xuan planned and had a backup plan that Xuan didn’t think of.

Xuan continued talking to Gando. “Not a plan. There are two places we need you. One, the Valkyrie can search through the U.S. in the shortest time to find the gathering place of the robots. The first task is for you and Zheng to split up and search the U.S. Lan can go with Zheng and scan each city. Though you are going to need to shoot a few missiles at the cities. The robots will all come out seeing that you are also a robot. If there are a lot of robots gathered in the city, they are going to attack you.”

Gando breathed out and said. “That isn’t too dangerous. The electric jet system gives the Valkyrie higher speed than the Sky Stick. So I just need to lure the robots out and see which city has the most?”

Xuan shook his head. “The electric jet system can get you away in an instant. The true danger isn’t from the robots… It’s the power of the AllSpark. Even a car will turn into a Transformer, not to mention a robot. If the AllSpark is truly in the city, and the Valkyrie gets near, you being inside the Valkyrie…”

Gando couldn’t utter a word. He opened his eyes wide and stared at Xuan, seemingly lost and frozen in place.