Chapter 9

The man named Xuan was acting suspiciously.

Top officials of the American government and military assembled in a secret conference room. Their topic was those who called themselves warriors from the future, and the man named Xuan.

“I believe everyone understands that these people might have come from the future but this possibility is low. Thus, I ordered surveillance two days ago. The latest surveillance technologies were set up in the rooms of their central figures. They seemed to have not discovered these cameras and that was how we noticed Xuan’s abnormality.”

Roosevelt nodded to the soldier standing behind. The soldier went over to the wall and pressed a series of buttons. The room dimmed. The table in front of the group turned into a screen. The screen played a scene of Xuan using a computer.

Roosevelt said in a serious tone as he looked at the screen. “This man’s computer skills are extremely advanced. I sent an expert in the field to examine his computer after he left the room, but to no avail. He cleaned all the traces of ever using it. Furthermore, this computer is connected to the internal network of this base. Our expert then analyzed from our network and discovered… that he attempted to hack into our classified areas. He has opened a crack in our firewall, which points to the location of the password for our nuclear weapon arsenal.”

Everyone in the room was shocked and angry. A black officer shouted. “What are we waiting for? Arrest them then interrogate who they work for. How can we tolerate these people? I knew they were lying. People from the future? How can such a thing be believed?”

Roosevelt turned to a man among the researchers. “Go over the items brought by Xuan, and the piece of metal.”

This researcher was older than Roosevelt, looking in his sixties or seventies. The old man stood up and looked down at the data on hand. His expression had a sense of fanaticism. “The little things aren’t as important for now. Those are only fifty years ahead of our technology. The key is the technological advancement of the metal. I can’t tell how many years it is beyond our technology but I am certain this metal is beyond even the metal of the Transformers. This piece of metal represents a high-tech world way beyond our world!

“Furthermore, they possess applications of spatial technology. Do you know what it means? Mature spatial technology is three to five hundred years ahead of us! This isn’t something you can fake. I believe they truly come from the future! I do not wish to understand the filth of your politics. I am just a researcher, one who wishes to study the wonders of spatial technology.”

Some of the politicians blushed. Their evidences to invalidate the future humans claim were the lack of protection team China had against the power of the AllSpark and that they had no knowledge of what the last hopes of mankind were. However, based on what the researcher had said, this team of future warriors might perhaps be victims the future government threw to this world, either due to using unstable time-space technology or political reasons that denied them access to top classified information. The future government might have control over the AllSpark.

Roosevelt said awkwardly. “It is too early to conclude whether they are victims of politics. Based on certain information we have, they possess the attributes of people from the future. The advanced weapons, the spatial technology, and the physical attributes of their bodies could prove they have come from the future. Yet, at the same time there are many flaws we cannot find an explanation to. We have to continue monitoring them…”

The door to the room was suddenly pushed open. Everyone in the room was surprised and turned toward the door. Several men in black attires were standing there and yelled in a panic. “Mr. President, the surveillance videos show Xuan has breached into the location containing the nuclear weapon arsenal passwords!”

“Impossible!” Roosevelt shot up, terrified. “That’s impossible! The Black Box sends the password to the military bases, which in turn send them to the nuclear missiles. The key to the Black Box never leaves me! How could he break into the Black Box?” He took off a normal looking silver key from his neck. This key signified the highest power of the country, the key that controlled nuclear weapons.

Cold sweat streamed down everyone. It was not normal technology that was stolen but nuclear weapons. One missile could wipe out a city. In this situation where mankind was in a calamity, a nuclear missile could drive mankind into destruction.

“Hurry! Keep Xuan under watch! Do not let him get into contact with any of his team! Do not let him leave his room! Cut off his access to internet! If he forces his way out of the room… fire!” Roosevelt then ran toward his room.

The Black Box was a laptop. A key was required to turn on the laptop. The president had to turn on the laptop with his key and generate a password. Three other people then had to verify the password before sending it to the nuclear missile sites. Once the main officer in control and his assistant officer verified the password again, they could fire the nuclear missile.

The password began at the key, which was why it signified the highest authority of the country. And now this authority was stolen!

“How can this be possible? The key is still in my hand! How could it get stolen?” Roosevelt murmured to himself. He was drenched in cold sweat. Despite hearing that Xuan had obtained the password, he would not believe it without confirming it with his own eyes whether the Black Box was safe or stolen away.

Roosevelt ordered several guards to watch the door then rushed into his room and locked it. He walked over to the wall and entered a set of password. The wall opened up, revealing a rack holding a black box. He took off the key from his neck with his trembling hands. He carefully inserted the key. With a turn of the key, the black box opened up. Embedded inside was a black laptop. The screen lighted up.

Roosevelt took several deep breaths. He entered a password over forty digits long. A menu appeared on the screen and the item noting new passwords was 0.

“Whew… The password hasn’t been stolen.” Roosevelt wiped the sweat off his face. He was nearly drained.

The phone rang at this moment, which scared Roosevelt fore a moment before he reached for the phone in his pocket.

“Mr. President, we have checked our network. There are no signs of being hacked and the section related to the nuclear weapon password is intact. No traces in the firewall. It was a mistake on our agents.”

Roosevelt breathed out. “Understood. Halt the surveillance on Xuan. He’s freed of suspicion.”

As soon as he turned off the phone, something struck his mind and he fell into a hazy state. A little girl walked out from the shadows in the corner. It was YinKong. She walked pass Roosevelt to the laptop then inserted a CD into the drive. A series of characters flowed down the screen. A minute later, the screen returned normal and YinKong removed the CD.

“Xuan, delivery completed. I will hide until the guards change shift.” YinKong muttered in her mind.

Xuan’s voice sounded. “Thank you for the work. The password is in our hand. Lan, remove psyche control and erase this piece of memory.”

Those who had been watching the scene unfold admired Xuan. HongLu curled his lips despite knowing it was beautifully played out. The firewall was difficult to break through from the outside but how about bypassing it and obtaining the password from the inside? He might not have come up with the same plan that Xuan did…

The fourth day after Gando left, he found the gathering place of the Decepticons. The number far exceeded their imagination.

“Located near the intersection between Missouri and Illinois.“ Gando muttered to himself while looking at a map. “Judging by the locating system you gave me, this place should be St. Louis. The city was razed by the Decepticons long before and rebuilt into a steel fortress. Everything from the ground to buildings are made of metal. Four steel towers hundreds of meters tall stood on the city’s four sides.”

“Area?” Xuan frowned.

Gando shook his head. “Haven’t examined its size yet. Judging by the scope, the fortress isn’t huge. Smaller than the original St. Louis. Ruins of the original city have been cleared. However, a swarm of robots marched out as soon as I went near the fortress. Their numbers covered the whole ground and sky. Most robots weren’t able to transform but the missiles coming from the ground alone were threatening enough. Luckily I was still several hundred meters up in the air. The Dragonshard necklace also shined and saved me from being blasted into pieces. That was when I realized it’s the main base of the Decepticons.

“And then hundreds of flying vehicles rose from the ground. Helicopters, fighter jets, and even a few space shuttles transformed from the Decepticons. These flying vehicles were much more powerful. The first round of fire consisted of energy balls the size of basketballs. They exploded violently on the barrier and dropped the Valkyrie’s energy reserve down to half in just a second. I escaped by activating the electric jet system. The Valkyrie only has less than 20% energy remaining now.” Gando was thankful to have escaped and also exclaimed.

The rest of the team here frowned. Zheng said. “Are there that many Transformers? The original movie only has several actual Decepticons. The number doesn’t reach high even after they summoned their people from space. Hundreds that could transform into flying vehicles?”

The original Decepticons differed from those that turned into robots on Earth from the power of the AllSpark. They were composed of a different metal and possessed different weapons. Robots turned on Earth used weapons that existed on Earth such as Gatling machine guns and anti-tank missiles. Original Decepticons used energy weapons and more advanced missiles. Their transforming ability bestowed them increased agility. An original Decepticon could take on dozens of normal robots.

HongLu shook his head. “Not surprising. How should I explain? Let’s start from the origin of the Autobots and Decepticons based on the movie, not the animation, since we are in the movie’s world. The Transformers came into existence from the effect of the AllSpark. The AllSpark’s power could turn mechanical objects in Earth to robots. How are they different from the robots formed in Cybertron? Why are the robots from Earth weaker than the ones from Cybertron in the movie? Is it solely due to the metal compositions? That would only contribute to the difference in their armor and weapons and doesn’t explain why they couldn’t transform. My view is… the robots’ power is directly proportional how much contact they have with the AllSpark’s power. The longer they are in close proximity with the AllSpark, the more powerful they become. It’s only a speculation but this hypothesis answered the question of the difference in power, and also why so many transforming robots came into existence. The Decepticons have possessed the AllSpark for some time now, enough to evolve some robots.”

Evolution. Just like how humans evolve after unlocking the genetic constraint, the robots were undergoing the same process. Although they relied on an external force for their evolution, it was still shocking to learn. If the situation remained, the AllSpark would create millions of Transformers as time went on or perhaps super Transformers. There was no way of winning at that point.

Zheng sighed. “The same old God. Placing us into seemingly safe circumstances much like during the Alien movie. Back then if we rode the starship back to Earth, the Aliens would reproduce and swarm in a few years. Likewise, if we settled down here and trained, I might reach Xiuzhen stage in twenty years but the Decepticons would reach unimaginable numbers and who knows how far their core robots could evolve?”

Most of the team had the same thoughts. God did not give them any time limit for this world but the situation was clear that the longer they stayed, the more dangerous it became. A few more months down the road, and who could know how many high level robots would come into being? Their priority was to nuke the Decepticons and enact the bait plan when their numbers were still low.

Now that the goal was set, the Decepticons’ main base was found, and the password control to the nuclear arsenal was in hand, there was no point to delay any further while the Decepticons grow. Team China departed with the American government. Zheng informed the location to the government under Xuan’s sign then bit farewell to Optimus Prime and Bumblebee with respect. He actually wanted to repair the two Autobots but the feat was out of his abilities.

“No sacrifice, no victory… but the sacrifices are sometimes too sad. How good would it be if victories come without the cost of sacrifices.” Zheng muttered to himself as he left.

The strength of the Decepticons were overwhelming. The hundreds of transforming robots alone were difficult enough, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of regular robots. The survival rate even with the Dragonshard was extremely low. They needed a complete plan before attempting any attacks.

“We can stop here. A hundred kilometers away from the fortress. Not more than a few minutes using the Sky Stick’s jet system. Now the basic situation is HongLu’s group head to west of the fortress. You will lure most of the robots out then keep flying west. We will wait at east of the fortress. Once most robots are going, we will take care of the rest.” Xuan said to HongLu.

HongLu twirled the hair in front of his forehead and carefully asked. “The time? What time are you going to carry out the plan? Within how many days must I accomplish it?”

“No set time. The nuclear arsenal password changes every five days. I am not going to activate the virus for five days. After five days, you should be on stand by. You must enter the bombed site and initiate attack within six hours of dropping the three hydrogen bombs. Hydrogen bombs have less radiation than atomic bombs and even if you get affected by the radiation, you can heal in God’s dimension. There’s no need to worry too much about radiation. Here are the Charms of the Three Pure Ones just in case. Put them on when you enter the site.” Xuan said as if he was placing orders.

HongLu picked Kampa and YinKong. They covered close and long range, magical and sci-fi weapons. HongLu also unlocked the genetic constraint with the help of the prototype T virus, so he could pilot the Sky Stick. Once Kampa and YinKong enacted the bait plan, he could take them away with the Sky Stick.

He nodded to Xuan without saying anything more. Then twirled his hair and pondered.

(The U.S. president should have received my message and signal by now. Which means the army will surround it in at most a week. And then using the backdoor left by Xuan’s plan, my plan will proceed smoothly following the nuclear attack. We will complete this movie without any loss. And you will know I am not weak!) HongLu smiled. He looked at Xuan then at the steel tower far in the distance… Just a few more days and everything would come to a closure.