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Chapter 633: Beneath the Molten Depths (Part 2)
🕑 Added 2023-09-24 11:05:31 +0000 UTCTransformers Begin : Table of Content/Chapter List
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There's no such thing as getting something for nothing when dealing with Sun Cheng.
After a brief tour around Forerunner and Thunder, they quickly returned.
The base on Terindad Island wasn't particularly large, considering it was just a small island with a total area of around ten square kilometers, and a mountain had been hollowed out to create it. There wasn't much space to spare.
Apart from the main hall, which covered over five thousand square meters, there were two secondary halls.
These secondary halls were slightly smaller than the main one and in a much more chaotic state, cluttered with various devices.
A group of Decepticon engineers were still operating machines, scouring the island for possible anomalies in energy fluctuations.
Seeing that Swindle was as cunning as ever, Sun Cheng didn't indulge him. Instead, he handed him over to Forerunner and Thunder to deal with while he explored the base with the company of a Decepticon engineer in charge of the facility.
He only took a brief look inside the two busy secondary halls and left. As he noticed the corridor extending deeper into the base, Sun Cheng became curious and asked, "Is this place still under construction?"
Glancing down the corridor, he could see all the way to the end with his enhanced vision.
Unexpectedly, Sun Cheng didn't see anything there.
The Decepticon engineer quickly explained, "Master, initially, when we learned that this was a volcanic island, we brought a geothermal power generation system with us. The plan was to explore the mountain's interior and set up the power generation equipment in a suitable location!"
"Oh!"
Suddenly, Sun Cheng lost interest. Volcanic islands were rich in geothermal resources, but for humans, the construction cost of geothermal power plants on such islands was too high, and they posed a significant environmental threat. Thus, they were rarely built on volcanic islands. However, Decepticons didn't care about such concerns. Their power generation systems were more efficient, and they required less space.
As he was about to turn away, Sun Cheng's mind suddenly clicked. "Wait, I didn't see any construction robots over there. Did you give up on setting up the geothermal power equipment?"
"Yes," the Decepticon engineer nodded. "After conducting a thorough survey of the entire island, we found that the underground volcano on this island hasn't completely extinguished. The magma layer is less than two hundred meters from the island's base. However, for some unknown reason, it has remained dormant without any eruptions all these years."
"Underground volcano!"
Words unintentionally spoken had a profound impact.
When Sun Cheng heard the words 'underground volcano,' it was as if a bolt of lightning had struck his mind.
"Magma, damn it, how could I forget about it!"
For mechanical beings, there were many ways to hide something.
In recent days, Sun Cheng had been poring over Skyfire's memories, and he had a rough understanding of why he couldn't find the Leadership Module at the Nameless Temple.
The six Primuses had created an independent Virtual Space separate from Earth.
The old guys seemed to be not entirely dead yet, and only those who met their criteria could discover and enter that Virtual Space to retrieve the Leadership Module.
Of course, even a peak Skyfire required multiple attempts to determine if he could achieve this.
For ordinary Autobots and Decepticons, there were only three methods to hide something.
The most dangerous one was launching the item into outer space, using the vastness of the universe to conceal it. This method was both the most responsible and the most irresponsible because, afterward, not only your adversaries couldn't find it, but neither could you.
The next option was to hide it on some small asteroids known only to your side. Just before the Second Civil War was about to enter its final battle, Sentinel Prime personally led a team to empty the energy warehouse of the Autobots on Cybertron Planet, planning to transport it to a hidden asteroid to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Skytiger Legion.
The third method, however, involves burying the item on-site, using the soil's electromagnetic wave interference to prevent detection by other factions.
The magma deep underground unquestionably ranks among the most suitable locations for such concealment.
Detectors find it challenging to detect high-energy reactions within magma, as magma is inherently an active high-energy aggregate.
Thinking about this, Sun Cheng was finding it increasingly difficult to contain his excitement.
Earth's magma is molten or partially molten rock found deep underground, forming a scorching, viscous substance with temperatures generally ranging from nine hundred to twelve hundred degrees, with the potential to reach up to fourteen hundred degrees.
For humans, these temperatures are an absolute no-go zone, and entering such an environment without protection would be fatal.
However, this was not the case for mechanical beings. Common carbon-iron alloys, often referred to as steel, have melting points exceeding fifteen hundred degrees. Sun Cheng's specially designed alloy for his mechanical body had a melting point surpassing thirty-seven hundred degrees.
While a brief immersion in magma would be highly uncomfortable for him, it would not be fatal.
The realization that the Beast General might have hidden the coveted item, something even Primus dreamed of, in the magma was too much for Sun Cheng to bear.
Without hesitation, he inquired, "I suspect that the item might be hidden in the magma. How long will it take for you to dig a passage to the underground magma?"
"Well..."
Though he found it somewhat incredulous, the strict Decepticon hierarchy prevented the engineer under Sun Cheng from questioning his decision.
"Gathering the construction robots on the island, it will take us about ten days!"
The engineer provided a detailed explanation to Sun Cheng. Terindad Island's base was built on solidified magma rock formed by an underwater volcanic eruption, a relatively hard type of rock. Digging through it was not much different from mining.
Ten-plus days was an acceptable timeframe for Sun Cheng.
"Perfect, during this time, gather some metals for me; I need to repair my injuries!"
With his command, the entire Terindad Island started bustling with activity.
While the simple and monotonous process was temporarily put aside, the Autobots located in Egypt had become targets of various factions.
After Optimus Prime narrowly killed Lord Fallen with the Leadership Module, Ironhide, though full of resentment towards Lord Fallen, acknowledged the necessity of showing some respect to Lord Fallen. After all, Lord Fallen was one of the Thirteen Primes, the origin of all mechanical life.
Once again, using the Leadership Module to heal all the Autobots injured in the previous battle, Optimus Prime transformed back into his heavy-duty truck form and disposed of Lord Fallen's remains in a part of the Nile River near Aswan.
"Though he committed many sins, all sins should vanish with death; the deceased should no longer be disturbed."
Before disposing of him into the river, Optimus Prime destroyed Lord Fallen's memory chip, eliminating any possibility of Lord Fallen being resurrected in the future.
After completing all of this, he turned to Ironhide. "Let's go; we need to revive our comrades quickly. There might be another tough battle ahead!"
In his mind, he couldn't help but think of the malevolent presence mentioned by the six Primuses when he had seen them just before his death.
Optimus Prime's expression grew solemn as he transformed once more into his heavy-duty truck form. The grand convoy set out once again, heading north towards the burial site of the Autobots located in the Sinai Peninsula.
Unbeknownst to them, a conflict between Autobots and humans was looming on the horizon.
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Next Chapter >>Chapter 634: Dividing the Cake
