Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

The traction vector moved forward along the old town. At first, she could refer to the existing map, but as the surrounding buildings became more and more dilapidated, she simply followed the traction vector completely.

Even at a fork in the road, before she could clearly see which way the left and right paths led, her brain module automatically made a judgment – ​​left.

The vector sneered and deliberately took a step to the right, immediately tightening the pulling force.

Fine, that damn titanium expert will have to wait!

-

In the following matches, she consistently passed the ball back as agreed.

[Enter the old underground of Calon.]

[An ancient building layer discovered; no threat to attack.]

BICk0 always replies very quickly.

The further down you go, the more ancient the atmosphere becomes, with occasionally severely worn text and patterns visible on the walls.

When they reached a certain point, their feet suddenly trembled, and the vector immediately stopped.

The ground ahead, which had been completely blocked off, began to move. Layers of machinery that had been dormant for countless years rose from the ground, and dust and gravel continued to roll down, finally revealing a passage extending downwards.

Vector: ...She's no longer even surprised to see ancient buildings open their doors by themselves.

[Automatic entrance to the ruins has been discovered.]

BICk0: [Return.]

The vector stared at the passage in front of him, the traction still pulling downwards: "[Let me confirm.]"

The secretary sent a voice message, huffing and puffing: "Then send it back every two minutes!"

Why are you reducing the time?

"I'd love to!"

-

The passage was deeper than she had expected. She descended into a huge tomb chamber, where the ancestral mark remained on the central stone platform.

The vector station scanned the entrance, relying on its senses and memory to identify who the other party was—Maximus the Great.

Why is it the original creator again? Do these original creators have nothing better to do than ask her to sign in?

She didn't touch anything in the tomb, but made a simple record.

The traction within her brain module was still pointing deeper. She hesitated for a moment, then messaged her secretary: "[Found the tomb of the progenitor, Maximus the Great.]"

This time, BICk0 replied exceptionally quickly: 【Come back!!!】

The traction source is not here.

The person on the other end was so angry that they didn't say a word for a long time.

-

The further in you go, the larger the buildings become, until the guiding vector passes through a narrow passage and suddenly the view opens up.

Darkness enveloped the vast underground space, with an unopened ground platform in the center. But as she approached, ancient patterns around it lit up automatically.

The vectoring fins slowly tightened, and the platform was fully activated. Then, a huge, glowing sphere surrounded by something emerged from the ground.

At the same time, a large amount of information flashed through her brain module, and a name suddenly emerged.

Vector Sigma – the magic ball.

"...What kind of devil ball is this?"

The magic orb suddenly started flashing, and she immediately switched to the frequency band, preparing to click on the communication.

Before she could even press the small phone button, an invisible force suddenly attacked from all directions, and the things that had been gently pulling her suddenly tightened their grip.

The vector only managed to utter half a word before its vision was completely engulfed in white light.

-

Two minutes passed, and BICk0 looked at the chat box.

[Vectorization?]

There was no reply. The location was still there, and the vital signs were normal, but there was no data transmission.

BICk0 immediately stood up and activated the emergency plan for losing contact.

-

It took much longer to find the chief judge than BICk0 had anticipated.

The location is clear; it's underground in Kalon. The problem is how to get down there, as the current map doesn't show the complete passage.

I went through all the old judicial files, but couldn't find the corresponding path.

As the day passed, BICk0's face grew increasingly dark.

The next day, she somehow ended up back at the starting point, and before she could even touch anything, the wall in front of her suddenly began to shake, and a door that was completely undetectable slowly opened.

BICk0: She doesn't have time to figure out why this lousy building suddenly made a decision, but she's still furious!!!

The road ahead was still hard to find, but at least the location was finally starting to become more specific.

She passed through a huge ancient tomb chamber, which should be the one that Yin Xiangzong had seen. Then, as she rushed down into that huge underground space, she immediately saw Yin Xiangzong lying near the central platform.

BICk0's steps faltered abruptly, then he rushed forward and quickly knelt down to check. The seed was stable, energy circulation was normal, there were no obvious external injuries, and the brain module was active, but he simply couldn't be woken up.

After the secretary confirmed the data, the simmering anger finally subsided slightly, but then she became even angrier.

"Why did you make yourself faint again!?"

The patient remained quiet, oblivious to the secretary's angry outburst.

"Location sharing is enabled! Data is uploaded every two minutes! We even had a contingency plan in place for when you lose contact! How did you manage to faint?!"

The patient remained unresponsive. The secretary, furious, gritted her teeth and finally looked at the unconscious chief judge, saying, "I'll settle this score with you later!!"

-

The vector was secretly sent back to the medical tower at the judicial center, and its specific location and remains were sealed in top-secret files.

Outside the judicial system, BICk0 only contacted two machines: an ambulance and a shotgun.

The two machines entered the medical tower through different passages and only met each other when they arrived at the ward door.

The ambulance driver's face was so sour it was as if he'd spotted a wrench that was being tampered with: "What are you doing here?"

"I was about to ask you that too." Knockdown frowned as well.

BICk0 interrupted the two machines: "You two go in and check now, stop talking nonsense."

Now he didn't dare to say anything more.

After a long investigation, the final result left the machine somewhat speechless.

The vector's bodily functions were all normal, except that its consciousness did not respond to external stimuli at all.

Knocked down, staring at the report, he huffed angrily, "Why is it like this again?"

The ambulance didn't answer, but it seemed like it wanted to give the vector a hard knock to wake it up.

BICk0 stood by the hospital bed, arms crossed: "The same as last time?"

The ambulance driver said in a low voice, "Something like that, he shouldn't be unconscious for too long."

BICk0, the appointed official, sighed and said, "I'll keep the news under wraps first."

-

A few days ago, things were relatively normal, with the judicial central government issuing a unified statement: "The Chief Justice is handling top-secret internal matters and has temporarily suspended non-essential private communications."

There was no lying, but not many people knew exactly what the inside story was.

The artificial energy body project is also under normal research, and the chief judge generously allocated a large sum of money directly.

On the fourth day, Megatron contacted BICk0 through the official channel.

"When will she finish?" "Uncertain."

"I need to speak to her." "It's not possible to arrange that at the moment."

Megatron gritted his teeth on the other end: "Why?"

BICk0 remained unfazed: "Top Secret."

The communication ended unhappily. The secretary had just dealt with one call when another came in – Optimus Prime was calling.

"Is she safe?" "She is currently under the protection of the judicial authorities."

Optimus Prime clearly sensed her evasiveness and irrelevant answer, but did not press further: "If you need any help from the Autobots, please feel free to contact me."

"Yes."

-

A week passed, and the vector still hadn't woken up, nor had it on the tenth day.

The ambulance and the person who was knocked down underwent a full re-examination, but the results remained the same.

As it became increasingly difficult to keep the secret from the outside world, Megatron bombarded him with information every day, and Optimus Prime also began to ask more questions. Soundwave had not yet infiltrated the judicial center, but he also noticed the sudden increase in the access level of the Medical Tower, as well as the blank routes of the ambulance and the knocked-down vehicles.

They all knew something had happened, but they didn't have the authority to investigate.

On the twelfth day, the secretary decided to make limited disclosures, and the notifications were limited to core members.

The Chief Justice is currently in a stable, unreachable state, with no life-threatening injuries. The cause of death is top secret and cannot be disclosed. According to the Chief Justice's operational report, the contingency plan and real-time location tracking are functioning normally. Unauthorized tracking and investigation are prohibited.

Megatron didn't reply after reading it, nor did Optimus Prime. They probably thought of the same thing: she really told someone this time, but in the end, something still happened.

-

On the sixteenth day, Megatron himself appeared outside the Medical Tower, and BICk0 did not release the device.

"I want to see her." "No."

"I know she's inside." "That won't do either."

Megatron's expression instantly turned terrifying. His secretary even thought it resembled the expression on Megatron's face when he was preparing to attack a city during the Civil War, but she refused to budge an inch.

After a long while, Megatron managed to calm down: "Is she stable?"

"Stablize."

Megatron took a deep breath, and finally turned and left.

On the same day, Optimus Prime arrived, but didn't request to go inside; he simply left behind some medical resources: "Are the ambulances still involved in the treatment?"

"Yes," the secretary said.

He glanced at the closed medical tower and left in silence.

-

On the twenty-sixth day, BICk0 finished his work and went to the Medical Tower again.

The research on artificial energy bodies has completed the first round of raw material verification, and the judicial center continues to operate according to the contingency plan for the chief judge's disappearance.

The secretary sat by the hospital bed, looking at her who was still unconscious: "It's been almost a month, wake up."

She reached out and gently stroked Yin Xiang's cheek: "If you don't wake up..."

She thought of Megatron and Optimus Prime outside, Alita who had started sending messages, 97 who asked her every day, and a group of machines who were about to burst from holding it in. "I can't guarantee how long I can stop them."