Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

As the hammer passed through the space bridge, Optimus Prime's leadership module on his chest vibrated slightly.

At the same time, the faint dark power emanating from the vector brain module paused for a moment.

Then, Unicron's voice carried a rare surprise:

"...Prime, the Primes actually left behind an heir."

She immediately realized that Optimus Prime had returned.

The leadership module itself belongs to the pantheon, so it's not surprising that once Unicron is fully awakened, He would notice a Prime stepping onto Earth.

Immediately following, a warning was issued via sound waves.

[A new large-scale manifestation reaction has been detected.]

Coordinates confirmed.

The map zoomed in automatically, and the vector initially led me to believe it was near a judicial liaison point again.

As soon as the coordinates were revealed, several Autobots on the Joint Channel spoke up simultaneously.

"Autobot base?!"

-

A muffled, loud bang came from inside the Autobot base.

Jack quickly looked up, the lights flickered twice, and then pieces of gravel began to fall from the ceiling.

Raffi quickly grabbed his laptop and backed away: "Another earthquake?"

"No!" As soon as Meiqi finished speaking, the entire base shook violently.

Bang!

The base was torn open by some enormous thing, and large pieces of rock fell from above.

Xiao Zhen immediately protected the three children and pushed them to go deeper into the base.

"Go in! Quickly!"

Jack glanced back and saw a huge gap had opened up in the top of the Autobot base, letting in sunlight.

Immediately afterwards, fingers thicker than the base's pillars touched the broken edge, and a huge hand slowly pressed down on the top of the base.

A gigantic manifestation is taking shape, its curved horns piercing through the billowing dust.

Its hand was already hanging above the Autobot base; with just a gentle crushing motion, the humans in the base would be turned into mush.

-

"How does it know where the base is?" Bumblebee asked immediately.

The vector is also being considered.

This location is not a public coordinate; human governments know it, the Autobots know it, and the judicial system also has records of it.

But where did Unicron get his coordinates?!

His voice rang out in the consciousness of the vector at just the right moment.

"You really enjoy exposing important things to some insignificant creations."

The vector quickly realized what it was: "...a miniature gripper."

The live feed from the Autobot base was transmitted via sound waves to the Joint Channel.

The giant hand hovered just above, a silent threat.

Vector gritted his teeth: "What do you want to do?"

"Send that Prime guy over."

Optimus Prime has stepped out of the hammer and is crossing the land bridge to the judicial liaison point.

Vector: "You're threatening him with four humans?"

"Even the weakest life has its own value."

"You have no class at all."

Unicron ignored it, and the giant manifestation's hand, which was hovering above the base, slowly descended a little.

Another pile of rocks collapsed from the top of the base, and Jack protected Raffi and Meiqi as they dodged to the side.

Meiqi seized the opportunity to look up and curse, but Xiaozhen pulled her back: "Don't provoke Him now!"

"He can't hear me!"

The Cosmic Emperor murmured in the mind of Graviton, "I can hear you."

Vector: "...What's the use of telling me? You're still arguing with the child now?"

-

"I'll go." Optimus Prime didn't hesitate after finding out.

Before the vector could speak, the Cosmic Emperor suddenly let out a few cold laughs.

"Before that, I'll show you two things."

The two images were directly crammed into her consciousness.

The first location is in an underground cave, where the mountain was fractured due to the activities of the Cosmic Emperor, and a faint, special energy was exposed in the cracks in the rock.

A hand made of rubble pushes aside the debris and molds a small ancient device.

The vector seemed familiar at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the entire machine froze.

This looks almost exactly like the Ultimate Key that was taken out of the smoke screen.

"etc!"

The giant fingers closed, and the Ultimate Key broke into fragments of varying sizes.

He released his grip, and the fragments fell into the cave ruins.

Yin Xiang's eyes suddenly turned fierce, his pupils slightly contracted, and his teeth clenched so tightly they made a grinding sound.

"You slag bastard—"

The second scene immediately followed, showing another ultimate key, hidden for who knows how many years, being unearthed from the depths of the rock by a manifested entity between two low hills.

This time, the vector already knew what He wanted to do: "Stop!!"

Crack, it shattered again.

Unicron casually tossed the debris back onto the ground, showing little interest whatsoever.

"You seem to have been searching for these little things that Primus left behind."

He was so angry his chest ached: "Are you sick in the head?!"

"It's useless now."

"Whether it works or not is none of your business!!"

The lines of infection climbed a little further up her cheek.

The ambulance driver tried to calm her down, but seeing her expression, he shut up.

-

The vectoring system synchronizes information to the joint channel, striving to maintain stable audio.

"Of the three ultimate keys that have not yet been found, two were found and destroyed by Unicron."

Ultra Magnus was changing the weapon's energy cartridge when his movements froze instantly.

BICk0 was still urging the synthesis of the healing agent, and then fell silent for a while.

Shockwave was the first to regain his senses: [The Ultimate Lock activation plan needs to be reassessed.]

Hearing this from the other side of the battlefield, Yanbi was stunned for several seconds: "The Divine Key... is shattered?"

The hope that had just been touched, before they even knew where it was, was gone just like that, with two of them gone.

She tried her best to calm down, but the infuriatingly casual voice of the Cosmic Emperor still lingered in her ears.

"Besides taking hostages, destroying things, and forcing others to listen to you, what else can you do?" she finally couldn't help but rebuke angrily.

"efficient."

The shamelessness of the real slag makers is undeniable, yet they act with such self-righteousness.

Unicron even added, "Your so-called rules have no meaning to the gods."

Yin Xiang sneered in anger, trying to block out the other party's nonsense.

-

Megatron immediately noticed that Unicron's attention had been briefly diverted elsewhere.

He exerted his strength, and his leg, which had been forced to bend, finally lifted up a little, while his right-hand fusion cannon flashed with a faint purple light.

The pressure on his giant manifestation suddenly intensified in the next instant.

Megatron was slammed back to the ground once more.

The communications between the two stations were intermittent, but Megatron managed to catch a few words: Autobot base, humans, Optimus Prime.

He immediately guessed what the Cosmic Emperor was up to again: "Despicable."

Unicron didn't even bother to respond, dismissing it with disdain.

-

Outside the judicial liaison point, a heavy transport platform was suddenly overturned by a manifested entity.

A cloud of smoke passed by: "Get down!"

One of the Law Balance Knights was knocked down by another medium-sized manifestation, the heavy punch aimed straight for the knight's chest.

There was no time to fire from the smoke screen, so he simply rushed over, grabbed the Law Balance Knight's shoulder armor, and activated the phase shifter.

The enormous fist crashed down, instantly piercing through both machines.

Even the smokescreen itself was stunned for half a second: "It really can do that!"

After saying that, he quickly led the Law Balance Knight back, dragging him through the defensive line and into the shield's range before turning off the phase shifter.

The ambulance immediately took the injured person.

"There's something else outside." Smokescreen met the gaze of Yin Xiangzong, who had just calmed down a bit from his anger, and hesitated for a moment.

"What?"

He swallowed hard, carefully choosing his words: "A Knight of Law has fallen."

Since the start of the war, many have been wounded, and serious injuries have been frequent, but this is the first time we have received news of Cybertronian casualties.

The finger of the vector-guided figure slowly tightened: "Who?"

The smoke screen announced its number.

She knew him, but wasn't particularly close; he was a young officer who hadn't been with the Lawful Knights for very long.

The voice behind the smokescreen was even lower: "But... he stood up again later."

She had little expression, but even through the smoke, one could sense the intense anger beneath her silence.

Smokescreen himself struggled to explain: "The ignition signal was gone, but some dark purple stuff was thrashing around in his wound... and then he stood up and attacked the people next to him."

The vector felt a chill run through his body.

She knew that the blood of the Cosmic Emperor could drive the dead bodies to create the Fear Beasts, but seeing a machine she knew being driven was not the same thing.

Yin Xiang glanced down at the gray-black infection on her body; she also had a dark super-energy body within her.

That unpopular question is about to resurface.

What would happen if she really died?

She immediately adjusted her mindset by closing the optical glasses, but the Cosmic Emperor was unwilling to let her go.

"Since you so resist their death," His tone was even somewhat leisurely, "I will mercifully allow them to continue their activities."

"That's not living!"

She stared at the body left behind by the former Knight of Law on the screen, while several companions tried to subdue him.

But no one was willing to take drastic measures, even though they all knew the machine was no longer there.

"Others are dead, and you still won't let them live in peace."

"Death has no inherent meaning."

She didn't continue; arguing about it now was pointless.

There were still more machines firing outside, and she could only do her best to deploy resources to prevent a second or third death from occurring.

-

A notification sounded at the judicial liaison point indicating that the space bridge was connected.

Optimus Prime walked in, holding the empty AllSpark container.

When he saw her current appearance, he visibly paused.

However, after just ten minutes, her left optical lens could only maintain the most basic brightness.

She sat there, seemingly needing a moment to even focus her gaze.

Optimus Prime dared not ask any more questions, but simply turned and walked towards the area where the relics were kept: "I'm going to get the Hammer of the Supreme Pride."

The vector knew what he wanted to do, and the ambulance reacted immediately.

"I'm not sure if the pathogen can be removed." (Ambulance lane) "Besides, this isn't a simple mechanical injury; it requires reconstruction and examination, not just a knock and it's over."

Optimus Prime didn't speak, and walked towards the Hammer of the Sky.

The vector didn't stop, nor did it want to stop. Someone said there was another way, so she wanted to try.

But just as Optimus Prime reached for the hammer, the scene at the Autobot base shook again.

The hovering giant hand almost touched several humans, forcing Xiao Zhen and her three children to retreat again.

The voice of the Cosmic Emperor commanded within the consciousness of the Graviton: "Now."

Optimus Prime's hand stopped in front of the Hammer of the Sky.

How could Unicron possibly give them that expensive time? It's already a miracle he didn't immediately crush humanity.

Optimus Prime turned to look at the Graviton Vector; he wanted to save her first.

The vector also realized that it actually wanted him to stay.

The thought was stronger than she had anticipated; the hammer was just a few steps away, and the ambulance's report confirmed there was still hope, just a little time.

Maybe? She really can survive.

But the four humans at the base are in imminent danger.

Finally, the vector whispered, "Go."

Optimus Prime did not move.

"Bring them back." She forced a smile. "Then you can come back and save me."

Optimus Prime took several deep breaths and looked at her: "I'll be back soon."

They all ultimately made what they considered the "correct" choice at the time.

-

AZ opened the land bridge to the safe zone inside the Autobot base. This time the coordinates were quite stable, and the blue-green passage was formed in one go.

"He is letting us pass through." AZ's tone was also not very good.

The vector leaned back against the medical table, slowly deflated: "They're waiting."

Smokescreen had just finished treating the injured in the ambulance when he ran back and saw Optimus Prime heading towards the land bridge, so he immediately followed.

"I'll go too."

Optimus Prime turned around: "Smokescreen, you stay here."

"I know the base well; you need help more on your end!"

Yan Mu spoke quickly, the fear of being forced to stand up after seeing his companion die still lingering on his face, but he was already regrouping and ready to go again.

"What if He creates a whole bunch of manifestations? You can't just send one machine!"

Now was definitely not the time to act alone, so Optimus Prime reassured him, "Stay close to me."

The smoke screen immediately followed him onto the land bridge, heading towards the Autobot base.

-

When they arrived at the Autobot base, it had been so badly damaged that they almost didn't recognize it.

As they stepped off the land bridge, those purple eyes immediately turned towards them.

Optimus Prime drew his Starsword, with a smokescreen following behind him.

The colossal manifestation emitted a sound like a small earthquake, echoing between the mountains:

"Prime, you've finally arrived."

The land bridge behind them slowly closed.