Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

When the human-powered arrow regained consciousness, his first reaction was bewilderment.

She could not feel pain, nor could she feel her own body.

She was surrounded by light, bright but not dazzling, and although there was nothing under her feet, she found that she could stand.

Yintianyi looked down and suddenly realized that he could not see his hands or legs.

She paused for a few seconds: "...?"

What's going on? Her last memory was clearly death. So what's this? A near-death hallucination after being resuscitated? The brain's last abnormal electrical discharge before death? Or is there really another world after death?

Before Yintianyi could even salvage his materialistic worldview, several silhouettes appeared in the distance.

They looked very tall, each one like a Gundam, with twelve enormous figures standing in different positions.

What's even stranger than them is the entire space itself; the omnipresent light occasionally drifts past the points of light, as if watching her.

...This kind of scene shouldn't be within the scope of law students' work!

Finally, a very gentle voice rang out: "Sky Arrow."

She instantly became alert: "You know my name?"

A figure immediately chimed in: "Of course."

The Heavenly Arrow's professional instincts kicked in: "That's a big problem. First, where am I? Second, who are you? Finally, am I dead or not?"

She paused, then added, "If this is some kind of large-scale social experiment, I suggest stopping it now. There are many legal issues involved in 'fake death' experiments."

One of the twelve figures couldn't help but chuckle.

The gentle voice spoke again: "You are dead."

Yintian remained silent for a long while. Although he had already guessed it, it still felt a little strange to be informed so bluntly by someone else.

"Could you be a little more tactful?"

"Feel sorry."

"...No need to apologize." After a while, Yin Tianyi asked, "Is this the afterlife?"

Not entirely.

"And who are you?"

The figure closest to her lowered his head slightly: "You can call us the Ancestors."

Yuanzu cake? That's delicious.

Yintian Arrow looked around, and finally said to the omnipresent being in the space, "And what about you?"

After a brief silence, the voice replied, "Primus, also known as the Primordial Celestial Lord, you can call him God Primus."

This scene looks like a cult initiation ceremony.

"Then how can you prove that you're not just a hallucination I had before I went brain dead?"

The original founders laughed again, and this time there were more than one.

Yintianyi was somewhat annoyed: "Is this question funny?"

One of the voices carried a distinct laugh: "It's just that very few people ask to see us for our identities the first time they meet us."

"No normal person would readily believe in twelve Gundams and an unseen god, would they?"

That makes sense.

They actually admitted it!

Pu didn't rush to make her believe it. The surrounding light slowly changed, revealing images that didn't belong to her life.

A colossal mechanical planet, cities, mines, towers, and countless Gundam-like life forms, followed by war, collapsing buildings, and the same life form splitting into different factions, tearing each other apart on the planet they depend on for survival.

Yintianshi stared at the images and quickly realized that it was probably war.

Primus said, "That is Cybertron, and that is me."

Yintianyi looked up: "Are you from that planet?" "Yes."

"What about those Gundams?" "My children."

No wonder, she began to understand why the god always sounded a little sad when he spoke.

The scene continued to change; some parts she couldn't understand, while others seemed to have already happened.

The war dragged on, the planet fell silent, many lives left their homeland, and in some futures, only vast stretches of unrecognizable darkness remained.

The scene finally paused, and Pu said softly, "I've seen many possibilities, some of which aren't good."

Heavenly Arrow: "So?"

Here comes the important part! She mentally flipped through her little notebook to take notes.

Pu Shen stated bluntly, "We need a variable."

"Are you all going to tell me next that I have extraordinary talent and am destined to save the world?" Yin Tianyi casually copied from a novel he had recently read.

A subtle silence fell over the surroundings.

Yintian Arrow: "Really?"

"almost."

She felt this was increasingly resembling a scam.

"Why me? There are so many people in the world who are smarter, more capable, and kinder than me. I haven't even graduated from university yet, what do you want from me?"

Instead of answering immediately, one of the twelve figures spoke up: "Your soul is very special."

Yintian Arrow: "What's so special about it?"

"Complete, bright, and stable enough."

She was completely bewildered: "The soul can see brightness?"

"able."

...She remembered that she hadn't chosen theology as her major.

Pu Shen continued, "But that's not the only reason we chose to contact you. It's because you often ask the same question: Why does it have to be this way?"

She froze for a moment.

Pu continued, "Just because a rule has existed for a long time doesn't mean it's always reasonable. Just because most life accepts something doesn't mean it can't be changed. You will question, judge, and sometimes be stubborn."

Yintian Arrow: "The last sentence is optional."

Beside him, Yuanzu chuckled softly, and Pu Shen also seemed to wear a faint smile:

"You are not the most powerful soul I have ever met, nor the only kind one. I cannot be sure what you will ultimately do, but you have the ability to propose new options on a path that has already become fixed."

Yintianya slowly understood: "Alright, but I have another question. Why didn't you come looking for me when I was alive?"

Surely it's unreasonable for a deity to have a strict requirement that candidates must be dead before they can be interviewed.

Pu replied, "Because your world is on a higher level than ours. When you were alive, you belonged there, and we could only see some vague traces of you; we could not truly touch you."

Yin Tianyi's mind worked quickly: "So after I die..."

"Your lifeline with your original world has ended, which is why we are finally able to access your soul."

Yintian remained silent for a long time before finally asking, "So what exactly do you want from me now?"

After watching the distant footage of the Cybertronian war for a while, Pujin said:

"If you were given another life, would you choose it?"

?

She asked again, "Can I live again?" "Yes."

"To become one of those Gundam-like mechanical lifeforms?" "If you'd like."

"And then?" "Then that part of your life belongs to you."

Yin Tianyi frowned: "No mission? Daily check-in to save the world? You're not going to suddenly come out and say I haven't met my KPIs, so you're taking back my second life, are you?"

Yuanzu burst out laughing, and Yintianji could tell that the other person sounded like a cheerful woman.

"Be serious, I'm assessing the project's risks."

The other person tried to be quiet, and there was a hint of helplessness in Pu Shen's voice: "You don't know any of these."

Yin Tianyi still didn't agree immediately: "If I go there, will you force me to do anything? For example, will you require me to save someone or stand on a certain side?"

"Won't."

"What if I get there and find that Cybertron isn't what I imagined?"

"You can live according to your own judgment; you are not our tool."

After a long silence, Yin Tianyi asked again, "Then will I be alright?"

Pu Shen remained silent for a little longer: "I don't know."

This project's marketing skills are truly appalling!

"You can't even guarantee this?" "No."

Phuket did not lie to her: "You may get hurt, get tired, encounter painful things, or even face death again."

Yin Tianyi's expression grew increasingly subtle as he listened: "You know you're trying to persuade me to go, not to discourage me, right?"

The original members next to them were trying their best to suppress their laughter.

Pu: "But you will also see worlds you've never seen before, meet people who don't currently exist in your life, and create new memories."

Whether you regret it or not is up to you.

-

Millions of years later, having become the gravitational vector, she finally answered this question.

However, at this moment, Yintianji was unaware that he was struggling with whether another chapter of his life was worthwhile.

"So you're not giving any guarantees."

"All we can promise is that we will not take your choice away."

Yintian also looked at the war-torn mechanical planet in the distance: "But you still want me to help you."

"right."

Why?

His answer was simple: "Because I love them."

Yintianyi looked at him, somewhat incredulous: "Those who are fighting each other? And those who have nearly destroyed their own planet?"

"Yes."

Yintianshi: ...Wow, this is what it means to be a parent.

Primus looked at Cybertron: "I can't ask you to save them. I only hope you'll see that if one day you think they deserve help, then please help them."

"I hope Cybertron will have the opportunity to have a different future."

-

Yintianshi originally wanted to find fraudulent rhetoric, logical flaws, or inflammatory statements in the book, but he found nothing.

The god of prophecy never gave a definite answer from beginning to end.

He only said, "I love them very much."

This actually struck a chord with her. After all, she studied law and had dreamed of becoming a judge.

How cool is that! Judges can make things fairer, help change the rules, and help those who almost gave up because "things have always been this way".

She knew she was a bit idealistic, but she'd wait until she started working and became a corporate slave before smoothing out her rough edges.

Yintianyi lowered his head and thought for a long time: "You won't treat me unfairly, will you?"

Pu Shen paused for a moment: "We will not punish you for not becoming what we expect you to be."

Yintianyi stared at him for a while: "It still sounds pretty much like a scam."

"..."

She turned to look at the mechanical planet again, a little curious: What kind of place was it? What would she be like if she became that kind of mechanical life form? If someone who didn't belong to that destiny line were to go there, what would they ultimately become?

She suddenly smiled and said, "Okay."

The twelve figures all quieted down, and Pu Shen listened attentively to what she had said.

"I'd like to go and see, but you'd better not trick me."

Pu Shen chuckled softly: "Okay."

-

Just as Yin Tianyi was about to ask when they would depart, he suddenly thought of something else: "Will I remember all of this after I get there?"

None of the twelve primordial ancestors spoke, but the God of Universal replied, "No."

She remained silent: "Is it too late for me to back out now?"

Pluto explained, "If you remember that we chose you, and know that we want you to change the future of Cybertron, then from the first day you opened your eyes, all your choices will be affected by this."

"You'll start to wonder if what I'm doing aligns with the reasons for being chosen, and whether that person should be saved. You might even become someone you would never have otherwise become, just to live up to our expectations."

As Yintianshi gradually understood, he had to admit that this god's considerations were indeed comprehensive.

If she remembers these things, she will probably have more concerns about everything she does in the future.

The chosen one, the one to change fate, sounds impressive, but it's also a heavy burden, and Yin Tianyi doesn't like it.

She's the kind of person who gets annoyed even when she's assumed to be the person in charge of a group project in college! Not to mention she's carrying the fate of an entire planet on her shoulders the moment she opens her eyes.

"So you need to delete this meeting."

"Seal it off," Pu Shen corrected, "and only this part."

Yin Tianyi blurted out, "Isn't this just data deletion? And I can't even check it."

She was somewhat worried.

Ptolemy replied, "We need your consent. If you are unwilling, we will not do this, and you are perfectly free to refuse to go to Cybertron."

Yin Tianyi couldn't find anything wrong with this, so he simply gave a serious warning: "But you are not allowed to touch my other memories, especially my personality! Those are tyrannical terms."

"None of them." This time, the original ancestors answered in unison with a smile.

"Alright then." Yintianyi was satisfied.

-

As the light drew closer, the figures of the twelve progenitors gradually blurred.

As the light grew brighter, her consciousness began to lighten.

That new life is about to begin.

The voice of the god was gentle, carrying a blessing that she hadn't recognized at the time:

"Well then, welcome to Cybertron."