Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 68 Relationship Lines

After his injuries were treated, Yin Xiang was held down and his eyes were closed for a while, leaving him in a semi-conscious state.

The brain module was finally forced to stop. The optical mirror didn't go completely dark, but the whole machine seemed to have lost its strength and lay still for once.

The ambulance driver glanced at the data, confirming that her condition had finally stabilized, before putting the equipment aside: "Let her rest for now, don't disturb her any further for the time being."

Knockdown glanced at the monitoring interface, let out a sigh of relief, and snorted, "Now you know how to be quiet. You were being stubborn just now."

"That's not called being stubborn," the ambulance driver said coldly. "That's called not having suffered enough."

The lights outside the treatment room were on, and the machines were humming. The tense emergency situation that had everyone on edge finally eased up a little.

But none of the people standing in the room were truly relaxed.

Megatron stood closest to the processing table, his gaze never leaving the gravitational vector. Orion stood on the other side, having just handed over the last voltage regulator, his hand now hanging limply. Starscream leaned against the side, his face still grim; clearly, this matter was far from over for him.

Finally, the ambulance driver broke the silence by speaking first. He glanced at the resting vector out of the corner of his eye and spoke very softly.

"They contacted me a while ago."

The other machines in the room all turned their attention to that machine.

"By leveraging medical dispatch and the flow of external resources, we're asking around to find out what kind of wounded have been taken in recently and whether there's any connection with the arena."

He raised an eyebrow: "You're back?"

What do you think?

"I think you must really want to smash the terminal in their faces."

"almost."

He knocked down the person who was still looking at the interface, but his tone became more disdainful: "When someone came to chat with me, they asked if anyone in the arena was out of sorts. Later, even Deadfire was asked a couple of questions about it."

He raised his eyes, his expression not looking good.

"Every question they ask sounds like casual concern, it's so annoying."

Red Spider chimed in coldly, "Same."

He crossed his arms, his wingtips remained still, but his tone was colder and harsher than usual.

"The Academy of Sciences sent me a message asking if I had a new assistant, and why the lockdown was stricter at certain times," he said, chuckling at the end.

Orion paused for two seconds before speaking, "I've been asked that too. It was done in a more polite way, like a routine check-up."

Zhen Tianzun looked at him.

Orion continued, "Have you made any new friends lately? Have there been any special visitors to the archives recently? And how come I've been making more contact with the outside world lately?"

He paused slightly, lowering his voice a little, "The same goes for Alita."

Red Spider tilted his head: "She was asked too?"

"Hmm." Orion nodded. "Just today. He asked casually, saying if she'd met anyone new recently."

The room fell silent for a moment.

The vector lay on the processing table, the optical mirror closed, but the metal between her eyebrows still trembled slightly. She was clearly not fully asleep, but she didn't open her eyes or say a word.

Zhen Tianzun's gaze lingered on her face for two seconds, but in the end, he didn't say anything.

The red spider noticed this too, and surprisingly didn't stab her, lowering its voice even further.

"They followed her outwards; whoever spoke to her, whoever stood close to her, would be observed."

Just then, the laser bird on the support next to the processing table moved its wing.

Another new message popped up on Zhen Tianzun's terminal.

It's still a sound wave.

[The probing visit has been recorded.]

Immediately after, another message came in.

[Blocked.]

Zhen Tianzun glanced at it and immediately transferred the interface to several other computers nearby.

After reading it, Red Spider crossed his arms, his wing flaps trembling irritably behind him: "They even dared to probe his side."

Suddenly, a series of unhurried footsteps came from outside the door.

Shockwave entered with his usual unhurried pace, but as soon as he entered, his gaze fell on the gravitational vector on the processing table.

He paused for two seconds, then looked at Red Spider.

"Your reply took three minutes and twenty-seven seconds longer than usual."

Red Spider's gaze was not on him.

"so?"

"So I contacted her," Shockwave said calmly. "She didn't reply."

He went on to add that everything followed a perfectly ordinary logical chain.

"Given her behavior pattern, the probability of her not replying within this timeframe is relatively low. Considering your delayed response, her lack of response, and the recent increase in external risks, the anomaly is confirmed."

After listening, Orion let out a soft sigh.

Red Spider gave a cold laugh.

"So you just pushed it out yourself."

"Obviously." Shockwave glanced at the gravitational vector on the processing panel, then looked back. "It turns out the deduction was correct."

After a brief moment of silence, he clicked his tongue and said, "You guys have pretty annoying brain module structures."

Shockwave ignored him and continued, "Single-target suppression is no longer sufficient to achieve the goal. The current behavioral characteristic has shifted to dismantling relationship chains."

No one objected.

Looking at the stabilized data on the monitoring screen, the ambulance driver said coldly, "Fine, then there's no point in taking any chances."

Red Spider leaned against the wall, the slight smile on his lips more piercing than any smile: "I never really had any luck in the first place."

Orion lowered his eyes: "Now that they've gone this far, they won't stop on their own."

Finally, Zhen Tianzun made a move at this moment.

He took half a step forward, stood by the processing table, glanced down at the vector that was still resting with its eyes closed, and then looked up.

That's enough.

This reconciliation and this matter are enough.

Red Spider was the first to take the call.

"Then let's stop them from getting involved any more."

The ambulance driver didn't respond with harsh words. He put away his equipment, glanced down at the probe, and then said calmly, "She needs to rest tonight. Don't put on any show of violence next to her. If you really need to move her, do it outside."

"I don't need you to remind me," Red Spider said.

"I'm not reminding you," the ambulance said, tilting its chin to the side. "I'm reminding some machines whose outer armor is already about to crack."

Zhen Tianzun glanced at him sideways.

The ambulance was not intimidated at all.

"If all you're going to do now is stand here and fum, then keep going. But if you're really going to take action, think through the next few steps first."

Zhen Tianzun didn't react; that was his original plan.

Orion glanced at the Heavenly Venerable, then at the Graviton on the processing table, and finally whispered, "Let her rest first. We'll talk about the rest outside."

Red Spider snorted, which was taken as tacit agreement.

Shockwave remained standing there, his tone calm: "I suggest you execute this as soon as possible."

He knocked them down, archived the last set of data, and looked up at them.

"Let's go out. She's being watched by a laser bird; that optical lens is practically growing on her body."