Chapter Thirty-Seven: The Price of Arrogance

At that moment, the communications officer beside him turned and reported, “Director Wang Jing, we’ve received word from the Egyptian negotiation team—they’ve agreed to let us remove the machine from the pyramid.”

“That’s wonderful news! Optimus Prime, let’s get moving!” Wang Jing called out.

This time, under arrangements by the Chinese government, Wang Jing returned to Egypt—not as an illegal immigrant, but through the legitimate entrance at the Egyptian airport, with local officials personally coming to greet him. Such a grand reception was only natural; with a ten-trillion-dollar investment paving the way and the allure of powered exoskeleton technology, the Egyptian government had no choice but to take this seriously. After all, this was an opportunity for Egypt to escape its predicament, perhaps even dominate all of Africa and restore the ancient glory of Egypt’s golden age.

Arriving at the site of the pyramid, which concealed a weapon capable of destroying stars, Wang Jing saw the area heavily guarded by Egyptian troops—there were over a thousand soldiers in sight, dozens of tanks, and rocket launchers.

“Let’s begin!” With that, Wang Jing started transmitting the engineering teams he’d prepared in advance from both the main world and the Wandering Earth world.

Strikingly designed, massive transport vehicles rolled out, accompanied by security forces clad in powered exoskeleton armor and an array of advanced weaponry—all of which left the Egyptian officials and soldiers watching in stunned silence.

Working alongside them were the Autobots—Ratchet, Bumblebee, Jazz, and Ironhide. Ratchet was responsible for scanning the device and devising a plan for dismantling it, while Bumblebee and the others carefully removed the massive stone blocks from the pyramid.

Just as Wang Jing’s team was dismantling the pyramid, on one of Saturn’s moons, the Fallen Decepticon yanked out the energy conduits embedded in his body. “Decepticons, our time for revenge has come!”

Two days later, several flaming meteors hurtled toward Earth—a sight detected by American radar and satellites, but there was no time to warn anyone to take shelter.

In the command room of the USS Stennis, which was en route to Egypt, panic erupted. The captain shouted for an emergency course change, but in the next instant, a blazing meteor crashed through the carrier’s deck, leaving a gaping hole. The next meteor obliterated the entire island superstructure.

A barrage of three more meteors struck, splitting the Stennis in two, and the carrier quickly sank into the sea.

As the stern rose, the Fallen Decepticon’s figure emerged. “I have returned!” he declared, gripping his spear tightly, the mask around his cheeks shuddering as he gazed at the silent wreckage of the carrier.

Meanwhile, back in the United States, the Pentagon was plunged into grief at the loss of the carrier—but there was no time to mourn, for every military base across the nation was being attacked simultaneously.

To make matters worse, follow-up intelligence revealed that numerous large transport planes were heading toward Egypt.

Upon learning this, the Pentagon’s immediate response was to order all personnel to fall back and defend the nuclear missile launch bases.

Ten minutes later, news of the aircraft carrier’s loss reached Wang Jing in distant Egypt. Without delay, he transferred all the workers, except for combat personnel, back to the main world.

Approaching Optimus Prime, Wang Jing spoke gravely, “The Fallen has arrived. Prepare yourself—this will be a fierce battle!”

With that, Wang Jing retrieved the modified AllSpark from the main world and hurled it heavily to the ground. A wave of energy rapidly spread out, transforming all the transport vehicles and engineering equipment left by the workers into Transformers.

The transport vehicles were mostly low-level cannon fodder, but their advantage lay in thick armor and overwhelming numbers. The high-grade cannon fodder consisted of all-terrain armored vehicles—thicker armor, faster speed, and greater firepower.

Even the tanks and rocket launchers deployed by the Egyptian government around the site were affected by the AllSpark, transforming into Transformers and ejecting their human drivers—causing the Egyptian government to believe their own armored and rocket units had turned into Autobots.

Most surprising to Wang Jing was that the soldiers in powered exoskeleton armor also had their suits transformed into Transformers. However, unlike the vehicles, these exoskeleton Transformers did not separate from the soldiers.

Now, the heavy weapons on their backs were fully controlled by the exoskeletons themselves, and the intelligence of the exoskeleton armor matched that of humans—greatly enhancing the soldiers’ combat effectiveness.

Naturally, the powered exoskeleton Wang Jing himself wore also transformed into a Transformer, allowing him to access all the functions Jiang Ning had designed for it—such as swapping the heavy weapon on his back for a railgun.

Upon returning the AllSpark, Wang Jing took the opportunity to equip himself with a 30mm railgun. However, he worried this battle might deplete the AllSpark energy in his exoskeleton, and, without the AllSpark’s power supply, the suit would likely become unusable.

Once all preparations were complete, Wang Jing didn’t face an immediate Decepticon attack—instead, he received the Fallen’s ultimatum.

As in the story, the Fallen seized control of all global communications and screens, threatening humanity: hand over the AllSpark, or he would destroy every city on Earth—the first example being New York.

Because America’s strategic defense focused mainly on overseas threats, there were few troops stationed domestically. With forces recalled to defend missile bases, the United States could only watch helplessly as the Decepticons rampaged through its economic center, New York.

The only resistance came from the meager forces of Sector Seven, but against the Decepticons, it was a drop in the ocean.

Only now did America think of the Autobots, but they were all in Egypt, guarding the pyramid, with no capacity to intervene.

Finally, under the pressure of nationwide outrage, the U.S. government was forced to make concessions, signing a contract with the negotiation team at three times the original price, and at record speed.

According to the contract, in the event of danger, signatory nations were bound by an unconditional support clause—so other countries who had signed the agreement dispatched their armies.

Seeing that humanity still dared to resist, the Fallen was about to order the destruction of more cities when he received a report from Soundwave in space: “Optimus Prime’s location has been found—he is in Egypt.”

“All Decepticons, proceed to Egypt! Capture Optimus Prime and retrieve the AllSpark!” With that, the Fallen himself set off for Egypt.

Arriving near the pyramid, the Fallen did not recklessly charge in, instead choosing to wait for more Decepticons to arrive, ensuring victory.

Half an hour later, Megatron was the first to reach Egypt.