Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 111 The Crossroads

It was already very late at night.

The public screens were dimmed, the distant city lights flickered coldly, and a few patrol drones occasionally passed by on the road before disappearing at the end of another main road.

She remained in robot form and walked forward along the road.

She checked the frequency band again; it was still on.

All the wise things she did tonight felt like layers of iron plates pressing down on her chest.

She just wanted to walk a path where she wouldn't have to answer any questions.

There was no Soundwave, no Megatron, no Decepticons, no Autobots, no Supreme Council, and preferably no her either.

On the terminal, the message from Sentinel Prime was still lying quietly.

This wasn't the first time he'd done this.

Ever since their private falling out reached this point, Sentinel Prime has become adept at writing probing messages as reminders and packaging malice as respectability.

Sometimes it's a casual greeting before the review, sometimes it's a "It is recommended that Your Excellency the Chief Justice reassess" message attached to a document that he has blocked, and sometimes it's even just a text message with such precise timing that it makes the machine want to smash its terminal.

So at the time, she just felt annoyed.

She was too tired tonight and mistook the familiar nausea for something insignificant.

As she crossed the second intersection, the night wind blew through the gaps between the buildings, carrying a hint of cold, metallic scent.

She looked down at her hands.

She could no longer feel the spot where Optimus Prime had just held her, but she still remembered it.

Gentle and warm.

This slightly eased the pain in her chest, only to be followed by an even deeper wave of exhaustion the next second.

She sighed and continued forward.

She stopped at the third intersection.

It was too quiet, not the normal quiet of a night with low traffic. It was as if someone had isolated all the surrounding sounds in advance, leaving only cold light and empty roads.

The carapace of the vectoring vector tightened little by little.

Immediately afterwards, the light at the alley entrance was blocked by a tall shadow.

Sentinel Prime emerged from the shadows.

His machine appeared cold and ancient under the dim light, with the lines of the outer armor being steady, like an ancient weapon that had been preserved for too long but was still sharp.

He stood there, his posture upright, as if this were his reception room.

"Your Excellency, Chief Justice."

His voice was steady, even carrying a hint of formality typical of business settings: "Still out so late?"

The vector ignition capsule suddenly felt cold, and he subconsciously glanced at the terminal.

The frequency band status changed from "connected" to "weak signal".

She took a half step back: "You were following me?"

Yutiandi lowered his eyes slightly: "To determine where you will go, there is no need to follow you."

"You sent that message just to confirm I would come out?"

"I'm just offering choices."

Yin Xiang stared at him, then suddenly understood something, and his face turned ugly.

This old woman knew all too well how she would handle herself in this state. When she was angry, exhausted, overwhelmed by information, and held back by too many relationships and responsibilities at the same time, she wouldn't immediately find a group of machines to surround her, nor would she obediently lie down in the maintenance room.

She might want to go crazy by herself, or walk for a while.

Sentinel Prime knew this, and probably even earlier than many agents who truly cared about her.

This understanding sent a chill down her spine, and she said:

"You're not offering a choice; you're just waiting for me to choose the one I want."

Sentinel Prime did not deny it, and calmly said, "You did choose."

Vector sneered: "Does your parliament all like to call scheming 'choice'?"

Sentinel Prime's expression remained unchanged: "You can save that for tomorrow's review meeting."

He paused for a moment.

"That is, there is still tomorrow."

The moment those words were spoken, all the fatigue within the vector brain module was forcibly severed.

She immediately activated the magnetic attraction.

But Sentinel Prime had already moved, without any warning.

His hand gripped the lower edge of her shoulder blade, while his other hand cut directly into the side of her waist.

The moment the magnetic attraction vector lit up slightly, the entire machine was violently dragged into the adjacent maintenance alley by that enormous force.

The carapace slammed into the wall, causing a thin crack to appear in the wall.

She raised her knee to strike, but the enemy had already blocked the angle of her leg's force in advance, which was annoyingly experienced.

The magnetic force clenched its teeth, and the magnetic force surged outward like a wave.

Yutiandi's hand was shaken back half an inch.

Taking advantage of that half-inch of forceful sideways movement, she braced her left hand against the wall, and the entire machine slid out of his range of control.

The metal ground beneath their feet was slightly deformed by the magnetic attraction.

She stumbled slightly when she landed, but quickly regained her balance.

Sentinel Prime did not pursue.

He simply stood in the shadows at the alley entrance, watching her distance herself again.

That last moment was just confirmation—her reactions were indeed slower tonight, her condition was indeed poor, and the gap he had been waiting for truly existed.

The entire machine was taut, and a bluish-green magnetic force rose from between its body lines.

She looked up Aldebaran.

Ever since their private falling out escalated to this point, she's gone through every file she could access.

Sentinel Prime – the strongest warrior of the Golden Age, who once led Cybertron to repel an alien invasion. His battlefield record was so impressive that even the mechs felt unlucky after seeing it.

It has no obvious weaknesses in close combat, long-range combat, command, political judgment, psychological suppression, etc.

It is almost an all-rounder.

He wasn't one of those old parliamentarians who only relied on their seats and seniority to look down on others.

He's really strong.

What's even more annoying is that he's also very patient.

She wouldn't normally give him this kind of opportunity.

But tonight she was overwhelmed by too many things and could hardly breathe; she just wanted some peace and quiet.

And this was precisely the moment that Yutian Di had been waiting quietly in the shadows.

Yutiandi looked at the magnetic attraction emanating from her body and slowly said, "You're in very poor condition tonight."

"What's it to you?"

"Of course it matters," he said. "A chief judge in poor condition is more likely to make wrong judgments."

Yin Xiang looked at him coldly: "You came here tonight just to spout nonsense?"

"No."

Yutiandi took a step forward.

The alleyway wasn't narrow, but when he stood there, the sense of oppression almost filled the entire surrounding space.

"I'm here to confirm whether you can still hold onto your position."

"What, finally stopped pretending?"

"I have always been very restrained."

He almost laughed in anger: "You call it restraint to stab each other in the back in private?"

"That still falls within the scope of what can be classified as communication."

"And now?"

Sentinel looked at her: "Now, there's no need for communication."

A moment of deathly silence fell over the alleyway as the vector slowly narrowed its optical lens.

"You want to kill me."

Sentinel Prime did not deny it; his silence was the answer.

The vector felt as if its chest was being squeezed by cold metal, but it actually laughed.

"Okay," she said. "After all this beating around the bush, have you finally finished saying all the polite things?"

Sentinel said calmly, "I've given you many chances, Your Excellency Chief Justice."

"An opportunity?" Vector raised his left hand, an energy blade springing from his arm's structure, a cold, blue beam slicing through the alley. "Shut me up, or make me kneel back down?"

Sentinel Prime looked at the energy blade, a genuine scrutiny appearing in his optical glasses: "Let me make you understand that the system is not a toy whose functions you can rewrite at will."

"Unfortunately, I've already written quite a bit."

Sentinel's expression was subtly cold.

The vector saw it, and the anger in her heart finally surfaced from beneath her exhaustion, burning quietly.

"Basic safeguards laws, appeal portals, temporary suspension reviews, legal education courses, basic education programs." She read them off one by one, "Which one resonated with you?"

Sentinel Prime remains silent.

"Did you poke them all?"

She nodded: "That's good."

"You're very good at making things complicated," said Yutiandi.

"I can't compare to you," Vector said. "You're good at packaging trouble as order."

Sentinel looked at her and finally took another step forward: "Order is not a place for you to vent your anger."

"The judiciary is not a tool for you to use to put on a show."

"You think you're repairing Cybertron?" Sentinel Prime's voice was frosty. "You're just releasing far too much stuff that shouldn't have been released."

"Knowledge? Appeals? Or those citizens who finally realize they have the right to ask 'why'?"

"noise."

Leng Li, using the vector optical mirror, said coldly, "You always like to call me that."

"Because most sounds simply don't have the ability to discern complex structures."

That's why we need to teach!

Sentinel Prime looked at her as if he had heard something so childish and laughable: "You really believe that?"

"I believe they are qualified to learn."

"That's not how qualifications are given."

"Oh." Yin Xiang gritted his teeth. "Shouldn't you be the ones to bestow the qualification?"

Sentinel Prime was not provoked by her. He always seemed to have a cold, hard shell, suppressing all his emotions underneath, leaving only the part most suitable for cutting down his opponent.

"You had a fight with Megatron," he suddenly said.

The vector motion suddenly froze for a second.

Sentinel Prime noticed: "Looks like my judgment was correct."

The vector's voice suddenly lost all warmth: "You know too much."

"You've exposed too much."

She was carrying the energy blade.

Sentinel Prime still stood there, as calm as if he hadn't just reopened a bleeding wound.

"Megatron disappointed you?"

The vector did not respond.

"Did Optimus Prime finally make you realize what a heavy responsibility a leader must bear?"

"Shut up."

Sentinel said calmly, "Personal relationships can influence judgment. You've proven that today."

"You never waste a single opportunity to hurt me."

"This isn't a malicious core," he said. "It's a fact."

"The truth?" The vector slowly moved to the side, creating a more suitable angle for exerting force. "The truth is that you chose to kill me tonight when I was most tired."

"On the battlefield, waiting for the opponent's weakest moment is a fundamental judgment."

"You're quite the talker," she said coldly. "You can even call a sneak attack a tactical lesson."

"Only tactics that allow you to survive deserve to be recorded."

The vector is no longer connected.

She suddenly raised her hand, and the magnetic force pulled the metal pipes on both sides of the alley. Several pipes were violently torn open from the wall and snapped towards the sides of the enemy.

Sentinel Prime dodged, his reaction so fast it was unlike the ancient, heavy machine he was.

He sidestepped the first pipe and clasped his right hand to his waist.

An unremarkable old-fashioned weapon suddenly sprang open, its broad blade flashing coldly as it sliced ​​through the second pipe.

The third one has already come around from behind.

The Heavenly Enemy had anticipated this trajectory. It lifted its foot, placed a point on the ground, used the momentum to spin around, and slashed horizontally along the wall with its heavy blade.

The metal pipe broke and crashed to the ground with a loud bang.

Taking advantage of this moment, the vector rushed forward, its left-hand energy blade stabbing straight at his side abdomen.

Instead of retreating, Sentinel Prime pressed forward.

The blade grazed his outer armor, leaving only a shallow cut.

The next instant, his elbow was already pressing down on the side of the vector's shoulder.

Too fast.

The force vector forced the machine to deflect, and the magnetic force exploded under its feet, causing the entire machine to slide backward half a meter.

Sentinel Prime's attack grazed her shoulder armor and missed, crashing into the wall and causing it to dent.

If she had been hit just now, her shoulder armor would have shattered instantly.

Yin Xiang's expression darkened.

With his experience, he saw through her habit of using magnetic attraction to adjust her position, and even before she made her move, he had already begun to block her escape route.

Sentinel Prime withdrew his hand and looked at the faint mark on his side: "Your ability is more interesting than what's written in the file."

Vector Adjustment Energy Blade: "Enough with the nonsense."

"A combination of electromagnetic fields and gravitational pull." Sentinel Prime examined the weapon as if it were a rare weapon. "It's not an ordinary mutant ability."

"Are you here to write your thesis tonight?"

"Perhaps after you die."

Yin Vector felt a chill run down his spine.

Yutiandi stared at her intently: "Don't worry, I will study this carefully."

The vector-like lips tightened, the jaw clenched, and the magnetic ring lit up again: "Try it!"

The old-style weaponry on the side of the enemy's waist was fully deployed.

The folded blades spring open layer by layer, instantly transforming into a massive double-edged greatsword.

Its middle section is a hand grip, and the two sides of the blade are as wide and thick as two biting teeth, with dark golden energy shining along the spine of the blade.

The lines were heavy and somber, completely unlike the bluish-green blade on her left arm.

A young, sharp, and unique individual.

An old, steady man who has killed too many enemies.

The lights in the alleyway began to flicker.

The vector can sense that its state is not right.

After several consecutive shocks, her processor had not fully recovered, and the Spark Cycle was also affected. Magnetic attraction could be mobilized, but not as smoothly as usual.

But standing opposite her was Sentinel's Enemy.

The strongest warrior of the Golden Age, who once truly pulled Cybertron back from the flames of war.

According to the archives, he didn't start out sitting in a high position. He also stood at the forefront on the battlefield and was a flag bearer in the eyes of many machine gunners.

But now, all that remains before her is an old-fashioned monster that has enveloped itself in order and arrogance.

The vector lifted the energy blade: "Sometimes I've wondered how your machine came to be like this."

Sentinel looked at her: "And now?"

"I don't think it matters anymore."

Her eyes gleamed coldly: "Rotten is rotten."

Yutiandi remained silent for a moment.

Then, he finally smiled, a faint, indifferent smirk.

"You are indeed very suitable to be eliminated."

Vector also laughed: "What a coincidence, that's what I think of you too."

One of the lights at the end of the alley went completely dark, and cold wind poured down from the broken pipe above, with the two machines facing each other in the narrow shadow.

On one side is the Chief Justice, whose personal wounds have just been reopened, yet he still manages to stand up.

On one side are the veterans who came from the golden age, calm, strong, and experienced, who finally stopped pretending that their differences were merely due to systemic disagreements.

Yutiandi raised his heavy sword.

"Then let me see, the index vector."

"What makes you think you can stand here?"

In an instant, he attacked.