great-warnovel Chapter 208 Your Age?
Chapter 208 Your Age?
When Megatron received that private communication, he was looking at the third draft of the truce treaty, and his hands seemed to have a mind of their own and wanted to tear the draft to shreds.
Just then, the private frequency band of the vector signal popped up.
【How old are you?】
Megatron stared at those three words, remaining silent for a long time before slowly frowning, somewhat puzzled.
Why are you asking this?
The other side replied quickly: [Answer.]
Megatron squinted through his optical glasses, recalling the movements of Optimus Prime that he had secretly arranged for Soundwave to investigate. This whole affair could only have started because of him.
Are you with Optimus Prime?
【answer.】
It seems so.
Megatron suppressed his displeasure at Optimus Prime's visit to her house again and coldly sent a number.
He didn't write it in too much detail, but it was enough for Graviton to understand the Cybertronians' age.
There had been no response from the other side for a long time, and Megatron frowned.
[Vectorization?]
A few seconds passed.
[You're only 20,000 years older than Bumblebee?]
Megatron: "..."
He sat up abruptly.
Who told you Bumblebee's age?
I asked.
[You asked him what he was doing?]
I asked all the machines.
As Megatron looked at those words, he suddenly had a terrible premonition.
-
The vector is indeed asking all machines.
Optimus Prime sat beside her, watching as she went from shock to a kind of terrifyingly calm madness.
She looked down and quickly opened one private channel after another.
【How old are you?】
How old are you?
Just use the standard Cybertronian timekeeping.
Don't ask why, just answer.
Her fingers moved so fast on the terminal that they left afterimages.
"Attraction vector".
"Wait a minute."
"You don't seem to need to do it now..."
"Right now!"
Optimus Prime fell silent. He realized that it was probably too late to stop her now.
The first batch of replies quickly bounced back.
The most concise response from the sound waves: [Age data has been sent.]
Below is a string of very precise numbers; after looking at the vector, my brain felt a chill again.
Shockwave followed immediately: [The results, converted to the current Cybertronian standard calendar, are as follows. Attached are three sets of corresponding values: the ancient Cybertronian calendar, the pre-war Ironforge calendar, and the Calon Industrial calendar.]
Reference vector: She was just asking about my age, not applying for a thesis appendix.
Red Spider's reply was very Red Spider-like: "My age has nothing to do with my genius."
The vector replied expressionlessly: [Number.]
Red Spider didn't provide a specific age, but added: "[This is enough to prove that my achievements stand the test of time.]"
Let's continue looking at the vector.
He was the slowest to recover after being knocked down, and he insisted on bizarre etiquette.
Knockout: [Darling, it's extremely rude to ask the age of a physician who looks so well.]
Reference vector return: [Ten additional questions for the regulations exam.]
The message that appeared immediately after being knocked down read: "...This is my registered age."
There's another sentence following it: "You're acting very strange today."
The vector did not return.
The dead fire responded briefly, and the roadblock asked if it was necessary for the judicial center to establish a file.
Both Tianzhen and Haiyi gave it to them with great seriousness, like submitting a soldier's resume.
Jiuqi replied more politely: 【Am I a little older than you?】
Vector's mood stabilized a little, until Bumblebee's reply popped up.
Bumblebee: [This is mine. Are you asking my age suddenly because you need to register me?]
The vector shows that Bumblebee's numbers and Megatron's numbers are compared side-by-side.
I watched it over and over again.
She took a slow breath.
Megatron—
Only 20,000 years older than Bumblebee!!!
By pressing the vector on the forehead, every frame of the expression can now be cropped into an emoji. I know my face is all scrunched up like a lump of bread.
Optimus Prime asked softly, "What's wrong?"
The vector pointer turns the screen to him.
Optimus Prime glanced at it and remained silent.
She continued to ask.
Alita replied instantly: 【Why are you suddenly asking this? Did someone provoke you?】
The jazz's reply was as relaxed as ever.
Jazz: [Is this a private investigation, or a task assigned by the judicial authorities?]
Returning vector: [Age.]
The Jazz sent in numbers, then added: "[Most Cybertronians are probably around this age.]"
Arcee's response was much simpler: "I'm older than you. Why are you suddenly asking this?"
The jack returned a string of messages.
Jack: [Why are you asking this?]
Jack: [Wait, haven't you noticed that I'm too handsome for my age?]
Jack: [Hahahahahahahaha.]
The partition is honestly distributing numbers.
The format sent by Tongtianxiao perfectly conformed to the specifications.
Tongtianxiao: [Registered ages are as follows. Should a timeline of training, service, and rank be attached?]
The vector quickly replied: 【No need.】
The ambulance driver started by yelling, "You finally remembered that?"
Then he sent his age, followed by: "Where are you now?"
Vector glanced at Optimus Prime: [At home.]
The ambulance driver paused for two seconds: [Optimus Prime suddenly said he had something to do tonight, is he here?]
Vector glanced again at Optimus Prime, whose expression remained unchanged: [Yes.]
Smokescreen, on the other hand, was incredibly excited.
Smokescreen: [Huh? Why are you suddenly asking this?]
Smokescreen: [Are we going to create a special list for young talent?!]
Smokescreen: [Can I participate?!]
Looking at his age, Yin Vector confirmed that he was indeed younger than he had imagined, after all, he was the only one younger than himself among all the people they had asked so far.
The steel cable's reply came a long time later: [I don't remember exactly.]
BICk0's reply was what she regretted the most.
BICk0: [Do you need me to compile an age stratification table of key contacts?]
The vector immediately replied: 【Stop!! Not needed!!】
BICk0: [First draft completed.]
Pointer vector: "..."
AZ's reply was infuriating.
AZ: [Which face are you asking about?]
Vector: [Ontology.]
AZ: [That's a little bigger than AZ.]
Vector: [Speak plainly.]
AZ: [You know I'm not a carbon-based life form.]
The vector has decided to temporarily block him for three seconds.
Crystal Prism politely replied: [My registered age is as follows. Also, if the judicial authorities require Crystal City's age stratification data, I can arrange it.]
The priming vector fell silent once again.
Why do all reliable machines automatically expand her question into a work project?
Does she really have such a hard life?
-
After receiving the vector message, Knockout quickly realized something was wrong.
The person who falls silent upon learning someone's age is probably just shocked.
But the chief judge, who had been asked about ages by everyone in a row, was more than just shocked. After all, he had personally witnessed many messages suddenly popping up in the Decepticon group chat asking, "Has anyone been asked their age by the chief judge?"
This is definitely a harbinger of an accident (or rather, a disaster).
After thinking for a moment, Knockout created a temporary channel.
Why did the Chief Justice suddenly ask about my age?
He first pulled a few Decepticons.
Sound waves, shock waves, red spiders, roadblocks, dead fire, skyquakes, and hornets.
Then, with a thought, he pulled the jack in again.
Because if this matter involves the Autobots, Jack will find out sooner or later.
Rather than letting him explode outside, it's better to let him come in as a controlled explosive.
As it turns out, the jack was underestimated.
Three seconds after Qianjinding joined the group, the group name was changed.
[Age bomb scene]
knock down:"……"
Starscream immediately spoke up: "Where did this scrap metal Autobot come from?"
Jack: [Where did this slag-wielding Decepticon come from?]
Soundwave sent a message: [Off-topic.]
Shockwave: [The current anomaly is: the pull vector is collecting individual age data on a large scale. The cause is unknown.]
Jack: [Isn't the reason obvious? Some old man must have revealed his age.]
Knockout: [That's certainly possible.]
Red Spider: [Ha, so which artifact self-destructed?]
Sound wave: [Warning: This is an unrelated provocation.]
Soon, more machines were brought in.
Jazz, Arcee, Ratchet, Alita, Ultra Magnus, Partition, Smokescreen, Bumblebee, 97, BICK0...
AZ somehow managed to sneak in.
Crystal Prism was politely invited by BICk0, on the grounds that "it may involve a misunderstanding of age-related systems".
Vector was unaware that she had already acquired a large, temporary channel that revolved around her.
Optimus Prime knew because he had been pulled in by Wheeljack.
He glanced at the group name, then at the person sitting opposite him who was still checking ages.
He didn't leave the group, which can probably be considered a responsibility of a leader.
-
At first, the group only sent messages.
Later, the jack said, "It's so slow," so we just started a group call.
The ambulance siren came on first, tinged with frustration: "What the hell happened?"
Red Spider said sharply, "Clearly, organic things scared her."
Optimus Prime calmly stated, "I answered her question."
A voice burst through the smoke: "Wait a minute, so the Chief Justice is now asking about the ages of all the aircraft?"
Bumblebee chimed in, "I just got asked that too! Why did she stop talking after seeing my age?"
There was an eerie silence in the group for a moment.
Then Jazz looked at the age statistics table published by BICk0 and coughed lightly.
"Because the age difference between you and Megatron is... very small."
The smokescreen was shocking: "Twenty thousand sounds like a long number!"
The ambulance sneered, "You won't feel that way when you're older."
Knocked down slowly, he said, "Fellow group members, this might not be the worst part."
Alita's voice was as calm as possible: "What's the worst thing?"
The ambulance driver reacted first: "Wait!!"
How old is she?
If you don't have a machine, answer immediately.
BICk0's voice rang out, carrying an extreme calmness born from the chaos.
"The current registered age of the vector is over four million years."
Smokescreen: "That's not small, is it?"
BICk0 continued, "They spend the vast majority of their time asleep."
The group chat went completely silent, as if the brain modules of every machine were being "roasted" or the communication channels had temporarily lost their function.
The smokescreen spoke first, its voice soft yet powerful.
"So...she's actually...very young?"
The bumblebee emitted distorted electronic sounds.
Jiuqi had just regained her senses: "But she's not an infant."
This statement actually calmed the chaotic emotions in the group a little.
The ambulance driver took a deep breath: "You bunch of jerks will shorten my lifespan sooner or later."
He rarely spoke with such seriousness, but now there's actually another problem...
The jazz immediately followed up: "Did she live with Megatron before she fell asleep?"
The eerie silence in the group has taken a very dangerous turn.
Megatron had been in the group the whole time, but he hadn't originally planned to get involved in this pointless chaos.
Until this moment: "Jazz, shut up."
The jazz gave a rare cold laugh: "I'm stating the facts."
Starscream wouldn't let any opportunity slip by: "Ha! Yet another irrefutable proof of Megatron's complete lack of restraint."
Megatron: "Starscream!"
Red Spider: "Did I say something wrong?"
Arcee said coldly, "Shut up too. Don't force me to remind everyone. You're no better than anyone else."
Red Spider was silent for a second.
The gentle blow was delivered with a final, devastating statement: "Rarely, she was quite accurate."
Megatron's voice was deep: "Stop fooling around."
The ambulance suddenly spoke, its voice a clear declaration of a medical mandate: "I strictly forbid Megatron from contacting the Graviton alone!!!"
Megatron: "By what right do you order me around?"
Before the ambulance even returned, the jack-up guy chimed in, "I support the doctor's orders."
Bumblebee eagerly chimed in, "Support! Support!"
Smokescreen: "Although something feels a bit off, I still support it!"
Knockout said slowly, "As an unofficial medical collaborator in the judicial system, I unusually agree with the use of ambulances."
Before Megatron could speak, Knockout added, "I am currently neutral."
Starscream: "Support it, for the safety of Cybertron."
Megatron: "Shut up."
Red Spider: "You've been saying this for years, and it's clearly not working."
Tong Tianxiao finally spoke: "Strictly speaking, the ambulance's recommendation does not have direct legal effect."
The ambulance driver sneered, "You're going to object?"
Tong Tianxiao's tone remained largely unchanged: "I'm just adding some procedural details."
Alita was clearly annoyed by the noise, but she still turned her attention to Megatron, her tone cold and stern:
"No matter what, Megatron really didn't know his limits back then."
Megatron remained silent for a moment.
He did not feel he needed to undergo this group trial.
He didn't think these people had the right to surround him and criticize him.
When he found the vector, she was a defective product, a machine thrown into a garbage dump to die. He even gave her her first meal.
He gave her a place to live, energy, repairs, training, and a place beyond her name.
He never regretted taking her back, but he also didn't think he was "hurting" her in the way the group of people imagined.
But there were other facts that he reluctantly and silently acknowledged in his heart.
She was indeed very young then, having just crawled out of a garbage dump, with nothing to her name.
He did indeed treat her as his possession at times, and had thoughts that were not in accordance with worldly morality.
Then she walked with him through those increasingly irreversible years, until at some point he realized that it was he who was the one who was tied down.
It was completely quiet on Megatron's end; only a faint static could be heard in the group call.
The ambulance driver scoffed, "Why aren't you saying anything?"
Megatron retorted with a cold snort: "She is not the incapable infant you describe."
"She isn't," Jiuqi said first.
Smokescreen also said, "Of course not."
The ambulance driver's voice was cold and hard: "We're not stupid. This is a completely different matter from the fact that you were in danger back then."
This statement was so accurate that Megatron couldn't refute it for the time being.
Just then, the gravitational vector discovered this group.
The main reason was that Optimus Prime was acting suspiciously nearby, which was too obvious, and BICk0 also sent a reminder at the same time.
There's a temporary channel for you that urgently needs your help.
Vector: ...?
So she joined the group call, and in the next instant, all the voices kissed her at the same time.
Jack: "Hey, it's finally here!"
Smokescreen: "Are you really only four million years old?"
Bumblebee: "Are you alright?"
Knocked down: "My God, you've made all the machines very worried today!"
Starscream: "I must point out that all of this was Megatron's doing!"
Ambulance: "Vector, how much of your effective conscious time are you?"
Taking a long, deep breath, I felt no different from a crumb of bread that had fallen into an anthill.
"Shut up, all of you!"
The chat room fell silent instantly; the Chief Justice's voice is always reliable.
Vector glared at Optimus Prime, who was keeping quiet and trying to make his presence as inconspicuous as possible.
Then he spoke: "First of all, I am an adult."
"Secondly, I have a brain module."
No one dared to speak casually.
"Furthermore, Megatron does have many problems."
Megatron: "..."
"But my experience doesn't need to evoke your protective instincts."
"Being young doesn't mean I don't have the ability to make choices. I understand your concern, but there's no need to worry."
This made the few people who were about to speak stop again.
The ambulance seemed to be taking deep breaths repeatedly, like some kind of bizarre drowning situation.
Finally, he said, "We understand, but the medical advice remains in effect."
Knockout, unusually serious, replied, "To be honest, I also support staying away from Megatron; the two are not contradictory."
The jazz chuckled softly, though his tone was more cold than amused: "That's a pretty good point."
Megatron tried to speak again, but was interrupted by Graviton, who was rubbing his temples:
"Megatron, let's talk about what happened back then. We'll have another conversation later."
Megatron: Why does he keep getting choked up lately?!
But he still nodded in agreement.
Based on the gloating looks Alita and BICk0 had given him before, this final conversation would probably make him feel even worse. He shouldn't make a fool of himself now.
Just as Megatron was pondering, Smokescreen whispered, "May I hear you?"
Jiuqi couldn't help but chuckle, which eased Yin Xiang's mood somewhat.
She leaned back on the sofa, much more relaxed: "Do you guys even have anything important to say?"
Ambulance driver: "Yes, how long were you conscious?"
Vector: ...She really couldn't dodge it after all.
Optimus Prime looked at her from the side, his gaze gentle yet filled with the same question.
The explanation for the vector's acceptance of fate is: "For more than four million years, it has been dormant for most of the time. Little K0 will send it to you after he has compiled the statistics."
Some people in the group barely accepted what she said, but others were calculating in private messages how long she had been awake, especially since the ambulance was already messaging BICk0.
Vector suddenly realized that he shouldn't have asked Megatron.
No, it shouldn't be that Optimus Prime's phrase "starting at tens of billions" opened up this age gap.
Now, with her human soul, she can only understand that the machines around her are walking historical relics.
She decided to stop seeking knowledge and no longer dwell on the question of how long Cybertron would last.
In particular, why does Optimus Prime look as old as a fossil, yet have a face as youthful as a young man?
She commanded in the group chat, "That's enough for today."
He then hung up the call.
In Yu Guangzhong's work, Optimus Prime's optical lens contains a complex blend of gentleness and helplessness.
Before the vector could order him to shut up, he quickly asked:
"Will you feel uncomfortable because of this?"
The vector-squinting optical mirror sneered:
"Why? Is it because you're worth billions, or because I've just been the subject of intense online scrutiny regarding my age?"
Optimus Prime said softly, "Both."
"A little," she admitted readily, "but it's alright. People are mainly concerned. But I'm more concerned that you're even older than Sentinel Prime?"
Optimus Prime: "..."
Optimus Prime chuckled softly, but then earnestly repeated her meaning:
You are still you.
-
There are still unread messages popping up in the channel.
Megatron's private message lit up at that moment.
They went too far.
The vector replied after a while:
[In some aspects, no.]
The other party did not reply.