Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 27 is ridiculous, isn't it?

After spending a lot of time in the back office, I've started to figure out some patterns in the vector generation.

Which passages lead to the rest area, which are the routes for equipment and maintenance machines, which corner lights are always dimmer than others, which doorway indicator lights are on to mean there's equipment inside, and which lights are on to indicate it's best not to approach. She might not be an expert now, but at least she's no longer like she was at the beginning, feeling like she was in the way no matter where she stood.

But sound waves clearly do not belong to the category of "laws".

That machine was more like an intermittent interference signal.

He doesn't necessarily come every day, nor does he necessarily make a sound every time. But as soon as he moves, the vector will immediately realize that something is wrong in this place again.

Once, just as she turned out of the equipment passage, the edge of her left forearm terminal lit up silently.

She looked down.

A private channel that's ridiculously short appears on the screen.

[Left side.]

Looking up again, the end of the corridor on the left was completely empty, without a single machine in sight.

Yin Xiang stared at that line of text for two seconds, and his forehead twitched.

……ill.

There was an even more outrageous one.

She was waiting for Zhen Tianzun to come out after the match at the edge of the backstage area when she glanced up and saw a dark silhouette standing at the edge of the shadows of the observation platform. Quiet, slender, and its posture hadn't changed much, as if it had been standing there from the beginning and she had only just spotted it.

As soon as she looked up, the other person looked away.

There was no private message, no greeting, not even a single extra action.

But it's precisely this "doing nothing" approach that's more annoying than directly confronting them.

Annoyed by this, every time I entered the backend, I would reflexively scan around.

Sweep high places, sweep corners, sweep those spots where a quiet mech can stand and make other mechs feel nervous.

After she finished scanning, she still had to curse herself in her mind.

Why is she so frustrated right now?

Fortunately, she wasn't the type to back down after being targeted twice; she wasn't intimidated at all.

She began to seriously consider that if she were to encounter that "you know I'm watching you, but I'm not saying anything" attitude again, she would simply walk over and ask him what he wanted.

The opportunity came sooner than she expected.

That day, Zhen Tianzun was playing a match in the arena, and the backstage area was a bit less crowded than usual. Yin Zongfu was slowly walking forward along the metal passageway, carrying a data board that he had just picked up from the equipment room, intending to hand it to Zhen Tianzun later.

Halfway there, her left forearm tip trembled slightly again.

No sound.

No notification was given.

Someone deliberately only touched the part she could feel.

She lowered her head.

This time, there are only two words on the interface.

【come over.】

The vector stared at those two words, and the whole machine fell silent for half a second.

Then she laughed.

I was so angry I almost laughed out loud.

"Fine," she muttered under her breath, "You'd better really have something to do today."

She walked along the narrower side passage without stopping, her restlessness, which she had been trying to control, was rising more and more intensely.

Sure enough, there was a machine standing at the end of the passage.

He was still the same. Dark armor, so quiet it was as if all the sounds in the place were separated from him. He stood there, not blocking the way, not making a sound, and even his imposing presence wasn't conveyed through his movements. But this machine had been deliberately lured here.

She stopped a few steps away from him and asked directly, "What are you planning to do this time?"

The sound waves didn't speak.

Even the damn, expressionless screen on her face didn't flicker noticeably; it was just that the overly precise attention was still fixed on her, like an invisible scan silently closing in.

The most annoying thing about vectors is this.

Did not say.

Do not move.

It's just to let you know that he's there.

She took a step forward, her lips twitching downwards.

"Weren't you quite good at broadcasting on those channels?" Her tone was starting to get sarcastic. "Why didn't you continue this time?"

The other party still didn't speak.

The terminal stopped displaying characters.

The entire passageway was so quiet that only the muffled sounds coming from the distant stadium and the soft hum of the metal structure could be heard.

With a jump in the horn of the vector, patience was officially exhausted.

The outer armor of her left forearm had instinctively produced a very slight sliding sound.

She couldn't take it anymore.

Before the blade was fully extended, a steady force suddenly pressed down on my shoulder.

The entire machine was pulled by the vector.

The next second, she was gently pulled back half a step.

The movement was small, but it effectively neutralized her momentum as she tried to push forward.

Before she could turn around, Zhen Tianzun had already cut into the front half of the space beside her.

He had just returned from the arena, and traces of energy liquid still clung to the edges of his shoulder armor, not quite completely wiped away. The lingering aura of ferocity from the recent battle still clung to him. As he stood there, the air seemed to press forward from him.

Vector: "?"

No. Why are you hugging me?

Her first reaction was a little annoyed. She was already preparing to take action, but this interruption almost broke her momentum.

The sound waves on the other side finally looked over.

It is to see Zhen Tianzun.

In that instant, the atmosphere in the corridor tensed up.

Neither machine spoke first.

Yin Vector stood half a step behind Zhen Tianzun, increasingly annoyed.

Why was she blocked from behind?

She's not the kind of person who would just cower and watch if she couldn't win.

Just as she was about to press forward a little more from the side, Zhen Tianzun's hand pressed down on her shoulder.

He didn't use force, but the meaning was clear—don't move.

The vector is even more constrained.

Her lips twitched, and she whispered, "Let me through."

Zhen Tianzun didn't even flinch at the optical lens, his tone utterly indifferent: "What were you doing over there?"

"Hitting someone."

"Oh," Zhen Tianzun replied without any change in expression. "You've got some ideas now."

Pointer vector: "..."

The sound waves on the other side picked up this short conversation.

It was excessively quiet.

A few seconds later, he ultimately did nothing.

That extremely cold attention lingered on each of the two people for a moment before being abruptly withdrawn.

He turned sideways and walked through the other passage without hesitation.

This trip was originally just to confirm something, and now it's all confirmed.

As Yin Xiang watched his retreating figure walk away, his anger not only didn't subside, but actually flared up a little more.

"No," she finally couldn't hold back any longer, looking up at Zhen Tianzun, "Why did you stop me just now?"

Zhen Tianzun then turned his head and glanced at her.

"Are you really planning to do a backstage harmonies dance?"

"What else can I do?" Yin Vector asked, his voice still slightly agitated. "How long has he been bothering me?"

Zhen Tianzun scoffed and withdrew his hand.

"If you go there now, at best you'll satisfy his need to record your reaction patterns," he said. "Whether a fight breaks out is another matter, but you'll just be throwing yourself into trouble first."

The vector remained silent for two seconds.

……OK.

That'll infuriate her.

She could only swallow her anger and turned to look at the end of the passage with great displeasure: "You're sick."

Zhen Tianzun didn't offer any comment. His gaze lingered on the armor on her left forearm that had almost shattered earlier, and his tone remained flat: "At least now you know that his previous tactics didn't work on you."

Yin Xiang frowned: "What do you mean?"

"It means," Zhen Tianzun casually wiped away the last trace of energy liquid, his voice flat, "that he will try a different method."

After he said that, the other side of the sound wave was indeed quiet for a few days.

Finally, there were no more private videos, no more onlookers from above, and no more deliberately leading her into any side passages.

The fact that vectors can be referenced is actually more troublesome.

This doesn't mean it's over; it's more like holding back for the next one.

But she still couldn't guess where the other party would come from next time.

This feeling is very uncomfortable.

You know perfectly well that a certain device is watching you, but you don't know whether it will continue watching from a distance or suddenly pop up a window on your terminal.

Later, after finishing her work with Red Spider, she stood on a high platform at the edge of Qingqiu City, looking down at the traffic and the floating layer, and a thought seriously popped into her mind.

Why don't you just find some time and block the sound waves yourself?

At least it's satisfying.

The thought lingered in her mind for half a second before she suppressed it herself.

...Never mind. Doing this seems rather crazy. She shouldn't be assimilated.

The second real head-on confrontation came a few days later through another backstage channel.

She arrived a little earlier than usual that day. The Thunder God hadn't come on stage yet, and the backstage corridor was quiet and tense, with few cameras. Just as she entered through the side door, she saw the dark figure standing in the shadows where the light met the shadows.

The sound wave stood there, as if waiting for her.

The vector paused in its steps.

The next second, the fire that had been burning inside her for days suddenly flared up.

well.

Finally, we're done with all those roundabout ways.

She walked straight ahead.

step.

Two steps.

The outer armor of the left forearm emitted a very faint sliding sound, and the energy flow began to converge into the blade guide rail.

This time, she didn't want to waste words and prepared to take action directly.

Just as she got close enough, the other person finally spoke.

The sound was low, flat, and short, like a signal compressed to its simplest form.

"Sound waves".

The entire machine froze for a moment when the vector was applied.

……what?

The energy flow that was about to burst out of her left forearm almost took a detour because of those two words.

What are you doing?

She's already prepared for a fierce fight.

Are you now starting the formal process?

There was a moment of silence in the air.

The sound waves on the other side didn't move, looking at her as if waiting for some kind of equal response.

Yin Zong stared at him for two seconds, then his brow twitched. "You're only just now remembering to introduce yourself?"

The sound wave didn't answer that question, but only briefly added: "The former method. Inefficient."

Pointer vector: "..."

She almost burst out laughing at those words.

Row.

That's honest enough.

She forcefully pushed back the energy blade that was about to slide out from her left arm, stared at the other person's expressionless face for two seconds, and finally spoke.

"Attraction vector".

After she gave her name, the passageway fell silent for a moment.

Then Soundwave raised an arm and flatly extended it in front of her.

A very clear stance of following normal procedures.

The private frequency band has been formally established.

Yin Xiang looked down at the outstretched arm, then looked up at him.

My first reaction was to be wary, and also a very specific sense of absurdity.

"Weren't you quite the force to take over before?" she said, her tone still barbed. "Now you've learned to be polite?"

Soundwave looked at her, his tone still calm: "Optimization plan."

Pointer vector: "..."

This machine always manages to veer precisely into the strangest directions when it speaks.

She stared at the arm for a few seconds, and finally slowly raised her left forearm.

She wouldn't suddenly believe the other person had reformed. But with a machine like Soundwave, if they really wanted to force themselves on him, they wouldn't even need to wait for her to agree.

Now that he's switching to the formal procedures, there's no need for her to be stubborn at this point.

The two frequency band signals touched lightly during a very brief contact.

The interface then popped up. A truly established private channel, with both parties present and clearly recorded.

As the vector looked at the newly established channel, the slight awkwardness in its core didn't lessen; in fact, it became clearer.

She looked up at the sound waves.

"So," she said, crossing her arms, her tone less than friendly, "can you tell me now what you really want?"

Soundwave looked at her, but the face on the screen remained completely unresponsive.

However, he didn't immediately throw out questions like he had done before.

He simply looked at her quietly, as if redefining some kind of communication interface.

Then, finally, she spoke: "Ask later."

Vector: "?"

Are you sick in the head?

After saying that, the other person didn't ask any further questions, turned around, and left through another passage.

The vector remained standing there, staring at the newly established channel in the terminal, and the entire machine remained silent for a full two seconds.

Then she looked down at the thing and gently ground her back teeth.

"...He's still sick after all."

However, she ultimately did not delete that frequency band.