books44 Chapter 8 The Laborers Are Here
Chapter 8 The Laborers Are Here
Ultimately, they assigned Rosa a room, temporarily classifying her as one of their own, but they clearly didn't trust her.
Rosa was then assigned to clean the Autobot base, but there were areas she was not allowed to enter, and they even set up access control in some areas.
It's clear that even though he's just a costumed character, the former Decepticons don't really trust him.
Looking at the new room, Rosa tidied up briefly before heading to the lobby.
As we approached the lobby, I overheard their discussion. They seemed to be speculating that they possessed the Universal Gear, allowing them to disguise themselves like the Faceless Ones, as they claimed. However, the ambulance quickly refuted this, as Rosa was indeed a non-shapeshifter.
"She doesn't even have a transformation gear, so there's no way she could have a universal transformation gear," Ratchet waved his hand. Besides, with Rosa's armored appearance, how could she possibly have a transformation mode when she doesn't have wheels or wings?
The ambulance driver told them that her situation might be more complicated than they thought, and they shouldn't act rashly before figuring out which side she belonged to.
I don't know what the ambulance driver whispered to them, but they seemed to suddenly accept themselves and continue waiting for her to come to the lobby.
She didn't go out immediately, but waited a while before entering the hall. After arriving in the hall, the other Autobots introduced themselves to Rosa and then went back to doing their own things.
Rosa obediently went to find cleaning supplies to clean the base.
"So you're still hiding something disguised?" Rosa hadn't expected the ambulance to follow.
"Yes, but..." Rosa didn't really want to be honest.
She understood that the Autobots were still wary of her, and revealing too much at once would only make them suspicious. It wasn't time to tell them everything; it was always better to keep some cards up her sleeve.
That's what the ambulance thought, so they didn't make things difficult for Rosa. They simply asked her what skills she had and then left. However, they were slightly taken aback when they heard that Rosa had some technical skills. After thinking for a while, they said they would wait for their follow-up arrangements and then left.
For Rosa, all she needed was to stay there and have food to prevent herself from exploding and dying.
Now her daily routine consists of cleaning the base, and when she has nothing to do, she just stays in her room and rests with her eyes closed (actually, she plays the built-in mini-games like Tetris and Solitaire out of boredom).
Quiet and silent, passing by land bridges or other control panels without any prying eyes or any other movements, like a robot with a pre-programmed path, cleaning up and then moving on to the next location, returning to its room to wait after finishing everything.
They've locked Rosa's communications, so she's not contacting anyone, but she doesn't need to either. She's essentially under house arrest here, but they provide her with enough super energy every day, unlike when she was with the Decepticons, where she sometimes didn't even have enough to eat.
Moreover, the Autobot base is quite different from the Decepticon base. The Decepticon base was incredibly oppressive, even giving her a feeling of returning to that time, which made her feel insecure. The Autobot base, at least, has the advantage of having individual rooms, which makes her feel safer.
Why doesn't she just stay put?
On several occasions, when other Autobots went out on patrol searching for energy sources, they returned covered in injuries, and ambulances would come to bandage and examine them.
Rosa continued cleaning quietly, not even glancing at the opened land bridge.
For a while afterward, the other Autobots didn't notice anything unusual about him, and their attitude towards him improved slightly. He didn't know if it was just his imagination, but he always felt like someone was watching him, and that some Autobots were worried about him.
And then? One day, an ambulance called her to the lobby, where only Arcee and the ambulance were present.
"Come with me," the ambulance said, leading Rosa into a very spacious room.
Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Blockade, and Cliffjumper are all here.
"Right now," the partition still doesn't quite trust her. "We need to get a quick assessment."
"Let's get this straight, only fists allowed," Arcee added, spreading one hand and gesturing to Optimus Prime.
Optimus Prime slowly walked up to Rosa...
"But..." Rosa kept dodging the attacks, and several times the attacks grazed her. It was clear that Optimus Prime was holding back, so Rosa had no choice but to keep creating distance.
"Attack!" Optimus Prime said with a serious look in his eyes. His punches gradually became less forceful, and Rosa had no choice but to throw a punch. This punch hit Optimus Prime's defensive arm, and to everyone's surprise, Rosa's punch sent Optimus Prime, still in a defensive posture, being knocked back several meters.
This is a bit terrifying. Rosa is a medium-sized machine, not a large machine like Optimus Prime, yet a medium-sized machine can exert such great power...
Of course, Rosa was eventually beaten down. Most of the time, she couldn't hit Optimus Prime at all. He would dodge her attacks and then counterattack her, since the difference in experience was too great.
But because of this, the other party relaxed a little.
They're not so weak as to be afraid to show themselves, but they choose to stay put.
It doesn't try to get out of the cage on its own when it finds it open, but instead closes it again. It doesn't seem to have any malicious intent and is quite docile.
This final assessment ended with Rosa surrendering while lying on the ground.
Rosa doesn't plan to use a solver or something else.
She didn't sense any malice, so she felt a little relieved for the time being and decided to keep her trump card to herself.
Of course, the few times Optimus Prime hit her were definitely nothing serious. Optimus Prime was very careful with his strength and deliberately didn't use the solver to repair himself in order to avoid being discovered, allowing the ambulance to scan and check him.
The ambulance only performed a simple scan of the outer layer, and he believed Optimus Prime had acted with restraint, but the more he looked, the more serious his expression became.
Just when everyone thought Rosa was in trouble, the ambulance driver asked her, "Why is the metal on your body so brittle?"
The others breathed a sigh of relief; he wasn't seriously injured, but then they thought again, and something didn't seem quite right.
Does this mean chronic malnutrition? Like how malnutrition in humans leads to calcium deficiency and brittle bones, wouldn't someone with that much strength break their own hand while punching? (In the Inorganic Killer series, they frequently break wrists, legs, and necks; metal that can be cut in one stroke might be somewhat brittle, so is this hereditary?)
They remembered what Rosa had said: as long as there was food, they wouldn't starve.
Is this due to constant hunger? Although Rosa is a medium-sized machine, she doesn't look as strong as other Cybertronians. She's actually quite thin, but her strength is what makes her stand out.
Suddenly I felt a pity
For a moment, their vigilance towards Rosa decreased. Rosa looked only a little older than Bumblebee, but she was born unable to transform. If it weren't for her great strength, her appearance would have killed her countless times in this war.
She needs to do more than others to survive, so it's no wonder she disguises herself as a Decepticon to freeload.
Luo. A happy and fulfilling family life. He just got lost and went hungry for a few days after transmigrating here. From then on, he freeloaded and beat up the Decepticons of his time. Sha: Huh?
The final result was that when Rosa went to collect her energy bodies that day, she found that her share was much larger, almost matching Bumblebee's. But Bumblebee was a warrior, while Rosa was just a homebody and didn't need that much.
"Isn't this too much? I only need enough to maintain my vital signs."
What kind of talk is this? Maintaining vital signs?
"Eat more, you're still growing." (Fun fact: Solvers need to use energy regularly, otherwise their core will overheat and they will eventually explode and die. This kind of damage is irreparable, so for them, the energy needed to maintain vital signs and keep their consciousness alive will not cause them any harm.)
Rosa felt she was living under someone else's roof, so taking as little as possible was fine, but why were everyone else looking at her like that?
Rosa: ?
"Is there anything else I can help with? I can do it." Exchanging labor for payment is fine too, at least Rosa doesn't want to fight with them right now.
But why did that look in his eyes become even deeper?!
Ratchet and Optimus Prime knew that Rosa might not be measured by normal Cybertronian standards, but Rosa did look a bit too thin. Optimus Prime and Rosa also sensed this when they assessed her; she was too light for a medium-sized machine, so they agreed to give Rosa more energy.
Although I don't know why, I always feel that there's something unscientific about Rosa.