Transformers: Survival of Defective Products

Chapter 92 Finish Work and Go to Sleep

The vector had been quiet for a short while when its gaze returned to the glass of fine wine with nuts.

The cup hadn't moved much; it was being held down by Megatron with one hand.

She stared at it for two seconds, then reached out.

Megatron didn't even look up, and simply moved the cup a little closer to himself.

Pointer vector: "..."

She reached out her hand again.

Megatron finally looked at her, his tone indifferent: "No."

Undeterred, the vector said, "I'll just have a little more."

"You thought the same thing in your last drink."

"Then everything's fine, isn't it?"

The ambulance driver, listening nearby, almost laughed: "The very fact that you're saying that is already a big deal."

Yin Vector turned to look at him, his brow still furrowed: "Why are you always picking on me today?"

The ambulance driver replied, "Because you kept causing trouble for yourself today."

Jazz leaned back in his chair, swirling his glass as if he were in a theater.

"I'm serious, in her current state, if anyone gives her another bite, she won't have a peaceful night."

Knock down Youyou replied, "You're making it sound like everyone already knows that."

Yin Vector ignored them and returned his gaze to the glass of wine, clearly still harboring the thought.

Just as she was about to try again, a very soft clinking of glasses came from the side.

Jiuqi loosened his grip, and the rim of the cup gently tapped on the table.

The noise wasn't loud, but everyone on the table could hear it.

The vector first turned its head to look over.

97 was sitting up straight, but now something was clearly wrong. His shoulders relaxed, the optical lens wasn't focused anymore, and he was resting half his face on it. The whole machine exuded a sluggish feeling of "I'm actually a little sleepy right now."

The ambulance driver immediately recognized her: "You're drunk too?"

Jiuqi slowly looked up: "...No, I don't think so."

Upon hearing this, Yin Xiang immediately chuckled: "See, she said no too."

Everyone: ...Very good, now neither of you can escape.

The ambulance driver leaned closer to Jiuqi and frowned, asking, "How much did you drink?"

Jiuqi glanced down at her cup, then at the table, and after a slow pause, thought, "...Not much?"

Even the jack chuckled: "Is this some kind of unanimous rookie talk tonight?"

Red Spider, sitting at the other end, scoffed indifferently upon hearing this: "Drinking this kind of premium nuclear liquor for the first time and then chugging it down, no wonder he's drunk."

Originally preoccupied with his own cup, Yin Xiang noticed something was wrong with Jiuqi and immediately turned his attention to it.

She leaned closer, stared at Jiuqi for two seconds, and said quietly, "You're sleepy."

Leaning back in his chair, Jiuqi's brain seemed to be working slowly, yet he remained stubborn: "I didn't..."

"You have."

"I really didn't..."

There was a half-second of silence at the table.

Then the jazz man covered his face and said, "Okay, these two really are a couple tonight."

When Yin Vector heard "a pair," he didn't think much of it and thought it was a fitting expression, so he nodded in agreement.

"Yes, none of us are drunk!"

The entire table: "..."

No way, who can hold back anymore?

Alita held her cup, her gaze sweeping back and forth between the two of them, finding it increasingly interesting.

"Alright. Now the important thing is how to wrap things up tonight."

The atmosphere at the table gradually shifted to another matter—it was time to call it a night.

We've almost finished eating and drinking, said what we needed to say, and made a scene. If we drag this out any longer, who knows what new things will happen in this private room tonight.

97 was already getting sleepy, while Yin Xiang was still thinking about the confiscated glass of wine. For two novices to get so drunk on their first try of fine wine was, in a sense, a rare talent.

AZ spoke first: "I'll deliver '97."

Jiuqi slowly turned her head and glanced at him, only recognizing him after two seconds: "...Oh, it's you."

AZ replied, "It's me."

The jazz also stood up: "I'll lend a hand."

The ambulance driver had no objection: "I'll see if she has any other reactions."

The matter was settled quite quickly on this side; the main problem lies on the other side.

Vector stared at his confiscated glass of wine, his brain module clearly not accepting the reality that "this is the end for tonight."

Megatron glanced at her and finally said, "She's coming with me."

This statement is so natural that there's absolutely no room for discussion.

Several machines on the table were responding relatively smoothly.

The sound waves didn't move, the shockwaves didn't move, and the red spider didn't even bother to lift its eyelids.

Knockdown held the cup, a slight smile even playing on his lips. Deadfire sat beside him, his expression unchanged, as if that was the natural thing to say.

The other group of machines showed a noticeable lag.

Jazz raised an eyebrow. Jack glanced at Megatron, then at the Graviton, and said nothing.

Alita and Arcee exchanged a glance.

Tong Tianxiao was clearly stunned; some of the information in that statement was inconsistent with the current situation he had previously grasped.

The vector itself didn't think of anything else; its first reaction was, "What about 97?"

Megatron: ...That's exactly what she asked first.

Orion, who had been sitting on her other side, spoke up at this moment, his tone calm and gentle: "It's too far to get back to Karon from here."

Megatron looked at him.

Orion didn't back down, and continued:

"Given her current condition, it wouldn't be appropriate to go back to her old ways."

"Iron Fort is closer, you can stay and rest at my place for now."

The moment those words were uttered, the already tense atmosphere at the table became even more subtle.

Everyone understood, except for Vector, whose brain was so fuzzy from drinking that he couldn't grasp the nuances at all. He blinked, looked at Orion, then at Megatron, wondering why the two of them had suddenly started planning their own routes.

Before she could even process it, a voice came from the other end of the line: "Iron Fortress can provide temporary accommodation."

This time, Jack couldn't help but lean back and watch the show with his arms crossed.

Great, now it's not a question of "who will take her home," it's a question of "who will she go with tonight."

Red Spider raised a hand to his temple, too lazy to comment on how this tabletop machine had gone from drinking to this point.

He casually muttered to himself, "The competition is obvious."

The ambulance driver, exasperated, said, "Could you please settle these two drunks down first before discussing where to stay?"

He was right.

One of the drunkards was a little unhappy at this point.

Yin Xiang frowned, looking here and there, trying to grasp the key points from a bunch of "I'll take you," "Stay here for now," and "There are temporary accommodations."

She sensed something was off, hesitated for a couple of seconds, then suddenly turned and grabbed Jiuqi: "Come with me."

Nine-Seven was almost collapsing from exhaustion, but when she pulled it, half of the machine tilted towards her, and it let out a dazed "Ah".

Yin Xiang held her arm and made a decisive decision: "She's my best friend. She's sleepy, let's sleep together."

The table fell silent again.

AZ was ready to take 97 back, but his eyes paused for a moment.

Megatron immediately rejected the idea: "No way."

Orion frowned as well: "The two of you are not suited to be together right now."

The vector objected: "Why?"

The ambulance driver answered her directly from a practical standpoint: "Because two drunks are together, nobody's going to have a peaceful night."

The jazz nodded in agreement: "I agree with that."

Arcee, propping her chin on her hand, watched the scene unfold, then slowly added, "Her logic is quite sound now."

Alita laughed: "It's just that the direction is a bit wrong."

While she was still holding his arm, 97's brain module was a beat slow to catch up, and after a while, he finally managed to keep up with the conversation: "...Sleep together?"

The vector nodded: "Yes."

After thinking for a moment, Jiuqi responded sincerely, "That sounds...okay..."

Jazz burst out laughing, slapping his lap: "The two people who were least able to make decisions tonight are now starting to make their own decisions."

Megatron was too lazy to reason with her anymore, so he simply reached out and took the hand that was pulling Nine Seven off the other person's arm.

His actions were restrained, but his attitude was clear.

"She's being driven home; come with me."

The vector frowned; its brain module was very slow, unable to process many things, and could only react instinctively: "No."

No one was surprised by this. She's never been one to willingly follow orders, whether she's sober or drunk.

Megatron looked at her: "What else do you want?"

Yin Xiangfu's brows furrowed deeply, clearly not fully understanding the situation himself, but instinctively unhappy about being arranged like this: "Why did you all decide everything for me?"

She said she wasn't being aggressive, and her tone even sounded a little doubtful: "It's not like I can't walk by myself."

After saying this, she tried to stand up a little straighter.

Then, in the next second, my foot slipped.

The ambulance driver standing nearby looked furious: "You're kidding me."

The jersey man stood to the side, struggling to suppress his laughter: "At least the spirit is commendable."

Orion then spoke, his voice gentle and soothing:

"I'm not making the decision for you. It's too late now, and it's too far to go back to Karon from here. You've been up all day and are drunk like this, it's not appropriate for you to go back now."

The vector turned to look at him.

Orion continued, "Go rest at my place first, we'll talk tomorrow."

Megatron looked at him but didn't answer immediately. He was obviously unhappy about it.

But Orion's words make sense. At this point, it would indeed be inconvenient to take her all the way back to Calon.

In her current state, it's not something that can be resolved by simply throwing her onto a flying vehicle. If things get really chaotic, who knows what kind of trouble she might cause on the way.

The sound wave then repeated: "There are places to stay in Iron Fortress."

This time, Megatron didn't hesitate at all and said directly, "No need."

Orion also looked at the sound wave, his tone still polite: "It's no trouble for you."

The sound waves fell silent after that.

But at some point, the mechanical dog that had been lying not far from his feet stood up and automatically followed him.

Red Spider watched this scene unfold, gave an ambiguous snort, and offered no comment.

On the other side, Jiuqi was already quite sleepy.

AZ supported her, Jazz lent a hand, and the ambulance driver was still frowning as he assessed her condition.

The vector remained seated, while the brain module slowly rotated.

She wanted to say something more, but drowsiness was creeping in, and even the outlines of the machines in front of her seemed to be getting blurry.

She seems to have really reached her limit, and this feeling is quite annoying.

Orion had been watching her, and then asked softly, "Can you still walk?"

She really wanted to say yes, but after pausing for two seconds, she honestly whispered, "...I'm a little sleepy."

The previously subtly tense atmosphere around the table relaxed slightly.

At least when the person involved finally admitted that she was no longer fit to make her own decisions, she was at least not in a position to do so.

Megatron wasted no more time and walked straight up to her.

Yin Xiang looked up at him, vaguely knowing what he was going to do. He frowned and instinctively tried to struggle: "I can do it myself..."

The second half of the sentence was not uttered.

Megatron bent down, reached one hand behind her and pulled her up by her knees with the other, lifting her up in his arms.

It was swift and decisive, leaving no chance for anyone nearby to reach out and take it.

The entire machine seemed to freeze for a moment, instinctively reaching out to grab his chest armor: "You—"

Megatron looked down at her, his tone flat: "What do you mean 'you'? If I let you walk a couple more steps, you'd be sleeping on the floor."

Yin Xiang opened his mouth, wanting to say it wasn't that exaggerated, but the words got stuck in his throat, and he himself felt he didn't have enough confidence.

She could clearly feel the drowsiness creeping in, and it was beyond her control.

Orion had initially reached out, but then only paused for a moment, not trying to snatch it from him. He quickly withdrew his hand and instead picked up the object that had fallen onto the table.

"Let's go."

He said this to Megatron, and he said it to everyone else.

Alita and Arcee had already stood up and made room for each other.

Ultra Magnus also stood up, his entire machine still upright, but watching Megatron carry away the newly appointed Chief Justice, the complex emotions reflected in his optical glasses were clearly not yet fully processed.

Jack stood to one side with his arms crossed, leaning against the wall: "This trip tonight was definitely worthwhile."

Red Spider glanced at him: "If you say another word, I suspect there will be a chance to throw you out first."

Knockdown laughed as he got up, patted Deadfire on the shoulder: "Alright, let's call it a night. If we don't leave now, who knows who'll be drunk next round."

Vector was being held by Megatron. He wanted to turn around and look at 97, but as soon as he turned his gaze, 97 was already being supported by AZ, with Jazz supporting her from the side, and the ambulance was still checking on her condition.

She felt somewhat relieved, and the brain module stopped thinking.

Megatron carried her out, his expression not very pleasant, but he didn't say anything more.

She may not like it, but this is the easiest and safest arrangement for tonight. At least she needs to get some sleep first.

And even when they went to Orion's place, he carried the plane.

No one can take this from us.

Yin Vector leaned against him, finally succumbing to sleepiness, his optical glasses half-closed, his breathing slowing down.

She was completely asleep when she left the restaurant.

Orion led the way.

Megatron followed behind, carrying the Graviton.

Soundwave didn't say it would follow, and it did go back on its own, but the mechanical dog followed silently.