Chapter 334: Ransom for Technology! A Skyrocketing Speculative Stock!
"I need to get out of here—fast!"
Quintessa spread her palms wide and began forming a complex hand seal. A peculiar character immediately materialized before her eyes—something resembling ancient Cybertronian script.
However, compared to the Cybertronian language, this symbol carried far more information and layers of meaning.
Cybertronian was considered a noble tongue in the Transformers universe—civilizations capable of mastering it were almost exclusively high-tier, elite-level species.
And the language of the Creators? It originated from Cybertronian itself.
Swoosh—!!
The unique symbol suspended in front of Quintessa pulsed rhythmically like a musical melody, emitting waves of eerie blue light.
Quintessa locked her eyes on the sigil, holding her sealing gesture steady and unmoving. She was attempting to summon the high echelons of the Creator civilization.
'Let's hope those old geezers aren't dead yet.'
She cursed inwardly, yet desperately longed to hear their voices. At a critical moment like this, only her "kin" could possibly bail her out.
The upper ranks of the Creator civilization typically resided in the galaxy's most prosperous regions—places lit by starlight and riddled with cosmic wonders.
There, massive celestial bodies warped spacetime, and curved timelines gave rise to countless "blessed domains," purpose-built for Creator research experiments.
Because of such distortions, even when Quintessa sent out communication signals, they weren't always guaranteed to reach the top brass.
But this time, the distress signal she activated via hand seal was of the highest classification—a special-tier transmission.
Enhanced by signal amplifiers the Creators had secretly placed across the cosmos, the signal could now reach halfway across the universe.
This was Quintessa's one and only shot.
"Come on—answer already!"
As she watched the glowing sigil begin to dissipate without a reply, Quintessa grew increasingly frantic.
If they didn't respond soon, she was as good as dead!
Fortunately, just as the symbol was about to vanish, a transmission finally came through from the Creators.
[Quintessa…]
…
Three months later.
Ideal City, Multiverse Base Headquarters — Command Center.
Following the conclusion of the battle against the bounty hunters, the unification of the Transformers universe was essentially complete. The Solar System and Cybertron had both been fully absorbed into MegaCorp's domain.
Even the rest of the Milky Way was rapidly falling under control, as MegaCorp's expeditionary forces continued their aggressive campaigns.
Any bounty hunters or Cybertronian factions who dared defy MegaCorp orders were met with a routine procedure: they'd be offered a chance to surrender—followed by a thorough beating.
Thanks to the high efficiency of weapons like the Neutron Annihilator and the MD-500 "Little Doctor" orbital cannons, MegaCorp's "persuasive diplomacy" was shockingly effective.
And on this particular day, Alt Cunningham had called for an emergency internal meeting, summoning all department heads and marshal-rank generals to the central conference hall.
Because—Quintessa had finally awakened after three months of deep stasis!
Inside the headquarters' war room, Alt stood atop the central podium, surveying the assembled senior executives. Behind her, a large holographic screen showed the image of someone long absent from the base: Li Ang , appearing via remote transmission from Night City headquarters.
He gazed down upon the room's many directors like the ultimate puppet master pulling strings from behind the curtain.
"Everyone," Alt began, "Quintessa has regained consciousness. The very first thing she did after waking was request to speak with our personnel."
"She claims she wants to negotiate—as a representative of the Creator civilization's ruling class."
"And her offer is this: to trade core technologies from the Creators… in exchange for her freedom."
"She says she's already re-established private contact with her superiors."
Alt's blunt revelation stunned the room, dropping a series of bombshells in rapid succession. The most critical, of course, was the proposed tech exchange.
To the heads of the Research Division, this was a dream come true.
But for the generals of the Expansion Division, it was another story entirely—because if Quintessa had reconnected with the Creators, there was now a very real risk of conflict with them over her custody.
"She was locked inside the FTL Suppression Chamber—how did she manage to contact anyone?" V asked in disbelief. "She was under constant surveillance! How'd she sneak that out right under our noses?"
Alt quickly provided the explanation.
It turned out that Quintessa and Primus had both used a similar distress technique—indicating that high-level Cybertronians possessed certain specialized messaging skills.
Something akin to long-range "divine transmission" in cultivation stories.
And after a thorough investigation, engineers from the Research Division had discovered countless micro-signal amplifiers scattered throughout the Milky Way.
This meant that although the Creators' FTL communication tech wasn't as advanced as MegaCorp's, they could still achieve comparable results via widespread signal boosting.
"Creator civilization…"
The MegaCorp upper ranks fell into deep thought.
After a brief pause, Lucius Lane stepped forward and volunteered:
"This calls for a formal negotiation. Let me handle the talk with Quintessa."
Lucius Lane had just returned from serving as the interstellar governor of Universe 002 (Pacific Rim) and resumed his former position as Mayor of Night City.
While that role might seem minor on the surface, Night City was the capital of MegaCorp—the very heart of its power structure.
To use an ancient analogy, it was like being the royal magistrate of the emperor's city.
Back at Night City HQ, Li Ang 's AI cabinet member Loki also offered a proposal:
[Boss, if Quintessa is truly willing to trade core Creator technologies to regain her freedom, I believe we can accept.]
[After all, we still hold the bodies of both Primus and Unicron. She's in no position to pose a real threat to us.]
Yes, Quintessa was always scheming to destroy Earth, resurrect Primus, and reset the universe to its ancient status quo.
But when it came to actual combat, she was completely out of her depth.
The bounty hunter army she assembled was nothing more than a flimsy band of second-rate grunts—obliterated before they even reached the Solar System.
Even Quintessa herself had become a prisoner of MegaCorp.
From beginning to end, the company's cost of victory amounted to nothing more than a pittance of energy and a few low-cost orbital strikes.
[I agree with Loki— AI Shiva added—provided that Quintessa is genuinely committed to a fair exchange, and hands over tech with real strategic value.]
[According to our research logs, she also possesses an advanced form of feigned death. When fused with metal, her life signs are completely undetectable.]
[And yet—even in that state—she managed to re-establish contact with the Creator civilization!]
During her dormant state, MegaCorp engineers had run multiple diagnostics on Quintessa, but the results were always the same.
She exhibited zero signs of life—visually indistinguishable from inert scrap metal.
At first, they suspected her consciousness was buried deep within her core.
But attempting to dissect that core carried massive risk—if she were killed in the process, it could prove disastrous.
[If she remains in a feigned death state and refuses to cooperate, we could be cut off from this opportunity for a long time.]
[That would severely hinder our development!] Loki emphasized.
MegaCorp's explosive growth was driven by Li Ang 's relentless drive. Efficiency and decisiveness had become company-wide principles.
Every employee was trained to rapidly convert acquisitions into usable tech or combat assets.
So letting Quintessa go was clearly risky—who knew if she'd return with an army of Creators to seek revenge?
That's why, even if they had to release her, they'd first need to strip her of every last shred of technology.
After listening to his AI cabinet's proposals, Li Ang nodded and issued his final verdict to the Multiverse Base leadership:
"Quintessa is not to be released lightly. Extract as much intel from her as possible—especially the Seed technology."
With Li Ang 's order given, Alt immediately mobilized personnel to bring Quintessa to the war room for face-to-face negotiations.
This location had been chosen for a reason:
First, it was filled with MegaCorp's most powerful executives, individuals who radiated the natural authority of high-ranking leaders.
Second, it was a deliberate psychological tactic—to put pressure on Quintessa and dominate the talks from the outset.
Not long after, Mann's squad of Astartes honor guards escorted Quintessa into the chamber.
Those original squad members had all moved up through the ranks by now—most had risen from field operatives to division leaders.
Mann himself was now Li Ang 's chief enforcer, commanding the elite Astartes Guard—warriors who had undergone advanced augmentation surgeries.
Handpicked from the Iron Hands legion, they were the crème de la crème of posthuman soldiers— Li Ang 's most trusted and lethal inner circle.
As the elite guards—each towering over four meters tall and clad in full battle gear—marched in behind Quintessa, the atmosphere in the hall instantly turned oppressive and cold.
At this moment, Quintessa had assumed the form of a human woman. She wore a flowing blue robe, and faint arcane sigils flickered across her face, giving her the eerie appearance of a mysterious medieval sorceress.
Yet, despite the intimidating guards behind her and the room full of MegaCorp's top brass, she showed not the slightest hint of fear. In fact, there was even a faint sneer on her face—one of disdain.
She was a god, after all. Such theatrics were beneath her.
Three months earlier, after receiving a response from the Creators' high command, Quintessa had been told that if she wanted to be rescued, she would have to submit—reintegrate into their civilization and abandon her rogue independence.
Under pressure from reality, she had no choice but to reluctantly accept their terms.
Her independent workshop was dissolved, and she was reinstated as the "Mother of Life," returning to her former role within the Creator hierarchy. Though she lost a degree of freedom, it was still far better than remaining a prisoner of MegaCorp.
Currently, the Creators' main fleet was rallying in deep space, en route to the Solar System to retrieve her. But until they arrived, Quintessa would have to negotiate for her survival alone.
When she voluntarily assumed a human appearance, the previously aggressive MegaCorp executives found themselves momentarily unsure how to proceed.
Faced with the visage of a woman, even if artificial, they hesitated—Quintessa's tactic of retreating to advance had subtly shifted the mood in her favor.
But Alt Cunningham remained unfazed. She gave Quintessa a calm glance, then signaled for Lucius Lane to begin the negotiation.
As one of MegaCorp's most seasoned bureaucrats, Lucius Lane specialized in diplomacy, crisis management, and negotiating with all kinds of entities.
He had proven his skill back when he served as NCPD chief of Watson District—essentially Li Ang 's lapdog during their LA Corp days.
Handling Quintessa? That was nothing new.
"Let's skip the small talk, Quintessa," Lucius said smoothly. "Let's get straight to business."
He waved his hand and brought up a massive holographic screen, filled with an exhaustive list of technical demands.
These items had largely come from Sentinel.
As a veteran "archaeologist" from Cybertron, sentinel was well-versed in what kind of technologies the Creator civilization likely possessed—from advanced maintenance protocols for Transformers to a variety of almost mystical, high-tier "techniques."
He'd spilled everything.
Some additional entries had been filled in by MegaCorp's own engineers—pure speculation, based on educated guesses.
After all, no one in the R&D Division could say with certainty which technologies Quintessa truly controlled. Better to overreach than miss something critical.
So the researchers had taken creative liberties and drafted an entire list of outrageous tech requests to test the waters.
If she had them—great. If not—no harm done.
It was mostly guesswork anyway.
Even with the most advanced processing unit at her disposal, Quintessa blinked in surprise as she took in the contents of the screen.
When she finally registered the full absurdity of the list, she let out a cold, amused chuckle. Her voice, low and cutting, responded:
"Are you making a wish?"
"If that's what this is, then by your own religions' logic, you should be worshiping me. All of you—on your knees—praying for me to grant your petty desires."
Her gaze toward Lucius was filled with naked contempt. These stupid monkeys really had no limit to their delusions.
If she weren't currently restrained, she would've crushed them all into bits and hurled their corpses into the void of space without hesitation.
Lucius, however, simply smiled.
Getting insulted was nothing new for a veteran negotiator like him—it was practically part of the job. And besides, MegaCorp still held the upper hand.
The strategy was clear: start with an outrageous opening offer, anchor the negotiation, and then gradually scale back to secure the real objective— Li Ang 's top priority: the enhanced Seed technology.
Anchoring worked wonders in both diplomacy and commerce.
Sure, the Creator civilization was far more powerful than the bounty hunter rabble. But they were far away. Quintessa needed help now. Lucius had nothing to worry about.
"Quintessa," he said with faux reverence, "you've lived for billions of years. Surely your knowledge goes well beyond anything on this list."
He was buttering her up, fishing for info.
Predictably, she snorted and replied, "Billions? Heh. I've existed since the dawn of the universe itself."
That one sentence told Lucius everything he needed: this being had lived for over ten billion years—meaning her technological knowledge must be staggeringly vast.
"I'll be honest with you," Quintessa continued, bluntly, "there's no way I'm handing over all of this. You'll get a selection. The rest? I don't have it."
She didn't bother playing games. The demands were too ridiculous to entertain.
Miniature universes? Tearing through spacetime? Warping multidimensional strings?
Those were signature abilities of Unicron and Primus. There was no way she could perform them.
If she could, she wouldn't be sitting here in chains.
"Fine. Let's talk about this subset," Lucius replied, drawing a box around the priority technologies that Li Ang had personally designated.
"Deal," Quintessa agreed.
She recognized every item—each one well within her grasp.
These weren't the deepest secrets of her civilization, but they were still important. She lifted a finger and entered a string of code into the holographic display, transmitting the first set of data directly to MegaCorp's servers.
It was a partial ransom payment. The rest would be negotiated later.
As soon as the data was received, Alt Cunningham stepped forward to verify it:
[Seed technology for creating Transformium; foundational algorithms for mechanical sentience; full space bridge schematics; stellar energy extraction systems…]
These technologies weren't the most advanced, but they were highly practical—and perfectly met MegaCorp's minimum requirements for ransom.
"I've already translated everything into human language," Quintessa muttered. "Unless you're dumber than apes, it should be easy to understand."
She was clearly reluctant.
Though she'd mentally prepared herself to make this trade, actually giving away these treasures—the culmination of countless experiments and cosmic wisdom—left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Alt ignored her and instructed the R&D team to immediately begin validating the data.
Lucius, meanwhile, suggested a temporary pause in the negotiations, giving the scientists time to verify the information and await Li Ang 's next instructions.
"Let's take a break," Lucius said with a pleasant smile. "While the data's being tested, maybe we can chat a bit."
Quintessa looked at him with disgust and snapped, "I have nothing to say to you humans."
She had nothing but contempt for humanity.
Even if MegaCorp came from a parallel universe, in her divine view, they were still just monkeys who got lucky.
"Not even curious," Lucius mused, "why the Autobots and Decepticons—your own creations—would rather betray their Creators and fight for humanity?"
That question hit a nerve.
Quintessa's face darkened.
"Ha! I've created countless civilizations," she spat. "They're nothing. I was following Primus's orders—Cybertronians were meant to be watchdogs."
"Who knew the watchdogs would let wolves in the front door? If I'd known those damned traitors would turn on us, I would've drowned them in magma the moment they came online!"
She was clearly furious about the betrayal by Optimus Prime, Sentinel, Megatron, Lockdown, and the rest.
Still, she'd come to terms with it.
As long as she could leave safely, they could do whatever they wanted. She could always build another loyal guard later.
"Quintessa," Lucius replied calmly, still smiling, "you seem to have a deep misunderstanding of MegaCorp."
Though simmering with his own frustration, he had to maintain composure with a being like her.
Just moments earlier, Li Ang had messaged him directly: Quintessa was a high-value customer.
"Our philosophy is simple—equivalent exchange. Whether strong or weak, as long as you bring value to the table, MegaCorp will reward you."
"In fact, for strong partners, we usually offer double returns—one unit of input, two units of payoff."
Lucius almost felt like he was pitching a high-growth investment stock.
But that was exactly how MegaCorp had exploded in scale—through clever marketing, bold promises, and relentless tech-driven expansion.
It was hype, it was salesmanship, it was manipulation—and it worked.
In under a century, they had taken a backwater civilization and pushed it to the brink of super-civilization status.
The kind of meteoric rise you'd only see in a once-in-a-lifetime speculative stock.
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