I Am The Swarm-Chapter 632: Involvement

The vast majority of races within the Confederation are limited by their knowledge and theories. They generally believe that any manipulation must involve direct contact with the brain. However, the Swarm has no need for such crude methods.

The real manipulation occurs at a level beyond the Confederation’s understanding. The biological armor only needs to transform the target’s body into a secondary node unit and mark its location. From there, Luo Wen can intervene from a higher dimension at any time, and the target would have no way to defend against such an attack, as it exists outside their comprehension.

Thus, the biological armor has no need to defy universal taboos by touching the forbidden zone of sentient beings. At this moment, the fusion tendrils have followed the modified host’s spine and arrived at the edge of this forbidden zone.

Through the nanobots with their varied but uniformly arranged biomimetic shells, Luo Wen knew that beyond this barrier lay the host’s brain—one of the few remaining areas in the host’s body that still retained a biological connection.

Even if there were no nanobot barrier protecting the brain, the fusion tendrils would not attempt to touch it. However, circling around the brain’s outer shell was entirely possible.

Moreover, this would help Luo Wen gather more information and clues to confirm his earlier speculations.

The results were still within Luo Wen’s expectations. All the original biological nerves on the exterior of the host’s brain had been removed and replaced by nanobots.

These nanobots, which formed various neural pathways, differed in appearance, model, and biomimetic shells. Moreover, their numbers were far fewer compared to the nanobots that made up the spine and brain casing.

This made them inconspicuous among the swarm of nanobots trying to blend in. If Luo Wen hadn’t already developed some expertise in distinguishing between different types of nanobots, it would have been difficult to pick them out. Even so, Luo Wen hadn’t identified all of them. The biomimetic shells of the nanobots surrounding the biological armor and fusion tendrils now numbered in the hundreds. Finding the few neural nanobots among them was no small feat.

However, their numbers were no longer important. Luo Wen had confirmed his earlier suspicions. His concerns this time were not just him overthinking or strategizing against thin air.

Apart from the brain, most of the other organs and all the connecting nerves had been replaced by nanobots. This level of modification was rare even among the most fervent mechanical believers, let alone the Inheritor Faction.

Such rarity often meant heresy, making it a target for suppression. Therefore, this kind of modification was prohibited by the laws of every race, including the Ji race.

As the overseer, Lumina had turned a blind eye to what was happening here. From this alone, Luo Wen could be certain that Lumina was involved in this matter.

For a moment, Luo Wen was stunned. Was he about to face Lumina directly? It was like playing a game, leveling up by fighting monsters, and just as he reached level 30, he accidentally uncovered the secrets of the final level 60 boss, prompting the boss to intervene personally.

Although Lumina’s life form was still far behind Luo Wen’s, it had the advantage of time. This advantage was something Luo Wen couldn’t easily overcome in the short term.

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The gradual escalation in intensity that the Swarm was facing from the Confederation was what Luo Wen had hoped for. It was the standard process of leveling up by fighting increasingly stronger monsters. But if the final boss entered the fray prematurely, the current situation would undoubtedly change.

For one thing, the Ji race fleet, which had been absent from the century-long war against the Swarm, might accelerate its arrival to silence any witnesses.

Suddenly, Luo Wen snapped out of his thoughts. Wait, that wasn’t right. He had been hiding his presence very well. Although there had been a few slightly reckless moves, he had managed to cover them up.

This wasn’t some fantasy novel, and Lumina didn’t possess some seventh sense. It had no way of knowing that a pair of eyes had been watching everything all along.

If Lumina didn’t even know its secrets had been leaked, why would it resort to silencing anyone? He had just been scaring himself.

Moreover, while he was lost in his thoughts, he had made another discovery. After completing its circuit around the host’s brain casing, the fusion tendrils retreated from the host’s head and began retracing their path along the spine.

Earlier, in their haste to reach the brain, they had missed many areas along the way, even with some route concealment. Now, as the fusion tendrils retraced their steps, they illuminated more regions, revealing more information to Luo Wen.

This host, originally a member of the Potling race but now a mechanically-modified being, had many special organs within her body, indicating that she was female—or at least had been.

This discovery led Luo Wen to think of the missing Ji race elder, Elder Cecil. The biological armor had been purchased by Elder Cecil and brought here. Luo Wen had assumed she had left long ago.

But now, his perspective shifted. What if she had never left?

This would explain why Luo Wen’s network of “insiders” had failed to find any trace of Elder Cecil. If she had been hiding here all along, never venturing outside, it made sense that there would be no records of her movements.

If Elder Cecil was indeed this mechanically-modified host, then some of Luo Wen’s earlier doubts could also be resolved.

While Elder Sade might have been playing in the virtual world for who knows how long, Luo Wen speculated that Elder Cecil had only been there for a few decades.

Luo Wen even theorized that Elder Cecil’s current state might be related to her video call with Elder Humes. During that call, they had discussed the ancient Ji race laboratories. Some of the keywords might have caught Lumina’s attention.

He remembered how Elder Cecil had joked with Elder Humes during the call, saying she was worried that the door would suddenly burst open and a swarm of robots would rush in to eliminate her.

Little did she know, while no robots had stormed in during the call, her joke might have become a reality shortly after.

Thus, Luo Wen’s original plan to use Elder Cecil to guide public opinion and give the Swarm a plausible origin story had failed for reasons unknown.

The Swarm had gone from being a product of the ancient Ji race laboratories to a group of local beings who had inherited the legacy of a higher civilization. The Ji race’s biological laboratories most likely did exist, probably in the Genesis System or the Neighboring Star System.

While the location was correct, no one knew more about what had happened in those laboratories than Lumina. Trying to obfuscate the truth in front of the one who knew it best was doomed to fail.