I Am The Swarm-Chapter 570: Trouble

The more Conradus thought about it, the more suspicious he became. However, the Swarm’s bio-armor contained extremely advanced biological technology, and it was likely that even the Ji race couldn’t detect any issues with it.

No, no—Conradus realized that the Ji race definitely couldn’t detect any problems with the bio-armor. After all, this armor was a highly valuable item, and it was impossible that no one from the Ji race had acquired it.

During this time, those Ji members who had obtained the armor must have undergone inspections. Yet, until now, there had been no rumors from the Ji race about any issues with the armor.

Conradus knew that Elder Humes, the Ji representative stationed at the frontline, had once interacted with the Swarm and had acquired a set of this bio-armor.

It was because of this that Mowei had established a connection with Humes, successfully securing ten years of preparation time for the Rashudia. When Conradus arrived at the frontline, he had even met Elder Humes once, thanks to Mowei’s introduction.

At the time, he hadn’t noticed anything unusual about either of them. But now, as Conradus pieced things together, he felt a growing sense of dread.

If even Elder Humes, the highest authority at the frontline, had been influenced by the Swarm, then weren’t they, the ones fighting the Swarm, essentially walking into a trap?

Yet, he couldn’t discuss this with anyone.

The matter was still uncertain, and everything was just his speculation. At the very least, the bio-armor he currently possessed was only slightly heating up. Perhaps this was normal, and he was overthinking things due to the unusual timing.

If he reported this and it turned out to be nothing, he would likely offend a lot of people.

Similarly, if it were true, many individuals possessed Swarm bio-armor, and many kept it hidden. If the armor really was problematic, and if the person he reported to happened to be one of those individuals—say, if the report ended up in Humes’s hands—then he would be in great danger.

Moreover, even if the person he reported to was clean, he himself was now in possession of Swarm bio-armor. If this matter escalated, he might still be caught in the crossfire.

But if he didn’t report it, and the armor really did have mind-control capabilities, the consequences would be equally severe. Conradus felt overwhelmed. He didn’t know what to do. It seemed that no matter what choice he made, the outcome wouldn’t be favorable.

Suddenly, his eyes fell on his adjutant standing beside him. His eyes lit up, and he glanced around. That’s right—these guys didn’t have the means to acquire Swarm bio-armor. Yet, they hadn’t noticed anything unusual earlier. Did this mean the problem wasn’t with the bio-armor?

But if it wasn’t the bio-armor, then what was it? Conradus fell into confusion.

Suddenly, his body trembled slightly—so subtly that even the most precise body-monitoring instruments wouldn’t detect it. His eyes glazed over for a moment before returning to normal.

A moment later, his eyes glazed over again, and then they brightened, as if all the problems troubling him had been resolved. At this moment, he felt better than ever.

Luo Wen, attached to this universe, had initially felt as though he had opened a small hole in the universe, constantly drawing nourishment from it. As his territory expanded, the hole grew larger, and the rate at which he absorbed nourishment increased.

Originally, Luo Wen thought this was the correct path to advancement—until he established his first sub-hive.

When he established a sub-hive in an unfamiliar region of the universe, it was like opening another hole in the universe. Even if the new hole was small, the rate at which it absorbed nourishment was far more efficient than simply expanding his territory.

As the Swarm established more sub-hives, Luo Wen opened more holes in the universe. Not only did his growth accelerate, but the increasing number of holes also strengthened his connection to the universe, enhancing some of his abilities.

Whether it was the Longevity Serum or the bio-armor, both could subtly alter a biological organism’s body. This transformation could help the target organism become a node-like entity, allowing Luo Wen to locate the target’s spiritual coordinates from outside the universe.

However, this transformation wouldn’t affect the target’s consciousness—at least not until Luo Wen intervened. The target would remain completely normal until then.

But once the transformation was complete, the target became a toy that Luo Wen could manipulate at will. He could kill or transform them into intelligent entities at any time, and no civilization within the Interstellar Technological Confederation, including the Ji race, could stop this process.

By now, Luo Wen had become highly skilled at transforming intelligent entities. Thanks to the many “insiders” he had placed in high positions within the Confederation, he was well aware of their measures to guard against the Swarm.

However, Luo Wen’s methods had already transcended the realm of biological technology. As a result, he had many ways to bypass the Confederation’s monitoring, especially as he grew stronger. These methods became increasingly simple and direct.

In the past, he had to wait for the target organism to be in a state of dormancy before acting. But now, for example, Conradus’s transformation was completed in an instant while he was fully awake and surrounded by people.

The process was straightforward. First, Luo Wen located Conradus’s position. Then, he extracted Conradus’s spiritual entity from his body. In the same instant, Luo Wen inserted another intelligent entity into Conradus’s body.

This was the moment when Conradus’s eyes first glazed over. At this point, Conradus had already been replaced. However, the intelligent entity now occupying his body was very familiar with Conradus’s behavior. In the short term, even if it interacted with others, it wouldn’t reveal any flaws.

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Next, Luo Wen extracted the consciousness from Conradus’s spiritual entity, absorbed the pure spiritual energy, and used it to create a blank intelligent entity.

While performing this operation, Luo Wen also copied Conradus’s consciousness and combined it with the blank intelligent entity.

At this point, the original Conradus was effectively dead. What remained was a version of Conradus branded with the Swarm’s mark, now fully a member of the Swarm.

After completing this, Luo Wen extracted the intelligent entity from Conradus’s body and inserted the newly created “Conradus” intelligent entity. This was the reason for the second glazing over of Conradus’s eyes.

In truth, Luo Wen hadn’t planned to transform Conradus so soon. Turning such a high-ranking commander of the Confederation forces into one of his own would inevitably reduce the fun of the game.

But the guy had started overthinking. If he caused any trouble, even Luo Wen would find it annoying. Faced with the choice between trouble and fun, Luo Wen had no choice but to eliminate the trouble first.