I Am The Swarm-Chapter 616: Location

In reality, far more people supported this idea than it appeared on the surface. While some believed that abandoning the body was a loss of humanity and could potentially lead down the same path as the original Ji Race, the temptation of immortality was simply too great.

When one’s lifespan was still relatively long, the idea might not seem appealing. But as death loomed closer and the end of one’s life approached, many saw giving up their physical form as a small price to pay.

Although this planet was somewhat remote within the Confederation’s sphere of influence, it was still a Ji Race enclave. Even without extensive security measures, no foreign race would dare to target it.

However, the intelligent machines didn’t understand the concept of slacking off. They dutifully carried out their programmed tasks, and under their protection, Elder Sade gradually made his way into the castle.

The plants on the castle walls appeared no different from usual, but under Luo Wen’s direction, they had already entered a state of readiness, with the echo-location system operating at full capacity.

Meanwhile, the abnormal activity of flying insects near the castle’s perimeter immediately caught the attention of the guards. However, after analyzing the data, the guards concluded that the disturbance was caused by the starship’s landing, as similar incidents had occurred in the past. As a result, the alert level wasn’t raised.

In the distant forest, several tree trunks slowly developed eye-like patterns. After a brief transformation, these eerie patterns reverted to looking like ordinary tree hollows.

These were the Swarm’s biological versions of tree-mounted telescopes. Each “eye” was aimed at a castle window. Although the windows were currently closed, all necessary preparations had been made.

With the forest providing cover and the natural camouflage of the plants, Luo Wen’s surveillance network gradually expanded. While it didn’t help with infiltrating the castle, it significantly enhanced the level of monitoring.

When the castle’s windows were closed, its airtightness was excellent. Not only did the flying insects and tree-mounted telescopes fail to gather any useful information, but even the vines clinging to the walls, due to the soundproofing, yielded no results.

However, Luo Wen wasn’t in a hurry. As long as Elder Sade stayed, given enough time, he would eventually uncover something. With no other options available and Cecil’s whereabouts still unknown, Luo Wen’s only choice was to find an opportunity to turn Sade into an “ally” and have him reveal the truth.

Just as Luo Wen was preparing for a long-term operation, another unexpected development occurred. On the third day after Sade’s return, Luo Wen sensed that the biological armor was moving.

The inactive biological armor, designed for stealth, contained only a hidden auditory system and no additional organs or structures. As a result, it couldn’t sense its own movement. However, it was still a node unit within the Swarm network. The castle’s main structure had already been mapped into a 3D model within the network, and the armor’s location was marked.

Although the armor itself couldn’t detect movement, its position within the Swarm network shifted, alerting Luo Wen to its relocation.

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In the eyes of the Ji Race and other foreign races, the Swarm’s personal biological armor was undoubtedly a rare and valuable item. Therefore, its storage location had to match its status and worth, as evidenced by its previous position in one of the castle’s shadowed areas.

Now that it was moving, Luo Wen knew that the armor itself couldn’t move on its own. Therefore, the only ones who could move it were either Elder Sade himself or his authorized mechanical servants.

Luo Wen immediately shifted his focus to this development, recognizing it as a rare opportunity. Communication among intelligent beings, regardless of the medium, was most direct and convenient through speech. Although the biological armor was inactive and nearly powerless, it still possessed audio collection capabilities.

However, things took another strange turn. While Luo Wen could clearly see the biological armor moving and stopping within the castle through the Swarm network’s tracking, it wasn’t picking up any audio signals.

“Could it have been soundproofed?” Luo Wen muttered to himself, but then shook his head, dismissing the idea. The Swarm’s genetic lock remained unbroken by the Ji Race, who couldn’t possibly know about the armor’s hidden capabilities, let alone how to counter them.

Moreover, this location was over two thousand light-years away from where the Swarm mainly operated. If not for Luo Wen’s unique methods, he wouldn’t have been able to receive information from here. This dimension-bending technique was likely beyond the Ji Race’s current understanding.

Even if they were cautious, Luo Wen had observed that the biological armor on the front lines was functioning normally, and the converted “allies” hadn’t received any special notifications. Therefore, it was unlikely that they would take precautions in such a distant location.

In fact, Luo Wen had always been curious about why the biological armor was stored here. After Cecil purchased the armor, regardless of her own whereabouts, the storage location itself was highly sensitive.

What was this place? On the surface, it was just an ordinary life-bearing planet, but the fact that a Ji elder had built his residence here suggested that it was far from ordinary.

Let’s not forget that this planet’s orbit was home to a Ji Race planet-sized metal satellite, something Luo Wen had never seen before.

This metal satellite was a large, comprehensive research facility, with its primary focus being biological technology.

What exactly they were working on remained unknown to Luo Wen due to the Swarm’s limited infiltration. However, it was clear that the Ji Race’s research involved some extremely dangerous elements.

Surrounding the metal satellite were numerous ecological pods of various types. These contained experiments that even the Ji Race, with their advanced technology, deemed necessary to isolate. The level of danger involved was evident.

In this region of space, the Swarm’s biological technology surpassed that of the Ji Race. It was hard to believe that they wouldn’t be interested in Swarm units.

However, thanks to Luo Wen’s genetic lock, any Swarm combat units, body parts, or tissues captured by the Confederation would undergo genetic collapse if they showed signs of being tampered with or were taken too far from the Swarm. They would disintegrate into worthless waste.

This frustrated and tantalized the Ji Race researchers, who were desperate to uncover the Swarm’s secrets. The Swarm’s biological armor was the only known creation that could exist far from the Swarm without self-destructing.

So, what did the presence of such an item here imply?