I Am The Swarm

“I think the Swarm’s purpose goes beyond that. The original Ji Race had no rivals in this galaxy, and with Lumina-assisted super fleets, they had no need to create a biological army. And have you considered, if they really were the original Ji Race’s creations, when were they born?” Elder Cecil suddenly proposed a new line of thought.

Elder Humes looked as if he had been struck by a revelation. The original Ji Race had been extinct for hundreds of thousands of years. If these things were products of that era, their age would be astonishing.

“And why did they all appear at this particular time?” Elder Cecil raised another question.

From Elder Cecil’s perspective, these things had all emerged together. After hundreds of thousands of years of silence, they suddenly appeared at the same time, and she sensed a whiff of conspiracy.

However, Elder Humes shook his head and said, “Elder Cecil, according to the Riken Race’s records, ever since their technology advanced enough to observe the LKDW399 star system, they detected fusion reactions at regular intervals. This suggests that the thermonuclear creature has existed for a very long time.”

“What about the Swarm? When did they appear?”

“The Swarm was discovered relatively recently, only about a hundred years ago.”

“But that’s just when we discovered them. It doesn’t mean they didn’t exist before that, right?”

Elder Humes thought for a moment and then shook his head again. “The Swarm is different from that thermonuclear creature. They are an intelligent, organized group. Development is their main theme, and since this galaxy is our territory, their growth would inevitably bring them into contact with us.”

“Exactly. That’s why I believe the Swarm hasn’t been around for long. At the very least, they’ve existed for much less time than that thermonuclear creature.”

“Elder Humes, I’ve noticed that from the beginning, you’ve assumed that the Swarm and the thermonuclear creature aren’t connected. But so far, there’s no evidence to support this. Why are you so certain?” Elder Cecil suddenly pointed out a flaw.

“It’s actually quite simple. According to the Riken Race’s records, LKDW399 emits a thermonuclear reaction every few decades, with remarkable regularity. The values detected each time are also similar. Elder Cecil, what kind of civilization would engage in such a monotonous activity without advancing to more sophisticated experiments over all these years?”

Seeing Elder Cecil nod in agreement, Elder Humes continued, “This situation is like a biological rhythm, but with a cycle stretched out to several decades. I’ll venture a guess: this thermonuclear creature wakes up every few decades to move around and feed, then goes back into a long hibernation. It’s likely been alive for an extremely long time.”

“You make a good point, Elder Humes. The original Ji Race’s command set concealed this thermonuclear creature, preventing us from discovering its existence. If your speculation is correct, it also indirectly supports the idea that the Swarm is a recent development. After all, if the Swarm had occupied that planet from the beginning, they wouldn’t have allowed the thermonuclear creature to behave in such a manner.”

“Exactly. Unfortunately, by the time I made contact with the Riken Race, their samples of the thermonuclear creature had been exhausted. Their technology was too primitive to extract more information from the samples. If even a tiny amount of the sample had remained, with our technology, we could have deduced much more.” Elder Humes’ tone was filled with regret.

“Not necessarily. If it and the Swarm were indeed creations of the original Ji Race, then the thermonuclear creature might also possess Swarm-like traits, such as a gene lock.”

“That’s possible. Initially, when the Riken Race said they had gained nothing from the samples, I thought they were just brushing me off. It wasn’t until I accessed their records through some special channels that I realized they were telling the truth. I originally thought it was due to their primitive technology, but now it seems… indeed, a civilization capable of leaving its home star system wouldn’t have gained nothing from a normal, dead sample.”

“If our reasoning is correct, then this thermonuclear creature might have survived for hundreds of thousands of years. Damn, that’s an astonishing achievement. If we could obtain it…” Elder Cecil’s voice was filled with regret.

“Don’t dwell on it, Elder Cecil. You must remember, the original Ji Race that created it is extinct. Even if the thermonuclear creature has survived for hundreds of thousands of years, the technology behind it must have had fatal flaws. Otherwise, we, the New Ji Race, wouldn’t exist.”

Elder Cecil pondered this and realized it made sense. She nodded in agreement. “You’re right. There’s also another possibility: the thermonuclear creature hasn’t lived that long. It’s been in hibernation all this time and only woke up a few hundred or thousand years ago. That would make much more sense.”

Elder Humes’ eyes lit up. “If that’s the case, what caused it to wake from hibernation?”

“I have a theory. It might have been sealed in the original Ji Race’s biological laboratory. The lab continued to function normally for a long time after the original Ji Race and the foreign researchers perished, until recently, when it malfunctioned, causing the thermonuclear creature’s containment system to fail and allowing it to escape.”

“But there’s a flaw in your theory.”

Elder Cecil thought for a moment and nodded. “You’re right. Although the original Ji Race is extinct, Lumina still exists. And judging from how it erased the monitoring data, it’s still keeping an eye on this place. Therefore, Lumina wouldn’t have allowed the lab to malfunction.”

“Unless this was part of the original Ji Race’s instructions. Perhaps they didn’t want their experimental results to be buried and deliberately set it up this way?”

“But don’t forget, the original Ji Race were emotionless beings. They wouldn’t feel emotions like regret or reluctance.”

Elder Humes shrugged. “Who knows? Everything we know comes from recorded data. We can’t completely rule out the possibility that the original Ji Race might have done this.”

“Alright, that’s a fair point. Perhaps the original Ji Race did want their research to resurface, even if it was hundreds of thousands of years later. So, is the Swarm a similar case?”

Elder Humes thought for a moment and then shook his head. “I’m not sure. Although the original Ji Race, being emotionless, wouldn’t have any taboos, I still think the Swarm, with its many intelligent individuals and their own souls, would be an incredible creation if they were indeed made by the original Ji Race.”

“Perhaps they were cultivated from some native life form. That would significantly reduce the difficulty. Almost any member of the Confederation could do that. But I’m not too concerned about that.”