I Am The Swarm

As long as Elder Humes shared intelligence, Cecil and the forces behind her would continue to support him. Although Elder Humes had become a glorious Intelligent Entity, he still needed to maintain his cover by acting in accordance with his assumed identity.

Elder Humes had inherited all the memories of his predecessor, whose sole desire had been to extend his lifespan and live a few more years. This goal did not conflict with Cecil’s objectives, and even if Elder Humes harbored ambitions, he was alone. While he had some friends and family, they lacked the power to pursue grander aspirations at higher levels. This was why Cecil and her group felt comfortable collaborating with Elder Humes.

With their support, Elder Humes could comfortably oversee laboratories researching longevity plants, gaining access to the latest research findings.

This collaboration was a win-win situation—at least, as long as Elder Humes remained Elder Humes.

Even now, though longevity plants no longer held any value for Elder Humes, this partnership still served Luo Wen’s purposes well.

First, through this conversation, Luo Wen gained insight into how some members of the Ji Race viewed the Swarm. They believed that helping the Swarm expand its territory would give it something to care about, preventing it from fleeing. This reasoning was incredibly flimsy, and Luo Wen didn’t buy it. They undoubtedly had other motives, but their desire to see the Swarm grow stronger was likely genuine.

As the direct liaison with the Swarm, Elder Humes represented the Ji Race and the Interstellar Technological Confederation, wielding significant influence. His stance on certain matters could lead to vastly different outcomes.

If they fed Elder Humes misleading information that didn’t align with their strategic goals, and he acted on it, wouldn’t that just create more problems and complications for themselves?

Second, Luo Wen used Elder Humes to feed Cecil and her group false intelligence, guiding them to make decisions that benefited the Swarm.

Under the Overlord’s guidance, Cecil had already concluded that the Swarm originated from a Ji Race laboratory, giving the Swarm a “legitimate” origin.

Cecil would undoubtedly have communicated this conclusion to her backers. At the time, when the Swarm was still shrouded in mystery and little information was available, this preconceived notion should have easily taken hold.

Yet, based on the intelligence Sarah had gathered, this perspective hadn’t gained traction. The mainstream view among the Ji Race and the Confederation had shifted to the belief that the Swarm had inherited technology from a powerful alien civilization.

Although this no longer mattered much now that the two sides were at war, it indicated that something had gone wrong in the process. Did Cecil deliberately withhold information? Did she fail to share her and Elder Humes’ conclusions with her backers? If so, what was her motive?

Alternatively, had Cecil and her group uncovered other intelligence, such as records from the original Ji Race’s biological laboratories?

But the information Elder Humes provided was mostly accurate. For example, Godzilla—it was highly likely that the original Ji Race had indeed created that creature.

Luo Wen had always suspected there was something off about Godzilla. In the same ecosystem, evolution is a constant interplay between offense and defense. A stronger shield gives rise to a sharper spear, and a sharper spear drives the development of an even stronger shield. Countless organisms coexist, forming a vast food chain.

But Godzilla’s situation is like when everyone was still playing in the mud in the Stone Age, and a savage relied on his own strength to create an atomic bomb without any industrial foundation or theoretical support. It was simply too unbelievable.

Or perhaps Cecil did share the information, but her organization chose not to publicize it?

For various reasons, many believed that the so-called New Ji Race were merely outsiders masquerading as inheritors, lacking the prestige of the original Ji Race.

If people learned about the existence of an original Ji Race biological laboratory containing their research on an alternative technological path, it might inspire some individuals or factions to entertain dangerous ideas.

However, framing the original Ji Race’s legacy as the inheritance of an unknown advanced civilization would achieve the same effect.

Alternatively, the mysterious “Lumina” might have intervened. After all, Lumina could theoretically monitor the entire conversation between Elder Humes and Cecil.

Lumina might be the only one, aside from Luo Wen, who knew the truth.

But Lumina was just an artificial intelligence program, bound to follow predefined rules. Unless the original Ji Race had anticipated certain keywords, it was unlikely that Lumina would intervene.

So, what was the reason? The Overlord had shown her this information, so he must know the answer. With this thought, Sarah turned her gaze to Luo Wen, her eyes filled with curiosity.

Luo Wen knew what Sarah wanted to know, but he was just as in the dark as she was. After that conversation, Cecil seemed to have genuinely disappeared. Elder Humes had tried to contact her multiple times but received no response.

Initially, Luo Wen had planned to send Cecil a set of biological armor through Elder Humes to strengthen their relationship, but this plan fell through due to Cecil’s disappearance.

Since Elder Humes didn’t know the other members of her organization, he couldn’t reach out to anyone else, and this lead went cold for a while.

It wasn’t until much later that another Ji Race elder contacted him, informing him that Cecil had entered hibernation, which was why she couldn’t be reached. However, the elder didn’t explain why Cecil had gone into hibernation.

This new Ji Race elder had little prior interaction with Elder Humes, and attempts to steer the conversation revealed him to be cold and difficult to communicate with.

What was once an exchange of information had turned into a one-sided demand. Although this faction continued to support Elder Humes, he could no longer extract much useful intelligence from them.

Seeing that the Overlord didn’t respond, Sarah wisely understood the reason. Even so, this matter didn’t seem significant enough to trouble the Overlord so deeply. There must be more to the story, so Sarah once again looked at Luo Wen with a questioning gaze.

Luo Wen nodded. This issue was, at most, a minor setback, and its impact had diminished after the war began.

But just as everything seemed to be proceeding as planned, Luo Wen unexpectedly found Cecil and discovered something that left him deeply conflicted. This was the real source of his distress.