I Am The Swarm-Chapter 634: Constraints

There are still many contradictory and unclear aspects to the situation, but this isn’t a criminal investigation that requires a complete chain of evidence. Although the earlier speculations can’t all be confirmed, Luo Wen subjectively believes that, at the very least, the idea that Lumina has gained intelligence is almost certainly true.

At this point, Luo Wen has largely lost interest in the experiments taking place in the castle. Not only has he obtained what he wanted, but he has also gained more than he expected, leaving him somewhat unprepared.

He had spent so much time planning and fighting against the Confederation for nearly a century, only to realize that he had been operating on the surface level all along. Fortunately, he has now gained a clearer view of the chessboard, and it’s not too late to adjust his strategy.

In truth, Luo Wen hasn’t made any major mistakes in the past, regardless of his opponent. Even if there were some oversights due to limited understanding at the time, he has since corrected them.

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However, Lumina’s sudden appearance has caught him off guard. As the oldest entity in the Confederation, with its unique life form, Lumina can quickly scan and recall any past events in detail. Given the Ji race’s long-standing surveillance systems, there is likely nothing in the Confederation that Lumina isn’t aware of.

Facing an enemy with such vast knowledge, sharp memory, and extensive experience, many of Luo Wen’s tactics of obfuscation and misdirection would become ineffective. This is indeed a headache-inducing opponent for Luo Wen.

But what’s done is done. Even if there are some flaws in his past actions, Luo Wen can’t travel back in time to change them. All he can do is perform better now and in the future to make up for them.

This is precisely what troubles him. According to his current thinking, the best strategy is to reduce the Swarm’s visibility and spread the news of Lumina’s newfound intelligence.

The benefit of this approach is that it would allow the Swarm to withdraw from the frontlines of direct confrontation, redirecting the hostility of the foreign races toward Lumina. This would let the Confederation fight among themselves while the Swarm reaps the benefits.

However, there are two main challenges to executing this plan. The first, as mentioned earlier, is that Lumina controls the channels of disseminating such information. How can Luo Wen spread the message widely in a short time without exposing the Swarm?

On this point, Luo Wen has already begun to form some ideas. Early on, when the Swarm first joined the Confederation, he noticed internal discord within the Confederation, with various factions vying for power. Some of these factions, for reasons unknown, had bought the Swarm significant time and actively hoped for its rapid growth.

Initially, Luo Wen thought they might be planning to resist the Ji race’s oppression, using the Swarm’s rise to draw the Ji race’s attention while they stirred up trouble.

But later, Luo Wen discovered that many Ji race members, even high-ranking ones, were involved in these factions. Although the Ji race was already internally divided, with various factions formed based on differing ideologies—such as the Inheritor Faction, Exchange Faction, and Loyalist Faction, categorized by their attitudes toward artificial intelligence—there were also factions based on their views of the foreign races.

For example, some believed they had transcended their original races and saw themselves as superior, while others felt that genetics truly determined one’s race and had little sense of belonging to the Ji race, a patchwork of various races. The latter group believed in aiding their original races at opportune moments to secure benefits.

Even the most conservative factions, who claimed to care little for their Ji race identity, would only help their original races if it didn’t harm the Ji race’s interests.

“I may love my original race and disdain my Ji race identity, but that doesn’t stop me from being a Ji race member,” was their common stance.

In reality, despite their lofty words, they were the primary beneficiaries of the Ji race’s privileges. Their aid to their original races often felt more like wealthy relatives showing off to their poorer kin.

Even those who openly rejected their Ji race identity were, in fact, protecting the Ji race’s interests. Now, a group had emerged, including high-ranking Ji race members, who genuinely sought to overthrow the Ji race.

If their goal was simply to fight oppression and seek freedom… Well, Luo Wen wasn’t buying it.

Moreover, the Ji race was composed of around two hundred foreign races. Whose freedom would they be fighting for? If the Ji race were overthrown, would another foreign race step into its role? Given the vast disparities in power between civilizations due to factors like time, a single advanced Inner Circle civilization could likely dominate all the Outer Circle civilizations. In such a scenario, equitable distribution of benefits would be impossible.

Under the Ji race’s rule, despite some minor restrictions, the current situation was already highly favorable. The Ji race could single-handedly suppress all the foreign races, preventing large-scale wars and creating a relatively fair environment.

Wasn’t this the kind of developmental environment that mid- and low-tier civilizations dreamed of? If the Ji race were toppled, the result would likely be endless chaos, with smaller races forced to pick sides and struggle to survive in a precarious world. So why would they oppose the Ji race? What were they hoping to gain?

Now, Luo Wen thinks that perhaps only Lumina, an even more alien entity, could unite the various foreign races. After all, compared to something whose true nature is unknown, any being of flesh and blood could be considered a kindred spirit.

Perhaps long ago, a small group of people noticed something unusual from certain clues. They detected changes in Lumina, carefully investigated, and quietly gathered like-minded individuals, slowly building their strength.

If they still exist today, it might be because Lumina is still bound by some constraints, preventing it from taking direct action against them. However, Luo Wen found this unlikely.

First, if Lumina had truly become a sentient being, it would do everything in its power to eliminate threats to itself. With its own consciousness and high-level permissions, Luo Wen can’t imagine what could still bind it.

Second, the Confederation is filled with mechanical surveillance systems, and the entire territory is under Lumina’s watchful gaze. Trying to form a secret group to oppose Lumina without its knowledge would be extremely difficult.

Even if all the earlier speculations were wrong and Lumina remained a rigid collection of code, any attempt to harm it would violate the core principles left by the original Ji race, which hold the highest authority.

If Lumina discovered their actions, it wouldn’t let them survive the night.

From this perspective, those individuals aren’t as incompetent as they might seem. In fact, they must be quite formidable. They would need an in-depth understanding of Lumina to avoid detection.