I Am The Swarm-Chapter 622: The Passage

Under Luo Wen’s authorization and command, the biological armor, under the guise of fusion, began to extend some of its tendrils toward the host’s neck. Since no clues could be found in the genetic information, Luo Wen decided to take a direct approach and see what was really going on.

However, as the tendrils of the biological armor extended, Luo Wen gradually furrowed his brow. It wasn’t that the scene before him was beyond his comprehension or that he didn’t know how to proceed. Rather, what he saw gave him some troubling suspicions.

As the tendrils approached the host’s neck, they encountered an increasing number of nanobots. At first, Luo Wen didn’t pay much attention to this. After all, these extending tendrils were the front line of the fusion process.

If Sade and his team wanted to take advantage of the fusion between the host and the biological armor to find weaknesses or vulnerabilities in the armor’s defense mechanisms, this would be the ideal observation point. Therefore, it made sense for them to deploy more nanobots to this area.

But as the biological armor absorbed more energy, the sensory organs and systems that mutated on the tendrils became increasingly sophisticated. The information Luo Wen received grew more detailed.

Eventually, some extremely fine tubes began to mutate on the tendrils. These tubes contained various shapes of shiny crystalline chips, and at the end of the tubes were clusters of visual cells.

This periscope-like visual observation system, though well-hidden due to the nanobots not daring to get too close, had significant limitations.

For example, constrained by size and energy allocation, its functionality was incomplete. It could only perceive simple colors and couldn’t truly see anything in detail.

However, Luo Wen had already selected a few of the observation systems within the tendrils, allocated energy to them, and authorized them to mutate into more advanced forms.

Soon, several nanoscale periscopes had mutated and evolved, and the observation systems within them gradually improved, almost forming the image of an eyeball.

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With the help of these periscopes and numerous color sensors, more and more information was fed back to Luo Wen. As Luo Wen pieced together and supplemented this data, the external view of the biological armor gradually became clearer.

Dense clusters of nanobots swarmed around the biological armor, especially near the extending tendrils. There were so many that they almost completely isolated the host’s biological structures.

Seeing this, Luo Wen began to understand Sade’s plan. If active attacks triggered the biological armor’s defense mechanisms, what if the biological armor took the initiative instead?

By blocking the path of the biological armor’s tendrils during their extension, the nanobots could isolate the tendrils from the host’s biological tissues. If the biological armor wanted to complete the fusion process, it would have to break through this wall of nanobots.

Moreover, Luo Wen observed that many of the nanobots weren’t purely mechanical. They were mixed with biological materials, and their outer shells were coated with some of the host’s genetic information, making them highly deceptive and capable of camouflage.

In this scenario, if the biological armor mistakenly identified these nanobots as part of the host’s biological tissues and attempted to fuse with them, the nanobots would passively infiltrate the armor. This would be equivalent to the biological armor actively inviting the nanobots inside, potentially bypassing its defense mechanisms.

Luo Wen couldn’t help but applaud Sade’s ingenuity. If the biological armor were truly as it appeared on the surface, Sade’s plan might have succeeded.

Unfortunately, they were dealing with Luo Wen. Even if Luo Wen weren’t constantly monitoring the situation, preventing their success, the biological armor’s pre-disconnection instructions wouldn’t allow such a workaround.

With the path of the biological armor’s tendrils blocked by nanobots, Sade and his team were undoubtedly watching the situation closely. However, the outcome wasn’t what they had hoped for. Instead of fusing with some of the nanobots to break through the barrier, the biological armor simply stopped extending its tendrils.

The fusion process wasn’t interrupted, but the biological armor became unstable, as if encountering a bug.

Sade and his team, who were closely monitoring the situation, must have noticed this. Fearing that the biological armor might self-destruct rather than compromise, they quickly ordered the nanobot barrier to open a small gap.

With an exit now available, the biological armor stabilized. The tendrils retracted and began to squeeze through the only opening, just as Sade had predicted.

There was only one exit, and Sade’s team couldn’t resist exploiting it. The passage was formed by nanobots, creating a narrow tube. To pass through, the tendrils had to move very slowly, rubbing against the nanobots from all sides.

It seemed Sade and his team still hadn’t given up. They were casting a wide net, hoping that the biological armor might, in the process of passing through the tube, accidentally fuse with a few—or even just one—nanobot.

Perhaps a single nanobot wouldn’t be of much use, but if it were successfully fused, it would represent a breakthrough from zero to one. This wasn’t just the difference between zero and one; it was the difference between nothing and something. It would prove that their approach was valid. After all, isn’t this how scientific progress is made?

Luo Wen sighed inwardly. Unfortunately, he was a cold and unforgiving entity, but also a gentle one. He wouldn’t do something as cruel as giving someone hope only to crush it himself.

However, while Sade and his team didn’t succeed, they did manage to delay the fusion process. At this rate, what should have taken a day to complete might now take months, or even years.

This extended timeframe would give them ample opportunity to observe more, gather more information, and devise additional methods to crack the biological armor’s defense mechanisms.

Luo Wen scratched his head. When he designed the biological armor, he hadn’t anticipated this particular scenario. He wasn’t a god; he couldn’t account for every possible situation with absolute precision.

Sade’s approach was indeed a bit underhanded, but Luo Wen couldn’t easily fix the issue now. After all, this product had been on the market for several years. If he were to push an online upgrade now, wouldn’t that be tantamount to admitting guilt?