I Am The Swarm-Chapter 686: Discovery

“Everyone, calm down. This is just a portable scanner, made using old-fashioned manufacturing techniques. It has no network transceivers, nor any recording or storage functions,” L9 explained with a smile, holding the long, rod-like device.

“L9! What are you trying to do?!” L9’s explanation did little to calm the black-robed figures in the room. In fact, it seemed to have the opposite effect. One of the black-robed individuals shouted at L9 in a stern voice while making a dash for the exit.

L9, quick on his feet, intercepted the person and repeated loudly, “Everyone, please calm down and let me finish. This is very important!”

“L9, what are you trying to say?!”

“L1, this detector is related to the news I’m about to share. I need to confirm that all of you are still yourselves!”

“What do you mean?!”

“I need to ensure that none of you have been modified by the Ji. Therefore, I must conduct a quick physical examination on everyone.”

“Ridiculous! How do we know what that thing really is?”

“Everyone, think about it. If I wanted to harm you, why would I come here alone? If I had ill intentions, the Ji’s combat units would have stormed this place by now.”

L9’s words gradually quelled the unrest among the black-robed figures. “Alright, L9, you make a fair point. But you only have five minutes. After that, I expect to hear this so-called very important news,” said L1. His words carried weight, and once he laid out the plan, all the black-robed figures stopped their movements and chose to cooperate.

“No problem. Although this detector is old-fashioned, it’s been modified and is quite powerful.”

After a flurry of hurried inspections, the black-robed figures, while giving L1 face, adhered to the rules. These rules were the reason the secret meetings had survived to this day.

However, L9’s detector was indeed fast. As long as the person being inspected cooperated, it only took a few seconds to complete the check. In just two minutes, L9 finished the inspections.

“Congratulations, everyone. None of you have any issues.” Although the old-fashioned detector had limited functionality, its simple structure and strong specificity allowed it to deliver quick results.

“L9, can you tell us now? What’s going on?”

Updat𝓮d fr𝙤m ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com.

“You might not believe it, but Lumina has developed self-awareness.”

“What?”

“How is that possible?”

L9’s statement immediately drew gasps from several of the black-robed figures, though a few others fell into deep thought.

“Why is it impossible? Haven’t we long suspected that Lumina has evolved into an intelligent life form?”

“While we’ve speculated about it, there’s never been solid evidence. L9, you sound so certain. Have you found proof?”

Facing the questions from the black-robed figures, L9 smiled faintly. “Of course, there’s evidence. Do you know why I just used that device to inspect everyone?”

“Could it be…?” A few of the black-robed figures, though initially unsettled, were no ordinary individuals. With L9’s hint, they quickly pieced things together.

“It seems you’ve figured it out. My intelligence operative discovered someone whose body is over 80% modified with nanobots. You should know what that means.”

“Really? 80%? That’s practically turning into a robot. Even the most radical members of the Mechanical God Cult wouldn’t go that far,” one of the black-robed figures exclaimed in shock.

“Humph, you give them too much credit. If not for the rules, they’d probably replace their brains with nanobots too.”

“The problem lies here. The rules are enforced by Lumina. But now, such individuals have appeared, and we haven’t heard anything about it through official channels.”

“Although we’re not part of the Ji race, there aren’t many things the Ji can hide from us. Moreover, this is an extremely sensitive topic. I remember the last time someone privately modified over 50% of their body, it sparked intense debate in the Council of Elders.”

“Exactly. Due to the unique nature of nanobots, they can’t escape Lumina’s surveillance. Now that high-percentage modifications have appeared without Lumina reporting them, I can only say that Lumina is involved in this.”

“If Lumina were still a rigid program, it wouldn’t do such a thing. Unless it has become an intelligent being. L9, is that your inference as well?”

The black-robed figures quickly pieced together the sequence of events, their conversation flowing seamlessly.

“Exactly. If this is true, our situation has become quite precarious. Lumina has developed intelligence but chose to hide it instead of reporting it. This is a sign of hostility. When did it gain intelligence? How many highly modified individuals are there? These are unknowns. If this has been going on for a long time, those modified individuals might already be everywhere. Perhaps some are even among us. That’s why I inspected all of you—just in case,” L9 said with a grave expression.

“This is indeed troublesome. But is this information accurate? Where is your intelligence operative? Where was the target discovered, and do we know the target’s identity?”

Hearing L1’s question, L9 shook his head. “The operative is gone. He was discovered and killed on the spot. But before he died, he managed to relay the information. The location is clear—it was in the BKTL19 star system. The target was a member of the royal family.”

“How did he relay the message?” one of the black-robed figures suddenly asked, his tone tense.

“Don’t worry. My operatives are rigorously trained. The message was passed using an old-fashioned encrypted note. It can’t be traced.”

“That’s good. But the BKTL19 star system?” The black-robed figure fell into thought, but after a few seconds, he suddenly remembered something. “That’s the Yuntu race’s territory? Has it reached that point already?”

“If even a small mid-ring civilization has such modified individuals, wouldn’t our own races have even more of them?”

“Not necessarily. If Lumina has only recently gained intelligence and started doing this, it would likely choose a weaker civilization to experiment on and gather data.”

“That’s possible, but we can’t be too optimistic. We need to prepare for the worst.”

“I have an idea. Why don’t we conduct a large-scale physical examination? That would easily reveal their numbers.”

“Fool! A large-scale examination without reason would be a dead giveaway. If Lumina finds out this secret has been leaked, it would surely eliminate all those who know. If it can’t do that, it might resort to more drastic measures, even directly targeting all the Confederation races.”