Chapter 395: Micro Seeds
Given the current situation, Luo Wen naturally chose not to reveal the Swarm’s ability to detect and capture Ji monitors.
Even the Daqi civilization, which had been part of the Confederation for thousands of years, hadn’t achieved this capability. For the Swarm, which had only appeared on the interstellar stage for a few centuries, to demonstrate such prowess would attract too much attention. The Swarm was already prominent enough; it didn’t need to shine even brighter.
While Bular might have some suspicions, he lacked concrete evidence. Moreover, as he mentioned, the relationships within the Ji themselves, between the Ji and the Interstellar Technological Confederation, and even within the Confederation were an entangled mess. Whether the Troi civilization would spread these speculations was uncertain.
Regardless, after acquiring some intelligence, Luo Wen realized that the Swarm’s situation was far less dire than the previously imagined scenario of being surrounded by enemies with imminent invasions.
Even though Luo Wen intended to conceal the Swarm’s capabilities, locating all the Ji monitors remained a priority. While destroying them wasn’t necessary, knowing their exact locations was essential for the next steps in the plan.
To achieve this, a new type of Recon Bug was deployed. These bugs were incredibly small, smaller by tens to hundreds of times than Luo Wen’s earlier nail-sized miniature bugs. Each individual consisted of only a few dozen cells—Luo Wen’s first experiment with extremely tiny organisms.
Based on the Atmospheric Organism template, these micro bugs required only minimal radiation energy to sustain themselves due to their diminutive size.
With so few cells, their functionality was extremely limited—they could only detect electromagnetic signals within a specific range and frequency band. They had no autonomous mobility and lacked data transmission modules. However, as node units, they could rely on the Swarm Network to relay information.
Their small size also made them inherently stealthy, requiring no additional cloaking modules to evade detection. In space, such minuscule entities were almost impossible to notice. Even if detected, alien civilizations wouldn’t be able to discern their purpose, as these bugs, composed of just a few dozen cells, had no autonomous consciousness or identifiable function.