Chapter 428: Coveted Secrets
Withdrawing entirely from a star system is a massive undertaking. After occupying such a system for centuries, any civilization would have built extensive infrastructure and relocated a significant population.
Ordinarily, a civilization might require nearly a century to withdraw completely, and even that wouldn’t be enough for a clean departure.
The Ji’s twenty-year deadline for the Swarm was clearly intended to be difficult—perhaps with ulterior motives. By forcing the Swarm to rush their withdrawal, they likely hoped something would be left behind to examine.
However, the Swarm’s personnel and unit structures were fundamentally different from those of mechanical civilizations, which greatly influenced the speed of their operations.
The Swarm didn’t have the burden of countless “individuals” to evacuate, nor did they need to dismantle colonies. If they abandoned the Fungal Carpet and fixed defenses, the Swarm could pack up and leave in mere days.
Still, since the Ji had granted twenty years, the Swarm intended to use the time to their fullest advantage.
As the Swarm began their withdrawal, various observation devices were deployed around key sites like Planet Raze, Planet Izumo, and the Swarm’s solar orbit bases.
These devices came from different factions and civilizations, but they all shared the same goal, to exploit the Swarm’s departure to uncover its secrets. During such a large-scale operation, some valuable information was bound to be exposed. While the Swarm couldn’t entirely avoid this, they could do their best to minimize the damage.
Nearly all of the Swarm’s spacefaring units and facilities were derived from, or compatible with, the Fungal Carpet. As they prepared to leave, the Swarm integrated fixed surface weapons like electromagnetic and energy cannons into their Space Octopuses. The size and number of these components made them impossible to conceal, but Luo Wen wasn’t concerned.