I Am The Swarm-Chapter 770: Interception

Tens of thousands of ships launching at once were like tens of thousands of eyes watching one another. Given that their technological levels were fairly equal, this situation would persist for quite some time—possibly even until the Ji race’s fleet arrived.

In this way, not only did the operation fail to mislead the Ji race, it actually helped them narrow down the Empress’s position.

But of course, the mysterious organization wasn’t that foolish. This was all part of their deliberate strategy.

Though the vessel carrying Sarah looked like a design from an Outer-ring civilization, it was in fact a custom-made ship packed with advanced technology.

Not only did it boast a travel speed far beyond the capabilities of Mid-ring civilization ships, it was also equipped with a stealth system. While this system was ineffective against Ji race warships, it was more than sufficient to evade the surveillance and detection systems of the surrounding Mid-ring merchant vessels.

While the Ji race’s attention was locked onto the tens of thousands of decoy ships, the vessel carrying the Swarm Empress had already separated from the main group and quietly departed ahead of schedule.

“Something’s off. Those rats know us far too well to devise a plan with such obvious flaws—there has to be a catch,” one Ji race commander remarked. While they were admittedly somewhat arrogant, it was a pride inherited through hundreds of thousands of years of tradition. Beyond that, their professionalism was indisputable, and they quickly noticed something unusual.

“I get the same feeling. These ships seem designed specifically to distract us.”

“If that’s true, then it means the target has either not left yet… or has already left.”

“I believe she’s already gone. There’s no reason for her to stay. She must know that we won’t lift the lockdown until she’s found.”

“Then… a stealth ship?”

“Highly likely. Selina, start auditing the ship records from all three star systems.”

Even with Selina’s capabilities, this task was extremely difficult. Not because the number of ships exceeded her computational capacity, but because the audit itself was nearly impossible. Even Lumina would have struggled with it.

In Mid-ring civilizations, interstellar-capable ships weren’t rare—many individuals owned personal starships.

Although Lumina was a godlike entity in the virtual network, its understanding of the physical world still depended on external devices.

And many of these private ships weren’t stored in official docks. Some were hidden in personal hangars, others parked in forests, rivers, lakes—anywhere, really. Many of these places had no surveillance at all.

If you can’t even see the ships, how can you count them? Officially registered ships were manageable, but this region was a major transit hub. Ships came and went by the thousands each day. And with constant wear and tear, there were shipyards and parts depots everywhere. It wasn’t difficult for someone with expertise to cobble together a fully functional ship from salvaged parts. Naturally, these ships wouldn’t be registered anywhere. Among the three star systems, untraceable ships were too numerous to count.

And since the mysterious organization had planned this thoroughly, the vessel they crafted naturally fell into the untraceable category. If it had never appeared in front of a surveillance camera from the moment it was built, then to Lumina, it was effectively invisible.

Sure enough, when Selina’s audit report was completed, the Ji race commanders found it virtually useless. The target had vanished before their eyes—again.

“No matter. Even if the ship’s invisible, it can’t just build a Star Gate and escape. Based on its projected speed, even if we widen the search range, the target is still within our encirclement.”

“Exactly. As long as we stick to the plan, she can’t escape.”

Time crept forward. Nearly a year had passed. The vessel had traveled about seven light-years—but at this rate, it would take an eternity to reach the Swarm’s territory.

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Meanwhile, the Ji race had not been idle. Half a year ago, the XM768 Star Gate was finally repaired, and squadrons of Ji warships poured through it.

Over the following six months, they not only deployed countless scouting units into space, but also took over blockade operations across the three star systems. Massive numbers of Ji soldiers and mechanical units were deployed across various planets to conduct sweeping searches.

In space, the slower ships that had left those systems at the start were now being caught. For ships clearly involved in hostile activities, the Ji race used brutal tactics. Once they confirmed the Swarm Empress wasn’t aboard, the ships were rarely spared.

During this time, the mysterious organization spared no effort, staging multiple diversionary operations. But with the Star Gate now open and manpower no longer an issue, the Ji race’s intelligence network grew stronger by the day.

When one can access and analyze all the data and variables in a region, they essentially become omniscient within it. As the empty algorithmic models were gradually filled in with data, the web of misdirection created by the mysterious organization began to unravel under Ji scrutiny.

As entire zones of suspicion were eliminated, the space in which Sarah could be hiding began to shrink—her location slowly being cornered and locked down.

“There aren’t many places left. Deploy more surveillance equipment—we must leave no blind spots in this region of space.”

“Already arranged. Now that we have the Star Gate, our reinforcements are effectively limitless.”

“Hmph. The Swarm probably never imagined how vast the gap would be between having a Star Gate and not having one.”

“As a young species, their perspective is understandably limited. But don’t forget about those rats—they certainly know. The question is what countermeasures they’ll come up with. We should remain cautious.”

“What’s there to be cautious about? In just half a year, we’ve deployed over one hundred million warships from more than three hundred sectors. And that’s under tight time constraints. Even if the Star Gate were destroyed right now, we’ve already got more than enough troops here.”

“Exactly. Do those rats really dare face us head-on?”

“Don’t forget how they snatched the target last time. Who knows how many of their people are hiding in our fleets.”

“That’s a valid concern. Still, Lumina has been purging the infiltrators all year long. Their top brass must be regretting their decision deeply by now.”

“Indeed. Their losses this time have been significant. I wonder how that will affect their cooperation with the Swarm.”