The moment the thought arose, the Reconnaissance Clone had already moved to the Forging Alliance and secretly attempted to infect individuals of different ranks within them.
"It failed... Based on their physical structure, the Krik People should meet the requirements for infection."
"Stone sculptures are fine, but not living things?"
Thus, the Clone had devoured everything in the ancient Ancient Wilderness withdrew from its Gluttony form and found a suitable insect-like Wilderness Beast to infect.
A moment later...
"It's a success!"
The four consciousnesses jolted simultaneously, but then. "But the infected Wilderness Beast are not under my control."
When Wen Jing devoured the queen ant, she gained [ Elementary Hive Mind ], which gave her some control. However, it was still primary, and the Hive Mind wasn't compatible with every type of insect. Now, the natural Ancient Wilderness depths she had devoured were much deeper than the original giant tree, so this characteristic couldn't be of much use.
Another point is that living Wilderness Beast cannot be brought into the material universe and cannot be used as combat power.
Some insects in the material universe meet the infection conditions, but their physical strength is too low, far inferior to that of machines, and they may not be able to be completely controlled.
At the same time, the consciousness trapped in the Spacetime Amber noticed something.
"Wait, I've also synchronized with the [ Standardization Meme ] capability!"
The characteristics that Wen Jing's other Clone acquired in the past were never synchronized with the Spacetime Amber Clone because the time-space of her body was frozen. When time-space doesn't move, the characteristics acquired by the other Clone are not synchronized.
Is this characteristic a matter of the spiritual realm, or is it related to 'rules' as a core element of industrial-era relics?
She felt that both directions were possible, or perhaps a combination of both, since another characteristic that could also break through the Spacetime Amber seal was the initial [ Consciousness Diversion ] and the now upgraded [ Multiple Consciousnesses ].
"What can I do with this sync feature...?"
Almost instantly, Wen Jing remembered the giant insect that was also sealed in Spacetime Amber and tried to infect it.
"... Success."
Chapter 192
"But what effect will it have?"
The excitement lasted only a moment before Wen Jing fell into new thoughts.
It's true that her Clone synchronized with the [ Standardization Meme ] ability, but she didn't synchronize with the abilities of her other Clone. Therefore, the ability to infect the giant insect is the ability she acquired when she was trapped in the Spacetime Amber.
The two strongest abilities are [ Gravitational Field ] and [ Ice Domain ].
As for [ Multiple Consciousnesses ], they cannot be spread.
It's unclear whether this characteristic is on par with [ Standardization Meme ], or whether the giant insect Wilderness Beast lacks the concept of 'consciousness' or 'intelligent consciousness'.
"How much is uncertain; let's try infecting everyone and see."
Previous experiments have shown that infection is infection, but the Wilderness Beast will not obey Wen Jing as a result.
However, in the special sealed area of Spacetime Amber, some variables are better than no variables.
The best-case scenario is that the properties of the infected giant insect took effect, breaking through the surrounding Spacetime Amber and allowing her to escape.
Even if the giant insect kills her Clone at the same time it breaks through, it would still be a way for her to escape, since she can always sacrifice her mental energy to split off again.
Wen Jing is now fearless of death, but rather of being sealed away.
As for the worst outcome, it would simply be maintaining the existing state.
While the trapped Clone were making attempts, the Strongest Clone on the desolate planet also began to plan advanced tactics based on this characteristic.
The ground beneath the black alien insect's feet suddenly began to sink, and it devoured a large amount of matter.
It wasn't absorbed; rather, it entered her body and began to process rapidly within the [ Biological Furnace ].
Using the technology she learned from the Forging Alliance, almost simultaneously, metallic particles began to emerge from her body, rapidly forming and assembling.
In less than a minute, Wen Jing seemed to undergo mitosis, with more than a dozen mechanical insects sprouting from his body.
The mechanical insect is roughly the size of a large dog. Its six legs serve as a chassis for mobility. The front section is a simple pincer-like collector, the middle section is a small material storage tank, and the rear section is a miniature plasma thruster.
They are purely technological creations. Their movement is controlled by the electromagnetic signals they emit, and the basic chip contains only a very simple set of movement logic: move, collect, return, and unload.
However, Wen Jing endowed them with the characteristic of [ Advanced Rapid Digestion ].
One by one, the mechanical insects came to life, spreading outwards to carry out the collection commands she had given.
"Click click click..."
The mechanical insect's collecting pincers burrowed into the rock strata, and in an instant, the rocks dug out by the pincers seemed to be corroded by an invisible strong acid, quickly softening and decomposing into a mass of gray-black concentrated substance that fell into the raw material silo.
These mechanical insects have no smelting or processing functions, but due to their infection, they directly acquire a portion of Wen Jing's super-strong Digestion ability, making them dozens of times faster than using powerful physical crushing or chemical dissolving functions.
With such efficient Digestion, the raw material warehouse was quickly filled. By the time the first batch of collecting insects returned, the second batch of processing-specific mechanical insects, endowed with the characteristics of a [ Biological Furnace ], had already been manufactured by Wen Jing at the center.
The processing insect was right next to Wen Jing, motionless, its limbs all being flexible mechanical claws.
The raw materials are fed into the cavity of the 'processing insect', skipping the intermediate melting process, and directly extracted into shape, and then quickly assembled by the robotic claw.
One by one, mechanical insects of different shapes are born from this automated production line...
Wen Jing needs to do is to load different 'blueprints' onto the production line and then use memes to give them different extraordinary characteristics.
The technology originated from the Forging Alliance, yet its troop production efficiency reached a level that even the former, and even the higher-level Law String Civilization, could not match.
Gradually, a ring of mechanical insects formed around her.
Moreover, as time goes on, the range of Memetic Infection will become larger and larger, which means that the number of traits and swarms will increase, and their strength will also become higher and higher... eventually creating a sea of swarms with abilities infinitely close to Wen Jing's original body.
Although it has the drawback of needing time to 'develop' and the mechanical swarm's abilities cannot surpass those of her original body, this ability is virtually unbeatable in long-term, head-on battles.
The key point is not just the qualitative change brought about by the combined attack of numbers, but that the mechanical swarm Memetic Infection can use various extraordinary abilities without Wen Jing having to expend any energy.
As long as they are in this state, these mechanical swarms are essentially holding an inexhaustible 'energy black card', which can draw upon unlimited extraordinary energy!
After a series of experiments, Wen Jing recovered and devoured all the mechanical insect swarms, leaving a giant circular crater on the planet that resembled a meteorite impact.
During the experiment, she also discovered the two biggest flaws in this tactic.
One is the issue of control and intelligence.
The underlying foundation for her swarm of insects to execute commands is technology. The most difficult part to produce is currently the chips, and there is a risk that her commands will be interrupted or cracked if she encounters an enemy with a higher level of technology.
Another issue is that the mechanical swarm's damage tolerance is still at the level of ordinary materials; it will attack and destroy, since as mechanical creations they have no cells and therefore cannot be infected by her [ Cellular-Level Regeneration ]. Furthermore, she lacks the technology to create flesh and blood.
As a 'template', Wen Jing herself is unable to even use her own biomass to create infected organisms.
In summary, both are technical bottlenecks.
The latter is beyond the reach of her current technological knowledge, but the former can be solved by leveraging the technological capabilities of the Law String Civilization.
Individuals in the Law String Civilization are independent crystals of consciousness, yet they are connected as one through an omnipresent Resonance Network, sharing perception and thought.
In Resonance Network technology, information is not transmitted through cables or signals, but is shared instantly through 'fields' tuned to the same state. There is no central node, and each unit is both a receiver and a transmitter.
Once Wen Jing grasps this technical principle, there's no need to create complex consciousness crystals like those of the Law String People, which inscribe massive amounts of information, for each mechanical insect. He only needs to create a basic material structure, then evolve a characteristic on his own, and infect it.
In this way, since control originates from extraordinary power, there is naturally no risk of it being taken away.
Of course, this requires overcoming several key technical hurdles: such as the design and stable production of bionic resonant organs, the encoding and encryption of resonant frequencies, and ensuring that it is the highest priority 'main resonant source'...
"It's necessary to spend some time perfecting this ability, and learning the technology of the Law String Civilization can also earn Skill Points..."
Therefore, in addition to the regular Reconnaissance Clone and sealed Clone, the Strongest Clone was also temporarily added to the learning process.
Since his exile into the universe, Wen Jing has added every bit of power he has gained to his plans to resurrect his teacher or take revenge on the Prophet.
The Prophet controls the Awakened Death Squad, and she can also control the Zerg swarm.
Moreover, the Prophet's assassins only have individual abilities, while the swarm she controls can continuously stack the traits she possesses.
Thinking about this, Wen Jing suddenly realized that the reason the Factory World seemed to have endless potential was because her enemy was her.
Otherwise, if other Awakened enter, their talents, abilities, and skills are limited, and even if they are "raised," there is a limit. She, on the other hand, can use Skill Points to forcibly evolve new traits, achieving true infinity.
*
Time flew by as we studied, and in the blink of an eye, more than thirty days had passed.
Suddenly, at one moment, the consciousness sealed within the Spacetime Amber trembled.
After the Clone infected the nearby giant insects with its own characteristics, Wen Jing thought it had no effect. Unexpectedly, after so much time, a change had occurred.
But the specific changes... are quite strange.
After being captured by the Spacetime Amber, the Clone's senses could not receive any external information; in other words, with spacetime frozen, even light could not reach it.
However, Wen Jing's sealed Clone suddenly received a ray of light from the outside world.