But it was instantly breached by that fleeting black crack at the tip of the mechanical insect limb; the outer shell tore apart, revealing the intricate internal tubular structure and reinforced skeleton.
Immediately afterwards, the mechanical insects, possessing the properties of [ Myriad Transformation Furnace ] and [ Advanced Rapid Digestion ], began to devour the warships. The hard materials that could withstand various extreme environments in space were absorbed and became their new outer shells.
Inside the warship, alarms were blaring everywhere.
Space boarding action.
This situation, which would be impossible under normal technological development logic and could only occur in science fiction works of primitive civilizations, is actually playing out at this moment.
"Is this the form of warfare in a Type III civilization...?"
Shock, despair, and the dizziness brought on by the collapse of cognition swept over every citizen of the Empire.
Their war was a clash of giant ships, a distortion of rules, and destruction beyond visual range.
Everything that was happening before their eyes overturned their previous understanding.
Not to mention now, even in the history of the Changheng Civilization, which has rapidly developed to a level two civilization, such a tactic has never appeared.
So much so that it now appears to them as an incomprehensible high technology.
"Distance! The only thing that can limit them is distance!"
The resilience of civilization is unmatched by any individual. Even in the darkest of times, there are still people who continue to think Analysis ways to break the deadlock, thus sparking flashes of wisdom.
Even if they've achieved energy networking and technology sharing using technology we can't comprehend, one thing is observable... their actions are confined to a certain area around the 'reconnaissance aircraft'! That's their sphere of influence!
This discovery was like a lifeline for the people of the Boundary-Breaking Empire, a lifeline they clung to as they drowned.
Although they now knew that the core was Wen Jing, no one had any intention of destroying her anymore.
Their strongest attack area, the distortion field, is completely ineffective against the enemy. Continuing to attack would only lead to their own destruction. The best solution at present is to disperse and escape, preserving the sparks of civilization.
"Escape! Escape as many as you can!"
"Entire fleet, abandon formation, disperse to the maximum extent possible, each ship independently set random jump coordinates, execute immediately!"
The moment the order was given, the previously tight defensive formation collapsed.
Each warship pushed its engine thrust to the limit, even to the point of overload, in an attempt to widen the distance between itself and the swarm of insects.
The expeditionary force that was leaping here also received a new order: cease returning, cease communication, preserve the sparks of civilization, and vanish into deep space.
"For the Empire! For purity and supremacy!"
Those warships that had already been touched by the swarm, and those that had calculated they were destined to be unable to accelerate to a safe distance before the swarm caught up, made a tragic choice at this moment.
Instead of fleeing, they turned their bows around, placing their remaining weapon systems and massive hulls between the Zerg swarm and their allies.
Some even deliberately crash into the densest areas of the swarm, attempting to delay the devouring process with their own structure.
To be honest, the Boundary-Breaking Empire's strategy is the most effective solution to the Zerg swarm tactic.
From a certain perspective, it is Wen Jing's inability to travel extremely long distances via the Ancient Wilderness that is actually hindering the mechanical swarm—her movement limit determines the swarm's movement limit, but theoretically the swarm can actually move indefinitely.
Because of the nature of Memetic Infection, there is no energy consumption or activation interval.
Conversely, if they choose to fight head-on, the swarm will only grow stronger and stronger, eventually leading to their complete annihilation.
The deep space battlefield is divided into two extremes.
A ghostly blue light flickered in the universe. The surfaces of the nine nearest warships were covered with mechanical insects, rendering them powerless and falling into a passive silence.
In the distance, fifteen warships were accelerating wildly.
Inside the warship's command center, the warp drive's charging progress bar continuously updated. "Current space constant calibration completion 46%...47%..."
If a faster-than-light jump is performed when the completion rate reaches 100%, the swarm will be unable to catch up. Even if they do chase, they can only choose one to pursue, since there is only one 'reconnaissance machine' capable of creating a swarm.
One by one, the Changheng people are observing their home planet and their sacrificed compatriots from different locations and in different ways... as well as that terrifying, indelible azure.
Their computing power is astonishing, so everyone can easily calculate that, at the swarm's rate of consumption, the nine warships and everything inside them will be devoured and decomposed as they accelerate.
Perhaps, it will be used to produce even more new individuals.
All this terror stemmed from the dark, insect-like shadow in the center of the battlefield, a shadow they could no longer detect.
A silent farewell to civilization is unfolding.
In the future, these scattered seeds of civilization will carry pain, hatred, fear, and bewilderment... towards the depths of space.
That's how it was supposed to be --
Wen Jing didn't have much time or energy to waste on chasing after the fleeing Changheng people.
Although the Key of Tuning can track general directions, a Level 2 civilization warship has faster-than-light warp technology. It's possible that she had just caught up with it using the Ancient Wilderness Traversal and hadn't even seen the warship before it had already jumped away again.
The nine warships captured so far are enough for her to obtain a large amount of information about civilizations.
The Changheng people who fled from afar thought that the nine warships had been swallowed up by the insect swarm, both inside and out, but in reality, only the outer shell had been swallowed up.
The structure inside embodies the pinnacle of the Boundary-Breaking Empire's technology, and in Wen Jing's eyes, these are all precious Skill Points, so of course he wouldn't let the swarm of insects devour them and turn them into materials.
As for the Changheng people inside the warship... they are currently experiencing a state of intoxication unlike anything they have ever experienced in their civilization's history, all of them trapped in the [ Intoxication ] trait.
This civilization's only language to the outside world is war, so Wen Jing will give them war.
But war is merely a means; her ultimate goal is still the dissemination of civilization.
Originally, capturing nine warships and the Changheng people inside, along with collecting various resource carriers left behind in their star system, would have been enough to obtain most of the information about the Boundary-Breaking Empire, thus completing her mission.
However, at that very moment, just eight minutes before the one-hour deadline for self-destruction.
In the Ancient Wilderness, the two Clone devoured the core of the world, leaving only a last corner.
Just as the world was about to collapse, a long-awaited new notification popped up on the panel.
[Gain the ' Information Touch ' trait]
A mysterious barrier was breached, and apart from the trapped Clone who was unable to perceive the outside world, the other three Clone were all shaken.
The moment Wenjing acquired this property, the world unfolded before Wen Jing from a perspective he had never experienced before.
She could even clearly confirm that this characteristic was different from any she had acquired before; it had reached the 'rule' level represented by S-rank.
State, function, existence...
From the largest warships of the Boundary-Breaking Empire, including the function, wear and tear, and designers of each component, to the smallest particles scattered in nearby space, their size, shape, and past trajectories all reveal to her information that goes straight to the essence.
In the face of Information Perception, all ways of perceiving the world through sight, hearing, touch, or even electromagnetic and gravitational senses are indirect.
The Clone in the Ancient Wilderness continued to devour, while Wen Jing in the material universe turned his gaze to the warship that was accelerating while traveling at sub-light speed, preparing to jump.
From this entirely new information perspective, the amount of information contained in those warships is increasing dramatically.
Because of this overwhelming and desperate war, a cultural explosion is taking place within them.
Just like the Weavers Civilization, which was once destroyed by a single weapon of the Changheng people, countless feelings and thoughts born from it will influence every choice they make in the future.
The concept of cultural accumulation was quantified and displayed in Wen Jing's eyes at this moment.
If they were allowed to escape, would this civilization spark a new revolution many years later?
"What a pity..."
Wen Jing sighed with genuine regret.
Unfortunately, this possibility was destined to never happen again when she acquired the new trait.
She watched from afar as the warships scattered like fireworks into the deep sky, her forelimbs making a soft press.
In an instant, all the evacuation warships that were traveling at near-light speed and preparing to enter warp just a moment before came to a complete stop without experiencing any energy decay buffer.
"What happened? Why is this happening?!"
After their initial shock, the commanders and engineers on board the warship immediately began to conduct repeated inspections using various methods.
The warp drive has no problems with its structure or power supply; each component works perfectly when disassembled. However, when they are assembled into a complete warp drive, it loses its intended function.
At that moment, it was as if they understood that the technological foundation they had built over hundreds of thousands of years was flawed from the very beginning, and did not exist.
Because Wen Jing 'suppressed' the information about the warship's engine functions.
Simply seeing information is only called vision; being able to directly interfere with and influence information is what constitutes " Information Touch "!
Chapter 207
Wen Jing is adapting to a completely new sensory world.
The red light and abbreviations she used to see when using Tactical Glasses to assess strength can be understood as a weakened version of Information Perception, but the target was limited to Wilderness Beast and Awakened.
Now, the scope has been expanded to include the properties and states of all visible life and matter.
The amount of information that needs to be processed at the same time has increased by tens of thousands of times compared to the past, and some effort even needs to be devoted to filtering out temporarily useless information.
It's fortunate that she has Multiple Consciousnesses; otherwise, with only one consciousness, even if she could receive information, she wouldn't be able to process it all.
To be precise, the scope of [ Information Touch ] ability depends on the information processing capabilities of the Wen Jing.
However, the Tactical Glasses also disappeared along with the core of the 'home' world when she devoured it, unlike the bronze fragments which continued to exist.