novelraw Chapter 557: Intelligence and Retreat
Chapter 557: Intelligence and Retreat
Chapter 557 Intelligence and Retreat
Jie Ming floated within the pure white sea of light, his consciousness immersed in the information fragments collected by the Causal Trace Shadow Technique.
Although he had only encountered them once in person, combining these fragmented pieces of information allowed Jie Ming to harvest a considerable amount of intelligence.
“It seems my earlier speculation was correct…”
Basic elemental impact was indeed effective, and the reason it worked was precisely because these information lifeforms were too powerful.
Although these information beings could analyze complex information structures, their own existence still depended on the four major elements.
Their outer energy layer was constructed from elements, and while their core information was abstract, it still required reliance on elements to “exist.”
Their technology truly approached the essence of the world, giving them an overwhelming advantage against most civilized systems.
To put it plainly, when these information beings faced other civilizations, they were like permission dogs, able to directly modify the “game” data from the backend. But because of this, their actual combat power as individuals was quite worrying, when so-called power was nothing more than data they could freely manipulate in their eyes, there was naturally no need to develop physical strength.
However, when an opponent’s attack was more fundamental and prevented them from altering the backend data, this advantage instead became a fatal weakness. “Like a hacker encountering a physical power outage.” This vivid image involuntarily surfaced in Jie Ming’s mind.
No matter how strong your technology is, once the network cable is unplugged, you’re still helpless.
Facts had proven that the four major elements theory, which the wizard civilization relied upon for survival, remained closer to the essence even when compared to such a bizarre civilization. He suddenly thought of the ninth-ring wizards who stood at the pinnacle of the wizard civilization, beings who controlled laws, freely modified the world, and possessed infinite power.
Existences at that level had probably touched upon planes even deeper than the four major elements.
“From this perspective, even when facing ninth-ring equivalents from other civilizations, ninth-ring wizards are probably outrageously strong… I should ask my mentor about ninth-ring wizards next time…”
“But I recall from wizard history records that the wizard civilization had already mastered the four major elements before leaving their origin plane. Looking at it this way, the wizard civilization seems… even more outrageous?”
Jie Ming couldn’t help but draw in a sharp breath. “Speaking of which, does a civilization that hasn’t even stepped out of its own plane really have the ability to naturally develop theoretical technology of this level?”
Jie Ming shook his head, temporarily setting this thought aside.
He continued analyzing the remaining information.
Soon, a fact that made his pupils shrink slightly was analyzed out by the Fate Subsystem.
These information beings, fundamentally could not be killed.
At least not by conventional means.
The information fragments captured by the Causal Trace Shadow Technique showed that the instant the native inhabitant had been crushed by the elemental torrent, its core information had undergone a bizarre “collapse.”
That collapse was not destruction, but “transfer.”
From the data analysis, it appeared to be a form of quantum entanglement, the moment it collapsed here, it synchronously reconstructed elsewhere.
All the information was instantly transmitted back to their main base through some unblockable channel.
Jie Ming’s brows furrowed tightly.
He recalled the expeditionary force intelligence he had read before.
Those high-ranking wizards had tried various methods: spatial freezing, time deceleration, soul imprisonment, causal locking—all ineffective.
Every time, those information beings would either actively dissipate or “die” the instant they were trapped, leaving nothing behind.
At the time, it was thought they were committing suicide.
Now it seemed that was not suicide at all.
It was simply “going home.”
“This kind of…”
Jie Ming fell into deep thought.
From a human perspective, if the body was destroyed and an identical individual was reconstructed elsewhere with completely identical information, could that still be considered the same person?
The memories were the same, the thoughts were the same, all information was the same… but the continuity in between had been severed.
By human ethical standards, that should be considered a copy, not the original.
“But information beings probably don’t think that way.”
Jie Ming recalled the reactions of those native inhabitants.
They fought, retreated, were killed, and reappeared, with no fear or hesitation throughout the entire process.
To them, this might be as natural as a human breathing, merely a form of movement.
“This is troublesome.”
Jie Ming frowned.
They couldn’t be killed, couldn’t be captured, and all conventional methods were ineffective.
So how was this war supposed to be fought?
He took a deep breath and calmed his emotions:
“I shouldn’t limit my thinking to this aspect. Let’s think carefully. Since conventional means cannot cause any meaningful damage, we should approach from the very nature of the information beings’ existence… Since they are composed of information, we should strike from the information side!”
Jie Ming closed his eyes, actively adjusted his own information structure, and began searching for the next target. “Let’s find another target to test!”
Moments later, he “sensed” the location of another native inhabitant.
This time he did not use the elemental torrent.
After locating the target, Jie Ming immediately activated the Causal Trace Shadow Technique without another word.
Pale golden light spread from between his brows, enveloping the native inhabitant.
The core of the Causal Trace Shadow Technique was to capture the target’s causal traces – those past, residual, and entangled pieces of information.
Jie Ming wanted to test whether he could use this spell to reverse-lock onto the opponent’s information core, or even follow the causal lines to locate their main base. But it failed.
The native inhabitant’s outer energy fluctuated violently. The light of the Causal Trace Shadow Technique landed on it like falling onto a slippery, frictionless membrane, unable to penetrate at all.
“Not skilled enough.”
Jie Ming frowned and withdrew the spell.
The native inhabitant seemed to have sensed something and began to observe Jie Ming warily.
But Jie Ming gave it no chance to attack. He directly unleashed an elemental torrent to annihilate it, then adjusted his information and pulled back to search for the next target. The second attempt.
It failed again.
“The casting method is wrong. I should change the way it operates…”
The third time.
Still a failure.
“This… It seems my initial direction of thinking was off…”
Jie Ming could feel that it wasn’t that the spell didn’t work, but that his understanding of these creatures had some deviation, which was why the spell kept failing.
“One more time…”
Just as Jie Ming was about to continue, his entire body suddenly felt a chill as his hairs stood on end.
Danger!
The white light around him twisted violently, and more than a dozen figures emerged simultaneously.
A full thirteen information beings surrounded him from all directions.
Their outer energy layers surged wildly, clearly indicating they had come prepared.
Jie Ming’s frequent probing had finally drawn their attention; the other side was launching a encirclement to eliminate him!
Almost the instant they appeared, those native inhabitants attacked together.
Countless information tentacles surged in from every direction, more than ten times more violent than the previous one’s attack.
The Return to Ruins Armor instantly materialized.
The invisible light shield expanded, blocking the first wave of impact.
Then the second wave.
Then the third wave.
The Return to Ruins Armor began to tremble.
Although the information tentacles were being devoured by the Return to Ruins Concept, the speed of devouring could not keep up with the speed of the impacts.
The light on the surface of the Return to Ruins Armor flickered rapidly, and cracks began to appear…
By the time the opponent launched the fourth wave of attacks, the Return to Ruins Armor shattered.
Pale golden fragments scattered in all directions and vanished into the sea of light.
But Jie Ming had also finished preparing his counterattack.
Golden light blazed brightly between his brows.
The Fate Subsystem operated at full power!
Massive computing power poured out like a bursting flood, instantly reversing the pressure and suppressing the information tentacles of the thirteen native inhabitants.
Those originally violent and disordered information flows were forcibly taken over and suppressed by the Fate Subsystem. All thirteen native inhabitants fell into simultaneous stiffness.
Their outer energy layers fluctuated violently, clearly resisting with all their might.
But the computing power of the Fate Subsystem was too strong.
The information-processing subsystem of the Incense Fire Divine Dao, which gathered the faith streams of billions of believers, erupted with full force at this moment. Relying purely on raw computing power, it suppressed all thirteen native inhabitants in place, rendering them unable to move.
Jie Ming did not waste any time.
He abruptly brought his hands together.
The four major elements around him instantly rioted.
Fire, wind, water, and earth—the four basic elements surged madly from all directions like they had gone insane.
With a slight thought from Jie Ming, the massive amount of elements automatically split into thirteen torrents, each locking onto one of the thirteen native inhabitants.
The outer energy layers of those native inhabitants fluctuated desperately, attempting to analyze these elemental torrents, but there was no way to begin.
This was nothing but a chaotic pile of primitive elements, with no structure to analyze and no logic to tamper with.
They could only endure it head-on.
But when it came to competing in the ability to mobilize elements, how could they possibly compare to wizards who specialized in this path?
The first native inhabitant’s information fluctuated violently as it frantically mobilized the surrounding elemental power to form a shield in front of itself.
However, the moment it was submerged by the elemental torrent, its outer energy layer instantly disintegrated, exposing the information core within.
Then came the second, the third…
In a short time, the information cores of all thirteen native inhabitants were fully exposed under the scouring of the elemental torrents.
The thirteen information cores almost simultaneously collapsed, turning into countless tiny specks of light.
Jie Ming did not stop.
He waved his hands repeatedly, the light of the Causal Trace Shadow Technique enveloping all the dissipating information fragments.
This time, those fragments were forcibly frozen before they could fully transmit back.
Jie Ming pushed the Fate Subsystem to its limit, scooping up every information fragment he could.
Moments later, those fragments completely dissipated.
Jie Ming withdrew his hands and gasped heavily.
Cold sweat drenched his forehead, and the golden light between his brows had dimmed considerably.
The earlier battle had not actually consumed much energy; it was the subsequent collection of information that had exhausted him.
He caught his breath for a few seconds, then raised his head and scanned the surroundings.
The pure white sea of light was deathly silent.
But Jie Ming could sense that undercurrents were surging.
His actions just now had created too much commotion.
Those native inhabitants had definitely noticed him. If he stayed any longer, the next wave would not be just thirteen.
Jie Ming made a decisive decision: “It’s too dangerous now. Retreat first!”
He closed his eyes, adjusted his information structure to minimize his sense of presence, and did his best to retract any leaking information. Then he began slowly “moving” toward the fissure.
The sea of light flowed around him.
After an unknown amount of time, a faint crack appeared ahead—that was the planar barrier.
Jie Ming stepped forward.
The pure white receded, revealing the familiar barren wilderness of the ship plane.
In the distance, the enormous fissure stretched across the horizon.
Nearby, countless wizards were still busy with their own tasks.
Jie Ming landed and let out a long breath.