284: Logic traps and "swarm" short circuits

The success of the 'Bee Language Maze' operation was like an adrenaline shot injected into the 'Spark' base.

The technical team walked with a spring in their step, as if they had cracked the ultimate code of the Universe.

But Wen Youyi knew very well that fooling a few 'small fry' was only the first step.

To truly shake or even dismantle the 'Swarm' System, they had to touch upon its deeper logic.

'We can't keep playing the 'boy who cried wolf' game,' Wen Youyi said, tapping the table during the tactical analysis meeting.

'The 'Bee Queen' might not notice for a while, but if there are too many similar anomaly reports, she will definitely initiate a verification procedure.'

'What we need is to give her a 'headache' and make her 'unable to balance the books'.'

'You mean... trip them up with some 'logic traps'?' Senior Brother Li asked, thoughtful.

'For example, making the commands self-contradictory?'

'Not just that,' Wen Youyi said, pulling up an energy spectrum regarding task priority determination that had been analyzed from a 'Worker Bee' sample.

'Look here, their task logic core has a few very rigid 'rules'.'

'For example, 'attack threat target' has a higher priority than 'resource recovery', 'return to nest command' has priority over all non-offensive tasks, 'receive higher authority command' can override 'current command'... and so on.'

'These rules themselves are fine and ensure they operate efficiently. But what if we trigger multiple rules simultaneously and make them conflict with each other?' Senior Brother Zhang's eyes lit up.

'For example, we fake a signal of 'discovering high-value rare resources' to lure a patrol team to 'recover' them, and at the same time, simulate the 'Bee Queen' issuing a command of 'high-threat target discovered, emergency assembly for attack', and the location of this 'high-threat target' happens to be right on the path of that patrol team heading to 'recover resources'?'

'Then, this poor patrol team will face a 'logic dilemma',' Wang Wu chimed in, his tone carrying a hint of mischievous excitement.

'Should it go to 'recover resources' first (low priority), or immediately turn to 'attack target' (high priority)?'

' 'Attack' has priority, but the 'resource' is right in front of them, and the 'recovery' command might also have been issued by the 'Bee Queen' earlier (which we faked)... Both commands come from the 'Bee Queen', so which one should they listen to? Will their 'little brains' 'burn out'?'

'Even more extreme,' Mo Chen joined the brainstorming session, 'we fake a distress signal from a 'friendly patrol team': 'Encountered a strong enemy, coordinates XXX, urgent need for support!' At the same time, we have the 'Bee Queen' issue them a command: 'Hold position, do not move without authorization'. 'Support friendly forces' is a latent rule, 'obey highest command' is a core rule—they'll clash.'

The bridge was filled with a lively atmosphere. Everyone chimed in with all sorts of devious ideas, as if they were planning a grand prank against cold machines.

Of course, jokes were jokes, but the specific plan had to be rigorous.

The technical team began to design several specific 'logic conflict command packages'.

Each one contained two or more commands that would conflict under the 'Swarm' judgment rules, and they carefully set the transmission sequence, time interval, and energy characteristics of the commands, striving to maximize the conflict.

At the same time, in order to observe the effects, 'Hidden Dragon' also needed targeted modifications.

In addition to the communication array, it needed enhanced close-range, high-precision energy state monitoring equipment so that when a 'Worker Bee' fell into logic confusion, they could record the abnormal changes in its internal energy flow in detail.

This would be valuable data for researching the vulnerability of the 'Swarm' System.

A few days later, several 'logic bomb' command packages were ready.

The target selected was a slightly larger (twelve 'Worker Bees') 'Patrol Team Three' with a relatively fixed patrol route.

'Hidden Dragon' set out again, carrying a hint of excitement about 'stirring up trouble.'

The operation location was chosen in an airspace where debris was relatively sparse and easy to observe.

'Hidden Dragon' lurked in the shadows, locking onto Patrol Team Three, which was cruising according to schedule.

'First round, simple conflict test,' Wen Youyi ordered.

'Send Command A: 'Flowing Silver' rich ore vein discovered at forward coordinates (high-value resource), proceed immediately to evaluate and mark.''

A cold 'Bee Queen command' was sent out.

After receiving it, Patrol Team Three 'thought' for a moment (energy circuit operation), then turned and flew towards the coordinates of the fake 'ore vein.'

'Wait until they are halfway there,' Wen Youyi said, staring at the distance.

'Send Command B: 'Small 'Star People' detection unit discovered (high-threat target), located at coordinates YYY (right next to the 'ore vein' coordinates), threat level: high, proceed immediately to eliminate! Priority: Highest!''

The second, more forceful command marked 'urgent' was sent.

The neat flight formation of Patrol Team Three suddenly jerked to a halt!

The streamers on the bodies of the twelve 'Worker Bees' instantly became extremely chaotic, flickering at high frequency!

They seemed to be 'stunned' in place, neither moving forward nor turning.

The energy flow of some 'Worker Bees' showed a strong tendency to 'attack target,' while others were still 'obsessed' with the previous 'evaluate ore vein' command.

The entire team was like a jammed gear, trembling slightly in the air and spinning in place, their formation somewhat scattered.

'Conflict triggered! Logic judgment is experiencing severe delay and disorder!' Senior Brother Li excitedly recorded the data.

'Internal energy consumption increased by 300%! Decision circuits show signs of overload!'

This chaos lasted for about ten breaths.

Suddenly, the streamers of all the 'Worker Bees' unified sharply, and they turned in unison towards the 'high-threat target' coordinates, abandoning the 'ore vein.'

It seemed that in the end, the higher-priority rule of 'attack high-threat target' forcibly overrode the others.

'It seems that under simple conflict, they have a final mandatory arbitration mechanism, taking the highest priority command as the standard,' Senior Brother Zhang analyzed.

'But this process consumed extra time and energy, and resulted in a brief 'downtime'.'

'Very good, this shows that their System is not seamless. Then, let's try something more complex.'

The light in Wen Youyi's eyes grew brighter.

Next, they tested the conflict between 'support friendly forces' vs 'hold position,' and even tried faking contradictory distress signals from different 'friendly' units (one shouting 'Enemy in the east!', another shouting 'Emergency in the west!').

The scene was once very 'comical'.

Patrol Team Three was like a group of headless flies, swaying back and forth between the east and west directions, hesitant.

The streamers on their bodies flickered like a disco ball, and the degree of energy disorder soared.

Once, two 'Worker Bees' almost collided because they had different 'judgments'.

'They are 'arguing' internally! They reached different 'conclusions' based on different information inputs!' Wang Wu recorded, holding back laughter.

'Although they eventually unify actions through some kind of 'voting' or 'forced synchronization' mechanism, the efficiency is appallingly low!'

In the most successful test, they sent a meticulously designed 'logic bomb' containing three mutually nested contradictory commands.

The gist of the commands was: 1. Patrol to Point A; 2. After receiving Command 1, immediately proceed to Point B to attack (Point B is in the opposite direction of Point A); 3. During the execution of Command 2, if a highest-level 'Bee Queen' alert is received from Point C (another direction), proceed unconditionally to Point C, but the content of that alert is 'Bee Queen entity appeared at Point A, needs protection'...

After this combo, Patrol Team Three was completely 'bewildered'.

The twelve dark gold crystals spun and shook crazily in the air, their streamers in a complete mess, almost unrecognizable in their original form, like a Swarm of drunken golden bees.

They even began to pointlessly fire low-intensity energy pulses at each other (suspected misfires caused by internal communication disorder).

Although it didn't cause damage, the scene was extremely chaotic.

This 'short circuit' state lasted for a full half-cup of tea time, before barely recovering its basic formation after a violent energy fluctuation that felt like a 'forced restart,' and then...

They actually threw away all the chaotic commands and flew back at full speed towards the 'Anvil' nest without looking back!

'They 'crashed'! They chose the lowest-level safety command of 'retreat to nest'!' Xiao Wu exclaimed.

'Recorded! The energy characteristics of the forced restart and the 'clearing' process of the logic circuits!' Senior Brother Li was as happy as if he had found a treasure.

'This is a major discovery! It shows that under extreme logic conflict, their System will trigger a protection mechanism, abandon the mission, and return to the initial state! This might be our Breakthrough for creating greater chaos or even System paralysis in the future!'

'Hidden Dragon' withdrew with full 'spoils' and data, feeling satisfied.

This operation not only verified the feasibility of 'logic attacks,' but also provided a glimpse into the deep-seated vulnerability of the 'Swarm' System.

'It seems that no matter how precise a machine is, it fears unreasonable 'wild punches',' Wen Youyi summarized.

'However, the commotion we caused this time is not small. Patrol Team Three's abnormal return to the nest will definitely attract the 'Bee Queen's' attention and in-depth verification. In the short term, we cannot perform the same operation on the same area or similar targets.'

'Then what do we do next?' Zhao Iron Pillar asked. 'Wait for the 'Bee Queen' to come investigating?'

'No,' Wen Youyi shook his head, his gaze cast towards the deeper parts of the star map.

'The 'Bee Queen's' attention has been drawn here; perhaps... this is just the right opportunity for us to deploy some more covert 'eyes' and 'ears' into the core area of the 'Anvil'.'

Openly repair the plank road, while secretly crossing the Chencang.

On the chessboard of information warfare, a brilliant move is often hidden behind the noise.

(End of chapter)