286: "Dust Bomb" and "Decapitation" Simulation

The images of the "Beehive" brought back by the eye of dust weighed on everyone's hearts like a cold, massive boulder. That thing was no ragtag group; it was a legitimate "remnant of a war machine." Although it might only be a small fraction of its prime, a starved camel is still bigger than a horse—who knew how many trump cards it still had up its sleeve?

"A direct assault definitely won't work," Zhao Iron Pillar said, in a rare moment of calmness. "Compared to its scale, our 'Hidden Dragon' is like a mosquito biting an elephant, and a mosquito that's only just learned to fly at that."

"If we can't go at it head-on, we'll use underhanded tactics." Wen Youyi stared at the dense network of energy conduits and the suspected core area on the "Beehive" structural diagram. "Since the eye of dust was able to drift inside without being stopped, it means its defense System is blind to 'harmless dust.' What if what we send inside isn't an 'eye,' but a 'bomb'?"

"Micro-dust Bomb?" Senior Brother Li's eyes widened like copper bells. "Setting off firecrackers inside its heart module? This idea... is wicked enough! I like it!"

The blood of these technical fanatics was ignited once again. But what they needed to build this time wasn't an "eye," but a "micro-bomb" that could detonate right under the Bee Queen's nose, increasing the difficulty exponentially.

The primary challenge: power. Something the size of a grain of sand, even if packed full of high-energy explosives (if they even existed), how much of a commotion could it make? It wouldn't even be enough to scratch the "Beehive."

"We can't rely on brute force; we need some finesse." Senior Brother Zhang pushed up his glasses and stared at the "Beehive" energy distribution map. "Look here. These energy conduits, especially the areas near the core, have extremely high energy flow intensity, but the conduit walls seem... not particularly thick? What if the 'micro-dust bombs' we build don't aim for explosive power themselves, but are designed as energy overload inducers?"

"What does that mean?" Xiao Wu didn't understand.

"It's like throwing a small pebble into a pressure cooker. The pebble itself has no power, but it could jam the valve or cause an imbalance in the pressure inside the pot, leading the pressure cooker to explode on its own." Wen Youyi understood Senior Brother Zhang's line of thought. "Our 'bombs' can be designed so that once activated by the Bee Queen's command (or activated by our remote control), they immediately release a high-intensity, specific-frequency energy pulse to interfere with and strike the stable nodes of the 'Beehive' energy conduits, inducing local overload and a chain collapse!"

"Right! Especially those critical conduits connecting the Bee Queen's core processing unit and the external command transmitters!" Senior Brother Li added excitedly. "As long as we can cause even a few moments of energy turbulence or interruption, the Bee Queen's command System could be paralyzed, and the entire Swarm would become like a headless fly!"

"We could even design the 'bombs' as 'information virus' carriers," Wang Wu chimed in with an idea. "While creating the energy impact, we could send a large amount of junk commands or logically conflicting data packets to the Bee Queen's core, and while she's 'dizzy and confused,' plant some 'Trojan horses' or 'worms' into her System!"

Everyone chimed in, and a sinister yet highly imaginative "Micro-dust Decapitation" plan gradually took shape. The core idea was: create a batch of "micro-special operations units" disguised as space dust, infiltrate using the "Beehive" defense vulnerabilities, lurk near key energy nodes, and then, at a predetermined time or upon receiving a specific signal, attack simultaneously to create chaos from within, paralyze the command, and even attempt to hack the System.

This plan was named "Dust Mite Operation"—as small as dust, and like mites, burrowing into the enemy's most uncomfortable places to cause trouble.

Of course, the implementation was fraught with difficulties.

The "special micro-dust" required a more complex internal structure: an energy sensing and receiving unit, a high-energy pulse generator, a simple logic processing core (to determine when to activate and what attack mode to use), and a miniature directional signal transceiver capable of penetrating the "Beehive" internal interference (used to receive activation commands or send status reports).

The volume had to be strictly controlled, the Materials had to be extremely inert to pass through external defenses, the internal energy had to be highly compressed and stable (it couldn't explode before reaching its destination), and it also had to be able to withstand the potential high-temperature, high-pressure, and high-radiation environment inside the "Beehive"...

Senior Brother Li and Senior Brother Zhang led the technical team on another grueling marathon of hard work. The Materials laboratory was clanging and banging all day, and from the energy testing room, the sounds of small-scale explosions and wails of "another one ruined" could be heard from time to time.

"No good! This structure is too complex, the volume exceeds the limit!"

"The energy compression ratio isn't high enough! This level of power couldn't even stir a single hair!"

"The radiation-resistant coating doesn't pass! It failed after three seconds in the simulated environment test!"

"The logic core power consumption is too high! The micro-energy source can't support the planned lurking time!"

Problems came one after another, but no one was discouraged. On the contrary, every time a small problem was solved, everyone felt like they had won a battle. The base was filled with an excitement and focus of "doing something big."

Meanwhile, Wen Youyi, Wang Wu, and the others were not idle. Using the data sent back by the eye of dust, combined with the continuous monitoring of the Thousand Eyes network, they began a deeper analysis and modeling of the "Beehive's" structure, energy flow patterns, and the Bee Queen's command emission cycles.

They needed to identify the most vulnerable energy nodes, deduce the Bee Queen's possible reactions and emergency measures when encountering an internal attack, and design the most effective attack combinations and timing.

"Look, the Bee Queen's command emission has a clear periodicity. Every about one hour (base time), there is a 'strong command tide' used to summarize reports from various patrol squads, update tasks, and fine-tune deployments. At this time, her core energy fluctuations are the most active, and she might also be the most sensitive to external energy interference." Wang Wu analyzed the waveform chart.

"But defenses might also be tightest at this time," Mo Chen raised a question. "Could there be additional detection mechanisms?"

"Risk and opportunity coexist." Wen Youyi pondered. "Perhaps we can take advantage of this 'active period.' Our 'micro-dust' signals will be easier to mix into its command stream, be received, and be 'falsely activated.' Moreover, while she is 'fully focused' on commanding, internal defenses might actually have lapses."

They also simulated various attack scenarios: single-node overload, simultaneous interference at multiple points, energy impact combined with information virus injection... They even envisioned an ideal situation: if they could paralyze the Bee Queen's core command for even a few dozen moments, would the external Swarm, losing unified coordination, fall into chaos or even kill each other?

"Don't forget, we still have the Bee Language Maze technology," Wen Youyi added. "If, during the window when the Bee Queen is incapacitated, we impersonate the Bee Queen or a higher-level command source and send some contradictory commands to the chaotic Swarm, could it intensify the confusion or even trigger an internal purge among them?"

This idea made everyone both excited and chilled to the bone. This was no longer simple destruction; it was an attempt to subvert and control a massive automated war System from within!

Of course, they also made preparations for the worst-case scenario: if the Dust Mite Operation failed and exposed their intentions and technology, the Bee Queen would likely launch a more violent and targeted retaliation. Therefore, the base's defense and evacuation plans also had to be upgraded simultaneously.

Time flew by during the tense preparations.

Half a month later, after countless failures and improvements, the first batch of five hundred "special micro-dust"—internal codename "Dust Mite One"—finally passed all simulated environment tests and was declared complete!

These "Dust Mites" were still the size of sand grains. Their outer shells were made of improved, highly inert, radar-absorbent Materials, and they integrated a miniature high-energy pulse generator (frequency-adjustable), a simplified logic core, and an extremely weak receiver capable only of receiving specific encrypted wake-up signals. They were designed to, upon receiving the wake-up signal, immediately perform a final quick scan of the surrounding energy environment, lock onto the conduit node with the strongest energy fluctuations, and then release all stored energy to form a directional high-frequency shock pulse.

The five hundred "Dust Mites" were planned to be deployed in five batches, utilizing different energy flows and gaps in the wreckage to be scattered toward different directions of the area where the "Beehive" was located, increasing the success rate of infiltration.

The "Hidden Dragon" once again shouldered the heavy responsibility of the "Sower." This time, its actions were even more cautious, its flight path planning more circuitous, striving to complete this deadly "sowing" while the Swarm's attention was diverted in other directions (the areas suffering from the aftereffects of the previous "logic bombs").

Standing by the dock, watching the silver hull of the "Hidden Dragon" slowly slide into the starry sky, Wen Youyi silently recited in his heart.

This time, what they were sowing into the abyss was no longer eyes.

It was the fury of dust... attempting to shake the behemoth.

(End of Chapter)