I Am The Swarm

The Longevity Plant, although a creation of the Swarm, was presented as a wild species, seemingly unconnected to the Swarm.

For a faction like the Riken that had been operating on Great Dawn Planet for years, the large-scale conflict with Godzilla wouldn’t have escaped the Swarm’s notice.

Once the Swarm identified such activity, it would have been illogical not to exploit the opportunity. Overplaying their hand would seem too deliberate, undermining the Swarm’s intelligence and insulting any potential observers.

Thus, it was only reasonable that the Swarm had introduced fungal carpet seeds into the Longevity Plants.

There were flaws, of course—like the current Godzilla being a product of the Swarm, raising questions about whether any observers had witnessed the wild version of Godzilla being killed by the Swarm.

As a biological civilization, the Swarm could justify replicating a Godzilla. The reason could even be framed as precautionary, ensuring the Riken didn’t suspect anomalies. But why reveal it? Why was there Longevity Plant evidence in the nest?

Luo Wen had no solution for these inconsistencies. He could only hope that during that period, the Swarm was not worthy of attention. After all, at the time, his perspective and vigilance weren’t high enough to anticipate these issues.

As for whether the Swarm’s actions would be detected by potential observers, Luo Wen thought it was possible, if they existed. But who could say for sure? Sometimes exposing a little while concealing the rest might even bait hidden enemies into action. After all, the unseen threat was always the more terrifying.

Through the Intelligent Entities embedded within the Riken, especially with Lieutenant Colonel Cross in a senior position, the Swarm had complete insight into the Riken’s movements and decisions.

The special operations team had made multiple trips to Godzilla’s nest, harvesting large quantities of Longevity Plants. With an abundance of experimental material, Dr. Balt’s research had made significant progress. Perhaps in a few more years, he might even develop a side-effect-free longevity serum.

However, the Swarm’s groundwork was complete, its strategic objectives achieved. Luo Wen was eager to proceed with the next phase of his plan.

“Overlord, calculations show that Great Ursa Planet will be at its closest to Great Dawn Planet in eleven days.”

“Excellent. The Riken have been here long enough. It’s time to send them home.”

“General, our scout ship near T855 has been attacked,” a crew member reported abruptly.

“What’s the situation?!” General Masai demanded in shock.

“Our drones and satellites have lost contact. This is the last set of data they transmitted.”

On the screen before General Masai, several images and textual reports were displayed. They were nearly identical: the systems detected targeting, and then, without locating any attacker, the feed abruptly cut out.

“Have you deduced their method of attack?”

With the aid of artificial intelligence, the crew rapidly analyzed the data. After a few minutes, one responded: “General, when slowing down one of the videos by twenty thousand times, we discovered a projectile. Based on the energy level and speed of the attack, the enemy most likely used electromagnetic railguns.”

“A completely different technological paradigm,” General Masai mused. The enemy had developed a path starkly different from the Riken’s energy-based weaponry, opting instead to master physical systems.

Back when the Riken fleet established their base near T853, Great Dawn Planet’s orbit, they had dispatched several unmanned reconnaissance ships to T855, deploying satellites into its orbit.

These reconnaissance devices had not detected any anomalies on T855, as though no hidden forces were present. If not for the Cat’s Ear Spaceship’s disappearance and the message it transmitted, General Masai might have believed it.

However, their mission was not to conquer the barren T855. Since the enemy hadn’t revealed themselves, the Riken felt no rush, focusing on developing T853. The more time passed, the greater their advantage. Once their surface facilities and orbital factories were complete, along with satellite-mounted cannons, eliminating the enemy would be effortless. ɽÅƝȮꞖËș

During this period, the general’s attention had been entirely on the progress of the longevity serum, almost forgetting about the T855 forces. That was, until the sudden attack.

Why now? Could it be because the two planets were drawing closer? If so, the enemy was concerned about the attack range.

Why care about the distance? Unless it was a limitation. This implied their propulsion technology was relatively primitive. Newly emerging space civilizations commonly faced this issue. The Riken would have as well without external intervention.

Between T853 and T855, even at their closest, the planets were nearly 600 million kilometers apart. If the enemy hadn’t ventured beyond their star system, their speed likely hadn’t reached the system’s escape velocity.

Based on Riken calculations, the T85 star system’s escape velocity was 17.2 km/s. Even at that speed, traveling from T855 to T853 would take over 400 days. Factoring in the planets drifting apart, the journey would take far longer.

Why would they attack now? Staying hidden on T855 and ambushing the Riken fleet seemed a better strategy. Given their advanced stealth technology, such an ambush might have inflicted severe losses.

Could it be they weren’t targeting the Riken fleet but merely aiming to disable their reconnaissance equipment? Why wait until now?

General Masai couldn’t understand the reasoning, nor could his captains or advisors decipher the alien civilization’s actions. However, since the enemy had the capability for spaceflight, they must have a plan.

Still, daring to strike first required a severe counterattack.

Under the general’s command, the Riken fleet prepared for battle. Energy systems, weaponry, and training routines were checked and executed in a flurry of activity.

On Great Ursa Planet’s satellites, the ground heaved as purple-gray, flesh-like plants emerged from the surface, writhing as though pulling their bodies out from the depths.

Gradually, colossal wall-like structures rose, part of the Swarm’s long-hidden electromagnetic launch systems.

These were ground-based versions of the Swarm’s orbital electromagnetic megastructures, adapted from the fungal carpet template.

Ever since the Swarm mastered biological fusion reactors, these “mini suns” provided enough energy for rapid underground growth.

As modular extensions of the fungal carpet, the launch systems could move slowly within its body.

One by one, the platforms emerged, their sizes varied but generally spanning over a hundred kilometers. On smaller planets, some stretched across half the surface.

Massive space squids emerged from their hiding places. Larval and smaller mature bodies burrowed into primordial space octopus bodies.

[T/N: I don’t know why the author started calling them space octopus instead of bio-ships.]

These behemoths, each over 500 meters long, lined up to enter the electromagnetic launch platforms, from which they were hurled into space.

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