I Am The Swarm

Luo Wen carefully recalled the details. During negotiations, Bular had inadvertently disclosed a wealth of information—not only things Luo Wen was already aware of but also numerous bits of insider gossip, such as information about the Descendants faction.

And then, almost immediately, the Descendants sent representatives? No wonder the timing and location of the five-member Ji group’s appearance seemed so peculiar, and their acquisition of negotiation authority so inexplicable. Was it because there wasn’t enough time to set the stage properly?

Luo Wen furrowed his brow in thought. No, no, he was still making some assumptions. The opposing side didn’t know the Swarm’s methods, so theoretically, the Swarm shouldn’t have any knowledge about the five-member group’s true origins.

From that perspective, the Swarm should only know that the five-member group belonged to the Descendants faction. And, given Bular’s earlier “education session,” the arrogance and haughtiness of these Descendants would seem entirely expected.

Based on surface-level information, the Swarm might also deduce that the five-member group held extraordinary status. Thus, Troi’s shift in attitude under their pressure would appear reasonable.

Moreover, their apparent concept of time—where twenty years of negotiations felt like nothing—gave the Swarm the impression that their efficiency was abysmal. So, the protracted negotiations weren’t surprising at all.

In fact, if not for the Riken System campaign, these talks might have dragged on indefinitely.

With this in mind, the strategist’s goal became obvious. But this realization made Luo Wen doubt his conclusions. He went back to the start, retraced his reasoning, and still arrived at the same conclusion: the other side was buying time for the Swarm.

Indeed, reality was even more bizarre than imagined.

Could the Swarm have an invisible ally? Was Luo Wen some heir to a mighty civilization, with countless factions secretly paving the way for him?

If Luo Wen didn’t know for a fact that he was an entirely foreign species, he might have started believing it himself.

Since it wasn’t some “grooming a successor” scheme, what was the opposing side’s goal?

The strategist clearly understood the Swarm to some extent, knowing that time was their most critical need. Their deliberate stalling was intended to grant the Swarm room to grow.

If this reasoning held, then Troi’s 200,000-strong fleet pressing at their borders was merely a form of pressure, urging the Swarm to develop at maximum speed. In other words, granting the Swarm extra time wasn’t an easy task for the strategist. They needed to limit the time granted as much as possible.

That implied the existence of an even more powerful force above the strategist! Luo Wen raised an eyebrow. That made sense—if they were already the strongest, they wouldn’t need to act so covertly.

The Daqi civilization’s attempt at revenge was likely part of the strategist’s plan as well—a form of evaluation or test? To gauge the Swarm’s progress?

But the Swarm’s military strength was already on full display. There was no need for war; a few observations could provide a rough estimate.

Odd. Luo Wen fell into deep thought again.

Wait. Luo Wen suddenly realized he had fallen into an intelligence trap. What he assumed to be common knowledge was, in fact, unknown to many. While he knew that the Primordial bodies were the real deal, the shadowy strategist did not.

Did the strategist think the Swarm might resort to producing substandard units under pressure, creating defective “filler” troops to bluff their way into an imposing display? Perhaps this was why they sent a subordinate to inspect the goods.

Of course, pawns like the Daqi civilization were likely unaware of the deeper schemes at play. As for the Troi civilization, though they were also pawns, these “300-pound muscular brutes” seemed to be more clever than they initially appeared.

The Riken System campaign had clearly left the hidden strategist impressed—perhaps overly so—with the Swarm’s rapid development. This was evident from the sudden shift in the negotiation pace at Origin A11. ɌäＮŏβΕṧ

The abrupt change from stalling for time to rushing to conclude the talks was anything but subtle. The transition was jarring, riddled with flaws, forcing Luo Wen to rethink everything and connect the dots to draw new conclusions.

It seemed the strategist’s plan had entered its next phase. But what was their ultimate goal?

Luo Wen quickly formed a preliminary hypothesis: the strategist needed the Swarm to reach a certain level of strength, but not to exceed their control. What did they intend to do with such a Swarm? Luo Wen had no answer—the information available was too limited to support further analysis.

Fortunately, as the strategist continued moving pieces on the board, more information would inevitably be revealed. Armed with the conclusions he had drawn so far, Luo Wen felt he had gained a small measure of initiative. When the time came, he would counter their moves as needed.

But before that, the Swarm needed to accelerate its development. With absolute strength, all conspiracies and schemes would be rendered meaningless. When the time came, Luo Wen would smash the chessboard, drag the strategist into the open, and make them understand the true meaning of power.

Currently, the Swarm had already made significant advancements in various technologies, many of which were already operational. Thanks to their fungal carpet-based templates, the Swarm’s combat units were highly modular and organized. Upgrading and retrofitting existing forces would undoubtedly give those plotting against them a “pleasant” surprise.

After the arrival of the new Ji team, the negotiations at Origin A11 progressed swiftly. Within a year, despite some remaining details to iron out, the Swarm officially joined the Interstellar Technological Confederation, becoming one of its members.

In the following year, the Swarm extended an invitation to the Riken civilization. The scientific personnel from both sides had already been carefully selected, totaling more than 100,000 individuals: 3,000 from the Swarm and the remainder from the Riken civilization.

Given the Riken civilization’s larger population, it was impossible to construct an ecosystem-compatible colony for them within Swarm territory. Thus, the assembly point was established at the Twin Star Colony in the Riken System. All personnel would gather there and wait for a Ji ship to transport them.

The preparations were intricate and demanding. Luo Wen had long arranged specialized Swarm bodies for the 3,000 Swarm researchers. However, after careful consideration, he decided against making these bodies too conspicuous. This batch of Swarm bodies would lack the ability to survive unprotected in space. Instead, their circulatory systems were redesigned based on samples of native organisms from the Genesis Planet.

Additionally, a new type of biological protective armor was developed to address the “small anomalies” Bular had previously noticed.

As for the Riken civilization, the Swarm naturally wouldn’t miss the opportunity for infiltration. Their goals here were far less ambitious than with Swarm intelligent entities.

Although the Swarm was sending only 3,000 researchers, they garnered far more attention than the 100,000 Riken personnel. Due to the Swarm’s relatively short time controlling the Riken civilization and their decision not to use aggressive conversion tactics, only 20% of the Riken researchers were disguised Swarm intelligent entities.

This cautious approach also accounted for the uncertainty about whether the Interstellar Confederation had methods to detect such abnormalities.

The vastness of the interstellar expanse meant this journey was essentially a one-way trip. The departing personnel were given ten years to bid farewell to their families and friends.

These ten years also happened to be the time required for the Ji to dispatch a ship to retrieve them.

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