I Am The Swarm

Suspecting that observation devices from the wormhole’s opposing force might be hidden near the Botian homeworld, the Swarm kept its expansion in outer space restrained.

Although the gas giant was like a massive energy reservoir, perfect for the Space Octopuses to “hibernate,” they were instead instructed to hide underground until safety could be confirmed.

However, the Observer Bugs were released en masse. With experience gained from dealing with the Ji monitors, the Swarm had become highly adept at identifying surveillance devices.

Tens of thousands of Observer Bugs formed a dense network around the Botian homeworld in space, with Gravitational-Wave Radar Technology operating at full capacity. Any object with mass would be detected.

Surprisingly, Luo Wen found nothing out of the ordinary. Apart from a hundred or so artificial satellites launched by the Botians and some space debris, the Observer Bugs detected no anomalies in the planet’s orbit.

Could the area of the search have been too small or too large? Or perhaps, like the Swarm’s Intelligent Entities, the opposing force’s units had infiltrated the Botian society itself?

In response to these speculations, Luo Wen ordered the hatching of additional Observer Bugs, expanding the search radius. The network gradually encompassed the gas giant and its satellites, with some Observer Bugs venturing into other regions and planets of the star system.

Simultaneously, some Observer Bugs descended into the Botian atmosphere, tasked with inspecting the high-altitude and near-orbit regions for abnormalities.

Meanwhile, the Swarm’s Intelligent Entities embedded within Botian society scoured records, monitored people, and tracked current events, hoping to uncover useful clues.

During these meticulous and systematic operations, the wormhole opened for the second time since the Swarm’s arrival on the Botian homeworld. As before, it released a monster before quickly closing again.

Once again, the monster was surrounded and neutralized after causing limited damage. The corpse was transported for burial, much like the previous case.

This time, the Swarm had already located the burial site. It was in a vast and arid desert, to which the monsters were transported via various vehicles. The site was guarded by dozens of large research labs and military camps, which were tasked with studying the monsters while overseeing this “graveyard.”

Due to the limitations of Intelligent Entity conversion, it was challenging for the Swarm to infiltrate a location with such stringent daily check-ins. However, a fortunate coincidence offered an opening; a reclusive, academically brilliant Botian who had been converted into an Intelligent Entity recently graduated and decided to continue their studies under a professor who was invited to work at one of these research labs.

Through this connection, the converted Intelligent Entity entered the lab as an assistant and student, gaining access to first-hand information. Unexpectedly, the Botians’ research goals were simple—they aimed only to find a way to neutralize the toxins produced by the monsters.

For the Botians, the periodic threat of monster invasions had already become manageable. In comparison, the buried monster corpses posed a greater hazard due to the risk of environmental contamination.

While this information was of little value to the Swarm, the Swarm nonetheless achieved its goal. Beneath the burial site, the Swarm had dug tunnels, allowing its bugs to infiltrate the monsters’ remains. These bugs extracted additional samples while thoroughly analyzing the monsters’ internal structures.

What Luo Wen didn’t expect was that these seemingly unremarkable monsters would provide some surprising rewards.

While the toxins within the monsters were an insurmountable challenge for the Botians, they posed no such difficulty for Luo Wen. As an expert in toxins—particularly neurotoxins and corrosive agents—he found the monsters’ toxin sacs and their mechanisms for producing and combining toxins to be enlightening.

These discoveries offered Luo Wen new insights that, once fully assimilated, would undoubtedly enhance the Swarm’s expertise in toxin deployment.

But this was just the appetizer. The greater surprise lay in a unique organ structure within the monsters. Luo Wen’s abilities required time to fully analyze it—a rarity. Until now, only controlled fusion and gravitational manipulation had demanded similar processing time. Now, this mysterious third structure joined the list.

Could the other side of the wormhole truly belong to an advanced civilization? If so, how had they managed to embed such powerful capabilities into monsters of this level? Yet, in previous battles, why hadn’t these abilities been apparent? Forget gravitational manipulation—even a single atomic breath attack had been absent.

Regardless of the reasoning, Luo Wen knew that with a little more time, he would uncover the secrets hidden within these monsters.

Days turned into months, and the decoding process proceeded at an agonizingly slow pace. When Luo Wen had once analyzed the controlled fusion technology of the Atomic Furnace, it had taken only a few months. Deciphering the gene fragments responsible for gravitational manipulation had taken over a year. Now, nearly two years had passed.

During this time, the wormhole opened again, unleashing the third monster since the Swarm’s arrival on the Botian homeworld. Aside from the monster being marginally stronger and two additional Mecha Warriors joining the fray, the battle was no different from the previous ones.

The monster met the same fate as its predecessors. Its corpse was dragged to the desert for burial, providing the labs with fresh material for study.

By now, the Swarm’s Observer Bugs had nearly expanded their network to encompass the entire star system. While the density of the network still fell short compared to other Swarm-controlled territories, it had formed a rudimentary surveillance grid.

Unfortunately, despite covering both the star system and the Botian homeworld, no anomalies were found. There were no hidden observation devices, nor any quantum communication signals detected.

The Swarm had even begun expanding beyond the star system, but the likelihood of discovering anomalies at such distances was slim. No monitoring equipment could observe from so far away with sufficient detail.

Meanwhile, the Intelligent Entities embedded in Botian society uncovered slight anomalies in the historical records and origin studies of the Botian homeworld. However, the data was far too incomplete to draw any conclusions. Luo Wen realized that expanding the Swarm’s infiltration into the Botian leadership was necessary to access rare and hidden archival materials.

Finally, after two years and two months, the unknown gene fragments extracted from the monsters were fully decoded. Eager to test its potential, Luo Wen immediately began the transformation process. For safety and to avoid exposure, the experiment was conducted on the 11th planet of the star system, far from the Botian homeworld.

At this time, the 11th planet was on the far side of the star, hundreds of billions of kilometers from the Botian homeworld. The massive star between them served as a natural barrier. Even if the experiment caused a commotion, the star’s presence would shield the Botian side from detecting any anomalies.

Of course, Luo Wen was primarily concerned about the unidentified observation devices he still hadn’t located. The Botians themselves were of no real concern to him.

A one-to-one replication of the monster’s body was created using the Swarm’s biotechnology. Since Luo Wen had yet to fully understand and master the potential of this new genetic material, the creature’s design was kept as close to the original as possible to minimize errors.

With everything in place, Luo Wen issued the command, anticipation building within him.

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