I Am The Swarm

Luo Wen theorized that the metallic shell on the Botian homeworld was likely a remnant of a mechanical civilization, as its design and composition bore no resemblance to the organic methods typical of biological civilizations.

In contrast, the force on the other side of the wormhole appeared to be a highly advanced biological civilization. After all, creating organisms capable of generating negative energy was a feat far beyond the current capabilities of the Swarm—a significant achievement, even by Luo Wen’s standards.

Yet, despite their apparent expertise, the monsters they produced left much to be desired from Luo Wen’s perspective as a “junior” in the field of biological technology.

Take the internal circulation system, for instance. Luo Wen couldn’t help but compare it to the one he had devised when the Swarm first ventured into space.

His system, though rudimentary and reliant on oxygen, only required occasional replenishment of water every few years. While finding liquid water in space was challenging, locating ice was relatively easy, allowing for extended operations.

The monster’s system, however, was far less efficient. Once filled with air, it could only last about a month under minimal activity. During high-intensity combat, its reserves would be depleted within mere hours. This mismatch between the negative energy organ’s sophistication and the subpar life support system seemed puzzling.

Was it due to cost considerations? Luo Wen speculated. Perhaps these monsters were designed to serve as expendable cannon fodder? But the negative energy organ would be far too expensive for such a purpose.

And these monsters weren’t being deployed en masse on a battlefield. This was a precision strike operation, with each monster akin to an elite special forces unit. If Luo Wen were in charge, he would have equipped them with cutting-edge technology, weaponizing them to the maximum extent possible.

Instead, the opposition’s approach felt akin to sending a poorly armed elementary schooler with a stick to execute a mission—albeit with a nuclear power source in their pocket.

Luo Wen found no evidence of chips or other control systems within the monsters. For a civilization so advanced in biological technology, enhancing the autonomy of their bio-weapons—particularly elite units—should not have been difficult.

Even primitive monkeys could be trained using rudimentary methods to carry out complex commands, let alone sophisticated biological weapons crafted by a highly specialized civilization. Yet, the monsters showed no signs of advanced tactical thinking.

For instance, why didn’t the monsters immediately begin excavating upon exiting the wormhole? The “dead zones” created by their nuclear annihilation were all located on land, indicating that earlier monsters had chased the Botians across the planet, only to be eventually destroyed.

Furthermore, except for the final instance where two monsters simultaneously emerged and demonstrated some coordination by retreating and splitting up, all previous monsters fought to the death without retreating—even when it was tactically unwise.

In terms of intelligence, they were barely on par with Luo Wen’s early Soldier Ants and Worker Ants back when the Swarm was still playing in the mud on the Genesis Planet. At that time, Swarm units operated largely on instinct. If Luo Wen had given his current units the same degree of autonomy, they would devise and execute sophisticated strategies on their own.

A vague suspicion began to form in Luo Wen’s mind, but he was reluctant to fully embrace it, subconsciously trying to rationalize the opposing force’s decisions.

Yet, one question after another emerged, with no cohesive explanation tying everything together into a logically consistent narrative.

In the end, Luo Wen resorted to his old fallback, collective brainstorming.

“Maybe the command given to the monsters was simply to eliminate all threats, which is why they pursued the Botians,” one of the Intelligent Entities suggested.

“Then at the very least, they should have equipped the monsters with Atomic Furnaces,” another countered. “That way, they could achieve something closer to Godzilla’s level of combat ability. Relying on physical attacks alone, how long would it take to wipe out even the Botians, let alone if this planet were inhabited by monkeys?”

The Swarm’s collective debate deepened Luo Wen’s suspicions and highlighted the glaring inconsistencies in the opposition’s methods. But no single theory could yet fully explain their behavior.

The Intelligent Entities engaged in a heated debate.

“First of all, monkeys couldn’t possibly kill the monster. Based on the fact that the opposing side sends one monster every so often, their numbers would only continue to increase. Given the monster’s size, it should theoretically obliterate monkeys in a single strike. However, monkeys are relatively agile, and the monster’s attacks won’t always land. Factor in the monster needing to rest and replenish its strength, and it can’t maintain continuous kills. Without knowing the monkeys’ reproduction rate, food consumption, and other parameters, it’s impossible to calculate how long it would actually take…”

“Shut up! Monkeys aren’t even a threat to the monster!”

“Says who? Are you underestimating monkeys now?”

“…”

As this group of Intelligent Entities descended into pointless arguments, Luo Wen redirected his focus to another discussion.

“Perhaps the monsters are controlled remotely, much like the Knights remotely control the Space Octopuses. But once the wormhole closes, the connection is severed, which could explain why the monsters seem… dumb,” suggested one Intelligent Entity, pausing briefly to find the right word.

“That makes sense. But if that’s the case, wouldn’t it mean the opposing force has no surveillance or communication facilities on this side of the wormhole?”

“Exactly. They can only receive feedback from the monster when the wormhole opens again.”

“But what they don’t realize is that the monster gets killed by the Botians as soon as it emerges.”

“So, after more than ten repetitions of this pattern, they finally noticed something was wrong. They increased the number of monsters and modified their behavior to flee if overpowered?”

This alternate explanation resonated with Luo Wen’s own suspicions, aligning somewhat with his reluctant hypothesis. However, there still wasn’t enough evidence to confirm this theory.

“But this contradicts their technological capabilities. Could they really be unaware of the Botians’ presence on this side?” an Intelligent Entity raised the very question lingering in Luo Wen’s mind.

“Indeed. The small-scale wormhole and the negative energy organ are both undeniably advanced technologies. Yet, their behavior here seems inconsistent,” another agreed.

“And why do they wait so long between each wormhole activation? Why not send more monsters at once? Could the wormhole itself impose limitations on the number of monsters that can pass through?”

“That’s unclear. I’m not particularly familiar with this field of knowledge.”

“We need to consult a specialist in wormhole dynamics,” suggested one of the Intelligent Entities.

Efficiency being a hallmark of the Swarm, the Intelligent Entities promptly located an expert on wormhole physics. The questions were posed to this individual.

“Opening a wormhole requires an enormous amount of energy. Perhaps the opposing side is waiting to recharge,” the expert began. “As for the number of monsters sent, the wormhole itself likely has no such limitations. The real constraint lies in the activation window. Monsters still need time to pass through the wormhole, and they’re not exactly graceful creatures,” the expert added with a shrug.

“How much energy does it take to open a small-scale wormhole? Would even such an advanced civilization need over a year to recharge?” one Intelligent Entity pressed.

“That’s the puzzling part,” the expert admitted. “While the energy required is significant, it shouldn’t be prohibitive for such a civilization. Compared to larger wormholes, this small-scale wormhole consumes much less. If the opposing force had access to a fully functional Dyson Sphere, the energy harvested daily would be sufficient to open a wormhole of this size every single day. For a civilization of that level, building a Dyson Sphere should be a trivial matter.”

The expert paused before continuing. “And there’s another inconsistency. According to Botian records, the early wormhole activations had intervals of just a few months. Over time, this interval stretched into what we see now. This implies the opposing side has the capability to shorten activation times—or, at the very least, extend the duration of each activation to send more monsters through.”

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