I Am The Swarm

As the Hive continued to expand, a new problem emerged before Luo Wen.

This issue was long-distance communication.

With nearly a hundred branch bases established, the network was vast.

While the bases remained steadfastly loyal to Luo Wen’s commands, he was completely unaware of their individual situations.

And Luo Wen had no idea how to solve this problem.

His knowledge was limited, making it impossible for him to create communication devices suitable for his swarm.

Additionally, the insects’ low intelligence rendered them incapable of acting as effective messengers or accurately reporting the statuses of the various branch bases.

Thus, Luo Wen, who had been enjoying a relatively leisurely life, became busy once again.

He began traveling daily to inspect the conditions of each branch base personally.

Merely doing a cursory circuit of all the branch bases took three full days and nights.

If he stopped for a detailed inspection, the time required would double.

The first round of inspections was accompanied by a sense of novelty and wonder at his expanding domain.

By the second round, Luo Wen was already beginning to grow weary.

By the third round, his thoughts had emptied, and his gaze had grown vacant…

Luo Wen knew this couldn’t go on. At this rate, as his territory continued to expand, he would work himself to death. He had to come up with a solution.

But no matter how hard he racked his brains, he couldn’t think of anything.

So, the issue was postponed.

After completing several rounds of inspections without encountering any anomalies, Luo Wen reduced the frequency of his patrols, opting to do them once every ten days or so.

But it was precisely during one of these patrols that an unexpected incident occurred.

During a new round of inspections, Luo Wen discovered that the insects in one branch base—including the Queen Ant—had mysteriously disappeared.

After multiple rounds of genetic adjustments, the Queen Ants had become emotionless and machine-like in their loyalty, eliminating any possibility of betrayal.

This meant that they must have encountered some external factor that led to the current situation.

Luo Wen dug into the nest to examine the remaining traces carefully. Pheromone residues were abundant everywhere. Upon analyzing them, Luo Wen made a discovery.

The pheromones originated from the base’s inhabitants and an unknown force.

From the scent profiles, the unknown force seemed to be another ant species, similar to his own, but the violent and savage undertones revealed through the pheromones indicated they were far from as docile or disciplined as Black Ants.

Luo Wen’s first guess was the Yellow Earth Ant Legion. Could they have established a branch nearby? But he quickly dismissed this theory. The characteristics of the pheromones were completely different from the Yellow Earth Ants; this was an entirely new ant species. ṛÁＮǒ₿Ès̩

Moreover, judging by the state of the branch base, their methods bore an unsettling resemblance to his own.

Faced with the emergence of an aggressive neighbor, Luo Wen dared not be careless. He followed the pheromone trails, tracing them meticulously.

Maintaining his characteristic caution, Luo Wen advanced slowly, frequently pausing to observe his surroundings and prepare to retreat at the first sign of danger.

By now, his swarm consisted of over a hundred branch bases, though rapid expansion had stretched his forces thin. Each base had an average of only about 2,000 insects.

Even so, Luo Wen commanded a total of 200,000 insect followers.

As their supreme commander, Luo Wen had to act with caution; his responsibility to his subordinates demanded it.

If the insects weren’t so woefully unintelligent, Luo Wen wouldn’t even be handling the reconnaissance himself. Sitting safely in the rear and directing his army on the frontlines was the image he preferred to embody.

The pheromone trails led north, eventually leaving the hive’s territory, before branching out in multiple directions.

Luo Wen arbitrarily chose one path and followed it, arriving at an unfamiliar Black Ant nest. Unfortunately, he was once again too late—this nest was also abandoned, its inhabitants having disappeared without a trace.

With no other choice, Luo Wen selected another trail that diverged from this point. After circling around for some time, he ultimately returned to the hive’s territory and arrived at another branch base.

Luckily, this time he wasn’t late. A fierce battle was unfolding at the base’s entrance.

Amid the chaos, Luo Wen finally caught sight of the enemy.

They were small ants, only about half the size of a Black Ant worker. Their heads and thoraxes were an eerie dark red, while their eyes, mandibles, abdomens, and legs were black with reddish hues.

In addition to their standard ant features and unconventional coloration, they possessed short, sharp stingers at the ends of their abdomens—a clear indicator of their unique combat ability.

Although their size was small, their numbers were overwhelming, and they were ferociously aggressive.

The forward-most branch base had limited insect forces to begin with, essentially the standard outpost contingent assigned to remote areas: roughly 1,000 Worker Ants and 50 Soldier Ants.

These defenders were rapidly losing ground. Dozens of Soldier Ant corpses were scattered near the base entrance, and the surviving Soldier Ants were few.

As the main combat force and frontline shield, the Soldier Ants had been nearly wiped out.

The remaining Worker Ants had also suffered heavy losses, with fewer than 300 still alive. They were now desperately defending the narrow entrance under the leadership of the remaining Soldier Ants.

In contrast, the attacking Red Ants numbered at least 3,000. Strangely, their ranks also included many Black Ants—roughly another 3,000.

“Could it be that I’ve destroyed too many Black Ant nests recently? Did they go find reinforcements to seek revenge?” Luo Wen was stunned. With the limited intelligence of Black Ants, could they even coordinate with reinforcements? Or was there more to the story?

But there was no time for speculation. The dire situation demanded his immediate action. After ensuring there were no ambushes nearby, Luo Wen entered the battlefield.

The Red Ants were no match for Luo Wen’s overwhelming force. Despite their agility, they couldn’t withstand his brute strength.

Luo Wen’s digging limbs swung wildly, smashing ants left and right. Even without precision, his sheer force incapacitated numerous Red Ants with each strike.

Meanwhile, his walking limbs, tipped with sharp, spear-like claws, stabbed at the Red Ants with lightning speed, targeting their heads and abdomens—their largest and most vulnerable areas.

Before long, Luo Wen’s digging and walking limbs were covered in sticky fluids, and the ground around him was littered with Red Ant corpses.

Standing amidst the carnage, Luo Wen exuded an aura of invincibility, evoking the image of an unstoppable force mowing down enemies.

But this was a skirmish involving over 3,000 Red Ants. No matter how formidable Luo Wen was, his influence on the battle was limited.

Moreover, his presence had drawn the attention of the Red Ant army. Though he had ambushed and killed dozens of them, the majority now turned their focus on him.

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