I Am The Swarm

“Overlord, we currently lack sufficient information. I believe it’s not appropriate to engage the other party directly at this time,” Morgan stated.

“Indeed, Overlord,” another Intelligent Entity agreed. “Although the technology on their ship isn’t particularly advanced, we don’t know its status within their civilization. Is this a collective asset or an individual endeavor? Is this mission state-sponsored or privately initiated? These factors are unclear, making it difficult to judge.”

“Do they have allies? Are they a subordinate civilization to a higher-level society?”

“Is there any possibility of forming an alliance?”

“The Swarm only requires technological theories, something they are unlikely to share. There is no foundation for an alliance or trade.”

“Non-Swarm species cannot be trusted!”

“Our strategic depth is limited to a single star system. We cannot tolerate the existence of an uncontrollable civilization on our doorstep!”

“What is their territorial range? Population size? War potential?”

“We need to gather more information.”

The Intelligent Entities voiced their opinions in rapid succession. Luo Wen appreciated this lively exchange. The adage “Three humble cobblers make a genius strategist” rang true here. From the myriad perspectives presented, he could extract the insights necessary for his decisions.

The Swarm was still a newcomer in the vast cosmic community, knowing far too little about external affairs. It would be disastrous if this M37 civilization turned out to be part of some Pan-Galactic Alliance, where attacking one would provoke the ire of several others.

Clearly, it was time for another round of role-playing, though this time, Luo Wen wouldn’t be posing as a “god” but adopting a different identity.

Before that, however, he needed to stall for time until his physical body arrived, allowing him to better play this game.

The Riken operation proceeded smoothly. Sergeant Hasmu’s squad completed their mission with distinction and received reinforcement from an additional transport craft.

The team loaded several relatively intact Feral Direwolf carcasses onto the ship. On their way out, they also hunted down several Bull Demons, bringing them aboard as well.

The Bull Demons, against ranged weapons, were essentially perfect targets. Their sluggish movement made any counterattack impossible, while their strong defenses allowed them to endure energy attacks, giving the long-idle security team an excellent shooting practice session.

“Lute, are you telling me that two groups of wild beasts fought, and then some unknown entity dropped a couple of small nukes?” Captain Reggie said, his expression skeptical.

“As ridiculous as it sounds, that’s what the analysis of the site, samples, and other data indicates. Furthermore, there were two core explosion points, meaning two nukes were deployed,” Dr. Lute shrugged, disavowing any responsibility. Science had reconstructed the scene, and he was merely reporting the results.

“Who would do something so absurd? Were those beasts special in some way?”

“No. While those creatures are apex predators on this planet, there’s nothing remarkable about them other than their large size and numbers.”

“Large numbers?” Captain Reggie pondered for a moment before suggesting, “Could it be that their overpopulation disrupted the ecological balance, prompting their eradication?”

Dr. Lute looked visibly shocked. “Are you joking? Waste is disgraceful. If there were too many of them, why not just eat them instead of nuking them?”

“Eat them?”

“Yes. They contain only trace amounts of toxins. During a brief break, I developed a neutralizing agent to eliminate these toxins. Honestly, their meat is excellent—far superior to synthetic meat,” Dr. Lute said with a satisfied expression.

“You ate it?!” Captain Reggie exclaimed in shock.

Dr. Lute shrugged and gave Reggie a knowing look. “Want to try some?”

“No! That’s against regulations!” Reggie said sternly. “Unless you’re still alive a month from now, I won’t consider it.”

Dr. Lute rolled his eyes.

“Any other anomalies?” Captain Reggie asked, steering the conversation back on track.

“Yes,” Dr. Lute nodded. “We found no remnants of any projectile casings at the explosion site. Normally, even with the extreme temperatures—millions of degrees—that can vaporize most materials during a nuclear detonation, some fragments or traces of the delivery system usually remain due to the brief duration of the heat. However, we’ve thoroughly searched the site and found no evidence of artificial constructs. I even dispatched teams for additional searches with more drones and expanded the search area, but we still found nothing.”

The two men fell silent.

After a moment, Captain Reggie asked, “Do you have any other suggestions?”

“We must continue searching, with more personnel and a broader scope.”

“But we’ve already confirmed via satellite that there’s no trace of civilization on the surface,” Captain Reggie countered.

“Even so, we need to comb through the area thoroughly. We might uncover other clues.”

“With our current manpower, that would be an enormous undertaking and would take a significant amount of time,” Captain Reggie noted.

“What choice do we have? With no other leads, are we supposed to just walk away?” Dr. Lute said, leaving the room without waiting for a response.

As he watched Dr. Lute depart, Captain Reggie fell into deep thought. Returning empty-handed wasn’t an option. Though they might gain some recognition for the journey, this century-long mission had far greater aspirations than mere accolades.

“Overlord, the M37 inhabitants have begun a grid search of the continent. Based on their methods and identification features, we’ve determined they’ve deployed five armed ships and six transport vessels, with a total of 423 personnel,” a deputy reported to Luo Wen.

“Ensure all our bugs remain hidden. They must not be exposed. Permit self-destruction if necessary,” Luo Wen commanded.

For the alien civilization’s small-scale operation, even with advanced technology, completing a search of five continents would take an extraordinarily long time. This worked in the Swarm’s favor.

The Swarm had a comprehensive understanding of the planet’s conditions and knew this search would yield no significant results. For now, they needed only to remain hidden, maintaining their cover. The longer the alien civilization wasted time, the better it was for the Swarm.

With just a few hundred personnel tackling the enormous task of surveying five continents, years passed in the blink of an eye. Day after day, the Riken research team and security forces repeated the same tasks.

Every animal and plant species on the surface required sampling and preservation as specimens. Even rocks, sand, and water samples were collected and analyzed. Limited manpower and equipment slowed their progress. Despite running equipment 24/7, a backlog of samples awaited testing.

However, as these samples were cataloged into the central computer, a comprehensive ecological database of the Great Dawn Planet gradually took shape.

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