I Am The Swarm

Perhaps there wasn’t any conspiracy at all; it could simply be a gift from a higher civilization to a lower one.

After discovering a planet capable of nurturing life, they left a spaceship on its moon. When the inhabitants of the planet evolved to develop civilization, and eventually reached space to explore their satellite, they would discover the ship.

The technology on the spaceship would help this fledgling civilization advance into the cosmos at a much faster pace.

Could such civilizations really exist in the universe? Perhaps. Luo Wen couldn’t comprehend the ideology of higher civilizations—that was something beyond his current understanding.

Now, as one of the immortals, Luo Wen thought that perhaps tens of thousands of years later, when the Swarm had grown to become a top-tier force in the universe, he might have the leisure to do something similar.

Then, another thought struck him: tens of thousands of years ago, a higher civilization might have visited the Genesis Planet. Although he had been in hibernation at the time, the planet had been nurturing life.

Following this logic of “gift-giving,” could there be a “gift” on the Red Moon or Yellow Moon as well?

Luo Wen quickly dismissed the idea. The twin moons had long been the Swarm’s initial footholds in space exploration and had been developed for many years. The fungal carpet now covered every inch of their surfaces. If there were any unknown objects, they would have been discovered long ago.

Still, to be certain, Luo Wen directed the Swarm to begin a search on the twin moons. Simultaneously, the Swarm expanded its search to other terrestrial planets in the Genesis Star System.

These planets, being larger, had been somewhat neglected by the Swarm during the later stages of development, as most resources had been allocated to space-based projects. It wasn’t impossible that a higher civilization could have hidden a “gift” there.

If one were to follow the “gift” hypothesis further, that might mean the higher civilization was monitoring everything. If so, wouldn’t the Swarm’s activities over the years all have been under their watchful eyes?

The information provided by Lieutenant Colonel Cross left Luo Wen’s thoughts in a jumble. However, over the years, he had matured. Counting his hibernation period, Luo Wen’s age might even surpass the history of that higher civilization.

If he allowed himself to be scared by speculations of this sort, worrying about wolves in front and tigers behind, how could the Swarm continue to develop? Dealing with enemies of similar strength required wit and courage. For those far superior, there was no other option but to feign ignorance and press forward.

While Luo Wen expressed these lofty sentiments, he still made preparations for potential retreat. In the following days, the Swarm used megastructures to launch a large number of Swarm meteors randomly into the depths of space.

One of these meteors secretly carried the excavated Genesis Brood Nest.

Perhaps the higher civilization was conducting some sort of experiment in civilizational competition, but Luo Wen would not stop the Swarm’s development because of that. Only by becoming stronger could they break free of constraints and control their own destiny.

The next stage of his plan was to acquire the ancient spaceship and related information unearthed by the Riken. As the first civilization to encounter the ancient vessel, the Riken must have obtained far more information—such as whether there were individuals from the higher civilization aboard, and if so, were they alive or dead? Any shred of information could help Luo Wen unravel the truth.

As for conquering the Riken, Luo Wen already had a plan in mind.

“Still no news from Cross?” Major General Porter asked via video, addressing the search teams.

“Sir, we still have no updates regarding Lieutenant Colonel Cross,” the officer on the other side of the call replied helplessly. This was the twelfth time today the general had inquired, averaging once every half hour.

“Sigh!” Porter ended the call with a heavy sigh.

The personnel deployed for the search belonged to various factions, and the commander of Porter’s contingent was Clirey.

Clirey, however, held little hope for this operation. After all, Cross had been missing for eight days. By now, she was probably nothing more than fertilizer.

What a pity for such a stunning beauty. Even though their paths would rarely intersect, Clirey still found himself drawn to the thought of her.

“Sir! We’ve found something!” A soldier suddenly came running from the entrance of a distant underground cavity. After a quick scan of the area, he locked onto the brooding Clirey and sprinted toward him.

“What did you find?” Clirey asked reflexively, still caught in his thoughts. Then, as realization hit, his eyes widened. “Did you find Lieutenant Colonel Cross?”

The soldier panted heavily, shaking his head. “No, sir.”

“…” Clirey fell silent. Just moments ago, his heart had leapt with excitement. If they had found Cross, with her background, the title of her savior might have propelled him to great heights—perhaps even winning her hand in a romantic, albeit far-fetched, scenario.

He had even started composing wedding vows in his mind, only for his hopes to be dashed.

“So, what did you find?”

“We’ve located those signals.”

Clirey, though lacking significant political clout, had climbed the ranks on merit and competence. He instantly understood what the soldier was referring to.

The relationship between their search teams and the so-called Swarm was peculiar. By day, they dug pits and unearthed soil, while the Swarm seemed to sleep, showing no concern for the activities happening right outside their nests. At night, the teams hunted nearby and deposited their prey into the pits.

By dawn, the Swarm would send drones to retrieve the offerings and drag them back to their nest.

And so, the cycle continued.

Clirey suspected the Swarm might even see them as caretakers.

This caretaking, however, wasn’t without its purpose. The teams had hidden trackers within some of the smaller prey, attempting to locate the Swarm’s feeding grounds.

Although he believed the Swarm incapable of understanding such advanced technology, unknown electromagnetic interference from the underground nest had prevented signal reception on the surface.

Recently, the trackers had been upgraded to emit localized signals.

Thus, during daylight hours, while excavation continued, teams were also dispatched into the caverns to search for these signals. The soldier’s report likely referred to finding one such signal.

Once his suspicions were confirmed, Clirey quickly relayed the information to Major General Porter, his heart racing with the possibility of glory, wealth, and promotion.

Porter was overjoyed at the news. Although they hadn’t found Cross directly, this was still better than having no leads. He immediately ordered Clirey to assemble a team to investigate further.

At the same time, he reported the development to General Masai, requesting reinforcements.

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