I Am The Swarm

Due to genetic encryption, the external world had no knowledge of the internal structure of the Swarm’s bioweapons and was thus unaware that the Atomic Furnace was the primary factor in creating the environment for the growth of Longevity Plants.

The Swarm’s explanation that there weren’t enough Godzillas to support widespread cultivation seemed reasonable. After all, it was well-documented that the Swarm did not produce nuclear waste, something easily verified through observation. Moreover, Longevity Plants were discovered in Godzilla nests, as detailed in official records. Lastly, Godzillas, as massive and cumbersome terrestrial units, genuinely didn’t require mass production.

Additionally, the response formally acknowledged Godzilla as a Swarm creation, addressing some previous ambiguities. While minor flaws remained, it was a significant improvement over earlier explanations.

Upon receiving the Swarm’s reply, the Ji race expressed their desire for the Swarm to increase the number of Godzillas to boost the production of Longevity Plants. However, they understood that such a request was not enforceable and unlikely to be fulfilled.

The production of a single Godzilla required an astonishing amount of resources. Spreading that cost across production made the Longevity Plants much more expensive. While the Ji race, as the issuer of points, wasn’t particularly concerned about minor expenses, they foresaw that the demand for Longevity Plants would rise substantially in the future. If the price were inflated now, reducing it later would require significant effort and could disrupt the market.

Thus, they refrained from pressing the Swarm further and instead directed their orders to the Koya Alliance, neighbors located slightly further from the Riken System.

Longevity Plants, after all, were meticulously cultivated by Luo Wen. They were drought-tolerant, flood-resistant, corrosion-proof, and impervious to pests, diseases, and pesticides. Once the environment was prepared, all that was left was harvesting, making them extremely easy to grow.

For the Koya Alliance, a coalition of civilizations focused on mechanical engineering, the immense amounts of nuclear waste they generated were a constant headache. Unlike the Swarm, which could recycle waste, the Koya Alliance could only package it and hurl it into stars. To repurpose their waste into something valuable while openly participating in the Longevity Plant trade was undoubtedly an attractive proposition for them.

Everything began falling into place. After completing construction projects for the Riken, several functional Ji ships turned their attention to the Swarm. They split into two groups, one started building quantum communication facilities in the Neighboring Star System, while the other moved to the Sandstorm System to oversee the construction of Trade City.

The Swarm’s Trade City was likely the only one among foreign civilizations to place all major infrastructure underground from the start. It wasn’t that other trade cities lacked underground structures—on the contrary, many of the older ones had underground complexes far larger than their surface counterparts after years of expansion.

However, during the initial stages of construction, surface structures generally far outweighed underground ones. The Swarm’s decision to nearly exclude surface structures was unprecedented.

Although the Neighboring Star System was only the second star system the Swarm had entered, they weren’t destructive developers. Planet Neighboring still maintained a relatively pristine ecology, and the Swarm had even planted forests on other rocky planets. From a distance, the lush, violet-tinged planets were a breathtaking sight.

This system had been chosen as the Swarm’s public royal court, and its surveillance intensity was naturally elevated to the highest levels. Among the Swarm’s active species, the Observer Bugs prioritized stealth and privacy, making them nearly undetectable.

To prevent foreign visitors from mistakenly believing the Swarm’s monitoring was lax, which might tempt them into rash actions, Luo Wen specially developed numerous Observer Bugs without optical camouflage, electromagnetic shielding, or sound-dampening systems. These visible bugs served as a deterrent on the surface.

Under this comprehensive system of overt and covert monitoring, the visiting Ji were exceedingly well-behaved and refrained from crossing any lines. Still, some intelligence inevitably leaked out.

“Has today’s request to access the Swarm’s intranet been approved yet?” A Ji official aboard their ship inquired.

“No,” the crew member replied succinctly.

“Ridiculous! This is the third application already. What’s their excuse this time?” the official fumed.

An intranet of any civilization, from its inception to its growth, inevitably accumulates a vast amount of internal information. This data is pieced together over time, forming a tightly interwoven continuity that is exceedingly difficult to falsify or manipulate.

Gaining access to a civilization’s intranet could reveal a trove of information, such as its history, culture, customs, beliefs, population numbers, density, and demographic structure. While the civilization itself might find these details trivial, other civilizations could use them to deduce vulnerabilities and exploit them strategically.

For instance, after gaining access to the Riken intranet, the Ji learned not only the aforementioned information but also uncovered critical data such as the number, locations, and scales of colonies, active warship statistics, troop compositions, and their distribution. It even led to the discovery of valuable resources like Longevity Serum.

This method of reconnaissance was one of the Ji’s most effective tools for understanding emerging powers. However, when it came to the Swarm, they had hit a wall.

“They’re giving the same excuse as before: the Swarm doesn’t have an intranet,” the crew member remarked with a hint of sarcasm.

“Who do they think they’re fooling? A civilization at this level of development not having an intranet? Impossible!” the Ji official roared in frustration.

In truth, this misunderstanding wasn’t Luo Wen’s fault. The Swarm did have an intranet, but its access level was so restricted that only “insiders” could connect to it.

Luo Wen was open to welcoming these Ji into the fold as “insiders,” but the conditions were far from ideal. After all, these individuals couldn’t simply disappear for extended periods without raising suspicion.

Fortunately, Luo Wen hadn’t come away empty-handed during this period. On the ecological planets, the Ji personnel didn’t need bulky spacesuits—just a filtration mask sufficed. This meant their skin was often exposed, allowing the Swarm to collect genetic samples.

Moreover, the Neighboring Star System wasn’t even the primary focus. The real treasure trove lay with the Riken, where an influx of researchers had arrived, representing no fewer than fifty to sixty different species. Luo Wen had already devised a tiny bug specifically designed to collect samples like hair and skin flakes from these individuals.

While the Swarm Network was a key asset, the Swarm also had a public-facing intranet. However, as previously mentioned, a civilization’s intranet carries enormous amounts of sensitive information. Since the Swarm hadn’t undergone a traditional process of organic growth from inception to maturity, fabricating a seamless and flaw-free history for their public intranet was an insurmountable challenge.

Initially, Luo Wen’s intent in creating this intranet was to establish a simulated Swarm society to handle situations like the current one. However, he soon realized the workload was astronomical and ultimately abandoned the project.

The intranet then became Luo Wen’s personal storage for game saves—after all, the Swarm Network didn’t support gaming. Thus, calling it an “intranet” was a stretch; it was more like a massive gaming website.

Naturally, such a system couldn’t be opened to the Ji. The potential embarrassment alone made the idea laughable. Luo Wen decided it was better to claim the Swarm didn’t have one at all—problem solved.

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