I Am The Swarm

In recent days, with some free time on his hands, Luo Wen used spider genes as a base and added compound-eyed scout bug genes to create specialized patrol spiders. These new units were tasked with monitoring the cliff face and scouting the desert atop the cliffs.

A few days ago, one of these scout spiders reported that the Yellow Earth Ant Legion had reappeared in the desert. However, the scout’s description was vague and unclear, prompting Luo Wen to climb to the top of the cliff himself to observe and gather more accurate intelligence.

Peeking cautiously over the cliff’s edge, Luo Wen activated his compound eyes, which had evolved over hundreds of days and nights, allowing him to clearly see within a 50-meter radius.

In front of him, just 20 meters away, a dense swarm of Yellow Earth Ants moved like a muddy yellow torrent, trampling and piling on top of one another as they surged past.

The army shifted direction as it neared the cliff, rolling away like a massive tidal wave.

Luo Wen watched intently for several hours until the entire horde had passed. The once-green desert, which had briefly flourished after a period of recovery, returned to its barren and desolate state. Only a few straggling Yellow Earth Ants wandered aimlessly, left behind by the main force.

At last, Luo Wen understood the scenes he had witnessed on his initial journey through the desert. The Yellow Earth Ants treated the entire desert as a hunting ground, sweeping through it periodically.

No wonder this area, despite being close to an underground river, remained so lifeless.

The sheer number of Yellow Earth Ants left Luo Wen in awe.

Comparing it to his own swarm of over 10,000 insects, which formed only a small heap, he couldn’t fathom how many ants were needed to create such an endless yellow tide that marched for hours.

Though the exact number was unclear, Luo Wen was certain it was astronomically high.

Initially, upon witnessing the spectacle, Luo Wen had considered relocating the Brood Nest. Despite the swarm’s recent growth in strength, he believed it would fare no better against the Yellow Earth Ant Legion than it had in the past.

But upon noticing that the ants never approached the cliff, and recalling that his underlings now possessed the dirt-eating survival skill, Luo Wen decided that, in the worst-case scenario, they could retreat underground for several days until the army passed.

Coupled with the logistical challenges of relocating the Brood Nest, Luo Wen abandoned the idea. Instead, his ambitions stirred—he dreamed of one day leading his swarm to confront the Yellow Earth Ant Legion head-on and exact vengeance for the time he had been gutted and forced to flee.

Of course, Luo Wen wasn’t a vengeful person. No, his motivation was to seek justice for the flora and fauna of the desert.

To achieve the strength necessary for vengeance—or, ahem, justice—Luo Wen needed to expand his forces. The development of the Brood Nest was imperative, and clearing out nearby ant colonies had become unavoidable.

Concerns about the diligence and contributions of the surrounding colonies no longer held weight.

Today marked the start of the campaign, with the first objective being the elimination of the four closest ant colonies. Luo Wen planned to attack one colony per day, accounting for battlefield cleanup and inventorying the spoils, aiming to complete the operation within a week.

Though the Brood Nest’s swarm could already overwhelm any single colony with sheer numbers, Luo Wen still insisted on devising careful battle plans to minimize unnecessary losses.

The attack began with a covert operation. A dozen spy bugs altered their pheromones to move through the enemy colony undetected, heading straight for the Queen Ant’s chamber.

The queen’s chamber was a tunnel-like room where an enormous Queen Ant lay at the center. It resembled a worker ant magnified several dozen times, with an elongated, swollen abdomen adorned with yellow, ring-shaped patterns.

Four sturdy soldier ants stood guard around her, while worker ants lined up to feed her mouth-to-mouth. A few others busily transported freshly laid eggs from her abdomen.

The sudden intrusion of a dozen ants into the chamber caught the soldier ants’ attention. However, after a brief inspection with their antennae, they detected nothing unusual and returned to their posts.

The spy bugs, based on the worker ant template, had been modified with genes for pheromone alteration, rapid acceleration, and formic acid spray attacks. ŘᴀΝօＢЕś

However, these were only the older versions.

Carrying morsels of food, several spy bugs approached the Queen Ant, feigning an intention to feed her.

Meanwhile, the others dispersed, moving toward the soldier ants.

Though the soldier ants appeared uneasy as the spy bugs approached, they did not react aggressively and allowed them to climb onto their bodies.

In an ant colony, stepping on one another was common, particularly for soldier ants accustomed to being climbed on due to their larger size.

Once on the soldiers’ backs, the spy bugs extended a retractable needle-like mouthpart, initially coiled like a tape measure. The “tape” straightened, becoming as sharp as a steel needle, and slipped into the gaps in the soldier ants’ armor.

The soldiers seemed unaware of what was happening.

After the battle with the spider, Luo Wen had contemplated arming the new spy bug models with venomous weapons. These units were designed for infiltration, intelligence gathering, and the assassination of key targets.

Luo Wen had sometimes questioned whether such complexity was necessary for creatures of limited intelligence.

But memories of the black beetle “War God” being ambushed to death, the venomous spider overwhelmed by coordination, and the vast Yellow Earth Ant army reminded him that these creatures, while not highly intelligent, possessed instincts and evolutionary adaptations honed over millennia. Underestimating them would be unwise.

Developing multi-unit tactics could serve as both a practical strategy and a form of personal amusement.

When it came to the venom, Luo Wen realized during development that spider venom required the use of fangs. Since worker ants lacked the space for an additional set of fangs on their small heads, attempting to add them would result in underdeveloped, ineffective weaponry.

Moreover, worker ants were primarily suited for ranged support and auxiliary roles, making close-combat enhancements unnecessary.

Considering the high energy costs of producing venom-equipped eggs, Luo Wen deemed it an inefficient investment.

This led him to recall the camouflage bug, a classic example of defeating the strong with the weak.

Its needle-like mouthpart, while limited, was ideal for the spy bugs’ assassination role, delivering venom precisely to vulnerable spots.

Thus, the scene of the spy bugs assassinating the soldier ants unfolded.

Suddenly, the soldier ants began convulsing, their coordination failing. They stumbled, their bodies trembling in pain, unable to stand.

The black beetle had died painlessly, succumbing silently due to the camouflage bug being of a similar size. In contrast, the size disparity between the spy bugs and the soldier ants was immense, with the former being several times smaller. The venom stored in the spy bugs wasn’t enough for an instant kill.

Nevertheless, the venom was sufficient to render the soldier ants’ muscles useless, leaving them incapacitated and writhing in agony.

For these soldiers, death would have been a kinder fate.

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