I Am The Swarm

Every phenomenon has its positive and negative aspects, and the universe is no exception. Everything we see and interact with belongs primarily to the realm of positive energy matter. As its counterpart, negative energy, when combined with positive energy, neutralizes it, producing a net value of zero.

The principle of using negative energy to neutralize the destructive positive energy within a wormhole, enabling safe passage, relies precisely on this balance.

In theory, this same principle could be applied to directly neutralize the positive energy contained within a metallic shell, causing it to disappear entirely. However, theory alone wasn’t enough; it needed to be tested through experimentation.

With the experience gained from creating the first monster-like Swarm organism, Luo Wen now possessed the technical ability to make significant modifications. The second iteration did not need to be an exact replica. Instead, he opted to make it smaller—at over 50 or 60 meters, the original size was impractical for subterranean operations.

Two months later, a new experimental site was established on the surface of the metallic shell. Resources from the Swarm were concentrated here, and the site was encased in a magnetic field to prevent energy leakage and avoid drawing unnecessary attention.

The new monster-like Swarm organism was introduced into the experimental facility. Standing just over five meters tall, it was a scaled-down, proportionate replica of the original. Alongside it, the facility housed multiple humanoid Swarm organisms piloted by Intelligent Entities, as well as numerous Observer Bugs tasked with collecting and transmitting vast amounts of data back to the Swarm’s main research hub.

The Swarm’s limited resources on the Botian front meant many critical components, particularly precision instruments, were unavailable and couldn’t be assembled in the short term.

The experiment commenced amidst a mix of anticipation and nervous tension. As the monster-like organism activated, a thin layer of negative energy began to manifest on its surface. And then…

Nothing happened.

Luo Wen’s optimism faltered. The negative energy membrane covering the organism appeared to serve only as a passive defensive layer. Whether the organism touched or attacked the metallic shell, the energy membrane failed to produce the expected effects.

Could the scaled-down proportions have disrupted some critical structures within the organism? Luo Wen meticulously reviewed the design, only to confirm that there were no omissions. Every detail, down to the air sacs irrelevant in a planetary environment, had been faithfully replicated.

Luo Wen settled into deep thought. Until now, he had been under significant pressure and lacked the time to carefully analyze the situation. With the experiment at an impasse, he finally had the opportunity to reevaluate the finer details.

The issue didn’t seem to lie with the concept of negative energy, which remained sound. The problem, then, likely lay with the monster itself. Yet, even the 1:1 replica organism on the 11th planet, equipped with the same negative energy membrane, had shown no offensive capabilities during its own experiment.

This left Luo Wen with more questions than answers. Why did the monsters, seemingly equipped with such advanced capabilities, lack the offensive applications of their energy membranes? Was there something inherently missing in their design, or did their true potential depend on factors Luo Wen had yet to discover? For now, the mystery remained unsolved.

Could the monster’s body possess some special activation device or unique organ required to utilize the negative energy offensively?

Luo Wen immediately dismissed this idea. In his earlier examinations, he had already scrutinized the monster’s genetic fragments and found no foreign sequences.

So, could it be that the monsters truly lacked the ability to use negative energy offensively? Luo Wen reconsidered their actions. If they possessed such an advanced capability, the Mecha Warriors would stand no chance against them. The disparity in technological levels would make their defense efforts futile.

Perhaps the monsters had exhausted their negative energy reserves while traversing the wormhole? Upon emerging, they were immediately swarmed by the Mecha Warriors, leaving no time to recharge or deploy their powers.

Luo Wen thought back to the Swarm’s own replicated monster-like organism, which had required hours to build a full-body negative energy membrane. This possibility seemed plausible.

But something still felt off. Luo Wen instinctively sensed that he was overlooking a critical detail.

He began retracing his steps, reviewing the data he had gathered. In Botian society, several of the Swarm’s Intelligent Entities, specialized in rapid data retrieval, suddenly received orders to search for specific records Luo Wen needed.

Then it clicked.

Through this reevaluation, Luo Wen identified a key inconsistency. Botian records noted that during the first few wormhole openings, the monsters had engaged directly with the Botian military and were ultimately destroyed with nuclear weapons.

The interaction between the monsters’ biological tissues and nuclear radiation had created highly toxic “dead zones,” posing a severe threat to the Botians. This prompted the development of the Mecha Warrior Program to prevent further nuclear fallout and the expansion of these zones.

By the time the Swarm arrived on the Botian homeworld, the Botians had already perfected their response to the monsters. This gave Luo Wen the impression that the monsters were inherently weak and easily countered.

However, this “routine” obscured a critical realization. Those earlier monsters hadn’t been immediately engaged by Mecha Warriors. They had ample time to recharge or use any abilities they might have had. Yet, in the records, there were no mentions of unknown or bizarre attacks, neither in public documents nor in classified laboratory or governmental archives.

This suggested that the monsters genuinely lacked any negative energy-based offensive capabilities.

Luo Wen’s retrospective analysis revealed another overlooked issue.

If he were the force behind the wormhole, what would he do? Luo Wen speculated. If the objective were clear, the vanguard monsters wouldn’t bother engaging with the Botians at all.

Instead, they would emerge from the wormhole and begin excavating their target immediately. What could the Botians possibly do to stop them? They couldn’t even penetrate the planet’s asthenosphere, much less interfere with a large-scale operation.

Unless…

The wormhole’s creators didn’t actually know the specific situation on this side.

But how was that possible?

Luo Wen shook his head and began organizing his thoughts anew.

First, the opposing force must be aware of the metallic shell, as it was the only valuable resource in the star system. But how had they discovered it?

Second, they had constructed a wormhole precisely targeting this location. Leaving aside the difficulty of creating a small, stable, and controllable wormhole, how had they achieved such pinpoint accuracy?

From Luo Wen’s perspective, this was an even more complex feat than the Swarm launching meteors to hit Ji military outposts.

These two points painted the other side as unfathomably advanced, fully aligning with Luo Wen’s conception of a high-level civilization. This was why he had initially ruled out the possibility that the wormhole’s creators were unaware of the specifics on the Botian side.

Yet, beyond these technical achievements, their subsequent actions seemed to suggest the opposite—that they were indeed clueless about what was happening on this side.

Consider the monsters themselves. To Luo Wen, their design seemed unrefined for vanguard units. Their bodies contained numerous redundant structures, such as the air sacs.

The monsters’ skin could actively seal and resist cosmic radiation. The purpose of the air sacs was evident—they allowed the monsters to store air and maintain internal circulation, enabling them to survive and operate for short durations in space.

If the monsters were equipped for space environments, why had they been deployed in planetary conditions where such features were unnecessary?

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