I Am The Swarm

The life planets previously conquered by the Swarm were either like Neighboring Planet, which lacked advanced intelligent life, or like the Riken planets, where the Swarm had infiltrated for centuries, prompting a surrender as soon as the Swarm army approached.

However, in terms of directly conquering a planet through hard combat in a short period, the Swarm had no prior experience. This operation presented a valuable opportunity for the Swarm to conduct such an exercise and learn from it.

When devising the battle plan, Luo Wen encountered a dilemma: this type of combat exercise would be most effective if conducted covertly, away from the prying eyes of external observers. To achieve this, their surveillance channels had to be destroyed or blocked.

The reconnaissance ships in space, equipped with quantum communication devices and relying on their speed, continued hovering near the Swarm forces. However, they dared not get too close. As long as the Swarm sealed off the exercise area and deployed interference devices, these ships’ long-distance observation methods would be largely ineffective, providing at best vague data. Moreover, the life planets’ atmospheres served as natural barriers against surveillance.

Within the star system, the Swarm had already cleared out all monitoring devices. The only remaining surveillance devices were on the life planets themselves. These devices were far more numerous and omnipresent, making it impossible for the Swarm to destroy them all before the planets were fully conquered—a task inherently contradictory to their plan.

Fortunately, transmitting the surveillance data beyond the Swarm’s blockade to the outside world was not an easy feat. There was only one method for such transmission, quantum communication devices.

These instant quantum communication systems could not be intercepted—not by the Swarm and not even by the Ji. While the information itself could not be stopped, the devices transmitting it could be destroyed.

If the Swarm managed to eliminate the quantum communication devices, the two life planets would become isolated information islands. No matter how much intelligence the monitoring devices collected, it would become useless without a way to transmit it.

The problem, however, was that the quantum communication facilities of the Daqi were hidden in extremely secretive locations. Even within the Daqi civilization, their existence was highly classified, and very few Daqi individuals knew their exact positions.

If the Swarm destroyed these facilities with surgical precision to ensure the secrecy of their exercise, it would inevitably raise suspicion among their enemies, possibly revealing some of the Swarm’s methods. On the other hand, leaving them operational would result in continuous transmission of intelligence to the outside.@@novelbin@@

Fortunately, the Swarm now had full control over the region, and external factions could not mount a counterattack anytime soon. This allowed Luo Wen to take his time preparing these two planets as testing grounds.

The Primordial Cluster split into smaller units, with tens of thousands of Primordial bodies occupying the life planets’ orbits. The atmosphere, a double-edged sword, effectively protected against external attacks but weakened outgoing strikes.

For example, electromagnetic projectiles would burn up upon entering the atmosphere. Even if constructed from more robust materials, the cost would rise sharply, and the projectiles would still lose much of their power due to resistance during flight through the atmosphere.

Similarly, energy beams or ray-based weapons would experience accelerated energy dissipation and refraction upon crossing the atmosphere. Consequently, the two Daqi life planets lacked significant capabilities to mount attacks against spaceborne targets.

The few remaining ground-based cannons on the planets were quickly destroyed by the Swarm as soon as they revealed their firing locations. The Swarm didn’t even need to rely on electromagnetic railguns or other sophisticated weaponry; they simply dropped rods made of specialized metals from orbit. The kinetic energy generated from their descent was devastating, creating impacts more destructive than nuclear explosions.

With the resistance forces eliminated, the Primordial Units encircled the planets, releasing electromagnetic interference to prevent signals from being transmitted off-planet to the reconnaissance ships outside the system.

Afterward, the Swarm dropped several spore pods onto the planet’s surface.

The Swarm’s actions quickly piqued the interest of the observing factions. Since the quantum communication devices on the life planets had not yet been destroyed, they could still monitor the battlefield in real time.

The footage of the spore pods being dropped from orbit was captured by numerous instruments. The observers assumed that the Swarm would immediately launch a ground offensive. To their surprise, the Primordial Units simply ceased all activity after dropping the pods, entering what seemed like a dormant state.

“What are they doing?”

“Not sure. Maybe they’re conducting some kind of experiment.”

“Send someone to check what they’ve dropped on the surface, immediately.”

The Ji AI, while having lost control of all space-deployed weapons, still commanded the electronic systems on the Daqi planets. Additionally, it retained the assistance of a few remaining Daqi individuals and convicts who had stayed behind on the life planets. ᚱ𝖆𝐍ố𝐁ĚṢ

Some convicts, realizing their grim fate, had gone rogue and were executed by the AI. The Ji AI operated with no ethical restrictions on harming alien species and eliminated these potential troublemakers without hesitation.

The remaining Daqi people, regardless of their reasons for staying, had fully accepted the Ji AI’s command. After receiving the observers’ requests and performing its own calculations, the AI quickly dispatched a mixed squad of robots and Daqi personnel to investigate the spore pod landing sites.

The spore pods’ drop locations had been meticulously calculated by the Intelligent Entities, targeting remote wilderness areas. The mixed squad, traveling in transport airships, soon spotted the remnants of the spore pods from a distance. The crash site was littered with purple-gray organic tissue and fluids, but the contents of the pods had disappeared.

“This is TLAS3607. No signs of danger at the site. Requesting permission to land.” Several airships circled the crash site at a safe distance, but the visible destruction offered little insight. The squad leader requested permission to land for closer inspection.

“Permission granted. Proceed with caution,” came a cold, mechanical voice through the communication channel. While the AI expressed concern for safety, there was no trace of emotion in its tone.

The squad leader grimaced but knew better than to expect more from an artificial intelligence. He gestured to his team, and the airships adopted a scattered formation, landing around the spore pod crash site.

Several all-terrain robots emerged from the airships first, advancing without fear to clear the path. Behind them, a group of Daqi soldiers cautiously followed, weapons at the ready.

Suddenly, the robots emitted a shrill alarm. A blue arc of light flashed ahead, and before anyone could react, a cold voice in the communication channel managed to utter a single syllable. “Intru—” before being drowned out by the sound of static.