I Am The Swarm

The Sivian representative immediately caught the signal. With a heavy snort, he said, “Representative of Daqi, the Koya Alliance belongs to everyone, not just you. This decision has been approved by all members. Even if you oppose it, it won’t change anything.”

The Daqi representative retorted bitterly, “Our king will never agree!”

“Hmph! Either accept the proposal and preserve everyone’s dignity, or withdraw from the Koya Alliance. After that, we’ll each go our own way. You can report this back and let your king decide!” The Sivian representative sneered disdainfully. If it weren’t for the sake of appearances, he wouldn’t even care about the survival of these three-eyed creatures.

The Daqi representative’s eyes were filled with resentment, but his tone grew eerily calm. “Representative of Sivian, from the way you speak, one might think you were the leader of the Koya Alliance.”

Realizing resistance was futile, the Daqi representative took the opportunity to plant a seed of distrust between the Sivian and Koriato representatives. Hearing his remark, the previously bored representatives of other civilizations suddenly perked up.

“You!” The Sivian representative flushed with anger. He wasn’t worried that Koriato would start doubting the Sivians because of this. What enraged him was the Daqi representative’s petty attempt to sow discord even at this juncture.

“Enough!” The Koriato representative, now visibly annoyed, interjected. With a tone of sincerity, he said, “Representative of Daqi, we all recognize the sacrifices your people are making. But you must not use that as an excuse to act out. Besides, this is only temporary. Once the Swarm is defeated, we will petition the Ji race to prioritize compensating your losses with the Swarm’s territory. What more could you ask for?”

The Daqi representative, glancing at the other representatives’ expressions, understood that further protest would change nothing and might even jeopardize the promised assistance and compensation. However, lacking the authority to make an immediate decision, he could only promise to consult with the Daqi king and provide a response later.

—

“Overlord, the Daqi civilization has begun their full-scale evacuation, and the Koya Alliance fleets stationed at their borders are also retreating. Should we stop them?”

“There’s no need,” Luo Wen replied indifferently. “We’ll just continue advancing steadily. Eventually, they’ll run out of places to retreat.”

As a civilization located very close to the Swarm’s territory, the Daqi had long been infiltrated by the Swarm’s micro fungal carpet seeds. Over the years, these seeds had developed covertly within the Daqi population, even converting some of their people into intelligent entities.

If Luo Wen truly wanted to block the Daqi’s mass migration, activating some hidden assets alongside the advance of the Primordial body clusters would make it entirely feasible.

However, there was no need to do so. Stopping the Daqi would yield little benefit to the Swarm while nullifying the value of the infiltrated intelligent entities.

Letting them go, on the other hand, would disrupt the Koya Alliance’s order and burden its member states with an additional population load, further straining their already war-focused resource allocations and intensifying internal conflicts. Moreover, the infiltrated intelligent entities could seize this opportunity to illuminate more star systems, accelerating Luo Wen’s growth.

With Luo Wen determining the Swarm’s strategic direction, the Blades handled specific operations. Following Luo Wen’s decision, the Swarm made no response to the Koya Alliance’s actions.

The migration of 50 billion Daqi people was no easy task. The Koya Alliance’s territory spanned hundreds of light-years, and dispersing the Daqi population across this vast area meant that many of them would likely never see one another again in their lifetimes.

This complex web of social relationships made achieving a perfect allocation nearly impossible. On top of that, there were those unwilling to leave their homeland, issues of asset calculation and conversion, and countless other logistical hurdles.

If the relocation followed normal procedures, it would likely take 500 years to complete. However, under the pressure of a life-or-death crisis, the military directly intervened, significantly improving efficiency.

By Year Fifteen of the New Era, after consolidating their hold over the LKDW291 Star System, the Swarm made its next move.

At 11 o’clock from the LKDW291 Star System lay the Daqi civilization’s Qi-102 Star System, and at 9 o’clock lay their home system, the Qi-101 Star System. The Swarm mobilized a force of 300 million Primordial bodies, splitting into two groups to advance on these two systems.

Simultaneously, forces in the Sandstorm Star System, the Golden Horn Star System, and the White Grub Star System also began assembling.

For a moment, the galaxy was rife with tension.

It was easy to predict that the Swarm would target the Daqi civilization’s territory. However, the mobilization of forces from the other three star systems caught everyone off guard. ṜâꞐồ฿Ɛȿ

The neighboring regions of these three systems weren’t part of the Koya Alliance but belonged to the Locke Mutual Aid Society. Among its founding civilizations was the Troi civilization, a faction that had once fostered seemingly friendly relations with the Swarm. In fact, it was the Troi civilization that initially invited the Swarm to join the Interstellar Technological Confederation.

At one point, the Troi had even signed an agreement with the Swarm. The Swarm would not be forced to send large numbers of researchers to the Ji race, and in return, the Swarm agreed not to expand in the direction of the Confederation.

This agreement, however, exposed the fragile and superficial nature of their so-called friendship. The Swarm, after all, never had genuine allies, and the hollowness of their “friendship” was now laid bare.

Having overturned the table, Luo Wen felt no burden in tearing up the agreement. Just one year after deploying forces to the LKDW291 Star System—in Year Sixteen of the New Era—the Swarm launched attacks from the Sandstorm, Golden Horn, and White Grub Star Systems, assembling a force of over 500 million Primordial bodies.

The assault came so suddenly that, although the Locke Mutual Aid Society had detected the Swarm’s movements a year prior, they never imagined the Swarm would dare to wage multi-front warfare, simultaneously antagonizing two major Outer-ring alliances.

Compounding the issue, there were no buffer systems between the Locke Mutual Aid Society and the Sandstorm, Golden Horn, and White Grub Star Systems. This allowed the Swarm to breach Locke territory within two years.

Caught unprepared, the Locke Mutual Aid Society—still mocking the Koya Alliance for their evacuation efforts—found themselves in a similar predicament. Although they had been gathering forces, they deliberately chose assembly points deep within their territory to avoid provoking the Swarm or drawing its ire.

Consequently, their fleets couldn’t possibly reach the front lines in just two years. Worse still, their assembled fleets were woefully outnumbered and incapable of contending with the overwhelming force of 500 million Primordial bodies.

With no other options, the Locke Mutual Aid Society was forced to issue emergency evacuation orders. Fortunately, the star systems bordering Swarm territory were newly developed by member factions, with low development levels, making the evacuation process relatively manageable.

Just days prior, the Locke Mutual Aid Society had been criticizing the Koya Alliance for their evacuation strategies. Now, the same fate had befallen them.

The Koya Alliance, despite being overwhelmed with their own troubles, even found time to send “congratulatory messages,” adding insult to injury. Humiliated, the Locke Mutual Aid Society quickly fired back with a similar message of mockery.

Interestingly, this exchange of barbs eventually brought the two bitter rivals together. Faced with a shared crisis, they began discussing ways to jointly resist the Swarm’s advance.

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