I Am The Swarm

The pain of muscles being gradually dissolved drove the Long-Faced Beast into madness.

It could no longer hide and began fleeing in all directions.

Unfortunately, the danger stemmed from within its body. Its frantic escape not only failed to alleviate the situation but hastened the venom’s spread.

In mere moments, though its bones still fiercely resisted the venom’s invasion, a large portion of its muscles had already dissolved, leaving it unable to support its heavy body.

The Long-Faced Beast staggered forward a few more steps before collapsing with a thunderous crash, flattening a patch of wild grass.

Lying on the ground, the Long-Faced Beast convulsed continuously for over ten minutes before finally falling still.

After waiting for a while longer, Luo Wen leapt down from the tree trunk and cautiously approached his prey.

Seeing the lifeless and vacant eyes of the Long-Faced Beast, he knew it was truly dead.

In truth, although the venom Luo Wen injected was highly toxic, given the size of the Long-Faced Beast, it could only dissolve about half its muscle tissue.

However, Luo Wen had chosen his target well—the area around the back of the neck was dense with central nerves, serving as the sole connection between the brain and the body. With the muscles and nerve tissue in this area destroyed, even if the beast were alive, it would lose its ability to move and become an easy target.

After confirming that the prey was no longer a threat, Luo Wen stepped forward and began consuming the dissolved meat juices to fill his stomach.

But soon, he found himself at a bit of a loss.

The Long-Faced Beast measured three meters in length. Although its elongated head and tail accounted for much of its length, its main body was still about two meters, with four stout legs adding significant bulk. Even after Luo Wen consumed a portion, more than 200 kilograms of meat remained.

In the past, such a quantity of food would have been quickly processed by the Swarm. But now, digestion was no longer the issue—even storage posed a challenge.

The commotion caused by the Long-Faced Beast’s frenzy had already alerted the Big-Headed Ants. Some scouts were already following the trail to investigate. This place was no longer safe, so Luo Wen decided to retreat first.

He scattered some pheromones around to create confusion, then hoisted the Long-Faced Beast onto his back and left swiftly.

Although the Long-Faced Beast’s size and weight dwarfed Luo Wen’s own, his exoskeletal armor made moving this load manageable. After all, ants with similar exoskeletons could carry hundreds of times their body weight.

When Luo Wen was about a dozen meters away from the base, he stopped.

The entrance to the cave was too narrow to accommodate the entire Long-Faced Beast in its current state. Widening it would take time, but cutting the beast into smaller pieces would release a significant amount of blood scent. In this primeval jungle, the smell of blood was akin to an invitation to a feast, and the locals were far from civilized, often displaying extreme savagery in food fights.

Yet abandoning such a hard-earned meal was out of the question for Luo Wen.

After thinking for a long time, Luo Wen finally came up with a decent plan, though its execution felt a bit undignified.

He first found a spot downwind near the base.

Dragging the Long-Faced Beast there, he buried it under soil and decaying leaves.

Finally, he raised his abdomen and launched a “Gatling-style” barrage, spraying “projectiles” in all directions…

The primary purpose of this attack was not its highly corrosive and high-temperature effects but its secondary property.

An unbearable stench spread, masking the scent of the Long-Faced Beast’s wounds and effectively repelling other predators.

Moreover, the odor had a shelf life of over half a month.

Luo Wen could easily finish consuming the beast in far less time.

After satisfying his hunger, Luo Wen hunted two Ultra Giant Soldier Ants and ended his day’s hunt early, returning to the base.

He divided the Ultra Giants between the Brood Nest, worker ants, and larvae, then lay down on one side, bored, watching the bustling hatchery.

As he stared absentmindedly at a worker ant, the mysterious energy mass in his mind suddenly became active.

Immediately, Luo Wen’s perspective shifted as if his soul had traversed dimensions. Before his eyes appeared a hungry larva with its mouth wide open, waiting to be fed.

The sudden change startled him, breaking the connection and returning his consciousness to his body, restoring his normal vision.

He realized he had been watching a worker ant feeding that very larva—a larva that now seemed oddly familiar.

Luo Wen shivered as if a switch had been flipped. A talent was awakened, and in an instant, he understood everything.

The mysterious purple-white energy in his mind boiled and churned. Each insect in the hatchery lit up like a node in his consciousness, forming an unseen network that linked them all together as one.

With a single thought, Luo Wen activated a node, and his perspective instantly shifted without any delay.

A set of menacing mandibles, dripping with saliva and food mixture, loomed large in his vision.

Startled, Luo Wen disconnected from the node and switched to another—a worker ant transporting eggs. His consciousness descending had no effect on its actions; it continued working.

With another thought, Luo Wen increased the energy output, causing the worker ant to freeze momentarily.

It seemed to become self-aware, performing strange actions like raising its limbs and even putting down the egg to crawl around the hatchery in circles.

Gradually, other insects in the hatchery began exhibiting strange behaviors.

At first, it was one or two; eventually, it escalated into a collective phenomenon.

Luo Wen was exhilarated. Was this the legendary “Swarm Instant Communication System”?

When the Swarm’s territory expanded, Luo Wen had constantly struggled with communication issues but could never find a good solution.

Finally, after the Swarm reached a certain scale, linking with the Brood Nest had provided him with some vague information—a potential breakthrough for solving communication problems.

After extensive development, the Swarm met the necessary criteria, leading to the grand sacrifice of countless insects and a long slumber that followed.

Upon awakening, Luo Wen found the mysterious energy in his mind but had yet to unlock its true purpose—until now.

The immense joy Luo Wen felt after testing the system was indescribable.

He had never imagined that this breakthrough would result in such an advanced communication system.

No wonder it required such intricate procedures and prolonged preparation.

From his tests, Luo Wen mastered some functionalities of the system. He could transfer his consciousness into any insect, seamlessly switch perspectives, and even take control of their bodies with enhanced energy output. The control was precise, without any lag.

With increased energy output, he could command entire regions of insects simultaneously. However, as he had not yet mastered multitasking, controlling numerous insects individually for complex tasks remained impractical.

For now, this feature was somewhat underutilized.

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