I Am The Swarm

After a prolonged period of intense heat, the external environment began to cool significantly, with temperatures soon plummeting below freezing. The combination of darkness and cold caused a mass die-off of vegetation.

Large herbivores, such as Triceratops, relied on consuming hundreds of kilograms of plants daily to sustain their massive bodies. Once the plants withered, it wasn’t long before these giants began succumbing to hunger one by one.

Their corpses became the final feast for carnivorous dinosaurs.

After the large herbivores perished, smaller plant-eaters followed closely, dying in droves from starvation and cold. Once the carnivorous dinosaurs finished their feast, they too faced extinction due to the lack of food.

In contrast, small omnivorous creatures managed to survive. Feeding on leftover carcasses, buried plant roots, and insect larvae, they found ways to endure.

From his underground haven, Luo Wen monitored the outside world daily through the eyes of surviving bugs scattered across the globe. His primary focus was on the escaping experimental subjects.

The conditions near the impact zone were particularly harsh, given the proximity of the test site to the asteroid’s core. The small dinosaurs, despite their sharp teeth, communication abilities, and tool usage, lacked the ability to dig burrows.

Some of the smarter individuals tried to use sticks and stones to dig pits, but their claw structures rendered such efforts inefficient.

Unable to stay in one place for long, the harsh environment forced them into constant flight. Along the way, they found temporary refuge in caves or the burrows of other animals.

After the vegetation died out, they encountered the remains of large herbivorous dinosaurs. These colossal creatures had previously been beyond their reach as prey.

The taste of such prey inflated their confidence, as the top predators had long been eradicated by the Swarm. The small dinosaurs saw themselves as the apex hunters of the surface.

However, their arrogance was short-lived. Soon, the lack of food forced them into a dire predicament, and their narrow dietary habits put them on the brink of annihilation.

The situation for the Tail Lard Rats was similar. Although weaker in combat, these creatures were natural diggers. Instead of seizing other animals’ burrows, they survived the initial disaster by digging their own.

During their subsequent escape, they consumed whatever was available—meat, plants, and even occasional dinosaur carcasses. Despite the dangers of their journey, they managed relatively well.

As meat became scarcer, they relied on their omnivorous nature and the reserves in their tail-lard organs to scrape by.

The turning point came when the Tail Lard Rats encountered the desperate small dinosaurs.

The small dinosaurs, blinded by hunger and delirium, attacked the rats without hesitation, ignoring the fact that they had once been fellow experimental subjects in the same facility.

During the early days of their escape, the dinosaurs’ inability to dig led to significant losses. Now, about a hundred small dinosaurs remained.

In contrast, the Tail Lard Rats, with their higher reproduction rates and lesser losses during the escape, still numbered over 300.

On the surface, the rats seemed no match for the dinosaurs. Their genetic predisposition to see the dinosaurs as predators should have caused them to flee.

However, the small dinosaurs were now nearly exhausted, while the rats retained some strength. Additionally, the rats could wield weapons and, through Luo Wen’s experiments and education, had developed a degree of intelligence. They could comprehend their predicament.

Instead of retreating, the Tail Lard Rats rallied under the leadership of a few particularly robust individuals and charged toward the small dinosaurs.

The ensuing battle of prey versus predator was unexpectedly intense.

The small dinosaurs maintained an advantage in combat strength, with their speed and coordination in small-scale skirmishes. They killed over ten Tail Lard Rats during the clash. However, the rats didn’t emerge unscathed either. Despite their hasty response and lack of weapons for all members, they managed to gang up on and kill four small dinosaurs.

The conflict wasn’t aimed at annihilating the opposing side. The small dinosaurs sought food. After obtaining several rat carcasses, their leader gave a few shrill cries, and leveraging their superior speed, the dinosaurs swiftly retreated with their spoils.

The Tail Lard Rats, being forced into the fight, naturally didn’t pursue them blindly.

Thus, this skirmish, lasting over twenty minutes, abruptly came to an end.

Although the initial clash was over, the war between the two groups had only just begun.

The small dinosaurs, having fed, regained some clarity. Drawing on their experiences, they began trailing the Tail Lard Rat group by following their tracks.

A group of hundreds of Tail Lard Rats found it impossible to hide their trail. Nor could they outpace the faster dinosaurs. This left them unable to shake their pursuers.

With their intelligence restored, the small dinosaurs avoided large-scale conflicts. Instead, they used their speed to launch opportunistic attacks on the rats.

After suffering several losses, the Tail Lard Rats began traveling in tight formations and avoiding solitary movement. They also started crafting weapons during their journey.

A few days later, every Tail Lard Rat had a sharpened spear. Standing upright on their hind legs with spears in hand, they presented an imposing image. Moreover, their unified march deprived the small dinosaurs of opportunities to strike, leaving the predators starving for days.

Life wasn’t easy for the rats either. Grouping together reduced their ability to scavenge food, leaving them to rely on the reserves in their tail-lard organs.

Unable to endure their hunger any longer, the small dinosaurs launched another attack on the main rat group. This time, armed with weapons, the rats held their ground. Both sides incurred heavy losses, with the rats losing nine members and the dinosaurs losing eight. The dinosaurs left with several rat and dinosaur carcasses as spoils of war.

The small dinosaurs, satiated, temporarily ceased their attacks, allowing the rats to gather food and replenish their energy.

A few days later, another battle occurred. This time, the rats lost ten members, while the dinosaurs suffered seven casualties.

In yet another clash days later, the rats lost nine members, while the dinosaurs lost eleven—a first where dinosaur losses exceeded those of the rats. This shift stemmed from the rats’ newfound understanding of traps.

One rat, for reasons unknown, had begun digging pits around the group’s rest areas and covering them with rudimentary camouflage.

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