I Am The Swarm-Chapter 784: A Flaw

“That’s true. The Swarm has been trying to rescue their Empress. While I agree with your logic, it’s best we don’t interfere—just in case that vengeful lady decides to remember us unfavorably.”

“Fine, just speaking hypothetically.”

“Keep a close watch on the Ji’s movements!”

Even the Ji race couldn’t assemble a force capable of confronting 20 billion troops in a short time.

On the Alliance’s 3D projection map, countless glowing dots began converging toward a single location—each dot representing thousands of Ji warships.

“Maybe we should go on the offensive—intercept some of their forces before they regroup.”

“Too risky. That’s Ji territory. If our forces get bogged down, Ji reinforcements could encircle and crush us.”

This 𝓬ontent is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

“Exactly. There’s no need to take the gamble, especially since we’re marching under the cover of a stellar shockwave. Splitting up now would be complicated.”

“Still, letting a chance to wipe out a smaller Ji force slip by feels like a waste.”

“We just need to maintain formation and push steadily. Even if they gather enough troops, battles on this scale can’t be resolved quickly. There’s no need to rush.”

“True. And here’s what’s most important: we’ve got the Swarm absorbing the brunt of the firepower. As long as our allies keep sending replacements, our warships won’t be exposed too much. And with more reinforcements coming, our long-range firepower will only grow. The Ji will have to keep committing more to stop us.”

“And the more forces they commit here, the more gaps will appear elsewhere—giving us the chance to open more fronts.”

“Exactly. Our ships are cheap, but our people are precious. If the Swarm can absorb the losses, that mitigates our biggest weakness.”

“I don’t think there’ll be a problem. Our allies fight fiercely, and their recovery abilities are insane. We couldn’t see that clearly when we were enemies, but now that we’re observing them up close—it’s obvious why we used to lose.”

“Correction—we never lost to the Swarm. We’ve never fought them head-on. But their units are exceptional. That thing they call a Fungal Carpet is a logistical miracle. Too bad our technological paths differ—we can’t replicate it. Otherwise, I’d be desperate to steal the blueprint.”

“Not just the carpet. The Swarm has so much biotech black magic. Unfortunately, we can only reference it.”

“Haha, ever since this alliance began, the number of researchers in our civilization turning to biotech studies has skyrocketed. If only we had access to some Swarm scientists to collaborate—our pace would skyrocket.”

“We should raise that with our allies. Sure, we’re starting from scratch, and we’ll never match the Swarm’s level. But even gaining better self-knowledge or a longer lifespan would be a huge win.”

“Agreed.”

For Luo Wen, such requests were gifts—and he saw no reason to refuse. As for supplying more troops and serving as cannon fodder—given the Inner-circle Alliance’s actual needs, that was no big deal either.

The Swarm even offered to reinforce the Alliance’s warships with a layer of biological armor for better defense. While tempting, the Alliance politely declined—memories of past “accidents” still lingered.

Luo Wen didn’t mind. If the front door was shut, he’d just look for a side entrance. Now that everyone was wary of Swarm nano-infiltration units, it wasn’t as easy as before—but as an “ally,” there were still loopholes to exploit.

To be fair, Luo Wen wasn’t the type to play both sides. But these people were ticking time bombs—who knew when they might cause trouble? Precaution was necessary.

As the frontline prepared for all-out war, the Swarm was also orchestrating another operation—the rescue of their Empress, who had been stranded outside for over a hundred years.

Though Sarah’s body didn’t really matter anymore, appearances had to be maintained. From a mere pawn to a player, Luo Wen had grown fond of manipulating events behind the scenes—using showmanship to guide the pieces along his preferred path.

If the Empress was truly that important, and yet the Swarm didn’t lift a finger, it would seem suspicious. This loophole in the performance had to be patched. Luo Wen needed to reinforce Sarah’s character in the eyes of the pawns still on the board.

Star Gate XM768 had always been heavily defended. The Ji race had long suspected that the Swarm Empress was nearby—the massive garrison around it was evidence enough.