I Am The Swarm

Chapter 237: Decision

“Captain, there are no signs of a struggle nearby. It seems the patrol squad was subdued in an instant,” reported a team member.

Another soldier inspecting the operations platform looked up. “Found it, Captain. I’ve identified the location where the patrol squad’s signals last disappeared.”

“Where?”

“One kilometer northwest.”

“Send the coordinates to the gunboats. Gunboats, provide cover. All units, stay alert and proceed in groups of three to rendezvous at the coordinates,” the captain ordered.

The patrol squads’ combat suits not only incorporated life sign monitoring systems but also featured built-in locators. Using the historical data from the equipment left behind, the special ops team easily pinpointed the location where the signals vanished.

“Captain, there are some fresh indentations here—these don’t look like tracks left by the patrol squad,” a soldier said, observing a faint path cutting through the grass. The shape of the trail differed slightly from what Riken footprints typically left behind.

“It seems we’re heading in the right direction. Stay sharp and be ready for combat. Gunboats, keep watch around us,” the captain instructed, glancing at the marks.

With the gunboats providing overhead protection, the kilometer-long journey passed without incident.

“Captain, this is where the signals disappeared.”

Nodding, the captain signaled the team to spread out and

“Could this star system have developed two civilizations—one on T855 and another on T853?”

“I doubt it. If there were a civilization on T853, they wouldn’t tolerate satellites or even the fusion-based monsters we’ve observed.”

“Maybe that monster is a creation of such a civilization!” another suggested.

“Speaking of which, where is that monster now?”

“Perhaps it’s hibernating. Our satellites have marked a few suspicious locations, but we haven’t had the chance to investigate.”

“Experts speculated that monster might be a relic of an ancient era. Could there be other similar species still alive but dormant? Maybe the Cat’s Ear Spaceship’s battle awakened them,” a captain posited.

The room fell silent as the participants considered this theory.

“That’s not impossible,” someone finally said.

“In fact, it’s quite plausible and makes sense.”

“If that’s the case, then whatever woke up must be a rapidly reproducing species. Our bases span five continents, yet the attacks seem nearly simultaneous.”

“Are you suggesting they also have long-range coordination capabilities?”

“Why not? If a fusion-powered creature can exist, why not one with advanced coordination? Our own history has records of such creatures on Riken. They were eusocial but limited to a few kilometers.”

“Such creatures would be even harder to deal with than that mobile nuke monster.”

“What’s the use of guessing? I propose concentrating our forces to storm one of the cave entrances and see what’s inside.”

“Agreed! I second that!”

“…”

“But our forces can’t fully deploy underground. Numbers won’t provide an advantage there.”

“We’ll still need elite teams for the actual descent.”

“If that’s the case, why not excavate the area? We brought plenty of heavy machinery for terraforming the planet.”

“That’s a solid idea. I second it.”

“Seconded.”

“Seconded.”

“…”