I Am The Swarm-Chapter 656: Glimmer of Hope

Such an advanced warship wouldn’t be crippled by such a minor malfunction. The backup systems quickly took over, and the lighting was restored. The emergency fire suppression system in the compartment also activated, extinguishing the flames.

“We might have overdone it, haha…” The squad members felt a bit awkward. If this weren’t an emergency, they’d probably be lining up for a court-martial afterward.

Knox kept a stern face and didn’t say much, leading the way to the next section of the corridor. Regardless of the damage caused, this method had indeed significantly sped up the search.

However, this approach couldn’t be replicated—or rather, the intensity of the attack couldn’t be replicated. The previous barrage had already damaged multiple sections of the ship’s interior walls. If such damage became widespread, it could compromise the structural integrity of the entire ship. By the time they found all the Swarm units, the ship might be falling apart.

The corridor wasn’t long, and with the help of the humanoid robots, the squad quickly moved the damaged bulkhead aside. However, they didn’t rush into the next room.

The earlier barrage had over-saturated some areas while completely missing others. Now, they needed to inspect the areas that hadn’t been hit.

Learning from their earlier mistake, Knox assigned tasks to each member and adjusted the firing rate of the Vulcan cannons. After a few rounds of testing, they quickly found the optimal firing frequency and intensity.

Soon, the previously untouched areas were thoroughly inspected. The new inspection method had indeed increased efficiency by several orders of magnitude.

“No signs in this corridor, Captain. Should we move to the next section?”

Knox glanced around. Each section of the corridor was only about fifty meters long, so a quick scan gave him a clear view. The scorched, pitted, and broken metal walls, the traces of fire caused by the energy short circuit mixed with fire suppressant residue… Looking at all this, he felt like he was missing something.

But after thinking for a while, he couldn’t figure it out. Shaking his head, Knox directed the squad to the next section. After inspecting nine more sections and waiting for the command center’s damage and safety assessment, if everything checked out, this plan would be viable and likely implemented fleet-wide. By then, their squad, as the proposers of this plan, would surely receive substantial rewards.

The bulkhead leading to the next section had been a primary target during the first barrage. It was now severely damaged, with its internal control systems and hydraulics rendered useless.

Although the damaged bulkhead was heavy, it was no match for the Z-series humanoid robots. With two robots working together, they easily moved the obstacle aside. Just as they were about to proceed, Gale’s voice came through the comms: “Captain, should we also check the areas we’ve already attacked?”

Knox felt a sudden realization. He remembered what he had forgotten earlier. Gale was right—their mission was to thoroughly inspect every area they passed through. Yet, they had all subconsciously skipped inspecting the areas they had already attacked.

Just as Knox was about to issue the order, Kari’s voice came through the comms. “Why bother checking those areas? If those Swarm units weren’t killed by that kind of firepower, they’d have definitely reacted. But we didn’t notice anything unusual earlier.”

“But that’s just our assumption. We’ve only eliminated a few Swarm tentacles, and they were all taken out by concentrated fire. We don’t know their tolerance limits. What if they endured the attack because it wasn’t strong enough?” Gale calmly explained.

“That’s just your speculation…”

“Enough,” Knox interrupted before Kari could finish. “Thorough inspection is our mission. We can’t ignore areas just because they’ve been attacked. Let’s go back and check. It won’t take much time.”

Kari, cut off mid-sentence, didn’t dare argue with Knox, the squad leader. He could only mutter under his breath, “What’s the difference between this and before? Even if it’s faster, it’s only marginally so.”

Though his voice was barely audible, his teammates, who had been with him for years, could infer his meaning from just a few words.

However, they chose to ignore Kari’s complaints. Maintaining harmony in a squad sometimes required someone to make a small sacrifice.

The squad’s reaction only made Kari, who had just vented a bit of his frustration, feel even more agitated. He maneuvered his spider-shaped robot roughly through the gaps between his teammates. With its three-meter-long limbs and multiple metal joints, the robot crouched and leaped toward a pile of debris.

But to everyone’s shock, as the spider-shaped robot was about to land, blue arcs of electricity suddenly flashed across the ground. The warning system had just sounded the alarm, and before the alert could fully register, a Swarm tentacle wreathed in blue electricity sprang from the charred debris. With tremendous force, it smashed the descending robot into pieces.

Updated from freewёbnoνel.com.

“@#%!!!!!” A frustrated curse echoed through the comms. Kari had once again paid the price for his recklessness, losing his robot for the Nth time. He would have to wait for a new unit to be assigned before rejoining the battle. However, with the already limited stock of Z2 spider-shaped robots, it was unclear if any were even left.

The incident happened too quickly. By the time Knox and the others processed what had happened, the sound of the alarm reached their ears.

“Open fire!” Knox roared, and the squad unleashed a barrage of firepower. The Swarm tentacle trap, with no mobility and no enemies within range, could only helplessly be torn apart, its fluids splattering everywhere.

“Hah…” Knox let out a sigh, feeling a sense of confusion as he looked at the compartment ravaged by the saturation fire. Reviewing the video playback, he could clearly see that the Swarm unit had emerged from a charred area.

That charred area indicated it had been hit by the squad’s weapons earlier. But why had it been unaffected? The fact that it was still combat-ready suggested that their earlier assumptions and plans were flawed.

They had just seen a glimmer of hope, believing they had found a path to victory. But now, everything had changed so suddenly.