I Am The Swarm-Chapter 677: Gathering

Finally, after nearly a month, the commanders of the various races of the Confederations frontline forces had all arrived. Given the circumstances, everyone valued their lives highly, and no one tried to act out of line.

The Yuntu flagship was massive, with a disc-shaped hull nearly five kilometers in diameter. The enormous space, coupled with the fact that it was the command flagship, meant its interior was decorated and arranged differently from ordinary warships.

Additionally, its crew quarters were larger and more numerous. This allowed the visiting commanders and their entourages from various races to be assigned suitable rooms.

The Swarm’s “courtesy” left the Confederation races puzzled as to why the Swarm was treating them this way. However, preferential treatment usually indicated either a need for their cooperation or a desire to avoid escalating the conflict further.

This significantly increased their chances of survival and eased the tension among the various races. However, they failed to notice that at night, a faint mist began to seep into their rooms from unknown sources, only to disappear quickly.

Those who were already asleep fell into an even deeper slumber, while those on night watch soon succumbed to drowsiness and drifted off. At that moment, vines emerged from hidden crevices, piercing their bodies and rapidly altering something within them.

This direct, invasive method of modification, though somewhat crude, greatly accelerated the process of turning the targets into node markers.

Two days later, when Marlene reappeared after a long absence, many of the invited commanders had already become “one of them” turning the meeting into what was essentially a performative “family gathering.”

Marlene, adhering to the Swarm’s characteristic directness, dispensed with hypocritical pleasantries and refrained from mocking the defeated enemy. She got straight to the point: “Gentlemen, I assume you’ve already reported your current situation to your respective races?”

“We’ve become prisoners. How could we possibly report to our races…” One of the Confederation commanders tried to play it smart, attempting to deny certain facts.

But Marlene didn’t let him finish. With a wave of her hand, she cut him off. “Insulting the intelligence of an opponent who has defeated you is akin to insulting yourself. Although the Swarm has taken you captive, we’ve been very lenient in managing your races and haven’t restricted your communication devices. Please refrain from saying anything foolish.”

Marlene’s words were harsh. At this level, speaking as if trying to deceive a child was tantamount to an insult.

However, Marlene’s rebuke didn’t elicit any sense of shame from the speaker. They were all seasoned veterans, and for the sake of gathering intelligence and testing boundaries, pride was a trivial matter.

In fact, the speaker felt somewhat pleased with himself, as his probing had yielded crucial information. The most important takeaway was that the Swarm’s previous actions weren’t motivated by any sense of preferential treatment of prisoners but were instead deliberate. This raised questions about the Swarm’s true intentions.

The meeting room was equipped with monitoring devices that were still operational, continuously transmitting the situation back to the Confederation.

Previously, this had secretly delighted the Confederation, who believed it was either an oversight by the Swarm or a result of their unfamiliarity with the Confederation’s technological capabilities.

But Marlene now made it clear that she was fully aware of everything. “Everything you’ve done has only been possible because I allowed it.”

The Swarm was enigmatic, and every opportunity to interact with them was rare. Coupled with the fact that the Swarm now held countless prisoners, the Confederation was even more desperate to understand the Swarm’s purpose in summoning all the Confederation commanders.

Thus, on the other end of the surveillance feed, a large number of high-ranking officials and strategists from the Confederation had gathered. Though they were scattered across different locations, quantum communication seamlessly connected them all.

These elite commanders quickly grasped the implications of Marlene’s words and deciphered the hidden meaning.

“It seems the Swarm intends to negotiate directly with the Confederation.”

“That’s to be expected. After all, if you capture a group of people, how much can you really gain from them? Ultimately, you have to deal with the forces behind these captives to maximize the benefits.”

“It looks like the Swarm isn’t interested in a mutually destructive conflict with us.”

“Of course not. The disparity in strength between the Swarm and the Confederation is too great.”

“But now they hold a significant bargaining chip, which complicates things.”

“Regardless of how difficult this situation is, I hope the Confederation and the Ji race will consider the hostages. After all, they represent nearly a hundred races, almost half of our Confederation’s members,” said one commander, whose own race had an army captured by the Swarm.

“Exactly. Our priority should be rescuing the hostages. Many of them have no personal grudge against the Swarm and are only in this situation because of the Confederation.”

“Agreed. Before pursuing any other plans, we must ensure the safety of the hostages.”

“We must prioritize rescuing the hostages, or my race will not contribute to any further plans.”

“Same here…”

The earlier statement by the Confederation commander garnered widespread support, especially from those whose forces had participated in the previous war and were now in the Swarm’s hands.

“Hmph, you lost because of your own stupidity. Why should the Confederation pay for your mistakes?”

“Exactly. The number of prisoners isn’t small. The Swarm will surely demand an exorbitant ransom. Can the Confederation afford such compensation?”

“The Swarm hasn’t heavily restricted their movements or confiscated their weapons. Shouldn’t they try to save themselves under these circumstances?”

“True, they should attempt self-rescue.”

However, half of the races that hadn’t participated in the war either remained indifferent or hoped that the others wouldn’t waste collective resources.

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Their remarks were immediately countered: “Have you not seen the footage and reports from earlier? If they want to leave, they need to activate the warp drive, which requires high-power energy generation. But the Swarm has already taken control of the energy chambers on the ships. Increasing energy output would turn the ships into massive bombs.”

“Correct. They need external assistance. Otherwise, the Rashudia race’s fate will be a cautionary tale.” However, as soon as this commander spoke, he felt several icy glares piercing his back, sending a chill down his spine.

He glanced around discreetly and saw the Rashudia representatives in attendance. These lunatics had an abnormal way of thinking, and who knew what they might do.

Thus, the commander quickly backtracked. “I meant no offense to the Rashudia race. I was merely using them as an example. My apologies to everyone here.”