Purple Slime!
Zhou Qing and Dugu Bo exchanged glances and immediately realized that the lump of purple slime that had appeared on the Fifth Layer was the larval form of a Mother Bug! Those tiny granular individuals had been born through a special process similar to, yet not actually, cellular division by the larva itself!
Both an individual!
And a collective!
A collective... So that was it. The swarm merely lacked individual consciousness!
All of a sudden.
A flash of insight struck Zhou Qing's brain, and he understood the fundamental reason behind the swarm's remarkable efficiency, cooperation, and stability—
The swarm itself was a vast, invisible consciousness! Everything this "consciousness" thought and desired existed solely for survival and reproduction! Perhaps it could expand outward when necessary, but in most circumstances, it would coexist harmoniously with other species whenever possible... Generally speaking, if it truly were a creature incapable of thought, once it reached such a scale, it would only continue expanding rather than choosing harmonious coexistence.
Shared weal and woe.
That was a concept only Sentient Creatures could conceive of. A species that blindly followed nothing but its genes and bloodline instincts could never establish such a stable, nearly self-sufficient living environment.
Within the Swarm Kingdom, moss and fungi were the swarm's primary food sources. Specific members of the swarm were responsible for managing them, and their yields were extremely high.
Wasn't that self-sufficiency?
If it were merely some so-called Swarm Consciousness or collective consciousness, the swarm would only develop toward becoming Zerg... Perhaps the swarm did not actually lack intelligent individuals...
"So, can you give us an answer now?" Taros asked expectantly.
"Sorry, no."
Zhou Qing, whose train of thought had been interrupted, was not annoyed. He merely refused calmly. "Still, thank you for the information."
"Ah, so that