A Major Discovery

Knowing when the wormhole would open, the Swarm didn't want to do anything fancy to show off. Instead, it stopped all Swarm activities two days in advance.

Rowan was worried that the other side's technology had advanced to the point where they could observe the situation here through wormholes. He hadn't noticed it before and hoped that he could catch up now.

Whether it was targeting the Swarm or the other side discovered something else, this fourth wormhole opening was different; before the wormhole closed, it spat out two monsters.

This was an unprecedented change, meaning the opposing force had doubled. Not only Rowan, but even the Bodi People were stunned by this sudden turn of events.

Fortunately, they have always been operating at maximum capacity to deal with every wormhole crisis. Their Mecha Warrior are divided into groups of two, with five groups deployed each time.

Because of the limited space around the monster, too many Mecha Warrior attacking at the same time would not only fail to amplify their combat power, but would also interfere with their comrades.

Therefore, they can only have a maximum of two groups working with the monster at the same time, while the other groups provide support from the sidelines.

It was thanks to their continued caution that the monsters' sudden reinforcements could have dealt them a heavy blow. After nearly three hours of fierce fighting, the two monsters fled several times—the first time they had ever tried to run away—but the outcome remained the same: their corpses were dragged away.

After the wormhole closed, the Swarm lay dormant for two more days, and only resumed its operations after confirming that no abnormalities had been detected through any channels.

But just a few days later, a major incident occurred.

From the moment Rowan evolved its first Digging Leg from its tiny, fingernail-sized form, this skill has been a constant throughout the entire evolutionary history of the Swarm.

Even now, from Space Octopus to Worker Bee, with the exception of the extremely special Overseer, there is no unit that cannot dig. Most of the Swarm's bases across its entire territory are hidden underground.

If you include all the moons, the Swarm has probably excavated at least 1,800, if not two thousand. In the world of excavation, they're quite a force to be reckoned with. Aside from stars, they've practically excavated every geological planet imaginable—rocks, diamonds, gold, ice—what kind of crust haven't they seen?

But I've never seen anything like this before.

Under Rowan's instructions, the Swarm ceased its expansion on Bodi Planet, and the various bases were able to conceal themselves and begin to move deeper underground.

At first, everything was relatively normal. But after the seabed base dug down more than ten kilometers, passed through a shallow layer of asthenosphere, which is the magma layer, and dug less than five kilometers into the mantle, what appeared before the Swarm was an outer shell made of an unknown metal.

This thing is flat, with some signs of corrosion, but it doesn't look like a natural formation at all; it's as bizarre as that controllable miniature wormhole. It should be the first time it has been discovered, because with the technological level of the Bodi People, the asthenosphere is their limit.

Rowan realized this might be a huge treasure, but he couldn't open it. The metal shell was incredibly strong; the Swarm had tried many physical methods but couldn't break through its defenses. To avoid energy leakage, they dared not use thermal weapons. In the end, they could only resort to toxins to see if they would work. Rowan had just acquired a new method of making toxins, so he decided to give it a try.

Meanwhile, the Swarm began to expand and dig outwards along this outer shell, exploring its limits.

As a result, before the insects had dug very far, they also unearthed metal shells from other Swarm bases located in other parts of the seabed. Rowan was a little confused by this, as the two Swarm bases were at least a hundred kilometers apart. Now that more than ten bases had been found with metal shells, it meant that the metal shells covered an area of at least a thousand kilometers.

This is no small feat; the difficulty of completing this amount of work underground is beyond imagination. Even for the Swarm, it's no easy task. Moreover, although the metal shell shows some signs of corrosion, there are no gaps, and no assembly marks are visible. This level of craftsmanship is something the Swarm could never achieve.

As more and more Swarm bases with metallic shells were unearthed, Rowan's expression gradually turned serious, as if he were waiting for something.

Finally, the first Swarm base on land reached the metal outer shell. Because they needed to dig to a greater depth than the underwater base, their progress was slower.

Subsequently, more and more Swarm bases unearthed metal shells. In the end, except for a few Swarm bases located at the summit that had never been excavated from the beginning, all other Bodi Planet found metal Swarm.

Looking at the three-dimensional map of Bodi Planet and the Swarm base in front of him, Rowan pondered to himself. The matter was already quite obvious: Bodi Planet was completely encased in a metal shell. There must be some kind of secret hidden inside.

So, perhaps the forces on the other side of the wormhole aren't actually after the Bodi People, nor are they conducting some farcical combat experiment. What they really want is what's inside that metal shell? Is that why they opened the wormhole in the deep sea, the closest point to that metal shell?

But how did they discover and locate this place?

Rowan suddenly had a bold idea.

If things really go as he thinks, then the Swarm will have to fight to the death this time, trying to snatch food from the tiger's mouth. After all, nobody does a losing proposition, but everyone does a risky one. When the profits are big enough, what do risks matter?

The Swarm base on Bodi Planet has begun to move again, massing troops once more, and the Creep is expanding wildly in the mantle. Rowan is making multiple preparations, hoping to gain some results from the Creep while researching toxins.

Unfortunately, the previously invincible Lichen Solution didn't perform well against the metal shell. This metal, though seemingly unremarkable, had an unusually tight and orderly molecular arrangement, giving the Swarm a good lesson in materials science. And despite the corrosion marks on them, those might be the result of millions of years of nature's work.

On Rowan's side, progress wasn't too smooth either. No matter how he combined the types of toxins he had stored, the results were mostly inferior to the Lichen Solution from the Creep.

For some reason, Rowan thought of the unknown forces on the other side of the wormhole. Judging from their actions, they seemed to have some understanding of the metal shell.

They must have a solution, but they only sent the monster, which means the monster itself is the solution. So, is there anything special about the monster?

Yes! Of course! That would be truly special.

Rowan chuckled, "Negative Energy?"