Experimental Work

Rowan's body underwent a slight structural change, with an additional air sac appearing between his carapace and abdomen.

When he dives into the water, the air bladder acts like an oxygen tank, connected to a valve on his abdomen. Steel bristles grow from the valve opening, acting like a filter that allows air to pass through while removing impurities.

This impurity also includes water, which ensures that he can breathe underwater.

When the air in the "oxygen tank" is about to run out, Rowan can forcefully squeeze the air sac out from between his carapace and abdomen.

Because there is a lot of dissolved oxygen in the water and the pressure is also relatively high, the oxygen in the water will seep into the bubbles, allowing him to continue breathing.

When he needs to move underwater, he can retract the airbag, and the oxygen in the airbag can still supply him with oxygen for a period of time.

This is truly a novel ability.

Although it doesn't breathe underwater like fish do, and it frequently needs to stop to replenish oxygen, this ability makes it possible for Rowan to explore the underwater world.

It seems the Swarm is about to add new units to its Aquatic Army; the previous Sampan Bug could only paddle on the surface and had no diving ability.

In addition, Rowan's eyes also gained a new ability.

When he is underwater, his eyes secrete a liquid that acts like a thin film, allowing Rowan to see normally even underwater.

He climbed out of the pool, then stepped into the lake, his body gradually sinking into the water.

Looking at the dark bottom of the lake in the distance, Rowan thought for a moment, but in the end, he decided not to venture deeper.

He didn't know what dangers lay at the bottom of the lake. If he ventured in alone and encountered trouble, there wouldn't even be a bug to help him. That would be too reckless and didn't fit his cowardly nature.

Fortunately, it's only a few dozen more days before his Swarm "Submarine" will be launched one after another. The lake has been unexplored for so long, so there's no rush now.

Having convinced himself, Rowan was satisfied. He climbed ashore and turned away with a flourish.

Under Rowan's special attention, the new queen Ant Queen was given priority to build a base by the lake after it matured at the main base.

Actually, Rowan wasn't particularly eager to explore the underwater world. It was just that he was so bored lately that he was in a state of wanting to do something reckless and dangerous.

After this period of development, the average number of members in the Swarm base has nearly doubled, increasing to 50,000. However, a few days ago, the Northern Army gathered 8 million troops and set off again, first clearing out the few Red Ant Nest around the original Big-Headed Ant nest.

The battle was a complete rout, and Rowan had no interest in watching it. Although the direct confrontation resulted in the loss of nearly a million troops, new soldiers were quickly replenished.

Subsequently, the Northern Army dispersed into dozens of teams and advanced ahead.

When they encounter a large Ant Nest, they regroup to eliminate it, and then disperse again after the battle. This pattern of advance greatly increases the efficiency of their expansion.

The more than 2,000 queen Ant Queen had gathered near the main base were also gradually sent to the front lines to develop and guard new territories. The number of Swarm has now reached nearly 4,000.

Due to the rapid expansion, the average number of members per base dropped from 50,000 to 40,000, but the total number of Swarm members still exceeded 150 million.

Recently, Rowan has also expanded the western and Central Army. Previously, the number of soldiers in these two armies was less than 100,000, which was far too meager compared to the Northern Army.

Although the Swarm is absolutely loyal and never questions Rowan's orders, and wouldn't complain even if he treated them differently, Rowan himself felt embarrassed and thought he should pay more attention to them.

As reinforcements gradually arrived, these two armies began to advance in a dispersed manner, and their expansion accelerated rapidly.

Although Rowan had previously accumulated a batch of queen Ant Queen without bases, and still had some surplus, at this rate, all of these queen Ant Queen would soon be deployed.

Moreover, after some time, the newly formed Swarm Aquatic Army will carry the Eastern Army across rivers and lakes to the other side to occupy and develop new territories for Rowan.

However, the Eastern Army is currently only a designation, and the troops have not yet arrived. The originally abundant number of Ant Queen has become insufficient.

Therefore, the Mother Nest is no longer producing other types of soldiers and has begun to focus all its efforts on hatching the Ant Queen.

As time passed, the rapid expansion of the various armies, driven by their increased strength and new methods of advance, caused them to gradually become disconnected from their rear territories, and supplies could no longer keep up. Left with no other choice, Rowan reluctantly ordered them to slow down their advance once again.

The Ant Queen were originally concentrated near the main base for production have all been sent out, and they all have their own bases now. The Swarm Ant Queen resources of the swarm are now extremely scarce, and even the older queen Ant Queen that were originally retired are full of production tasks.

Even with such a shortage of human resources, Rowan still managed to hatch a swarm of 100,000 Diving Bug.

The day was sunny, with a gentle breeze and clouds.

On the lakeshore, the entire 100,000-strong diving force had assembled. At Rowan's command, the Diving Bug lined up and plunged into the water, creating a rather spectacular scene.

Rowan then dived into the water. Thanks to the good weather and the fact that the lake hadn't been polluted by the Terrifying Upright Ape, the water was crystal clear. The underwater visibility was excellent, with a wide field of view, which relieved Rowan. This environment greatly enhanced his safety.

Under Rowan's command, the Diving Bug circled around Rowan and slowly headed towards the bottom of the lake.

As they ventured deeper, the light reaching them diminished, and the surroundings gradually darkened.

Soon, the Swarm reached the bottom of the lake, which was about twenty meters below the surface.

After wandering around for a while without finding any danger, the Diving Bug surrounding Rowan scattered and swam away in all directions.

The lakebed is filled with black silt, and occasionally you can see some stones hidden in it, with smooth surfaces bearing some peculiar patterns.

Unfortunately, Rowan was not a collector of rare stones and was not interested in them.

Dark green aquatic plants also grow in the silt, with algae attached to their leaves. Some prototypes of Diving Bug hide among the aquatic plants, but the bubbles behind their anuses are quite conspicuous underwater.

It turns out these creatures had been hiding deep at the bottom of the lake all along; no wonder Rowan didn't find anything when he was exploring the lakeside.

After a day of searching, Rowan had roughly surveyed the bottom of the lake. The deepest point, directly beneath the waterfall, was only about 30 meters deep.

There were no giant beasts or treasures hidden below, and not even any fish were seen.

While this may be the best outcome, at least there is no threat in the lake.

But to be honest, Rowan was somewhat disappointed for some reason. Perhaps he had hoped to discover something to break the monotony of his current life.