The Time Has Come

As time went on, the eastern and western armies traversed mountains and rivers, pushing the Swarm's territory to the sea. Only the Southern Army, after digesting the vast desert region, continued its advance for thousands of kilometers, yet still found no trace of the ocean.

On land, the Swarm has already dominated its territory; its next destination is the ocean. Perhaps, when it crosses the boundless sea, it will discover new continents in other parts of the planet.

Along the coastline at the edge of the Swarm territory, naval bases sprang up. Large numbers of Swarm Mantis Shrimp and Crab began to be deployed, exploring the ocean both in depth and breadth.

Just as the Swarm was about to launch a massive invasion of the ocean, Rowan, through his contact with the Mother Nest, once again sensed that opportunity.

This time, however, it wasn't vague or ambiguous; instead, it was clear and distinct.

In an instant, Rowan had a sudden realization.

The time has come!

A sharp hiss came from Rowan's mouth, and as his tentacles thrashed violently, pheromones containing commands permeated the surroundings.

For a moment, the various insects around seemed to pause and freeze.

But in an instant, the scene came alive again.

Upon receiving the order, the insects began frantically spreading the new instructions, with Transport Bug carrying Messenger Bug rushing off in all directions.

With the Mother Nest base as the center, the Branch Base radiating outwards began to receive new instructions and information one after another.

Although the command is somewhat strange, the Swarm can be considered a derivative of Rowan; they maintain absolute loyalty to Rowan and do not question his orders in the slightest.

The Type II Ant Queen in the base began issuing commands, and the surrounding Aphid Pasture suffered devastating damage.

The poor Aphid used to live like royalty, fed by others and even their droppings were cleaned up regularly by someone.

But suddenly, the servants who cared for them all turned on them. Sharp teeth pierced their bodies, and they then wrapped them in a mixture of syrup and saliva to prevent them from rotting.

Pack it up, load it onto the truck, and take it away.

The underground plantations suffered the same fate; they were destructively harvested without any consideration for sustainable use, with roots and seedlings being packaged and sealed away.

The wild insects within the territory also suffered greatly, experiencing a thorough sweep. Even Grasshopper, with their powerful jumping abilities and excellent escape skills, could not escape this swarm.

After finding all the food they could carry, the insects at the Branch Base began their grand march towards the Mother Nest base.

Looking down from the air, across the vast land, Branch Base lay abandoned in all directions. The insects had abandoned their habitats, packed everything up, and gathered in one place.

Over time, the number of insects gathered at the location of the Mother Nest base.

In the initial battle with the Earth-Yellow Ant, 90% of the insects were wiped out, but in just over 200 days, the Swarm recovered to its pre-battle size of hundreds of billions.

Now, so much time has passed, and tens of thousands of new queen Ant Queen have been produced, while the number of insects is countless.

Although the insects brought everything they had before coming to the Mother Nest base, such a large number of insects gathered together consumed a lot of food every day.

Of these foods, only some remained in areas not far from the Mother Nest base when they arrived here. In other, more distant areas, the food had been largely consumed on the way.

Fortunately, the insects have a talent for eating soil. Although it doesn't replenish their energy much, it helps them maintain basic vital signs.

The densely packed insects piled up together, covering the area surrounding the Mother Nest base. Zooming in on this scene, the various details will likely be quite appealing to those with trypophobia.

The ground in this large area has sunk more than ten meters into the ground. After the insects eat the soil, they will absorb a small amount of nutrients and excrete the rest.

Normally, these excrements are excellent fertilizer and are transported by specialized Worker Ant to the vicinity of surrounding trees.

But now that trillions of insects are gathered, enough to form a mountain every day, naturally no insect would bother to carry these things away.

Therefore, these things will basically be reused, then a second, a third time...

More than a hundred days later, in addition to sea creatures such as Crab, Green Shrimp, and Mantis Shrimp, even Sampan Bug and Diving Bug from the Swarm converged on the lake next to the Mother Nest base along the river.

The crucial moment has finally arrived.

On a bright and sunny morning, Rowan took a deep breath, looked at the black insect mountains around him, turned around and crawled underground, finally connecting his tail to the Mother Nest after a long time.

The insects in the base were all driven to the ground.

He didn't want anyone else to see this shameful pose.

Although, this is now his complete form.

After calming myself down, a sharp screech pierced the earth.

A strange fluctuation emanated from Rowan's body, accompanied by a hissing sound, and rapidly radiated in all directions.

The insects swept by the strange fluctuations all assumed a roaring posture.

Although many of them were mute soldiers, at this moment, they were shouting with their very souls.

The shouts grew from faint to awe-inspiring as more and more insects joined in.

A unique energy rose from the insects and gathered around Rowan.

A sliver of white light gradually emanated from Rowan's insect eye, growing brighter and brighter until it shot out three feet away, illuminating the entire underground base.

As more and more energy gathered, a quantitative change led to a qualitative change, and the blinding white light gradually took on a strange and noble purple hue.

Slowly, the insects closest to Rowan burned out their unknown energy, remaining frozen in their screaming pose, forever frozen in that moment.

Although most of the insects are very small, their sheer number of trillions still unleashes incredible power.

The insect mountains fell silent one by one, but Rowan's shrill cries grew louder and louder.

Finally, the last insect gave up everything.

At the same time, Rowan's neighing stopped abruptly.

The white-purple light shooting from its eyes gradually subsided and receded.

Rowan's consciousness was already somewhat blurred at this point; extreme exhaustion made him wish he could fall asleep immediately.

This exhaustion wasn't physical, but spiritual; therefore, he had no way to resist it, nor did he want to.

He now needs a long hiatus to process this change.

The Mother Nest had shriveled and dried up. Rowan severed the connection with it, mustered his strength, and with his last bit of energy, crawled down the pre-dug tunnel into the depths of the underground.

This area was excavated in advance, reaching a depth of 300 meters underground.

There was a room underground, not spacious, but large enough to accommodate Rowan. It had been reinforced countless times by Worker Ant and Mucus Bug, making it strong enough to withstand violent earthquakes and other natural disasters.

After Rowan arrived, he destroyed the passage he had come from and sealed the entrance to the cave.

At this point, he had lost the protection of the Swarm, and he didn't know how long he would remain dormant this time, so it was best to proceed with caution.

Having done all this, Rowan could no longer bear the exhaustion of his soul and fell into a deep sleep.

Some liquid seeped from his body and gradually condensed into an Insect Cocoon that enveloped him.