Gamers Are Fierce-Chapter 756 - 754 Ocean

Li Ang had long considered moving the insect swarms out of the Automated Pet Box. To maintain the ecological balance within the Automated Pet Box, he first went to remote wilderness areas to dig up soil and trees. Later, with the advent of the player plaza, he repeatedly made purchases from Mule, buying container-sized volumes of soil, plants, water sources, animals, and minerals at high prices. His hard-earned money from opening his shop and doing business was all spent on this.

The Automated Pet Box's volume was ultimately limited, and it began to struggle to keep up with the insect swarms due to their astonishingly potent reproductive capabilities. Moreover, Li Ang planned to continue increasing the size of the insect units, enabling them to cause at least some interference in battles between high-level players.

However, if he wanted to release the insect swarms, he would face three issues.

Where to settle them?

How to maintain contact with the swarms?

And how to ensure Li Ang's absolute control over the swarms?

Li Ang stood in place, surveying the vibrant primitive forest, deep in thought.

The ideal location for settlement should be as remote from human habitation as possible, with an abundance of biomass resources.

The global population had already surpassed seven billion, widely spread across seven continents and four oceans. Most previously unvisited and deadly primitive natural regions had become distinctive scenic spots: islands, rainforests, barren mountains, deserts, snowfields...

Even Antarctica had established numerous scientific research stations, with underwater robots monitoring marine life, transport ships constantly ferrying personnel and goods, and the skies monitored by satellites.

Releasing the insect swarms in such places would likely get them captured on camera within minutes. They would either appear on news apps and websites with blurry photos like those of the Loch Ness Monster, accompanied by wildly speculative headlines crafted by unscrupulous editors:

"Ganges River in India Shockingly Reveals 'Water Monster' That's Fond of Eating Humans, Its True Identity Only Discovered After Capture!"

"Urgent Sharing! Five Bodies of Water Where Deadly Water Monsters Appear! People Have Already Fallen Victim!"

"Shocking! The World's Top Ten Water Monsters Ranked! The Loch Ness Monster Comes In Only Third, But Who Is Number One?!"

Alternatively, they could be discovered by official organizations like the Special Affairs Bureau or the Global Occult Coalition, which could lead to unnecessary trouble.

"What are you thinking about?"

Chaichai's crisp voice interrupted Li Ang's thoughts. He turned around to see Chaichai holding a book with the cover reading, "Chai's Revelation Revised Draft 2: I Wrote Half of It and Will Edit It Tomorrow."

"I'm considering whether to relocate part of the insect swarms."

Li Ang shifted his gaze away from "Chai's Revelation" and briefly shared his thoughts.

Miss Chai rolled her eyes and thought for a moment. "We can't go to the mountains, islands, or rainforests... How about the sea? The deep sea has vast space, and the biomass resources are rich; it's more than enough to support the development of the insect swarms."

"I've thought about the sea, too," Li Ang nodded and said. "Current satellites can't detect parts of the sea that are below the surface and not illuminated by light. As for fishing boats, underwater probes, and submarines, they can be detected in time by Scout Worker Bugs disguised as fish. But how to communicate and maintain absolute control still remains a problem..."

"Eh?" Chaichai was momentarily puzzled. "Isn't your Divine Power network capable of covering an extremely wide range? It should reach near-coastal areas, right?"

Insect swarm units can communicate with each other using pheromones, and Li Ang can precisely control the individual insects around him by releasing pheromones.

Brain Worms possess a higher level of intelligence and self-awareness. They mainly rely on the Power of Faith to communicate with Li Ang. They pray in their hearts to the Lord of Flesh and Swamp, He to Whom All Things Return, providing Li Ang with a trickle of Power of Faith while also transmitting their fragmented thoughts to him.

Li Ang uses the tether of Divine Power to directly observe the surroundings of the Brain Worms, seeing what they see and knowing what they think. He can respond by letting his voice sound in their ears or by directly controlling their bodies, bestowing Divine Arts from afar. Of course, this process consumes Divine Power; the greater the distance, the greater the consumption.

From previous tests, the extreme range of remote communication between Li Ang and a Brain Worm was about one thousand kilometers. Beyond that, the degree of signal distortion and the proportion of Divine Power consumption would become unacceptably high.

"If I release the insect swarm into the ocean, using Divine Power to remotely monitor the Brain Worms, which in turn control the Worker Bugs below through pheromones... that could work." Li Ang made some rough calculations, then slowly continued, "The ocean can provide ample biomass for the insect swarm to develop and grow. I could also remove the limiters and mass-produce more Brain Worms—each one offering a small amount of Power of Faith. As long as there are enough Brain Worms, the Power of Faith they provide could balance out the consumption of Divine Power for communication and the transfer of Power of Faith to me, ensuring there's no deficit. Additionally, the Chimeric Beast Assembly Bench cannot be taken out of the Automated Pet Box. However, Brain Worms do have a certain degree of gene manipulation capability; they can collect genes from marine lifeforms to create new insect swarms. As for absolute control over the insect swarm... that too can barely be achieved."

Miss Chai blinked. She had long known that Li Ang had set preventative measures against Lose Control for each insect swarm unit.

For instance, after a certain number of cell divisions, insect swarm cells would self-destruct.

Some insect swarm units were equipped with Spore Sacs, which Li Ang could trigger remotely using Swamp God Power to release deadly spores, instantly annihilating all nearby members of the swarm.

Several Brain Worms had secret heteromorphic glands in their brains that periodically secreted harmful hormones, requiring Li Ang's tuning periodically, or else they would quickly decline.

Li Ang guarded against his own creations as meticulously as one would guard against a dagger laced with virulent poison, to prevent them from turning against him or causing irreversible damage to the real world.

Chaichai asked, "Then why hesitate so much?"

"The risk of identity exposure," Li Ang said succinctly. "The network of Divine Power allows me to precisely connect to every sentient being that devoutly believes in the Lord of the Swamp. However, I cannot confirm that, after the spatial distance is extended, other beings won't be able to see this network. Organizations like the Heterodox Academy, with their long traditions, might have inherited scriptures that can locate a Demigod. And I haven't even reached the level of a Demigod yet."

"Oh." Chaichai nodded in comprehension. "But I remember, in that fairy tale script, Queen Elsa only seemed to be at the Demigod level, right? She was able to gather Power of Faith from the entire Lu'er Region."

"You mean that one," Li Ang replied indifferently. "Based on the occult books I collected from the script and my analysis of the statue, Elsa's faith-gathering technique relied heavily on the Abyssal Magic Mirror's effect. She reduced the consumption of Divine Power during transportation by placing fragments of the Magic Mirror inside statues. However, I can't just shatter the Magic Mirror again, embed its pieces into my own statues, and bury them in the ocean to act as nodes for Divine Power transportation. While this might reduce consumption and increase concealment, it's not an option."

The Abyssal Magic Mirror was a key item for the evolution of the insect swarm; without it, the mutation efficiency of the insect swarm would significantly decrease.

"The insect swarm has to expand," Li Ang said somewhat helplessly, rubbing his palms and shaking his head. "But before that, I have to find a way to reduce the consumption of Divine Power... Hmm, the other players I encountered in the last script mission probably know about my Divinity. It's a good time to ask Mule, Bai Haozheng, or Ω if they have any equipment, items, or skills related to Divinity. If all else fails, offering a reward for purchase on the forum or in the market is also feasible."