Chapter 1 Aftermath

After seeing a beam of light sweep across the screen and the image turn into a distorted still picture, Hao Ren knew that the drone had been destroyed on the spot. This was not surprising; drones were not particularly strong, even armed models, and the huge cloud of light in space looked very unfriendly. The key now was—what exactly was this thing that looked so unfriendly?

"Now we can be sure, this is definitely not a natural phenomenon," Hao Ren said with a serious expression. "They are all man-made."

"This thing... can even communicate externally, and seems to have some logic," Vivian added. "I just don't know if it's being controlled by someone."

"The drone only had limited contact with the other party, and was destroyed after only a few messages, so the intelligence that could be collected is quite limited," Nolan said, waving the tentacles of her autonomous mechanical body. "The information that can be summarized now is only the following: First, these light clouds are not natural phenomena, but some kind of artificial object, and they are most likely guardians left behind by the Goddess of Creation; second, these light clouds will actively scan anything that approaches them, and if it is a man-made object like a drone, it will also send a communication request, but if the outsider cannot provide valid identification information, it will be attacked; finally, these light clouds at least have the ability to partially change their shape, they can transform part of their non-physical structure into a physical one, and launch attacks from the physical part. This method of transformation seems to indicate that they don't only have the form we see now, and under the right conditions, they may transform into something else."

"What if we communicate with it?" Hao Ren asked with a frown. "What will happen if we send a communication request to them?"

"There's no way to communicate. Either they're an automated system, or the controller behind them is too rigid—I sent two more drones over afterwards, but unless they provided a valid contact agreement or identification code, the 'light clouds' absolutely would not respond, and would definitely take offensive action. In order to prevent the entire X-cluster of light clouds from having an overreaction, I didn't provoke them any further."

"It's good to be cautious," Hao Ren agreed with Nolan's actions. "Send reconnaissance drones to monitor all light cloud structures within the activity range of the machine swarm, collect as much telemetry data as possible, and send it back to the Crystal Core Research Station when we have more information. See if Muru and the others recognize these strange things—after all, it's possible they were created by the Goddess of Creation, and the Guardian Giants might be able to provide some help."

"Nolan understands."

"How's that antenna coming along?" Hao Ren thought of something else. "The one for finding the crystal resonance signal."

"The core device has already passed acceptance in the laboratory, and the main antenna array has just been assembled in near-Earth orbit. We can install the core after the various subsystems are online and self-checked, but the auxiliary antenna array located on the surface has only just started construction, so even if the main antenna array goes online, I'm afraid it won't have very good results."

Hao Ren knew that several large projects were being carried out simultaneously on this small planet, so he was already quite satisfied with this progress. He nodded: "That's already good. Anyway, we're stuck in this place now. Even if we find that crystal planet, it won't do us any good if we can't get out. Don't rush this too much. By the way, did you find all the things I asked you to collect?"

"Only found part of it, just transported to the No. 2 stack area outside the base."

"Collect things? Collect what things?" Vivian looked at Hao Ren curiously; she hadn't heard of this arrangement before.

Hao Ren smiled mysteriously: "The drones picked them up while surveying the terrain on this plain. You'll know what they are when you see them."

Although the engineering drones were carrying out magnificent projects around the Great Rift, compared to the entire scorched plain, the outpost base and "remote thinking array" and other facilities that Hao Ren ordered to be built still only occupied a small area. Outside this orderly complex of buildings, there were still scarred battlefield ruins and the primitive, barbaric alien environment. Countless remnants of the final battle of the former Mainframe were still scattered across the land.

The engineering drones brought back some things from the wilderness, and now they were piled up in a large open space next to the base.

It was a mountain of twisted metal wreckage—semi-molten armor fragments, broken support beam structures, thrusters and artillery devices that were no longer recognizable, and computer systems that had been sintered into lumps. These unrecognizable fragments were piled messily on the open space, looking like a garbage mountain. And at the top of these wrecks, the most conspicuous was a black and broken metal cylinder.

Unfortunately, there would be no more lights flashing on that metal cylinder.

These wrecks had been cooling for many days. Neither the high temperatures when breaking through the atmosphere nor the flames of battle remained, yet even so, they still emitted a burnt smell. Standing in front of this "mountain," the oncoming burnt smell almost made one feel like they were facing a battlefield still burning fiercely.

Nangong Wuyue carefully approached the pile of wreckage, curled a broken metal plate with her tail and waved it in front of her eyes, then turned her head and looked at Hao Ren curiously: "Landlord, what are these..."

"The wreckage of the Mainframe," Hao Ren looked up at the twisted metal fragments, and the image of their complete form couldn't help but appear in his mind—that majestic and solemn fortress city. "I didn't expect the fortress to be destroyed so thoroughly that the drones could only collect so little."

Vivian seemed to have guessed Hao Ren's thoughts and revealed a thoughtful expression: "You collected the wreckage of the Mainframe, do you want to..."

"I plan to build a monument in the southwest of the plain, where the last piece of the Mainframe wreckage crashed, and where 'humanity' returned home," Hao Ren smiled. "Consider it a 'coming-of-age gift' for the Agent civilization. As a civilization that is just starting out and is still ignorant, they need some spiritual support."

Vivian showed a helpless smile: "That's really your style."

Hao Ren just smiled in response and did not answer.

The next day, Nolan was preparing to start testing the X-cluster "security system" according to the plan proposed by Nangong Sanba.

On the airport platform of the outpost base, the Petrified Turtle Rock Platform was quietly suspended in mid-air. A large number of maintenance autonomous mechanical bodies and engineering drones were nervously and orderly performing a final check on the state of the spaceship—in order to obtain more accurate test results, Hao Ren had added a large number of detectors to the outside of the ship, and these external devices had to be ensured to be in optimal condition.

Nolan was still using a modified version of the autonomous mechanical body as a carrier. Now she was flying around next to Hao Ren, waving a large number of tentacles of the autonomous mechanical body and shouting: "Hey hey hey! Be careful! Girls are super sensitive creatures! Over there, be careful when working on the engine conduction plate, I just polished the light! Check under the No. 6 armor belt, I feel itchy... Waaah! Who touched my general sensor array! Scared me!"

It must be said, an autonomous mechanical body with Nolan's bust flying around in the air and making a fuss actually had a bit of inexplicable cuteness, but the commotion made by this guy caused the autonomous mechanical bodies and engineering drones to fall into chaos. Seeing this situation, Hao Ren could only grab Nolan: "Can you be quieter—the autonomous mechanical bodies and drones are professional, why do they need you to direct them?"

Nolan stopped awkwardly, with a slightly aggrieved expression on her face: "I'm just a little nervous... I was blown up so badly before."

Hao Ren gave her a strange look: "But didn't we try flying around the edge of the planetary system a few times the other day? I didn't see you so nervous then."

Nolan's holographic image spread her hands (and at the same time spread out the mechanical tentacles below): "Wasn't that because you guys were with me—this time it's just me alone. When I think that if I fly out and accidentally get blown up and lose my ability to move, I'll have to float in space forever, I feel like even my power core is shivering..."

Hao Ren rolled his eyes at her: "Don't worry, if that really happens, I'll drag your host back with a shield—I still can't bear to lose this ship."

"Then that's settled."

"Settled, settled." Hao Ren waved his hand helplessly, thinking that although it looks quite cute to have a high-intelligence ship girl as a co-pilot, this personality is too distinct, and it doesn't seem to be a good thing...

While speaking, the inspection work of the Petrified Turtle Rock Platform had ended, and the system ready indicator and launch indicator lights around the parking platform lit up at the same time. Nolan controlled the autonomous mechanical body to return to the ship, and Hao Ren and the others stood on the edge of the platform, ready to watch the ship take off.

The Petrified Turtle Rock Platform made a low roar, and the powerful power core transferred surging energy to the engine system, causing the entire ship to slowly leave the platform. And about a meter around the outer shell of the ship, a layer of translucent light film suddenly appeared, flashing conspicuous holographic paint—

"Rowdy Welcome" was written on the port deck, and "Galaxy Fastest" was written on the starboard deck…

Hao Ren almost choked: "Nolan!!"

Unfortunately, the starship had already soared into the sky, leaving only a dashing afterimage and the smell of ionized air permeating the entire platform. Nolan's voice echoed in Hao Ren's mind: "I'm just getting some courage, courage, courage, courage…"

Hao Ren: "…"

Nolan, who had fully mustered her courage, broke through the planetary atmosphere and entered the vast universe in no time.

Although she had messed around with her captain before takeoff, Nolan showed no signs of nervousness or hesitation after entering space. While calibrating the direction of propulsion, she quickly confirmed the status of the various levels of sensors, and then began a smooth and rapid acceleration towards the edge of the planetary system.

The laughter and joking before takeoff were just a way to enjoy time with friends, but now, it was time to work.

The ship entered warp speed, and in a very short time had reached the gravitational boundary of the planetary system—the influence of the sun had been reduced to extremely low here, and everything in the planetary system was no different from the dust in the cosmic background.

There seemed to be nothing in the vast space, but Nolan knew that there was an invisible boundary here, which was the dividing line for the scanning of the divine power network. As long as this dividing line was crossed, the ancient power covering the entire X-cluster would be awakened.

In the past few days, Hao Ren had tried to break through this boundary several times on the Petrified Turtle Rock Platform, but in fact, each time he had not really crossed this boundary—just hovering around the boundary was enough to detect the soaring energy readings and significant divine power reactions in outer space. There was no need to continue moving forward to foresee the consequences that would follow.

"No reaction…"

Nolan was cruising around the boundary, and her holographic projection stood alone on the bridge, talking to herself.

"Then let's keep going out and take a look."