After the image became a distorted, frozen picture when a beam swept across it, Hao Ren knew the drone had been destroyed on the spot. This was hardly surprising. The drone was not particularly powerful, even in its armed configuration, while the enormous Light Cloud in space looked like something best left alone. The key question now was—what exactly was this thing that looked so dangerous?
"We can confirm it now. This definitely isn't a natural phenomenon," Hao Ren said solemnly. "They're artificial."
"This thing... can communicate externally, and it seems to possess a certain degree of logic," Vivian added. "I just don't know whether anyone is controlling it."
"The drone only had limited contact with the other side. It was destroyed after just a few messages, so the intelligence we could gather is quite limited," Nolan said, waving the tentacles of the Autonomous Mechanical Unit. "At present, we can summarize the information into a few points. First, these Light Clouds are not natural phenomena but some kind of artificial creation. They're most likely a type of guardian left behind by the Creation Goddess. Second, these Light Clouds actively scan anything that approaches them. If it's an artificial creation like a drone, they'll send a communication request, but if the outsider cannot provide valid identification data, it will be attacked. Finally, these Light Clouds possess at least the ability to alter their form locally. They can transform part of their nonphysical structure into a physical form and launch attacks from that physical portion. This method of transformation seems to indicate that they don't only possess the form we've seen. If the conditions are met, they may be able to take on other forms."
"What if we communicate with it?" Hao Ren asked with a frown. "What happens if we send