Arknights, but Raising Terra in Captivity, by Sakura Cat
"If Earth were scaled down into a glass marble one centimeter in diameter, then the Sun would be a sphere about 1.09 meters across, roughly 117 meters away from that marble. Conveniently, my living room can fit it."
A solar system model—a common type of popular science teaching material.
Chen Ran was certain that he had only turned his head for a moment. So why had this solar system model come alive?
"Terra? This planet model says Terra?"
Which Terra?
"Planetary native detected: Skadi..."
Oh, that Terra. Arknights, right?
And that Little Orca Skadi, too.
"Skadi is leading the Sea Creatures in an attempt to breach the Starship Pod"
The translucent notification box flickered for several seconds before completing the rest of the message.
Chen Ran: "?"
Hold on a second?
Which Skadi was this?
And which Worldline's Terra was this?
"If Earth were scaled down into a glass marble one centimeter in diameter, then the Sun would be a sphere about 1.09 meters across, roughly 117 meters away from that marble. Conveniently, my living room can fit it."
Chen Ran spoke evenly. With his back to the camera, he calmly adjusted the solar system model.
Making this sort of science popularization video was actually quite troublesome. Yet after all his efforts, as an uploader in the knowledge and science education categories, he had successfully—
Reached the top of the lifestyle category's ASMR resources section.
To be fair, that had much to do with his seemingly aloof but actually laid-back, socially lethargic personality. Like a salted fish, his tone had no unnecessary rises or falls.
But Chen Ran did not care. He did not make a living from this; it was purely a hobby.
"At the same scale, Jupiter would be a sphere about eleven centimeters in diameter, approximately 494 meters from this glass marble. Conveniently, my living room can fit it."
After placing the models of Venus, Jupiter, Mercury, Mars, Saturn, and the other celestial bodies in sequence to form a perfect solar system model, Chen Ran finally turned toward the camera.
Once he confirmed that the footage he had just filmed was usable, Chen Ran clapped his hands in satisfaction. Then, as he turned back to film the next segment—
His hands, which had just been clapping, froze in midair.
Because the entire set of planetary models had also stopped in midair.
There were no wires suspending them, yet several planetary models floated in the air. There were no strings pulling them, yet they rotated and revolved, forming a self-consistent system.
"Am I seeing ghosts in broad daylight?"
Chen Ran was certain he had only turned his head. So where the hell had this taken him?
A paranormal incident? A supernatural event? Or had he simply developed hysteria and started hallucinating?
It was rather eerie, so Chen Ran did not rashly approach. Instead, he frowned and retreated behind the camera.
He wanted to observe it carefully through the camera, only to discover that on the screen, the planetary models remained on the ground like lifeless objects.
But when he looked up again...
"Electronic devices can't capture it? Did I really see a ghost?"
And with the comparison, Chen Ran finally realized that what he saw with his naked eyes was no longer a solar system model.
At the very least, Chen Ran had never heard of Earth having two moons.
After comparing them several times, Chen Ran suddenly noticed a translucent notification box flickering continuously over one of the planet models, just like a game system prompt.
But it was too far away to make out clearly.
He instinctively pulled out his phone, intending to use the camera's zoom function to take a closer look, but... his phone could not capture it either.
Left with no choice, after hesitating for a long while, Chen Ran cautiously took several steps forward. Just as he could vaguely make out the words on the notification box—
"Terra"
Those two words were written on that planet model.
Chen Ran: "?"
Terra?
Was this planet named Terra?
Which Terra?
The loyal one? The pixel one? Or the tower defense one?
While Chen Ran was still confused, even wondering whether this translucent notification box was some kind of cheat system—
Another translucent notification box began flashing beside the planet model:
"Planetary native detected: Skadi..."
"Oh, the Terra from 'Doctor, you still have much to deal with. You can't rest yet.'"
Arknights...
Compared with the loyal Terra, this Terra was not bad either—
"Skadi is leading the Sea Creatures in an attempt to breach the Starship Pod"
The translucent notification box flickered for several seconds before completing the rest of the message.
Chen Ran: "..."
Hold on a second?
Which Skadi was this? The red one, right?
Where the hell had this taken him? Which Worldline's Terra was this?
Yet the translucent notification box ignored Chen Ran's complaints and simply continued flashing.
"Skadi is leading the Sea Creatures in an attempt to breach the Starship Pod"
"The Starship Pod is indestructible"
"The Starship Pod has been smashed to pieces"
"Starship Pod, trash"
"Skadi has successfully broken through the atmosphere"
"Skadi has successfully led her entire race in ascension"
Like a live report, the translucent notification box documented Skadi's... no, the red one's actions. So it should have been Heart of the Corrupted Skadi.
While Chen Ran was still puzzled, he narrowed his eyes and tried to locate Heart of the Corrupted Skadi beyond that planet model.
But the planet model was only the size of a glass marble. At that scale, the size of a human... he would need a microscope.
So after searching for quite some time without finding anyone, Chen Ran instinctively reached for the planet model, intending to hold it in his hand and inspect it more closely.
Yet as Chen Ran extended his hand, the planet model, originally no bigger than a glass marble, enlarged as though he were zooming in on an image with two fingers on a phone. It went from the size of a glass marble to a tennis ball, then a basketball, then a yoga ball—
It kept enlarging until Chen Ran could finally see a small patch of dark clouds outside the planet.
They were densely packed Sea Creatures, like an insectoid fungal carpet.
And the most conspicuous among them was naturally Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, who swam at the very front of the Sea Creatures, with white hair and red eyes—a look especially devastating to Chinese men.
After all, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi alone had a human appearance. As for the other Sea Creatures... well, their appearances were certainly diverse.
The moment Chen Ran saw Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, he had actually intended to withdraw his hand.
Because no matter how cute a stray dog looked, one should not casually pet it, or the rabies vaccine would be waiting.
Besides, if Chen Ran remembered the setting correctly, the red one could no longer really be considered Skadi. She should have been Isabella.
But at this scale, even one second of hesitation from Chen Ran was enough for him to cross the distance of several planets.
Thus, while Chen Ran hesitated, the planet model before him continued enlarging. By the time he came back to his senses, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi had gone from needing a microscope to see her to roughly ten centimeters tall, about the size of a can of cola.
After hesitating for a moment, Chen Ran still opened his hand and grabbed Heart of the Corrupted Skadi in one swift motion.
Then he withdrew his hand, and the planet model in the background began shrinking continuously.
Only when the planet model had returned to the size of a glass marble did Chen Ran glance at Heart of the Corrupted Skadi in his hand.
Heart of the Corrupted Skadi had not shrunk again along with the planet model. Instead, she remained at the size she had been when Chen Ran caught her—
The size of a can of cola.
At that size, he could actually see her features and expression quite clearly.
Yet for some reason... Chen Ran felt that the expression on Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's face looked a little dopey.
"Are you... Lord God?"
Held in Chen Ran's hand, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi did not struggle. Instead, she tilted her little head, looked at the giant before her, and asked with confusion and curiosity.
The End of the World.
The cause may have been that the Sargol people opened Pandora's box.
Rising from the sea, the Sea Creatures swept across the entire continent of Terra in just one year, devouring hundreds of millions of living beings. Humanity was annihilated.
Yet wherever the Sea Creatures passed, it was not that nothing grew. If anything, the ecological environment became even better.
Because they followed only one command—
Planetary transformation.
It was like buying a house, opening the door, and finding the interior covered in dust. If you wanted to live there, naturally, you would need to clean it first.
So you tossed in a robot vacuum to clean the place for you—and that robot vacuum was the Sea Creatures.
Though no one knew why someone had decided to fight this robot vacuum, and even lost.
But those were minor issues. What mattered was that after the house had been cleaned, once the robot vacuum had finished its duties, what was it supposed to do next?
"When She decides to perfect this body, the Sea Creatures will ascend from Terra and head for the endless sea of stars above."
The sea was a sea, and the sea of stars was also a sea.
Once the inside of the house was clean, could they not clean the yard and the roads outside as well?
Thus, the red Skadi led the Sea Creatures in the ascension of their entire race.
Like piercing a sheet of paper, they tore through the Starship Pod and flew into space.
But when they left the planet Terra for the first time and looked around, what the Sea Creatures saw was not the desolate or magnificent universe they had imagined—
But a majestic figure whose body spanned an entire star system, whose radiant light illuminated the universe, whose mere sigh became a storm sweeping through the system, and who played with planets like marbles with every gesture.
At that moment, the Sea Creatures, who possessed a Hive Cluster Mind, fell utterly silent.
They could not comprehend, know, or even understand such an existence.
As if Cthulhu had seen you.
A god.
The Sea Creatures, who had devoured hundreds of millions of lives and been called gods, now bestowed that title upon another existence they could not even comprehend.
But that god had already noticed them and reached out a hand toward them.
They wanted to struggle and resist, but before they could do anything, that god's hand crossed half a star system in a single motion.
Before they had any chance to react, that enormous palm had already snatched away their kin, their god, their mom—Heart of the Corrupted Skadi.
Before you continue