Arknights, but Raising Terra Chapter 3

Chen Ran picked up his phone and said, "Clothes? What style do you want to order? Food? What do you want to eat? I'll have someone make it for you. Housing? I can have someone dig a swimming pool right now, or we can go to the beach, but we'll need to apply for a flight in advance."

As he spoke, Chen Ran, fearing that Heart of the Corrupted Skadi wouldn't understand, specifically gave her another small biscuit.

As it turned out, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi truly didn't understand. Otherwise, she would have realized that this was what humans called "keeping someone."

However, precisely because she didn't understand, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi only felt the goodwill from her divine lord.

The problem of continuation, which had troubled the great swarm and for which they had strived for so long, was suddenly solved.

Thus, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi looked at the second small biscuit in her hand, then at Chen Ran, before dropping the biscuit she was holding. She swam to Chen Ran's side, opened her arms, and gently hugged Chen Ran's fingertips.

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi didn't actually understand the meaning of this action. She was simply mimicking.

Chen Ran had teased her with his fingertips, making her feel goodwill, so Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, in turn, learned to do the same to Chen Ran, reciprocating his goodwill.

Too simple and easy to understand.

"Under your deception, Skadi (Red Version), who originally had ambitions to achieve great things, willingly degenerated into a lazy fish who lives off handouts and waits for food, content to do nothing."

"You're so bad."

"You have gained a new ability: Breathing with lungs."

Chen Ran: "..."

004. Is the method of using a planet as a petri dish feasible?

"Sea Creatures possess incredibly terrifying adaptation and evolution capabilities. Unlike the neutral theory that ordinary creatures apply during evolution, Sea Creatures' genes will autonomously avoid degradation and lethal mutations."

"Simply put, Sea Creatures' evolution will always proceed in a direction that adapts to the environment and maintains a high ecological niche, ultimately becoming a threat to the entire ecosystem or even the environment itself;"

"Sea Creatures' cells will autonomously degenerate into their most basic form under extremely harsh external environmental conditions, awaiting the evolution of a more suitable environment."

Chen Ran flipped through the settings related to Sea Creatures, and an idea gradually formed in his mind.

Currently, there were only two ways to break through the gacha pool.

One was to increase Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's favorability. The two abilities he had now were obtained this way.

The second was to reroll for an initial account.

Catch a brand-new Sea Creature and throw it into a pristine planet model that hadn't been tampered with. He didn't expect it to replicate the Sea Creatures' world-ending event; he just wanted it to continuously evolve through natural selection.

In this way, Chen Ran, who possessed the hive cluster thinking (Sea Creature version), could also enjoy the new abilities gained by this Sea Creature through its evolution.

However, the current problem was, was this method feasible?

Chen Ran remained silent, merely waiting for the semi-transparent pop-up window in front of him.

"You've used your clever little brain and decided to use an entire planet as a petri dish, sacrificing the flesh and blood of billions of living beings, all to help a Sea Creature ascend."

"But ascension is just a scam! Run, you silly child!"

"The only outcome will be that Sea Creature being caught by you in an instant and refined, what about your abilities? Give them here!"

"What an evil plan, you're rotten to the core."

"But unfortunately, this method is feasible."

Chen Ran: "Oh."

As long as it was feasible, that was enough. As for the other words on the semi-transparent pop-up window? Chen Ran ignored them all.

The first method was to break through the existing gacha pool.

The second method was to introduce a new character gacha pool.

But why couldn't Chen Ran have both?

No sooner said than done.

Chen Ran sat back down at his desk, opened a drawer, and took out a planet model.

He had bought this thing; it was a mass-produced item. He wondered if it would work.

While continuing to wait for the semi-transparent pop-up window to appear, Chen Ran also turned his head and glanced at Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, who was holding a small biscuit and gazing at him with her little eyes while perched on the edge of the fish tank.

"Look, Red T." Chen Ran shook the planet model in his hand and asked, "What does this thing look like in your eyes?"

"Lifeless."

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi looked at her divine lord, who casually held a planet in his hand as if showing her a small collectible, and answered honestly.

In Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's eyes, the planet in Chen Ran's hand was like it had reached the end of its life, with the earth torn apart, the oceans evaporated, and all things extinguished.

"That's right, after all, this thing is just made of foam and cardboard, not even solid."

Chen Ran heard this and was not surprised.

He casually tossed the planet model into the nearby trash can and began searching for tools, intending to craft a planet model himself.

But this caused Heart of the Corrupted Skadi to slightly open her little mouth.

A world... a planet... just like trash...

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi gently floated out of the fish tank. With a soft pat, her small feet, which had long since shed their shoes and socks and were still damp with water, with crystal-clear water droplets clinging to them, landed on the desk.

Leaving a small footprint with each step, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi walked to the edge of the desk, lowered her head, and looked into the trash can.

Screams, wails.

The planet model, discarded like trash, lay in the pile of waste paper, letting out its final swan song.

"What's wrong?"

Chen Ran looked at Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, who was acting like a curious baby, and asked.

After all, this Heart of the Corrupted Skadi had just toddled past him, making it hard for Chen Ran not to notice.

"If you want it, I'll give you the planet model to play with."

What kind of rich person talk is this, offering a planet to play with just like that?

But Heart of the Corrupted Skadi didn't get the joke. Upon hearing this, she simply shook her head, "It has already annihilated."

Even though its life had reached its end, the planet model was still struggling to survive.

But the moment it was discarded by the divine being, its end was sealed.

Chen Ran: "..."

Honestly, Chen Ran really wanted to silence Heart of the Corrupted Skadi within the hive mind (Sea Creatures version) right now.

Although Chen Ran knew that what Heart of the Corrupted Skadi saw from her perspective was different from what he saw.

But...

It was a bit too chuunibyou, making him feel uncomfortable, as if W was crawling all over him.

However, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi didn't know what Chen Ran was thinking. After shaking her head, she turned to face him.

She then saw Chen Ran wiping the watermarks left by her little footprints on the table with a tissue.

Although she didn't know how this action would be perceived by Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi did indeed lower her head, look at her bare little feet, and then at her clothes, which were still dripping water after swimming in the fish tank.

"Divine being," Heart of the Corrupted Skadi said, "Do you dislike water?"

"I like it. Water is the source of life. Who doesn't like plenty of water?"

Chen Ran replied casually, "I just don't like water on my tools. After all, isn't there a saying? To feel refreshed, just make a cup of coffee and accidentally spill it on your laptop."

As he finished speaking, Chen Ran saw Heart of the Corrupted Skadi walk towards him, her little feet pattering.

Then, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi extended her little feet towards Chen Ran.

Chen Ran: "?"

To be honest, Chen Ran didn't quite understand what Heart of the Corrupted Skadi was trying to do at first.

Until Heart of the Corrupted Skadi extended her little feet for a long time. Seeing that Chen Ran didn't react, she proactively used her little feet to rub against the tissue in Chen Ran's hand, wiping the water stains from her feet.

"There's no water now," Heart of the Corrupted Skadi said after wiping one foot, then lifting the other.

Chen Ran raised an eyebrow after realizing what was happening, "No, what I meant was, I don't like water on my tools. My tools, understand?"

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi: "?"

But unfortunately, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi seemed even more confused than Chen Ran.

Seeing this, Chen Ran was about to speak again, but as if suddenly remembering something, he looked up at the settings and descriptions of the Sea Creatures on the computer screen in front of him.

Sea Creatures... it seems they were indeed used as tools by the previous civilization's humans. After all, they were like robot vacuum cleaners.

So, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's reaction wasn't that hard to understand?

Thinking this, Chen Ran looked down again.

With a rustle, the clothes Heart of the Corrupted Skadi was wearing slid down her shoulders and fell to her feet with a thud.

005. Chen Ran: I'm going to take your mother away.

Chen Ran knew that the persona of a pure young man or a puppy was quite popular.

But he really couldn't bring himself to do something like, "Ah! What are you doing, put your clothes back on!" That kind of... well... virgin-like action.

Instead, when he saw Heart of the Corrupted Skadi make this move, Chen Ran stopped what he was doing and, resting his chin on one hand, watched the striptease show with interest.

Only when she was completely naked did Chen Ran click his tongue twice.

"It reminds me of a passage in 'One Hundred Years of Solitude',"

Chen Ran said, "To the west of the great swamp lay an endless expanse of water, in which lived a species of whale with tender skin and the heads and bodies of women. They often used their enormous breasts to lure sailors, causing them to lose their way."

So how did a body with no excess fat, yet a slender waist, ample hips, and a single fruit hanging from a thin branch, come to be?

And as expected of the pioneer who wielded a sword between her thighs, she was strong, so strong.

But why was she naked? Was it to reduce drag in the water?

But unfortunately, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi didn't seem to understand Chen Ran's words. She just tilted her little head, tossed her clothes aside, and walked towards Chen Ran:

"There's too much water on the clothes. After wiping my feet, they'll get wet again soon, so clothes I don't need, I discard."

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi gave this explanation.

In fact, she was no longer essentially Skadi. Isabella was the one controlling the consciousness of this body.

As the god of the Sea Creatures, Isabella had no human thoughts and couldn't understand human shame.

Clothing was nothing more than a piece of fabric to her, serving no purpose beyond aesthetics.

If she wished, she could easily transform her limbs into tentacles, her mouth into that of a lamprey, and if it were for the convenience of eating, she could even split her entire head into three lobes with ease.

The only reason she maintained a human form was because this body belonged to Skadi, and Skadi looked like this.

So, to adapt to her environment, even if she were to expand certain parts of herself, like her stomach, to maximize her plasticity, it should be feasible, right?

Chen Ran watched as Heart of the Corrupted Skadi walked up to him and rubbed against the tissue in his hand.

Then, Chen Ran reached out and grasped Heart of the Corrupted Skadi again, wiping her body with the tissue as if he were cleaning a figurine. He then compared them, realizing that his little finger was as thick as one of Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's thighs—

Chen Ran thought to himself.

"Never mind, it's a bit too grotesque."

Humans shouldn't, or at least shouldn't have to.

It would be better to think about whether he could get the ability to change size at will.

After Chen Ran finished wiping Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's body clean, she gently floated up from his palm and landed to the side. Chen Ran then picked up his tools again and began hand-crafting a planetary model.

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi sat obediently to the side, watching with her own eyes as a planet, a world, was brought into existence from nothingness in the hands of the divine being.

However, she had been shocked by too many things before, so this time she was much more composed.

It wasn't until Chen Ran picked up the newly made planetary model, stood up, and walked to the center of the living room, placing it on the floor.

"Hmm... it didn't come to life."

Looking at the planetary model, which lay motionlessly on the floor like a dead object, Chen Ran stroked his chin. "How did the solar system model come to life before? I think I just spun it around?"

Chen Ran did the same, turning his head and looking back. As expected, the planetary model, which had been a lifeless object, was now floating in mid-air, rotating on its own.

"So, what exactly is the principle behind this...?"