058. Skadi: My Mom Gave Birth to Me. I'm Not a Sea Creature
After Lord God snatched Heart of the Corrupted Skadi away, the nations of Terra finally breathed a sigh of relief.
But The Great Swarm was baffled:
"Where's Isabella? Where's Isabella?!"
"Isabella's gone. Does that mean our food's gone too?"
"..."
"Waaah!"
The Great Swarm burst into tears like children whose parents had just dropped them off at kindergarten.
Fortunately, they did not have to wait long before Heart of the Corrupted Skadi descended once more.
No one knew why she had changed clothes...
But none of that mattered.
Sea Creatures understood clothing no better than she did. They had no idea what purpose it served.
If they did not understand it, they did not think about it. If they did not think about it, they did not care.
And so the Sea Creatures cheered again.
After descending, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi was still muttering, "The little skirts in that glowing box were so short. Why did Lord God dress me in something this long? And why pants?"
But Heart of the Corrupted Skadi followed the Sea Creatures' fine tradition: if she did not understand it, she did not think about it.
Instead, she lowered her head and looked at The Great Swarm gathering around her. "I'm back, children."
With that, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi opened the Hive Cluster Mind and added this world's Sea Creatures to the group chat.
Naturally, the Sea Creatures offered no resistance. Tens of thousands of join notifications flooded not only Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's view, but Chen Ran's as well.
Only when the notifications finally stopped did Heart of the Corrupted Skadi raise her head.
Perhaps Chen Ran had given her a lecture.
Or perhaps her reasoning was like a husky's: scold it for making a mess indoors, and it concludes it must never relieve itself at all—
Either way, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi had no intention of going ashore again. Floating on the sea, she told the Sea Creatures through the Hive Cluster Mind, "My other self rejected The Great Swarm's call... Bring her to me. I'll talk to her."
The Sea Creatures obeyed at once. At her words, tens of thousands of them surged ashore in a swarm.
The sight sent plenty of Terrans shrieking.
But they soon realized The Great Swarm had no interest in them.
The Sea Creatures did not even trample the flowers or grass along the way. They headed straight for this Worldline's Skadi.
Strong as this Skadi was, she could not fight off so many at once.
And the other consciousness in her head, the one belonging to Isabella, would not stop talking.
I agree with my other self. Isn't survival all about getting enough to eat? She's handing out free meal passes, so why don't we get one?
After all that talk, you just want to eat too!
The voice in her head gave this Worldline's Skadi a splitting headache. She could barely bring a fraction of her strength to bear.
So when thousands upon thousands of Sea Creatures piled onto her, she lost any chance to resist.
They hoisted Skadi up like a child playing airplane and carried her back to Heart of the Corrupted Skadi.
Before that towering figure, Skadi clenched her teeth and said nothing. She looked ready to resist to the bitter end, even if it killed her.
But soon, Skadi could not help blurting out, "Huh?"
Once this Worldline's Sea Creatures had connected to Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's Hive Cluster Mind, the benefits...
No, the Sea Creatures' tendency to assimilate one another had begun to show.
Through their shared thoughts, the Sea Creatures on Food Planet, who were busy stuffing themselves, gave the newcomers a rousing welcome—
Then they described, in lavish detail, their heavenly lives of fine food and drink, with never a worry about their next meal.
Of course the newly joined Sea Creatures were envious.
One after another, they asked:
"Take me with you! Take me with you!"
"I want food too!"
"How do we get a life like yours, eating our fill without a care in the world?"
Now that was a good question.
And as the Sea Creatures chattered over one another—
Skadi, still held aloft and determined to say nothing, went from resolute to puzzled, then utterly lost. Finally, her brain overloaded, leaving her staring blankly.
Because right in front of her, the Sea Creatures began twisting and warping like shapeshifters.
Then, as though someone were molding clay, they gradually took shape.
They became beautiful girls with white hair, red eyes, little flowers atop their heads, bright clothes, and even stockings in all sorts of colors.
Skadi: "?"
The fact that Sea Creatures could turn into humans was terrifying enough.
Nobody wanted a dear friend who had poured his heart out to them yesterday to tear out their heart and lungs today.
Impostors had always made for enduring horror.
But on closer inspection, Skadi realized every one of those human-shaped Sea Creatures had a face exactly like hers.
Skadi: "???"
Dumbfounded, she blinked hard several times. Once she was sure it was no illusion,
Skadi hurriedly reached up and touched her own face. "Am I... a Sea Creature too...?"
Clearly, Skadi had misunderstood something.
Seeing those Sea Creatures turn from shapeless lumps into copies of her, she assumed she must have come into being the same way.
Only after pulling off her hat and feeling the top of her head, finding no little flower there, did Skadi breathe a sigh of relief.
"I'm not a Sea Creature..."
Her mother had given birth to her. She had not been molded out of clay.
"No, you are."
Heart of the Corrupted Skadi contradicted her. "Our kin's blood runs through your veins. Another me lives in your head. So you are."
Skadi: "..."
Skadi looked up at Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, who looked down at her.
They stared at each other. The watching Terrans wondered whether Skadi would hold out to the death or return to The Great Swarm—
"What are you saying?" Skadi finally asked. "Your voice was so loud I think it deafened me... Could you say that again?"
Heart of the Corrupted Skadi: "..."
P.S. 1: Recommendation: "On Terra, with No Books Left to Read"
059. The Sea Creatures Ascend to Food Planet, with Skadi Caught in the Middle
"Heart of the Corrupted Skadi is staring at Skadi."
"Skadi is staring at Heart of the Corrupted Skadi."
"Heart of the Corrupted Skadi is..."
Chen Ran: "?"
"If you have nothing to say, you can stop talking instead of repeating yourself. Seriously."
Chen Ran waved the translucent pop-up away, speechless.
He had not been watching Terra's development along the Normal Line the whole time. He was dividing his attention.
After all, Food Planet's ecosystem was now approaching equilibrium.
If Heart of the Corrupted Skadi brought another batch of tens of thousands of Sea Creatures over to move in and start eating—
Chen Ran had to consider whether Food Planet could support them.
"It'd be just great if they caused another mass extinction."
But he also worried Heart of the Corrupted Skadi might get some wild idea and treat Terra on the Normal Line to a little Sea Creature apocalypse.
So Chen Ran tinkered with Food Planet while using the translucent pop-up's brief updates to keep an eye on her.
Except the pop-up had been repeating itself for a while now.
"So has Red T finished over there, or are the Terrans done for?"
Chen Ran dusted off his hands and walked over to the model of Terra (Normal Line).
He bent down and took a look.
Inside the terrarium-like planetary model, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi occupied the only body of water like a little crab.
The Terrans, tiny as pill bugs and ants, huddled trembling on the dry shore.
"What did Red T do to scare them this badly?"
It never occurred to Chen Ran that he might have frightened them by suddenly leaning close and peering around with eyes as huge as moons.
After muttering to himself, he focused on Heart of the Corrupted Skadi.
He watched for a while, but she kept her little head lowered. He could not tell what she was doing.
So Chen Ran reached into the planetary model and scooped Heart of the Corrupted Skadi up.
"What exactly are you doing, Red T?"
He looked at Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, who had simply settled into his palm after he picked her up.
She blinked her innocent eyes. "I was thinking about how to speak to someone who can't hear very well."
"Can't hear? It's not her eyesight that's bad. Just use gestures, or write it down on a piece of paper."
"Oh..."
Understanding dawned on Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's face. She clapped her little hands. "Lord God, you're so clever!"
Chen Ran: "..."
Chen Ran felt as though he was getting used to her cluelessness.
Isabella and Skadi were not even the same person. So how had they ended up equally clueless?
Did my humanity wash away your divinity, while Skadi's cluelessness washed away your brains?
Forget it.
Chen Ran let it go and asked, "Red T, you said you'd bring the Sea Creatures from this Normal Line home for a meal. Is that taken care of?"
"It is."
Heart of the Corrupted Skadi nodded. Sitting up in Chen Ran's palm, she sent the Sea Creatures a route to the dining hall through the Hive Cluster Mind.
The next moment, a vast white mass of Sea Creatures rose from the planetary model of Terra (Normal Line).
Then they flew toward Food Planet.
"Sea Creature 1: Let's go! Hurry up, everyone!"
"Sea Creature 2: Time to eat! Time to eat!"
"Sea Creature 3: I can already see the dining hall!"
"Skadi: I'm not a Sea Creature! Let me go!"
"Sea Creature 4: Everyone, everyone, this one says she isn't a Sea Creature! She says to let her go... What do we do?"
"Sea Creature 5: She looks exactly like us. She's a Sea Creature!"
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