Arknights, but Raising Terra in Captivity

"Skadi: Obviously, you're the ones who look like me!"

"Sea Creature 6: Bring her along, bring her along! We can't let any family member go hungry!"

"Sea Creature 7: Charge!"

Watching that huge mass of pale Sea Creatures fly along while chattering away incessantly,

Chen Ran tried to listen in on what they were saying,

but after realizing it was all about eating, he simply stopped paying attention and let his ears have some peace.

"But these Sea Creatures evolved pretty quickly, huh? They turned into white-haired, red-eyed versions before they even ascended?"

Although Chen Ran knew why the Sea Creatures had evolved into this form,

he still found it rather amusing. "Didn't they scare that Little Orca from the normal Worldline when they changed like this?"

Tens of thousands of impostors that all looked exactly like you—seeing that unfold right before your eyes could genuinely leave psychological scars.

Hearing this, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi glanced at the vast sea of pale Sea Creatures and said, "She looked pretty happy."

"You sure?" Chen Ran couldn't hold it in.

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi seriously looked over the Sea Creatures again, seriously listened for a moment, then seriously replied, "I'm sure."

"Oh."

Chen Ran was certain there had to be some misunderstanding here,

but he did not have the time to investigate the planet model from that normal Worldline right now,

because he still needed to observe whether the Food Planet would suffer another mass extinction after this new batch of Sea Creatures from The Great Swarm moved in.

So Chen Ran temporarily put Skadi out of his mind. Holding Heart of the Corrupted Skadi in his palm, he turned and walked over to the Food Planet.

He bent down, lowered his head, and looked.

Inside the Food Planet was an incredibly bizarre scene.

In an ancient age so distant that not only had human civilization yet to emerge, but even primitive society did not exist,

a huge group of white-haired, red-eyed beauties in gorgeous little dresses, colorful stockings, and high heels had become the apex predators through an incredibly primitive style of hunting.

There was no helping it. Sea Creatures were not picky eaters. They ate almost anything.

The other creatures probably could not understand how those white-haired, red-eyed beauties, whose mouths were clearly so small, could throw back their little heads, split their jaws wider than their entire bodies, and devour a pig in three bites.

This forced the other creatures to survive either by reproducing like mad, giving birth to a hundred at a time to make up for their numbers, or by growing wildly like bamboo before they could be eaten.

Ideas like having fewer, better offspring simply did not exist on the Food Planet. Those species had long since been eaten into extinction.

And the result of all this—

was that the Sea Creatures were genuinely well-fed.

These Sea Creatures now spent every day eating, sleeping, then eating again.

After filling their bellies, they would lie on the beach and bask in the sun. Once they dried out a little, they would jump into the sea for a swim and replenish some moisture.

Then, while swimming, they would discover that there was food in the sea too. They would eat until they were stuffed again, have no choice but to swim back ashore, and lie on the beach to keep sunbathing. The cycle repeated endlessly.

Skadi: The Sea Creatures Fed Me? Seriously?

"But speaking of which..."

Chen Ran watched the Sea Creatures sprawled on the beach of the Food Planet, limbs spread wide as they basked in the sun.

He stroked his chin, his gaze settling on their thighs.

Indeed, the sight of wet white hair and red eyes was undoubtedly paradise-tier for Chinese people,

but what Chen Ran was really paying more attention to were the stockings in all sorts of colors.

"The main materials in stockings are nylon and polyester fibers, and those things are refined from petroleum..."

Thinking this, Chen Ran turned to look at the several planet models beside him.

"The stockings on Sea Creatures are generated by themselves. They're basically still part of their own bodily tissue,"

"but whether it's the survivors from the Sea Creature apocalypse Worldline or the Terrans from the Normal Line, the stockings on their legs are the real deal."

"If those people's stockings weren't petroleum byproducts, but made from some other material,"

"then to make them that thin and translucent, with that silky feel to the touch, and even easy enough to tear apart and use as disposable items..."

"their price might not be high enough to make them exclusive to royalty and nobles, but they definitely wouldn't be cheap,"

"yet that clearly wasn't the case. In the setting, people like Rope, Haze, and Robin, who were poor enough to jingle when they walked, each had a pair of stockings."

"And if those stockings really were petroleum byproducts..."

Chen Ran seemed to understand why the translucent notification box had once mocked him with, "You are so kind-hearted. Rather than opening mines, you chose to play civilization."

Of course, maybe all it took to explain this was one sentence: "Anyone looking for realism in a fictional story must have something wrong with their head."

So Chen Ran tucked the matter away for the time being and turned back toward the Food Planet,

because the translucent notification box had begun spamming messages since earlier:

"Your Sea Creature, number who-knows-what, is eating like crazy."

"New ability acquired: Appetite Increased."

"Your Sea Creature, which is basically just a number anyway, is stuffing its face madly."

"New ability acquired: Appetite Increased."

"Your Sea Creature, some random number, is..."

Chen Ran: "?"

Forget it.

Chen Ran had long since gotten used to the unreliability of that translucent notification box.

So he ignored it for now and looked directly at the Food Planet.

The newly arrived Sea Creatures adapted quickly. The moment they landed, they started eating, devouring whatever they caught.

Chen Ran observed them for quite a while.

After confirming that they were not wasteful types who took one bite and tossed the rest away, but thrifty types who crushed even the bones of their food and swallowed them, only searching for another prey after cleaning every last bit off,

Chen Ran finally nodded.

As long as things were controlled properly, it probably would not cause a mass extinction.

At worst, Chen Ran could manually adjust the ecological balance later and feed the Sea Creatures some hamster food, giving the other creatures a chance to catch their breath.

Or he could just do what Heart of the Corrupted Skadi had done and get a big fish tank to raise them all together.

Muttering to himself, Chen Ran looked back and forth over the Food Planet as if he were observing an ecological terrarium,

and before long, he spotted a... well... Sea Creature that did not seem to fit in?

It should have been a Sea Creature, right?

She had white hair, red eyes, and the same face as Skadi, that Little Orca,

but she was wearing the genuine Skadi's hunter outfit, the kind with openings along the inner thighs for holding a greatsword.

It was just that this "Sea Creature" was not carrying that massive sword. Instead, she stood there holding a chicken in her left hand and a duck in her right, her eyes clear and bewildered, utterly at a loss.

Who am I?

Where am I?

Why am I here?

Of course, she was not a Sea Creature. She was genuinely Skadi from the normal Worldline.

It was just that when the Sea Creatures ascended, Skadi had already been dragged along and held up by them. So when they ascended, they brought her with them.

Skadi had struggled, but it was useless, because she only had Block 1.

Now that those Sea Creatures had finally let go of her, Skadi landed, turned her head, and stared. "Huh? Where did those Sea Creatures take me? Is this still Terra?"

The Sea Creatures that had come with her had originally been in a rush to eat.

But while they were eating, they turned and noticed that Skadi, this "Sea Creature," was not eating.

Afraid that Skadi might starve to death, the Sea Creatures proactively stuffed the ingredients they had hunted into Skadi's hands.

Now you wouldn't starve to death, right?

But Skadi lowered her head and looked at the "food" in her hands, still dripping blood and staring wide-eyed as if it had died with grievances...

Skadi became even more confused.

The Sea Creatures fed me?

And they had even earnestly urged her to eat properly?

They even said it was fine if she could not hunt. It was only one extra pair of chopsticks, and this group of Sea Creatures could afford to raise her?

Huh?

Seriously?

This dream felt pretty realistic.

Then, after who knew how long, Skadi suddenly felt someone poke her little head.

Instinctively looking up, Skadi saw that Lord God had appeared outside the planet. With an interested expression, he was reaching out and teasing her like a little animal.

Fortunately, the shock of a god appearing in person was far greater than the shock of being fed by Sea Creatures.

So Skadi finally snapped awake as if from a dream and hurriedly reached out, wanting to grab the fingertip Lord God had used to poke her head.

Skadi was dense, not stupid. She knew this might be her only chance to escape her current predicament.

So Skadi opened her mouth and shouted, "Lord God! I—"

The instant Skadi called out, cheers erupted all around her in unison:

"Lord God!"

"Lord God, are you here to feed us?"

"Lord God! Food food! Hungry hungry! Eat eat!"

Perhaps the earlier experience of those Sea Creatures shouting, "Family, I got food again," had made the other Sea Creatures far too envious,

because the tens of thousands of Sea Creatures were all crying out for food, saying they were hungry,

instantly drowning out Skadi's voice.

Meanwhile, Chen Ran had originally been curious about why this "Sea Creature" looked so adorably dimwitted and had wanted to tease her a little.

But the next second, he saw a vast sea of pale Sea Creatures surge toward his fingertip, with quite a few even clinging to it and trying to climb up.

Chen Ran's mouth twitched. "All right, all right, stop making such a fuss. You're making my ears hurt."

Chen Ran pulled his hand back in time, but it seemed he had still been a step too slow. It was as though his fingertip had gotten wet, then poked into sand.

So Chen Ran could only pluck the Sea Creatures clinging to his fingertip off one by one and toss them back onto the Food Planet. "Asking for food again, huh? Fine. Wait here. I'll go grab you a handful of hamster food."

"Yay!"

"Lord God is handing out relief food!"

And Skadi, squeezed helplessly amid a huge crowd of Sea Creatures: "What about me? What about me???"

The Sea Creatures Were Terrified Skadi Would Starve to Death

Chen Ran walked to the table and casually grabbed a handful from the fruit plate.

When he turned to feed the Sea Creatures, he suddenly stopped, took a few steps back, and looked at the table again,

because only then did Chen Ran notice that Demon King Rabbit, who had been dueling that little cake earlier, seemed to have already eaten her fill.

She was lying happily on a pack of tissues, her little eyes closed as though she were taking a nap to digest her food.

And unlike Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, whose belly never swelled no matter how much she ate, Demon King Rabbit's little stomach was now round and plump. She had obviously eaten too much.