Chen Ran figured that little belly would definitely be soft to poke, so his fingers naturally itched. He reached out and lightly poked Demon King Rabbit's little belly with his fingertip.
"Oh, it really is soft."
"Mmm..."
Unlike Chen Ran's satisfied praise, Demon King Rabbit seemed to have been startled awake and began to squirm.
"L-Lord God, please don't do that..."
Demon King Rabbit twisted her body, seemingly trying to avoid the ticklish sensation of Chen Ran scratching her belly with his fingertip,
but when she moved too much, Demon King Rabbit soon covered her little mouth again. "Mmm... I-I think it's about to overflow... It's a little uncomfortable..."
"Little Rabbit, you ate until it was practically squeezing up into your throat. Of course that'd be uncomfortable, wouldn't it?"
Chen Ran smiled and withdrew his hand. "No one's competing with you for it. Eat smaller meals more often. Who eats so much in one go that they stuff themselves until they can't move, like you do, Little Rabbit?"
"Because it was really tasty... so I couldn't help myself... Hehe..."
Without Chen Ran's fingertip poking her over and over, Demon King Rabbit immediately felt much better,
but upon hearing Chen Ran's question, she scratched her cheek a little sheepishly.
What kind of hard life had she lived before? Forget little cakes—even candy had been a luxury.
Now that she could eat her fill without limits, Demon King Rabbit seemed determined to make up for all the hardship she had endured before, and so, without realizing it...
"Um... Lord God." Demon King Rabbit also seemed to find her appearance rather embarrassing, so she quickly changed the subject. "Just now, I think I heard Miss Yelagund talking in her sleep? She sounded like she was in a lot of pain. Would you like to go take a look?"
"Yelagund? Oh, sure."
Hearing that, Chen Ran looked toward Yelagund, nodded, and turned to leave,
but before he left, Chen Ran took advantage of Demon King Rabbit not paying attention to poke her little belly once more with his fingertip. Smiling, he added, "Chubby rabbit."
"L-Lord God?!"
As Demon King Rabbit's embarrassed and flustered voice faded behind him, Chen Ran had already arrived at Yelagund's side.
Seeing that Yelagund was still sleeping soundly, Chen Ran bent down and listened closely. He could hear her murmuring in her dreams, "Children... my children... I couldn't save... a single one... sob..."
It felt like once Yelagund woke up, she would probably fight Heart of the Corrupted Skadi to the death.
"But when Yelagund will wake up is still a question."
Chen Ran briefly examined Yelagund and found that her wounds were recovering quite well.
As for why she had not woken up yet, he did not know whether Great Beasts simply slept for long periods, or whether she herself did not want to wake up.
He would remind Heart of the Corrupted Skadi later.
Thinking that, Chen Ran reached out and tucked Yelagund's little blanket around her.
Then he turned around and returned to the Food Planet. First, he lowered his head and peered into the planetary model.
After making sure there was nothing worth worrying about, Chen Ran tossed the little snacks he had grabbed from the fruit platter into the Food Planet.
"I'm so hungry..."
Because of the planet model's rotation speed,
Chen Ran had merely teased Little Rabbit and tucked Yelagund's blanket around her,
but several days had already passed on this Food Planet.
Skadi had been swept up by that group of Sea Creatures and brought to this completely unfamiliar planet, so she naturally remained on guard all day long.
Because Sargol had told her that Sea Creatures were enemies, monsters, mindless beasts with no intelligence whatsoever,
Skadi had been prepared from the very beginning to fight this group of Sea Creatures to the death.
Especially since Lord God had not taken her away, cutting off her last route of retreat.
But after several days passed, not only had the Sea Creatures not attacked her, they fed her more and more frequently, and the food piled before her grew ever larger.
There were even quite a few Sea Creatures squatting in the distance with worried looks on their faces:
Sea Creature 1: "Family, what do we do? It'd be one thing if this sister couldn't hunt, but she doesn't even know how to eat. I'm scared she'll starve to death."
Sea Creature 2: "Is the food not to this sister's taste?"
Sea Creature 3: "But we caught everything for this sister—the things that fly in the sky, swim in the sea, and run on the ground. We piled it all in front of her, but she won't even look at it."
Sea Creature 4: "This can't go on. I heard this sister's stomach has been growling for ages."
Sea Creature 5: "If she won't eat any food, how about I tear off my arm for her to eat?"
Sea Creatures were just like that.
When their race fell into crisis, or when one of their powerful individuals was injured,
some Sea Creatures would willingly kill themselves and turn themselves into food to nourish The Great Swarm.
And so—
With a tearing sound.
The sound of flesh and skin being ripped apart successfully startled Skadi awake, even though hunger had nearly clouded her consciousness.
But before she could become wary, she saw a Sea Creature walk up to her.
Then the Sea Creature tore off its own arm. Blood streaming all over its body, it offered the shredded flesh and severed limb to Skadi:
"Sister, food, eat."
Skadi was utterly stunned.
When the Sea Creature saw that Skadi still would not eat, it used its only remaining arm to tear open its own chest and pull out its heart.
Then it pulled its head and spine out of its neck together and placed them before Skadi.
"Sister, this is soft, tasty."
Skadi: "..."
As she looked at the spinal sword placed before her, at the remaining head whose little mouth was still opening and closing, its eyes staring at her as though it had died with unfinished business—
SAN -1
SAN -1
SAN...
"G-Get away!"
Skadi suddenly waved her hand.
Ah... she scolded it...
Hearing that, the Sea Creature took several steps back.
Then the neck where the Sea Creature's head had been pulled out began healing on its own.
Like molding clay, it shaped another head for itself. The new head even wore a slightly aggrieved expression.
Of course... if one could ignore the spinal sword placed before Skadi, whose remaining head also wore an aggrieved little expression... then perhaps one really would soften up.
Yelagund Seems to Have Woken Up?
The Sea Creatures were terrified that Skadi would starve to death, while Skadi... was actually rather afraid that she herself would starve to death too.
No matter what tricks this group of Sea Creatures was trying to pull, she would only have the strength to deal with them if she ate her fill.
So Skadi lowered her head and looked at the spinal sword and the still-thumping heart placed before her...
"I can't eat these. Absolutely not."
Without even thinking, Skadi ruled those two things out.
But as she looked at the other "normal" foods...
Certain that she could never eat raw flesh and drink blood like the Sea Creatures, Skadi tried to make a fire herself.
Starting a fire without any tools was quite difficult, but Skadi had plenty of strength.
Thus, as the first tiny flame was born on this Food Planet, Skadi plucked the feathers from those "normal" foods, drained their blood, gutted them, cleaned them, and then set them over the fire to roast.
As the fragrance of the ingredients drifted out, Skadi raised her head and suddenly discovered that a huge group of Sea Creatures had gathered around her at some point.
Skadi instinctively tensed up, ready to strike at any moment.
Yet the Sea Creatures merely stood around and watched, looking at her roasting meat with confusion, incomprehension, and curiosity written all over their faces.
If all these Sea Creatures were replaced with kittens and puppies, the scene would actually have been rather amusing.
But the problem was that every one of these Sea Creatures had the exact same face as hers. That was not amusing at all; it was simply creepy.
So Skadi pulled a burning stick from the fire and swept it around her. "Go away!"
The surrounding Sea Creatures naturally took several steps back, then continued standing around to watch.
"Go away already!" Skadi swung the stick in her hand again.
The Sea Creatures took several more steps back, then continued standing around to watch.
Skadi: "..."
She was tired.
So Skadi stopped bothering with the Sea Creatures and roasted the "normal" food until it was cooked.
Then she opened her little mouth and took a small bite.
The cooked food entered her stomach, and her hunger was instantly eased.
Yet Skadi did not show a happy expression. Instead, her little face fell.
Skadi was merely simple-minded, not stupid.
Simple-minded meant being single-minded, having unusual thought processes, not knowing how to adapt, being overly straightforward, and having her own peculiar set of ideas. She fit the dumb beauty archetype.
It did not mean she was stupid as if she had an intellectual disability.
Skadi raised her head and looked at the Sea Creatures around her. Some were imitating her by making fires, some were imitating her by plucking feathers, and some were imitating her by roasting meat.
There were even Sea Creatures that perfectly copied the way Skadi had waved her little stick earlier and shouted, "Go away!" and "Go away already!"
It made it seem like some indispensable mysterious ritual.
Until one Sea Creature successfully roasted some cooked food. After taking a bite, it immediately became as excited as a child weighing several tons.
Then it shared the secret to its success with the other Sea Creatures, causing the entire Sea Creature swarm to cheer.
Watching these noisy Sea Creatures, Skadi could not help falling silent.
The earlier feeding, the self-sacrificial nourishment, and now this swarm-like sharing of experience...
Were Sea Creatures... really, as Sargol had said, enemies, monsters, mindless beasts with no intelligence whatsoever?
Skadi wavered slightly.
But the reason Skadi was simple-minded was because she was single-minded.
So Skadi hurriedly shook her head, deciding this had to be some Sea Creature conspiracy.
She must not forget that Sea Creatures could erode people's consciousness and corrupt their thoughts.
So she would not be fooled!
Thinking that, Skadi angrily bit into the roasted meat in her hand, demonstrating her determination not to be deceived.
But the next second, she heard a rushing sound.
Looking up, she found that food was actually raining down from the sky.
Before Skadi could make sense of the situation, the Sea Creatures suddenly began cheering again:
"Lord God is handing out relief food!"
Watching the Sea Creatures abandon even the cooked food in their hands that was nearly ready, rushing toward where the food rain was falling and waiting for Lord God to feed them—
Before you continue