Arknights, But Raising Terra Chapter 5

007. Heart of the Corrupted Skadi: The way to serve a god is to put on stockings and step on them with your feet.

Chen Ran went out.

He ordered people to bring some small hamster-like animals, and at the same time, he had a batch of clothes made to order—planning to give them to Heart of the Corrupted Skadi.

Because Heart of the Corrupted Skadi lacked human shame, she had no intention of wearing clothes after taking them off.

While this could indeed greatly increase one's desire in a short period, making them feel like cotton swabs, cat teasers, and ribbed gloves should all be arranged.

But beautiful appearances are all the same; looking at them for too long becomes tiresome. It's better to have the hazy beauty of a partially revealed face.

When Chen Ran returned carrying the cardboard box, he found that Heart of the Corrupted Skadi hadn't run off. Instead, she was still sitting obediently on the table.

In front of her was a mobile phone, propped up by a phone stand. Heart of the Corrupted Skadi then extended her two small hands, swiping back and forth on the phone screen—

Even though the phone was larger than Heart of the Corrupted Skadi herself.

"What are you watching? Is there anything interesting?"

Chen Ran placed the cardboard box on the table and asked.

Just as he had denied being a god from the start, Chen Ran didn't intend to hide anything. Instead, he tossed a phone over, planning to let Heart of the Corrupted Skadi understand the world on her own.

Upon hearing him, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi turned her head and said, "I have learned your language, Lord God."

"Oh, you learn quite quickly. But I remember there's a country called Higashi in Arknights, right? Isn't their language different from mine?"

Chen Ran asked, while also placing a small cardboard box in front of Heart of the Corrupted Skadi.

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi was actually quite puzzled. She was very sure that she was speaking Sea Creature language mixed with Sargol language, and the language spoken by Lord God Chen Ran was one she had never heard before.

But the two of them could communicate without any barriers.

Perhaps... this was the power of Lord God?

However, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi didn't pay attention to such trivial matters. Instead, she focused her attention on the cardboard box in front of her.

"Lord God, what is this?"

"Clothes for you to wear."

"Clothes...?"

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi opened the cardboard box and, as expected, saw women's clothing like skirts and stockings inside.

"Thank you for your generosity, Lord God."

Although Heart of the Corrupted Skadi didn't understand why wearing clothes was meaningful.

Was it like changing clothes for a Barbie doll? Or like a collectible figure with removable parts?

Anyway, it was quite interesting for Chen Ran.

He saw Heart of the Corrupted Skadi squatting in front of the cardboard box, picking and choosing with her small hands. Chen Ran then sat down at the table, grabbed the mouse, and opened a webpage on his computer.

Chen Ran had actually thought of many ways to better exploit... oh no, to better assist the Sea Creature in evolving and ascending.

Throwing some small animals in to turn them into so-called primordial beasts was one method, but the problem was its uncontrollability.

He wanted something controllable, something that only targeted that Sea Creature, with waves of challengers, and they couldn't just blindly charge forward. They needed to change their strategies to allow that Sea Creature to achieve all-around improvement and evolution...

For this, Chen Ran had reviewed a lot of information, to the point where he even considered whether to turn the newly formed planet model into a VR game. Players would enter the game, which was essentially projecting their consciousness onto the planet model, and then use the Sea Creature as a boss, having those players team up to fight it.

However, before Chen Ran had decided whether to do so, or how to achieve it—

Plop.

Chen Ran felt a poke on the hand holding the mouse.

He withdrew his thoughts and instinctively turned to look. Chen Ran saw that Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, who had been picking and choosing moments before, had now dressed herself in an outfit like a city socialite.

A small shirt, a belted skirt, and beneath the skirt, between the lace-trimmed garter stockings, formed an absolute territory.

It was beautiful, but for some reason, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi wasn't wearing shoes. She also lifted her thigh, wrapped in black stockings, and used her stocking-clad foot to gently step on Chen Ran's hand.

This was also why Chen Ran had felt someone poking him earlier.

It couldn't be helped. Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's thigh was only as thick as Chen Ran's little finger. Even if her stocking-clad foot was soft, the area it could cover was only that small.

Chen Ran didn't understand what Heart of the Corrupted Skadi was doing at first, and Heart of the Corrupted Skadi didn't understand why Chen Ran wasn't reacting.

After staring at each other for a while, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi proactively rubbed Chen Ran's hand with her stocking-clad little foot.

Alright, now Chen Ran understood.

While finding it amusing, Chen Ran couldn't help but ask, "What are you doing?"

"Serving Lord God," Heart of the Corrupted Skadi said, continuing to rub him with her stocking-clad little foot. "I saw that written in that glowing little box."

"I gave you a phone so you could learn about the world. What did you learn?"

Chen Ran continued to enjoy the foot massage from Heart of the Corrupted Skadi... if it could be called a massage.

At the same time, he reached out with his other hand and picked up the phone on the table.

He browsed through the phone's browsing history:

"It feeds me, gives me drink, and gives me a place to live. Is he my Lord God?"

"What does 'keeping' mean?"

"What does it mean to please a man?"

"What does it mean to capture a man's heart by capturing his stomach?"

"How do you capture a man's heart?"

"Anatomy Tutorial"

"Why is killing people illegal?"

"How do you please the divine?"

"What is a shrine maiden?"

"What is role-playing?"

"What is SM?"

Chen Ran: "... ..."

Alright, no need to look anymore.

After all, this Heart of the Corrupted Skadi claimed to be serving the divine, but the way she served was by wearing black stockings and stepping on him...

He knew this Heart of the Corrupted Skadi had definitely been led astray.

He then turned off his phone and looked back at Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, who was still stepping on his hand with her small, stocking-clad feet.

"Okay, I pretty much understand the situation."

Chen Ran reached out and poked Heart of the Corrupted Skadi's little head with his fingertip, causing her to step back a few paces. The small, stocking-clad feet that had been stepping on his hand lost their footing.

"Divine? You don't like this?"

"I like it, but your little feet are too small, and I don't feel much when you step on me. Plus, with your current innocent yet a bit dim look, like you don't understand anything, I feel quite guilty."

Heart of the Corrupted Skadi tilted her little head upon hearing this.

As if understanding something, she then stepped forward again with her small, stocking-clad feet, and reached out her small hand, gently hugging the finger Chen Ran had used to poke her little head.

Watching Heart of the Corrupted Skadi tilt her head and look at him, Chen Ran couldn't help but laugh, "So, after all I said, you only heard 'too small', right?"

You could say Heart of the Corrupted Skadi is dim, but she still knew to use her body to hug Chen Ran's fingertip to increase the contact area.

But if she can hug one finger now, can she hug something thicker in the future?

008. A huge eyeball is observing the little person in the bottle.

With one hand holding the mouse, clicking on web pages and browsing articles on low-dimensional games and sandbox simulations, and the other hand feeding Heart of the Corrupted Skadi like feeding a hamster.

While giving Heart of the Corrupted Skadi sex education, he watched as Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, as if changing clothes for a Barbie doll, changed into white stockings, black stockings, fishnets, and lace one after another in front of him.

Although he didn't know how Chen Ran taught her, it was supposed to be sex education, but as they were teaching, Heart of the Corrupted Skadi floated up, landed on Chen Ran's shoulder, and then tried to stuff her feet into Chen Ran's mouth.

Fortunately, it was harmless, and he was enjoying this kind of life—

Provided the Sea Creatures didn't go crazy.

After throwing that Sea Creature onto the new planet, Chen Ran had treated it like an idle farming game and left it alone, but the semi-transparent pop-up windows were still diligently displaying:

"Your Sea Creature No. 1 is eating a lot."

"You have gained a new ability: Increased Appetite."

"Your Sea Creature No. 1 is devouring food crazily."

"You have gained a new ability: Increased Appetite."

"Your Sea Creature No. 1 is..."

Chen Ran: "... ..."

Honestly, this made Chen Ran laugh.

Because the more idiotic the currently ravenous Sea Creature acted, the more foolish the people of Sargol in the worldline where the Sea Creatures caused the apocalypse seemed.

So this kind of thing, huh? This thing that can only make rice expensive to eat, how much did those people of Sargol want to court death to push a rice bucket into causing an extermination order?

If humanity hadn't been completely wiped out in the worldline where the Sea Creatures caused the apocalypse, Chen Ran would have definitely grabbed a person from Sargol to ask—

"Hmm? Wait, was humanity really completely wiped out in the worldline where the Sea Creatures caused the apocalypse?"

"Probably not?"

"If nothing else, Kal'tsit should have survived, oh right, and Mizuki."

Chen Ran, who couldn't quite recall the settings, picked up Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, who was already leaning close to his mouth, like a hamster and placed her aside.

He clicked on a webpage and opened the wiki.

"Mizuki's Roguelike Fourth Ending..."

"Ah, as expected, humanity wasn't completely wiped out? They all hid in the last city?"

"But the fourth ending doesn't seem to involve Isabella? It's another nascent Izumik."

So, is Mizuki's fourth "Prospector" ending on the same timeline as Isabella's ascension?

Chen Ran turned his head and glanced at the Heart of the Corrupted Skadi floating beside him. "When you ascended, were there still humans on Terra?"

"I don't know."

The Heart of the Corrupted Skadi drifted from Chen Ran's left to his right, then from his right to his left, before gently landing like a feather. She comfortably settled into his outstretched palm. "The Swarm only cares about continuation."

"So, in simple terms, you don't care whether humans live or die, right?"

Chen Ran nodded in understanding, then stood up and walked over to the solar system model.

Previously, he had assumed that since the Heart of the Corrupted Skadi had ascended, humanity must be extinct. Therefore, the solar system model was just an empty frame, and he had left it there without paying it any mind.

But now—

As before, he reached out towards the model of Terra, causing it to continuously zoom in and approach.

He only stopped when he had zoomed in so much that he could once again see the dense swarm of Sea Creatures outside the planet model.

Chen Ran then leaned closer to the planet model, as if observing an ecological terrarium or a culture pod, searching for the small creatures within.

However, because he had silenced the entire swarm of Sea Creatures, Chen Ran was unaware that upon seeing their divine lord appear again, the entire great swarm had descended into chaos once more—

"Sea Creature 1: I'm hungry..."

"Sea Creature 2: Little Flower said it was taken to a paradise where food is everywhere and never runs out..."

"Sea Creature 3: I want to eat too!"

"Sea Creature 4: When will our divine lord take me too... I want to eat!"

"Sea Creature 5: Our divine lord has appeared!"

"Sea Creature 6: Divine lord! Take me! Take me! I want to eat! Eat!"