Arknights, but Terra is Caged Chapter 9

"Your second Sea Creature is frantically devouring food."

"This one's starting to look human-like. I'll take it."

"Your third Sea Creature is frantically devouring food."

"Are there no more human-like ones? Then I'll take another little flower."

"Your fourth Sea Creature is frantically devouring food."

Chen Ran: "... ..."

Seriously? What can you guys do besides eat?

013. God Said: "You shall all become beautiful girls with white hair and red eyes."

Among the Sea Creatures, there's no such saying as "afraid of your brother living poorly, but also afraid of your brother driving a luxury car"—

But the problem is, their Lord God does.

"Sea Creature 1: Didn't we agree it was all for the Great Swarm? Why do they get to eat first?"

"Sea Creature 2: Lord God! Lord God! Pick me, pick me! I want to eat too!"

"Sea Creature 3: Pick me next! Pick me!"

"Sea Creature 4: Why are they already eating? I'm so hungry..."

Through the Hive Cluster Mind, the more the Sea Creatures Chen Ran had picked like a prize from a claw machine devoured their food, the more the remaining Sea Creatures drooled with envy.

Why did those Sea Creatures get to eat first, while they were left to starve?

Sea Creatures don't have human thoughts, so they don't experience jealousy, anger, or grievance.

But they do think.

Seeing that Chen Ran first picked those that were beginning to take human form, the remaining Sea Creatures then evolved themselves towards a human-like form.

Then, seeing Chen Ran pick a little flower, they evolved themselves towards a little flower.

As a result, by the time they evolved into little flowers, Chen Ran stopped picking them.

"Sea Creature 1: Why isn't Lord God picking us to eat anymore?"

"Sea Creature 2: Could it be that Lord God is still not satisfied with our current appearance?"

"Sea Creature 4: But you weren't satisfied with the human form, and you weren't satisfied with the little flower either... What kind of appearance does Lord God actually want?"

"Sea Creature 5: Sigh! I have a little idea!"

He threw one Sea Creature in, and it frantically devoured food. He threw another Sea Creature in, and it still frantically devoured food...

Chen Ran wasn't exactly stingy with food. No, rather, what did Chen Ran have to be stingy about?

Even if they ate the entire planet model, he could just manually create another one for them, couldn't he?

But Chen Ran's original intention in picking these Sea Creatures was for them to help him reroll accounts. He wanted them to survive, to evolve, to develop new abilities!

Instead, Chen Ran was now looking at a screen full of pop-ups saying "Your appetite has increased," "Your current appetite is equivalent to half of Kroos's!" He felt like something had gone wrong with the execution.

"Forget it... Sigh, forget it."

Chen Ran sighed. "Considering you guys at least helped me exploit the system and harvest a large wave of faith points, I'll feed you all first."

Chen Ran shook his head and looked back towards the planet model. He reached out, intending to continue picking Sea Creatures like he was playing a claw machine—

What he saw was that the previously vast sea of Sea Creatures had turned into a vast expanse of white.

Instead of a vibrant, diverse crowd of Sea Creatures, each one had become like a Slaughterer, with a human body and limbs, and on top of their heads...

"Wait a minute? Why do you all have little flowers on your heads?"

What kind of combination is this?

Where did my massive swarm of Sea Creatures go?

Chen Ran had a feeling that if he just turned his head, something bizarre would happen.

After staring at the group of white, human-like figures for a while, Chen Ran tentatively reopened the Hive Cluster Mind (Sea Creature version), which he had previously put on mute—

"Sea Creature 1: Hungry! Food!"

"Sea Creature 2: Food! Hungry!"

"Sea Creature 3: I want to eat eat eat—"

Chen Ran: "... ..."

Alright, it's still you guys.

So Chen Ran put the mute back on.

"So why did you all suddenly evolve into human form? Strange, could it be based on my preferences?"

"I've actually wanted to complain for a while now, most people's values are really dictated by their appearance."

"So why don't you Sea Creatures make yourselves look better?"

"For example, evolve into cats. Then when people hear 'Sea Creatures are going to destroy the world!', they'd think 'Oh, how terrifying!' but then they see a picture and it's just a bunch of cats meowing about conquering the world."

"'It must be the evil Agorans who did this! What bad intentions could cats possibly have?'—Most players would probably cheer you on like this."

"But evolving into cats... I remember you originally lived in the sea, right? So you're sea cats? A bunch of sea cats all meowing and charging at us... that's actually pretty scary too."

Perhaps it was the dazzling display of variety that came before, but looking at the current group of humanoid Sea Creatures was truly a feast for the eyes.

It even made Chen Ran's doll-catching speed a little faster.

The remaining Sea Creatures saw this and thought, "Indeed! This method works!"

See, what did I tell you? As long as we become humanoid and put a little flower on our heads, Lord God will definitely be satisfied.

And so, the remaining Sea Creatures began to compete.

Each one evolved to look more human than the last, with better figures, and more vibrant flowers.

Until Chen Ran even saw one Sea Creature evolve to have white hair and red eyes—

"I'm starting to feel like it was an incredibly wise decision to harvest all the faith early."

"After all, if you Sea Creatures keep evolving like this, when humans come with believers, they'll ask, 'What are your doctrines?'"

"And the answer will be, 'The God said, you shall all turn into beautiful girls, and remember to have white hair and red eyes.'"

"That's just… awkward."

Although Chen Ran was complaining, he didn't stop them.

Rather, why would Chen Ran stop them?

And so, with Chen Ran's tacit approval, a large patch of 'Skaties' with small flowers on their heads were born.

Actually, you couldn't really call them Skadi, since Chen Ran felt the three Deep Sea Hunters all looked the same.

If you asked them to take off their hats and clothes and stand together, you really wouldn't be able to tell them apart at a glance—

Wait, if they took off their clothes, why would you need to tell them apart?

Isn't there something more important to do?

As Chen Ran began to ponder, the Sea Creatures, having pushed their physical evolution to its limit, started to compete with their clothing.

Using scales or tentacles, they began to add various decorations to their pale bodies.

Because Heart of the Corrupted Skadi, holding a small cookie, floated from Chen Ran's left to his right and back again, The Sea Creatures found a reference. After finishing with the covering fabrics, they started competing with black stockings, white stockings, fishnet stockings, and so on.

This competition continued until Chen Ran got a little bored. He changed from picking up one Sea Creature at a time with his fingertips to scooping up large handfuls with both hands and throwing them all into the newly formed planet model.

Chen Ran felt that there were too many Sea Creatures. If he caught them one by one, it would take ages.

The Sea Creatures, on the other hand, believed that since Lord God was no longer being picky, he must be very satisfied with their current appearance.

Thus, with a subtle consensus reached between both parties, the foundation for the appearance of future newborn Sea Creatures was laid.

014. Kal'tsit: Humanity is probably hopeless

The role of a faith god, once played, is no longer useful and can be discarded.

It's just a tool for shearing wool.

Even if Terra on this world line where the Sea Creatures destroy the world is in ruins and needs rebuilding, humanity is very fertile. If the rabbit race still existed, they'd be even more fertile—

But ultimately, it's not as fast as letting the Sea Creatures reproduce a wave.

"But I remember... my first believer was that lucky one in the planet model, wasn't it?"

She was also the only human among all of Chen Ran's current believers.

Now that the Sea Creatures had benefited, what about this human?

Chen Ran thought about it and decided he couldn't neglect one for the other. He decided to bestow some so-called holy relics upon that lucky one.

So he picked up his phone and ordered someone to bring him a lump of reinforced concrete, with two steel bars crossed on top, shaped like a sword.

"If someone can actually break a lump of reinforced concrete with their bare hands... then they're truly amazing."

"It's fine to let you ascend then, though ascension is a scam, by the way."

Chen Ran muttered to himself as he placed the lump of reinforced concrete into the planet model.

... ... ...

... ...

Not long ago.

When Chen Ran was still harvesting faith, the entire Great Swarm of Sea Creatures was chanting "Lord God..."—

The sound produced by tens of thousands of Sea Creatures was deafening, shaking the heavens.

Even the human survivors hiding in the mountains, within their bunkers, heard it.

However, Sea Creatures that could speak human language were ultimately a minority; most were shrieks, animalistic roars, or meaningless barks.

This caused the survivors, unaware of the reason, to become fearful and uneasy, worried that these were the Sea Creatures' attack horns.

And the woman who had already been dragged away and pinned to the hospital bed, looking as if her Sanity had dropped to zero, suddenly sat up as if from a deathbed, and let out a cry like a fanatical believer: "Lord God! I heard it! They are proclaiming the Lord God's name!!!"

This sudden yell startled Kal'tsit.

The surrounding medical staff, after reacting, rushed forward and pressed the woman back onto the hospital bed.

"Quick! Increase the dosage!"

"Doctor Kal'tsit! What should we do next?"

"Doctor Kal'tsit! Do we need to give her a sedative?"

"Doctor Kal'tsit!!!"

Kal'tsit came back to her senses, glanced at the panicked and bewildered medical staff around her, and sighed softly.

She didn't speak, but instead looked at the fanatical believer with a complex gaze.

Because unlike others, Kal'tsit understood the Sea Creature language. Although it was chaotic, she could roughly distinguish what that group of Sea Creatures was howling about.

So... this fanatical believer wasn't lying after all.

If that's the case, then what about what this fanatical believer said earlier?

Like the Sea Creature God being kept in a fish tank...

Before Kal'tsit could reach a conclusion, she heard a deafening roar from the sky outside.

Subconsciously turning her head to look, she saw a 'Holy Sword', radiating dazzling light, tear through the sky, cleave through the clouds, and descend from above.