"You both remember how the ozone layer in the future was once nearly depleted, right? Even though humanity eventually found a way to repair it, a new problem emerged afterward: food shortages.
Human technology keeps advancing, and five hundred years in the future, anti-aging medicine had already been invented. While it couldn't make people truly immortal or eternally young, it still increased the average human lifespan tremendously.
As a result, the population kept growing larger and larger. By the year 2500, Earth's population had exploded to fifty billion. Land became scarce, while food turned into a massive crisis. And it's only got worse after the ozone layer was restored. Since the living conditions improved, the demand for food keep skyrocketed each day.
Because of that, nations that had only begun cooperating started falling into conflict again. Another war almost broke out.
But then, she appeared, Professor Renee, the 'Accelerated Farm Project' she proposed prevented that war from ever happening."
Kelly looked around at the colossal crops surrounding them.
"This place… I believe it's the result of that project."
Doraemon looked around in amazement. "The Accelerated Farm Project… Could you tell me more? How's this place work?"
Kelly shrugged. "Nobody really knows. The project's details were kept highly classified. There were rumors that the farm used temporal acceleration to speed up crop growth based on the 'Fixed-Time Conservation Principle' that Renee herself published years ago, but most people assumed she had simply invented some kind of fertilizer that dramatically boosted growth rates.
I used to believe that too. After all, I study time-related technology myself, so I know how difficult it is just to access the Time Tunnel, let alone manipulate time within a localized area... But you just said the flow of time here is faster right? It seems she actually succeeded... Renee... She somehow managed to make it work..."
Shizuka blinked. "What is the 'Fixed-Time Conservation Principle'?"
"The name sounds complicated, but the concept is actually simple. According to this principle, as long as the law of conservation remains intact, people can freely alter the flow of time within a designated area…" Rim spoke up and let out a faint laugh.
"This principle was, of course, dismissed as a joke... After all, who would've believed that she'd actually succeed in doing something as absurd as time control?"
Shizuka nodded then poked one of the giant corn stalks with her trident. "The crops are gigantic, their growth is accelerated, and a single harvest can probably be repeated over and over continuously. A place like this could completely solve the food crisis!"
"Mm, exactly. But acceleration is one thing. I never expected the crops themselves to grow this huge…" Rim said, crossing her arms. The whole situation just felt so wrong to her.
"We should look for a way out. If this really is an accelerated farm, there must be an exit. There are also harvesting robots in here, maybe we can get them to show us the way…" Kelly began, but before she could finish, Connie suddenly shouted, cutting her off.
"WOW! Check this out girls!"
Connie pointed ahead. Everyone followed her finger and quickly spotted a gigantic metal arm embedded into one of the corn stalks in front of them.
"I think this is the arm of a harvesting robot…"
Rim and Kelly walked over to inspect it. After a moment, they frowned.
"It really is a Harvester unit… this is not good, not good at all."
Doraemon and Shizuka looked confused. "The plants here are enormous, so wouldn't giant harvesting robots make sense too?"
Rim shook her head and explained, "Originally, the crops inside the farm weren't this large. Even though most information about the farm was classified, before the governments began funding the project, Renee released many promotional videos to attract public attention and investors. Back then, the crops looked completely normal in size. Of course, their size could have been changed later to meet the demand. If this arm belonged to a newer harvesting robot model, that'd be one thing, but …"
Rim paused and pointed at a line of Japanese text engraved on the arm.
It read: 'Presented by the Agricultural Association, Year 2500.'
She continued, "That inscription proves this robot was part of the original harvesting robot group donated by the Agricultural Association during the farm's founding in 2500. There are video records of it. Those robots were only supposed to be around two meters tall. But judging by the size of this arm… the robot it belonged to must've been at least fifty meters tall… But how? How did they become this gigantic?"
Kelly gently ran her hand across the giant metal arm.
"Adaptation! Prototypes of an adaptive robot were already being experimented on during the Ozone Crisis.
These models are old, but since they're Agricultural Association harvesting robots, I wouldn't be surprised if they were equipped with programs designed to handle unexpected situations and independently adapt to emergencies to upgrade themselves accordingly."
"But giant crops alone shouldn't be enough reason for the robots to become this enormous. If their only purpose was harvesting, this size would be excessive… No, it's not just because the corn grew larger. There must be another reason…" Connie shook her head.
"Like… capture livestock? I mean this is a farm, right?" Shizuka spoke up.
"Oh…!" Everyone's expressions changed instantly.
"I don't remember any records of this farm raising livestock, but…" Kelly pointed at the severed mechanical arm.
"Judging from the damage… it was probably torn off violently during some kind of attack. So yeah… I think that's the only explanation."
The corn grew gigantic, the robots upgraded themselves into colossal machines, and if the livestock that destroyed the robot also became this huge, then…
"…"
"We need to get the hell out of here!" The group immediately became tense.
Kelly's team quickly activated their energy armor and moved protectively around Shizuka and Doraemon. Kelly addressed the group sharply.
"Everyone stay alert. Doraemon, check whether the Anywhere Door still works!"
Unfortunately, the Anywhere Door was useless. Since the time flow inside this place was isolated from the outside world, the door couldn't establish a connection to external space at all.
Doraemon reluctantly pulled out several Take-Copters instead.
"Let's use these for now. It'll be easier to find our way from above."
Everyone nodded, attached the Take-Copters, and flew into the sky.
From above, the full scale of the farm became visible.
The scene was utter chaos.
Giant corn stalks lay collapsed everywhere. The corpses of enormous creatures and harvesting robots were scattered across the land. Closest to them was a gigantic grasshopper with a dark green body. Its wings had been torn to shreds, and it lay motionless on the ground. It had clearly been dead for several days already.
Everyone stared in shock.
How could a grasshopper possibly grow that large?
The group cautiously circled around the ruined field and continued onward for a long distance. Yet everywhere they looked, all they could see were endless gigantic stalks of corn.
Doraemon asked: "Any destination in mind?"
"The farm's management center." Kelly replied. "All records about this farm should be stored there. We can probably find more infor about the upgraded facilities used by the harvester robots too."
After another long trek, Kelly suddenly turned and pointed toward a distant tower:
"That should be the management center. Let's head there!"
The tower grew closer and closer. From far away it had looked normal enough, but up close they could clearly see how ancient and damaged it was. Entire sections were broken apart. No one knew how many years it had stood there.
The surroundings were completely silent.
One by one, the group landed cautiously outside the tower. The main entrance stood wide open, and the security systems seemed long dead. There wasn't a single human in sight.
Kelly's group activated their weapons.
Doraemon took out two Pocket Force Fields, keeping one for himself and handing the other to Shizuka. Then he pulled out the Supreme Gun. Shizuka gripped the Pocket Force Field in one hand and tightened her hold on her trident with the other.
Slowly, the five of them entered the building.
"Right side!" Kelly shouted.
A mass of foul-smelling reddish-brown liquid shot toward the group. Everyone leapt aside to dodge it. Doraemon fired instantly without hesitation, blowing apart the creature that had attacked them. The reddish-brown fluid splattered everywhere, hissing violently wherever it touched the ground.
Its corrosive properties were terrifying.
"Is that… an ant?" Connie frowned as she stared at the remains. Even though it had been blown to pieces, she could still tell it was a giant ant.
And if there was one ant…
Connie's worries were immediately confirmed.
Countless more giant ants began crawling out from deeper inside the room.
"We need to find the computer room. There should be records explaining what happened here and where the exit is. But these ants…" Rim stared tensely at the swarm. "Should we retreat, or keep searching for the computer room?"
"We keep searching!" Doraemon answered immediately. "Shizuka and I can provide ranged support. We'll cover the rear while you girls focus on finding the computer room!"
He pulled out another gun. This one was much larger than the Supreme Gun and far more destructive. With a single shot, The Thunder Rifle blasted apart huge clusters of ants. Meanwhile, Shizuka created countless razor-sharp streams of water that sliced the insects into pieces.
Step by step, they advanced into the building as the ant kept coming. It took them more than thirty minutes to finally find the computer room.
Inside, everything was eerily silent.
Dust covered every surface.
With Shizuka standing guard and others searching through the books in the room. Doraemon quickly pulled out the Time Cloth and restored the damaged machinery before using another gadget to supply power and gain access to the system.
Once he finished, the computer monitors flickered back to life.
Kelly stepped forward and began searching through the farm's records.
Very quickly, she found them, but as she went through them, her brows tightened more and more.
She raised her head and muttered:
"Some of the data formats show signs of being altered. The latest computer log date is… April 4th, Year 14540."
"Huh!? What year did you just say?" Rim, Connie asked in disbelief.
Doraemon also hurried over.
Kelly stared at the screen, stunned: "Just how many times did they accelerate time in this place? According to these notes, the farm calendar began in the year 2500, which was counted as Year One. We arrived here from the outside year 2525, meaning only twenty-five years have passed outside…"
"But inside here… fourteen thousand five hundred and forty years have passed?"