When Farm 444 and Farm 445 merged into one, solid fencing surrounded the combined land, and Han Wu's broken-down shack became a proper tiled house. Before him were ten fertile plots and six ordinary ones, along with every tool he had obtained through Sacrifice.

The pickaxe, the axe, and the bucket were all neatly arranged in the yard. However, the three thousand rats also remained on his property, all in a state of happy chaos.

His avatars got to work, catching rats and sorting out the land. They kept at it until night. Every male rat was sacrificed, while every female rat was kept to be merged. [1]

Over 1300 female rats were merged into the mother rat, making it as large as a camel. The sacrificed 1700 male rats yielded a magic watering can that could hold an infinite supply of water and irrigate crops without ever running dry. Plants watered with it produced 20% more produce, so Han Wu assigned the avatar with the Life Aspect to handle watering full-time.

More land meant more plants, and richer soil meant faster money. Still, Han Wu had no intention of following the normal plant-sell-buy-repeat cycle. Playing it straight would only keep him behind. He had wasted too much of the early game closing the gap through honest work, but the other contestants were also progressing as he did.

Winning required something unexpected.

Han Wu glanced at the mother rat. He planned on feeding all his crops to the rats from now on. Every night, while other farm owners collapsed into bed after a long day's work, Han Wu came alive. He would pick a lucky neighbor at random, smash open their fencing with the axe, and release a fresh batch of rats into their farm.

His neighbors fell one by one to the rat infestations. Farms destroyed and unlivable, they were forced to quit. Han Wu bought up four farms in a row, and his territory kept expanding.

Word got around. While everyone else built wealth through farming, Han Wu built his through breeding and preying on his neighbors. He had completely abandoned the honest route.

By the second month of the contest, every neighbor near Farm 444 spent the night on full alert, too nervous to sleep. They kept one eye open even during the day, fearing that a single lapse in their guard would let Han Wu's plague in.

Han Wu felt the pressure when his neighbors started going on high alert. His farm had grown several times over and now boasted twenty-four fertile plots and forty-eight ordinary ones. With the magic watering can, he could easily earn over a thousand gold coins a day through honest farming alone. A month of hard work and first place was reachable.

Despite this, Han Wu wasn’t one to settle for mediocrity. His farm had improved, but his opponents’ had too. Watching their earnings climb was more nerve-racking than watching his own money drop. There had to be a way to stop others from earning.

The answer appeared when his shop reached level four and a new item was unlocked: pollinator bees. Their job, as the name implied, was to help crops pollinate more thoroughly, thereby improving yield. They were fairly expensive, at one gold coin per bee. Once purchased, they would recognise their purchaser as their master and follow orders.

Most contestants with access to this item bought a small number and used them to boost their own yields. Han Wu stared at the entry for a long while. A bold idea came to mind. He spent a thousand gold coins, bought a swarm of pollinator bees, and ordered them to go to the neighbors' farms to collect pollen, but not pollinate.

The bees obediently carried out their master's command, easily clearing the fencing and flying into the neighboring farms. The neighbors had been worn down by their constant vigilance. Keeping one eye perpetually open had turned into instinct. They had to remain alert at all times.

When one of the neighbors heard movement outside, they immediately grabbed a wooden stick and ran out, but relaxed after seeing they were bees. He wasn’t going to turn down free pollination for his plants, so he decided to leave them be.

At harvest time, only thin, tiny fruits were left on his plants. They were at least 30% smaller than normal.

“What on earth happened?” he wondered aloud, but there was little he could do about it.

Several neighboring farms also suffered the same reduced harvest. Only Han Wu had a bumper crop.

Han Wu kept a portion of his harvest to sell for new seeds and fed the rest to the mother rat. After many days of feeding and merging, the mother rat grew to the size of an elephant. Its four paws were as thick as barrels, its tail stretched ten meters long, and its jaws, when open, could swallow a person whole.

Fortunately, after merging with so many of its own kind, it had become completely brain-dead and couldn’t attack. Han Wu’s feedings meant it had also developed an attachment to his scent. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

Another birthing day had arrived, and Han Wu watched as the mother rat settled into position to deliver pup after pup. There were easily ten thousand of them.

Han Wu poured the remaining unsold grain before the newborns. The pups rapidly devoured the food, absorbing the nutrients and growing quickly. Han Wu gazed at the lively mass with a satisfied, almost paternal smile. The moment of harvest had come.

He activated Sacrifice. Over ten thousand little rats became the foundation of his growth.

1. Plothole: he only has three chances of merging stuff in a day. How did he merge that many female rats? ☜