Kai woke before the sun.
Not because he had to.
Because he wanted to.
🌄 Morning Routine
He didn't check numbers first.
Didn't look at alerts. Didn't check MergeMart or contracts.
He brewed black coffee in silence.
Stepped outside barefoot.
Felt the soil under his feet — Tier 4, adaptive, alive.
Birds chirped.
Merged ones, probably.
Didn't matter.
He watched the horizon glow orange.
🥬 Field Check
Kai walked past the poultry compound, past the MergeSwine pens, and into the lettuce sector.
No bots. No noise.
Just rows of vibrant, dark green heads, perfectly spaced.
Morning dew collected on their thickened MergeSkins.
He pulled one from the ground by hand.
Clean. Root-tight. Soil clung to it like a memory.
"You'd feed a kingdom," he muttered. "And you're just one."
He placed it in the harvest cart himself.
🧼 Old Habits
He visited the original chicken coop.
Not the industrial ones.
Not the merged Tier 3+ zones.
The old wooden shack with four coops and a dented grain bucket.
A single hen lived there now — a Tier 0.
He fed her anyway. Gave her a pat on the head.
She clucked once. Proud.
🍅 Garden Break
On his personal plot, Kai had kept a row of tomatoes he refused to merge.
He wanted to see what normal tasted like.
The difference?
Normal took work.
Merge took precision.
But the soul of the land was still there — in both.
He bit into a ripe red one.
It wasn't as explosive as a MergeFruit.
But it was real.
And sometimes, real was enough.
📦 Local Drop
Kai loaded up a small crate himself:
MergeEggs
Tier 2 tomatoes
Some MergeLettuce
A sealed jug of MergeMilk
He dropped it off at the local community pantry down the hill.
No name. No note. Just food.
The old man who ran the place peeked out once.
Kai nodded.
Nothing more needed to be said.
🌕 Quiet Night
By sundown, Kai was on the porch.
Cigarette in hand — MergeTobacco, naturally.
He stared at the sky, watching stars take their time.
MergeCore pinged once.
New international request. Big money.
He ignored it.
Tomorrow, he'd decide.
Tonight was for silence.
For soil.
For breath.
Earnings
MergeMart Standard Sales: +$180,000
MergePrestige Auto Fulfillment: +$320,000
Cigarettes: +$62,000
Expenses
Local Donations: –$10,000
Personal Field Supplies: –$2,000
MergeCore Maintenance: –$35,000
Net Profit: +$515,000
Kai's Total Net Worth: $633,733,000