A drone shattered against the perimeter field.
Its shell sizzled and sparked—disintegrating before it hit the soil.
Kai watched the screen in silence.
"Third one this week," MergeCore reported. "All unmarked. Intel probes, not weapons. Someone's mapping."
Kai didn't respond. He was busy merging again.
[MERGE INITIATED]
Tier 3 Soil Grid + Tier 4 Stabilized Root Net
= Tier 5 Adaptive Substructure
Result: Auto-terraforming farm base, supports defensive formation, nutrient control, and biological scan denial.
He crouched down, brushed his hand across the freshly merged soil. It shimmered faintly, like something alive was watching from underneath.
"Expand it," he said.
"Confirmed," MergeCore replied. "Radius increasing to all west fields."
🐓 Chickens:
Now pushing past 18,000 head—fully auto-fed, stress-neutral, and cycle-synced with MergeLamps.
🐄 Cattle:
12,000 strong, sorted by tier. Tier 4 meat was already contracted under three non-disclosure deals with elite restaurants. The chefs never saw the animals.
🐖 Pigs:
9,500 merged already. Tier 3+ pigs were heavier, smarter, and immune to 94% of known infections.
Kai didn't stop scaling.
He bought another 2,000 acres.
Didn't negotiate.
Didn't visit.
Just sent one command:
[MERGE: Soil + Forest Base = Tier 2 Open Field with Clean Root Foundation]
He didn't want nature. He wanted control.
MergeCore updated the board:
Total Active Fields: 6,200 acres
Current Land Use Efficiency: 82%
Expansion Potential: 11,400 acres available within next purchase zone
Kai studied the map and nodded.
"Start the tobacco merge lines. Merge deeper this time. More addictive, smoother burn. No cancer markers."
"Confirmed. Initiating bio-fusion protocols now."
Later that night, he stood on the merge tower.
The lights below looked like veins glowing in the Earth.
MergeCore spoke again.
"Outside signal requesting transmission. Military-grade encryption. Callsign: Kessler."
Kai exhaled through his nose. "Put it through."
A gruff voice came over the line.
"Mr. Kai. We know what you're doing. We don't intend to stop you… yet. But there are people asking questions. People with… authority."
Kai stayed quiet.
"They'll send more than drones next time."
Still silent.
"Don't mistake our patience for weakness."
Kai hung up.
He walked outside and knelt down again.
"Merge the fence."
"Specify parameters," MergeCore replied.
Kai's eyes narrowed.
"Make it so they can't step foot on this land without losing something they can't grow back."
Profit Summary –
Egg + Lettuce Sales: +$310,000
Tier 4 Meat (Private Contracts): +$1,150,000
Tobacco Variant 4 Merge Output: +$280,000
MergeCore Licensing (1 regional AI use): +$500,000
Expenses:
Drone Defense + Field Expansion: –$680,000
Tier 5 Soil Merge: –$450,000
Tobacco Lab Upgrades: –$120,000
Net Profit: $990,000
Kai's Total Net Worth: $799,223,000