Han Wu’s avatars perched along the fencing between Farm 777 and Farm 888, studying their opponents. Farm 777’s land was covered in twisted, grotesque plants. They were gnarled and hideous, each looking less like a plant and more like something out of a nightmare.

Han Wu could barely believe his eyes. As an experiment, he sent a few pollinator bees in again. The grotesque plants killed the bees and consumed them.

What caused these plants to mutate this way? he wondered, interest piqued.

Since every plot in Farm 777 bore the same type of monstrous growth, he concluded that it was the land itself causing the transformation, not the farm owner. The soil was likely turning the plants demonic.

Farm 888 was similarly shocking, though not in the same way. Inside was a type of special plant he had encountered before. Back when he was still on the reserved list, he had taken a lesson in Zombie Town, where special plants grew everywhere and would only react to zombies carrying death energy.

Sending some pollinator bees in as another trial, he discovered that the plants automatically detected and attacked intruders. The bees took heavy casualties, and Han Wu ordered the survivors to withdraw.

As Han Wu studied Farm 888, he became increasingly confident that these special plants were the result of the farm owner’s personal ability, not the land. Based on his own experience with the rules, he was certain that it was this contestant’s Divine Talent that allowed them to cultivate plants into special forms.

With both farms scouted, Han Wu started brainstorming ways to take them down. Farm 888 was easier to deal with than Farm 777’s demonic plants. The special plants, while numerous, did not cover the entire land and were also reliant on the owner’s ability to function. If Han Wu could draw the owner out and eliminate them, Farm 888 would fall.

There were still two months before the contest ended, so he decided to spend one of them building up his two plagues for the final assault. The results of that one month exceeded his expectations.

His total earnings from farming alone had surpassed Farm 666’s all-time peak, and that was with most of his attention going toward breeding. If he had put any real effort into farming, his total could easily have doubled or tripled.

Unfortunately for the two remaining farmers, Han Wu had a different goal.

Staring out at his two farms, both packed with rats and bees, he gave the order to move out. The pollinator bees went in first as a vanguard to draw the attention and firepower of Farm 888’s special plants. The rats were the main force.

Meanwhile, Wang Cai, after weeks of exposure to the mother rat’s maternal devotion, had finally surrendered and sworn loyalty to Han Wu. The mother rat’s love was genuinely suffocating.

Wang Cai had spent every day and night being bathed in the mother rat’s saliva until its whole body was soaked through. Unable to endure any longer, it pledged itself to Han Wu on the condition that it could escape such a fate.

Han Wu was generous to those under him. The moment Wang Cai pledged loyalty, he fed it the strength-enhancing purple wheat. Wang Cai’s body grew powerful. In Han Wu’s eyes, Wang Cai was 99% pure muscle and 1% loyalty toward him.

Its scent also meant it became the undisputed older brother of every rat on the farm. In their eyes, its commands were absolute.

Standing before the fencing of Farm 888, Wang Cai ordered the rats to dig. The sharp teeth of every rat ground sparks off the stone, and the solid brick wall soon crumbled.

Wang Cai led the charge, bringing the rat army into the main villa of Farm 888 to root out the farm owner. The special plants were too busy dealing with the bee vanguard to attack the rats. Even if they were to redirect their attacks, there were simply too many rats to clear quickly.

Soon, every room of the villa was packed with rats. Wang Cai’s keen nose allowed it to swiftly sniff out the owner. Under its command, the rats swarmed the owner and reduced them to an unrecognizable state.

Farm 888 had fallen.

Han Wu immediately bought it up, then pushed from two directions against Farm 777 with a simultaneous assault by both plagues. Farm 777, for all its demonic plant defenders, could not withstand the coordinated attack.

The owner’s furious howl echoed as Farm 777 fell.

Han Wu bought up the last remaining farm, turning the entire continent into his land. Despite this, the competition still didn’t end. A notification told him he needed to pass the remaining fifteen days before the wager concluded.

Han Wu was unimpressed. The rules instated on this continent were truly inhumane. The designer clearly wasn’t right in their head. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

With nothing else to do, he continued the breeding operation and decided to inspect the peculiarities of Farm 777 more closely. He soon discovered a special mineral beneath the farm that continuously released radiation, causing any nearby plant or animal to turn demonic and gain powerful offensive capabilities.

Han Wu had his rats dig it out. After three days of digging, they hit a seventy-seven-meter-tall stone shaped like a demonic skull. Its radiation had transformed a number of his rats into grotesque demonic rats, noticeably enhancing their combat ability.

By his estimations, a transformed rat was at least a Unique life form. He decided to bring this demonic stone back to his divine realm for the Origin of Mutation to study once the wager was over.

With that, the year finally ended. As the only remaining farm owner on the entire continent, Han Wu won by default.

When the Wealth Faction members without access to the live feed heard this, they were genuinely shocked. The Wealth God King, Zhao Zihong, had never lost a wager in his life. For him to lose to Han Wu seemed unthinkable.

Thankfully, the Wealth God King was a man of his word. He publicly acknowledged Han Wu’s victory and made good on his promise of matching his previous War Faction investment into the newly formed Wisdom Faction.

Beyond that, the Wealth God King even gave Han Wu the continent as a prize. Only after receiving it did Han Wu realize that it was a Microcosm with its own unique laws, classified as a Life Microcosm. Every animal and plant that grew on it developed dozens of times the normal speed, making it an exceptionally rare production-type Microcosm.

The victory also earned Han Wu the Wealth God King’s respect. Zhao Zihong gave Han Wu access normally only bestowed upon senior figures in the Wealth Faction, including entry to an elite resource exchange group.

Upon entering the group, Han Wu found his previous understanding of wealth turned upside down. The basic currency here wasn’t Faith Points, Divine Points, or even Divine Essence. It was Microcosms.