Chapter 3: The Easter Egg Shop

Alloy creatures were far more terrifying than steel ones, not just because their strength and speed surpassed the steel creatures, but their metal bodies boasted immensely superior hardness and toughness.

While the hardness and toughness of steel creatures generally ranged from 5 to 10, alloy creatures fell between 5 and 20. Once their hardness and toughness exceeded 10, even handgun bullets struggled to inflict any damage on them.

This meant that even a Steel-Level Mutator stood little chance of breaking through the defense of alloy creatures, let alone someone like Lin Shen, who hadn't undergone Base Mutation yet and wasn't even at Steel Level.

Above steel and alloy creatures, there were even more terrifying crystal-based organisms. These rarely appeared near the Dark Bird Base. Lin Shen had only ever seen them in video footage and occasionally in stores where crystal-based creature materials or Crystal Mutation Eggs were sold. Most of these high-grade items flowed out from larger bases.

"Ye, key details align pretty well, let's wrap it up for today." Noticing the daylight beginning to fade, Lin Shen stood up and spoke.

"Lin Shen, it's better to double-check once more. We absolutely can't afford any mistakes," Ye said, his brows slightly furrowed.

"I've thought of all there is. You know my memory isn't great—I won't remember too much. I've also got something urgent to handle, so let's leave it at that for today," Lin Shen replied. He understood Ye's concerns for him and the Lin Family, but Lin Shen had more pressing matters to attend to.

"Lin Shen, if there's something you need, I could arrange for someone to help," Ye offered.

"No need to worry, Ye. I can handle it." Lin Shen recognized Ye's intentions, but this was something he had to do alone. Before the stores selling Base Mutation Eggs closed, he needed to search through them one last time. Even finding just one Fire Seed Mutation Egg would be immensely helpful for him.

"Alright, I'll wait here for you to return. I'll try to think of anything else important we may have missed, and we'll talk again when you're back," Ye said, unable to mask his helplessness.

Lin Shen had no way of explaining, so he internally said a quiet apology before opening the door and heading out.

"Lin Shen has been taken care of too well by Mr. Lin Zongzheng and Fourth Brother. He's never weathered any storms. This kind of pressure suddenly landing on him—it's really too much," Ye sighed deeply as he watched Lin Shen's figure disappear beyond the door. "I hope Mr. Lin Zongzheng and Fourth Brother come back soon."

After leaving home, Lin Shen headed straight for the market within the base. There was an entire street dedicated to selling Base Mutation Eggs. According to his reasoning, considering his own claw egg shop had managed to find two Fire Seed Mutation Eggs, combing through this street should yield at least a few more.

Yet, after scouring the area, his mood gradually sank.

He had almost finished searching all the shops along the street, but he hadn't found a single Base Mutation Egg with mosaic-like markings.

"Could it really be such a coincidence? The only two Fire Seed Mutation Eggs just happened to be in my shop? That's way too unlikely," Lin Shen thought. *The more he dwelled on it, the more something felt off.*

The two Fire Seed Mutation Eggs he'd found were peculiar. One had arrived as recent stock—the first one he'd ever seen. The other had sat in the claw machine for ages, and no abnormalities had been noticed in the past. This made the situation even stranger.

Lin Shen mulled it over repeatedly and came down to two possibilities.

One possibility was that Fire Seed Mutation Eggs didn't always contain fire seeds; they only revealed their mosaic markings at specific times.

The other possibility was that Lin Shen hadn't possessed the ability to notice fire seeds before but had newly acquired it, enabling him to see the mosaic patterns now.

Lin Shen couldn't tell which of these scenarios was the truth.

If it were the latter and he had recently gained this ability, it begged the question: *What had happened? He hadn't experienced anything particularly remarkable or received anything special lately, so why would he suddenly acquire such a power?*

If the phenomenon instead depended on the specific timing for fire seeds to appear on the eggs, it still didn't explain why only he could see them while others seemingly saw nothing.

Lin Shen leaned more toward believing he had developed some new ability; he just didn't understand how he had gained it.

"Could this mean I have an unparalleled natural talent, and my innate powers have awakened out of nowhere?" *Lin Shen quickly dismissed this thought himself.*

There were five siblings in the Lin Family, all born to the same parents. If such genetic prowess truly existed, it would have shown in his elder sister and brothers long ago. It wouldn't make sense for only him to experience any awakening.

When it came to talent and ability, Lin Shen felt he was likely the weakest among the five siblings.

His elder sister had an eidetic memory. Second Brother had an extraordinary physical giftedness; born at nine and a half pounds, he stood at six feet by age ten. His physique was famously powerful. Combined with his iron resilience and determination, he was a prodigy no matter how young—respected and referred to by everyone as "Second Master." The "master" title attached to the Lin brothers all started with him.

Third Brother and Fourth Brother were both renowned for their high intelligence and emotional quotients; their cultivation talents ranked among the finest in the Dark Bird Base.

In contrast, Lin Shen neither had his elder sister's sharp memory nor excelled in intelligence or emotional skills. Even his ability to endure hardship lagged significantly behind Second Brother. If there were any inherited talent, it would be unreasonable for it to manifest solely in him.

"What could possibly explain why I can see those fire seeds?" *Lin Shen was utterly perplexed, unable to arrive at any plausible answers.*

Having searched all the shops along the street—even the roadside stalls—Lin Shen felt deeply disappointed. He hadn't detected a single Fire Seed Mutation Egg.

"Could it really be such a coincidence—the only two Fire Seed Mutation Eggs in existence ended up in my store?" Lin Shen refused to believe such a perfect coincidence. The odds of this were worse than winning the lottery.

Still, having thoroughly examined every shop, he found no fire seeds. Even if other stores had inventories or collections, they wouldn't let him see them. There wasn't anywhere else to search.

Suddenly, Lin Shen's eyes lit up. He thought of a place that had a large number of Base Mutation Eggs.

That's right—the place Lin Shen thought of was the claw egg shop located right next door to his own store.

Mentioning that claw egg shop always left Lin Shen annoyed.

The reason Lin Shen had opened his claw egg store in the first place was the ease and low effort of the business. His shop stocked Base Mutation Eggs provided by his family, making it a guaranteed profit endeavor.

The family didn't expect him to earn money—they simply wanted him to stay out of trouble and avoid danger.

Lin Shen had named his shop "Strike It Rich," hoping it'd bring him lucrative gains for extra pocket money. For the first few months, business indeed boomed. While the shop didn't make him rich overnight, it was turning a tidy profit with minimal effort.

That was until last month when the adjacent store named "Lucky Eggs" opened for business. Lin Shen's lucky streak came to an abrupt end.

Lucky Eggs stocked numerous high-quality Base Mutation Eggs, slightly adjusted the gripping sensitivity on its claw machines, offered an extensive variety, maintained a lower currency value for claw egg coins, and boasted a larger, more appealing storefront. Within no time, it had poached all of Lin Shen's customers.

If not for his shop's property and inventory being supplied by the family, Lin Shen would've considered closing up entirely—he simply couldn't compete.

It wasn't just about the market dynamics; based on Lin Shen's calculations using Lucky Eggs' recent sales, the shop was actively losing money. This wasn't a profit-driven scheme—it was an attempt to bankrupt his store.

The worst part was discovering that Lucky Eggs' owner was Qi Tianfu.

Qi Tianfu was a member of the Qi Family and someone Lin Shen had grown up with on the same street. They were about the same age and could even be considered childhood acquaintances.

Yet, it seemed they had old grievances. The two had never gotten along and couldn't stand the sight of each other.

If Lin Shen had something, Qi Tianfu would make sure to acquire it too but bigger, better, and more impressive.

They'd competed over everything—from who grew bigger and taller to who could pee farther, run faster, and jump higher; even whose girlfriend was prettier wasn't off the table. Nothing was beyond their scope of rivalry.

The vendetta was clear when Qi Tianfu strategically opened Lucky Eggs directly next to Lin Shen's shop.

"What twisted wind blew the great Lin Shen through my doors today?" A two-hundred-pound man sat behind the counter. Noticing Lin Shen enter, he froze momentarily before squinting with a sly grin and mockingly saying.

Lin Shen ignored him entirely and began walking around the store, meticulously examining the Base Mutation Eggs within the claw machines.

Qi Tianfu's shop was massive, easily two to three times the size of Lin Shen's. While Lin Shen's shop only housed about a dozen claw machines, Lucky Eggs boasted upward of forty or fifty, each stocked with a diverse selection of eggs, many of them high-quality.

Suddenly, Lin Shen felt his heart skip a beat. Inside one claw machine, he spotted an egg wrapped in vibrant mosaic patterns—a Fire Seed Mutation Egg.