Chapter 3: The Easter Egg Shop

Alloy creatures are even more terrifying than steel creatures; not only do their strength and speed surpass those of steel creatures, but the hardness and toughness of their metallic bodies are also significantly superior.

The hardness and toughness of steel creatures generally range from 5 to 10, while those of alloy creatures fall between 5 and 20. Once the hardness and toughness exceed 10, even handgun bullets would have a hard time causing damage to alloy creatures.

That means, even Mutators at the Steel Level, when facing alloy creatures, would find it difficult just to breach their defenses, let alone someone like Lin Shen who hasn't undergone base mutation and isn't even at the Steel Level.

Above steel and alloy creatures are the even more terrifying crystal-based creatures, which rarely appear near the Dark Bird Base. Lin Shen had only seen them in some video materials and occasionally in shops selling crystal-based creature materials or Crystal Mutation Eggs, which were mostly high-end goods flowing out from large bases.

"Ye, the key details are pretty much right; let's call it a day." Seeing that it was getting dark, Lin Shen stood up and said.

"Lin Shen, let's go over it again, just to be sure. We cannot afford any mistakes," Ye said with a slight frown.

"These are all I can think of. You know I don't have the best memory; too much and I won't remember it. I've got something else to take care of, so let's leave it at that for today," Lin Shen replied, knowing that Ye was looking out for him and the Lin Family, but for Lin Shen, he had more pressing matters at hand.

"Lin Shen, if there's anything, I can arrange for someone to handle it," Ye offered.

"Don't worry, Ye, I know what I'm doing," Lin Shen said, understanding Ye's concern, but this was something he had to do himself. Before the shops selling Base Mutation Eggs closed for the day, he needed to see if he could find any other Fire Seed Base Mutation Eggs. Even just one more would be of great help to him.

"I'll wait for you here. I'll think about what we might have missed, and we can discuss it when you get back," Ye said, resigned.

Lin Shen couldn't explain, so he silently apologized in his heart and then pushed the door open to leave.

"Lin Shen has been spoiled too much by Mr. Lin Zongzheng and his fourth uncle; he hasn't been through much hardship. It's tough on him to have such a big responsibility suddenly thrust upon him," Ye sighed, watching Lin Shen's figure disappear outside the door. "Hopefully, Mr. Lin Zongzheng and his brother can return soon."

After Lin Shen left home, he went straight to the marketplace within the base, where there was a whole street selling Base Mutation Eggs. According to Lin Shen's reasoning, if his own claw egg shop could find two eggs with fire seeds, then surely he should find several more along the entire street.

However, after he actually browsed through the street, his mood gradually sank.

He had almost visited all the shops on the street, yet he hadn't found a single Base Mutation Egg with a mosaic pattern.

"Could it really be such a coincidence? The only two Fire Seed Base Mutation Eggs just happened to be in my shop? That's too much of a coincidence, isn't it?" The more Lin Shen thought about it, the more it didn't seem right.

The two Fire Seed Base Mutation Eggs that had been discovered, one had been new stock that hadn't been there long, and it was the first time he had seen it. The other had been in the claw egg machine for a long time without showing any signs of being special; this was very strange indeed.

Lin Shen could think of only two possibilities.

One possibility was that the Fire Seed Base Mutation Eggs didn't always have fire seeds; the mosaics could only be seen at certain times.

The other possibility was that Lin Shen himself hadn't had the ability to see the fire seeds before, but he had suddenly acquired this ability recently, which allowed him to see the mosaics.

Lin Shen couldn't figure out which possibility it might be.

If it were a recently acquired ability, he had not encountered anything special recently, nor had he received anything extraordinary, so how could he have suddenly gained this ability?

To suggest that the fire seeds would appear on the Base Mutation Eggs at specific times seemed implausible too; it didn't explain why only he could see the fire seeds while others saw nothing.

Lin Shen was more inclined to believe that he had gained some sort of ability, only he didn't know how he had gotten it.

"Could it be that I have an innate talent, a latent gift that has suddenly awakened?" Lin Shen quickly dismissed this thought.

The Lin siblings, all five born to the same parents, should have awakened any inherited family talent long ago if it existed; it wouldn't make sense for only him to awaken such talent.

In terms of talent and ability, Lin Shen felt he was probably the least gifted among his siblings.

Big Sister has always had a photographic memory, and Second Brother's physical talent is unparalleled. He was born weighing nearly ten pounds, and by the time he was under ten, he had already grown to be one meter eighty tall. His physical talent is famously robust, and coupled with his resolute character and willingness to put in strenuous effort, though he was no older than the rest, everyone who saw him would address him as Second Master. It was with him that the tradition of addressing the Lin brothers with the title of 'Master' began.

Third Brother and Fourth Brother are also famously both intelligent and emotionally savvy, and their cultivation talent is among the best within Dark Bird Base.

In contrast, Lin Shen neither possessed the talent of an eidetic memory nor had exceptional intelligence or emotional quotient; even his capacity for hard work fell far short of Second Brother's. If there were any genetic talents, there was no reason they would only appear in him.

"What exactly is the reason I can see those Fire Seeds?" Lin Shen wondered without coming to a conclusion, unable to figure out why.

He had browsed through all the shops on the street and had not even skipped the roadside stands, but the result had disappointed Lin Shen, as he had truly not discovered a single Fire Seed Base Mutation Egg.

"Could it really be such a coincidence that the only two Fire Seed Base Mutation Eggs are both in my shop?" Lin Shen refused to believe in such a stroke of luck, for the odds were even smaller than winning the lottery.

But having scoured the entire street, he indeed couldn't find a single Fire Seed Base Mutation Egg. Even if others had stocks or collections, they wouldn't show them to him; there were no other places to search.

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

Indeed, the place Lin Shen thought of was the claw machine shop right next to his own.

Talking about that claw machine shop, Lin Shen felt extremely frustrated.

The reason Lin Shen had opened a claw machine shop was that it was an easy business with little effort needed, plus the Base Mutation Eggs in his shop were provided by his family, making it a surefire profitable business.

In fact, his family had no expectations for Lin Shen to make money; as long as he behaved himself and stayed out of trouble, he was fine.

Lin Shen named his shop "Get Rich Quick," hoping to make a tidy profit and have some spending money. The business was indeed good for the first few months; although not exactly getting rich overnight, he did earn quite a bit, making money even while lying down.

That is until a shop named "Lucky Eggs" opened up last month next to his shop, and Lin Shen's good days came to an end.

Lucky Eggs had a number of high-quality Base Mutation Eggs, and the claw machine settings were a bit looser. With a comprehensive variety of eggs, the value of Claw Egg Coins being lower, and the storefront being larger and more upscale, it didn't take long for the business to snatch away all of Lin Shen's customers.

If it had not been for the fact that both the shop and the Base Mutation Eggs belonged to his family, Lin Shen would have even considered closing down; he simply couldn't compete.

There is no right or wrong in business competition, but according to Lin Shen's observations, judging by the rate at which Lucky Eggs's Base Mutation Eggs were being taken, they were clearly operating at a loss, not making a profit but actually losing money, seemingly intent on causing his business to collapse regardless of the cost.

What was most unbearable was that the owner of Lucky Eggs turned out to be Qi Tianfu.

Qi Tianfu, that fellow from the Qi Family, grew up on the same street as Lin Shen. They were similar in age and could be called childhood friends in a sense.

Yet whether it was due to some past lifetime grudge, the two never liked the sight of each other, each always refusing to accept the other's superiority.

Whatever one had, the other had to have as well, and not only that, but it had to be better than the other's.

They competed over who grew the fastest and tallest, who could pee the farthest, who could run the quickest and jump the highest, whose girlfriend was the prettiest. In short, there was nothing they wouldn't compete over, always begrudging each other's success.

Otherwise, Qi Tianfu would not have chosen to open Lucky Eggs right next to Lin Shen's shop.

"What strong wind has blown Mr. Lin Shen, the young master of the Lin Family, our way?" A two-hundred-pound hefty man sitting behind the counter was first taken aback as he saw Lin Shen walk in, then narrowed his eyes with a sly smile and asked, his tone teasing and sarcastic.

Lin Shen ignored him and simply started to look around the shop, scanning the Base Mutation Eggs inside the claw machines.

Qi Tianfu's shop was more than two to three times larger than his own. Lin Shen's shop only had a dozen claw machines, but here there were forty or fifty. The variety of Base Mutation Eggs within them was vast, and many machines contained high-quality Base Mutation Eggs.

Suddenly, Lin Shen felt his heart pound, for he saw a Fire Seed Base Mutation Egg within one of the claw machines, enveloped in colorful, mosaic patterns.