Chapter 17: The Failed Evolution of Organisms

"Lin Shen, what brings you here?" Cang Yun, the warehouse guard, seemed very surprised to see Lin Shen.

Cang Yun was one of the Lin Family's old retainers and was said to be over eighty years old now. He had been guarding the warehouse gate since Lin Shen's parents were alive.

Even after the eldest sister took over, it was still Cang Yun guarding the warehouse entrance.

The eldest sister told him that when his parents were still around, Cang Yun used to visit their home frequently, sharing a couple of drinks with Lin Shen's father and bragging about this and that—they had quite a good relationship.

After his parents passed away, Cang Yun didn't come to their house for meals as much.

"Uncle Cang, are there any dead eggs left in the warehouse? I want to take a few back with me," Lin Shen stated his purpose directly.

"Miss Lin hasn't been back for several months, and without her signature, the dead eggs haven't been transported to the factory to be melted down. There's still a fair quantity," Cang Yun paused, his expression changing slightly as he continued, "But Lin Shen, the Lin Family has always conducted business with sincerity for so many years, and we've never cheated anyone. Even if there are difficulties, they are only temporary. If we damage the Lin Family's golden signboard, it would be difficult to restore it later on."

Lin Shen was taken aback for a moment and then realized Cang Yun had misunderstood.

Cang Yun must have thought he wanted to take the dead eggs back to the mutation egg shop to pass off inferior goods as high-quality ones to compete with Qi Tianfu.

"Uncle Cang, you're too concerned. I just want to take a few dead eggs to make some trinkets," Lin Shen explained casually.

"That's fine, but you can't take too many, and you need to sign for them. Otherwise, Miss Lin won't be able to account for them when she returns," Cang Yun said as he pulled out a bunch of keys, fumbling for a while before picking one out to unlock the warehouse door and ushering Lin Shen inside.

Generally speaking, dead eggs are weighed according to their level and then piled together by grade—after all, they can only be used as materials.

But Cang Yun was very meticulous— even the Steel Level dead eggs were neatly arranged, each with a label indicating its type and storage date, among other details.

Lin Shen could see that there were close to a thousand Steel Level dead eggs, but not as many Alloy Level ones—just over a hundred.

Unfortunately, there were no mosaics on these dead eggs, which left Lin Shen somewhat disappointed.

"Is this all there is?" Lin Shen asked Cang Yun.

"All the Steel Level ones are here. There's also a portion of the Alloy Level ones in the smaller storeroom, and there's even a single Crystal Base Level in there. But that thing's material value is also very high. Without Miss Lin's signature, even Mr. Lin Zongzheng couldn't take it," Cang Yun said.

"Take me to see the remaining Alloy Level dead eggs," Lin Shen said noncommittally.

Without saying much more, Cang Yun took Lin Shen to a special small storeroom inside the main warehouse. The small storeroom looked almost like a vault made of alloys. Cang Yun unlocked several locks before he could open the heavy alloy door.

The metal used to build the small storeroom wasn't ordinary alloy but rather had Base Mutation materials from Alloy Level creatures mixed in. Though it wasn't pure Base Mutation alloy, its thickness was indeed very imposing—ordinary Alloy Level contenders couldn't break through the small storeroom's door in a short amount of time.

"These Alloy Level dead eggs have top-tier hardness and toughness, all above eighteen. They can be used to craft armor that would give Steel Level Mutators a chance to defend themselves or retaliate when facing Alloy Creatures. Miss Lin even wanted to make you a set of scale armor before, but we couldn't find a suitable craftsperson, so it got delayed," Cang Yun said, pointing to a row of shelves against the wall.

On the shelves sat Base Mutation Eggs of various sizes and colors, differences that ordinary people might not distinguish between dead and living eggs.

"Is everyone here?" Lin Shen glanced around, only to be greatly disappointed, as he didn't see any mosaic at all.

"All the Alloy Level ones are here, and that Crystal Base Level one is over there," Cang Yun pointed to another place, then continued, "However, you can't take that one now."

Lin Shen turned his head to look and saw only a Base Mutation Egg that looked like a sapphire, emitting a mesmerizing glow under the light, placed on a special stand covered with a glass dome.

Though it was a dead egg, it was still so beautiful that it was beyond description, as if there were countless blue facets inside, shedding a faint light.

Regrettably, there was no mosaic on it either.

Lin Shen shook his head and sighed, feeling somewhat disappointed, but then he figured it was to be expected, as a Fire Seed Base Mutation Egg was not so easily found.

In Lin Shen's understanding, a Fire Seed was like a BUG of this world; the abilities of those Fire Seeds were pseudoscientific or even antiscientific.

Any Fire Seed ability could be considered a BUG-like existence. If they were really so easy to find, he wouldn't need to rely on Base Mutation at all; he would be invincible just by using the Fire Seed abilities.

Just as Lin Shen was about to give up and randomly pick a couple of dead eggs to take back, his gaze inadvertently swept over a corner of the small storehouse, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"What's that?" Lin Shen suppressed the excitement in his heart and asked Cang Yun, pointing at the thing in the corner.

Lin Shen really couldn't make out what it was, as it was obscured by mosaic and was completely unrecognizable.

One thing was certain, though—it wasn't a Base Mutation Egg. No Base Mutation Egg was shaped like a long bar, and that thing was at least three to four meters long, definitely not a Base Mutation Egg.

"Oh, that thing," Cang Yun looked in the direction Lin Shen was pointing and, after reminiscing for a moment, continued, "That's a snake-like Base Variant Creature. Mr. Lin Zongzheng brought it back. He said it was supposed to be an Alloy Creature with the ability to evolve. It had some kind of failure during its promotion to Crystal Base and died."

"When Mr. Lin Zongzheng found it, it was already lying straight, wrapped in a kind of armor with only its head exposed, the body completely solidified. Mr. Lin Zongzheng broke the armor and brought it back. He originally wanted to melt it down to craft something, but after several attempts, he couldn't melt it. It was completely unusable, so it was left here."

"Mr. Lin Zongzheng said that it must have been close to completing its Base Mutation and advancing to Crystal Base. It's unknown why it failed, but its body might have partially crystallized already, so its hardness and toughness could be comparable to a Crystal Base Level. However, for some unknown reason, it's difficult to melt. Maybe later, if we get the chance to go to those bases with ultra-high-temperature furnaces, we could try to see if it can be used to forge something..."

While listening to Cang Yun, Lin Shen walked over to the side of that object and reached out to touch the dead Base Variant Creature.

As soon as his fingertips touched it, he immediately felt a hint of coolness, but it wasn't exactly cold.

He grasped it with his hand and found that although it was long, it wasn't very thick; with the length of Lin Shen's fingers, he could easily wrap them around it.

His fingers slowly ran over its body, which was smooth with fine lines, reminiscent of a metal that had been mirror-polished and then etched with intricate patterns.

Cang Yun mentioned it looked like a snake, but Lin Shen felt it didn't quite resemble one; a snake's body is normally thicker in the middle and tapers towards the ends, but this thing's body was of nearly the same thickness throughout, except for the very pointed tail end.

Moreover, a snake of this length couldn't possibly be so thin. As a Base Variant Creature, its length and thickness seemed disproportionate, more like a crudely made, elongated throwing javelin.

Lin Shen grasped it in the middle and exerted a little force to lift it.