Chen Lin pushed the door open and entered.
He saw rows of exquisite shelves, each holding a tiny bowl. They were very small; even the largest was smaller than a wine cup, while the smallest was the size of a thumb pad.
They certainly were "small bowls."
But Chen Lin discovered that there was no one in the room besides himself.
He immediately raised his guard.
This was highly unreasonable. Since he could enter the shop and there were goods inside, it should be open for business. There ought to be an attendant.
Could it be an unmanned, self-service shop?
That did not make sense either.
With so many living beings on the street, surely someone else would have come in. He had initially assumed there were restrictions on entering shops, but he had felt nothing of the sort.
He put his doubts aside.
Chen Lin approached a shelf in the middle.
It held a bowl the size of a thumb pad, made from a material he could not identify. Its surface was dark, with what seemed to be faint patterns.
There was nothing else remarkable about it.
He considered it for a moment.
Chen Lin did not dare touch it. Instead, he went to examine the other shelves. After inspecting them all, he turned, returned to the entrance, and pushed the door open to leave.
The shop was not what he had expected, and he did not want to invite complications.
Besides, he had come to find "something that belonged to him." He felt no connection to these bowls, so they probably were not what his task required.
Clatter.
Chen Lin left the shop without trouble, only to find a crowd gathered outside. The moment he appeared, they surged toward him.
"Hee-haw!"
Gray Donkey brayed and lashed out with