Creature That Failed to Evolve

"Fifth Brother, what brought you here?" Cang Yun, who guarded the warehouse, seemed quite surprised to see Lin Shen.

Cang Yun was also an old hand of the Lin Family. It was said that he was already over eighty. Back when Lin Shen's parents were still alive, he had already been watching the warehouse gates.

Later, when Eldest Sister took charge of the family, Cang Yun still remained the warehouse gatekeeper.

Lin Shen had heard Eldest Sister say that when their parents were alive, Cang Yun would often come over to the house, have a couple of drinks with Lin Shen's father, and shoot the breeze. The two had been quite close.

After his parents passed away, Cang Yun stopped coming over for meals so often.

"Uncle Cang, are there any Dead Eggs left in the warehouse? I'd like to take a few back." Lin Shen stated his purpose directly.

"Eldest Sister hasn't returned these past few months. Without her signature, the Dead Eggs haven't been sent to the factory for smelting yet, so there are still quite a few." Cang Yun paused, then continued with an odd expression, "But Fifth Brother, the Lin Family has always conducted business in good faith. We've never done anything that cheats people. Even if there are difficulties, they are only temporary. If we smash the Lin Family's golden signboard, it will be hard to raise it again in the future."

Lin Shen was slightly taken aback, then understood that Cang Yun had misunderstood him.

Cang Yun must have thought he wanted to take Dead Eggs back to the Egg Catching Store to pass them off as genuine and compete with Qi Tianfu.

"Uncle Cang, you're worrying too much. I just want to take a few Dead Eggs back to make some little things." Lin Shen casually explained.

"That's fine, but you can't take too many, and you'll need to sign for them. Otherwise, when Eldest Sister returns, there'll be no way to enter them into the accounts." As Cang Yun spoke, he took out a ring of keys, fumbled through them for a while, selected one, unlocked the warehouse doors, and pushed them open to lead Lin Shen inside.

Generally speaking, Dead Eggs were weighed according to their grade, then piled together by grade. After all, they could only be used as materials.

Yet Cang Yun was exceptionally meticulous. Even the Steel Grade Dead Eggs were arranged neatly, each with a label stating its type, date of storage, and other details.

At a glance, Lin Shen saw nearly a thousand Steel Grade Dead Eggs. There were far fewer Alloy Grade ones, only a little over a hundred.

Unfortunately, there was no mosaic on any of those Dead Eggs, leaving Lin Shen rather disappointed.

"Is this all of them?" Lin Shen asked Cang Yun.

"All the Steel Grade ones are here. There are still some Alloy Grade ones in the small storage room, and there's one Crystal Gene Level egg in there too. But that thing's material value is very high. Without Eldest Sister's signature, even Third Master couldn't take it." Cang Yun said.

"Take me to see the remaining Alloy Grade Dead Eggs." Lin Shen said noncommittally.

Cang Yun did not say anything further. He led Lin Shen to a special small storeroom within the main warehouse. It was practically an alloy vault. Cang Yun opened several locks before finally pulling open its heavy alloy door.

The metal used to build the small storeroom was not ordinary alloy, but had Alloy Grade Gene Mutation materials added to it. Though it was not pure Gene Mutation alloy, its thickness was terrifying. Even ordinary Alloy Grade experts would not be able to break through the storeroom door in a short time.

"These Alloy Grade Dead Eggs are top-tier in both hardness and toughness, all above eighteen. If used to forge equipment, they could give Steel Grade Gene Mutators a slight ability to protect themselves or fight back when facing Alloy Creatures. Eldest Sister had originally wanted to forge you a set of Scale Armor, but she couldn't find a suitable smith, so it was delayed until now." Cang Yun pointed at a row of shelves against the wall.

The shelves held Gene Mutation Eggs of varying sizes and colors. Most people could not really tell the difference between a Dead Egg and a live egg.

"Are they all here?" Lin Shen swept his eyes over them and was immediately deeply disappointed. There was no mosaic anywhere.

"All the Alloy Grade ones are here. That Crystal Gene Level one is over there." Cang Yun pointed to the other side and continued, "But you can't take that one right now."

Lin Shen turned to look and saw only a Gene Mutation Egg that resembled a sapphire throughout, giving off a dreamy radiance beneath the lights. It rested on a special rack beneath a glass cover.

Though it was a Dead Egg, it was still breathtakingly beautiful, as though countless blue facets within it were emitting a faint glow.

Unfortunately, it still had no mosaic on it.

Lin Shen shook his head and sighed, somewhat disappointed. But on second thought, how could a Fire Seed Gene Mutation Egg be so easy to find?

In Lin Shen's own understanding, Fire Seeds were like bugs in this world. The abilities of those Fire Seeds were pseudoscientific, even anti-scientific.

Any Fire Seed ability could be called a bug-like existence. If they were truly so easy to find, he would not need Gene Mutation at all. Relying on Fire Seed abilities alone, he could become invincible.

Just as Lin Shen was feeling disappointed and preparing to casually take two Dead Eggs back, his gaze inadvertently swept over a corner of the small storeroom, and his heart suddenly gave a violent thump.

"What is that?" Lin Shen forcefully suppressed the excitement in his heart and pointed at the object in the corner as he asked Cang Yun.

Lin Shen truly could not make out what it was, because the object was obscured by mosaic. He could not see what it was at all.

One thing was certain: it was not a Gene Mutation Egg. No Gene Mutation Egg was long and narrow. That thing was at least three or four meters long, so it definitely could not be a Gene Mutation Egg.

"Oh, that thing? It's a Gene Mutation Creature somewhat like a snake." Cang Yun looked in the direction Lin Shen pointed, recalled for a moment, then continued, "Third Master brought it back. According to Third Master, it should have been an Alloy Creature with the ability to evolve. When it advanced to the Crystal Gene Level, it died for some unknown reason after failing."

"When Third Master found it, it was already stiff as a rod, wrapped inside a cocoon, with only its head exposed. Its body had completely solidified. Third Master broke open the cocoon and brought it back. He originally intended to smelt it down and make something from it, but after several attempts, he still couldn't melt it. It was truly useless, so he left it here."

"Third Master said it should have nearly completed its Gene Mutation advancement to the Crystal Gene Level. No one knew why it failed, but parts of its body might already have crystallized. Its hardness and toughness could therefore rival Crystal Gene Level materials. He just didn't know why it was so difficult to melt. If we ever get the chance to visit a base with an ultra-high-temperature furnace, we could try seeing whether something can be forged from it..."

As Lin Shen listened to Cang Yun, he walked over to the object and reached out to touch the dead Gene Mutation Creature.

The moment his fingers touched it, he immediately felt a trace of coolness at his fingertips, though it was not quite cold.

When he grasped it, he discovered that although it was long, it was not very thick. With the length of Lin Shen's fingers, he could easily wrap his hand around it.

His fingers slowly brushed over its body. Its surface was smooth, yet covered in fine patterns, somewhat like intricate designs carved into mirror-polished metal.

Cang Yun said it resembled a snake, but Lin Shen felt it was not all that similar. A snake was generally thick in the middle and thin at both ends, but apart from the extremely pointed, slender tail, this thing was almost the same thickness everywhere else.

And a snake of this length could not possibly be so thin. As a Gene Mutation Creature, its length and thickness were somewhat disproportionate, making it resemble a crudely made, elongated javelin.

Lin Shen gripped it around the middle and exerted a little force, lifting it up.