Ring Toss

It was roughly as Lin Shen had estimated. The thing was a little over three meters long, but under four. It felt excellent in his grip. After he gave it a couple of swings, he found it remarkably easy to handle. It really was like an unusually shaped javelin. It was not especially heavy either, only a little over ten pounds—unexpectedly light.

For an ordinary person, even swinging something weighing over ten pounds would have been quite strenuous. Fortunately, Lin Shen had long used Gene Mutation Fluid to strengthen himself. Though he had not undergone gene mutation, his strength was far beyond that of an ordinary person, so wielding it was no problem.

"Uncle Cang, let me borrow this," Lin Shen said, looking at Cang Yun.

"Fine. Sign for it and take it," Cang Yun said, surprisingly readily.

"You're really just letting me take it?" Lin Shen asked again in disbelief. This was half-crystal gene mutation material, after all. It was extremely valuable.

Cang Yun smiled. "Our base doesn't have the equipment to smelt this material anyway. Taking it won't do you any good. You'll have to send it back eventually."

"Fine, then I'll take it." Lin Shen signed the papers and borrowed the item.

On his way back, Lin Shen wondered whether he should visit the warehouses of the Qi and Wang Families. Unfortunately, he could not think of a suitable excuse. There was no way they would let someone from the Lin Family into their warehouses.

Getting this much was already a heaven-sent stroke of luck. I wonder what kind of Fire Seed it can bring me? Lin Shen could hardly wait to get home, lie in bed, and sleep with it in his arms.

As he passed his own shop, he saw a crowd gathered in the open space beside Qi Tianfu's Colored Egg shop. He had no idea what they were doing.

Lin Shen had not wanted to meddle and only wanted to get home as quickly as possible, but he spotted Qi Tianfu among the crowd. The man was muttering curses under his breath and looked extremely unhappy.

"What's going on over there?" Lin Shen asked when he reached his shop and saw Zhao Li standing on the threshold, craning her neck toward the crowd.

"Fifth Brother, someone set up a ring toss stall beside the Colored Egg shop and stole a lot of Fat Qi's business. That guy is practically furious to death," Zhao Li said with a smile.

"Ring toss?" Lin Shen was slightly surprised.

Of course, he knew the street game called ring toss. Various prizes were laid out in an open space. Those who wanted to play paid for plastic rings, stood behind a line marked by the stall owner, and tossed the rings. If a ring landed around a prize, they could take it away.

This sort of street game was nothing unusual. It could be found in many markets, and some stall owners even used Gene Mutation Eggs as prizes. None of that was enough to surprise Lin Shen.

What truly surprised him was that someone actually dared to set up a stall right beside Qi Tianfu's shop. The stall owner really had some nerve.

What was strange was that, with Qi Tianfu's arrogant temperament, he had not smashed the other man's stall.

And how could a simple ring toss stall attract so many people? It was not as though nobody had ever played ring toss before.

Curious, Lin Shen put the Gene Mutation Creature's corpse into the storage room, then went outside and squeezed through the crowd to take a look.

The moment he saw it, Lin Shen was greatly surprised.

It really was a ring toss stall, but there was only one prize.

A man sat in a chair with a Gene Mutation Egg balanced atop his head. That was the sole prize of the ring toss stall.

Many people who had bought plastic rings stood outside the rope the stall owner had set up, stretching out their arms as they tossed rings toward the man's head, hoping to loop one around the Gene Mutation Egg.

At least seven or eight people were constantly throwing plastic rings. The distance was clearly only four or five meters, yet not one of them could ring the Gene Mutation Egg atop the man's head.

After some people ran out of rings, they immediately took out more money, tossed it into the box the stall owner had set out, and helped themselves to more rings to throw.

Lin Shen saw that the box was marked: ten yuan per ring. It was not cheap.

The reason so many people were willing to spend money was because the Gene Mutation Egg atop the man's head was an Alloy Gene Mutation Egg.

Even an Alloy Gene Mutation Egg with poor attributes could sell for roughly five figures. Compared to that, this little bit of money was naturally nothing.

Qi Tianfu was among those constantly throwing rings. He cursed under his breath as he threw, but no matter what, he could not land one. Every attempt fell just short.

What truly astonished Lin Shen was not any of that, but the fact that the stall owner sitting there with a Gene Mutation Egg on his head was none other than Wei Wufu, who had put on such a dazzling performance at the Recruitment Assembly.

A dignified Alloy Gene Mutator could easily earn some small money. He could casually hunt a few Steel Creatures, make money without taking much risk, and earn far more than he would from a street stall like this.

Even if he took a step back, all he had to do was join some faction, and the money he received every month would not be less than five figures.

Yet a man like that was running a street stall. Lin Shen had no idea what he was thinking.

Qi Tianfu had not attended the Recruitment Assembly, so he clearly did not recognize Wei Wufu. He kept cursing as he threw rings.

If he knew Wei Wufu was an Alloy Gene Mutator, he would probably behave with a little more grace.

The more Lin Shen watched, the stranger it seemed. Ring toss certainly had its difficulties.

Trying to loop a ring twenty centimeters in diameter around a target from four or five meters away was not easy, but neither was it overly difficult.

Accuracy actually had little to do with the level of one's strength. First, it depended on practice. Practice long enough, and familiarity bred skill; one's aim would naturally improve greatly.

Second, it depended on talent. To become accurate, practice was enough. To become exceptionally accurate, however, one needed talent.

At such a close range, ring toss did not require extraordinary accuracy. With a little practice and a few more throws, even blind luck should have landed one eventually.

Yet Lin Shen had only stood here for a short while, and these people had already thrown at least a hundred rings. Not a single one had landed. Every throw missed by just a little.

Qi Tianfu alone had thrown at least twenty rings in this short time. Several times, his rings had clearly landed on the Gene Mutation Egg, only to bounce right back off. So furious was Qi Tianfu that he hurled all the rings in his hand to the ground.

Back when Lin Yin had taken Lin Shen to the market to play, Lin Shen had spent plenty of money at ring toss stalls, yet he had rarely won anything.

Later, he had asked his second brother to buy him rings, then practiced tirelessly at home. Within a few days, he could hit eight or nine times out of ten.

When he went back to the market to play ring toss again, the stall owner had nearly cried.

Once he could land the rings, Lin Shen found the game rather boring. He had rarely played it since.

Lin Shen could be considered an experienced veteran. After watching for a while, he was certain something was wrong. Under normal circumstances, someone should have won long ago. It was impossible for everyone to keep missing.

Wei Wufu really is an interesting fellow. He could have simply robbed people blind, yet he insists on putting on this whole act, Lin Shen thought.

"To hell with you! You're cheating, aren't you?" Qi Tianfu grabbed another twenty rings, but still missed every single time. Several times, he had clearly landed a ring, only for it to bounce off again. At last, he could no longer hold back and exploded, pointing at Wei Wufu's nose as he cursed.

"Your technique is trash, your luck is worse, and now even your character's gone rotten," Lin Shen said. Naturally, he would not pass up a chance to mock Qi Tianfu.

Qi Tianfu turned and saw that it was Lin Shen. He had originally opened his mouth to curse, but seemed to remember something. He actually swallowed the profanity that had reached his lips, stared at Lin Shen, and sneered, "So your Little Fifth Master has great technique and good luck? If you've got the skill, ring one for me to see. If you can fucking land one, Lord Fu will call you grandpa every day from now on."