"Bring me a cart." After switching to a few different claw machines, Lin Shen had collected so many Base Mutation Eggs that he couldn't carry them all. He asked a store employee to bring over a cart; apart from the one egg he placed in his pocket, the rest were all loaded into the cart.
In no time, the Base Mutation Eggs from the Hundred-Refined Steel Beast claw machines nearby were picked clean by Lin Shen.
Without hesitation, Lin Shen moved on to another machine, continuing his spree. The crowd followed him, changing positions as he did; most of them were eager to learn his Claw Egg Skill.
*In the past, there had been people from the Dark Bird Base who wanted to hone their Claw Egg Skill, hoping to make a quick profit from Lin Shen's shop. But since there were no claw machine manufacturers at the Dark Bird Base, machines had to be transported from other bases, where the journey was fraught with dangers. Regular folks had almost no chance of acquiring a claw machine to practice on themselves.*
*In reality, if given the opportunity for sufficient practice, mastering the claw swing technique wasn't particularly hard.*
"Damn, are you here to restock from my shop or what?" Seeing the cart nearly full of Base Mutation Eggs, Qi Tianfu cursed Lin Shen furiously in his mind, his face dark as the bottom of a pot.
"Boss, we can't keep going like this. If he continues at this pace, we're going to lose big-time. How about we tweak the machine Lin Shen is using?" one of his loyal employees whispered nearby.
"Adjust it—loosen the claw's grip by two levels." Qi Tianfu couldn't bear Lin Shen's smug expression anymore; his reply was practically squeezed through clenched teeth.
The employee quickly pulled out a remote and covertly adjusted the claw's settings.
In Lin Shen's next attempt, the claw lifted the Base Mutation Egg only slightly before loosening its grip. Even with his claw swing technique, he still couldn't grab the egg out, which drew disappointed gasps from the crowd.
After two more tries, the results were the same—he couldn't get the claw to lift the eggs high enough to reach the exit.
This was when even the customers watching began to notice that something was off—the claw had clearly been loosened and wasn't capable of holding the eggs anymore.
"What's the point of playing now? The shop owner is too shady, making the claws this loose. How is anyone supposed to play?" Many people started murmuring quietly.
Lin Shen turned to look at Qi Tianfu, who raised his eyebrows smugly, as if to say, "Yeah, I loosened the claw—what are you gonna do about it?"
"What are you staring at? Are you still going to play or not?" Qi Tianfu sneered.
"Of course, I'm playing." Lin Shen gave him a slight smile, showing no hint of anger, then grabbed the joystick, turning it counterclockwise.
The crowd was puzzled—why continue when the claw was so loose? Playing further would just mean throwing money away.
As Lin Shen rotated the joystick, the claw within the display case began to sway dramatically. Suddenly, one of its three prongs hooked onto the line connecting the claw to the machine's roof, tilting the claw at an angle.
At that precise moment, Lin Shen pressed the button again. The claw wobbled downward, snagging a Base Mutation Egg near the exit, and as it tilted upward, it nudged the egg directly into the prize chute.
For a moment, the entire crowd stood in stunned silence, even Qi Tianfu's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Little brother, you've got a lot to learn when it comes to running a claw machine shop." Lin Shen grabbed the Base Mutation Egg and placed it into the cart.
Qi Tianfu was so enraged he could barely contain himself, snatching the remote from the employee's hand and setting the claws to their loosest possible grip.
"Go on—try grabbing something now. If you manage to grab another one, I'll even take your surname!" Qi Tianfu was nearly hysterical, silently cursing under his breath.
Just then, Lin Shen stretched lazily, then walked over to another claw machine, inserted a coin, shook the joystick twice, and pressed the grab button directly.
Before Qi Tianfu could react, let alone adjust the settings, Lin Shen had successfully grabbed another Base Mutation Egg.
"What the hell, this guy is absolutely shameless," Qi Tianfu muttered to himself, grinding his teeth loudly in frustration. His fingers pressed hard on the remote buttons repeatedly, nearly squeezing the device to pieces.
But Lin Shen showed no intention of sticking around for another grab attempt—he swiftly moved to yet another machine, tossed in a coin, and snatched another egg.
Under Qi Tianfu's fiery, murderous gaze, Lin Shen succeeded in pulling out yet another Base Mutation Egg.
What followed was a comical scene: Lin Shen continued hopping between machines and grabbing eggs while the furious Qi Tianfu frantically fiddled with the remote, loosening settings on nearly every claw machine in sight—until the chaos finally subsided when all machines were adjusted to their weakest grip mode.
By that point, the Base Mutation Eggs collected by Lin Shen had piled up into a mini-mountain in his cart, and he still had plenty of Claw Egg Coins left in his token box.
"I'm exhausted. I'll come restock next time. Refund my leftover coins for now." Lin Shen casually handed the token box to Qi Tianfu, patting him on the shoulder as he did. "Next time, stock some better prizes. I spent all this time grabbing junk—not nearly enough to cover my monthly usage back home."
"Refund him," Qi Tianfu thought he might explode from anger but held himself back in the presence of so many customers. He swallowed his rage and instructed his staff to convert Lin Shen's remaining tokens back into cash.
"I'll borrow the cart for now and return it later—you know I've only got my shop next door, not running anywhere." Lin Shen cheerfully pushed the cart full of eggs toward the exit and addressed the onlookers before leaving: "If you'd like to swap tips on claw machine techniques, feel free to come by my Wealth-flaunting Claw Crane Shop. My claws aren't particularly tight, but they don't change randomly—if you've got skill, feel free to test your luck."
With that, Lin Shen pushed the cart out the door without looking back.
As Lin Shen departed, the shop's clientele quickly scattered as well—before long, not a single customer was left.
*Anyone could see that the machines in the shop had been pushed to their loosest settings, making playing an absolute waste of money.*
"That bastard—I won't let you get away with this," Qi Tianfu finally erupted, stomping around and swearing furiously.
Lin Shen, meanwhile, didn't even glance back, walking straight into his own claw machine shop and handing the cart to the visibly confused Zhao Li.
"These Base Mutation Eggs are pretty decent—place two or three in each claw machine," Lin Shen instructed the bewildered Zhao Li nonchalantly before walking out of the shop.
After returning home, Lin Shen noticed Ye wasn't around and assumed he'd already left—but then saw him coming in through the door and closing it behind him.
*Lin Shen immediately realized Ye must have followed him to Qi Tianfu's shop in secret.*
"Ye, did you see what happened earlier?" Lin Shen asked.
Ye nodded and replied, "It's a critical time right now—we can't afford unnecessary risks. I was worried something might happen to you, so I followed along. Fourth Master always says you're skilled in eating, drinking, and playing. I used to think it was his way of expressing frustration with you, but now I realize that may not be the case—perhaps he was actually praising you. If I hadn't seen today's events myself, I'd never have guessed there were so many tricks and tactics involved with claw machines."
Lin Shen chuckled. "We're all family—you don't have to be so polite, Ye. Among the brothers, I'm the least talented and least disciplined. If there's one thing I'm good at, it's indulging myself in good food, good drink, and entertaining novelties—not exactly a strength."
"Play, and playing, is different," Ye shook his head but chose not to delve into the topic further. Instead, he said thoughtfully, "But now isn't the best time to deal with Qi Tianfu. Even if his shop falls through, it wouldn't have a significant impact on the Qi Family. The immediate priority is handling the urgent matters at hand."
"Then let's hash out the details for tomorrow," Lin Shen said, knowing Ye was subtly cautioning against letting minor disputes outweigh more pressing concerns. He didn't offer an explanation, as such matters were complex and not easily unpacked.
The two continued refining their plans, going over every scenario until nearly midnight. Finally, Lin Shen said to Ye, "Go get some rest—we've got a tough battle tomorrow, and we'll need to be at our best."
"I'll sleep in the living room," Ye started to say something more but abandoned it upon seeing Lin Shen's yawning, exhausted state.
Lin Shen nodded and headed into his room. Once inside, he pulled out the pixelated Base Mutation Egg he'd been carrying and examined it for ages without discerning anything unusual.
"Let's hope tomorrow brings better results," murmured Lin Shen as his eyelids drooped. Clutching the egg, he fell deeply asleep.