"Lin Shen, I'm talking to you. Didn't you hear me? Calling you Mr. Lin Shen is giving respect to your family, Mr. Lin Zongzheng and Lin Shen. Do you really think you're some big shot?" Qi Tianfu said angrily when Lin Shen ignored him.
"Today, I am the boss. Exchange it all for Claw Egg Coins." Lin Shen pulled out a wad of hundred-dollar bills from his pocket and slapped them onto the counter.
"You think you deserve to act like a boss with just that little money? Who do you think you're looking down on? I'm not doing business with you, so get out." Qi Tianfu was stunned at first, but quickly snapped back and sneered.
"You're not doing business, or are you afraid I'll figure out that there's something shady about your egg machine?" Lin Shen replied casually.
"Who are you accusing of running a shady machine? My egg machine's claws are tight, and the Base Mutation Eggs here are top quality. You don't know crap." Qi Tianfu roared angrily.
Their heated exchange had already caught the attention of the store's customers, and Qi Tianfu knew he couldn't afford to let this accusation take root, especially since Lin Shen's claim was unfounded.
"If there's no funny business, then what are you afraid of? Just go ahead and exchange the coins." Lin Shen pushed the money toward Qi Tianfu with three fingers.
"Fine, if you want to play, I'll let you play to your heart's content." Qi Tianfu glared daggers at Lin Shen, grabbed the money, and slammed a box of Claw Egg Coins in front of him.
Lin Shen took the coins without another word and walked straight over to the egg machine that contained the Fire Seed Base Mutation Eggs.
At that moment, the egg machine was conveniently unoccupied. Lin Shen inserted a few coins and began manipulating the joystick.
"Boss, that punk Lin Shen is getting too cocky. Should we loosen the claws and teach him a lesson about how cruel this world can be?" a store clerk whispered quietly to Qi Tianfu.
"We can't mess with it. I know that bastard too well. He looks like a harmless, sunny boy, but he's a sly dog at heart. He definitely didn't come here with good intentions." Qi Tianfu shook his head and grumbled under his breath, "He provoked me on purpose as soon as he got here. If I loosen the claws and everyone sees that he spent so much money but couldn't grab a single egg, coupled with his loud accusations, it'd ruin our business. Trying to pull a fast one in front of me is useless. Let him play—how much can he really grab? This'll turn into free advertising for us."
"You're the best, Boss," the clerk said with admiration.
"Stop sucking up. Stand here and keep watch." Qi Tianfu retorted with a smirk before stepping out from behind the counter and standing behind Lin Shen to watch him play.
Lin Shen noticed Qi Tianfu approaching but continued focusing on his gameplay without even turning around.
It must be said—the Base Mutation Eggs in Qi Tianfu's egg machine were indeed of higher quality than those at Lin Shen's own shop. There were eight eggs in total inside the machine. Although they were all Steel Mutant Eggs, even within the Steel Mutant category, there were varying levels of quality.
Strength, speed, hardness, and toughness were critical metrics for evaluating Base Mutation Creatures. Although Steel Creatures had a maximum value of 10 for these metrics, most fell short. Reaching 8 or 9 was considered excellent and even rare.
At Lin Shen's shop, most Base Mutation Eggs were Iron Horned Beast variants. Adult Iron Horned Beasts had speed stats around 8, strength about 7, but hardness dropped to just over 5, and toughness barely reached 6—performance that was decidedly mediocre among Steel Creatures.
This egg machine, on the other hand, contained Hundred-Refined Steelclad Beast eggs. While their speed was lower at around 5 points, their strength and hardness exceeded 8, with some reaching 9, and their toughness was over 7. Their combat ability vastly outclassed the Iron Horned Beasts.
Adult Hundred-Refined Steelclad Beasts were roughly the size of an elephant but far heavier. They were multipurpose animals—suitable as mounts, combat pets, or for transporting heavy equipment and supplies—a highly practical creature.
In fact, many Base Mutation research centers used materials sourced from the Hundred-Refined Steel Beast for construction, highlighting its value far above the Iron Horned Beast.
Each egg machine required a different number of Claw Egg Coins. This machine, containing Hundred-Refined Steel Beast Base Mutation Eggs, demanded four coins per play. At $40 per attempt, it was considered one of the pricier machines in Qi Tianfu's store.
Lin Shen made a few tries. Each time, the Base Mutation Egg was lifted but fell back down as the claw moved toward the exit. Even after five attempts, Lin Shen hadn't grabbed a single egg.
"Lin Shen, you're not so lucky today," Qi Tianfu mocked.
"Only those without skill rely on luck." Lin Shen didn't bother looking at Qi Tianfu as he spoke. He simply inserted another four coins and resumed playing.
"Ha! Not luck? Then what—are you praying to the Jade Emperor or something?" Qi Tianfu scoffed.
"Technique can substitute for luck," Lin Shen replied, shaking the joystick strategically.
Back at the Dark Bird Base, Lin Shen was the first to open a claw machine shop. Before him, hardly anyone there even played these machines, so Qi Tianfu's shop was purely a copycat venture. He lacked experience compared to Lin Shen, who had a far better grasp of the machines.
After five rounds of trial and error, Lin Shen had already figured out the claw's tension setting on this particular machine.
True, the claws here were tighter than those in Lin Shen's shop. For average customers, it was still a challenge to grab an egg, with a probability setting of roughly one egg every 20 tries.
But that probability applied only to regular players. Lin Shen deliberately loosened the claws in his own shop not for ordinary customers but to deter expert players from exploiting them.
Before opening his shop, Lin Shen had studied claw machines extensively and watched countless videos of expert players. He was aware that skilled players could overcome claw tension settings with relative ease.
While Lin Shen wouldn't call himself a master, his proficiency was above average. He opened his shop because he genuinely enjoyed playing these machines, so naturally, his skills were respectable.
The machine's claw moved rhythmically under Lin Shen's control. At that moment, the claw was positioned directly above the exit, away from any eggs.
When the claw swung to a specific angle, Lin Shen pressed the grab button abruptly. The claw descended at a slant and perfectly caught one of the nearby Base Mutation Eggs.
The egg was lifted, but before the claw could move forward, the egg dropped down.
However, since the claw was positioned directly above the exit, the fallen egg rolled right into the output bin and came out.
"Swing-claw technique!" Qi Tianfu's expression darkened.
Though he opened his shop to compete with Lin Shen, Qi Tianfu himself wasn't interested in claw machines. However, he knew enough about the swing-claw technique to recognize it and was surprised Lin Shen could pull it off.
"You can grab eggs like that?" exclaimed a young player at a nearby machine, his eyes wide in amazement.
Lin Shen pocketed the egg, turned to Qi Tianfu, and said, "Qi Tianfu, I opened my shop because I enjoy playing this game. You, on the other hand, don't care about claw machines. When it comes to playing, you rely on luck, while I rely on skill."
With that, Lin Shen inserted another four coins and resumed playing.
Using the same technique, the claw swung rhythmically again, then dropped at an angle, snagging another Base Mutation Egg.
Just like before, the egg rolled into the output bin.
This claw tension was no challenge for Lin Shen. While he wouldn't score every time, his success rate hovered around 50 to 60 percent.
In no time, Lin Shen had grabbed four eggs, drawing nearly the entire store's customers to watch him.
Each time Lin Shen collected an egg, the crowd burst into exclamations of astonishment.
"Wait, you can play claw machines like this?"
"I've been wasting time all along. This is how you grab eggs?"
"…"
Qi Tianfu's face turned ashen, like someone had dumped a bucket of ink on him. He clenched his teeth, but no retort came to mind.