Chapter 5: Are you here to stock up?

“Get me a cart.” After switching between several claw machines, Lin Shen had

won so many Base Mutation Eggs that he couldn’t carry them all, so he asked

an employee to bring over a cart. He placed all the eggs into the cart, except

for the one he put into his pocket.

In no time, the Hundred-Refined Steel Beast Base Mutation Eggs in the

nearby claw machines had been almost completely won by Lin Shen.

Without hesitation, Lin Shen moved on to another machine and continued

playing, with the crowd following him, hoping to learn Claw Egg Skill as well.

Previously, people from Dark Bird Base had also wanted to practice Claw Egg

Skill, trying to make a fortune from Lin Shen’s shop. However, Dark Bird Base

didn’t manufacture claw machines, so they had to be transported from other

bases, which was fraught with danger; thus, ordinary people had no chance to

get a claw machine for practice.

In fact, as long as one had the opportunity to practice frequently, learning to

flick the claw was not particularly difficult.

“Damn, did you come here to stock up?” Seeing the cart nearly full of Base

Mutation Eggs, Qi Tianfu cursed Lin Shen bitterly in his heart, his face darker

than the bottom of a pot.

“Boss, we can’t keep this up. If he keeps playing like this, we’re going to go

broke. How about we adjust the machine Lin Shen is playing with?” a trusted

employee whispered to Qi Tianfu.

“Adjust it, lower the claw’s tension by two levels.” Qi Tianfu couldn’t stand the

sight of Lin Shen’s irritating smirk, his words squeezed out through clenched

teeth.

The employee quickly and quietly took out a remote control and discreetly

adjusted the tension.

During Lin Shen’s next play, the claw only lifted the Base Mutation Egg a little

before letting go, and even with the flicking technique, he couldn’t win the egg,

prompting disappointed murmurs from the onlookers.

After two more tries with the same result, it was clear that the claw couldn’t

reach high enough to drop into the exit.

Even the spectators realized that the claw had obviously become too loose to

lift anything.

“How can we play with this? The shop owner is such a dog, setting the claw

this loose.” Many people grumbled quietly.

Lin Shen turned to look at Qi Tianfu, noticing Qi Tianfu’s smug raised

eyebrows, as if to say, ‘Yeah, I loosened the claw, what are you going to do

about it?’

“What are you looking at? Are you going to play or not?” Qi Tianfu sneered.

“Of course, I’ll play.” Lin Shen smiled back at him, showing no sign of anger,

then began turning the joystick counterclockwise with his hand.

Everyone didn’t quite understand. With the claw so loose, wasn’t continuing to

play just throwing money away?

As the joystick turned, the claw inside the glass dome began to shake

violently. Suddenly, one of the three hooks on the claw caught onto the

connection line between the claw and the top box of the machine, tilting the

claw.

In that instant, Lin Shen pressed the button again. The wobbling claw

descended, catching on a Base Mutation Egg beside the exit. As the claw

rose, the tilted claw pushed that slightly lifted egg right into the exit chute.

Everyone stared in disbelief, including Qi Tianfu with eyes wide open.

“Little brother, there’s a lot you still need to learn about running a claw

machine shop,” Lin Shen said, placing the Base Mutation Egg into the cart.

Qi Tianfu was so enraged he felt like his lungs would burst. He snatched the

remote from the employee and set the claw to its loosest setting.

“You try it. If you can win another one, then I’ll take your surname,” Qi Tianfu

was practically foaming at the mouth as he fumed inside.

But Lin Shen just stretched lazily, then stepped over to a nearby claw

machine, dropped in a Claw Egg Coin, gave the joystick a couple of shakes,

and directly pressed the pick-up button.

Qi Tianfu didn’t even get a chance to adjust the settings before another Base

Mutation Egg was won.

“Damn, this thing is too damn sneaky,” Qi Tianfu was so furious that his teeth

creaked from biting down hard, and his fingers pressed the remote control

buttons repeatedly, almost crushing the remote.

Little did he know, Lin Shen had no intention of trying a second grab and had

moved on to another claw machine, quickly inserting coins and grabbing eggs.

Under Qi Tianfu’s murderous gaze, Lin Shen brazenly snagged another Base

Mutation Egg.

Thus, a comical scene unfolded in the claw crane shop: Lin Shen kept

switching machines to grab Base Mutation Eggs, while the infuriated Qi Tianfu

couldn’t care less and furiously pressed the remote, relaxing all the claw

machines to their loosest settings before the farce finally ended.

The Base Mutation Eggs Lin Shen had grabbed were now piled up into a

small hill in the cart, yet there were still many tokens left in his box.

“I’m tired, I’ll come back for more stock next time. Give me a refund for the

leftover coins,” Lin Shen casually stuffed the box of tokens into Qi Tianfu’s

hands and patted his shoulder on the way out, “Little brother, stock up on

better items next time. I’ve been grabbing all day and got only this little trash,

not enough for even a month’s consumption at my place.”

“Just refund him,” Qi Tianfu wished he could leap up and slap Lin Shen, but

with so many customers around, he could only hold back his anger,

swallowing his teeth in his stomach, and had someone convert Lin Shen’s

remaining Claw Egg Coins into cash.

“I’ll borrow the cart for a bit, I’ll bring it over later. You know I’m just next door; I

can’t run off,” Lin Shen said as he pushed the cart full of Base Mutation Eggs

out the door. On his way out, he addressed the onlooking customers, “If

anyone wants to exchange Claw Egg Skill tips, feel welcome to come to my

Wealth-flaunting Claw Crane Shop to play. The claws there might not be very

tight, but they stay the same for everyone, you can grab as you please if

you’ve got the skill.”

Having said that, Lin Shen walked out without looking back.

Once Lin Shen left, the shop’s customers also scattered in a rush, not a soul

remained.

It was clear to anyone that the machines in the shop had been set to the

loosest level; playing the claw machines now was like throwing money into

water.

“That bastard, I won’t let him off,” Qi Tianfu finally couldn’t help but jump and

curse out loud.

But Lin Shen didn’t even turn around. He entered his own claw crane shop

and handed the cart over to a confused Zhao Li.

“These Base Mutation Eggs are of decent quality, put two or three in each

claw machine,” Lin Shen instructed a clueless Zhao Li before leaving the shop

to his own devices.

Back at home, Lin Shen didn’t see Ye and thought he had left, only to find Ye

coming back from outside and closing the front door.

Lin Shen quickly realized that Ye must have quietly followed him to Qi Tianfu’s

egg-grabbing shop.

“Ye, did you see what happened just now?” Lin Shen asked.

Ye nodded and said, “Right now, we can’t afford any mistakes. I was afraid

something might happen to you, so I followed. The boss always says you’re a

jack of all trades when it comes to eating, drinking, and having fun. I always

thought that he was a bit disappointed in you, but today I realized it’s not what

I thought; he’s actually praising you. If I hadn’t followed you today, I wouldn’t

have realized there were so many tricks to a claw machine.”

Lin Shen laughed, “We’re all family here, Ye, you don’t have to be so polite.

Among all of us, I’m the one with the least talent and discipline. The only thing

I’m good at is enjoying good food, good drinks, and novel things; it’s not really

an advantage.”

“Playing also varies,” Ye shook his head, but he didn’t pursue the topic and

pondered, “However, now is not the best time to take down Qi Tianfu. Even if

the claw crane shop goes down, it won’t have much impact on the Qi Family.

We need to deal with the current trouble first.”

“Then let’s work out the details for tomorrow,” Lin Shen knew Ye was implying

not to miss the bigger picture for something trivial, but Lin Shen didn’t explain,

because it was indeed hard to explain.

The two of them went over various details again and again until close to

midnight, when Lin Shen said to Ye, “Go rest, we have a tough battle

tomorrow and need to be in good spirits to face it.”

“I’ll sleep in the living room,” Ye wanted to say more, but seeing Lin Shen

yawning repeatedly, he decided to drop it.

Lin Shen nodded and went to his room, lay in his bed, and pulled out the

mosaic-covered Base Mutation Egg from his chest, studying it for a long time,

but still unable to find any issues.

“Let’s hope for a good outcome tomorrow,” Lin Shen’s eyelids drooped, and

he fell into a deep sleep clutching the Base Mutation Egg.

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