Chapter 50 - 50 Misprint
That power coursed through his body, washing over his flesh, bones, and internal organs, as if he wasn’t made of flesh at all, but sand, and the fine liquid continuously permeated and flowed inside him, removing impurities from his body and slowly expelling them.
“It worked… I can still practice…” Lin Shen looked at the Base Mutation technique that he consulted for confidence, with “Evolution Theory” written on the cover, one of the five fundamental Base Mutation techniques.
“As long as I can practice, I’ll start with ‘Evolution Theory’ first. After I get used to the feeling of the power flow, I can then practice other Base Mutation techniques, which should be more effective.” After discussing with Wei Wufu, Wei also thought Lin Shen’s idea was feasible, to practice “Evolution Theory” first and then other Base Mutation techniques.
Wei Wufu had studied “Evolution Theory” in the past, and when he looked at the “Evolution Theory” Lin Shen got from Mr. Lin Zongzheng, he found some errors in it.
Strangely, after Wei Wufu corrected those errors, Lin Shen couldn’t sense the power flow in his body any longer.
When he practiced with the erroneous version, he was able to regain the sensation.
“Strange!” Even Wei Wufu found it exceedingly odd. He confirmed over and over that he had not remembered incorrectly, the “Evolution Theory” in Lin Shen’s possession indeed had many errors.
“Anyway, it’s just a transition. Let it be wrong, it doesn’t have much impact.” Lin Shen continued to practice with the erroneous version of “Evolution Theory,” and the effects were surprisingly good.
After Lin Shen became adept, he tried to learn the secret techniques taught by Wei Wufu, but it still didn’t work out.
When he tried “Talent Theory,” it was even less successful.
“Could it really be that I am fated to miss out on the Fire Seed of Goddess Consort Bai?” Lin Shen felt a bit forlorn, fearing that his plans to gain both power and wealth were going to fall through.
Lin Shen tried all the Base Mutation techniques he could find once again, but the result was the same, he couldn’t sense the power flow with any of them except for the flawed “Evolution Theory.”
The cultivation effects of the erroneous “Evolution Theory” were unexpectedly good; just a few days of practice significantly extended the duration of his Steel Body, and even the duration of Super Base Change saw some extension.
Humans were originally beings of flesh and blood, and using the Steel Body through Base Mutation not only consumed a huge amount of energy, but because of the overload, the body couldn’t maintain the state of Steel Body for long.
Therefore, general Mutators, even those at the Crystal Base Level, couldn’t maintain a combat stance at all times and usually stayed in a normal human state.
All kinds of Base Mutation techniques have the effect of extending the duration of the Steel Body; it’s just a matter of how strong or weak the effect is.
The biggest advantage of the five fundamental Base Mutation techniques is stability, and their effect on enhancing duration is decent, but it was not as noticeable as the “Evolution Theory” that Lin Shen was practicing. Just a few days of practice extended his abilities a lot, which even surprised Wei Wufu.
“Since the other Base Mutation techniques don’t work, then I can only practice ‘Evolution Theory.’” Lin Shen was still able to accept the current outcome.
Although he couldn’t learn the secret or special Base Mutation techniques, fortunately, the effects brought by “Evolution Theory” were not bad, and finding the subsequent parts of “Evolution Theory” was relatively easy.
If he practiced “Talent Theory,” he wouldn’t even have the next parts, and he would need to create them himself, which would be way too troublesome.
“It’s just too bad that I’m not destined for Goddess Consort Bai.” Knowing that his chances of catching up with Bai Shenfei were slim, Lin Shen officially put matchmaking on the agenda.
Nowadays, Lin Shen needed to practice “Evolution Theory” every day, learn combat skills from Wei Wufu, and spare time to look for potential Fire Seeds. He simply had no time to date; matchmaking was undoubtedly the most time-efficient and cost-effective way for him to ensure the Lin Family’s succession as soon as possible.
For this reason, Lin Shen spent quite a lot of money on matchmakers, but the girls in the base, upon hearing that it was for Lin Shen, shook their heads like fans and refused to even meet him.
Lin Shen was very helpless. He had long been prepared for such a scenario; had it not been for this, Lin Shen, burdened with heavy responsibilities, would not have remained unmarried up to this point. After all, marriage laws no longer existed in this era, and many were married as young as seventeen or eighteen.
Lin Shen had the height, the looks of a dashing young man, and the money. Even though he did not participate in running the Lin Family’s business, the pocket money his elder sister gave him each month was already a fortune to ordinary people.
No girl wanted to be matched with Lin Shen, and that was because of his well-known ex-girlfriend at the Dark Bird Base, Lu Qing from the Yashen Base’s Lu Family.
Yashen Base was one of the stronger bases nearby, and the strength of the Lu Family surpassed the combined forces of the Qi, Wang, and Lin Families.
Of course, that was before the big three families were severely weakened. Now, there’s no way they could compare to the Lu Family.
Dark Bird Base and Yashen Base were not too far apart, and there were frequent trade interactions between them. One time, Lu Qing followed her family to Dark Bird Base to open a shop and stayed for a few years. Somehow, she and Lin Shen saw eye to eye, and quickly developed a romantic relationship.
When Lu Qing left Dark Bird Base, she warned everyone that whoever dared to mess with her man, Lin Shen, would face the consequences themselves.
The problem was that Lin Shen had already broken up with Lu Qing, but no one at Dark Bird Base knew it. Even when Lin Shen spoke up, no one believed him. Instead, they suspected that Lin Shen couldn’t stand the loneliness and wanted to take advantage of Lu Qing’s absence to have a secret affair.
Lin Shen really had no solution; he couldn’t possibly find Lu Qing and then drag her to Dark Bird Base for a press conference to announce publicly that they had broken up.
“Lin Shen, when are Mr. Lin Zongzheng and the fourth brother coming back?” An old man who found Lin Shen practicing combat skills with Wei Wufu asked anxiously.
“Lei, when did you get back? Where’s big sister?” Lin Shen’s heart leaped with joy upon seeing the old man.
Lei had been in charge of the Lin Family’s accounts and always followed Lin Shen’s eldest sister. Since Lei was back, it meant that the big sister should have returned as well.
“We had an incident at Yashen Base, our goods and the family head got detained…” Lei explained anxiously, “Lin Shen, you need to tell me, when exactly is Mr. Lin Zongzheng and the fourth brother coming back? We can’t delay this matter any longer; it will get more troublesome for the family head.”
“Lei, take it easy, what exactly happened?” Lin Shen’s expression darkened, but he still tried to calm Lei down as he spoke.
Lei hurriedly explained the situation. The big sister took goods to sell at Yashen Base, which normally wouldn’t be a problem, as they were already well-established sales channels; just needed to deliver the goods.
After delivering the goods, they also needed to pick up a batch of goods from Yashen Base to make the trip worthwhile.
It was during this pick-up that the problem occurred. The big sister collected some miscellaneous goods without noticing anything unusual. However, upon closer inspection later on, they discovered a Mutant Egg amongst the goods—a naturally surprising find.
It wasn’t long before the seller requested the return of the goods sold to the big sister.
Since both parties were in business, the transaction was already complete with the payment settled; naturally, there was no possibility of returning the goods.
Actually, the seller wasn’t the one seeking the return of the goods. The Xu Family had learned about the Mutant Egg and captured the seller, forcing him to come for the return.
The big sister refused to return anything, and so the Xu Family simply detained both the big sister and the goods.
Luckily, the big sister was foresighted and had the Mutant Egg sent back to Dark Bird Base ahead of time, preventing them from seizing it.
Xu Tiange released Lei to inform the Lin Family to bring the Mutant Egg in exchange for the captive.
Lin Shen was aware of the Xu Family; other than the Lu Family, it was the Xu Family that rivaled at Yashen Base, with significantly more power than the Lin Family.
“Where is the Mutant Egg?” Lin Shen asked gravely.
“I’ve already asked around, they say the person who was supposed to deliver the Mutant Egg hasn’t come back. We don’t know if there has been an accident on the road, or something else happened,” Lei said urgently. “Lin Shen, when exactly can Mr. Lin Zongzheng and the fourth brother return? This issue can only be resolved if they step in.”
“Lei, you get some rest first, have something to eat. Once you’ve rested, we will head to Yashen Base,” Lin Shen said. He had originally planned to go out to see if he could find the Fire Seed in other bases, and to also consider possible marriage alliances.
Now that such an incident had occurred, it was the perfect opportunity to visit Yashen Base.
“Lin Shen, what’s the use of you going to Yashen Base? Mr. Lin Zongzheng and the fourth brother are the ones who need to go,” Lei was too anxious and spoke without thinking, but he quickly tried to explain after realizing it, “Lin Shen, I didn’t mean it that way, you know the Xu Family’s power. If Mr. Lin Zongzheng and the fourth brother step in, there might be a chance that they will do us a favor…”
“Lei, I understand what you mean, but I don’t know when the third brother and the fourth brother will be back. Saving people is urgent, we’ll first go to Yashen Base to assess the situation. At the very least, we can’t leave big sister there all alone with no support,” Lin Shen said calmly.
“But…” Lei wanted to say something more but was interrupted by Lin Shen.
“No buts, Lei, if you’re tired, you can stay here and rest. I’ll go on my own,” Lin Shen affirmed.
“If you’re really going, old man, I’ll show you the way,” Lei said as he saw Lin Shen’s determination and resignedly stated.