More than two hundred years ago, a large number of bizarre creatures with metallic bodies suddenly appeared all over the world, becoming a nightmare for human survival.
These creatures, known as Base Variant Creatures, were a completely different species from humans. Their bodies were made of steel or even crystals, fundamentally different from the human flesh and blood.
Even the lowest-level Base Variant Creatures had bodies as hard as steel, resistant to typical bullets, inflicting little to no harm. The higher-level Base Variant Creatures had body strength beyond human imagination, rendering mankind's proud thermal weapons almost ineffective against them, rapidly leading to the collapse of human society.
It was not until someone discovered the Base Mutation Fluid within the Base Variant Creatures, which allowed humans to undergo incredible, abnormal growth like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, evolving metallic armor-like bodies, and by using the Base Mutation Key to control the Base Variant Creatures and turn them into pets, that humans finally obtained the means to fight back against the Base Variant Creatures.
Today, more than two hundred years later, it is the age of Mutators and Base Variant Pets roaming the world, and more and more bases constructed with materials from Base Variant Creatures are beginning to appear across the globe, showing signs of a gradual revival of human civilization.
"There really are such things, this is unscientific!" Lin Shen looked at the bizarre creature frozen like a statue in front of him, his eyes filled with uncontrollable surprise and delight.
This was a Steel Level Base Variant Creature, resembling both a horse and a bull, with its entire body emitting a cast-iron-like luster. It stood still, maintaining the posture of a horse stepping over a swallow, motionless, making anyone believe it was a cast iron statue.
But Lin Shen was absolutely certain that it wasn't just any statue, because just a few minutes ago, it was charging like a tank, nearly knocking him to the ground.
Although it was only the lowest-level Base Variant Creature, its strength and speed were not something an ordinary human could match, not even naturally strong animals like elephants and rhinoceroses could compare.
But Lin Shen had merely touched it with his finger, and the Steel Level Iron Horned Beast had frozen in place as if struck by Acupoint Sealing.
Of course, Lin Shen did not know Acupoint Sealing, and what's depicted in films about striking acupoints is completely different from the reality. The kind of acupoint striking that instantly immobilizes someone is only seen in films.
Even in today's world, where humans can train and evolve, no matter how much their strength improves, to the point of piercing steel plates with a finger, it would still be impossible to seal the acupoints of an ordinary human, let alone that of a Base Variant Creature as hard as steel.
Lin Shen stroked his finger, still somewhat in disbelief that he had actually done it.
Not long ago, he discovered a very peculiar Base Mutation Egg in the warehouse. The so-called Base Mutation Egg is actually an egg laid by Base Variant Creatures.
Since the appearance of Base Variant Creatures more than two hundred years ago, humans had long developed a complete set of theories and methods for using Base Variant Creatures to train and evolve.
Base Mutation Eggs were not considered a rarity, with some low-level Base Mutation Eggs costing only slightly more than a meal.
Lin Shen was in the business of selling Base Mutation Eggs, having encountered countless types of them, but he had never seen such a bizarre and peculiar Base Mutation Egg.
The Base Mutation Egg looked as if it had been pixellated, its entire surface covered by ever-changing tiny colored light squares, looking dreamy and unreal.
After studying it for a long time, Lin Shen found no particular difference in the egg, and even when he let his employees take a look, they could not see the changing mosaic on the egg. In their eyes, it was just an ordinary steel-level Base Mutation Egg with a black metallic luster.
This led Lin Shen to believe for a while that he was hallucinating until, after a sleep, the Base Mutation Egg inexplicably returned to normal, and the mosaic phenomenon disappeared, leaving a fragment of information in Lin Shen's mind.
[Failed Super-Base Evolutionary Seed—Acupoint Sealing: Impact the state of a creature by striking its acupoints.]
After that, things gradually became more mysterious. Whenever Lin Shen stared at a creature for a long time, he could see some faint light points on its body, whether it was a human or a Base Variant Creature, the only difference being the number and location of these points.
Ordinary humans had more light points on their bodies, while Mutators and Base Variant Creatures, the higher the level, the fewer points they had.
Unable to hold back his curiosity, Lin Shen finally conducted an experiment on his own penned Iron Horned Beast today, and the result was incredibly surprising—he had actually managed to use Acupoint Sealing on the Iron Horned Beast.
Standing beside the Iron Horned Beast, Lin Shen once again extended his finger and firmly pressed on the faintly visible light point on the beast's body. The Iron Horned Beast, that had been as still as a statue, immediately resumed its original state of running and charged out, failing to stop in time and crashing into the metal fence, letting out a deep, pained cry.
"If a failed Evolutionary Seed is already this terrifying, what about a successful Evolutionary Seed?" Lin Shen's excitement was indescribable at the thought of using such a seed to hunt Base Variant Creatures; it would simply be an invincible weapon.
As if struck by a thought, Lin Shen ran out of the animal pen, closed the door behind him, and hurried off to the warehouse. He wanted to see if there were any other Base Mutation Eggs carrying a Fire Seed.
In the vast warehouse, rows upon rows of shelves were stocked with numerous Base Mutation Eggs. The majority of these eggs were low-level goods, but that wasn't the point, because the Base Mutation Egg with the Fire Seed was also a low-level item; in fact, there were no high-level Base Mutation Eggs in his store.
After checking all the Base Mutation Eggs in the warehouse, he felt somewhat disappointed, as he did not find any eggs covered in mosaic.
"That makes sense. I was the one who personally put them on the shelves when they were stored. If there were any, I should have seen them already," Lin Shen shook his head, feeling he had been too greedy. To possess such a Fire Seed was already an unimaginable miracle, how could he expect there to be many more?
Suppressing the excitement in his heart, Lin Shen went to the store.
The shop he owned was an egg-catching shop, similar to the once very popular claw machine arcade. Each egg-catching machine was stocked with several Base Mutation Eggs, and customers could try to grab an egg by inserting coins.
Of course, the chance of successfully grabbing an egg was set quite low, making it basically a no-lose business.
"Lin, there aren't many people today either," the shop assistant, Zhao Li, said worriedly as she came out from behind the counter and glanced at the empty shop: "Lin, we need to find a way to get some high-level Base Mutation Eggs, or else our business will be taken over by the egg shop next door."
"Hmm," Lin Shen nodded slightly but did not say much else.
He was the fifth child in the family, with three older brothers and an older sister; hence Zhao Li usually called him Lin.
"That egg shop next door is really bullying us. Their staff came to our shop's doorstep to poach customers today, saying our Base Mutation Eggs were trash, that the claws were too loose, and even if you managed to grab something, it would still be trash..." Zhao Li angrily recounted.
Lin Shen, however, was not in the mood to listen to her complaints, as his attention was completely captured by one of the egg-catching machines. He stared fixedly at that machine.
To be precise, his attention was captured by one Base Mutation Egg inside the machine because he saw that peculiar mosaic again.
"Could there be another?" Lin Shen was pleasantly surprised and somewhat incredulous as he approached the machine, staring at the Base Mutation Egg wrapped in mosaic, and said urgently to Zhao Li, "Bring the keys over."
After Zhao Li handed over the keys, Lin Shen opened the egg-catching machine and took out the mosaic-base Mutation Egg to examine it closely in his hand.
Although this Base Mutation Egg was different in species and size from the previous one, the mosaic sheen was quite similar.
"Lin, is there something wrong with this Base Mutation Egg?" Zhao Li asked with confusion.
"Don't you notice anything different about this Base Mutation Egg?" Instead of answering, Lin Shen responded with a question.
"What's different? Isn't it just a Steel Level Miniknife Devil Base Mutation Egg?" Zhao Li looked it over from all angles and couldn't see anything special about it. She became more puzzled.
"Keep an eye on the shop. I have to go back first," Lin Shen said tersely, taking the Base Mutation Egg with him.
He was extremely puzzled because the business had been poor recently. The Base Mutation Eggs in the egg-catching machine had been placed there a week ago or even earlier. He had already checked them countless times without noticing anything like this. Why was there suddenly another egg with mosaic on it?
Lin Shen didn't understand how the mosaic Base Mutation Egg had suddenly appeared. After returning home, he spent a long time trying to figure out how to transfer the Fire Seed to himself without success.
In fact, Lin Shen still hadn't figured out how the mosaic had transferred to him from the previous Base Mutation Egg.
He had studied that egg for a long time without understanding why it had mosaic. Eventually, overcome with sleepiness, he fell asleep with the egg beside him. When he woke up, the mosaic on the Base Mutation Egg was gone, and his mind was filled with knowledge of the Fire Seed.
"It seems I just have to try again, hopefully, it will work," Lin Shen lay in bed, placing the Base Mutation Egg beside him. He tossed and turned, struggling to fall asleep, and after what seemed like an eternity, he finally drifted off once more.
When Lin Shen woke up the next day, his first reaction was to hurriedly check the Base Mutation Egg next to him.
Upon seeing it, Lin Shen felt as if he had eaten a Ginseng Fruit, his pores seemed to be cheering and dancing with joy.
The mosaic on the Base Mutation Egg was gone, and his mind was filled with another Fire Seed information.