Waking up, the sky was still dimly lit. Lin Shen turned to look and, as expected, the mosaic on the Base Mutation Egg had disappeared and new information had surfaced in his mind.
Only then could he clearly see that this was indeed a Hundred-Refined Steel Beast Base Mutation Egg, seemingly no different from an ordinary one.
[Failed Super-Base Evolutionary Seed: Boundless Strength Contract.]
"Boundless Strength Contract: Raise a creature and enter into a contract with it. Run a kilometer each day holding the creature. As the creature grows and its weight increases, you will gain strength equivalent to the creature's weight. This seed has uniqueness and can only establish a Boundless Strength Contract with one creature."
Lin Shen was both shocked and delighted, and thought to himself, "Isn't this the legendary 'Calf Hugging' skill?"
The folklore tells of a boy who herds cattle. Every day he hugged a newborn calf from his home up to the mountains to graze.
As the calf grew, the boy's strength grew day by day, until when the calf reached adulthood, the boy had become a strongman capable of lifting a thousand catties.
Obviously, this is an unscientific method of training; a calf can grow to several hundred or a thousand pounds in a matter of months, while human strength cannot increase so rapidly.
So, in reality, after not too long, the cowherd boy would no longer be able to lift the calf, making it impossible to continually grow stronger.
However, the Boundless Strength Contract can turn the impossible into possible, achieving what the unscientific theory claims.
In theory, as long as Lin Shen can find the young of an immensely large creature, his strength could grow infinitely.
The strength to lift a cow is not considered very strong for a Mutator, but what if it's a giant Base Variant Creature?
Lin Shen knew that some Base Variant Creatures could be far larger and heavier than whales.
Lin Shen only needed to obtain such a Base Mutation Egg and train it from a young age to gain a terrifying level of strength that was beyond the common person's imagination.
The only problem was where to find such a Base Mutation Egg.
Among the Base Mutation Eggs accessible to Lin Shen, the Hundred-Refined Steel Beast was already one of the largest. Even if there were some giant Alloy Creatures, their size and weight were not much larger than that of the Hundred-Refined Steel Beast.
However, Lin Shen had once seen some footage in which the Base Variant Creatures appeared as large as dragons. If he could get his hands on an egg of such a creature, the Boundless Strength Contract would be tantamount to a bug-like ability.
Most of such Base Variant Creatures were Crystal-based Creatures. Not to mention whether it was possible to obtain an egg of a Crystal-based Creature, even if he could, the creatures' growth cycles were generally long, with some needing several years or even decades to reach maturity.
Compared to that, Steel Creatures had shorter growth cycles, but finding one that was exceptionally large was not easy.
To have it both ways will probably take some effort, finding an extremely large Steel Creature is not a matter to be solved in a short time.
Even with money, such things are not available at Dark Bird Base, unless you go to other large bases, where there might still be hope.
Lin Shen wasn't in a hurry. Even if he used the contract with the Hundred-Refined Steel Beast now, he wouldn't gain strength immediately; after all, it wouldn't be useful for the upcoming recruitment event.
Lin Shen gazed at the Hundred-Refined Steel Beast Base Mutation Egg, with information about making a Blood Covenant surfacing in his mind. However, he chose not to perform the Blood Covenant and instead placed it in the incubation chamber.
There were two other Base Mutation Eggs in the incubation chamber, one being a "Steel Tail Scorpion" Steel Mutant Egg, and the other a "Dark Iron Swallow" Steel Mutant Egg, both previously containing a Fire Seed.
Lin Shen wanted to hatch them to see what set them apart from the ordinary Steel Tail Scorpion and Dark Iron Swallow.
When he arrived in the living room, Ye was already waiting there.
According to the previous plan, Ye had brought Lin Xiangdong's clothes and belongings. After Lin Shen got dressed and looked in the mirror, he didn't think he resembled Lin Xiangdong at all.
"Will this work?" Lin Shen asked uncertainly as he looked at Ye.
"If you don't look at the face or listen to the voice, you and Mr. Lin Zongzheng are at least eighty percent alike," Ye said while taking out a bronze mask shaped like an evil ghost and handing it over to Lin Shen, "This mask is forged from the material of the Alloy Creatures, the Green Armor Devil. Mr. Lin Zongzheng has worn it before, it should be able to deceive others."
Lin Shen took the mask. It was as thin as paper, but it was not light, probably weighing about two pounds. The material was very sturdy and felt cool to the touch.
Putting on the mask was slightly heavy. He glanced in the mirror, and the face with green fangs was indeed somewhat terrifying.
"That's enough. As long as you don't speak, anyone who has seen this mask would probably take you for Mr. Lin Zongzheng," praised Ye, then added, "However, your voice is still a problem. Although Mr. Lin Zongzheng's voice somewhat resembles yours, it's still a bit different. You need to pay extra attention, it's best to speak as little as possible. But you can't be completely silent. You know Mr. Lin Zongzheng's temperament—if you're utterly silent, it would raise suspicions."
"Ye..." Lin Shen pinched his throat and tried a few times, his voice gradually becoming a bit different from usual.
"Like... it really sounds like him..." Ye listened with growing surprise. He hadn't expected Lin Shen to have such a trick up his sleeve; the voice now sounded almost ninety percent like Lin Xiangdong's.
"After all, we are brothers; our voices are naturally similar. Plus, there was a time when I liked to frequent singing halls, so I did some research on vocal techniques—imitating some singers' voices turned out quite similar," Lin Shen said with a smile.
"Lin Shen, it really worked out. As long as you don't take action, outsiders should not be able to tell that you're not Mr. Lin Zongzheng," Ye said, growing even happier after hearing this.
"Just call me Mr. Lin Zongzheng," Lin Shen said, his gaze slightly lifting. He knew his advantage was his deep understanding of his older brother. He wasn't good at acting, so he could only immerse himself into being his brother. With every action, every word he spoke, he had to think about what Mr. Lin Zongzheng would do or say.
Ye was momentarily startled, then solemnly saluted Lin Shen, saying repeatedly, "Mr. Lin Zongzheng, I was wrong. You are Mr. Lin Zongzheng."
"Let's go," Lin Shen said, leading the way out.
Ye nodded slightly. He also knew that having Lin Shen impersonate Lin Xiangdong was a desperate move fraught with great risk, but there was no other way.
There were definitely flaws, but one could only cover them up by truly believing in the identity.
"It must be tough on Lin Shen. I hope Mr. Lin Zongzheng and Lin Xiangdong can come back safely. Otherwise, even if Lin Shen gets through this time, he won't be able to keep up the deception indefinitely," Ye thought inwardly.
By the time Lin Shen and Ye arrived at the venue, representatives from the Qi and Wang families had already been there, sitting on the stage for quite some time and growing impatient. Lin Shen and Ye intentionally arrived late, just before the gathering was about to start, so that the Qi and Wang family's representatives wouldn't have time to talk too much with Lin Shen, reducing the chances of any slip-ups.
"Lin Shen, just as we predicted, the representative from the Qi family is Qi Shuheng, and from the Wang family, it's Wang Tian'er. Both their reputations and strengths are close to Mr. Lin Zongzheng's. Be cautious," Ye whispered, so that only the two of them could hear.
Lin Shen remained composed, saying nothing, and just walked straight towards the stage.
On the platform, there were already two men. Qi Shuheng, who had a somewhat scholarly and refined air, and the other, a robust man with a hawkish gaze, was naturally Wang Tian'er.
Lin Shen took a deep breath inwardly, his gaze firm as he exchanged a glance with the two men, and walked onto the stage with an air of arrogance.
He had thought that upon seeing him, Qi Shuheng and Wang Tian'er would definitely question his wearing of the mask. Unexpectedly, when they saw him approaching, they indeed stood up, but they didn't speak to him. Instead, their gazes shifted towards something behind Lin Shen.
"What are they looking at?" Lin Shen couldn't help but turn to look, and upon doing so, his pupils contracted, leaving him frozen in place.