Wei Wufu reacted extremely quickly, almost the moment the mutated creature lifted its fork, he released one hand and grabbed a pebble from the sand beside him, hurling it with all his might at the fork thrown by the creature.
Unfortunately, the pebble was too small and not tough enough; it shattered into powder upon impact with the red fork, slightly deflecting its trajectory. But it was only a slight deflection; the fork continued to fly toward the statue.
This was all Wei Wufu could do, with nothing else around to use and his legs unable to move, he couldn't catch up to the thrown fork.
The fork skewed into the statue and actually pierced through it, which left Wei Wufu somewhat stunned.
Primeval Eggs seemed ordinary, but were actually extraordinary; their strength was much higher than that of regular Steel Mutant Eggs, and the statues they formed were more durable than regular Steel Bodies.
Although the mutated creature was of the Alloy Level, the fork's strength had been somewhat reduced by the stone, and considering the statue's own robustness, it shouldn't have been pierced through so easily.
The ease with which it was pierced through only meant that the statue's strength was much lower than Wei Wufu had anticipated.
"How could this be, it's not right, the comparison is too weak," Wei Wufu couldn't help but mutter to himself.
What he was thinking was, why was the strength so low? Something was off. Comparing it to others who had used Primeval Eggs to form statues, Lin Shen's statue was much weaker.
For some reason, what he said came out differently.
The mutated creature seemed to have some special obsession with Lin Shen, not knowing whether it was because Lin Shen had struck its pressure point or for some other reason.
Even though the statue had been pierced, the mutated creature was relentless and dragged Wei Wufu step by step toward the statue.
With his legs unable to exert force, and his arms wrapped around the creature's legs, Wei Wufu couldn't stop it from moving toward the statue.
As Wei Wufu's mind frantically searched for a way to stop the mutated creature and buy time, the creature suddenly stopped on its own.
Unsure of what had happened, Wei Wufu raised his head to look at the statue's position, wanting to know what had happened and why the mutated creature had stopped on its own.
Looking in that direction, Wei Wufu saw that the red fork stuck in the statue was now emitting steam, which grew denser by the moment. In just a short while, the metallic shaft of the red fork gradually turned golden-red, growing brighter in color, resembling steel heated to red-hot.
In fact, both Wei Wufu and the mutated creature had felt the scorching heat emanating from the red fork, otherwise the creature would not have stopped.
In just a brief moment, the red fork had turned completely into a translucent gold, strikingly similar to the appearance of steel as it approached its melting point under intense heat.
Wei Wufu found it difficult to understand why there was such high temperature.
Base Mutation wasn't steel forging, with such high temperatures, people would be incinerated to ash, let alone undergo Base Mutation.
"Could it be that the energy of the Primeval Egg is too strong, causing such high heat? Then Lin Shen must be doomed. No wonder those who tried to undergo Base Mutation No. 14 in the past all died; with such terrifying energy, not to mention people, even a Steel Body wouldn't be able to withstand it and would melt," Wei Wufu thought to himself darkly.
The mutated creature too stared at the red-hot fork with a puzzled face. The fork was as hard as its body, and if the fork could be burned like that, it would suffer the same fate, which made it uncertain and wary.
The scene fell into an eerie calm. The urgency of the life-and-death struggle vanished, yet the tension seemed to increase even further.
Just as the fork was about to melt, at that critical moment when it was neither solid nor liquid, suddenly, a surge of icy chill burst forth.
The temperature of the fork dropped drastically, changing from gold to red in an instant. After cooling, although still red, the fork turned semi-transparent, as if it had transformed from metal to crystal.
A look of wild joy appeared in the mutated creature's eyes, seeming to indicate that its fork had indeed become Crystal Base material.
Crack!
Just as the mutating creature was delighting in its surprise, the fork suddenly shattered, like tempered glass breaking into countless crystalline particles that fell onto the sand.
"Lin Shen, is he dead?" Wei Wufu watched the scene, feeling that Lin Shen inside the statue must have been dead for certain.
Since even the alloy fork had ended up like this, Lin Shen inside the statue must surely be dead.
Even if Lin Shen could have withstood the initial extreme heat, he couldn't have survived the final chilling.
Let's not mention that Lin Shen doesn't have Base Mutation, even Alloy Mutators would probably not survive, and that alloy fork was the best proof of it.
The mutating creature seemed to think so too, as its gaze had already moved from the statue to Wei Wufu, who was hugging its leg.
Crack!
Another crisp sound drew the attention of Wei Wufu and the mutating creature back to the statue.
In an instant, dense cracks appeared on the statue, and in the next moment, the entire statue shattered with a crash, revealing a figure that had been enveloped within it.
The armor, polished as if made of mirrors, clung tightly to a tall and robust body, shining dazzlingly in the sunlight from different angles like armor forged from mirrors, dreamy and mesmerizing.
The sky and the ocean reflected on the armor added an air of mystery and depth to it.
The mutating creature stared at Lin Shen, subconsciously raising its leg wanting to charge at him, but realizing its leg was still firmly grasped by Wei Wufu. Unable to break free, it stumbled and almost fell.
"Wei, let it go," Lin Shen's voice came from within the armor.
Wei Wufu was momentarily startled, puzzled why Lin Shen would not launch an attack now and instead was asking him to release the mutating creature.
This guy was an Alloy Level mutating creature, not just any Alloy Creature.
Steel Level Base Mutation from Primeval Eggs might indeed have the potential to kill beyond its level, but that was not easy. Furthermore, since the opponent was an Alloy mutating creature and Lin Shen had just succeeded in Base Mutation to become Steel Level, he shouldn't possibly be that strong.
Wei Wufu nevertheless let go as Lin Shen instructed, and the mutating creature, now unshackled by strength, did not immediately rush towards Lin Shen. Its ruby-like eyes were uncertainly sizing up Lin Shen.
It didn't charge at Lin Shen, but Lin Shen, on the other hand, stepped towards it. With each step, the mirror-like steel armor on his body began to radiate an infinite heat, turning reddish-gold, then golden-yellow. The armor's splendor, with its heat, seemed like a holy warrior burning with life.
The mutating creature instinctively took a half step back. The next second, the creature exploded in fury at its own cowardice, seemingly unable to accept that it was scared off by a Steel creature.
Just as it was about to madly charge at Lin Shen, it suddenly saw white vapor rising violently from Lin Shen's gleaming armor, the temperature on the resplendent armor plunging rapidly, no longer displaying its radiant brilliance.
The mutating creature watched Lin Shen approach through the rising fog. Its pupils shrank violently, as if it had seen something utterly terrifying.
In the fleeting visibility, where the fog could not obscure, Lin Shen's armor appeared in a semi-transparent crystal state.
At merely this sight, the mutating creature did not hesitate to retreat rapidly, like a stray dog, turning and plunging into the sea, desperately diving towards deeper waters.
"Crystal Base Level?" Wei Wufu stared blankly at Lin Shen who emerged from the fog, the semi-transparent crystalline armor emitting a clear and bright luster in the sun, even more dreamlike and unfathomable than when it was a mirrored armor.