“Since there’s a second fire seed, that means there will be more.” Henry Lincoln now wished he could rush out immediately and visit every shop selling gene-mutated eggs, collecting all the fire seed gene-mutated eggs.

Henry Lincoln put on his clothes and was about to go out. As soon as he opened the door, he bumped right into someone.

“Little Fifth, where are you rushing off to in such a hurry?” The person he bumped into didn’t move an inch, looking somewhat surprised at Henry Lincoln, who had staggered back a few steps, and frowned as he asked.

“Old Newton, you’re back? Where’s Fourth Brother?” Henry Lincoln steadied himself and looked behind the man, only to find he was alone, which surprised him.

Old Newton was one of Fourth Brother Edward Lincoln’s men, always inseparable from him. Ever since Henry Lincoln had known Old Newton, he had never seen him alone; every time, he was like a shadow stuck to Fourth Brother’s side.

“Something happened.” Old Newton’s expression was grim. After entering, he closed the door and then spoke quietly to Henry Lincoln.

“What happened?” Henry Lincoln’s heart sank.

“Over a month ago, Third Master came to see Fourth Master, saying he’d found a steel-shell bug nest outside the base and needed Fourth Master’s help. Fourth Master agreed without hesitation. When the two of them quietly left the base, they said they’d be back in about half a month, but it’s been over a month now and there’s still no news at all.” Old Newton said darkly.

Henry Lincoln’s heart skipped a beat when he heard this, but he forced himself to stay calm and said, “Maybe there were too many steel-shell bugs over there, and they haven’t finished clearing them out yet, so it’s taking longer.”

“You know what Third Master is like, don’t you? Fourth Master might do something like this, but Third Master absolutely wouldn’t. Even if they ran into trouble, he’d have someone send a message back to let us know they’re safe. But now there’s no word at all, so they must have run into something.” Old Newton shook his head.

The Third Master Old Newton referred to was Henry Lincoln’s third brother William Lincoln. Henry Lincoln naturally knew his third brother’s character—if it wasn’t absolutely necessary, he would never fail to send back any news.

“How many people do we have at home? Call them all. Let’s go look for them.” Henry Lincoln forced himself to calm down and looked at Old Newton.

“We can’t go. And we shouldn’t.” Old Newton shook his head again.

“Why not?” Henry Lincoln frowned at Old Newton.

“You can’t take the risk, and even if you went, it wouldn’t help.” Old Newton said.

Henry Lincoln knew Old Newton wasn’t belittling him. Ever since Second Brother’s accident, the remaining four siblings of the Lin family had set a rule.

The eldest sister managed the family business, Third and Fourth Brothers went out to fight, and as the youngest, Henry Lincoln was responsible for carrying on the family line—a typical homebound “tool person.”

As Third and Fourth Brothers put it, the Lin family had to leave a seed behind. If they all died, the family’s bloodline would depend on Henry Lincoln to continue.

So even though Henry Lincoln was already twenty-one, he had barely ever left the base, let alone gone to any dangerous places.

“Given the situation now, how can we still worry about all that?” Henry Lincoln frowned.

“Even if you wanted to go, it wouldn’t help. Third Master never told us where they went. And with the skills of Third and Fourth Masters, even if they ran into trouble and got stuck for a while, they’d definitely find a way out. They just can’t come back for now. If you went, you might actually make things harder for them.” Old Newton shook his head.

Henry Lincoln was taken aback. “Then why did you come to me?”

“There’s a troublesome matter now. The recruitment conference jointly organized by the Lin, Qi, and Wang families is about to start. In recent years, Fourth Master has always represented the Lin family at the event with the other two families’ representatives. If we don’t attend, the other two families in the base might start making baseless speculations, which would be a big problem and make it harder for us to recruit gene-mutated people. So this time, we have to attend.” Old Newton said.

Henry Lincoln frowned and said nothing. Nowadays, gene-mutated creatures were everywhere in the world, and humans had built bases out of gene-mutated materials to resist their invasion.

Within the Xuan Bird Base, the Lin, Qi, and Wang families stood as three pillars. If the Qi and Wang families found out about the Lin family’s current situation, it would indeed be troublesome and likely lead to suppression.

“What can I do?” Henry Lincoln looked at Old Newton and asked. He knew Old Newton must have come to him for a reason.

“Little Fifth, you and Fourth Master are very similar in build, figure, and voice. If you wear a mask and pay attention to your pronunciation and way of speaking, people who aren’t very close probably won’t be able to tell the difference.” Old Newton looked Henry Lincoln up and down as he spoke.

“You mean…” Henry Lincoln didn’t waste words—he knew this was a risk he had to take.

In the past, his big sister and brothers had always sheltered him. Now that something had happened at home, it was his turn to step up.

“You don’t need to worry. The event is inside the base, so there’s no danger. But you do need to guard against people from the Qi and Wang families noticing anything, and you’ll also need a reason for wearing a mask.” Old Newton sighed. “The people from the Qi and Wang families aren’t easy to deal with. No matter how reasonable your excuse, it’ll be hard to completely dispel their suspicions. You’ll have to handle it carefully.”

“How much time is left before the recruitment conference starts?” Henry Lincoln thought for a moment and asked.