Lu Feng entered the gold shop, put on the military camouflage and protective gear he had stored there, then picked up his steel blade and walked out.
He had already taken the opportunity to clear out most of the zombies on this floor, leaving only a few stragglers wandering about.
To be on the safe side, Lu Feng lured these remaining zombies over one by one and killed them.
[Congratulations! You have killed a zombie and gained 5 EXP!]
…
[Congratulations! You have killed a zombie and gained 5 EXP!]
After killing the last zombie, Lu Feng checked his character stats. His experience had become 125/400.
He had killed another 25 zombies in total.
Now, as long as he didn't lure any zombies up from the stairwell, this floor was completely clear.
With that, Lu Feng began to explore the floor with peace of mind.
Besides the two gold shops, there were no fewer than twenty other stores on this floor. However, they were a mixed bag; it seemed there was no management policy dedicating each floor to a single category of goods.
Next to the gold shop he'd been in were a snack shop and a clothing store.
The clothing store had many different styles of clothes, but unfortunately, they were all covered in dust and cobwebs. The clothes were completely ruined.
As for the snack shop, it was completely empty. There was nothing left. The shelves were toppled over and in disarray, with two of them pinning down a pair of zombies. A fight had clearly taken place here.
'That makes sense,' he thought. 'In a world like "After the Apocalypse," food is a basic necessity. A snack shop like this would be the first place any survivor would hit. How could there possibly be anything left?'
He just wondered if the people who looted this snack shop had managed to escape the Department Store, or if they had become part of the zombie horde.
Lu Feng explored the shops one by one. They were all filled with common, everyday items, but sadly, they were all old and worn out. There was no point in taking any of it back to his world.
Lu Feng walked into a cosmetics store. The products inside were still neatly arranged on the shelves. Apparently, no one had bothered with a place like this after the apocalypse.
The outer boxes of the cosmetics were covered in dust and grime, but when he opened one, the sealed product inside was still brand new.
[This is a very common cosmetic product, an essential item for many ordinary women. Unfortunately, in the post-apocalyptic world, this item can no longer win a girl's affection!]
After checking a few products and getting the same description, Lu Feng lost interest.
'There's plenty of ordinary makeup in the real world, and it isn't worth much. These products have production dates on them, so I can't take them out anyway. Besides, who knows if this stuff has expired?'
Lu Feng quickly finished exploring all twenty-something shops on the floor and learned that he was on the 13th floor of the Department Store.
However, he hadn't found anything of value.
Most of the items no longer had any value in the real world.
The majority of things were either past their expiration date or had simply lost their newness over time.
Lu Feng had no choice but to try another floor.
He scouted out the floors above and below from the stairwell. In the end, he decided to head up to the 14th floor, as the floor below had significantly more zombies, while the 14th floor had surprisingly few.
Upon entering the 14th floor, Lu Feng saw many zombie corpses lying on the ground, all with their heads either pierced or smashed in.
It seemed this floor had already been cleared, which explained why there were so few zombies—only a dozen or so.
He understood why when he saw several food shops nearby. Sure enough, when he checked them, they were all completely empty.
After clearing out the dozen or so zombies on this floor, he checked his character stats. His experience was now 195/400.
Soon, a particular shop on the 14th floor caught his attention:
Qingfeng Tea Headquarters
It was clearly the main store of a tea company, and it was enormous, taking up almost a third of the entire floor.
It wasn't surprising for a tea company to have its headquarters in a department store. In the real world, many major tea companies also opened their flagship stores in local department stores.
After all, the primary requirement for a tea shop is a prime location in a bustling commercial center, and this Department Store fit the bill perfectly.
Lu Feng entered the tea shop. In the center was a seating area with tables, chairs, and tea sets, while the surrounding walls were lined with display cabinets packed to the brim with tea.
There was a sign for a stockroom in the back. He carefully opened the door and, finding nothing amiss, turned on his phone's flashlight. The room was also filled with boxes of tea.
Lu Feng's eyes lit up at the sight of all this tea.
This was because tea has a very long shelf life. For some types, like white tea and black tea, there's no expiration date at all.
Besides, tea wasn't cheap in the real world. Excluding ordinary, everyday teas, a common box of Narcissus tea could cost over 500 yuan, with more expensive ones going for over 3,000. And a box only contained about sixteen servings.
The same was true for Rougui tea; a decent box could easily cost over 4,000 yuan.
And there were plenty of other famous teas that were even more expensive.
He just didn't know what price range this Qingfeng Tea fell into.
'Oddly enough, this is the only type of tea in the store, and all the packaging is of the same quality. They must specialize in just this one product, or maybe it's a new tea company that hasn't released other grades of tea yet!'
[Qingfeng Tea: A tea made with a special secret recipe. Due to its unique process, the quality is higher than ordinary tea. It has a shelf life of several decades. Brewed tea has special effects: Aroma +1, Sweet Aftertaste +1, Refreshing Clarity +1!]
"???" A look of utter astonishment crossed Lu Feng's face as he read the information from his Prospecting ability.
'Are these game attributes?'
'That's right. In the game "After the Apocalypse," lots of items have attributes. For example, many fruits can restore stamina or heal injuries, and it's always shown with a "+X" value.'
'From this information, I can tell this Qingfeng Tea must be exceptional.'
'Aroma and aftertaste are a given—that's what most people look for when they drink tea. Does +1 mean the aroma is a whole grade better?'
'And good tea really can refresh the mind and improve focus. This Qingfeng Tea's Refreshing Clarity attribute is also +1.'
'This just further proves how good Qingfeng Tea is.'
Of course, that wasn't the most important part. What was most important was that tea usually only has the production date printed on the outer packaging, not on the inner wrapping.
The same was true for this Qingfeng Tea.
'So, as long as I create new outer packaging, send some in for inspection, and get a certificate of quality, I can sell this tea.'
Lu Feng immediately took off his protective suit and set down his steel blade. Then, with a thought, he brought the box of Qingfeng Tea in his hand back to the real world.
He opened the box and found it contained sixteen packets. He immediately went to boil some water and brewed a pot of Qingfeng Tea.
Lu Feng rarely drank tea, but after pouring a cup and taking just two sips, his eyes lit up.
Even as an infrequent tea drinker, he could tell this tea was different. It was truly intoxicating.
The aroma, the lingering aftertaste... it was nothing like the tea he drank at Chen Bo's teahouse. He recalled Chen Bo once brewing a 1,500-yuan box of Narcissus for him and his cousin, but compared to this Qingfeng Tea, the difference was night and day.
Moreover, after drinking the Qingfeng Tea, he could clearly feel his mind becoming much more refreshed.
'So this is the effect of the Refreshing Clarity +1 attribute.'
It was amazing that tea could have such a noticeable effect.
Afterward, Lu Feng hurried out again. He went to three proper teahouses nearby and bought a box of their most expensive tea from each. They were all 5,000 yuan for a box of twelve packets.
In a county-level city like Youcheng, 5,000 yuan for a box of tea was already very expensive.
Lu Feng immediately took the three boxes home, brewed a cup from each, and tried them one by one.
The 5,000-yuan teas indeed had a strong aroma and a pleasant aftertaste.
But the gap between them and the Qingfeng Tea was still huge, especially since they lacked its refreshing effect.
In other words, if he wasn't greedy, he could definitely sell this Qingfeng Tea for the same price as those three teas, or maybe even higher.
'Now that the Gold from the two shops has been dealt with, I can sell this tea until I find a new gold shop.'
'Given the amount of tea on the shelves and in the stockroom, the total value is probably even higher than the two gold shops combined.'
'Plus, this stuff is different from Gold. If I make my own packaging, I can sell it openly and legitimately. In the future, if I find a bank vault or something, this can help cover up the source of the money from selling Gold.'
'If I could get the recipe for this tea, I could even open my own tea factory... but that's just a thought for now.'
For now, he had to figure out how to sell all this tea. After all, it was an unknown brand. Only true tea connoisseurs would buy it. But as long as they tasted it and realized they could get a higher-grade tea for a lower price, they would definitely buy it.
He thought about the common tea-selling schemes online. 'Should I ask my cousin to find some of those trendy girls who are a bit on the wild side to help out?'