Lu Feng headed straight down to the 8th floor of the Department Store.
Lin Jiao and Xu Bin followed behind him, tiptoeing. They were clearly terrified of the Mutant Beast.
The two of them cautiously peeked out to look at the Mutant Beast on the 6th floor. The upper half of the man's body had been completely devoured, leaving only his lower half behind.
Xu Bin gestured at the man's mangled lower body and said, "See? I told you. With my build, I'd be enough to feed it for two meals!"
"..." Lin Jiao frowned at him, just now realizing that there was something wrong with the man.
Lu Feng, however, had already started surveying the shops on the 8th floor.
He planned to find a shop on this floor to set up a gas canister trap.
After searching for a moment, he found a relatively small, narrow shop.
It was a doll shop. The dolls inside were covered in a layer of dust and gave off a smell of decay.
He chose this shop specifically for its small, enclosed space. When the gas canisters exploded, the Mutant Beast would have no room to dodge, ensuring it took the maximum possible damage.
Lu Feng then said to Lin Jiao and Xu Bin, "You two head back upstairs and hide. I'm going to deal with the Mutant Beast myself. I'm afraid you won't be much help."
Seeing that Lu Feng was serious, Lin Jiao and Xu Bin were alarmed. After all, that Mutant Beast was no joke.
Then, they remembered their mysterious boss's other identity: a rumored ability user.
Perhaps he possessed some kind of terrifying power.
This couldn't help but fill them with anticipation.
If their mysterious boss could actually deal with the Mutant Beast, perhaps he could lead them out of the Department Store. Otherwise, with those three Mutant Beasts around, they were too scared to even clear out zombies for fear of being discovered. They would die here sooner or later.
They would either starve to death or be eaten by a Mutant Beast.
Lin Jiao couldn't help but ask again, "Boss, are you sure you want to face that Mutant Beast alone?"
"Yeah. Go on up," Lu Feng confirmed with a nod.
Seeing how certain he was, Lin Jiao and Xu Bin left without another word and returned to the Qingfeng Tea Headquarters.
With a thought, Lu Feng exited the game and returned to his apartment.
Now, he just had to wait for his cousin to deliver the gas canisters.
However, he got a call from Da Fei first.
He answered, and the voice on the other end said, "Young Master Feng, where are you now? I'll come over to report to you about the tea factory."
When Lu Feng heard what it was about, he replied, "Yeah, I'm at my apartment."
"Okay," Da Fei said before hanging up. A short while later, he arrived at Lu Feng's apartment. The moment they met, he handed Lu Feng a manila folder. "Young Master Feng, all the basic information for investing in a tea factory is in here."
Lu Feng took the folder, opened it, and began to review the documents inside. They contained the investment profiles for various tea factories in Youcheng.
He had to admit, Da Fei was fast. The information was comprehensive, covering the investment status of all sorts of tea factories, large and small.
Investing in the most basic, rudimentary tea factories was cheap. Many were like family-run workshops located in small towns, costing only about 200,000 to 400,000.
Of course, Qingfeng Tea couldn't settle for investing in a workshop like that.
Besides, opening a factory in Youcheng required a location in one of the industrial parks. The rent alone was far more expensive than what a small-town workshop would cost.
Then there was the matter of the tea production line.
Since the most crucial component of their tea was the powdered ingredient mix, the roasting process itself was simple and had no special requirements. Therefore, to maintain secrecy, an automated production line was essential.
This meant they would need to purchase an automated tea-processing line, just like the medium-to-large-scale tea factories.
They could hire a worker just to pour in the ingredients, while the production line handled the mixing. Then he'd have his cousin and Da Fei find a trustworthy man to supervise, and there would be no problems.
An automated tea-processing line that met Qingfeng Tea's needs would cost several hundred thousand at a minimum.
Furthermore, producing tea at scale wasn't as simple as when he'd roasted it himself in a single wok.
To meet Qingfeng Tea's requirements, things like the flooring, factory renovations, and the construction of sun-drying and sprinkling yards all had to meet certain standards. That would likely cost another several hundred thousand.
All in all, building a halfway-decent tea factory would likely cost around 1.5 million.
Of course, that still wasn't enough.
Once the factory was built, they would need raw materials for production—enough to prepare the special powdered ingredient.
It cost 5,000 to prepare one portion of the special powdered ingredient, which could produce about half a jin of finished tea.
A factory couldn't just produce nothing. They'd need an initial batch. Even a small one, say, 2,000 boxes, should be prepared, right?
That would require over 330 jin of finished tea.
That meant he would need to prepare over 3.3 million for materials. Adding the 1.5 million for the factory, the total would be around 4.8 million.
But he only had a little over 2 million left in his account. Even if he added the 1.6-plus million from selling Qingfeng Tea, and had Da Fei and his cousin invest for a share, it still wouldn't be enough.
Besides, he also wanted to buy a car and a house as soon as possible. He had to resolve the situation with Yang Qingxue's mother quickly, after all. He couldn't just let her keep trying to set Yang Qingxue up on blind dates, could he?
Therefore, he had to secure that jewelry store in the game world.
'That Mutant Beast is toast.'
Of course, if the tea factory got up and running, with this level of investment, 2,000 boxes of Qingfeng Tea sold at 7,500 each would bring in 15 million. After deducting the costs of materials, labor, and utilities, the profit would still be over 10 million.
It was an absolutely massive profit.
However, Qingfeng Tea had only just appeared and had no reputation. Apart from the local bosses in the county, nobody else knew how good it was. Whether it would sell well, if it would sell at all, and how long it would take to recoup the investment—all of that would depend on Da Fei's abilities.
After reviewing the documents, Lu Feng made his decision. "Da Fei, we'll aim for a factory of this scale, with an investment of around 1.5 million. Also, prepare enough raw materials for an initial run of 2,000 boxes."
"I'll get the money for the investment and materials together as soon as I can. For now, you handle the factory's paperwork. Also, if you want to invest for a share, you'll need to get your funds ready."
"Don't worry, Young Master Feng. I'm already raising the money," Da Fei said gratefully.
He knew that Young Master Feng was basically giving them a free ride on a surefire business venture. He couldn't miss this opportunity, so he had already convinced his parents to mortgage their house for a loan.
"Good," Lu Feng nodded.
With their discussion concluded, Da Fei left to go handle the factory's paperwork.
Two hours later, Lu Feng received a call from his cousin.
Yang Ming and Ah Pao arrived, hauling five old, tampered-with gas canisters into Lu Feng's apartment.
Ah Pao was curious why Lu Feng wanted so many rigged gas canisters, but Brother Ming had told him not to ask questions, so he kept his mouth shut.
Lu Feng said to Yang Ming and Ah Pao, "Cousin, Da Fei has already gone to handle the factory's paperwork. You guys should also get ready for the investment."
"Don't worry, I'm not an idiot," Yang Ming said with a wide smile. His cousin was offering him a legitimate way to make money; he'd be a fool not to get on board.
Ah Pao nodded gratefully as well.
He knew that Lu Feng was a loyal man, giving people like them a free ticket to make money. He had to scrape together some funds to invest, no matter what.
After that, Yang Ming and Ah Pao left. Even investing in a single share of the tea factory required significant capital, so they naturally needed time to prepare.
After Lu Feng had given them such a golden opportunity, they didn't have the gall to pull any bullshit like taking a share and paying for it later out of their dividends.
As soon as they left, Lu Feng locked the apartment door behind them, grabbed a gas canister in one hand, and entered the doll shop in the game world.
Feeling that wasn't enough to be certain, he exited the game and brought in another canister.
'Three gas canisters can definitely destroy this doll shop. That should be enough to take care of the Mutant Beast, right?'
He'd keep the remaining two as spares.
Then, he twisted open the valves on all three canisters and aimed their nozzles at the floor.
Because they had been rigged, the moment they were lit, the obstructed pressure would cause the flame to back-flow into the canister, igniting the gas inside and causing an instant explosion.
At the same time, the flames jetting from the nozzles would heat the canisters themselves, further increasing the explosive potential.
Instantly, the smell of gas began to fill the air.
Lu Feng picked up his machete, walked out into the corridor, and looked down toward the 6th floor, where the Mutant Beast was still resting.
「At the same time.」
Inside the Qingfeng Tea Shop, Lin Jiao and Xu Bin snuck out to the corridor and peered down toward the 6th floor.
"Still no sign of movement," Lin Jiao said, confused.
Xu Bin nodded. "The Mutant Beast is still resting, too. It hasn't been disturbed. The boss hasn't made his move yet."
Lin Jiao asked uncertainly, "It's been this long and he still hasn't done anything. Do you really think our new boss can handle that Mutant Beast?"
They were clearly very curious. But just then, they suddenly heard the sound of metal striking metal ring out, echoing across the floors.
The sound seemed to be coming from the 8th floor.
They immediately looked at each other, anticipation written all over their faces.
'Is the boss making his move?'
They immediately leaned out, extremely curious to see what method the boss would use to deal with the Mutant Beast.