Since Da Fei knew how to run a tea shop and his cousin had recommended him, Lu Feng put Da Fei in charge of managing it.
The point of opening the tea shop was to give his cousin and his buddies a place to hang out and drink tea, as well as to build connections and influence. Inevitably, they would have to deal with all sorts of people. That wasn't his strong suit anyway.
As Lu Feng was leaving the tea shop, he pulled his cousin aside and asked which of his buddies had chipped in to raise money for him earlier.
Even though he hadn't used the money, the gesture was the same, and he would definitely remember it.
If he didn't have the means, he could only keep the gratitude in his heart. But now that he did, he would certainly repay them several times over.
Yang Ming nodded, seeming to understand what Lu Feng was thinking.
Afterwards, Lu Feng returned to his rented apartment to deal with the tea from the game.
He picked up the box of Qingfeng Tea he had brought out of the game earlier and poured out the tea leaves inside.
The inner packaging of the tea was fine. Because it was hermetically sealed, it was still brand new and could be used directly.
Next, he scraped the date off the outer box.
The outer box couldn't be used as-is because of the date. The tea's production date in the game was in the future; if he used it directly, people would notice something was wrong immediately.
So, he just needed to scrape off the date, find a packaging company to make custom copies, and have a new date printed on them.
Besides, he didn't even need to redesign the packaging. The Qingfeng Tea box was already exquisite and impressive.
Lu Feng left with the box, its date now scraped off, and hailed a cab to the Red Earth Factory District, where many of the county's factories were clustered.
He used to work at the steel mill, so he knew a bit about the nearby factories. He knew there was a small, workshop-style factory that could customize this kind of outer packaging.
So, Lu Feng went there and gave the Qingfeng Tea box to the owner. After a bit of calibration, they quickly produced a replica for him. He had them change the date to three months prior.
These small, workshop-style factories would take on any job, no questions asked. They weren't particular. When he asked to customize a tea box, they didn't pry.
Although the replica box wasn't as good as the original and the material was different, it was still exquisite.
So, Lu Feng went ahead and ordered 200 boxes, paid a deposit, and exchanged contact information.
After leaving his address, he left with the finished replica box.
As he was about to leave the factory district, he heard someone call out, "Lu Feng, it really is you."
A man in work clothes came jogging over.
Seeing the man, Lu Feng smiled. "Guo Zhen, it's you."
This was Guo Zhen, a former colleague from the steel mill he was on good terms with. When his mom was hospitalized, Guo Zhen had even given him a 500-yuan red envelope.
For a factory worker, that was a pretty generous gesture.
"How's your mom?" Guo Zhen asked as soon as he got close.
"She's doing better," Lu Feng explained with a smile.
Guo Zhen suddenly remembered something and warned him, "Lu Feng, didn't you take three days of leave? You're past your return date. I heard Old Man Zhang telling someone he was going to deliberately not remind you, so he could record you as having abandoned your job. You know he's always wanted to get his nephew a position at the factory. Remember to go back and file for an extension later."
Lu Feng found it laughable. 'All this scheming and backstabbing for a salary of a few thousand a month? What's the point?'
'But this was my life before!'
Petty people have their petty squabbles.
It was only because he had now escaped it that he could find it all so ridiculous.
Still, he couldn't be bothered to deal with that Old Man Zhang now. 'If they want to count it as me quitting, so be it!'
They had barely exchanged a few words when Guo Zhen got a call and had to leave in a hurry.
Lu Feng also left the factory district. Back in the city, he went to a specialty supermarket and bought a plastic sealing machine. After the tea was packaged, the outer layer needed to be shrink-wrapped.
Returning to his apartment and double-locking the door, he entered the game with a thought, appearing inside the Qingfeng Tea Headquarters. He then grabbed a box of Qingfeng Tea and exited the game with another thought.
He opened the box of Qingfeng Tea from the game, poured out the tea leaves inside, and repacked them into the replica box. Then he used the machine to seal it in a layer of plastic film. A brand-new box of Qingfeng Tea was born.
Lu Feng was very pleased with the results of his little switcheroo. 'If I sell this at the tea shop, who could possibly know the tea came from another world?'
Afterwards, he took this box of tea to the agricultural products department to have it tested.
Tea inspection was actually quite simple. Plus, in a small county like this, that department was rarely busy, so he got the compliance report very quickly.
Now, there would be no problem selling the Qingfeng Tea.
After running around for half the day, he was a bit tired. He grabbed a can of Coke and two slices of bread from the fridge, intending to fill his stomach, but was suddenly captivated by the game's view in his mind.
Just now, a figure seemed to have darted past the outside of the Qingfeng Tea Headquarters.
This piqued his curiosity.
The game *After the Apocalypse* had plenty of NPCs. Now that it had become a real world, there were bound to be many survivors.
In the game, there were survivors in this Department Store. The player character would encounter a female NPC who would even steal their food.
As for the plot after that, well, that's when he got electrocuted.
Lu Feng's interest was suddenly piqued. He entered the game with a thought and went out of the Qingfeng Tea Shop to investigate.
But once he was in the corridor outside, he found no one. As he was checking a few of the shops, a stunning figure suddenly charged at him.
He froze for a moment when he saw the woman who had appeared out of nowhere.
She was dressed in practical sportswear, with willow-leaf eyebrows, sharp, almond-shaped eyes, a high-bridged nose, a beautiful, melon-seed-shaped face, and a pair of weapons of mass destruction—definitely a 36D.
'Isn't this the fucking female NPC that players who choose the Department Store starting point encounter?'
The next moment, Lu Feng felt his body being lifted high into the air before he was slammed to the ground with a shoulder throw. He was dazed for a long while.
He tried to resist but was shocked to find he was completely powerless.
Clearly, even if she was a woman, anyone who could survive in the world of *After the Apocalypse* was no simple character.
Naive women would have died long ago for all sorts of reasons. After all, in the apocalypse, there were no laws or morals, and certainly no simps fawning over them.
Before Lu Feng could react, he saw the woman snatch the can of Coke and the two slices of bread from his hands.
'What the hell? Did I just have the same encounter as the player character?'
The woman was about to leave, but after glancing at the two slices of bread in her hand, she actually took one out and threw it back to him.
Lu Feng scrambled to his feet, about to confront the woman, but when he saw the slice of bread she had returned, he was at a loss for words.
He didn't care about a slice of bread, but for someone in the world of *After the Apocalypse*, it was life-saving.
The fact that this woman returned one slice meant she had a conscience, at least.
Just then, a shrill screech echoed through the Department Store.
The woman's expression changed the moment she heard the screech. She left in a hurry, disappearing in the blink of an eye.
Lu Feng had heard this screech before. Afterward, the zombies had been drawn to it and become agitated.
This time, sure enough, the zombies became restless after the screech. Unsure of the situation and not wanting to linger, Lu Feng entered the Qingfeng Tea Shop and exited the game with a thought.
He immediately used the movable perspective in his mind to look for traces of the woman, but unfortunately, he couldn't find her.
Next, Lu Feng took out his phone and went online to look up information about the Department Store starting scenario in the game *After the Apocalypse*.
The woman's face had changed drastically when she heard the screech, which obviously meant it was something significant.
But after checking the information, he found nothing about it. After all, the mobile game was just a simple, pre-programmed application. Aside from some general background lore, it was of limited help in exploring the real world of *After the Apocalypse*.
After all, the entire world couldn't be represented by simple game data.