After giving the system a series of shop upgrade instructions, Lu You stood in the completely transformed back warehouse.
His gaze finally fell on the dilapidated door connecting the front and back areas.
"System, do one last small thing before I go," Lu You said in his mind. "Renovate this door for me too. It's best to change it to match the style outside."
Otherwise, on one side would be endless shelves resembling a sci-fi movie, and on the other would be a sales area comparable to a luxury showroom.
With a mottled, peeling old door sandwiched in the middle, the scene would feel completely out of place no matter how he thought about it.
After Lu You left, the originally rough surface of the broken door became smooth and flat, and the old copper handle was replaced with a matte pull handle.
After finishing all this, he dragged his slightly exhausted body back to the Host's lounge.
Looking at the simple camp bed, Lu You shook his head helplessly.
He lay flat on the camp bed with his hands behind his head.
With his bright eyes open, he stared straight at the dazzlingly white ceiling above him.
The entire lounge was so quiet that he could only hear his own steady breathing.
Suddenly, a crucial question popped up, making his heart skip a beat.
He immediately asked in his mind, "System, I have a question. The back warehouse has become so large and exaggerated now."
"What if a customer or someone else accidentally breaks in one day and sees the scene inside? What should I do?"
This was his biggest concern.
The sales area wasn't actually small, so remodeling it was perfectly fine.
But after the upgrade, the sheer size of the back warehouse's internal space had completely exceeded the understanding of a normal person.
It was so large that even he, who had experienced it firsthand, felt a hint of fear.
If this kind of secret were exposed, he feared his small Hardware Store would be immediately taken away for research.
The system's answer was as efficient as ever, directly dispelling his doubts.
[Host, please rest assured. The back warehouse space has undergone multiple security measures. No intelligent life forms can enter the back warehouse without the Host's personal consent. No object can damage the back warehouse.]
Hearing the system's response, Lu You's hanging heart finally settled back into his stomach.
He let out a long sigh of relief, and his tensed nerves completely relaxed.
A wave of deep exhaustion followed, and he fell fast asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow... That night, Lu You slept exceptionally soundly.
When he groggily sat up the next morning, he habitually rubbed his eyes.
The moment he walked out of the back warehouse and stepped into the sales area, he was instantly wide awake, all sleepiness gone.
It was replaced by a sight full of shock.
Everything before him made his eyes light up—no, it was blinding!
Was this still his "Old Lu Hardware Store"?
The old shop in his memory, with its dim lighting, crooked shelves, and the smell of old engine oil lingering in the air, had completely vanished.
Now, it was a clean, tidy, and brilliantly bright new space.
The original old wooden shelves and tin cabinets had all been replaced with heavy-duty storage shelves of a uniform specification.
All the hardware products were categorized and neatly arranged on the shelves.
Screws, nuts, and washers were organized in transparent labeled boxes according to their sizes and specifications.
Tools like wrenches, pliers, and hammers were hung orderly on specialized pegboards.
The entire shop was less like a Hardware Store...
...and more like a well-organized industrial products exhibition hall.
The narrow glass door had now become a spacious and bright double-leaf frameless glass door.
It was more than twice as wide as before!
This gave the shop's storefront a very grand appearance and allowed the morning sunlight to flood the entire shop without any obstruction.
The sales area of his Hardware Store was already quite large, considered a "behemoth" in this old City district.
So, there was absolutely no need to use the system's black technology to expand the space like in the back warehouse.
The system had simply performed a complete, transformative renovation on the existing foundation.
A sense of pride couldn't help but rise in Lu You's heart.
Currently, the population in the old district of the City was declining seriously, and many shops had already closed down. There were many vacant storefronts and wasteland nearby.
He secretly resolved that once he earned enough money, he would definitely buy up all the surrounding shops or land.
He would turn his Hardware Store into a true commercial empire.
Just as he was immersed in his beautiful fantasies of the future, bursts of uncontrollable exclamations came from outside the shop.
The netizens who were eager to take on the challenge had already gathered at the door.
Each of them had their faces pressed against the brand-new glass door, their eyes wide like copper bells.
"My god! Is this Old Lu Hardware Store?!"
"This... which renovation company did this work? It's too awesome! When I left yesterday evening, wasn't it still that dilapidated old look? How did it all change in one night?"
"That old sign is still hanging up there! If it weren't for this sign, I'd really think I found the wrong place!"
A group of people huddled outside the glass door, pointing and gesturing at the inside of the shop.
Lu You walked over with a smile and opened the shop door.
"Oh, good morning everyone! Want to come in and take a look?"
As the shop door opened, the crowd rushed in with a "whoosh."
Not long after, Xiao Wang from the publicity department arrived hurriedly with his photography team.
They were also stunned into silence for a long time by the brand-new shop before them.
"Boss... Boss Lu! You... what kind of construction crew did you hire?" Xiao Wang asked stuttering.
He had just been here yesterday and had a vivid memory of the old environment; the contrast before him was simply too intense.
Lu You naturally couldn't say this was a product of the system, so he could only laugh it off: "Trade secret, trade secret. So, the video effects filmed in this new environment will definitely be better, right?"
"Absolutely!" Xiao Wang snapped back to his senses and immediately became excited.
"This environment, this style—we don't even need to set up lighting deliberately! Come, come, brothers, let's get to work! Let's capture the most authentic state!"
Lu You naturally welcomed them warmly.
It was still the same dynamic BGM, still the same documentary-style filming method.
Only the background of the video had changed from the original dilapidated and cluttered Hardware Store to this current low-key yet luxurious brand-new shop.
Xiao Wang and the others carried professional photography equipment, weaving back and forth through the shop.
Meanwhile, Lu You acted as if nothing had happened, focusing intently on his primary job—selling goods.
"Boss, give me a small projector."
"Got it!"
"Boss Lu, the carbon brushes on my electric drill are worn out. Do you have replacements? DeWalt brand."
"Got it!"
Occasionally, some fans saw the commotion and couldn't help but joke: "Boss Lu's business is big now, he's even hired full-time photographers? Is he going to be on TV?"
Lu You just chuckled and handled it calmly, his work never pausing for a moment.
After being busy for half the day, the materials for the promotional video were finally finished.
Next was the core of the entire event—releasing the rules of the national challenge.
At Xiao Wang's suggestion, Lu You faced the camera and personally read out that challenge declaration in a confident tone:
"Hello everyone, I am Lu You, the owner of Old Lu Hardware Store."
"Starting today, my Hardware Store will launch a challenge to friends across the country."
"No matter where you are from, as long as you come to my shop in the City, you can take the challenge."
"The rules are simple: name any existing legal item you want. As long as the market value is below one hundred thousand Dragon country currency, if I can't produce it, I will immediately compensate you with ten thousand in cash on the spot. Of course,..."
At this point, the corners of Lu You's mouth curled up slightly, revealing a meaningful smile, "as long as I can produce it, you must buy it."
The subsequent production of the video content was left to the professional team from the Yangcheng Culture and Tourism Bureau and the publicity department.
As for the traffic?
That would naturally still come from riding the coattails of Lu You, the big internet celebrity with nearly a million followers!
From this moment on, Lu You's task became incredibly pure: stay in the shop, wait for challengers to come to the door, then collect money and accumulate business points!
He glanced at the glaring "5,000,000" turnover figure on the system panel.
He muttered to himself: "Five million—with the way things are going now, it probably won't take too long, right?"
After all, the challenge limit had been raised to one hundred thousand. With a few "big customers," the progress bar would jump significantly.
However, there were still two equally arduous tasks hanging over his head—spending skill points to learn new skills, and that "complete a single order with a total amount of over five hundred thousand."
Lu You shook his head, pushing these thoughts aside for the moment, and prepared to welcome the coming storm.
Little did he know that while the promotional video was starting to go viral on the internet...
...in the City and even across the country, many keen-scented enterprises and powerful departments...
...had already quietly turned their attention to this Hardware Store that had suddenly exploded in popularity online!